Data Schmata

There is an edict that has driven much of my thinking over the years ... and that is, "Data drives out speculation." This, of course, assumes that the data is pure and uncorrupted. Wrong again, Pollyanna! It appears that the climate-change "alarmists" worship another false aphorism ... "Speculation drives the data!"

It now appears that scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) have corrupted their original, almost twenty years worth of, raw data to suit their global-warming speculations ... and we are not allowed to know who these culprits are ... see: Daily Caller Article.

So, if we can't trust the data schmata, whom can we trust? Barack Obummer perhaps?

Afterward: I didn't think about it when I first wrote this blog, but "schmata" inYiddish means a cheap dress. So data that has been corrupted by ideology is certainly cheap and raggedy.

Data Drives Out Speculation

The Barry took off the gloves last night and pretty much gave the speech that two days ago I predicted he would make (see: Laser-like Focus).  He kicked off his 2012 campaign with the proposal to "spend" $447 billion of money our government doesn't have to create jobs.  But as one can see from the above chart I "borrowed" from the Powerline blog (see: Powerline) there appears to be a clear inverse relationship between such Keynesian economics and job creation.  I even think Obama's proposal to continue the cuts in the FICA tax is more a political move than an economic one.  Can one seriously say that the extra few dollars a week in everyone's paycheck is going to cure our economic malaise?  Or will the long-term damage that this does to the Social Security System negate any short-term "stimulus effect." And, for that matter, has the FICA tax cut last December helped one bit in creating jobs?  I don't see any evidence to support this notion.

The more I reflect on the United States jobs problem, the more I am convinced it is a policy issue and not a process issue.  Our current government unfortunately has continually exhibited an anti-business bias in its day-to-day actions -- from trying to stop Boeing from building the Superliner in South Carolina ... to its recent rapping of Gibson Guitar's knuckles in Tennessee over the wood that it uses ... to the stopping of oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico.  And, if one takes a serious look at the tax increases that The Barry has or plans to impose on U.S. businesses (if you doubt me, please take a gander at: Obama Tax Hikes), one can understand their reticence to invest in the future and thus grow jobs.

I'm sorry President Obama, even though you "hope" it will get you re-elected, more of the same just doesn't cut it in my book.

Further Thought:  One might add to the list of Obama's anti-business actions ... the recently-passed health care law.  Again, to see exactly how this act works against U.S. companies, refer back to the link above referring to Obama Tax Hikes and see how oppressive this unilateral action has/will become to capitalism.