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Tonight's Crazy Story:
Two Men Stopped at U.S. Border for Illegal Candy
Two men were stopped at a border crossing and told that their chocolate eggs were illegal, and they could be subject to a $15,000 fine for attempting to bring them across the border.
Topic One: The Obama Legacy
Welcome to the Obama recovery: "President Barack Obama speaks of his own presidency as a rough patch in our nation's history. "I don't need to tell you what we've been through over the last three and a half years because you've lived it," Obama said in Roanake, Va., last week. "Too many folks lost jobs. Too many people saw their homes lose value. Too many folks saw their savings take a hit." ... The truth is: We are in the Obama recovery now. If history is a guide, these are the best of the Obama times. The next presidential term — no matter who serves in the Oval Office — is likely to see another recession."
American will survive the Obama presidency: "America is strong and transcendent because of all these things together -- our people, God's great blessing of location and resources, our form of government and economy, our freedoms, our rights, and our pride. We are a proud nation, and Mr. President, "you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen." Barack Obama is at best an aberration, a bump in the road, because in the end he is nothing more than a mix of hubris and narcissism. He pales in comparison to the greatness of America and who we are as a people. The dream our nation represents has drawn people the world over, willing to sacrifice everything to give their children the possibility of being an American."
Time for a Laugh:
"Romney's surrogate, John Sununu, he's in hot water for saying that, "I wish President Obama would learn how to be an American." Well, that's kind of insulting, isn't it? Don't you think? President Obama spends money he doesn't have. He loves to skip work and play golf. He sneaks away from his wife to eat fatty foods. What is more American than that?"
-Jay Leno
Topic Two: Who Built It?
What Obama's 'off-the-prompter' moment tells us: "High earners don't deserve the money they make, Obama apparently thinks. It's the gift of government, and they shouldn't begrudge handing more of it back to government. And that's true, as he told Charlie Gibson of ABC News in 2008, even if those higher tax rates produce less revenue for the government, as has been the case with rate increases on capital gains. The government should take away the money as a matter of "fairness." The cynical might dismiss Obama's preoccupation with higher tax rates as an instance of a candidate dwelling on one of his few proposals that tests well in the polls. ... But maybe Obama's Captain-Ahab-like pursuit of higher tax rates just comes from a sense that no one earns success and that there's no connection between effort and reward."
Businesses pay it forward: "It's true that everyone receives some help and guidance along the path of life but Obama is trying to put the government cart before the private-sector horse in this case. Without private-sector business activity, the government would have zero money to spend on roads, bridges, teachers or anything else for that matter. The money must first be extracted from businesses and the people who work hard and receive their paychecks from those businesses (at least before the Feds started printing money). ... Sure business start-ups today are benefitting from some government services that were paid for by others. But funding for those services can ultimately be traced back to past business start-ups that became successful and created a "branching tree" of tax revenue (and technology) for the government to utilize."
Debt Watch:
$15,874,046,715,877.56
(
As of Wednesday, July 18, 2012
)
Change: -$10,109,213,754.49
Your share as a citizen: $50,706.08
Share per household: $138,958.36
Debt since Obama inauguration: $5,247,169,666,964.46
Topic Three: Americans Choosing Plastic
Americans are starting to choose plastic payment again: "A recent Federal Reserve report revealed that outstanding consumer credit rose by 8 percent in May, nearly double the previous month's growth rate. The increase amounted to a $17.1 billion jump in consumer credit usage. On its face, this may sound encouraging, since more borrowing may translate into more investment, more consumption, and ultimately more economic growth. However, this surprising increase in credit usage was fueled by an 11 percent rise in credit card and other revolving credit forms, while the growth of non-revolving lines of credit actually fell from 9.6 to 6.5 percent."
Will the Dodd-Frank CFPB lure more people to credit cards? "Congress has given the CFPB the formidable power of banning abusive, unfair, deceptive, or discriminatory financial practices relating to Americans’ everyday financial interactions. Though that may sound appealing, remember how the government, by trying to do essentially the same thing with mortgages, lured poorer people into financial contracts that they couldn’t afford. The CFPB may do for credit cards and other financial products what the government did for mortgages: make the poor think that borrowing lots of money is perfectly reasonable. The CFPB, in sum, is Washington’s new weapon in its war for more debt."
Tweet of the Day:
Todd Herman (@toddeherman):
Dear Mr. President - I didn't see you at our 6:00 AM partner call for our business that you built. Please advise @BarackObama
Topic Four: The Union Arrangement
The relationship of unions and the Democrat party: "What do public-sector union members receive in return for supporting Democrats? The answer is best found in Illinois, since it has the most governmental units of any state at 6,0393. Because President Obama learned politics there, his national actions are best understood in the Illinois context.
"In Illinois, the largest campaign contributors are teacher unions. Their public-sector power provides a case study of union control taken to the extreme. Teachers in Illinois public schools are required by state law to contribute 9.4% of their pay to the TRS (teacher retirement system). But a study by the Illinois Policy Institute found that while there are 867 school districts in Illinois, in 555 of them, the teachers pay only some or none of that 9.4%. Their 9.4% contribution is paid for by income and property taxes. And this exploitive arrangement was made in secret, with no input from the local homeowners. College administrators continue to hide their income and benefits from taxpayers."
Food for Thought - A Quote from our Founders
"While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader."
-Samuel Adams
Topic Five: Outsourcing
Politicians are ignorant about the benefits of outsourcing: "Many Americans fear that every job moved beyond our borders constitutes a grievous loss to our economic welfare. But if something can be made cheaper elsewhere, the relocation will allow us to buy that product at a lower cost, which is entirely desirable. We don't improve our material well-being by depriving ourselves of the chance to get more goods for less money.
"We don't actually lose jobs when a company decides to take its manufacturing elsewhere. A recent study of the U.S. published by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics and Political Science found, "Offshoring has no effect on native employment in the aggregate." It destroys some jobs but creates just as many others.
"Nor is it exactly optional. If clothing can be made far cheaper in China than in South Carolina, a company with plants in South Carolina can do one of two things. It can move its production to China to take advantage of the lower costs, or it can dig itself a grave and then climb in."
Tomorrow in History
July 20, 1903
-
The Ford Motor Company ships its first car.
Grab Bag - Interesting and Important Stories to Conclude Your Evening:
The 'Knockout Game' in St. Louis
Project Veritas gets support for digging holes and filling them back in ... with taxpayer money
The Obama strategy: take credit for Republican accomplishments
The widening gap on pension funding
Steny Hoyer: Food stamps and unemployment are the biggest economic stimuli
How Nokia lost in the smartphone wars
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