'The Keynesian Case For Romney'

From the Washington Post:

But Romney, though he often buys into that sort of nonsense while criticizing Obama, knows better. Time magazine asked him about cutting spending in 2013. “If you take a trillion dollars for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over 5 percent,” Romney said. “That is by definition throwing us into recession or depression. So I’m not going to do that, of course.” You couldn’t have gotten a clearer definition of Keynesian budgeting from Obama.
There’s a good chance that a Romney administration would extend both Bush and Obama’s tax cuts and delay the scheduled spending cuts. Congress would raise the debt ceiling after Romney promised congressional Republicans that he’d sign some variant of Paul Ryan’s budget as soon as it’s sent to him. Somewhere along the way, Romney would pass both more short-term tax cuts and a long-term transportation bill — something Republicans have been blocking under Obama — that doubles as an infrastructure package and includes, to secure Republican support, the Keystone XL oil pipeline.
Nor is it clear that this will come at the cost of harsh deficit reduction in coming years. There will almost certainly be deep spending cuts if Romney is president, but both the Romney and Ryan proposals include trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts and defense spending. If Republicans clear that hurdle by simply assuming that deep tax cuts will lead, through supply-side magic, to larger revenues, their deficit-reduction plans might well end up increasing the deficit over the next few years. “Remember,” wrote Business Insider’s Joe Weisenthal, “Republicans were pro-deficit, and pro-entitlement expansion under Bush and Reagan. Deficit cutting only became part of the party’s ideology under Obama.”
Compared to anything Obama is likely to get from a Republican House, that is, at least in the short term, a much more expansionary, Keynesian approach. But it’s also an awful precedent. In a sense, Republicans are holding a gun to the economy’s head and saying, “vote for us or the recovery gets it.”
That might well prove an effective political strategy: The more they say that they’re willing to let the debt ceiling expire and the economy run over the fiscal cliff, the more businesses will pull back and households will stop spending in order to make sure they have enough cash on hand to ride out another crisis. That will further depress the economy this year, making it more likely that Romney wins, and that Republicans embrace the smooth Keynesian glide path that they’re denying Obama.

Electing Mitt Romney in November is no different than giving Obama a 2nd term.The GOP talks spending cuts but has of yet to produce any.

Hat tip to Conservatives 4 Palin.

The New Republican Virtue Of Cowardice

Michael Barone:

Many Republican House members, and the bloggers and tea partiers who cheered their victory in gaining a majority in November 2010, seem to be seething with discontent and eager for confrontation.

They believe, reasonably, that their victory represented a repudiation of the vast expansion of government by the Obama Democrats. They want to see those policies reversed, and pronto. And if the dilatory Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the all-campaign-no-governance President Obama want a confrontation, so much the better.
Such impatience is unbecoming in those who call themselves “constitutional conservatives.” It is James Madison’s Constitution that prevents the winners of one election from directing the course of public policy as unilaterally as, to take one example, the British Labor party marched Britain into a socialist welfare state on the basis of one election victory in 1945.

This is utter hog-wash!We who want less government and to reduce its power over our lives DO NOT expect a return to Constitutional government over night.In fact most of us know it won't happen in our lifetimes.

We know we will have to have both the House and a filibuster proof Senate,with the Presidency just to begin to restore our nation to its Constitutional roots.We also know that the battle will not just be in Washington,but in the streets all across America.The Left -the Union-thugs and Occupy Wall Street- will rage with violence at the end of government programs that they have been conditioned to be dependent upon;being encouraged to do so by the crony capitalist who have enriched themselves at the expense of the state.It will be a very long and enduring fight.

The problem that I and others have with the Republicans in Congress,is not in their prudence in picking the right fight,but in their refusal to stand up and fight at all.Their strategy seems to be to avoid confrontation with Obama and the Democrats at all cost,caving in at every opportunity.They may not be able to roll back the welfare state,but they DO NOT have to be a party to its expansion.

Patience is a virtue,but cowardice is not.This exactly what John Boehner and the GOP leadership in the House has exhibited,cowardice.I will not be lectured to,by Michael Barone or any other Washington insider on being impatient,when we are led in Washington by a bunch of cowards.

Steve Wynn Gets It,Why Doesn't The So Called The Gop Front-Runners Get It?

Wynn Resorts CEO Steve Wynn,had this to say about our current troubles (paraphrased):

In a nutshell, he says: Deficits are killing us, our dollars are worthless, and the Democrats are bankrupting the country and vilifying anyone who's successful. So naturally, people are protesting.

'GOP 2012:Hold Your Nose Tracker':Update: 'The Real Loser......The GOP'

Michelle Malkin correctly measures the 4 perceived GOP front-runners:

Every single one of these front-runners is a pro-TARP interventionist with a variety of problematic Big Biz/Big Government impulses and alliances.

No matter how you slice it or dice it,its just more of the same that is destroying us.
Update: From Riehl World View:

So far, the real loser in the primary season is the GOP. Heading into a critical election against just going to be a real loser in primary season,but also a loser against Obama in the General Election too. what should be an eminently beatable Obama, the GOP can't even produce what one might call an A-Team of potential contenders. For all of the Democrat's problems, the GOP continues to look like an extremely weak party. No longer the party of Reagan, it's become the party of all of the above. That infuriates serious conservatives who generally tend to be supportive.

What I'm afraid of is that the GOP will not only be a loser in primary season,but also a loser in the general election too.Yuck!

Why I Fear Rick Perry

Conventional Wisdom holds that,Rick Perry,is a rube,a light-weight,who won't stand up well in the debates and will wilt and fade away as quickly as he came.Nothing can be farther from the truth.

Brian Bolduc:

If his past behavior is any indication, when Gov. Rick Perry debates his Republican rivals on September 7, he’ll treat them pretty ugly.

Although the Texan refused to debate his Democratic opponent in last year’s election, his earlier performances show he loves a good fight.

Not that he comes out swinging. Rather, he loosens up over time. And when he’s at his most relaxed, he goes in for the kill.

Read the full article to see examples how Perry hands his opponents their head.

Rick Perry is a smart pro,a shark,that knows when to go in for the kill.Romney wont last long as a viable candidate against him,maybe a month or 2, before the establishment crowd will jump ship and swim to Perry's shore.If Sarah Palin waits to November to jump in,she might as well as stay at home,it will be too late by then.Rick Perry is a force to be reckoned with.

Obama Bows To Boehner's Wishes

Via Michelle Malkin,photo shop credit: Roger B.Add caption

From Sweetness & Light:

President Barack Obama has acceded to House Speaker John Boehner’s wishes

I have just one question.Where was this John Boehner,a month ago,when he and the rest of the Republicans caved and increased our debt limit?Well,lets make it 2 questions.Why does Speaker Boehner feel the need to stand up to Obama over a political debate ,that doesn't matter,that only polictal junkies will watch any way and not stand up to him over bringing our fiscal house in order,which our whole national survival depends?What kind of @$$-backwards logic is that?Sorry,that was 3 questions. :p

A Game Of Charades

That's what all this debt ceiling squabble has been,a game of charades.Nobody-Republicans or Democrats- really wants to balance the budget and begin to reduce our debt;through gimmicks they move money here and there,call it a cut all the while they are increasing the budget.If you or I did that we would go to jail for fraud.

Here is what Moody's thinks of all our boondoggles;

The "limited magnitude" of both debt plans put forward by congressional leaders would not put the nation's AAA credit rating back on solid footing, Moody's Investors Service announced Friday.
"Reductions of the magnitude now being proposed, if adopted, would likely lead Moody's to adopt a negative outlook on the AAA rating," the credit rating agency said in a new report. "The chances of a significant improvement in the long-term credit profile of the government coming from deficit reductions of the magnitude proposed in either plan are not high."
It added that "prolonged debt ceiling deliberations" have increased the odds of a downgrade, but that the firm is still confident policymakers will avoid a default.
"It remains our expectation that the government will continue with timely debt service," the firm said.
It also clarified that as far as it is concerned, the nation will only default if it misses an interest or principal payment on U.S. debt, not if it misses payments on other obligations like federal employee salaries or Social Security benefits.

The report also gives credence to a claim popular among Republicans: that the government has enough cash to avoid a default even past the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department.

"If the debt limit is not raised before August 2, we believe that the Treasury would give priority to debt service payments and could thus postpone a potential debt default for a number of days," it said. "Revenues would be more than adequate for some period of time to meet those payments, although other outlays would be severely reduced as a result."
Moody's previously put the nation's top credit rating on watch for a downgrade on July 13, as lawmakers continue to fight over a deal to raise the debt limit.
While Moody's is confident it will not have to downgrade the nation's rating because of a default, it maintained that long-term debt and deficit problems will continue to weigh on the AAA mark.

If the GOP had any guts-outside of 22 in the House they don't-they would tell Harry Reid where to stick it and do nothing,laying it right in Obama's lap telling him,"its your turn now big boy,prioritize the budget and cut it."That would never happen though,Obama would play hard ball and those delicate daisy's in the GOP would wilt in the sun and cave.We can all dream though,can't we.

One last thing,RUN,SARAH,RUN!

The Boat Is Sinking...............

The boat is sinking.We have and are taking on too much debt.We should be bailing water-cutting the budget- but are leaders in Washington are debating on how much to enlarge the hole in the bottom of the boat to take on more debt,because only in Washington Bizzarro World is the solution for existing debt is to add on more debt on top of that debt.

From The Market Ticker;

 

S&P says it must be FOUR TRILLION.  Four is greater than two - by 100%.

Therefore, no matter what sort of crap the Democrats spew, until and unless they put a credible plan on the table that achieves four trillion in actual deficit reduction neither party is serious.
No, this is not a pass for the Republicans.  They haven't put forward a credible plan either.
The fact of the matter is that both parties are well-aware that addressing the problem will cause an immediate contraction in GDP.  If you get rid of deficit spending it's an immediate 12%+ hit.  If you cut in half it's 6%. 
Pick one - there's no resolution that actually fixes the problem and avoids this.
Either come up with a $4+ trillion plan which is still going to produce a monstrous amount of damage and will only extend the time before we blow up - not fix it - or shut up and go home.
The markets are done with the bullcrap - they know the Democrats and Republicans are lying and they're not going to believe either of you any more.  Either cut it out Reid - and Boehner - or watch the markets crash and, once the downgrades come, you will risk getting too close to the critical point in the gravity well at which point disaster is inevitable.  

Buy Gold! Pretty soon our money wont be fit to wipe our own @$$ with.

 

"Dear House Republicans, This is Your “Time For Choosing”

Via Red State;

Dear House Republicans,
In the election of 2010, voters sent you to Washington to do two things: (1) End Obamacare and (2) pull us back from the brink of financial ruin.
You have failed at the first task. Obamacare remains. You never even seriously attempted to restrain its funding or implementation. Heck, you haven’t even saved the incandescent lightbulb.
Will you now fail at the second task too?
If you cave, fold, or compromise on the President’s terms, you will have failed in both your missions. If you support Mitch McConnell’s plan, you will have decisively failed.
Now is a time for choosing. Now is your time for choosing.As I pointed out to John Boehner yesterday, despite what the pundits in Washington are telling you, it is you and not Obama who hold most of the cards. Obama has a legacy to worry about. Should the United States lose its bond rating, it will be called the “Obama Depression”. Congress does not get pinned with this stuff.
But there are a few points that you need to understand.
First, as the hours go on, the doom and gloom scenarios are going to get worse. By the end of July, Goldman Sachs, Ben Bernanke, and Timmy Geithner are going to tell you the world will end unless you raise the debt ceiling.
They did it with TARP too.
And now we know that the amount of money used in TARP was far less than allocated and a lot of the TARP situation involved Hank Paulson forcing solvent banks to play along. Oh, and a great many Republicans were primaried out of office.
Do not believe the doom and gloom. Wise decisions are never made when premised on fear.
Second, understand that the pundits and talking heads people expect you to listen to probably have it wrong. Remember, in 2010, they told you that if you kept being the Party of No, you’d lose. And yet . . .
As I’ve said repeatedly, the pundits and chattering class in Washington have a bias far greater than their liberal one — it is a good government bias. They believe Republicans and Democrats should come together and do grand bargains. Evil and stupid come together and do something evil and stupid. The press heralds it as bipartisanship at its finest, damn the results. We’ve been doing these grand bargains for years. Remember the last time we had a balanced budget in DC? That was at $5 trillion in national debt and no one bothered to read the fine print that the “balance” was actually based on a 10 year Congressional Budget Office projection.
Likewise, the pundits with a good government bias for some reason tend to ignore the Democrats’ problems. In 2010, the media told us you beat the Democrats because the Democrats got their message wrong, not their policy. We know the truth. But we also know that the Democrats were willing to lose to advance socialism. Are you willing to lose to advance freedom?
Finally, and here is my big point — you have to win this fight. If you do not win this fight, there will be no more chances to turn back government. Why? Because President Obama is holding senior citizens hostage with their social security checks.
If the President can force your hand by using entitlements as a lever to punish the American people if you don’t do as he wants, you will have established this as a precedent. From here on out, if you lose this fight, every time you balk at expanding government, social security checks will be withheld, medicare payments will be withheld, and in just a few short years, surgeries will be cancelled, vaccinations withheld, and hospitals shuttered.
It will all be because if you lose this fight now, the Democrats will know for certain from here on out that they can use withholding entitlements as a tool to force your hand.
You must win this fight. You must show you are not afraid. When Ben Bernanke brings the Grim Reaper in on August 1st to tell you we are all going to die, you must mock death and choose life — not bipartisan compromises that will keep growing government and ever more rapidly turn this nation into a third class banana republic. In short, you must hold the freaking line!
Now, some of you, if you have read this far, are saying, “But in 1995, the Republicans got blamed for shutting down the government.” They did. But that’s because Americans detest losers. And Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole threw in the towel instead of fighting. Their will broke. They did not break the President’s will. Of course, the next year the GOP still only lost 9 House seats and actually gained Senate seats. Imagine what would have happened had they broken the President’s will.
House Republicans, this is a time for choosing: Do you choose to be more courageous than the Democrats who were willing to risk defeat to advance socialism? Is keeping your job more important to you than saving the country? If so, the odds are you will both lose your job and lose your country.
This is a time for choosing. Choose wisely.

If the GOP caves and folds-as I think they will- me-thinks it will be time for a new political party for conservatives to call home.

Imagine-John Lennon A Reagan Republican

According to John Lennon's personal assistant,Fred Seaman,Lennon was a fan of the "Gipper";

"John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on (Democrat) Jimmy Carter.

Imagine that,a liberal pop icon,a conservative Republican,go figure.

Do We Have A New GOP Frontrunner?

I'm not one to put much stock in polls,especially this early,but this from the new Zogby poll;

The poll found Mrs. Bachmann garnering 24 percent of the vote, well-ahead of businessman Herman Cain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who each received 15 percent support.

This poll and all others are absolutely meaningless until either Sarah Palin and Rick Perry decide whether they are going to run or not.Either one or both of them will dramatically alter the shape of this race.

On the other hand it may be spelling doom for Mitt Romney.Bachmann and Cain combined  garner 39% in this poll.That's 39% I don't ever see Mitt getting.He is too wishy washy and Romneycare will sink him. 

The Paul's Whacking A Mole

According to the MSM,when the Democrats win an election they have a mandate,when Republicians win an election they must compermise.I don't think the Paul's play by those rules.