Sep 26, 2008

Liberalism's Bountiful Harvest - Part 2

“Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world, but no one paid any attention.”
-Sir Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946. Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

We have always been partial to those unique individuals who are able – via their powers of observation and induction, their understanding of human nature and history, their vast experience and common sense – to “prophesy.” This involves no supernatural component. It is, however, profoundly valuable.

Such individuals and their ilk ought be regarded highly and sought out in times of turmoil and uncertainty. We are clearly in such times at present.

Thus we encourage those of you who are not familiar with the man, to acquaint yourselves to one Mr. Fred L. Smith Jr., President and Founder of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute is a non-profit public policy organization dedicated to advancing the principles of free enterprise and limited government. In today’s common parlance that would make them a “right-wing nuthouse.”

Not surprisingly, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) rejects the current bailout proposal before the United States Congress and favors the alternative proposed by The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of pro-market members of the GOP Congress.

Pure partisanship? Election year hijinks? Placing politics before country? We think not.

For consider the seemingly miraculous “prophesy” (below) of CEI founder and president Fred Smith regarding the current economic fiasco spoken before a U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Thursday, 15 JUNE, in the year of Our Lord, 2000!!!

We recommend you read his entire statement. For your edification and enragement, however, we have selected certain key excerpts below. (Subtitles supplied by yours truly.)

Corporate Welfare

“Clearly Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were created for “good” purposes – now
the issue is whether the special privileges they’ve been granted, specifically their implicit
government “insurance” policy, act to distort and destabilize the marketplace. …"
---
“There should be no subsidies to private parties without holding these parties accountable to the elected representatives of the people: No subsidies without representation!
On the other hand, if these subsidies are not warranted, then let us eliminate them and privatize these entities as expeditiously as possible. What I would hope this Committee will not do is to perpetuate the mixed status these organizations now enjoy. To paraphrase William Shakespeare: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are neither private “fish” nor political “fowl.” No one knows how to evaluate them – it is time to end this confusion. Privatizing the profit side of the ledger while socializing the loss side is a sure-fire recipe for disaster
.”

Moral Hazard for the Amoral?

The moral hazard problem arises when we bail out investors when things go wrong, when we move toward a “profit-side capitalism/ loss-side socialism” strategy. This is what happened in the S&L crisis and the costs were massive. “Moral hazard” is always a risk when an activity is insured – but the private sector is far better at policing such induced risk. When it’s your money at stake, you’re more careful. Political money managers faces weaker market disciplines: if they fail, they only share in the loss. Government risk subsidies anaesthetize our sensitivity to risk. As Treasury Undersecretary Gary Gensler noted: “Promoting market discipline means crafting government policy so that creditors do not rely on governmental intervention to safeguard them against loss .”…

The moral hazard risks associated with government guarantees have not gone away;
indeed, one might argue that they have now been concentrated in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.”


Poverty Pimps

"Other panel members will address the proposition that these agencies are anti-poverty programs – that they are a means of providing “affordable” housing to low-income and minority consumers. Housing subsidies raise the price of housing – this is a well-known phenomena that reduces the desired impact of most subsidies. As noted above, much of the estimated subsidy (about one-third according to a CBO study) benefits the management and the shareholders of these private firms.

Can anyone imagine Congress approving a $2 billion plus appropriation bill to benefit the
management and shareholders of any other private sector firm? The wording of the CBO study was colorful: “As a means of funneling federal subsidies to home buyers, therefore, the GSEs are a spongy conduit – soaking up nearly $1 for every $2 delivered.” For that matter, can one imagine an honest debate about the merits of authorizing $4 billion to reduce home ownership costs for middle- and upper- income Americans
?”

Had your chance; muffed it!"

“Too often, Congress does nothing when things seem to be going well – and then finds itself unable to take disciplinary action when the crisis occurs. At that late point in the process, the pain would be too great and the political resistance too strong. When it’s not raining, the roof isn’t leaking – when it’s raining, it’s too difficult to fix it. Surely we can do better…”

Surely, we did not. Will we now?

Cheers,

Charlie
UPDATE: From the Competitive Enterprise Institute's OPEN MARKET blog:

"Yeah, maybe irrational greed is a factor in the current crisis, but it is the irrationality of regulators and the greedy demands of community groups that we should be pointing fingers at. If banks had been allowed to act in their own long-term best interest, sure some ill-managed institutions would still crumble, but we would not be witnessing such a wide-spread failure that indicates a system wide error in judgment."
- Michelle Minton, Policy Analysit for CEI

Sep 22, 2008

Liberalism’s Bountiful Harvest

It’s harvest time all across America’s fruited plain and what a glorious harvest it is this year for American liberals.

For well over forty years they have been sowing the seeds of entitlement mentality, racial suspicion, class warfare, government bureaucracy, and moral relativism into American churches, classrooms, town halls, and places of business. Now they are at last bringing home the prize they have worked so hard to achieve: The United Socialist States of America.

Best of all, they have Tom Sawyer’d the Republicans into doing most of the heavy lifting for them.

For instance, they have George W. Bush (the ostensibly Republican President of the United States) asking the Democratic party run Congress to allow the government to buy $700 billion in toxic mortgages. Genius! Not only is this the largest financial bailout of the American economy since FDR’s New Deal but, in conjunction with the $5.2 trillion government takeover of Fannie and Freddie, it amounts to the “the greatest nationalization in the history of humanity.” As we said earlier, eat your heart out Hugo Chavez!

And the people are lovin’ it!

Better still, liberals can have their socialism and eat it too, for they are rather successfully trumpeting this transition as proof positive of the failure of Conservatism.

They’re right of course. This is the failure of Conservatism; not of its principles, however, but in their application, as in - they weren’t!

Observe - at the heart of the America’s present economic meltdown is the mortgage crisis. At the heart of the mortgage crisis are decisions – empowered by liberal dogma of equal access for all regardless of ability to pay – which forced lending institutions to make suicidal loans. The Clinton Administration’s “National Homeownership Strategy” started the ball rolling in 1994. This was followed by a number of well-intentioned/economically-disastrous (read “liberal”) maneuvers which brought The Community re-investment Act of 1977 into full force making matters worse. Bushie’s “ownership society” proposals only furthered the folly. And a wee bit of good old fashioned corruption (oddly majority Democrat) sealed the deal. Alas, the American economy now lay in ruins.

Government mandates forcing businesses to give their product away to those who cannot afford it will go broke. Who knew? Well actually any Kindergartner could tell you that but … damn it was a good ride while it lasted wasn’t it?

Now faced with the staggering tab for feel-good liberalism and the corruption which funds it, the American people are clamoring for the “stability” of Mother Socialism, so long as she dons the snappy blue blazer, striped top hat, and trousers of Uncle Sam.

Bravo America. And welcome to the world federation of socialist republics!

Cheers,

Charlie

UPDATE: Prudent counsel at an hysterical time

UPDATE: MUST READS from Lady Malkin!

Sep 19, 2008

Thanks but no thanks, Sarah

Evidently the term "confirmed" no longer means what it once did.

"Confirmed speakers: Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) and Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY)"

So said the e-mail invitation to a "Rally with Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton to Stop Iran’s Nukes Now!" Said rally was to be held Monday, September 22 in New York City across from the UN building.

But after Mrs. Clinton withdrew from the rally, evidently aghast at the thought of appearing in public with THAT WOMAN, rally organizers (listed below with contact information) are reported to have caved into pressure from liberal groups demanding that they disinvite Mrs. Palin (beak tip to RED STATE!) for fears of appearing - gulp - partisan.

If they are capable of laughter, Mr. Ahmadinejad and friends are surely doing so now.

"Stop Iran’s Nukes Now!" (or perhaps not.)

Sponsoring organizations:


Cheers,


Charlie

Sep 17, 2008

Eat your heart out Hugo Chavez

"The vice of capitalism is that there is an unequal share of the blessings; the virtue of socialism is that there is an equal share of the misery." -Sir Winston Churchill

The government takeover of the American economy is progressing quite nicely. With the bail out of AIG, the government of the people, by the people, and for the people has demonstrated how readily it is adapting to its new role as government over the people.

Sadly, by their behavior, the people seem to be asking for it.

Well give the people what they want. After all, misery loves company.

Cheers,

Charlie

UPDATE: Our dear friends Frank and Shane at Political Vindication report on potential culpability at the root of this titanic fiasco. Shockingly, it involves the Democrat Party.

UPDATE: Uh-oh. Look who's hands are in the Fannie/Freddie Cookie Jar! More here.

UPDATE: Uh-oh. Look at who tried very hard to expose and put an end to all this rubish back in 2005?

UPDATE: It really doesn't matter anymore. Democrats, Republicans, Labor, Torie.... we are all socialists now. So long free market, and thanks for the ride!

Sep 13, 2008

Charlie the Slasher


Mr. Charles Gibson and his editing team have done their level best to further the Kill Palin Now initiative. They too have failed. (Thank God and the U.S. Military for the Internet!!)

Like Britain's, America's conventional media is an unabashed propaganda conduit. The only question remaining is, how much of this are y'awl willing to put up with?

Oh and Mr. Gibson, there's a Mr. Rather on the phone for you...

Cheers,

Charlie

Sep 11, 2008

Jury of Our Peers?

Is anyone surprised? The British jury privileged with the opportunity to send seven Islamaniacs accused of plotting the most spectacular terrorist attack since September 11, 2001 to legal martyrdom, hadn’t the nerve to do so.

Evidently they found greater accord with the defence which proposed these gentlemen had no intention whatsoever of simultaneously blowing up six transatlantic airliners full of innocent men and women with liquid bombs while flying over American metropolitan areas, but instead were merely planning a little anti-war protest at Heathrow airport enhanced by a few homespun pyrotechnics.

To their credit, the jury did manage to find three of the plotters guilty of conspiracy to murder, which is rather like finding John Wilkes Booth guilty of disturbing the peace.

British defense and intelligence officials are beside themselves and prosecutors are expected to seek a retrial as soon as humanly possible.

We submit, however, and regrettably so, that whatever gaggle of British citizens are thrown together in judgment of this case, they are all too likely to arrive at precisely the same verdict.

Stewed in a culture of relativism, non-judgementalism, and multi-culturalism; and seasoned with daily sprinklings of contempt for Western Civilization, they could hardly arrive at anything else.

Far be it from us to draw sweeping conclusions from isolated incidents, but do we not see here the suicide of the free world in microcosm? If a jury of our peers in an open and shut case cannot bring themselves to apply the full weight of the law where and when it is needed most, then why bring the case to trial at all? Why the pretense of a judicial process when in practice it will be subordinated by our fashionable distaste for judging others?

In the post 9-11/7-7 world, if we cannot bring our 800 year tradition of jurisprudence to bear in defence of itself, we are no longer worthy of it.

Cheers,

Charlie

(We invite any and all to peruse this photo essay by our personal secretary, Mr. B Walter Farley, What I Learned on Tuesday: Lessons of Tuesday September 11, 2001.)

Sep 9, 2008

Well that cinches it America...

Gordon Brown – disastrous, socialist, ham-fisted, soon-to-be-jettisoned-from-office-and-none-too-soon, Prime Minister (and we apply the term liberally) of the United Kingdom – has endorsed one Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States.

Need we say anything more?

Cheers,

Charlie

Sep 4, 2008

Tragic Performer; Extraordinary Human Being



After eight years of suffering through Bushie's butchery of Her Majesty's tongue, can we Conservatives endure another four (eight?) years of Mr. McCain's abominable presentation skills?

Well ... yes.

As disastrously as he expresses it, the man is just right on so many things and not all that wrong on the rest. Furthermore, his experience and the lessons he has drawn from it are - even with his painfully awkward delivery - profoundly inspiring.

This is a man of impeccable character, used-car-salesman-smile and all.

We shall keep our eyes on Lady Palin (no great task that), but our hearts and minds are tuned to the content of the character of one Mr. John McCain.

Cheers,

Charlie

Sep 3, 2008

Reagan in a skirt?

Beauty, brains, wit, humor, confidence, humility, passion, grace, strength, patriotism ... we can certainly see why the Lefties despise this woman and seek desperately to destroy her. They shall fail, miserably, as they so often do.
In case you missed it, behold the future of the free world. It has perhaps never looked better!
Oh, someone please advise old John not to "kill the buzz" eh?
Cheers,
Charlie

New Heights of Low


Ever-mining the caves of depravity for even more bilge and bile with which to entertain the masses, “US” magazine has managed to unearth its latest. (Our thanks to Lady Malkin) What an impeccable specimen of yellow journalism, rivaling the British media in its utter disregard for fact and responsibility!

Lefties can’t be taught can they? They overplayed their hand in 2004 and lost a sure thing. Here, they are doing it again while, at the same time, revealing their despicable, hypocritical, spoiled-rotten-child essence for all to see. Bravo. Please do let us provide still more rope with which you might hang yourselves!

We are only sorry Lady Palin and family find themselves in harm’s way for this particular drive-by shooting. This too shall pass.

Cheers,

Charlie