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Phil Gramm has a wonderful piece in the WSJ that puts the current economic situation in historical perspective. The Senator shows what Obama and his policies have cost us in diminished growth.
…If we had matched the 1982 recovery rate, today annual per-capita income would be $4,154 higher than before the recession—that’s an extra $16,600 for a family of four—and some 15.7 million more Americans would have jobs. That’s enough jobs to employ 100% of the 13.5 million Americans currently classified as unemployed. In addition, we would have provided jobs for 30% of both the 2.4 million discouraged or marginally attached workers and the 4.8 million who have totally dropped out of the work force since January 2008.
A compelling case can be made that Reagan’s tax cuts, Social Security reforms, regulatory reforms, and limits on the growth and power of the federal government not only helped the economy shake off the malaise of the 1970s but generated an economic growth premium that bore dividends for Americans until 2007.
And if the Reagan policies of the 1980s were sufficiently different from those of the previous decade to generate a growth premium, cannot a case be made that the policies of the Obama administration are sufficiently different from those of the previous quarter-century to alter the growth trend and impose a growth discount?
…Americans did not realize that the price they might pay for big government would be 15.7 million fewer jobs and $4,154 less in per-capita income. Big government costs more than higher taxes. It is paid for with diminished freedom and less opportunity. You can’t have unlimited opportunity and unlimited government.
Ed Morrissey has an exciting update on Wisconsin’s budget.
…Walker has played long ball, however, and his economic policies got a major boost yesterday from the state’s budget office. His new budget will keep property taxes from rising more than 1% each of the next two years, and his proposal has all but eliminated the state’s deficit:
The property tax bill on the typical Wisconsin home would rise by less than 1% annually over the next two years under Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget, the Legislature’s nonpartisan budget office reported Friday.
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau also said Walker’s plan would put the state’s finances in the best shape they’ve been in for more than 15 years. …
Wisconsin voters sent Republicans to Madison to fix the state’s finances. Democrats controlled state politics for decades and left a legacy of overspending and debt, and Republicans were given an opportunity to fix it. It looks as though they’ve succeeded, and that’s very bad news indeed for unions and their Democratic allies. …
Mark Steyn takes aim at the president’s pretty words about wasting money. And he brings attention to an alarming statistic.
…Vegas is no longer the world’s biggest gambling resort; America is. Barack Obama says we need to “win the future,” and one more roll of the dice should do it: A trillion dollars of chips on the stimulus came up empty but let’s pile another couple trillion on Obamacare, and “high-speed rail,” and “green jobs” and “broadband access… But don’t worry, we’re not just throwing our money away. We’re playing to a system! The president calls it “investing in the future.”
How do you “invest in the future”? By borrowing $188 million every hour. That’s what the Government of the United States is doing. It’s spending one-fifth of a billion dollars it doesn’t have every hour of every day of every week – all for your future!
…Government is not alone in “investing” in “the future.” The New York Times reported last week that in 2010, for the first time, student-loan debt topped credit-card debt. This year, college debt is projected to be over a trillion dollars – a spectacular increase in just the past decade. America is now dumping two-thirds of Canada’s or India’s GDP not into overall debt but into one small niche market of debt. Yet, in a nation with a trillion dollars of student debt, 40 percent of Americans work in minimal-skill service jobs about to be rendered obsolete by technology…
Question: How much do you have to invest in the future before you’ve spent it and no longer have one?…
In the Daily Beast, Patricia Murphy reports on how some liberal politicians are reacting to the budget deal.
…There is no more visible symbol of Democratic disgruntlement than the woman who was perhaps the president’s closest ally when she wielded the speaker’s gavel. When Nancy Pelosi voted against the budget measure Thursday, she did little to hide her anger with the White House over the fact that Obama, for the first time, had left her out of the negotiations on a major deal. Instead, he chose to work directly with Boehner and Reid to hammer out the compromise that each could take back to their caucuses for approval.
…For many Democrats, the budget bill was only the latest in a string of disappointments served up from the White House since 2009, when Obama swept into office on a tide of goodwill and a platform of base-pleasing promises they say he hasn’t lived up to. On the list are his pledges to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, pass comprehensive immigration reform, and end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.
…Some legislative grumbling is inevitable when a party returns to power after eight years. But a number of Democrats are past protesting the president, discussing among themselves ways to recruit a primary challenger in 2012. …
In Gallup, Jeffrey Jones breaks down the president’s job approval numbers.
The latest Gallup Daily tracking three-day average shows 41% of Americans approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president. That ties his low as president, which he registered three times previously — twice in August 2010 and once in October 2010.
…Obama’s approval rating in April 12-14 polling is down most among independents when compared with his 2011 average to date as well as his term average among this group. Currently, 35% of independents approve of the president, nine points off his average from independents this year. Democrats’ current ratings are also below what he has averaged thus far in 2011 (down four points), while Republicans’ are the same. …
Craig Pirrong tells of his recent encounter with a TSA officer.
I read this article about how the TSA is targeting complainers right before heading out to the airport. Not that it made any difference (as you’ll see in a bit). The line at Terminal C of IAH was interminable–35 minutes in mid-afternoon. There weren’t that many people in line, but TSA had only 1 lane open and was making everyone go through the body scanner so the line moved at a glacial pace. In preparation for the scanner, I took off my watch, and removed my wallet, boarding pass, and plastic comb from my pockets (the last item having been identified as suspicious in one of my previous nude photo shoots). I went through the machine, fingers touching over my head as instructed. (Guess which ones.) I get out of the scanner, and Officer Friendly says (I quote exactly): “I need to inspect your buttocks.”
Oh joy.
So he gropes, and says, “What’s in your back pocket?” I thought I’d taken out everything, but I reached in and found a piece of Kleenex balled up at the very bottom. I show the worthy public servant, who barks at me: “We told you to take EVERYTHING out of your pockets.” I replied: “Sorry. So relieved to know you are keeping the skies safe from the Kleenex threat.” Apropos the article, that set me up for special treatment: the bomb swab.
I’m sure you’re shocked to learn that I passed.
What’s the point of having expensive technology that can provide precise, anatomically correct 3D images of your junk, but can’t identify a plastic comb–or a piece of facial tissue–as harmless? …
Neatorama takes a fond look back at the development of one time-saving appliance.
There are many brilliant products that were discovered by accident and the microwave just might be one of the most amazing. In 1945, Percy Spencer was hired by Raytheon to improve radar sets through the use of magnetrons, which generate microwaves that allow for smaller objects to be detected on radars.
He was working on one of his radar sets when he noticed that a candy bar in his pocket had started to melt. He quickly realized the melting was caused by the microwaves being emitted from the magnetrons and he started experimenting with cooking different foods in the waves. He soon developed a large metal box which would prevent the microwaves from escaping. The device was extremely effective at cooking foods in a short amount of time.
Raytheon filed a patent for the microwave in 1945 and gave one of their devices to a Boston restaurant for testing. The tests were a success and in 1947, the company released their first commercial version to the public. It was 5’11” tall, weighed about 750 pounds and cost $5000 (about $49,500 after inflation). The first one of these devices was installed in the NS Savannah, a nuclear-powered ship. It’s still there today. …