EconBob

Bob Michaelson 2/15/12

Fiscal Year 2007 U.S. Budget Deficit – $161 billion

2008 – $459 billion

2009 – $1,413 billion

2010 – $1,293 billion

2011 – $1,300 billion

2012 – projected – $1,327 billion

Source – http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_deficit

Why have we allowed Congress and the President to take us from “normal” deficits of around $400 billion per year to THREE TIMES that level, $1.2 Trillion EVERY YEAR?!

They used the financial crisis as an excuse to jack up spending and leave it there.

Throw the bums out!

Bob Michaelson Jan. 6th, 2012

I recently saw a TV report on the situation in North Korea. It was produced by NHK, a Japanese station. It seems that the Japanese follow  what’s going on in North Korea very closely. They are neighbors and many Japanese have been kidnapped by North Korean agents over the last 30 years or so. It was an excellent report.

The first part showed some street vendors selling tomatoes and other produce. I think it was in Pyongyang. They were chased away by government authorities. They did not have a license or permit or whatever it takes in the DRNK to sell products. The government agents knew they did not have licenses because they, and their comrades, are the only ones who issue licenses. The vendors complained, out of earshot of the officials, that there is no other way to make money than selling products.

I guess they were making (what the government deemed as) too much profit. Sounds familiar.

Then, later in the report, we were informed that all the major sectors of the economy are run by the government in North Korea, including health care! Sounds familiar. Just like what Democrats in Congress and BO are trying to do here.

By Bob Michaelson, Gypsy Guide Guy in Hawaii

This audio tour guide narrates what you’re seeing on the Hana Highway, road to Haleakala and other routes. Kindly visit here for more info and to reserve your rental today!

To see it in action, here’re some samples from YouTube:

Lahaina, Maui clip here

Drive to Hana clip here

Coming soon to the Big Island! Also available in Las Vegas, Canadian Rockies and Oahu

Conservative Commune The Conservative Talent Bank and Marketplace. Home

by Bob Michaelson

From an ABC News Interview, reported in the LA Times here.

“In a short but wide-ranging interview, the president spoke for the first time on the collapse of Solyndra, the solar start-up company that got a government-backed loan in 2009.

The question arose shortly after Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released copies of internal emails in which senior administration officials warned against having Obama visit the company as its financial troubles piled up.

Obama said the loan guarantee program is working well overall, despite the fact that “not every single business is going to succeed.”

If the U.S. wants to compete with other countries that are subsidizing “industries of the future,” Obama said, the government has to make sure American companies “get a shot” to compete.

“Hindsight is always 20/20,” Obama said. “It went through the regular review process and people felt this was a good bet.”"

I guess when you’ve already flushed hundreds of billions of dollars down the toilet via “stimulus” a half billion is no big deal. Another response was that we have to compete with China on these green energy projects.

Six reasons the U.S. governement should not be in the venture capital business:

1. They should not gamble with our money. VCs expect to get 1 big win out of 10 investments and 2 or 3 decent returns out of the same 10. This cannot work via government “investment” because there’s no guarantee any will pan out.

2. They have shown they are incompetent. Who cares if China leads the world in producing solar panels. We can buy them cheaply and still gain all the (over-hyped) advantages of using them.

3. It invites “Crony Capitalism” or, in the current case, “Crony Socialism.”

4. They target the wrong industries.

5. They choose the wrong winners within those industries.

6. It’s gambling with money we don’t have now.

This was in response to a book review on the leading economists of the last 200 years.

See the review here.

EconBob's Comment

by Bob Michaelson

This is an ad hominem attack in response to the same, and no one deserves it more.

Prof. Paul Krugman posted a cowardly column today on 9/11, calling certain heroes of 9/11 “fake heroes.”

There’s a nice symmetry here, because Krugman is a fake economist! He’s controlled by politics exclusively, commonly known as an ideologue.

He chose not to allow comments “for obvious reasons.” Yes, because about 150 million people would verbally barf in his face!

If you want to read the asinine column it’s here:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/11/the-years-of-shame/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto

By the way, I’ve closed comments on this site because we get so many spam comments. But you can comment on another Krugman comment of mine attached to a book review of Genius Economists here on the WSJ site. Funny, Krugman was not mentioned in the review!

Opinion by  Bob Michaelson

There was a rather large reward offered by the US for killing or capturing bin Laden, $25 million, I believe. I think we should Pay the Reward to Seal Team 6 for Wacking Bin Laden!

Opinion by Bob Michaelson, 28 May 2011

Balance and symmetry please the eye and are therefore very important in life. When one looks at a map of the US, Alaska is usually shrunk to 1/4 scale (Alaska is a VERY large state; I know because I worked as a deckhand there during college. It took us several days to go around Kodiak Island in the tender I was on, and Kodiak is a tiny island compared to the rest of the state.) And Hawaii sits 23,000 miles south of Alaska in the middle of the azure Pacific.

Whether the cartographers show Alaska full-sized or not, it doesn’t make sense to have our 49th and 50th states on the same side of the continental US. It’s out of balance. Hawaii, a most beautiful state, should be moved to the Caribbean for aesthetics sake.

In this map it’s already half-way there!

Let us know your view on this. Email me at bob(at)adeptlink.com

By Bob Michaelson, Admin

Yesterday, Pres. Obama mocked those who complain about our southern border being too porous:

< On his first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since becoming president, Obama boasted of increasing border patrol agents, nearing completion of a border fence, and screening more cargo. “We have gone above and beyond what was requested by the very Republicans who said they supported broader reform as long as we got serious about enforcement,” Obama said.

“But even though we’ve answered these concerns, I gotta say I suspect there are still going to be some who are trying to move the goal posts on us one more time.” “Maybe they’ll need a moat,” he said mockingly to laughter from the crowd. “Maybe they’ll want alligators in the moat.” >

(article excerpt from http://www.wlsam.com//Article.asp?id=2182963)

Does he think the rancher killed in Arizona by illegals on his own property would find this funny, were it possible to ask him?

Does he think that the mother in San Francisco whose husband and sons were killed by an illegal alien, already charged with a felony before he murdered 3 people for honking at him for blocking the street would find it funny or appropriate in any way?

Or families of numerous people killed by drunk drivers who were illegal aliens, excuse me “migrant workers”- would they find it funny?

BHO – Go ahead and try to pander to one of your base constituencies but don’t make a joke out of this serious issue.