Arkady's Thoughts

Bernanke today made a rather impressive statement considering the duplicity, where he urged Americans to get a better handle of the deficit while urging foreign powers to get their consumers to spend money.  Duplicity of course lies in understanding that what he is asking of the foreign people to do, is precisely the very same thing that got Americans into trouble in the first place.  Our insatiable appetite for spending outside our means through the systematic creation of debt by the very institution Bernanke governs has run it's course and while the Fed will desperately try to stave off the inevitable, printing money can only go so far before the world realizes the dollar is not worth the cotton it's printed on. "In large part, such action should focus on boosting consumption," Bernanke said. Oh really? So he either truly believes in his ever loving Keynesian mind that consuming is the most righteous path to salvation out of a crushing debt, which makes one of t...

The gift that keeps on giving.  This is a 4 minute blurb of a rather dire warning posed by Lord Christopher Monckton about the upcoming treaty taking place in December and Obama's willingness to sign it.  Essentially it is a world pact to transfer wealth from regions of high climate destruction take place to regions where low climate destruction take place.  In other words we are now going to be penalized for advancing humanity and enriching billions of people's lives on a theory that has yet to get any serious traction outside of scientists within the political sphere.  Lord Monckton is an expert on climate change and the myths perpetrated by the likes of Al Gore and has spent his energy battling what he simply refers to as a great hoax. Framework's Convention of Climate Change document that Monckton refers to.

Several days ago Noah Chomsky the leading "intellectual" of American progressive thought gave a speech in San Francisco (video below) comparing the conservative talk show hosts of catering to people's fears a la Nazi Germany.  Why is Chomsky an intellectual fraud? First of all this particular clip while taken out of context is laced with subtle hints despite his assurance of an imperfect analogy, attempts to draw an analogy between what Rush and Savage say and the Nazis during the Weimar republic of the 1920s Germany.  If Chomsky believes even just a tiny bit that modern conservatism espouses Nazism then he needs to think and long hard about his status as an intellectual.  What is it about restricting federal government expansion, fighting against ObamaCare, reducing handouts, minimizing taxation, fighting against smoking/bad food regulation that reminds him of Nazism?  One merely needs to graduate high school with a C average to understand that Fascism/Nazism rep...

With Colorado poised to lower it's minimum wage for the first time in 70 years, this seems like a good time to discuss minimum wage in greater detail.  Before understanding the implication of minimum wage laws and their tendency to discriminate, let us briefly delve and solidify the economic consequences of such laws. Firstly, let us all agree that minimum wage laws are feel-good laws because they instinctively make sense.  A question asking whether or not the working poor should have higher wages technically should illicit a resounding yes!  Not only because the working poor are struggling as it is, but because it prevents exploitation of these working poor by corporations and greedy businessmen seeking a profit.  Unfortunately when it comes to economics fairness is a very poor indication of what works and does not work.  Price Controls Feel free to skip this section if you understand how minimum wage laws create shortages. Minimum wage laws are a...

Mr. Obama wants to balance this by sending out $250 checks to people.  Cost of life adjustments better known as COLA will not be made in 2010 because we are in a deflationary period, at least according to government officials.  Take a look at your supermarket or your energy bills, do you feel deflation?  So no refreshing beverages for 50 million social security recipients, but there is hope. Obama wishes to spend about 13 billion dollars on seniors, veterans and the disabled.  Neat trick, huh?  So the people that social security insurance is designed to assist is not doing it's job and looking more and more financially insolvent with each passing day, but the American taxpayer for the moment is solvent. So we are going to go ahead and borrow 13 billion, chump change after a 787 billion stimulus package and do the job social security insurance failed to do.  What better way to extend a Ponzi scheme than to make someone else pay the participants?  Thi...

Due to Colorado's minimum wage being tied to inflation, lawmakers are looking at doing something that has not been done in about 70 years .  Although this drop is marginal, amounting to a paltry 4 cents it is a step in the right direction to break down one of the most economically foolish federal mandates in the country.  Beyond being grossly unconstitutional the minimum wage like my other politically attractive solutions hurts the very people it seeks out to help.  Minimum wage laws are just another form of price control and price controls always without exception lead to the same result - shortages.  Whether it is price fixing food in Russia, energy in California, insurance premiums, oil from the Middle East the pattern is always the same and it's another beautiful example of politicians ignoring economics.  Consider the following scenario and see how often you can apply this pattern to everyday life.  - A consumer agency, special interest group or an ...

In all too predictable move , Olympia Snowe allows for passage a bill threatening to cripple 1/6th of the nation's economy with the following words. “Is this bill all that I would want?” Ms. S nowe asked. “Far from it. Is it all that it can be? No. But when history calls, history calls. And I happen to think that the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to take every opportunity to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time.” Really?  You are willing to sign off on the most expensive bill in history because history calls while admitting this is a far from perfect bill?  No Senator, only Obama calls and you heed like the sellout dog that you are.  Congratulations, you are set for life in whatever circle of Democrats you wish to grovel to while we are saddled with crushing debt and rising insurance premiums. Reid has a powerful weapon now and a weapon he will most likely use.  After blending the bill with a version fro...