Day-Time Tripping Over Triple A

Barack Obama, Business, Debt, Democrats, Economy, Elections, EU, Europe

In a world in which the written word is rapidly ceding to sound and images, good luck with finding the transcripts of President Barack Obama’s latest address. I’ve captured some of BHO’s verbal vapors for you. In responding to market madness, Obama, by the way, has said exactly what Bush or any Republican president would have said in his place—and that goes for mega Chris Christie, the Lovable Great Leader GOP devotee Ann Coulter fantasizes about.

Essentially, BHO believes that the downgrading of the US’s credit rating was a function of the country’s mischievous political shenanigans: the leadership’s wrangling over the debt ceiling, and not the debt itself.

Standard & Poor’s, the money market’s mortician, was reacting to our dysfunctional political system—to gridlock on Capitol Hill—and not to any economic reality.

US credit, says BHO, is still among the safest in the world. How does he know this? The rest of the world—Europe, Asia, etc.—are faring worse than we are. This is the sum-total of CNN and MSNBC’s “crayon level thinking”; the mantra John King USA, Ali Velshi (Egghead), Wolf Blitzer and Chris Matthews find persuasive.

But from the fact that the world is in bad shape it doesn’t follow that the US is better off.

BHO further galvanized the opinion of wealthy statist Warren Buffett who claims the USA deserves and quadruple A rating.

Yes, yes, we need to effect long-term changes, confirmed Zero, but we have already done all that can be done on the deficit and debt reduction fronts. The time now is ripe for “tax reform,” and mere “modest adjustments” to the large social programs (referred to for good reason as Third-Rail issues, because their reform is so popular with politicians and the people. The latter don’t ever want to be without the warmth of the government udder; the former don’t want to have to make a living in the real job market).

Reiterating the Matthews and Maddow “crayon level thinking,” Da Man went on to warn that any further cutting in government programs would … would… would—here I invite the reader to complete BHO’s warning with the most horrible scenario he can possible imagine. My choice: Donald Trump gets elected.

The president called on the country’s planners to show good will and promised the country—BEHOLD!—another committee, which, as this wily fox well knows, is one way to bury an issue for good.

Cutting the distribution machine that has crippled America’s private economy would be deadly to this very economy—so claims BHO. Thus, deficit spending on programs such as unemployment insurance must be extended. To be fair to this ass with ears, the president did tout the payroll-tax cut.

SEALs Dead; Congressional Deadwood Still Kicking

Hollywood, Intelligence, Military, Terrorism, The State, War

The collective IQ that was lost when the Chinook carrying 22 Navy SEALs was downed by the Taliban yesterday was greater than the scrambled brains of 434 House Representatives (Ron Paul excluded; he’d raise that number).

Dedicate your life to the state, and chances are that life will be squandered.

Navy SEALs are incredible specimens, both intellectually and physically. Every interview with members of this elite unit, following the slaying of bin Laden, demonstrated the superman qualities SEALs possess. Some even look like cut-out images from an episode of “The Unit.” It’s a shame these magnificent action men give their talents over to an entity that is wanton about the wealth and the lives with which it is (foolishly) entrusted: government.

Alas, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, action men like SEALS have few fulfilling options outside the army, given the monopoly over defense held by the military-industrial-complex. Compounding this state-of-affairs is the feminization of our society. In a healthy free society, men made of this stuff would be perfectly suited to raising militia and leading a revolution, alas… .

The Money Market’s Mortician

America, Debt, Economy, Elections, Europe, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation

When Standard & Poor’s cut the American credit outlook to negative, one Canadian wag mocked the credit ratings agency’s “special talent for arriving at the morgue and predicting the demise of the deceased.”

Now the money market’s mortician has made it official:

Via the WSJ: “Standard & Poor’s said U.S. Treasury debt no longer deserved to be considered among the safest investments in the world. S&P removed for the first time the triple-A rating the U.S. has held for 70 years, saying the budget deal recently brokered in Washington didn’t do enough to address the gloomy long-term picture for America’s finances.”

Ask Vladimir Putin, who knows a lot more about inflation that does “Zero,” and he’ll tell you that downgrading obligations such as have been incurred by the USA to an AA+ score is still too optimistic.

The mighty USA’s finances “rank below Liechtenstein and on par with Belgium and New Zealand.”

Be Afraid: The Proof is in the Putin

America, Debt, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Foreign Policy, Government

The following is an excerpt from “Be Afraid: The Proof is in the Putin,” my new, WND.COM column:

“Left and right, the cable commentariat is currently engaged in a cut-and-thrust over the use of strong words in politics. In particular, does ‘terrorism’ describe the initial reluctance of some tea partiers to support the US government’s set-in stone spending?

Lost in this silly squabble is the following: ‘the second coming of the Republican revolution,’ as Politico.com dubbed the tea party contingent on Capitol Hill, failed to defuse the threat of the debt. Only 28 tea-party freshmen voted against the ballyhooed “Budget Control Act Amendment.”

Listen to the words of one wily politician whose country’s central bank holds almost 40 percent of dollars as reserve currency. Vladimir Putin’s response to the debt compromise was pitch-perfect, given the stakes stateside and beyond. This via RT and Press TV, respectively:

‘The current deal struck by US lawmakers will not solve the underlying issues. This colossal debt, $14 trillion or more, means that the country has been living on credit, which is really bad for one of the world’s leading economies. They live beyond their means, and put a part of their burden on the entire world’s economy. … The country is … shifting the weight of responsibility on other countries and in a way acting as a parasite.’

Having impressed themselves no end, the lawmakers who came up with the “Budget Control Act Amendment” don’t impress Putin much.

So what was the deceptive deal that was endorsed by 59 of the already stale tea-party freshmen, and got enthusiastic whoops from many among mainstream media’s menagerie of morons? …”

The complete column is “Be Afraid: The Proof is in the Putin.”

If you are interested in syndicating my weekly, WND column, kindly email me for details at ilana@ilanamercer.com. “Return to Reason“ is WorldNetDaily’s longest standing, exclusive libertarian column.

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