COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, March 04, 2013

“The main problem with the sequester is actually that it is too small.”



The March 1 deadline for the spending sequester has come and gone, and the world did not end.  The basis for many of the apocalyptic predictions is the Keynesian claim that spending cuts slow economic growth, and could perhaps even cause a recession.  This claim, says Cato scholar Jeffrey A. Miron, is false. “Across all categories, federal expenditure is far greater than necessary to achieve the legitimate goals of government intervention,” says Miron. “The main problem with the sequester is actually that it is too small.”

18 comments:

  1. - Just what we need, another Bush, or how about another Clinton? Why not another Obama?

    Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush won’t confirm he’s a candidate for the next presidential race, but he sounded like a White House hopeful Monday, declaring his party in need of leadership.

    “I have a voice, I want to share my beliefs about how the conservative movement and the Republican party can regain its footing, because we’ve lost our way,” he told TODAY’s Matt Lauer.



    Bush said he wouldn’t rule out a run in 2016, “but I won’t declare today either.”

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jeb IS the Republicam Party.
    His family personifies it.

    No form of revisionism can change that historical reality.
    Nor provide reason why the Republicans should not Stay the Course.

    ReplyDelete
  3. .

    Just what we need, another Bush, or how about another Clinton? Why not another Obama?

    I wouldn't disqualify Jeb on the basis of his name. I've got nothing against the man at this point. Of course, we have four years until the election and a lot may come out. It was only a year or so ago that I learned Romney strapped his dog to the top of his car for a twelve hour ride.

    I've always thought George H.W. Bush was a decent president, even if only relatively so. I have even seen articles where it was argued that he was the best president we have had in the past few decades. Of course, you have Neil and George W., but as siblings go ol Jeb doesn't seem that bad. He seemed to do ok in Florida and he would likely help with the GOP's Spanish problems.

    Admittedly, there is some validity in much of the rest of your argument. Carter had his Billy and Clinton had his Roger. However, just as I feel we would have been a lot better off if Jeb rather than George W. had replaced Clinton, when it comes to the Obamas I often wonder if we would have been better off with George rather than Barach, a clean-cut, self-effacing slum dweller who dreams of becoming an auto mechanic as opposed to a narcissistic rock-star with a quest for power and delusions of granduer.

    Just a thought; I realize there are constitutional issues.

    At any rate, I have nearly four years to decide on Jeb.

    .

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    Replies
    1. "...I learned Romney strapped his dog to the top of his car for a twelve hour ride."

      Get over it.

      The dog traveled in a crate and enjoyed 'rest' stops along with the rest of the family. The crate on top of the car would be similar to traveling in the back of a pickup truck or a horse traveling in a trailer.

      Delete
  4. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Monday that he is against granting citizenship to undocumented immigrants, though a path to citizenship is seen by many as a cornerstone of immigration reform.

    ...

    "Half the people in '86 that could have gotten amnesty didn't apply," Gov. Bush said. "Many people don't want to be citizens of our country.

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  5. On this day in 1957, the S&P 500 was calculated and disseminated in its current form for the very first time.

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  6. .

    Shotgun Joe reports the Big O is Israel's best friend ever.

    “I’ve served with eight presidents of the United States of America and I can assure you, unequivocally, no president has done as much to physically secure the state of Israel as President Barack Obama,” Biden said during his speech at a conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington.

    It’s not the first time Biden has said such a thing, but this time he was saying it to Israel’s top lobbying group in Washington.


    .

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  7. Mitt Romney returned to the spotlight this weekend in his first major interview since losing the presidential election, and quickly proved he still has no clue why he lost.

    ...

    Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush refused to rule out a potential 2016 run in his Monday Today Show interview, and some experts believe his more moderate stances on many issues could help him revive the GOP, but Patricia Murphy of Citizen Jane Politics thinks his name will be his Achilles heel. Bush fatigue is simply too strong in the Republican party, she said.

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  8. Buy anything in bottles or cans?

    CRV Tax


    ...and, of course the Health care legislation imposes a 2.3% excise tax on the sale of medical devices as of 1 January 2013:

    Medical excise tax

    An Infowars reader sent along an image of a sales receipt from Cabela’s, a popular sporting goods store.

    The receipt (pictured at left) spells out what Obama and the feds want to keep secret – the middle class is being heavily taxed despite all the fatuous rhetoric of Democrats who invariably play the class warfare card to sell their confiscatory taxation policies.

    “The 2.3% Medical Excise Tax that began on January 1st is supposed to be ‘hidden’ from the consumer, but it’s been brought to the public’s attention by hunting and fishing store Cabela’s who have refused to hide it and are showing it as a separate line item tax on their receipts,” the email states.

    CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times and other apologists for government theft naturally don’t expose the heavy dose of taxes hidden in Obamacare.
    ---

    Many of the taxes buried in the massive bill include excise taxes on charitable hospitals, taxes on innovator drug companies, new taxes on Blue Cross/Blue Shield, and other taxes that will of course be passed on to beleaguered consumers. Many of the taxes in the bill have nothing to do with healthcare. For instance, taxes on bio-fuel and tanning services.

    In 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance – that is to say, not buying insurance from mega-corporations who cut a deal with the feds to fleece the average American – must pay an income surtax.

    Employers with more than 50 employees who do not conform to the Obamacare mandate will be obliged at gunpoint to pay an additional non-deductible tax of $2,000 for each full-time employee. If employees participate in so-called insurance exchanges run by the government, the penalty for the employer jumps to $3,000 per employee.

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  9. Also in 2014, those of us who have “Cadillac” health insurance plans – plans that cost more than $27,500 per family – will face a withering 40 percent excise tax.

    ONLY 40 PERCENT!
    Can we spell single payer?

    When Obama's Panels set up the Ovens, Rufus will lead a squad of volunteers to march to their fates.

    Obama’s plan – crafted by insurance corporations – promises to subsidize around 30 million uninsured Americans, a bill that will amount to a staggering $1.8 trillion, much of it hidden beneath the surface or sold as the government forcing greedy rich people to pay “their fair share.”

    Cabela’s is doing us a service by adding a medical excise tax line on its retail receipts. More retailers and service companies need to get on the bandwagon and do this.

    It will remind Americans that they are being screwed – not by rapacious fat cat corporations, but the federal government.

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    Replies
    1. .

      Is the Cabela's charge an urban legend or a mistake?

      Hey, I Ordered a GPS not a BP Monitor

      .

      Delete
    2. Lucky we have a Doug factchecker here lately.

      Damned talk radio caller.

      ---

      I do have it on good authority, however, tho glasses and contact lenses to are exempt, toothpaste, brushes, bandaids, and floss, are not.

      Delete
    3. .

      Your post enticed me to look further into the wording of the 'medical excise tax' clause. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately in this case, the first one that googled up was the urban legend link.

      .

      Delete
  10. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush writes in a new book that Mitt Romney moved so far to the right on immigration that it proved "all but impossible" for the Republican presidential nominee to appeal to Hispanic voters in the 2012 election.

    ...

    In the book, Bush says he supports creating a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants who live in the U.S. but says tougher border security should not be a prerequisite. He says a path to legal status should not include citizenship for those who entered illegally as adults.

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  11. "tougher border security should not be a prerequisite."

    Like W and Obama, Jebber would prosecute border agents, while letting Drug Dealers roam free.

    Based on the Dealer's testimony.

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  12. If those 4 million Pub's had not stayed home, it would have been a different story.
    I'd take Romney over Jeb.

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  13. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R), who seemed to back off his previous support for a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants during an interview with NBC’s “Today Show” early Monday, said in a later interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd that he could support one under the right circumstances.

    ...

    “The book provides a set of recommendations based on what is needed and what can generate bipartisan support,” said the spokesman, Jaryn Emhof. “It is a comprehensive proposal, including a path to legal residency for those here illegally.

    ReplyDelete