Category Archives: Debt

UPDATED: Israel’s Alright

Constitution, Debt, Iran, Israel, Neoconservatism, War

Israel hase overwhelming military superiority over Iran, a fact that should not be lost in all the heated rhetoric.—Bruce Riedel

“The former head of Israel’s Mossad, Meir Dagan, says Iran won’t get the bomb until at least 2015,” writes the Brookings’ Institution’s Bruce Riedel. “In contrast, Israel has had nuclear weapons since the late 1960s and has jealously guarded its monopoly on them in the region. The Israelis have used force in the past against developing nuclear threats. Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 were the targets of highly effective Israeli airstrikes against developing nuclear weapons programs. Israel has seriously considered conducting such a strike against Iran and may do so, especially now that it has special bunker-busting bombs from the United States.”

Read Riedel on Israel’s “multiple delivery systems,” “the Israeli air force’s capability,” and the country’s “conventional military superiority over Iran and the rest of the region,” including its “armed forces’ intelligence and electronic warfare capabilities,” which are “vastly superior to those of its potential rivals.”

Israel is more than capable of taking care of business. I support the right of the Israelis to do what their admirably cautious generals and intelligence agents (like Dagan) think is necessary to protect themselves—I do not support America’s moves on Iran.

“Let’s Fret About Our Own Tyrants.” “In case the advocates of a muscular response have failed to notice, we’re pinned down like butterflies by our own tyrants.”

UPDATE (Feb. 7): “Iran poses no ‘existential threat’ to Israel – ex-Mossad chief”:

[Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy] argues that talk of Iran posing an “existential threat” to Israel is merely Tel Aviv using big words to impress the international community. … “I think Israel is strong enough to protect itself, to take care of itself. I think ultimately it is not in the power of Iran to destroy the state of Israel,” he told RT. “I believe the leadership believes that in order to arouse international public opinion, in order to mount pressure on the Iranians, it is necessary to impress upon the world at large that this is a serious international threat.

UPDATED: Mitt Romney’s Foreign Policy Bellicosity (Sununu Stumping for Romney)

Debt, Elections, Foreign Policy, Military, Republicans

In his Florida victory speech, Mitt Romney promised: “I will insist on a military so powerful no one would ever think of challenging it. President Obama has adopted a policy of appeasement and apology. I will speak out for those seeking freedom and I will stand shoulder to shoulder with our friends around the world.”

Romney offered a permutation of the promise in the Nevada victory speech, Saturday, February 4, where he took 49.4% of the vote (14,535 votes).

President Obama is shrinking our military and hollowing out our national defense. I will insist on a military so powerful that no one would ever think of challenging it. President Obama believes America’s role as leader in the world is a thing of the past. I believe the 21st century will be and must be an American century.

Romney understands business, not economics. One needs an understanding of the natural laws of economics to comprehend the extent of the economic malaise that afflicts the US. “The defining characteristic of the Unites States is debt—public and private. America is a debtor nation,” I wrote in “Republicans, Repent!” Course correction is unlikely for a country, America, that is now the biggest debtor nation in the world.

His foreign policy bellicosity aside, Romney is sincere when he says that “the disappointments of the last few years are a detour, not our destiny.” Sincere, pleasant, presidential, but hopelessly delusional about the feasibility of course-correction. (Consider: The Tea Party Congress has done precious little to correct course, except to get comfortable on the Hill.)

UPDATE: John Sununu was on FoxBussiess today promising that Mitt Romney would add 100,000 men and women to the Navy to beef it up. That is the definition of insanity. To accuse OBama of gutting the American military qualifies too.

Sununu, who is stumping for Romney, does have a good idea, though, of who New Gingrich is:

“When Newt Gingrich talks about big ideas, I take ‘big’ as being a synonym for cockamamie because half the stuff he comes up with is unrealistic and undoable at a time when we’re dealing with huge budget deficits, when we are expressing concerns about $15 trillion, $16 trillion debt. He is talking about a trillion dollar program to go to the moon. There are appropriate times to have ideas that are new and different. This is not a time to spend a billion dollars going to the moon. Most of the ideas he has are designed to be self-aggrandizing.”

Paul Financial Portfolio

Business, Debt, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Ron Paul

OF COURSE RON PAUL IS INTO METAL BIG TIME. Naturally, Austrians in economics will be gold bugs and/or general metalheads.

It should be no surprise that, “Twenty-one percent of [Ron Paul’s] $2.4 to $5.5 million was in real estate, 14 percent in cash. He owns no bonds. Only 0.1 percent is invested in stocks, and Paul bought these ‘short,’ betting the price will plunge. Every other nickel is sunk into gold and silver mining companies.”

“This portfolio,” said [financial analyst William Bernstein], “is a half step away from a cellar-full of canned goods and 9-millimeter rounds.” [Dah!]
“You can say this for Ron Paul,” conceded [the Wall Street Journal]. “In investing as in politics, (Paul) has the courage of his convictions.”

MORE.

The Des Moines Desperado

Barack Obama, Debt, Democracy, Elections, Republicans, Ron Paul

The Des Moines Register has bedecked the frontage of its online version with the advertised achievements of America’s sitting desperado in chief. Juxtaposed with Ron Paul’s “entrance poll” numbers on the same page, Obama’s “accomplishments,” which amount to increasing the national debt by many trillions of depreciated dollars, are a rude wake-up call for America. Could the silent majority in this great country of ours be awakening to the lies of mainstream media and their promiscuous spender? Just the thought brings tears to this cynic’s eyes. (Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews are visibly panicked. This too bodes well for our side.)