Ruminations - 6dec12

George Rebane

Remember the ladies from Detroit who loved President Obama’s “stash” but had no idea where it came from.  Well, it’s almost four years later, and one of them seems now to be on the Detroit City Council.  As readers know, Detroit is on its collective ass and getting ready for a little bit of Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, and the lady is maximally irritated.  It seems that they have sent their paid lobbyists to Washington to tell Obama that ‘we voted for you, and now we want to be paid.’  What she’s actually asking for is some “bacon” from the stash that the city now richly deserves.  Obama seems to be filching on his promise.

And then there’s Great Britain equally sliding into fiscal oblivion on its derriere (can’t use ass twice in the same post).  Prime Minister Cameron is rallying the Brits to demand that companies operating on the island pay more taxes than they need to on (wait for it) “moral grounds”.  Sticking a mike into the face of a typical citizen, and you hear that corporations like Starbucks and Amazon are “immorally minimizing their taxes” by following the applicable EU tax laws.  Sadly, such is the damage that socialism does to an otherwise healthy brain.

Coming back to our side for a peek at the growing imperial presidency, we see a President, with bulging veins in his temple, tell the country that “I will not play that game (of joining debt limit and budget negotiations) any more.”   No one has yet been smart enough to tell him that 1) the Constitution gives him no power to reject political deals like that, and 2) it is most proper to join debt limits and budget negotiations since they both deal with and are intimately related to our run away deficits and the real fiscal cliff, which is the soaring national debt whose service costs will swamp future federal budgets.   Is he acting dumb on purpose or just letting the rest of us know that his voters are too dumb to understand this demagoguery?   (No need to answer this.)

Comments

[Gregory]

When talking about Brits one might as well use their slang. Try "bum". As in:
http://metro.co.uk/2008/10/31/vicar-hospitalised-with-potato-up-his-bum-95117/

Of course, they have socialized health care and removal of vegetables with an errant sense of direction is covered.

[Todd Juvinall]

This is what the Mayans predicted 2000 years ago. However it was not the physical destruction of the planet but the mental destruction of the human race. This malady is sweeping the planet and soon all humans (except the rich in their compounds) will be ZOMBIES!

[TheMikeyMcD]

David Burge had a great suggestions for Obama, assuming that he wants Detroit to thrive.

Simply give a 10 year federal tax holiday for residences and business in Detroit. In 10 years it would look like Hong Kong.

[George Rebane]

Gregory 207am - I totally overlooked 'bum', thanks ;-)

MikeyMcD 911am - I think you nailed it; the transition would be breathtaking. See also my piece on the decline of Detroit and Hiroshima's recovery (but that includes also a heavy cultural factor in favor of Japan).
http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2011/11/hiroshima66-detroitwelfare.html

[JesusBetterman]

L's Christmas cure for hemorrhoids, his favorite hobby horse: "A ruma dum bum."

[Russ Steele]

You Own It: U.S. Unemployment Shoots Up

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- U.S. unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, was 7.8% for the month of November, up significantly from 7.0% for October. Gallup's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 8.3%, nearly a one-point increase over October's rate.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/159104/unadjusted-unemployment-shoots-back.aspx

[Bill Tozer]

Concerning the fine Detriot woman asking for bacon and who is also "maximally irriated" for good reason: Don't be so hard on the Councilwoman. I have much sympathy and empathy for her blight. Having to go around begging for bacon is an unpleasant state to be in. There are two kinds of people in this world. Those that love bacon and those who are wrong.

[Russ Steele]

Here are some thoughts I found on the internet that seem to makes some sense, what do you think.

History tells us that economic redistribution plans failed because the producers of society would rather not produce, than have the fruits of their production taken away and given to others.

Obama can raise the tax rates on income, but he cannot force people to generate income to be taxed. People may just say “no.” This resistance will not come from evading taxes, but from evading taxable income.

People can change their economic behavior to deprive Obama of what he wants most, our tax dollars. They will do everything possible and legal to insulate themselves from creating taxable income, thus starving the beast. More of nothing is nothing.

[Ryan Mount]

> Those that love bacon and those who are wrong.

That is exactly correct. +1 Mr. Tozer.

[George Rebane]

What RussS points out (829pm) continues to flummox progressives. Recall that here we long ago established that the liberal mind believes tax rates do not affect economic behavior.
http://rebaneruminations.typepad.com/rebanes_ruminations/2011/06/the-liberal-mind-tax-rates-dont-affect-earnings.html

Mr Tozer's 813pm has a delicious turn of phrase and double entendre to boot (I hope it was not a typo) when he pours out his "sympathy and empathy for her blight."

[TheMikeyMcD]

Chutzpah: Obama Calls For “Shared Sacrifice” Weeks Before He Heads Out On Multi-Million Dollar Hawaiian Vacation… http://shar.es/6E64s

Weasel Zippers ‏@weaselzippers