Welfare-Warfare State

The Great Obamacare Intergenerational Swindle

"Will we be able to talk healthy young Americans into buying medical insurance that costs seven times what it would in a free market in order to subsidize our increasingly expensive health care? Or will we have to sic IRS enforcers on them for selfishly taking advantage of the law’s pre-existing condition protections to get care at someone else’s expense in case of serious illness? It’s a tough sell, but take heart, fellow Boomers. We’ve been preparing our children for community servitude for years. Why else did we feed them a steady diet of social consciousness, while preaching that it takes a village from the day we dumped them in daycare? Now, it’s time for them to pay up." Continue reading →

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The Nudge That Will Force Banks to Put More Money Into Treasury Securities

"Translation: The rules will require banks to purchase more government securities, rather than make loans to the private sector. The nudge is in. In a May 1 report,Treasury Borrowing Advisory Committee said banks, over time, will need to buy as much as $5.7 trillion in 'safe' assets including government bonds by 2020 to comply with the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act in the U.S., and capital standards set by the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland." Continue reading →

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Peter Schiff: Tapering the Taper Talk

"In truth, I believe that the Fed's next big announcement will be to increase, not diminish QE. After all, Bernanke made clear in his press conference that if the economy does not perform up to his expectations, he will simply do more of what has already failed. Of course, when the Fed is forced to make this concession, it should be obvious to a critical mass that the recovery is a sham. Investors will realize that years of QE have only exacerbated the problems it was meant to solve. When the grim reality of QE infinity sets in, the dollar will drop, gold will climb, and the real crash will finally be upon us. Buckle up." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPeter Schiff: Tapering the Taper Talk

Is ‘La Vie En Rose’ Over For France?

"French industry has been ruined by overly powerful unions and their political allies in the Socialist Party. One would be crazy these days to open a factory in France with its absurd 35-hour work week, endless vacations, surly unions, strikes, and social costs that add 50% to worker’s salaries. Laying off workers during downturns or closing plants involves siege warfare. French universities keep churning out unemployable graduates in social anthropology, sociology, and film-making. Government in France employs 56% of all workers, an unsustainable cost that, with retirement at 60 and unemployment benefits – now 32% of GDP – is bleeding the economy to death." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIs ‘La Vie En Rose’ Over For France?

NY Fed: The Truth About the Job Market for Recent College Graduates

"We show that there are large differences in unemployment rates, underemployment rates, and average wages across majors. In particular, we show that those with degrees in majors that provide technical training, such as 'Engineering' and 'Math & Computers,' or in those that are geared toward growing parts of the economy, such as 'Education' and 'Health,' have tended to do pretty well when compared to the rest of the pack. At the other end of the spectrum, those with a 'Liberal Arts' or 'Leisure & Hospitality' major tend to have lower wages, higher unemployment, and higher underemployment." Continue reading →

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San Francisco public transportation system shut down by striking union workers

"The strike by 2,400 BART workers came after acrimonious negotiations centered on wage and benefit issues broke down late Sunday, just hours before current labor agreements expired. Both sides blamed the other for abandoning the talks. BART serves about 400,000 riders daily, many of whom rely on the system to travel from Oakland, Berkeley and other communities on the east side of San Francisco Bay into the city of San Francisco. The strike will shut down the system once all trains are parked early Monday morning and is expected to bring widespread travel disruptions and traffic gridlock." Continue reading →

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Our Legacy Systems: Dysfunctional, Unreformable

"Real reform would mean powerful constituencies would have to take real reductions in staffing, power, benefits and in their share of the national income. Rather than reveal this double-bind--reform is impossible but the Status Quo is unsustainable--the legacy system deploys its gargantuan resources to laying down a smoke-screen of bogus reforms and ginned-up statistics. America's legacy systems are like stars about to go super-nova. They have increased in size to the point where their stupendous mass guarantees that once their energy source (as measured in fossil fuels and money) falls below a certain threshold, the institution will collapse inward on itself." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOur Legacy Systems: Dysfunctional, Unreformable

Our Legacy Systems: Dysfunctional, Unreformable

"Real reform would mean powerful constituencies would have to take real reductions in staffing, power, benefits and in their share of the national income. Rather than reveal this double-bind--reform is impossible but the Status Quo is unsustainable--the legacy system deploys its gargantuan resources to laying down a smoke-screen of bogus reforms and ginned-up statistics. America's legacy systems are like stars about to go super-nova. They have increased in size to the point where their stupendous mass guarantees that once their energy source (as measured in fossil fuels and money) falls below a certain threshold, the institution will collapse inward on itself." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingOur Legacy Systems: Dysfunctional, Unreformable

NFL Rejects Obama Administration: We Won’t Promote Obamacare

"NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy emailed the Washington Examiner's Philip Klein to say the NFL had no plans to help promote Obamacare: 'We have responded to the letters we received from members of Congress to inform them we currently have no plans to engage in this area and have had no substantive contact with the administration about PPACA’s implementation.' Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had said this week the Obama administration was looking to partner with professional sports leagues to market Obamacare exchanges this fall to sell the unpopular healthcare law to the public." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNFL Rejects Obama Administration: We Won’t Promote Obamacare

Federal food stamp recruiters operate on monthly quota system

"She curled her hair and painted her nails fluorescent pink. 'A happy, it’s-all-good look,' she said, checking her reflection in the rearview mirror. Then she drove along the Florida coast to sign people up for food stamps. It is Nerios’s job to enroll at least 150 seniors for food stamps each month. The job also has a second and more controversial purpose for cash-strapped Florida, where increasing food-stamp enrollment has become a means of economic growth, bringing almost $6 billion each year into the state. The money helps to sustain communities, grocery stores and food producers. It also adds to rising federal entitlement spending and the U.S. debt." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFederal food stamp recruiters operate on monthly quota system