What Could Possibly Go Wrong

The Real National Security Interest of America

"McCain thinks that our common good rests in deeply expanding U.S. government involvements in dozens of foreign countries. How such an indirect, tortuous, and demonstably dangerous path achieves the common good of Americans is a deep mystery. It is beyond belief that the McCains in the Senate think they can improve other countries when they cannot even identify America's common good and take steps domestically to improve that good. Can Senator McCain explain how the U.S. involvements in Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, Somalia and Afghanistan have furthered the common good of Americans?" Continue reading →

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How close are we to getting superpowers?

"Next month, at a technology conference in Hong Kong, Dina Katabi, an MIT professor, will present her 'Wi-Vi' device, which uses a low-power wi-fi signal to track people moving behind walls. Last month, it was reported that scientists in Singapore have created a rudimentary invisibility cloak, which they illustrated with a video clearly designed to appeal to muggles as much as wizards – it showed a fluffy kitten entering the 'cloak' and disappearing so conclusively that a butterfly could be seen fluttering behind it. Essentially, if there’s a superpower you can think of, someone’s probably trying to develop it. Just remember: with great power comes great responsibility." Continue reading →

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Something’s not all right with Medicare

"What could possibly be so powerful that it threatens the viability of the largest revamping of health care in half a century? It’s the amount of money Medicare pays doctors for services rendered. Next year the ACA mandates that the reimbursement rate for doctors’ services be cut by 24.7 percent. If that happens without a hitch — without the first Million-Doctor March on Washington or doctors forming a union as tough as the Teamsters — the health-care cost savings envisioned by the ACA may actually come to pass because doctors will either be working for less money from Medicare or they will have said goodbye and good luck to their Medicare patients." Continue reading →

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Historical Opportunity for 21st Century Economics

"Who are people turning to nowadays for business advice? Celebrity economists. Big-name experts on the economy like Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Michael Porter, Robert Reich and Muhammad Yunus feature prominently in a new ranking of influential business thinkers compiled for The Wall Street Journal. The findings – based on Google hits, media mentions and academic citations – show just how much the business-guru landscape has changed since 2008, when a previous ranking was conducted using similar methodology. Author and consultant Gary Hamel ranked No. 1 at the time, a spot now occupied by Krugman." Continue reading →

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The Flashpoints of Revolution Here at Home

"During the Great Recession, 60% of the job losses occurred in the middle-income ranks. Yet, 60% of the jobs that have returned have come in the low-income ranks. Worse, the labor participation rate of America’s youth – those aged 16 to 24 – is at its lowest level since, at least, the 1970s. Obama’s America, thus, is breeding economic desperation as middle-income families struggle to reclaim a lifestyle they once knew and as easily agitated youth with little to lose find that America has too few jobs for them. That is a flashpoint. So, too, is the systemic and expanding welfare mentality that has infected our government and too many of our people." Continue reading →

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Egyptian army detains ousted president Mohamed Morsi, rounds up Brotherhood leaders

"Morsi’s defence minister, armed forces chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, announced Morsi’s overthrow on state television on Wednesday, even as police began rounding up key Morsi aides and leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Warrants have been issued for the arrest of a total of 300 Brotherhood officials, state media reported. US President Barack Obama said he was 'deeply concerned' over Morsi’s ouster and urged the army to refrain to 'arbitrary arrests' of Morsi and his supporters. In May, Washington approved $1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt. That was now under review, said Obama, as he called for a swift return to democratic rule." Continue reading →

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Ouster of Egypt’s Morsi creates headache for the U.S.

"Time and again in recent months, Washington has failed to articulate a strong response to controversial moves by Morsi to consolidate power and his reluctance to introduce much-needed economic reforms, content to observe that democracy takes time. After days of unrest and only hours before Morsi was ousted, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Wednesday finally spoke out to criticize Morsi, saying he needed to do more to address the Egyptian people’s concerns. In a telling sign, she also refused to take issue with the military, or to say whether an army takeover would amount to a coup, repeatedly stressing that 'we don’t take sides, as you know.'" Continue reading →

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NJ Supreme Court Rules State Can Seek Custody Of Child Without Evidence Of Abuse

"The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled this week that authorities can seek custody of a child, even where there’s no evidence of abuse or neglect. The case involved a divorced Camden County mother of 9-year-old twin girls. In 2007, she asked New Jersey’s Division of Child Protection and Permanency for help, claiming she was unable to care for the girls who had psychological and developmental disabilities and needed to be placed in residential care. 'You can turn to the Division for help, but it may come with a cost,' says Diana Autin, executive director of Statewide Parent Advocacy Network of New Jersey." Continue reading →

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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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Pimco Total Return Had $9.9 Billion Withdrawals in June

"Imagine what is going to happen when the panic over climbing interest rates really starts. Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund, a bond fund and the world’s largest mutual fund, had $9.9 billion in net redemptions last month as investors fled bonds in anticipation of higher interest rates. The withdrawals left the fund with $268 billion in assets at the end of June, Morningstar said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPimco Total Return Had $9.9 Billion Withdrawals in June