tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-121885542024-03-13T13:24:12.476-05:00Daily PerspectiveJeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.comBlogger246125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-71887369483174548662008-10-08T15:11:00.003-05:002008-10-08T15:14:01.038-05:00More Praise for Paul Ryan<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Wall Street Journal</span> columnist Kimberly Strassel penned a <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122299041527400421.html">great article</a> in support of Congressman Paul Ryan's decision to support the bailout package this last week. I attempted to post a response on the WSJ Forum but alas, it was locked. Here, in entirety, is that response:<br /><br />The negative comments seem to be overlooking one thing: he didn't create this mess, but is damned if he isn't going to do something to fix it. A simple analogy can relate this to everyday life ...<br /><br />Suppose Paul Ryan was the head of a city's sewage control center. Over the course of several years, he noted that a large storm would cause the city to become awash in sewage and that it would destroy farm land and pollute the local lakes and rivers. He made his case to the mayor and his superiors at the state level, but everyone assured him that the system was fine and would handle the next storm just as it had in the past. Lo and behold, soon enough a large storm passes through and all the rainwater seeps into the sewage control's storage and causes a massive overflow, just as he had warned. Well now it comes down that the city has to spend tens of millions in clean up and expansion efforts, but there isn't much room in the budget so there must be a tax increase. As a fiscal conservative in nature, it would be against his principles to put his name behind such a proposal, but it is the only thing that can be done. After it passes the city council and is signed by the mayor, angry citizens call his office and demand he resign for not preventing this situation.<br /><br />This is exactly what happened to Rep. Ryan. He warned the nation's leaders and tried to fix the faults in the system that created this mess in the first place. But even though he did everything he could to prevent this mess and nothing to create it, he knows it is his responsibility to fix it before it gets worse, even if that goes against his principles. I live just north of Ryan's district, so I hear plenty about the great things he does in Congress, and I can live with his decision even if the Paulies can't ... This is a time for rationality, not idealism ...<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-76267136319510544962008-09-07T09:16:00.002-05:002008-09-07T09:56:00.365-05:00Back in the Saddle<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Readers of this blog have come to realize by now that I can be a little sporadic with my postings. Unfortunately my schedule over the past few months has been such that I rarely have much of an opportunity to sit down and put out my thoughts in this forum. However, as school is back in session and the election has reached full throttle (to put it into racing terms in honor of today's Belgian Grand Prix) I can no longer shuttle my inner desire to share my thoughts.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">That said, on to business ...</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">As we're all aware by now, the two presidential front-runners have been officially nominated along with their chosen running mates. Barack Obama has chosen Delaware Senator Joseph Biden and John McCain has chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. On their respective faces, it seems the former choice hopes to enhance the ticket's breadth of expertise given Biden's knowledge of foreign affairs, while the latter hopes to shore up support among the more conservative members of the Republican Party, as well as to garner some insurance votes from the ranks of the undecided.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Looking deeper into the picks, Obama's choice of Biden raises some interesting questions. For example, why pick the obvious Beltway insider that everyone saw him picking in the first place ... why pick a white male from a small state with no executive experience ... why pick a combative, short-tempered, liberal heavyweight? These questions yield other options Obama might have looked into. To name one: Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico. He's the son of a native Mexican mother and Nicaraguan father. He has the necessary executive experience and foreign policy understanding to enhance Obama's credibility. And finally, he has presidential ambitions, making a run for the second in command all the more legitimate. He's also a Roman Catholic, so take Biden, remove the white and add the executive, and you have a much better running mate.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">On the other side of the coin, the choice of Governor Sarah Palin is seen in some objective circles as the clear choice of a maverick. Both of the prior front-runners for the VP nomination (Gov. Pawlenty and Gov. Romney) were conservative executives with shining resumès. They were young and ambitious and the former is having success as the governor of Minnesota while the latter had a successful career as Massachusetts top state official and narrowly missed a shot at the Republican presidential nomination a few months ago.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">When the final decision came last week Friday, many people (including some insiders) were caught off-guard by the choice of a political novice in the form of Governor Palin. She is only 44 years old, and has been the head of Alaskan government for under two years. Before that her experience amounts to the mayorship of her small-ish hometown (as I come from a town that size, I refuse to accept that 9,000 residents amounts to a "small town"). What she lacks in experience, she more than makes up for with her ability to take on entrenched special interests and to root out sources of corruption which prior to her gubernatorial election ran roughshod over the Alaskan landscape.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">Pundits across the country have chalked this up to a "naive" and "desperate" pick by McCain. They believe he's taking a huge risk with someone as inexperienced as Sarah Palin, but then again, how are the voters not taking a huge risk with their support of a presidential nominee with less than one term of federal experience.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'trebuchet ms';">In a tight election, these choices might turn out to be the eventual decider in November. Will voters choose the obtuse Obama and bitter Biden or the magnanimous McCain and principled Palin? Don't take my word for it, as I'm not the most objective observer. Let the candidates speak for themselves and perhaps you'll come to the same conclusions as I have - that Obama is too partisan to be effective whereas McCain is ready and able to reach across party lines to get things done.</span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-26063428473573944752007-12-17T14:39:00.000-06:002007-12-17T14:44:29.917-06:00Send the ACLU a Christmas Card<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">*** <em>Crosspost from John at Stop The ACLU ... <a href="http://stoptheaclu.com/archives/2007/12/16/send-the-aclu-a-christmas-card/">link </a>***</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Its become a popular yearly tradition now to send the Anti-Christian Liars Union grinches a Christmas card. I personally think its ineffective, and that the money you waste on a stamp for the organization to toss in the shredder would be better served towards a good cause. So, I encourage you to save that money, dig a little deeper, and contribute to an organization that fights the ACLU and defends Christmas. The </span><a href="http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/donate/default.aspx"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Alliance Defense Fund</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">, and the </span><a href="http://www.aclj.org/Issues/Resources/Document.aspx?ID=2027"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ACLJ</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> are both great organizations that defend Christmas each year. The Alliance Defense Fund does it for free. Why not help groups like that out this year?</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br />However, from experience last year...I know that </span><a href="http://marginalizedactiondinosaur.net/?p=1814"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">many will insist</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> on sending the ACLU a Christmas card. Afterall, it is tradition. If that is how you want to make your message...we have some great </span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/aclubulldozer"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">greeting cards and postcards available at our online store.</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> Plenty of other great Christmas gifts too.<br /></span><br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Send your Christmas card to the ACLU at:<br /></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">ACLU<br />125 Broad Street<br />18th Floor<br />New York , NY 10004</span></blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/aclubulldozer.39543546"><img src=" http://jitcrunch.cafepress.com/jitcrunch.aspx?bG9hZD1ibGFuayxibGFuazo3OF9GX280LmpwZ3xsb2FkPUwwLGh0dHA6Ly9pbWFnZXMuY2FmZXByZXNzLmNvbS9pbWFnZS85Njg0MzYxXzQwMHg0MDAuanBnfHxzY2FsZT1MMCwzMjQsMzkxLFdoaXRlfGNvbXBvc2U9YmxhbmssTDAsQWRkLDc2LDYwfGxvYWQ9bWFzayxibGFuazo3OF9GX21hc2tfbzQuanBnfGNvbXBvc2U9YmxhbmssbWFzayxNYXNrLDAsMHxjcD1yZXN1bHQsYmxhbmt8c2NhbGU9cmVzdWx0LDAsNDgwLFdoaXRlfGNvbXByZXNzaW9uPTk1fA ==" alt="" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/aclubulldozer.39543550"><img src=" http://jitcrunch.cafepress.com/jitcrunch.aspx?bG9hZD1ibGFuayxibGFuazo3N19GX28xLmpwZ3xsb2FkPUwwLGh0dHA6Ly9pbWFnZXMuY2FmZXByZXNzLmNvbS9pbWFnZS85Njg0MzYxXzQwMHg0MDAuanBnfHxzY2FsZT1MMCwyNjIsMzE1LFdoaXRlfGNvbXBvc2U9YmxhbmssTDAsQWRkLDEwOSw3M3xsb2FkPW1hc2ssYmxhbms6NzdfRl9tYXNrX28xLmpwZ3xjb21wb3NlPWJsYW5rLG1hc2ssTWFzaywwLDB8Y3A9cmVzdWx0LGJsYW5rfHNjYWxlPXJlc3VsdCwwLDQ4MCxXaGl0ZXxjb21wcmVzc2lvbj05NXw =" alt="" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-62753376305333261782007-12-17T14:06:00.000-06:002007-12-17T14:32:22.027-06:00Soviets In Sheep's Clothing<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It hasn't been long since a truly autocratic Soviet Union controlled a sizable chunk of Eastern Europe and Northwest Asia. Less than two decades after the crumble of the Evil Empire, all signs point to a legitimated revitalization of Soviet practices under the guise of democracy.</span><br /><ol><li><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Vladimir Putin isn't going anywhere. At the least he will leave the post of President and assume the role of Prime Minister. Under a worst case scenario he'll become the puppet master in control of the new Soviet Russia. (<a href="http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8TJ95RO0&show_article=1">source</a>)</span></li><li><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Russia is getting rich off the "privatization" of its resources industries. A quick look at the list of Forbes rich list shows nearly all Russian billionaires in their 40s (the oldest being 61). (<a href="http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/10/07billionaires_The-Worlds-Billionaires_CountryOfCitizen_14.html">source</a>) This could be a coincidence or a cleverly perpetrated hand-off of the state-owned companies to tycoons friendly to Putin. One who didn't fit this mold was Mikhail Khodorkovsky, jailed former CEO of Yukos and at one time th 16th richest man in the world. Mr. Khodorkovsky supported closer ties with the United States and was said to be financing Putin's opponents. (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Khodorkovsky">source</a>)</span></li><li><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Russia is supporting the Iranian nuclear program and has become friendly with the voraciously anti-US leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. (<a href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071217/D8TJ63NO0.html">source </a>& <a href="http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/5/14/171808.shtml">source</a>)</span></li></ol><p><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Who can say for sure whether these points are intertwined or just part of Russia's natural angst for America and the West in general. Whatever the case may be, the evidence points to a resurgence in anti-capitalist, anti-freedom rhetoric and policy in Russia. Its support for authoritarians around the world and animosity towards the West are at the least signs of its foreign policy intentions for years to come.</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-34956284963666297512007-05-24T01:50:00.000-05:002007-05-24T01:55:19.152-05:00Coming Soon - How Hollywood Is Like Big Business<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Yes, that's right. Hollywood and big business: one and the same. The similarities aren't evident right from the get-go, but once the diligent observer digs deep it is quite easy to see why the business of making movies is just like the business of making consumer products or anything else for that matter. For one, just examine the pay structures for <em>everyone</em> behind a movie and <em>everyone</em> behind an iPod or Dell laptop.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-79668037724862956252007-05-16T22:21:00.000-05:002007-05-16T22:48:42.321-05:00Climate Change or Climate Cycle?<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">It is truly amazing how global warming alarmists and doomsayers are so invested in their philosophy. It is as if the rest of their lives go on hold while they galavant across the frozen regions of the Earth searching for "examples of climate change." It would seem they've hit the mother lode in <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL0970993220070516?feedType=RSS&rpc=22">this case</a>.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">A remote chain of Norwegian islands in the Arctic seems to be experiencing a slight heat wave. UN scientists claim the region is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the world and receding glaciers in the area are leaving previously "undiscovered" islands in their midst. They argue that this represents a "portent of changes further south."</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I argue, conversely, that this is exactly what happened after the Ice Age when the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Northern_icesheet_hg.png">glaciers</a> that used to cover the Midwest states receded all the way to the North Pole. There were no evil SUVs and CO2 emissions to worry about back then. The only thing that possibly could have caused this intense warming (which followed, go figure, an intense cooling) has to do with celestial interference. By this I mean what many scientists have been referring to recently; the sun has always been prone to periods of relative dormancy and relative activity. They noticed this when, in researching Martian weather patterns recently they discovered <a href="http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?ArtId=17977">similar warming patterns</a> as Earth's.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">An article published by the Heartland Institute says:<br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><blockquote><p>The planet Mars is undergoing significant global warming, new data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) show, lending support to many climatologists' claims that the Earth's modest warming during the past century is due primarily to a recent upsurge in solar energy.</p></blockquote><p>Interesting. Solar energy causing changes in the climates of two planets many millions of miles away? It may seem ridiculous, but the correlations are much more convincing than anything being trumped up in the Algore camp. It also has the luxury of lending support to the theory that we aren't to blame and that we don't have to use one square of one-ply <a href="http://newsbusters.org/node/12226">toilet paper</a> to combat our destructiveness.<br /><br />According to a <a href="http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=927b9303-802a-23ad-494b-dccb00b51a12&Region_id=&Issue_id=">recent post</a> on Sen. Inhofe's (R-OK) Environment & Public Works blog, there is a growing list of former global warming alarmists moving into the skeptics' camp. With so much dissension, shouldn't there be more of a rational debate than simply having news anchors claim "the debate is over" as Brian Williams said not too long ago ...</span></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-27103681484157619792007-05-16T16:09:00.000-05:002007-05-16T16:33:34.021-05:00Foresight: A Tool, Not A Trick<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">*** <em>NOTE: After finishing my finals today, I'll be sure to keep the posts coming on a more regular basis.</em> ***</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">There is one fundamental difference in how liberals and conservatives handle economic issues. Conservatives value foresight as tool while liberals view everything through its short-run effects. While studying for my history final, I read a section on the Reagan tax cuts in 1981 which seemingly caused an economic downturn, according to the book's author. There is an economic tool that conservative supply-siders use to discourage this notion.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Economic policies tend to have a <strong>lag effect</strong>. For example, a tax cut will cause consumers to act as though they have more money when in reality they won't until at least the following year. Increased consumption and demand in domestic markets leads to price inflation. So immediately following a tax cut, the short-run effect is inflation. In the long-run, however, tax cuts increase output and bring prices down. Several years following Reagan's tax cuts, inflation and unemployment dropped drastically, but nobody understood exactly why. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the lag effect.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The lag effect is a prime example of the benefits inherent in foresight. A good economist knows both short-run and long-run policy implications. Short-run thinking leads to reactionary policies that keep the economy on a see-saw pattern of expansion and recession. Long-run thinking smooths the crests and valleys caused by the business cycle. Liberals often make the mistake of seeing benefits in the immediate future while overlooking the obvious long-run implications. For example, medicare and social security are headed for insolvency in the very near future. They see any solution as having a negative effect on current recipients but they choose to ignore the long-run implications of doing nothing.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Short-run thinking often wins elections, which is exactly why it is so alluring. If a politician can pursue a policy that has very visible positive effects in a short period during election season, they can trumpet their success during the campaign. Nobody notices the implications five years down the road when the same politician is championing a solution to the problem they caused. This is one of the biggest reasons that we need term limits in Congress. A politician with no option for re-election will find it much easier to adopt a long-run philosophy.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-38686967971682159172007-05-09T23:31:00.000-05:002007-05-09T23:58:59.256-05:00State Sponsored Price Gouging<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">It seems like a story from a parallel universe. You know, one where the same people who accuse multinational oil conglomerates of price gouging turn around and perpetrate the very action they condemn all the while leaving their victims no choices. Well such is the case here in Wisconsin where Governor Doyle two summers ago was on a list of signatories for a letter condemning so-called "gouging" at the pumps in the Katrina aftermath.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I'll leave for another day the explanation of why gas stations and their corporate suppliers were and never have been guilty of gouging. For now, here's <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070509/ap_on_fe_st/odd_cheap_gas_7">a little piece</a> for you to chew on. A gas station in Merrill, Wisconsin has been offering discounts of two and three cents/gallon for seniors and boosters which support youth sports, respectively. The state Department of Agriculture was quick to intercede on behalf of a law that prohibits gas stations from undercutting a designated 9.2% markup on wholesale prices. The <a href="http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/10/wigas.shtm">Unfair Sales Act</a> was created to prevent stations owned by big oil companies from undercutting smaller, privately owned suppliers. It's no wonder the National Federation of Independent Business <a href="http://www.nfib.com/object/IO_26775.html">supports</a> the legislation.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In reality what has resulted is a much higher average per gallon price in the state of Wisconsin than the rest of the nation. According to the AAA's <a href="http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/">gauge</a> of daily averages, Wisconsin currently exceeds the national average of $3.03/gallon by twelve cents. Our <a href="http://www.gaspricewatch.com/usgastaxes.asp">tax burden</a> at the pump is currently the highest in the nation without having to worry about the minimum mark-up law. At $0.321/gallon, the current state gas tax is equal to 14% of the reformulated gasoline <a href="http://www.wtrg.com/daily/rbobgasolineprice.html">futures contract</a> and over 10% of the current statewide per gallon average fuel price.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Price gouging, by definition, is raising the price of a good at a time of adverse supply shock when demand is highly inelastic so as to take advantage of the consumer's need for the given product. That is exactly what our high gas tax and minimum mark-up law are guilty of doing. They are taking advantage of Wisconsinites' need to drive on a daily basis and are prohibiting station owners from discounting for any reason whatsoever. The real gougers, it appears, have seats in the State Capitol ...</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-91563454857144048052007-05-08T12:03:00.000-05:002007-05-08T13:39:19.689-05:00Tancredo Voices Support For Fair Tax<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The "FairTax," or national consumption tax, is an idea that has been batted around the offices of conservative members of Congress for several years now. It was explained plainly and simply in a book two years ago by libertarian talk-show host Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder (R-GA). It is the alternative to the flat tax which would tax income at a uniform rate across all income levels. The FairTax would tax <em>consumption</em> at a uniform rate, and it would do so implicitly by being factored in to the prices of all <strong>new</strong> goods and services (not second-hand or used goods).</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Every new session of Congress brings the reintroduction of the FairTax Act by Rep. Linder and each time it gains support in the form of additional cosponsors. It has received some very vocal support recently as Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) uttered the following phrase during the segment on taxes during last week's Republican presidential debate:<br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><blockquote><p>For all the reasons mentioned by some of my colleagues I absolutely support the Fair Tax, it has to be accompanied however with the repeal of the 16th Amendment or we'd end up with a consumption tax and an income tax.</p></blockquote>You can't be more supportive than that. The thing to distinguish this option from everything else being ballyhooed around the halls of Congress is that second part of Tancredo's statement. The repeal of the 16th Amendment would essentially end the IRS's choke-hold on the American taxpayer and shut down the Marxist form of taxation. The income tax has become the Washington's easiest way to increase their influence on the economy through continuously tweaking the code and inventing new loopholes while closing others. It is because of this that there is a $500 billion annual cost of complying with the tax code. This equates to a per capita cost of $1,667.<br /><br />Opponents to the FairTax, some of whom are conservatives, will decry the loss of jobs suffered by IRS employees. Well, I for one wouldn't shed a single tear for them. Did they go to school specifically to be employed at the IRS? I'm sure that 100% of those people would be able to find a job in the financial services marketplace within a month.<br /><br />The honest truth is that we need to figure out ways to cut the ever-increasing influence of the federal government in our everyday lives. The best way to do so is to take their collective hand out of our pockets once and for all ...</span><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-17821235363594952912007-05-07T19:55:00.000-05:002007-05-08T13:39:45.292-05:00House Democrats Offer Reparations ... to Guam<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">When you hear the words "Democrats" and "reparations" in the same sentence, it most commonly will have something to do with paying African-Americans back for the cruelty of slaveowners over 150 years ago. Their penchant for thinking emotionally leads to these kinds of offers, but nobody could have seen this coming.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In submitting <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR01595:@@@L&summ2=m&">H.R. 1595</a>, they are offering to compensate the residents of Guam for the oppressive acts of Imperial Japan during the course of World War II. Even more ridiculous than the purpose is the opening sentence of Paragraph II:<br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><blockquote><p>Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to make specified payments to: (1) <strong>living Guam residents who were killed</strong>, injured, interned, or subjected to forced labor or marches resulting from, or incident to, such occupation and subsequent liberation ...</p></blockquote>Leave it to a Democrat to draft a statement so non-sensical. Beyond this, the overall idea of the bill is simply absurd. In the culminating battle for the island, soldiers from the 3rd Marine Division and the 77th Infantry Division landed on July 21st and proceeded to retake the island from Japanese forces. With a toll of over 10,000 casualties including 3,000 KIA, the battle for Guam lasted three weeks in the summer of 1944.<br /><br />After the price paid by members of the American military, men from all walks of life each with families of their own, House Democrats neglect their sacrifice by arguing that we owe the citizens of Guam for what agents of another country perpetrated. The absurdity of the 110th Congress continues ...</span><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-21385379477995537032007-05-03T13:27:00.000-05:002007-05-08T12:26:23.710-05:00New Poll Puts Sarkozy Well Ahead in French Race<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">A <a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-05-03T165727Z_01_PAB003176_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE-ELECTION-SURVEY.xml&src=rss&rpc=22">poll</a> taken after the televised debates between French presidential candidates Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal has the conservative Sarkozy leading 54-46 over the Socialist, Royal.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">I'm going to venture a guess and say that even the French don't want a Socialist at the helm after the many years of left-wing presidents who've destroyed the country from within through plentiful disincentives to hard work, including: a 35 hour work week, massive unemployment benefits, and measures making it hard to fire poor employees and difficult to hire good employees. The subsequent escape of capital has left the French economy in a shambles with the unemployment rate creeping into double digits.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Sarkozy will win handily, and you can be sure that the American media will be shocked.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-63106211653458912882007-05-02T20:42:00.000-05:002007-05-08T12:25:31.280-05:00Wall Street's Bull Run Continues<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Several months ago, the majority of financial commentators were sounding the death knell for Wall Street's historic three-plus year rally. Between then and the time the second round of Bush tax cuts went into effect (May 2003), the blue-chip <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EDJI&a=04&amp;b=1&c=2003&d=09&e=31&f=2006&g=m">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a> (DJIA) had soared 47%. Yet many in the financial community as well as naysaying pundits on America's editorial pages were calling for a stock market correction (when an exchange or index loses 10% or more of its value in a short period of time) and an economic recession. The popular question of Dow 9,000 or 12,000 was met by the resounding reply of "NINE THOUSAND!!"</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">And back to the present </span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">...</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The DJIA is now setting records that seem to come day after day, week after week. At its intraday record value of 13,256 the blue-chip index is at a 60% premium from its May 2003 low. In the last month, the DJIA has gained on 21 of 24 sessions with the total amounting to a 7.4% gain, its <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2007/05/02/markets/markets_0500/index.htm">best winning streak</a> since 1955 when it gained 10% on 22 of 25 up sessions. On top of that, the tech-heavy NASDAQ is at a 6 year high and the S&P 500, an index of the 500 largest companies, is at a 6-1/2 year high.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The economy is hitting on all cylinders as well, trouncing all calls for an oncoming recession. After a year and a half of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, inflation is moderating and any signs of economic weakness are becoming signs of economic stability. What was said to be a housing bubble has turned out to be nothing more than a valley. Even a crisis in the subprime lending industry hasn't seeped into the robust economy, but has been contained to the already hampered housing industry. Put another one in the "wrong" column for the pessimists.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Clinton had the tech boom to grant him a roaring economy for his first seven years in the White House. In 2000, the tech bubble and stock market crash left the economy in a downward spiral when George Bush took over. In only his eighth month, the despair was compounded by 9/11. But after the 2001 tax cuts staunched the bleeding, the road to recovery was short and robust growth was restored with the 2003 tax cuts. After all of this, Clinton gets the praise while Bush is looked upon as a foolish failure. Sounds like someone has their facts mixed up ...</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-20397421022363978802007-05-01T12:46:00.000-05:002007-05-01T13:03:20.500-05:00One Month Down, Five To Go<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><em>*** In a deviation from the norm, here is the inaugural baseball post as promised. ***</em></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">With the first month of baseball in the books, things are looking up for the Milwaukee Brewers organization. They enter the month of May with a National League leading 16-9 record (tied for best with the Atlanta Braves) and a promising 8-5 road record. The Brew Crew now finds itself in the midst of a 10 game homestand with series against St Louis, Pittsburgh, and Washington. The best, albeit unfortunate, thing about their success in April is that it came without Ben Sheets on his A-game following an opening-day gem.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">The Brewers are sixth in the NL in hitting and eighth in pitching due to several blowouts and a number of one-run wins. The bright spots in the organization come in the form of starting pitching and the outfield's offensive production. Jeff Suppan and Chris Capuano are both tied for third in the league with four wins in April and both are in the top 25 in the league in ERA. The left field platoon of Geoff Jenkins and Kevin Mench has combined for six HRs and 21 RBIs with a combined .338 BA. The team has carried a streak of games with a double through the entire month to a current franchise record of 25 games in a row.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/month_in_review/index.jsp">MLB.com</a> had this to say of the Crew's April Success: <blockquote>Milwaukee manager Ned Yost piloted the Brewers to one of the best records in<br />baseball despite Ben Sheets' groin strain and batting slumps from regulars Bill<br />Hall, Rickie Weeks and Craig Counsell. Makes you wonder what Yost's team will do<br />when they start hitting.</blockquote>If April's success is any indication of future performance, the plethora of preseason predictions that the Brewers would top the NL Central division may indeed turn out to be accurate. I, for one, am holding out until the end of this month to make any firm judgments either way.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-20076991640718411782007-05-01T00:39:00.000-05:002007-05-08T12:25:04.905-05:00Something to Remember This May Day<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">This May Day, as was the case last year, immigration and workers' rights activists will be out in force to demand improved conditions for unskilled laborers. In many cases, they will simply refuse to show up for work and cause many companies to shut down operations for the day to avoid racking up the fixed costs associated with machinery using energy but producing nothing. Last year, several companies pre-empted the rallies by announcing closures ahead of time and allowing their employees to have the day off. I'd just as easily have fired and replaced them, but unfortunately, I don't have that luxury.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">In light of the rallies that will take place today and that have taken place in the past, I have something for everyone to keep in mind. Everyone that works in the absence of a written and signed contract in the United States is considered an "at-will employee" and is subject to immediate termination at the discretion of management. In my case, if I refused to show up at my part-time job at Golf Galaxy, they've notified me that after my third unexcused absence I can be terminated. In other cases, businesses are more or less lenient based on the supply of labor in that particular field. For example, if the supply of labor is tight in the production of widgets, then the producer will be less inclined to fire employees. Conversely, if the supply of labor is plentiful in the production of cogs, then the producer will be more strict.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">So everyone should remember one important thing. Every individual is replaceable to the point where nobody else is willing to do their job. At that point, any worker is free to demand whatever their hearts desire from management for the latter is without leverage in the bargaining process. Until that point, however, workers are at the mercy of their employer save the few cases where unions still wield power in their industries. If conditions are truly worth changing, then the labor market would dry up as job seekers avoid the field until conditions improve.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Simple neo-classical economics tells us this. For those of you unfamiliar with the concepts discussed in this post, I direct you to Henry Hazlitt's <em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6885900-2002269?ie=UTF8&s=books&amp;qid=1177999017&sr=8-1">Economics In One Lesson</a>.</em></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-79644022940224234892007-04-29T21:33:00.000-05:002007-04-30T12:57:06.780-05:00Meet the 2008 Dark Horse<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Fred Dalton Thompson isn't a name on the tip of many tongues as a favorite in the already hot 2008 presidential race. He is better known as New York City District Attorney Arthur Branch from the wildly popular television drama, <em>Law and Order.</em> Yet only five short years ago he wrapped up his successful senatorial career as the Ranking Minority Member in only his eighth year (he replaced Al Gore in 1994 and was re-elected in 1996). In Fred Thompson we conservatives have a candidate eerily similar to our hero, Ronald Reagan.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">According to <a href="http://ontheissues.org/Senate/Fred_Thompson.htm">OnTheIssues</a>, Thompson believes in low taxes <em>and</em> a balanced budget, tort reform and capital punishment, school choice, free trade and welfare reform. In other words, he is fiscally and socially conservative with certain libertarian tendencies. He believes in deregulation of industry and loose federal control over the economy. He is fallible, of course, like every other human being on this earth. Not every issue will resonate with the entirety of the conservative base, but then again even Reagan passed the most liberal abortion law for its time when he was governor of California. </span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">And now, twenty years removed from the last actor turned President, the stars have seemingly aligned in a similar pattern to bless this nation with yet another. And to add a proverbial cherry on top, some of Reagan's closest advisors have voiced support for Fred Thompson. Reagan's deputy chief of staff, Michael Deaver, says of Thompson:<br /></span><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"><blockquote><p>He is very popular in his party. He could change this whole thing and turn this<br />primary system upside down. (<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/29/wus29.xml">source</a>)</p></blockquote>Clark Judge, a former Reagan speechwriter, added this, "Fred Thompson, like Ronald Reagan, is a man of tremendous substance." Roger Stone, a former Reagan campaign strategist, put it this way:<br /><blockquote>The president Americans want is, in fact, the guy they see on Law and Order:<br />wise, thoughtful, deliberative, confident without the cockiness of George W<br />Bush, urbane yet country. Fred Thompson communicates all those virtues.</blockquote>And this coming Friday night, in Reagan's backyard of southern California, Mr. Thompson will address the 45th annual dinner of the Lincoln Club. The club has been portrayed as the largest and most active political club in America, and the event was highly sought after by other Republican candidates.<br /><br />It will be interesting to see, in coming months, whether or not Thompson has delayed his decision too long even though it is still relatively early for the race to be so heated. These races ultimately come down to the person with the best message and more importantly, the most money. The former will most likely be firmly in Thompson's court, but the latter will be a difficult mountain to climb with several candidates having ties to Wall Street and other large-scale donors.<br /><br />The candidate many on the right have been hoping and praying for is here. Now the only question is, will he run?</span><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-43934405682794585942007-04-28T10:09:00.000-05:002007-04-28T10:43:50.574-05:00Nanny Gore: Artists Can Fight Warming Too<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">When Algore opens his mouth, it is almost assured that something sycophantic will come out. Lo and behold <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18328819/">he hasn't dissappointed</a> this time as he has delivered an SOS at the opening of the Tribeca Film Festival in the New York City district of the same name. In this case, however, SOS stands for "Save Our Selves."<br /><div><div><blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><p>“Art, music, film, dance, poetry — all the arts — have long been our greatest<br />tools to explore the regions of imagination that defy our efforts to think<br />rationally about subjects that our emotions tell us are too painful to<br />contemplate,” he said.</p></blockquote><p>Rationally, you say? I'm hard-pressed to find anything in the art world that has done anything rationally. All five artistic categories thrive on irrational, out-of-the-box thinking that appeals to a cross-section of society.</p><p>There is an explanation for Gore's latest call-to-arms; he wants to utilize an industry whose financial lifeblood comes almost entirely from the public sector. The entire emphasis on fighting global warming has been placed on the government by Mr. Gore in a predictably pedantic series of demands. Gore urges the world's governments to cut back on carbon emissions by 90% before 2050 and wage green warfare on businesses if they fail to comply with his hodgepodge of regulations and economic hogties.</p><p><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_p0V8e3CWE7M/RjNpDo5-3UI/AAAAAAAAAAU/Wxf_zvNgeUY/s1600-h/Emissions+Growth.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5058502317708336450" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_p0V8e3CWE7M/RjNpDo5-3UI/AAAAAAAAAAU/Wxf_zvNgeUY/s200/Emissions+Growth.gif" border="0" /></a>The most important thing Algore has failed to realize is something that was put graphically in a Wall Street Journal editorial several months ago. The graph most definitely speaks for itself; in concurrent five year spans from 1990 to 2004, the United States has gone from a 6-10% growth rate to a paltry 2.1% in the latest span. Meanwhile, the first fifteen members of the European Union, or EU-15, have proceeded to take a 2.2% cutback in emissions before all of the hype to a 4.5% growth rate <em>AFTER</em> they all signed onto the Kyoto Protocol in 2002.</p><p>The difference between the two nations, apart from the glaring fact that the US never signed Kyoto, is that the European Community has undertaken a series of industry-crippling regulations while the United States has remained steadfast in its support of free markets. Free competition has forced many large corporations to cut emissions independent from government coersion. From General Electric to United Technologies, some of the biggest companies by market capitalization have been <em>cutting</em> emissions at double-digit clips for several years now.</p><p>A word to the unwise, Mr. Gore. America's people have always been skeptical of government. We broke away from a tyrannical king 231 years ago, broke away from ourselves 146 year ago, and spent almost a half-century fighting hyper-government in the form of Communism during the Cold War. If you so desperately want to fight global warming, perhaps you should step aside and let the free market continue its course toward your desired end. It would amaze you how efficient markets can be ...</p><br /><br /><p></span></p></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-32841925485708046822007-04-28T00:06:00.000-05:002007-04-28T00:10:39.224-05:00The Perspectives: La Terza Parte<span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Back again, after my second (and sad to say, much longer) hiatas, the blog is under a redesign. During the latest reboot, if you will, I'm going to be changing the looks and the content. In addition to politics and current affairs topics, there will be some sporting additions in honor of the newly christened baseball season. Mainly, these sports posts will be concerning the daily Brewers games.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Anyone who has been checking in for updates over the last year, thank you. You will not be disappointed with Version Three.</span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:Trebuchet MS;">Stay tuned for more ...</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1143484254995131112006-03-27T12:28:00.000-06:002007-03-29T11:19:37.236-05:00Chappaquiddick Teddy<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I often hear Senator Kennedy (D-MA) refer to conservatives as "the hard right."<br /><br />As opposed to you, senator, the founding member of the "Hard Left Club" (hint: think Chappaquiddick).<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1143444453900589632006-03-27T01:08:00.000-06:002006-12-28T13:18:37.463-06:00Taxation From Hell<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After reading a bit on the British version of the inheritance tax over at the <a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/theres_death_and_taxes_then_theres_death_taxes/">Adam Smith Institute Blog</a>, I got to thinking about that whole deal here on the west side of the pond.<br /><br />Just to make things clear right away, I am as opposed to any form of inheritance (or death, if you will) tax the government can possibly think of.<br /><br />I was thinking to myself (seeing as my roommate would have no interest in hearing my contemplations) that not only are we taxed when we work, but we are taxed when we shop, when we invest, when we retire, and when we die! I have, most assuredly, left out something that we are taxed for, but I have neither the time nor the patience to find out what that may be.<br /><br />I seem to recall the 18th century, when our humble central government survived on duties gathered from liquor and tobacco products alone. These small excise taxes led to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_rebellion">Whiskey Rebellion</a> in 1794. Sure the higher tax rate for small producers over larger competitors was a big reason for the rebellion, but can you imagine what would have come from quadruple-taxation, and worse?!<br /><br />I must say our national government must be supremely thrilled that we haven't rioted through the streets demanding our money back. The Framers must be reeling in their graves and begging God to reincarnate them so they can give Congress their comeuppance for being such greedy swine. President Washington would throw a fit of astronomical proportions over current congressional salaries.<br /><br />All history aside, our current tax system is simply outrageous. If a tax on labor isn't disturbing enough, then surely a tax on gasoline and liquor and tobacco products, a tax on nearly all goods, a tax on dividends and capital gains, and a tax on the estates of the recently deceased surely take the cake. The last tax mentioned, affectionately referred to as the "death tax" is so abhorrent, I can hardly put it into words. For those estates just barely over the threshold of qualification, half of the assets to be given to the next generation are seized by the federal government (or more accurately, 46% for 2006). If these assets include a family-owned business and a modestly-sized house, one of the two must be relinquished.<br /><br />It is a sad state of affairs in which a nation must steal from the families of the dead to pay their own debts because they don't know when to set down the checkbook. Thankfully this wretched tax will be phased out in 2010 once and for all ...<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1143159643644639982006-03-23T17:40:00.000-06:002006-03-23T18:20:43.800-06:00NYT vs WSJ vs IBD<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">That's right folks, it's a battle of the newspapers. Which of the three acronyms in the title will give you the best for your money? Well hey, I'm no expert but I know a little something about each. For one, we have the far left representation in the New York Times. Then we have the always informative, always objective Wall Street Journal. Finally there is the right of center, business-minded Investor's Business Daily. There are stark differences between the three print dailies in the way they report the news and the focus is squarely on the economic front.<br /><br />Where else to begin but with the loony left and their periodical of choice, the New York Times. The Times is known for its hositility towards right-minded news-seekers. The stories we seek and the opinions we wish to hear are rarely representated on the pages of Sulzberger's rag. Now the Times is making it difficult for even <span style="font-style: italic;">their </span>readers to make money by relegating the stock tables to its digital edition. Now only those who subscribe to the Times will have access to these money-making numbers. People too cheap for subscriptions but who enjoy both the stories and have an interest in the financials won't simply go to the Wall Street Journal for the tables; they will be SOL in most cases.<br /><br />Then there is the Wall Street Journal, perenially known as the financially-astute reader's newspaper. The majority of the stories in this massive, four section daily deal with stories that have something to do with money and its pursuit by savvy investors. Nevertheless, it offers much in the way of world news and political commentary as well. Where the NYT is concerned more with world news and lefty politics, the Journal strays from getting entangled in opinion and is exceptional at reporting objectively. For those simply concerned with making easy money in the marketplace, the embedded sections "Marketplace" and "Money & Investing" are must reads. When delving into the world of politics, there are two pages of commentary in the main section, the Journal has always been one of the most editorially conservative national newspapers. All in all, the Journal maintains readership of 2 million-plus for good reason -- it easily appeals to many readers because of its objectivity and focus on investment news.<br /><br />The final paper, and most expensive of the three, is the Investor's Business Daily. However, for the wealth of knowledge encompassed in its pages, the hefty subscription rate is fine by its readers. The majority of IBD readership comes from six-figure investors looking for premium investment information that their peers do not have access to, or must wait to receive. Nevertheless, their reporting and political commentary are unabashedly right-of-center. The paper's editorials are often featured on the blog of pro-growth group, <a href="http://www.clubforgrowth.org/blog/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Club For Growth</span></a>. Subscribers, however, have access to premium investment tools at the website, <a href="http://investors.com/">investors.com</a>.<br /><br />For a comparison in the reporting tactics of NYT and IBD, see <a href="http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49404">Larry Elder's piece</a> on WorldNetDaily.<br /><br />Subscribe to: <a href="https://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/HDSHome.do?mode=HDSHome">New York Times</a> ... <a href="https://services.wsj.com/Gryphon/jsp/retentionController.jsp?page=269&S=63JWAK">Wall Street Journal</a> ... <a href="http://www.investors.com/IBDStore/">Investor's Business Daily</a><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1142921958722653442006-03-21T00:17:00.000-06:002006-03-21T00:19:18.746-06:00The Truth Can Be Funny<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I found this joke quite entertaining ... h/t <a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/individual/joke_of_the_day_3351/">Adam Smith Institute Blog</a><br /></span><blockquote style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Five Caribbean Surgeons were discussing the best patients to operate on. The first, a Cuban surgeon, said, "I like to see accountants on my operating table, because when you open them up, everything inside is numbered."<br /> <br /> The second, a Jamaican, responded, "Yeah, but you should try electricians. Everything inside them is colour coded." The third, a Barbadian surgeon, said he preferred librarians because he found everything inside them was in alphabetical order, and the fourth, a Trinidadian surgeon, liked construction workers because they always understood when you had a few parts left over<br /> <br /> But the fifth, a Guyanese surgeon, shut them all up when he observed: "You're all wrong. Politicians are the easiest. There's no guts, no heart, no balls, no brains and no spine, and the head and the ass are interchangeable."</blockquote><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1142897169105076192006-03-20T16:41:00.000-06:002006-03-22T02:32:33.920-06:00Protectionism Is For Chumps<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Just a few minutes ago, former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan said on Kudlow & Company that he favors protectionist tariffs on imported goods to help end the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs.<br /><br />This is where my libertarian side thumbs its nose at my conservative side.<br /><br />Free trade and globalization create a better economy domestically and abroad for our trading partners. Protectionism is so ridiculous because instead of hurting our trading partners and helping us, it does the opposite. Sometimes, it hurts everybody, as in extreme cases like the 1930 </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot-Hawley_Tariff_Act"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act</span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> that helped cause world trade to decline by 66% by 1934, according to the <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/id/17606.htm">State Department</a>.<br /><br />Wikipedia says that "[A] revenue-generating tariff can be beneficial to an individual domestic economy, if other countries do not retaliate with tariffs of their own." Well the problem is that in efforts to protect their own industries, or just out of spite, foreign nations often do retaliate and fuel cyclical devastation that would plunge the WORLD economy into recession.<br /><br />Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes and <span style="font-style: italic;">Digital Rules</span> blogger, <a href="http://blogs.forbes.com/digitalrules/2006/03/paleo_pat_wants.html">argues that</a> "Paleo Pat's" doctrine of "economic patriotism" would be "disastrous for the U.S. and the world."<br /><br />I agree ...<br /> </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1142273964611437082006-03-13T11:32:00.000-06:002006-03-13T12:19:24.643-06:00Blog Spotlight: Adam Smith Institute Blog<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Adam Smith once said, "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">All for ourselves, and nothing for other people, seems, in every age of the world, to have been the vile maxim of the masters of mankind.</span>"<br /><br />Thankfully, his work led to a contradiction of this statement and a movement championed by some of the greatest economists the world has ever seen. Friedrich Hayek used the principles of the capitalist system to debunk socialism and ensure that its spread would not corrupt another European country. Milton Friedman used these same principles to argue for economic freedom and became one of the most widely cited economic thinkers of the 20th century.<br /><br />I was fortunate enough this morning to happen across <a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Adam Smith Institute</span></a> and its blog thanks to a reference on the Club For Growth's blog. ASI calls itself "<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">the UK's leading innovator of free-market policies</span>" and its blog features several free market writers and a "Joke of the day" segment that has no shortage of side splittery.<br /><br />Today's insights include a look into the <a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/individual/pity_the_poor_farmers/">"fair trade" coffee shops</a> whose practices seem slightly Orwellian as well as a <a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/individual/more_than_half/">summary of the negative effects</a> of high marginal tax rates on the British economy (our friends across the pond have an average tax rate that is fast approaching 50%).<br /><br />I would suggest adding their <a href="http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/index.php/blog/rss_atom/">RSS atom feed</a> to your feed-readers; this is a daily read for anyone interested in the economy, domestic or foreign.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1141859739250215162006-03-08T16:51:00.000-06:002006-03-08T17:15:39.293-06:00The Sarbanes-Oxley Monster<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Former Clinton Commerce Secretary Robert Reich and Wall Street Journal Editorial Columnist Steve Moore were just debating <span style="font-style: italic;">Sarbanes-Oxley</span>, the corporate governance legislation, on Kudlow and Company when Mr. Reich said:<blockquote><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">We have a democracy, and most people are going to say, "If we didn't have enough to stop all of those shenanigans, we are going to have to have more."</span><br /></blockquote>Rarely have I heard anything more naive from a man of obviously high intelligence. Robert Reich is not a stupid man, he knows a thing or two about the criminal justice system and why laws are required to maintain order in a society. But to suggest that if current laws result in crime the solution is more laws is so absurd, and it almost borders on communist-speak. His comments bring to mind the communist ideal of a "heaven on earth" and "utopian society" by making it so difficult to be bad that all of a sudden, all the criminals will become upstanding citizens.<br /><br />No matter how many or how few laws are on the books, there will always be people who break them. The whole point of the laws is to ensure that these people are brought to justice. Simply because a few more CEOs, financial officers, and accounting firms are "cooking the books" at various corporations doesn't mean that the current law is too lenient. That is like arguing that because murder rates spiked one year that the law isn't working and we need more laws. You can't come to logical conclusions based on such a limited sample base as <span style="font-style: italic;">Sarbanes-Oxley</span> was. This kind of knee-jerk reactionism is what creates larger, less efficient bureaucracies that attempt to control every malfeasance.<br /><br />Furthermore, these kinds of sweeping regulations tend to have an ill effect on smaller entities, in this case smaller businesses planning on going public. The increased cost of complying with the new regulations make it more difficult and less appealing for smaller companies to list on the domestic exchange and drives many companies to list abroad.<br /><br />For an outline on this phenomenon and a solution, see <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114161275301390076.html?mod=todays_us_opinion">Monday's op-ed</a> by Nasdaq CEO Bob Greifeld in the Wall Street Journal.<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12188554.post-1141839497843619802006-03-08T11:31:00.000-06:002006-03-08T11:38:18.186-06:00Ports Deal Updates<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">The Wall Street Journal has a "<a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114071649414581503.html?mod=home_whats_news_us">Ports Deal News Tracker</a>" that is loaded with almost up to the minute updates concerning congressional hearings and other worldwide news about the ports deal.<br /><br />One of the more recent updates includes an <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114178420218892117.html">article today</a> reporting that House Republicans are "distancing themselves from" Bush and many are opposing this deal because of constituent concerns. Give me a break, I understand that the job of these politicians is to represent their constituency, but since when have they ever fought for their "constituents' views"?!<br /><br />This is probably not just my own theory, but I'm wondering if this sudden 180 on national security by the Democrats hasn't forced congressional Republicans to follow suit in an attempt to avoid another black mark as election season heats up again.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><form method="post" action="http://www.feedblitz.com/feedblitz.exe?BurnUser"><p><label for="email">Enter your email to subscribe:</label><br /><input name="email" maxlength="255" type="text" size="26" id="email" /><br /><input name="uri" type="hidden" value="jwperspectives" /> <input type="submit" value="Subscribe me!" /></p><p id="poweredByFeedBlitz">Powered by <a href="http://www.feedblitz.com">FeedBlitz</a></p></form></div>Jeremyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16029756782361182574noreply@blogger.com0