Arkady's Thoughts

Spotty news emerging from Libya is painting a horrific picture of poor, downtrodden Libyans getting absolutely massacred by powerful forces loyal to dictator Muammar al-Gadaffi.  One news source is citing that over 100 are dead with some Libyan doctors suggesting that Gadaffi brought our sniper units to shoot down individuals. What is especially interesting, according to SkyNet news some forces of the Libyan army have flat out defected and joined the protesters.  As I understand it Libya is a fractured country in the sense that most of the power of the Socialist forces loyal to Gadaffi are concentrated within cities, but the outskirts are home to traditional anti-Gadaffi powers - yet the following suggests that Libya may be on the brink of a civil war. Earlier, members of a Libyan army unit told Benghazi residents they have defected and "liberated" the city from pro-Gaddafi forces. Speaking from the city, a local man named Benali, told Sky News that members of the Lib...

With all the unrest in the Middle East some have not realized that an equally important battle is happening in Madison, Wisconsin where the newly elected Governor has attempted to surpass Chris Christie and go directly for the jugular.  Walker and the GOP controlled State legislature are seeking to significantly curtail the power of the teacher unions and that has evoked unimaginable responses from both the teachers and the Democrat legislators opposing the proposal.  The proposal itself is rather modest : The state Senate and Assembly are expected to vote as soon as Thursday on Gov. Scott Walker's plan to end collective bargaining for all state, county and local workers except for police, firefighters and the State Patrol. Walker's plan would make workers pay half the costs of their pensions and at least 12.6 percent of their health care premiums. State employees' costs would go up by an average of 8 percent. The changes would save the state $30 million by June 30 and ...

The highly anticipated proposal has finally been released and can be found in it's full glory here .  There is quite a bit to go through, but we can focus on the general overview in to retain some modicum of sanity.  There has been quite a bit of buzz about Obama's budget insofar that we will finally get a plan to tackle our debt crisis.  Instead we get a fantasy, pure and simple fantasy.  Obama's disjointed reality has produced a plan that offers a combination of spending reduction - can't call them cuts because they are just reductions of previous plans - tax hikes and the primary ingredient: fantasy. Let us start with what the administration *thinks* will happen. FY 2011 projected revenue: $2.174 Trillion (Arkady: 1.1 Trillion in income) FY 2011 projected spending: $3.819 Trillion (Arkady:  1.682 Trillion on SS/Medicare/Medicaid) FY 2011 projected deficit: $1.645 Trillion Spending as a % of GDP: 25.3% Deficit as a % of GDP: 10.9% FY 2015 projected r...

I came across a very sobering and rather disturbing letter today published on ZeroHedge .  For those not familiar,  99ers are those people whose ninety nine weeks of unemployment insurance has run out.  What is especially tragic about this letter beyond the perspective is not that this is as close of a suicide letter as one will see on the Internet, but the underlying message does not add up.   The letter: Hello, I'm unemployed over two years now, a 99er without any benefits for three months. I followed Unemployed Friends almost from its start, never posted until now, but am grateful for my time with you all. I did as asked with calls and e-mails, etc. I've a confession to make to you all. I'm a criminal. I've obeyed the 10 commandments and all laws except: I'm unemployed and that's now a crime, I'm poor and that's a crime, I'm worthless surplus population and that's a crime, I'm a main street American Citizen born and raised in the USA a...

Today, February 11th of 2011 will surely go down in Egypt's history as a turning point and will perhaps be immortalized as a national holiday.  After more than two weeks of reasonably peaceful protests and striking the Egyptian people have achieved their primary demand, Hosni Mubarak has stepped down.  While this revolution may just be a foot note in western historical texts, what transpired was indeed truly remarkable.  Consider, after thirty years of autocratic rule and a systematic suppression of all opposition a dictator running a police state has been removed by the people!  However as always in this world what meets the eye may not be reality.   First, as I have maintained earlier, my belief is that the underlying reason for what transpired is economic and not because of Mubarak's authoritarian rule.  Media sources describing events in Cairo would often mention that rising food prices and unemployment were problems that Egyptians wanted resolve...

In a recent piece , we learn that Russia is struggling with what the rest of the world is attempting to combat - food inflation.   While food inflation has taken a violent turn in places like Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria, other governments are starting to consider desperate means to combat increases in money supplies all over the world.  In places like Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and other wealthy countries governments have committed to subsidizing food in order to remove the shock of price increases, in less wealthy countries like China wage increases have been implement to provide citizens with a means to pay.  In places like Russia, some officials are considering price controls. Deputy Economics Minister Andrei Klepach said on Monday that the Economics Ministry may consider resorting to the tried-and-tested price control system to contain prices, but added that there were no plans to implement this in the near future. "This is a tool which can be used, and I do not rule ...

A shining example of how America's left logically combines marching and vocalizing support for a free Egypt while exhibiting anti-semitism and hate.  This is precisely the reason why all protests and support for Egypt must be done carefully and with caution.   Internal mood in Egypt and people's opinions are not only supportive of strong Islamic principles, but extreme animosity towards their democratic neighbor Israel. Here is a video of the same people transitioning nicely from "Down with Mubarak" to "Zionist Jew".   We should all be celebrating and wishing for freedom in Egypt, that is a wonderful thing to wish for, yet how does one reconcile this desire with hate and rabid anti-semitism?  When you stand with these crowds and join in their desires, you support the other side of the equation: hate.