The Final Five: June 13, 2012

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Tonight's Crazy Story:
W. Pa. Man Blamed Dog for Apartment Arson
A man in Western Pennsylvania has been arrested after police concluded that his apartment fire could not have started the way he claimed: his dog kicked over a fan.

Topic One: Deficit Spending
The unsustainable fiscal path: "In 2008, the U.S. economy entered into a deep recession that bottomed in 2009, which we can observe in the chart with the decline in the nation's GDP per Capita coinciding with that year. During the time since, which corresponds with President Obama's entire presidency, we see that the federal government's spending has skyrocketed while its tax collections have fallen far below where they were for the same level of GDP per Capita in the years from 2003 through 2008, opening up a wide gap between the two. That's significant because both observed changes are directly due to policies implemented by President Obama during his term in office. In addition to significantly boosting the federal government's spending, the President has also implemented tax cuts that have contributed to the widening of the gap between the federal government's spending per capita and tax collections per capita - putting the nation onto an unsustainable fiscal path."

The biggest problem with Obama's policies is not the spending itself, but the lack of a plan to fix it: "Under Obama, federal spending has surged to unprecedented levels as a proportion of GDP! And since 100% is all there is of the pie, if the federal government takes proportionately more, the private sector accounts for proportionately less, and it is the private sector which is the wealth-generating part of the economy -- the part which carries the load of government and generates our standard of living. Spending got almost this high during the Reagan administration, but then there was a policy to bring it back down which was ultimately successful. There is no such policy now. The Obama administration is not even recognizing, at least publicly, that spending has increased as it has!"

Austerity is coming: "What do Europe's economic experiences portend for the U.S.? Obama will (hopefully) lose the 2012 election because of his incompetence and the state of the U.S. economy. Republicans will control government for the next two years. They will suffer the same fate as politicians who favor austerity in Europe if they try to enforce austerity, to cut spending here. Politicians, even Republicans, are self-interested people, and will prefer to stay in office rather than be removed. So they, too, will choose to ignore economic reality. Especially when Democrats and their lapdogs, the MSM, loudly depict every austerity measure, every spending cut, as hard-hearted. Whatever enthusiasm exists when Republicans gain control will soon dissipate when polls show the unpopularity of austerity with voters. But austerity will surely come. Economic reality must set in."

Time for a Laugh:
"Guantanamo Bay is now undergoing millions of dollars worth of renovations, including a new soccer field, cable TV, and better housing. Which is kind of ironic. The only people who say they're better off today than they were four years ago are the inmates at Guantanamo Bay."
-Jay Leno

Topic Two: Education or Indoctrination?
Two articles recently show why our public schools are failing: they care more about indoctrinating the kids into liberalism than they do about teaching them to think for themselves. First, environmental indoctrination: "An example of environmental indoctrination is the “environmental literacy” graduation requirement approved by the Maryland State Board of Education. Maryland educators adopted the environmental literacy requirement—which would more accurately be called the environmental propaganda requirement—at the urging of leftwing organizations that are determined to undermine business, industry, and capitalism. One such organization is the No Child Left Inside Coalition (NCLI). NCLI is an environmentalist group that advocates major societal change to prevent further global warming. Notice the presumptuousness of “further global warming.” NCLI’s agenda, like those of all leftwing environmental groups, is anti-business and anti-industry. The organization is a collection of environmental alarmists who base their anti-business, anti-industry agenda on false assumptions and inaccurate science."

Second, social indoctrination: "[Teacher's Union activist Brian] Verdin also told the audience, “The ideas of socialism are as American as apple pie.” His interpreter clearly didn’t get the analogy, leading to several moments of awkward confusion. He explained that he is a retired Milwaukee public schools teacher, and now teaches sociology at Milwaukee Area Technical College. To that point, he mused, “Without Karl Marx, there would be no sociology department. So in some way I owe Comrade Marx even more than being a smart person, I actually make money for teaching ‘conflict theory.’"

Why do liberals love public indoctrination centers (also known as public schools)? David Gotesch explains at the beginning of the first article: "Indoctrination is one of the favorite strategies of the left for the simple reason that it works. Give liberals the public schools, which America has done, and they will take our children, which they are doing. Liberals understand that the best way to grow the next crop of liberals, environmentalists, and secular humanists is to indoctrinate them while they are young, and the best place to do that is in the classroom. Ironically, most American parents simply hand their children over to public educators for their daily dose of indoctrination with little or no thought to what takes place in the classroom. Too busy or too complacent to pay attention, many American parents who are not liberals, environmentalists, or secular humanists are allowing their children to be systematically transformed into these things."

Debt Watch:
$15,744,360,700,064.85
( As of Tuesday, June 12, 2012 )

Change: +$6,450,512,550
Your share as a citizen: $50,351.64
Share per household: $137,823.11
Debt since Obama inauguration: $5,117,483,651,152

Topic Three: ObamaCare
CMS reports that health care spending will increase slightly more than the economy. "Between 2011 and 2021, national health spending is forecast to grow by an average of 5.7% -- or slightly more than the U.S. economy, the agency said. But for the first three years, annual spending growth will likely average just 4%, slightly above the historic low of 3.8% recorded in 2009."

Furthermore, the report goes on to say that health care spending will be higher and more subsidized by the government than if the Affordable Care Act had not been passed: "When President Obama began pushing national health care legislation in 2009, he argued that reform was needed to rein in the unsustainable growth in health care spending that was crippling the budgets of businesses, states and the federal government. But a new government actuarial study finds that as a result of the law, health care spending will be $478 billion higher over the next decade than it would have otherwise been had no law been passed. Furthermore, as a result of the health care law, about 50 cents of every dollar of health care spending in the United States will be financed by government by 2021, according to the report from the actuary’s office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, unveiled today in the journal Health Affairs."

Will health care be a future bubble? "What was lost in this news, however, is that almost half of the job growth came in the health care sector. Thus, health care provides a large underpinning for our economic growth, but is this a good thing? Currently, health care expenditures are quickly increasing beyond what individuals, employers, or the government can afford. Ironically, what is gained by these increases in employment may be offset by the burden of rising health care costs on the overall economy. This raises an important question. Is the expansion within the health care industry a good thing for our economy and nation, or is it an emerging bubble that will inevitably burst?"

Tweet of the Day:
Jedediah Bila (@JedediahBila): Obama seems incapable of being realistic about his failures. Equally incapable of offering specific solutions w/ proven history of success

Topic Four: Iran
Why compromise with Iran will threaten our own security: "Much of the media and many governments around the world, meanwhile, would likely hail Iran's acceptance of the proposed bargain as a major breakthrough. As a result, international and domestic pressure would probably rise, in Europe and the U.S., to delay or weaken fresh oil sanctions set to go into force July 1. Any appetite for additional economic and diplomatic measures, if Iran then fails to move to a comprehensive agreement, would probably fade. The proposed deal threatens to make it more difficult to muster the international pressure required to confront Iran's nuclear program—at precisely the time when the oil embargo is set to tighten the screws further on an Iranian economy already weak from mismanagement, corruption, existing sanctions and falling oil prices. Compromising with Iranian nuclear negotiators inevitably means compromising on our security."

Can Netanyahu trust Obama? "So where does this leave Mr. Netanyahu? Not in place to be envied, despite his electoral popularity. He is staring at an American election that must give him fits. Were Barack Obama – the man who said those “flattering” things about him to ex-French President Sarkozy – to be reelected in November, the Israeli PM’s hands might be tied in a myriad of ways with a myriad of threats. His window to act is now. One can only wish him luck. (And maybe some high-tech wizardry we have never seen before.)"

Food for Thought - A Quote from our Founders
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society but the people themselves and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform them."
-James Madison

Topic Five: California's Future
Is it time for restructuring in California? "As with the old party bosses in Russia, Brown’s distinct lack of courage has only worsened California’s lurch toward fiscal and economic disaster. Yet as the budget woes worsen, other Californians, including some Democrats, are beginning to recognize the need for perestroika in the Golden State. This was most evident in the overwhelming vote last week in two key cities, San Diego and San Jose, to reform public employee pensions, a huge reversal after decades of ever more expansive public union power in the state."

"California’s ruling troika has been melded by a combination of self-interest and a common ideology. Their ruling tenets center on support for an ever more intrusive, and expensive, state apparatus; the need to turn California into an Ecotopian green state; and a shared belief that the “genius” of Silicon Valley can pay for all of this."

"Now this world view is foundering on the rocks of economic reality. The Soviet Union armed itself to the teeth and sent cosmonauts into space while the public waited on line for toothpaste and sausages. Similarly, Californians suffer from a combination of high taxes and intrusive regulation coupled with a miserable education system — the state’s students now rank 47th in science achievement — and a rapidly deteriorating infrastructure."

Tomorrow in History
June 14, 1777 - The Stars and Stripes is officially adopted as the official flag of the United States.

Grab Bag - Interesting and Important Stories to Conclude Your Evening:
The LA Times on the Wellesley graduation speech

The hypocrisy of Senators investigating Chase's loss while losing 62 times as much last month

Brewer readies law enforcement for immigration law ruling

Obama says he needs four more years to clean up Bush's mess

Reid uses disputed fight to push for federal intervention into boxing

Auto bailout or Union bailout?

Florida fighting for voter integrity

Romney infographic details first 100 days

Facebook 'likes' counterfeiters

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