This and That

- The Debt Ceiling: the GOP is on a roll and should keep up the fight. Insiders claim they are conceding the political center to Obama, virtually guaranteeing him re-election. This may be true, but the long-term trend remains on our side, and sticking to our guns only helps accelerate the process. From Forbes.com:

Obama is not the new FDR, but the new Gorbachev. Beneath the tattered, fading banner of reactionary liberalism, Obama struggles to sustain a doomed system. Democrats’ dependency agenda — swelling the ranks of government employees, multiplying government-subsidized industries, enveloping ever-more individuals in the entitlement culture — is buckling under an intractable contradiction: It is incompatible with economic growth sufficient to create enough wealth to feed the multiplying tax eaters.

- You will likewise continue to hear talks this week about how our politicians are acting childish (and this charge will almost always be directed towards Republicans, never the other guys) and how Washington is now fundamentally "broken." Again, if "childish" or "broken" means "having a serious discussion for the first time in 16 years about the role of the federal government and how much money it spends", then broken government is clearly the way to go. My only regret is that we didn't have broken government during Bush's 8 years and Obama's first two. If that were the case we'd probably be running huge surpluses right now.

- Prices everywhere are going up. Gas, Chipotle, McDonald's, Miller Lite's at Churchills (now $5), Hilliard's, rent. Even Netflix. "Mainstream", "respected", and "reasonable" economists (i.e., those in bed with the administration) will blame the inflation on things like "rising demand" or "higher fuel costs", but those of us who aren't on CNN's or the DNC's payroll understand the true cause of rising prices: an increase in the money supply.

When unemployment's at 9% and prices are increasing, you have the same problem Jimmy Carter couldn't solve or explain away. Keynsian pump-priming, stimulus quick-fixes, and endless deficit spending don't lead to prosperity, but only to more dollars chasing the same amount of goods. Believe it or not, printing more pieces of paper with dead presidents on them doesn't create additional resources for the economy, nor expand its productive capacity.

Anyway, that's it. I don't really have a good way to conclude this post, so I'm ending it here. Oh yea, and we need Rick Perry to run for president.