Measure of the Man

With Romney's primary sweep yesterday and his optimistic and inspirational acceptance speech last night, it seems clear to this non-pundit that Romney will not only win in November, but that he will prevail in a mind-boggling landslide ... and, in the process, sweep away many Democrat incumbents in Congress and in other state elections.  I think that this conclusion should also be ... or will shortly become obvious to Obama and most of the lickspittles surrounding him. Therefore, we now will see the true measure of our hope-and-change President.

Will he, with grace and patriotism, accept this imprimatur?  Or will he, in a snit, do everything he can in his last months in office to destroy his opposition and possibly his country in the process?  Will he go on a spending spree to reward his cronies to keep them solvent long enough to recapture future political purchase?  Will he try to pass legislative booby traps that will keep the new Congress tied up in knots for years to come?  Will he try to pack our government agencies and courts with loyal operatives who will work to frustrate the people's initiatives?  Will he and his family enjoy a series of over-the-top vacations and lavish White-House fetes at taxpayer expense?  Will he continue, with even greater fervor, to divide this country along gender, racial, ethnic, economic, and age-ist lines?  Will he try to finish the job of destroying many of our time-honored international alliances?  Will he even inspire the Occupiers to attempt insurrections?

Need I go on?  Unfortunately, I think we know the answers to these and many other equally-disturbing questions.  And, therefore, Obama's metric is unfortunately de minimis.

Snowbirds

It has been estimated that only 2% of the people in the United States (something over 6 million of you) get to be snowbirds (travel to Florida, Mexico, Hawaii, Caribbean, etc.) each winter. This suggests to me a gross inequality in our society that sorely needs to be remedied. Perhaps the Occupiers can broaden out their demonstrations to focus on this class disparity? Thusly, I urge all of you Occupy protesters (who have not already gone south for the winter) to carry pithy signs in Boston, New York, DC, Oakland, etc. next week to urge our government to enable absolutely everyone to escape the northern climes each winter.  You need to demand free passage to the lands of sun, surf, and pina coladas.

May I suggest such slogans such as "We are the 98%!" ... "60 SPF for everyone!" ... "Fly me to Cancun!" ... "We demand Rum and Coke!" ... "If Capitalism is just, it will give me tan lines!"  And, in order to get even greater notice in the national media, you might also get some comely topless lasses to join you in these protestations.

Afterthought:  The question poses itself -- How is our government going to pay for this new 98%-er entitlement?  Perhaps the 2%-ers should be assessed their prorated share of this total amount (including The Barry's Hawaii sojourns) as a surtax on their airline tickets?

Rolls of Fat

China is now leading the world in the purchase of Rolls Royces ... surpassing the United States for the first time (see Wall Street Journal Story).  Perhaps the Occupiers should pitch their tents in Tiananmen Square since this clearly is where the 1%-ers now reside?

(Tip o' the hat to Terry.)

Updated Aphorisms

Early to bed, early to rise … lets you watch Morning Joe

No news … means that Matt Drudge is out of business

Hope springs Obama into office

Beauty is only a skin-tuck deep

Actions speak louder than spin

Beware of Greeks bearing bonds

If you lie down with Occupiers, you wake up with fleas

Godzilla vs. Rodan

I'm not a Godzilla aficionado but I do know that these movies represented the struggles between titans.  My picking Rodan (out of 20 or more Godzilla foes) as this giant Japanese lizard's combatant is because it is the only one I remember.  Nevertheless, I have chosen this metaphor to represent the battle of ideologies that is currently taking place here in the United States ... a battle between the Tea Party and the Occupiers.  If I may, I think the Tea Party represents populous opposition to big government sprawl whereas the Occupiers resent the growing disparity between fat-cat CEOs/universities and their employees/students.  Unfortunately, many Occupiers have extrapolated these resentments into a unthinking condemnation of capitalism.

To me, the Tea Party is opposing the bigger danger, a government that insinuates itself into every alcove of our lives ... destroying institutions and democratic traditions that have worked so well during the last 235 years.  This over-reaching government strategy clearly is working under the current Obama administration. Our economy has ground to a virtual halt, I think, in opposition to a hostile government that feels it can pick economic winners and losers ... and our credit rating continues to slip as we pile up gigantic sovereign debt.

The Occupiers, beneath the gusto of youthful exuberance and monstrous irresponsibility, do still have a few points to make.  Yes, the executives  of many of our companies have stepped over the line of economic self-interest (read "greed" if you wish) to the point where they are clogging their company's arteries with plutocratic plaque.  And this is because much of their firm's ownership is now in the hands of mutual funds, hedge funds and exchange traded funds.  These financial entities are so short-term profit oriented that they care not if executive salaries spiral out of hand.  I have addressed this dislocation in the past in a blog titled Turd on the Table. 

Also colleges have become burdened with administrative bloat and therefore pass these costs on to their students with spiraling tuitions which then translates into student loans that are crushing their graduates.  I contend that this inflation is as much due to the heavy hand of government intrusion into the economics of education as it is to generic growth (see: "Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble").  This problem too can be solved without a national revolution as advocated by the Occupiers.  In fact I suspect that, if the Tea Party has its way and our federal government is reined in, this problem will disappear within a generation.

So who will win this B-movie struggle?  Let us hope that it is, like it always was on the big screen, Godzilla (the Tea Party).  But I also hope that Rodan's (the Occupier's) rising out of that mountain egg also teaches some key lessons ... even in its defeat.

Super Duper ...

Pooper Scooper

The Congressional supercommittee is coming up empty in its attempt to reduce this nation's deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years.  See: Coming up Empty.  The 12 "bipartisan" members of this committee have come to predictable loggerheads over tax increases versus entitlement reform.  Expectations were low for this political artifice that had been created when the debt ceiling was raised this past summer.  This committee, however they did it, has managed to disappoint even this expectational nadir.  Our nation's $15 trillion debt has come about to cover a growing cradle-to-grave government that has being constructed by administrations of both parties over the last decade.  Apparently this suicide pact will continue for at least another year.

Now the blame game starts in earnest ... with the hope that such bicameral besmirching will affect the results of next year's elections.  Who knows if this mud-slinging will work ... but what I do know is that Washington, DC statesmanship is clearly dead and this augers poorly for the future of our "lazy" United States of America.  Perhaps the Occupiers will fix things?

6 Questions …

For Liberals:

1) For what reason(s) do you oppose a balanced budget admendment to the Constitution?

2) What, beyond expressing economic malaise, is there to recommend the Occupiers?

3) Has Obamacare reduced your cost of medical care as promised?

4) Do you favor giving more billions to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac?

5) Why should Israel go back to its 1948 borders and give up Jeruslem?

6) Are you better off today than you were in 2008?

The Flea Party

Rhymes with "Tea Party."  I think that this appellation is attributed to Ann Coulter.  She is referring to the "Occupiers" of course.