THE FOUR GOVERNMENT-CAUSED REASONS FOR OUR ECONOMIC MESS
How much money would the government have to give you and every other American to avoid a recession? You cannot answer because the question contains a false conclusion, and when political arguments are about false conclusions, the wrong policies are pursued. To try to reverse the current economic slowdown, one first must understand the real causes and then try to correct those causes. Many in Congress, the administration, and the Fed have misdiagnosed the problem and then given the wrong medicine -AKA "the stimulus package." There are four government-caused reasons why Washington remains "stuck on stupid" regarding the economy.
BACK IN THE USSR
If Yogi Berra happens to be in Moscow this coming May 9, we know what he'd say: "Looks like déjà vu all over again." On that day, heavy military equipment will once again roll down Moscow's Red Square for the Victory Day military parade. Tanks, missiles, and 6,000 troops will be joined overhead by fighter aircraft and military helicopters. The last time Moscow saw such a display of military hardware was November 1990, before the collapse of the Soviet Union. The parade is designed to generate nostalgia among the Russian people and to signal the U.S., NATO members and Russia's neighbors that Russia's power is back. It also illustrates President Vladimir Putin's emphasis on the military and security services at the expense of modern, democratic institutions.
WHERE AL QAEDA IS EVEN LESS POPULAR THAN NANCY PELOSI
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared again on CNN's "Late Edition" program Sunday (2/10) that the troop surge in Iraq is a failure. Ms. Pelosi's timing was unfortunate for what shreds remain of her credibility. Her statement coincided with the release by U.S. forces in Iraq Saturday (2/09) of the diary of Abu Tariq, an al Qaeda leader around the northern city of Balad. The diary was captured in a raid in November. It apparently had been written the month before. Abu Tariq once had nearly 600 fighters under his command, but his force has dwindled to no more than 20. The chief reason for this, he wrote, was the decision of most Sunni tribes to throw in with the Americans.
WILL HILLARY’S FATE BE DECIDED IN WISCONSIN?
I never thought I'd feel sorry for Hillary Clinton. The truth is I don't. But I'm grateful to her for removing a stigma from the guy I wanted to be president, Rudy Giuliani. We have many months yet to go in this presidential election cycle, but already it's becoming notorious for whopping misjudgments. Until recently, the stigma for having run the worst campaign in modern history seemed to be a dead heat between my guy Rudy for forsaking the earlier contests to focus on Florida, and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson who thought he could win the GOP nomination from his hammock. But Hillary Clinton is overtaking them. How does one go from being the "inevitable" nominee of the Democratic party to a rapidly sinking underdog? It helps to have a charismatic opponent like Sen. Barack Obama, and to not be very charismatic yourself. But most of Hillary's wounds are self inflicted.
THE CAUCUS – A LAST BASTION OF SELF-DETERMINATION
Unless you live in one of the 17 states that still use the caucus as part of the political nominating process, your knowledge of that institution is likely limited to Iowa caucus reports on the news. Yet the caucus plays a broader, important role in our presidential nominating process. In states that have retained or returned to the caucus - such as my state of Colorado - every election year sees a spirited debate over the merits and demerits of the caucus system. The young lady who cuts my hair, a staunch conservative Republican, expresses the negative viewpoint as well as anyone. She doesn't like the caucus system because it excludes too many people. To prove her point, I suppose, she self-excluded herself by not attending the caucus in our precinct, despite my strong encouragement to do so! Our local Republican Party treasurer, on the other hand, champions the caucuses because they're the only place the average voter can actually participate in debates on issues and candidates and have those debates translate into meaningful action. I myself like the caucus system for an entirely different reason.
WHAT A BEACH PARTY!
Sunset on the beach at Sarasota, Florida, with good friends and an adult beverage. Can't beat that, especially when those friends are fellow TTPers. All of us sure did have a good time. Here's a synopsis of what we did and what we learned.
MCCAIN AS THE ANTI-REAGAN
It's going to take a while for conservatives to become fully resigned to John McCain's securing the Republican presidential nomination. They may never be if he does some incredibly dumb thing like picking a Preacher Socialist - Mike Huckabee - as his running mate, or his supporters continue to demonize conservative heroes like Rush Limbaugh for not genuflecting at the saintly image of Sir Galahad McCain. No Knight of King Arthur's Round Table, like Sir Galahad who McCain pretends to be, possessed "a strutting self-righteousness... that goes hand in hand with a nitroglycerin temper." That memorably accurate description of John McCain by Mona Charen explains why McCain is the Anti-Reagan. Aside from Ronald Reagan the politician, statesman, or political conservative, Ronald Reagan the human being was someone of great-hearted likeability. It was almost impossible to dislike him. The contrast is stark. It is almost impossible to actually like, to be genuinely fond of John McCain because at the bottom of his character he is an insufferable jerk. Because of his essential unlikeableness, McCain cannot create conservative passion for him. This truth will outrage the McCainiacs, who will thus angrily blame his loss in November upon conservatives. But as anyone should know on this Valentine's Day, you can't force someone to love you. You've got to entice them instead. You don't angrily stomp your feet and call them deranged if they don't love you. There's no bigger turn-off than that.
REAGAN VS. CLINTON BY THE NUMBERS
Under which recent president do you think the U.S. economy performed best? The policies of Presidents Bush, father and son, and Jimmy Carter clearly did not work as well as Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's. So let's compare their economic performance. For the numbers show that Democrats can continue "the-Clinton-economy-was-best" ploy only if the Republicans and the news media let them get away with the factual misrepresentation.
THE ACCIDENT OF MCCAIN
Assuming John McCain gets the Republican nomination, it will show how whimsical history can be. It would be the first time in living memory that a Republican presidential nomination went to a candidate who was not merely opposed by a majority of the party, but was actively despised by about a half of its rank-and-file voters across the country -and by many if not most of its congressional officeholders. After all, the McCain electoral surge was barely able to deliver a plurality of one-third of the Republican vote in a three-, four- or five-way split field. He has won fair and square - but he has driven the nomination process askew. This result reminds me of the nursery rhyme:
TTP AND HISTORY
At the Winter Rendezvous this weekend in Sarasota, one topic of discussion will be how to make improvements in To The Point, making it even better. We're jumping the gun this week, and making one many of you have been requesting for a while. That is to provide a side bar for categories of articles. Over the next few weeks, we'll be adding categories with links to all the TTP articles on say, Islam, or Mexico, Russia, China, Democrat Fascism, Global Warming, Science, Health, etc. The first one, however, is history. In the TTP Article Category side bar will be a link to all the articles on the history of various countries and regions of the world. It's the one many of you have wanted most of all. Here's the list. There will be more lists to come.