Iran continues its belligerence: according to Iraq, Iran has continued its shelling of northern Iraq. There have also been multiple reports over the past few months that Iranian troops have been causing problems in the north. This is definitely not good news: Iran is getting bolder. President Bush recently warned them about their involvement in Iraq...but they're not listening. The truth is, aside from radical Islamist terrorist cells, Iran is the preeminent threat to the Western world today. They have openly supported Hamas and Hezbollah, among other terrorist organizations, they have made blatant threats against Israel, and it appears as though they are trying to provoke the US or Israel to attack, probably in order to try and justify some sort of retaliatory strike.
The threat of Islamic terrorism is ever-increasing...be wary of any presidential candidates who promote opening diplomatic ties with Iran.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Florida moves primary, Dean throws fit
Florida has jumped on the bandwagon of states who are moving up their primary elections in the hopes that they will be more important in the scope of presidential politics. Basically, everyone wants to be Iowa & New Hampshire. In response, Howard Dean has come out saying that if Florida doesn't move its primary back, its votes won't count in the choosing of a Democrat party presidential candidate.
Personally, I'm not a fan of this trend of states moving up their primary election dates...it's basically high-school style one-upmanship writ large: each state wants to thumb their nose at the other states & say "HA! I'm more important than you!" So, on one level, I agree with the DNC's pronouncement.
On the other hand, Florida is the 4th largest state in the nation, and no matter when their primary, Florida's votes definitely count. Threatening to remove Florida from the process shows to me that the DNC is more concerned with their rules & regulations than with actually choosing a candidate who truly represents America.
Personally, I think we should move to a single national primary...this way we wouldn't have to worry about the candidate being chosen in Iowa or New Hampshire...we could actually choose a candidate based on their merit, rather than basing votes on who has the most "momentum."
Personally, I'm not a fan of this trend of states moving up their primary election dates...it's basically high-school style one-upmanship writ large: each state wants to thumb their nose at the other states & say "HA! I'm more important than you!" So, on one level, I agree with the DNC's pronouncement.
On the other hand, Florida is the 4th largest state in the nation, and no matter when their primary, Florida's votes definitely count. Threatening to remove Florida from the process shows to me that the DNC is more concerned with their rules & regulations than with actually choosing a candidate who truly represents America.
Personally, I think we should move to a single national primary...this way we wouldn't have to worry about the candidate being chosen in Iowa or New Hampshire...we could actually choose a candidate based on their merit, rather than basing votes on who has the most "momentum."
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Survey sez: Most Americans are ignorant fools!
The latest Harris poll shows that most US adults don't know much of anything about world politics...or US politics, for that matter. Personally, I think this explains a lot...like just how Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000 and John Kerry came through with nearly half of the vote in 2004.
The truth is, this really does explain a lot - when most Americans are more interested in American Idol than in the events that shape our nation, come election day, the useful idiots who actually do vote will look at issues more emotionally than logically...and Democrats' feel-good politics have more appeal to people who approach issues from an emotional, rather than logical perspective.
The truth is, this really does explain a lot - when most Americans are more interested in American Idol than in the events that shape our nation, come election day, the useful idiots who actually do vote will look at issues more emotionally than logically...and Democrats' feel-good politics have more appeal to people who approach issues from an emotional, rather than logical perspective.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Is it the economy...or is it something else?
The US stock market has recently been going through some major ups and downs, and the effects have been felt worldwide. Today, the panic subsided somewhat when the Fed lowered interest rates, but given the fast upward trend the stock market has been on lately, I wonder just what the problem is.
Many and more have said that the recent downturn was due to the inevitable troubles in the housing/mortgage market - a combination of unscrupulous lenders and inattentive borrowers created quite a tenuous situation, with far too many people getting into adjustable rate mortgages (ARM), basically gambling against a future rise in interest rates. Well, interest rates rose, and almost instantaneously, the housing market was in trouble. Loans were defaulted, houses were reposessed, lives were damaged.
The general assumption is that this is a sign that the "Bush economy" isn't all it's cracked up to be - and with a leftist media, it isn't cracked up to be very much, that's for sure. The truth is, the Bush economy has been doing well - the problem that shook the stock market this week runs much deeper, and has been around much longer than George W. Bush has been president.
The problem with the US economy is that fiscal conservatism is dying in much of America - too many people are buying on credit, without the capital to pay off their bills. Anyone with a nose for history knows that this kind of trend was the instigator of the Great Depression...and thankfully, we seem to have avoided another such depression this week. However, if America does not change its spending habits, I fear that another depression will come, and sooner than anyone things.
Problem 1: Like too many of our citizens, our federal government has been spending on credit for far too long...and it has been spun as a national security strategy (see my previous post).
Problem 2: Too many people buying on credit means too few people with real capital, should the US actually enter an economic crisis. Our nation has become too lax: for some time our economy has been shifting from industry to services, and now we have more credit than capital...these are the harbingers of disaster, especially when the wolves of Communism (Cuba, China, Venezuela, and dare I say Russia) and Islamic Fascism (oil, anyone?) are circling. Whether Europe likes it or not, the United States stands virtually alone as the guardians of freedom and justice on the planet, and as it stands today, we are outnumbered, outgunned, and worst of all, we stand divided against ourselves.
The simple truth is that buying on credit is nice and convenient, but too much buying on credit will bring ruin to America. If China were to call our loans, or if one of our major oil suppliers were to stop supplying us with oil, the potential for an economic collapse is immense. Life in America is good, but we cannot afford to be big spenders. A storm is coming, and our money would be much better spend preparing - digging trenches and setting stakes - because the enemy is coming, it's just a matter of time.
Many and more have said that the recent downturn was due to the inevitable troubles in the housing/mortgage market - a combination of unscrupulous lenders and inattentive borrowers created quite a tenuous situation, with far too many people getting into adjustable rate mortgages (ARM), basically gambling against a future rise in interest rates. Well, interest rates rose, and almost instantaneously, the housing market was in trouble. Loans were defaulted, houses were reposessed, lives were damaged.
The general assumption is that this is a sign that the "Bush economy" isn't all it's cracked up to be - and with a leftist media, it isn't cracked up to be very much, that's for sure. The truth is, the Bush economy has been doing well - the problem that shook the stock market this week runs much deeper, and has been around much longer than George W. Bush has been president.
The problem with the US economy is that fiscal conservatism is dying in much of America - too many people are buying on credit, without the capital to pay off their bills. Anyone with a nose for history knows that this kind of trend was the instigator of the Great Depression...and thankfully, we seem to have avoided another such depression this week. However, if America does not change its spending habits, I fear that another depression will come, and sooner than anyone things.
Problem 1: Like too many of our citizens, our federal government has been spending on credit for far too long...and it has been spun as a national security strategy (see my previous post).
Problem 2: Too many people buying on credit means too few people with real capital, should the US actually enter an economic crisis. Our nation has become too lax: for some time our economy has been shifting from industry to services, and now we have more credit than capital...these are the harbingers of disaster, especially when the wolves of Communism (Cuba, China, Venezuela, and dare I say Russia) and Islamic Fascism (oil, anyone?) are circling. Whether Europe likes it or not, the United States stands virtually alone as the guardians of freedom and justice on the planet, and as it stands today, we are outnumbered, outgunned, and worst of all, we stand divided against ourselves.
The simple truth is that buying on credit is nice and convenient, but too much buying on credit will bring ruin to America. If China were to call our loans, or if one of our major oil suppliers were to stop supplying us with oil, the potential for an economic collapse is immense. Life in America is good, but we cannot afford to be big spenders. A storm is coming, and our money would be much better spend preparing - digging trenches and setting stakes - because the enemy is coming, it's just a matter of time.
Thursday, August 09, 2007
World Markets in Bad Shape
It seems like only last week that reports were all over the news about how great the stock market was doing. Going up and up and up, breaking records...and now that is all over, for now. The Dow has dropped nearly 400 points, the Asian markets have begun a downward turn, and Europe is now trying to head off a potential financial catastrophe.
These market problems are extremely complex, but there are two primary reasons for this downturn: the US housing market, and China.
The US housing market is, if anything, a temporary speed bump to the world's economies. The problem: the real estate market was too sweet. They call it "a buyer's market." Good for buyers, also good for unscrupulous realtors and bankers. Bad for the ignorant.
Those that weren't taken in by shady dealings were betting against the market, getting into adjustable-rate mortgages and home loans, then crossing their fingers, hoping that interest rates wouldn't rise. When interest rates rose, thousands defaulted on their loans. Bad for America's real-estate industry, and bad for the markets.
The other problem is China. China has been in the midst of a military build-up for years. Recently, they've been posturing, making economic threats against the US. The problem: if China decides to act on those threats, the US could be in real economic trouble.
Years ago, the United States adopted a policy that is basically a form of Cold-War era Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD. We already have a sort of MAD policy going with China, in the more traditional, nuclear holocaust sense, but this new MAD policy has nothing to do with millions dying from nuclear weapons and radiation fallout: it's economic MAD. The theory is, we tie our economy into China's economy until we're so tangled up that if they take us out, they're ruined economically. The problem: it's a global economy, and the scales are tipping in China's favor, to the point that they now wield a cannon, while the US is holding a BB gun. China owns much of the United States' debt. If they were to call in those loans, the US would be in a world of hurt. It would cause major, possibly irreparable damage to the US economy. This kind of economic attack would doubtless hurt China, because our economies are tied so closely together, but China is dependant on US consumers...and losing the US market would be a blow, but one they could eventually recover from by branching out to other markets. The US has become so dependant on cheap goods imported from China that an "economic war" with China could cripple the US economy for innumerable years, until the United States was able to turn back the clock, becoming a primary producer of goods once again.
I'm not very old. I remember being in junior high school and hearing about the debate over granting China Most Favored Nation (MFN) status in order to stimulate trade, and thinking about how bad of an idea that would be. Well, we've been trading with China, they were granted MFN status, and the time to reap what we have sown, it seems, has come sooner than we thought.
The moral of the story: never trust a Communist nation. You'd think that after Russia, the Cold War, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kim Jong Ill & North Korea, the incident with China shooting down a US military plane, and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, we'd learn not to trust Communists...unfortunately, the State Department is slow to learn.
These market problems are extremely complex, but there are two primary reasons for this downturn: the US housing market, and China.
The US housing market is, if anything, a temporary speed bump to the world's economies. The problem: the real estate market was too sweet. They call it "a buyer's market." Good for buyers, also good for unscrupulous realtors and bankers. Bad for the ignorant.
Those that weren't taken in by shady dealings were betting against the market, getting into adjustable-rate mortgages and home loans, then crossing their fingers, hoping that interest rates wouldn't rise. When interest rates rose, thousands defaulted on their loans. Bad for America's real-estate industry, and bad for the markets.
The other problem is China. China has been in the midst of a military build-up for years. Recently, they've been posturing, making economic threats against the US. The problem: if China decides to act on those threats, the US could be in real economic trouble.
Years ago, the United States adopted a policy that is basically a form of Cold-War era Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD. We already have a sort of MAD policy going with China, in the more traditional, nuclear holocaust sense, but this new MAD policy has nothing to do with millions dying from nuclear weapons and radiation fallout: it's economic MAD. The theory is, we tie our economy into China's economy until we're so tangled up that if they take us out, they're ruined economically. The problem: it's a global economy, and the scales are tipping in China's favor, to the point that they now wield a cannon, while the US is holding a BB gun. China owns much of the United States' debt. If they were to call in those loans, the US would be in a world of hurt. It would cause major, possibly irreparable damage to the US economy. This kind of economic attack would doubtless hurt China, because our economies are tied so closely together, but China is dependant on US consumers...and losing the US market would be a blow, but one they could eventually recover from by branching out to other markets. The US has become so dependant on cheap goods imported from China that an "economic war" with China could cripple the US economy for innumerable years, until the United States was able to turn back the clock, becoming a primary producer of goods once again.
I'm not very old. I remember being in junior high school and hearing about the debate over granting China Most Favored Nation (MFN) status in order to stimulate trade, and thinking about how bad of an idea that would be. Well, we've been trading with China, they were granted MFN status, and the time to reap what we have sown, it seems, has come sooner than we thought.
The moral of the story: never trust a Communist nation. You'd think that after Russia, the Cold War, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kim Jong Ill & North Korea, the incident with China shooting down a US military plane, and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, we'd learn not to trust Communists...unfortunately, the State Department is slow to learn.
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