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The Obama Watch

Monkeying Around

By on 8.17.10 @ 6:07AM

Remember those stories about Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned?

By Ralph R. Reiland

Remember those stories about Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned?

Actually, if he was really playing, it was probably a lyre, a small harp-like stringed instrument. Fiddles weren’t around yet.

Well, showing how little the art of governance has improved, we’re now borrowing money from China to buy cocaine for monkeys, calling it a jobs program, and running up the national debt to $14 trillion.

Or, perhaps worse, President Obama might get the money here at home for his failing jobs programs by grabbing even more money out of the pockets of America’s key job creators.

Fully one-third of the high-income taxpayers that Obama and the Democrats are targeting for tax hikes in January — on income, dividends, capital gains and inheritances — are the nation’s small business owners, the people who create the bulk of the new jobs in the U.S. economy.

As part of the recent non-stimulating stimulus bills, Wake Forest University received $71,623 to “study how monkeys react under cocaine.” There’s also a grant of $181,000 to see how cocaine enhances the sex drive of Japanese quail.

That’s $252,623, enough loan money in this down economy to pay for a year’s rent at a dozen storefronts, a strong incentive for the launching of startup companies that could well have the potential of hiring hundreds of people off the unemployment rolls.

Instead, what we’ll get for our money out of this particular jobs spending is a few high monkeys, a covey of stoned quail, and a bit of temporary employment for a handful of grad students and a few crack professors.

To add to this monkeying around, taxpayers are now picking up the tab for over 2 million cell phones and prepaid minutes for people who are allegedly unable to purchase this new necessity out of their own pockets.

Let’s just hope that those guys hanging out on our most dilapidated street corners with complimentary cell phones stuck to their ears all day are chatting with their mothers, checking in to see if all’s okay at home, and not conversing with their customer base.

Still, none of the aforementioned is saying that monkeys aren’t interesting or that we can’t learn things by studying them. It’s just that snorting monkeys aren’t what belongs in a jobs bill if we’re trying to get our biggest bang in terms of employment growth.

Last year, for instance, researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine reported that adult male monkeys exposed to cocaine while in the womb have almost no impulse control.

And it’s not temporary. For years, they freak out more than the average monkey after they’ve been exposed to cocaine in the womb, and it’s just males who are affected, not females.

In other words, it’s smart not to flash negative finger signals to male drivers in neighborhoods where cocaine use wasn’t exactly frowned upon when they were unsuspecting and innocent embryos.

Page: 1 2  

About the Author

Ralph R. Reiland is the B. Kenneth Simon professor of free enterprise and an associate professor of economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (76) |

Emma| 8.17.10 @ 6:15AM

"As part of the recent non-stimulating stimulus bills, Wake Forest University received $71,623 to 'study how monkeys react under cocaine.' "

I thought they could do that by just reviewing C-span video.

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 10:26AM

We have NOT “run up the national debt to $14 trillion” to “buy cocaine for monkeys,” but rather to pay for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, a bloated defense budgets, and two failed Wars!

Clinton nee Publius | 8.17.10 @ 10:33AM

What? Now you are saying that government spending isn't good for the economy? You are going to try and tell us - dirtbag that you are - that government spending is a stimulus when it supports welfare and not a stimulus when it supports defense?

Right. You would be better served telling us the Socialist "Right Leader" has arrived who can finally demonstrate that command economics works.

Man, you really need to do better than this if you are going to debate economics on this board.

JmsA| 8.17.10 @ 2:23PM

Clinton nee Publius,

Don't waste your time with the witless vitwin, he doesn't even know that actuarial Medicare and Social Security projections could not be made without statistics. He actually thinks that statistics only apply to polling.

Clinton nee Publius| 8.17.10 @ 3:49PM

I'll never forget the one about complaining about Bush deficits, but defending deficits 10 times larger under the obammy commies... Now that was hubris.

JayPitsby| 8.17.10 @ 3:21PM

DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!!!

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 4:41PM

He says as he feeds the tolls!

JayPitsby| 8.17.10 @ 3:21PM

DON'T FEED THE TROLLS!!!

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 4:42PM

He says as he feeds the tolls!

The Al| 8.17.10 @ 12:18PM

Actually, analyzing Congressional Budget Office data we can see that the Bush tax cuts, 2 wars, and his Medicaid package result in only a fraction of the deficit we now have today. Truth is that out of control government spending is what has caused these deficits. And Bush was one hell of a spender himself.

Here's a few brief points

* The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were responsible for just 14 percent of the swing from the projected cumulative $5.6 trillion surplus for 2002–2011 to an actual $6.1 trillion deficit. The vast majority of the shift was due to higher spending and slower-than-projected economic growth.
* President Barack Obama’s assertion that most future deficits will result from the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the Medicare drug entitlement is based on faulty methodology, but is still wrong even using that methodology.
* Above-average spending, not below-average revenues, accounts for 92 percent of rising budget deficits by 2014 and 100 percent by 2017.
* Nearly all rising spending will occur in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and net interest payments.

Read it all yourself

http://www.heritage.org/Resear.....et-Deficit

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 12:44PM

“Nearly all rising spending will occur in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and net interest payments.”

This MAYBE true of future deficits but neither Security nor Medicare, which are presently running a$4.8 trillion surplus, are responsible for our present $13 trillion debt.

Therefore I would argue that the “supply-side” tax-cuts --their accumulated interest cost and the resulting poor economic performance-- under Reagan, Bush, and Bush, are the primary cause of present national debt.

“The ratio of national debt to GDP is currently 37%…if the [Bush] tax cuts are made permanent…the debt-to-GDP will rise inexorably starting after 2010, reaching 100% in 2035 and more than 200% in 2050” -- Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

http://theboard.blogs.nytimes....../#more-159

JmsA| 8.17.10 @ 2:25PM

vitwin,

Does that lefty link include anything about actuarial Social Security and Medicare projections being arrived at through statistical analysis?

Clinton nee Publius | 8.17.10 @ 3:55PM

Did you get that from another commie think tank? Tell us how that Keynesian myth is working bubba. Don't forget to go through the part about the laws of mathematics that don't apply to liberal "economics" and explain to us your rational as to why Obama is the "right leader" to make socialism work and why welfare spending is so good, we don't increase it by $5 trillion this year - after all, it's all a stimulus, right?

I got $10 that says you don't even know what the heck a stimulus really is...

hahahahahahahahahahaha.... Another liberal loser who lives in the la-la land of rainbow-powered unicorn green cars and those wonderful green jobs that government creates. I remember in the winter hearing all your b.s. about the jobs Keynesian deficit spending was going to create.

Wassamadda? Got some jobs? What happened to the housing market? We had to hear all your bullcrap about "stimulating" the housing market with more Fannie and Freddie support and yet here we are with housing starts down again and the housing industry flatter than Obama's approval numbers.

Wait, wait... I know! How about another liberal "workshop study group" or "breakout group" whatever you idiots call it when you put a bunch of stupid commie command economy idiots in the same room to "solve something". You can't even figure out what a stimulus is and you are going to lecture us? I love it.

Oh and don't forget to blame someone else for being losers! hahahahahahahaha

Yeah, that'll hold the House and Senate!

The Al| 8.18.10 @ 12:34PM

Where the hell are you getting these numbers VTwin?? You say the radio of debt to GDP is currently 37%?? That's so completely unbelievable that I don't even know how to being yelling at you.

The CBO, Obama's own Congressional Budget Office, released a report at the beginning of 2010 (before Obamacare was passed) that said the projected debt to GDP ratio will be over 90% by 2020 because of Obama's policies. It's been widely reported that debt to GDP ratio is above 80% right now!!! I read a report in the Wall Street Journal a month or two ago (after Obamacare was passed) saying that our federal debt has reached a point where it's greater than our GDP.

Your numbers are horrific and simply untrue.

Medicaid has already stopped paying for patients. Medicare Chief Actuary reports that already two-thirds of hospitals were losing money on Medicare patients. Social Security is giving out more money than it's taking it. It's very hard to argue that they both have surpluses. Because in reality, they do not.

But I guess that's just the world of the liberal. You make up numbers to suit your cause. None of it is real.

chester arthur| 8.17.10 @ 11:53PM

And three hardboiled eggs.Also to pay liberal morons to defend the highest deficits in history,compounded in less than 2 years.And to keep the world safe for ivy league nitwits who've never held a real job.

Grzmlyk| 8.18.10 @ 10:52AM

What's the matter, sewage? Haven't gotten your share of the blow yet?

cclusn| 8.17.10 @ 10:23PM

Or, they could just watch MSNBC!

Pam| 8.18.10 @ 12:51PM

Kinda makes me want to do drugs........

Jonathan| 8.17.10 @ 6:40AM

Why send the money to Wake Forest? If you want to find a drug-addled ape, you can find one in the Oval Office!

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 10:35AM

Sorry the cocaine using monkey vacated the oval office and moved back to Texas.

http://www.cocaine.org/george-bush/index.html

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 11:18AM

GW repented of his sin decades ago and you know it. In contrast~ Obama currently indulges in defending the building of the abomination of an Islamic mosque on sacred ground. And all you want to look at are a man's past sins. Sad.

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 12:16PM

The United States Constitution:

Amendment 1: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Ken Roberts | 8.17.10 @ 4:35PM

I may as well feed the Troll as it looks as though others are; I guess we just have a kind side . So where is your separation of church and state Vtwin isn't that one of your unspecifics that is thrown out every time someone talks about religion . I am hard pressed to think of Islam as a religion it is more cult like than anything I have seen . beheadings, cover the woman up, stone her to death if someone (male) rapes her . Isn't that a sweet religion see you as a liberal male could go about raping who ever you wanted and then the woman would be stoned and you walk free to rape again is that what you are referring to as religion? if it is you are a sad sack /..... Even Obama changed his stand on the Mosque because he felt the heat of the day which is "build it somewhere else" . What would be your way to stay alive under their law commit to the religion or pay a head tax . You do maybe have a choice . I admit I don't know what stimulus is according to what has been done with the money It appears it is going some where but no one knows exactly where. Could be going to a slush fund for re-election as far as we know, because we have not seen any results . MacAlister : I could not resist sorry I do enjoy setting the stage for failure for them

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 5:17PM

“I am hard pressed to think of Islam as a religion it is more cult like than anything I have seen.”

Simply put; the United States Constitution doesn’t give a FUCK what you think of the Islamic religion.

Fenestra| 8.17.10 @ 6:39PM

You're wrong!

We jailed the Japs in WW2, ran German Americans to the ground in WW1, and if this Islam terror keeps up we will do it again. Just wait until a nuc goes off in this country. You ain't seen nothing yet.
Don't like it, move. But you will find this country is the fairest anywhere, fairest anyway that lasts.

Kenneth E. MacAlister Jr.| 8.17.10 @ 12:33PM

Margie, don't feed the idiots who frquent this site (vtwin, etc.). Just sit back & bask in their moronic idiocy. Only The Almighty GOD can reach these people. Also vtwin has no clue what the establishment clause really means, so don't even bother to respond to the idiocy he has posted below. To vtwin & others of his ilk the establishment clause exists to shut up people who believe in GOD, our Creator because they don't want to hear about Him. Just remember, GOD has all the answers & is still in control.

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 1:50PM

If the issue of building an Islamic mosque near ground zero should find its way to the Supreme Court we will see who has a “no clue” about what the establishment clause “really means.”

terrie| 8.17.10 @ 3:44PM

vtwin, you are so wrong in everything your write. Read the Constitution again. The amendment you refer to here says the Fed Gov't can't establish a national religion. NO WHERE does it say in the constitution that ANY religion can build a house of worship ANYWHERE it wants, just because its affiliated with a religion. Ever heard of zoning laws you idiot?

Quit reading the NYTimes, its messing with your brain.

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 4:09PM

Great & truthful post.

vtwin| 8.17.10 @ 5:19PM

How do you think the courts might view an after the fact change in the “zoning laws” given the high profile of this particular Islamic mosque?

Fenestra| 8.17.10 @ 6:42PM

How do you think the courts might view the Unions refusing to build this Mosque, and protesters throwing pigs blood on the front of the building everyday?
Wanna bet?

RCV| 8.19.10 @ 5:00PM

The Unions have every right to withhold their work when they choose to do so. The courts would view throwing pig's blood on a mosque as both malicious mishcief and a hate crime.

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 2:08PM

Mr. MacAlister,
I'm well aware of what's motivating them.
Sad how they are so blind to their following of Obama that they cannot even see the truth. That if anyone's trying to actually "establish a Religion", it's the Islamist terrorists.

JmsA| 8.17.10 @ 2:29PM

Oh Yeah?! And the current occupant is enjoying his crack/meth-laced kool-aid drinks alongside you. Remember not to drink too much, lest it may hamper your ability to understand that Medicare and Social Security projections such as those on the goverment sites you linked titled "Actuarial Publications," require statistical analysis.

Clinton nee Publius| 8.17.10 @ 3:56PM

Wassamadda baby? It would seem those shovel ready projects were really corruption approved liberal lies - as usual.

Quick! Blame someone for you being an amoral thief who supported stealing a trillion dollars and handing it out to fellow liberals who never will work and create anything but failure.

Albert| 8.17.10 @ 6:46PM

When were you ever in the Oval Office? And I didn't know you came from Texas. Was it Jeb Bush who said his brother had a "nose like a vacuum cleaner"? Oops! Wait. That was ANOTHER ex-President's brother.

chester arthur| 8.17.10 @ 11:54PM

Look out,vtwin's inTexas now.

figus janus| 8.17.10 @ 7:04AM

I Puerto Rican and I grew up in NYC, Manhattan, lower east side, 4th st in ave D. (Alphabet city). I don't think people understand poverty in the United States. I guarantee you that most of the people who live in those projects have more gold around their necks, better clothes, nicer phones than any of us. What stress would they be talking about?
I have seen generations of families (at least four) on wellfare. All they do is sit outside of their buildings and gossip about the ones that go to work everyday. The government is responsible for this.
The American family started its decline with the inception of the Wellfare program. Now they want to fix it by taking our money away from us to give to crack head monkeys. Not just the ones that go to the mosques overseas we funded with this administration.

aware| 8.17.10 @ 2:13PM

"The government is responsible for this.".....
You, my friend, are sooooooo RIGHT!
Funny thing is, you could pick ANY mess we got and this answer still works!
Now if we can just get more "citizens" to understand this.

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 2:25PM

Well, the government is responsible for this=WE are responsible for this. We are the ones who elect these criminals on the Left. What now?

JmsA| 8.17.10 @ 2:31PM

Respectfully beg to differ: I've never voted for any leftist criminal.

aware| 8.17.10 @ 2:45PM

Neither have I. But we got what we got anyway.
Is it possible that this game is rigged?
Sure is. 8 ways from Sunday.

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 3:13PM

Neither have I. When I say we I mean the electorate who votes thus. There is a saying that goes, "We get the government we deserve." I say we get the government THEY deserve.

aware| 8.17.10 @ 3:27PM

Ain't "democracy" wonderful!

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 4:11PM

aware,

It's a republic. If we can keep it.

..who said that? :^)

aware| 8.17.10 @ 4:36PM

I think we proved we couldn't oh 80 or 100 years ago. Even Ben would agree if he was here. Now we got democracy. What else could you call a system where those who contribute nothing have an equal say with those who contribute everything over how "everything" is allocated?
If we have to narrow it down I would say 1913 is when we lost our republic. Or rather it was hijacked.

Margie| 8.17.10 @ 8:47PM

aware,

I honestly don't know my history as well as you do. I will just say.. that we'd better pray for a strong Republican win in Nov. and onward. I see no other way out. Can't stop fighting the evil tide of the Left and this is the only way we have to do so, apart from a civil war.

aware| 8.18.10 @ 5:51AM

1913 gave us the Federal income tax, which ended our claim to our own time and money. Gave us the popular election of senators, which ended them being representatives of their states and made them members of the central State. And last but not least, gave us the 3rd central bank(Federal Reserve) which ended an honest monetary system and made debt not wealth the basis of "money"(1st one destroyed by Jefferson, 2nd destroyed by Jackson).
This is why I pick 1913 as the end of the Republic. It has taken time for the dragons to grow from these dragon seeds but they have reached maturity now.
Even these are just one component to a confluence of factors that are about break with a vengeance on all our heads.
Our problem is NOT cyclical. This time it is systemic and it will affect every single person in ways we can hardly guess at.
Yes I pray for our nation every morning and for the people who hardly know what is about to happen.
Republicans may be OK with a little garlic to ward off the evil here and there, but they don't seem to be willing to take a hammer and drive a stake through the heart of the monster once and for all. Till, and if, that happens we are only treating symptoms while the disease enters the terminal phase. Morphine makes the cancer patient feel better but doesn't stop the fatal end. Doesn't even delay it.

Margie| 8.18.10 @ 10:50AM

I definitely agree that it's systemic, and it is like a Leviathan. A huge monster. It reminds me of the verse in Revelation that says, "Who is like the Beast and who can fight against it?" Rev. 13:4. I'm not saying that refers to our government specifically or at all but you get the picture.

I liken the vampire scenario to the Democrat party. It's the giant Dracula, cape and all, creeping around by night looking to suck the blood out of freedom loving Americans. This blood sucking monster is just another name for Communism, in its many guises. The father of it is the Enemy of God directly. If you think that is being extreme then just look at the facts. Hitler used it to murder millions of "lessers" in his eyes. Stalin under a slightly different flavor of same also murdered millions. And why? Because they abhored the freedom of the individual. It's all about enslaving and snuffing out the lifeblood.

Fast forward to today. Who are Obama's idols? Saul Alinsky? Frank Marshall Davis? Then add to that his seeming agreement with Islam, the Religion of "peace." His disdain for the Constitution, his dismantling of American free capitalist enterprise. his disdain for Christianity~which Socialism and Communism is in direct opposition with. He behaves just like a vampire as a matter of fact. Remember when he had the statue of Jesus ( a crucifix) covered literally when he spoke at William & Mary college I believe it was?

The spirit of Communism is the spirit of anti-christ and it is spiritual warfare.

"For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Eph. 6:12.

Keeping this reality in mind and the fact that the Republicans are for the most part directly opposed to the Democrat philosophies I believe is most important and the fact that our country's future depends on defeating them is up to us, the voters. Whatever historical truth exists today and including the poor behavior of the Republicans then and/or now I don't think should be the focus. Let's not hide our heads in the sand concerning the reality of history but let us focus on defeating the REAL enemy, and that is the Democrat party who is actually in league with the enemy not only of our country but with the Enemy of our very souls.

"And if you be unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Jos. 24:15.

scotchieguy| 8.18.10 @ 3:46AM

Adams

RCV| 8.19.10 @ 4:59PM

Benjamin Franklin said it, when asked, "What have you given us?"

Majito| 8.17.10 @ 7:21AM

so what does this study about cracked monkeys tells us? don't allow women during pregnancy to inhale this white powder or her male kids will grow up wanting to buy everything they see...they can't help themselves...just get more plastic and increase the limit daddio...don't let that home equity sit idle...run it down and fast...hmmm could it be that during the hippie culture reign and later hollywood love afair with drug addiction led many women to coke and thus now we're seing their offspring in action?...could it be that mama Stanley Ann Dunham in her trips en the arms of african men was cracked and thus now her son sits spending trillions like crazy? that could explain some of his (and his wife) spending habits...

Average Infidel| 8.17.10 @ 7:25AM

Yeah this article just confirmed that we are in fact being lead around by a bunch of monkeys, i.e. the progressives going back to their ( in their own words) original state of being. And I though their mantra was a jackass.

carnot| 8.17.10 @ 7:38AM

9.5% and climbing

JmsA| 8.17.10 @ 2:32PM

Actually, is more like 11% and climbing, given that the goverment is not counting 2.8 million who ran out of unemployment benefits and have given up looking for work.

Scribonius Curio| 8.17.10 @ 7:45AM

The only shovel ready jobs Obama has created are in Afghanistan.

fbom| 8.17.10 @ 7:48AM

We are re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Sarbo| 8.17.10 @ 7:48AM

This Prez is not only "weak and small", as the WSJ wrote. But he also has a glass jaw. No sooner had he supported the right of Islamists to build a mosque anywhere they owned property, and the nation howled, than he reversed himself the very next day, saying he was not commenting on the "wisdom" of building a mosque on "hallowed ground", by an organisation headed by a mullah who might anyday be arrested for anti-American activities.

Obama had no business wading into this. It's one thing to make a speech in Cairo about how Islam saved Christianity from the Dark Ages (ha ha ha). It's quite another to pander at an iftar party at the White House to moslems. He stuck his jaw out, got hit, it broke and he back-peddalled.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 8.17.10 @ 9:02AM

I wonder why the author of this article cares if Obama raises taxes on the business class who create jobs?

If the author is correct, and I believe he is correct, then it will lead to more unemployment.

At this point it isn't about winning or losing, it's about what's coming next.

The impotent Republicans have helped Obama along with every plan when what they should have done is thrown Snowe and Collins out of the party. They are worse then criminals with their votes but that's the problem in Washington.

When women are held accountable allegations of bullying arise. If that doesn't work the fallback position of sex discrimination is used.

In short, if Obama gets his way the money will be confiscated and spend on more collectivist plans leading to more unemployment and further economic disaster.

It's already happening because state revenues are falling and personal incomes are still dropping like a rock.

Good luck to all because you're going to need it.

Clinton nee Publius | 8.17.10 @ 10:35AM

On the bright side of things, we can now reliably demonstrate to a new generation the complete fallacy of the so-called "economic policies" of the liberal-progressive movement. The suffering we are having to bear is mitigated by the fact this will serve to help us destroy socialism and the liberal-progressive movement for generations to come.

You heard it here first.

aware| 8.17.10 @ 2:34PM

You are right, except the Left will control how the story is told through public schools(history), kinda like they do now. So like the other great inventions of the Left(genocide, gulags, guillotines, gas chambers, etc.) I'm sure it won't merit much mention. Look what they've done with the Great Depression(FDR SAVED US!gag).

It won't be enough the rid ourselves of Leftists, we must rid ourselves of their instrument of "change", the State(or if you prefer the Federal State). Otherwise its like leaving a loaded gun lying around that somebody is going to pick up and USE. Why "hope" they will use it for good(this is mankind we're talking about).

Perpetrator and weapon must go. The power to control is more deadly than the users of that power.

Clinton nee Publius | 8.17.10 @ 4:00PM

Nope, not any more. They could do this for Carter, but it wasn't possible for Clinton - even with the media all the way in the bag. No, this is going to stay out there as long as there is a News Corporation and the Internet. They no longer control information and their demand for free speech is their downfall. We win because the facts come out and whenever the truth comes out liberal-progressivism always loses because there is nothing sustainable about a criminal cult conspiracy. This is where we stick the knife in and twist it... with the Tea Parties doing the twisting.

aware| 8.17.10 @ 4:51PM

I dunno, the criminal cult(government) has been around quite a while. I prefer the term criminal gang.
It has a way of making offers that can't be refused once the outsiders are on the inside.

Dave Williams| 8.17.10 @ 12:22PM

Clinton, I devoutly hope that you are correct, but I fear otherwise. You assume that people are capable of learning how elections can affect their lives....of course, the jury is still out on that one, but Nov. 2 of this year should be a reliable indicator, one way or the other...

Clinton nee Publius| 8.17.10 @ 3:57PM

You have a point that I can't dispute, Dave...

Al Adab| 8.17.10 @ 1:27PM

Why are any of us surprised? This is the "fundamental change" we were promised. The Dem/Left expects this economy to be the new norm. They expect us all to be dependents of the government both for our jobs and for our care. They expect our portfolios to be worthless and to provide tax dollars to keep paying people not to work. Have you talked with your broker lately? The Left - which infects both parties- expects us all to go quietly into the night. Our entitlements and our federal checks are more important to us than our Liberty.

If that is the brave new world of the Left, and it is, what should we do to stop it? Following this election cycle there will be few choices. If in fact Reid is re-elected in NV and the Dems keep Congress what Hope (pardon the pun) is left. What alternative to the ballot box is there? That is how we govern our country.

zenga| 8.17.10 @ 3:21PM

seems to me that you've proved that doing experiments on monkeys (with cocaine, at least) does provide some useful result and potential insight into the human condition. i totally agree that there are much better things to do with MOST of the money that was, and continues to be wasted by this administration, but the studies you mention seem to have provided very useful data, and your own arguments prove it.

what i'd really like to know, and what the dem morons and thieves will never fund, is a study to determine exactly how much of the money they are spending is being lost to graft and theft, how much is actually going to something USEFUL (the above mentioned seem useful, and wouldn't actually be included - good science is useful), and how much finds its way back into the hands of the dems running these gov't ponzi schemes and other assorted scams.

Redstateboy| 8.17.10 @ 4:05PM

Here are some realities and stupidities that have nothing to do with GW Bush or the Republican Party and everything to do with Obama and the Democrat Party - the Slave Party: 15.6% Black Unemployment, 40% for Blacks 18-24. Support for Democrats among Blacks? 80%
Apparently it's been lost to Blacks in America that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, that it was the Republican Party that advocated an end to Slavery and that it was the Democrat Party that was and still is the Party of Slavery.

Ron | 8.17.10 @ 4:17PM

vtwin-
By the way, you have no clue what you are talking about concerning the evil Bush tax cuts that you claim were only for the wealthy and paid for with borrowed money. In the years following the tax cuts, which stretched across ALL income brackets, tax revenues collected by the federal government ROSE by over $750 billion. The deficit wasn't created by tax cuts that actually increased economic activity, thus increasing tax revenues. Instead, it was created by wild spending perpetrated by a Republican president that decided to "work with" the Democrat congress that took control of the nation's purse strings in 2006 - a Congress, by the way, of which B. Hussein Obama was a junior senator from Illinois where he never once voted against any of the spending increases while Bush was in office.

The rise in tax revenues following Bush's tax cuts was the steepest rise in history. How can a tax policy which precedes the highest revenue increase in history have contributed to the deficit? Perhaps you should get your nose out of leftist web sites that are only concerned with creating talking points with no regard for the actual validity of their statements.

Also, the tax cuts for the wealthiest ended up increasing the percentage of tax revenues collected from the top 5 percent of wage earners. That doesn't sound too much like a tax cut for the wealthy when it actually shifted more of the federal tax burden away from the lower classes and onto the higher ones. Even the capital gains tax cut which liberals love to point to as only a favor to the wealthy ended up more than doubling the tax revenue collected from capital gains. How do any of these tax cuts add to the deficit?!?!

Try actually looking up some of the facts behind the talking points you parrot before trying to weigh in on the grown-up conversations taking place. You waste our time and make yourself look foolish in the process.

davelnaf| 8.17.10 @ 4:54PM

At this point you have to almost feel sympathy for the Bamster. Almost, that is. One comes back from the brink of committing the sin of sympathy for Obama when you consider how incredibly stupid it was of him to have hosted a bunch of foreign born imams in the White House and actually tell them that he was in favor of the Ground Zero mosque. He is the most ideologically blind and commonsense deficient president we have ever had. Did it occur to Obama that not one of those Muslim scammers raised his hand and said: “Maybe we should consider siting the mosque somewhere else?” Obama is so seeped and marinated to the gills in an instinctive anti-Americanism he would probably have been personally shocked if one of them had suggested so un-Muslim an idea.

Bob Grant| 8.17.10 @ 6:12PM

I think everyone on this site would agree we are on the brink of outright lawlessness and chaos because of Barry and his policies. I believe we are one more piece of legislation or executive order away from crossing that line.

I believe it will either be Barry forgiving 1.5 trillion dollars of Fannie May/Freddie debt OR some landmark piece of legislation (e.g. amnesty) passed by a lameduck congress in December, after the election.

Any other predictions or am I completely out to lunch?

Albert| 8.17.10 @ 6:52PM

I agree with you about being on the brink, but there are those on this site who would vehemently disagree. (Idiots abound.) And don't discount the possibility of President Bozo granting amnesty on his own by executive order, without any congressional legislation, lame duck or otherwise.

RCV| 8.19.10 @ 1:45PM

"We are on the brink of outright lawlessness and chaos'?? Where do you live?

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