Free Republic

Charles Hugh SmithYou Want to Create Jobs? Here's How August 2, 2011 (Mobile version) Keynesian "stimulus" has failed to do anything but prop up the Status Quo. If we want to create jobs, we need to clean the house of impaired debt and lower the cost structure of the entire economy. Politicos across the spectrum and cargo-cult Keynesians are constantly bleating about "creating jobs." You really want to create jobs instead of just helplessly wringing your soft little hands? Here's how: 1. The only engine for jobs is small business, so quit pandering to global corporations and start pandering to...

html May 30, 2011 They Who ServeBy Lee DeCovnick My father lives in a wonderful retirement community where the lawns are all neatly mowed, the roses pruned, and the trees trimmed every fall. When I come by each week Dad usually has three or four requests from his friends lined up for me: move a couch, carry some heavy boxes upstairs, assemble some furniture, or set up a new TV or computer. Em and Sparks, a happy but odd couple live in the building across the courtyard in a large condo. I have moved their TV, and re-arranged their living...

Koran Burning Page by Evil Page: Ann Barnhardt Lays It All on the Line Direct link to youtube Link to Ann Barnhardt on youtube

November 6, 2010 For some Florida residents, the price of getting out of foreclosure will include taking on a second mortgage — payable this time to their lawyers. “We’re not money lenders,” said Peter Ticktin, a foreclosure lawyer who devised a “pay later” plan for troubled homeowners. Jason Henry, Thomas Ice, and other foreclosure lawyers in Florida typically receive a few hundred dollars a month from each client. The new mortgage, which takes effect only if the foreclosure is dismissed and the homeowner’s debt to the bank is reduced, is controversial among defense lawyers, some of whom call it “creepy”...

Proposal to ban guns at polls withdrawn P.J.Reilly Lancaster County voters will not be barred from packing heat at the 235 local polling places during the general election next week. Mary Stehman, chief clerk of the county's Board of Elections, on Wednesday withdrew a resolution she had proposed to the county commissioners Tuesday, which would have banned the possession of firearms at county polling sites. Stehman said she withdrew the resolution after reviewing state gun laws, which prevent municipal governments from regulating when and where guns can be carried. "I am absolutely certain if this resolution would have been passed...

October 25, 2010 4:00 A.M.Heinlein’s Conservatism A new biography explores the political evolution of a first-rate science-fiction writer. Ask a science-fiction fan who the three greatest writers of the 20th century were and you’ll start an argument that will last all day, but the consensus remains that they were Isaac Asimov, Sir Arthur C. Clarke, and Robert A. Heinlein. Clarke kept politics out of his novels. Asimov was a devoutly liberal Democrat; liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman has repeatedly stated that his teenage enjoyment of Asimov’s Foundation series, which depicts a precisely planned and controlled future, inspired him...

Viewed from a distance, the natural world often presents a vista of sublime, majestic placidity. Yet beneath the foliage and hidden from the distant eye, a vast, unceasing slaughter rages. Wherever there is animal life, predators are stalking, chasing, capturing, killing, and devouring their prey. Agonized suffering and violent death are ubiquitous and continuous. This hidden carnage provided one ground for the philosophical pessimism of Schopenhauer, who contended that “one simple test of the claim that the pleasure in the world outweighs the pain…is to compare the feelings of an animal that is devouring another with those of the animal...

September 16, 2010The New O Word is 'obsolete' Jay Valentine This week was the turning point when the Republican establishment finally "got it." The Tea Party is going to make a difference; they are going to change political lives as has not been seen in a generation. An entire class of Republicans, many still in Congress, is obsolete. Obsolete has no modifiers. You are obsolete or you are not. You cannot be partially hip to a new way of thinking, a new way of doing things. Because it is so binary -- you are or you are not, so many...

September 14, 2010Reaping the Whirlwind By Lance Fairchok "They sow the wind, and they reap the whirlwind." - Hosea 8:7 "Sooner or later in life, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences." - Robert Louis Stevenson There is a sense of foreboding rising in this country. It is not the usual pessimism fueled by a sensational press, nor is it surfacing because of the political crisis machine that generates one drama after another by which to manipulate the electorate. It is a feeling of imminent danger fueled by a realization based on evidence so obvious and so startling...

I just finished watching Victor Davis Hanson on National Review online's feature "Uncommon Knowledge" I have always thought that he is our best military historian. This 5 part feature has only confirmed my belief. Watch it! It takes about 1/2 hour. Victor Davis Hanson

This pamphlet has been circulated to Reps and Senators as a basis for formulating a new Contract for America. Read it and discuss what needs to be included in a new contract. I thought this is a good beginning and if they follow it we could have a very good election this fall. See the link below: We the People:Wide Awake

Pass this one in, especially to Dem politicians YOU_TUBE

November 27, 2009Sticks and stones and broken bones under Obamacare Dave LowreyAdieu, yearly mammogram; arrivederci, annual pap smear. Old news already. And hot on the happy heels of last week’s startling revelations and 180 degree rotation of medical testing recommendations, comes still another breakthrough way to shave medical care costs. And we mean “breakthrough” in the literal sense. Turns out Big Spender hospitals have been wasting scads of money, not to mention plaster of Paris and x-ray film, on broken bones that will, researchers now reveal, heal themselves! “Broken bones can mend on their own,” says Dr. Riley Pumpernickel, head...

The Next 7 Millions Jobs That Will Be LostNovember 17, 2009 The hype is that the "recession is over." Has anyone touting this line actually walked around the real world? The next 7 million jobs to be lost are already in the pipeline. The divergence between the reality easily observed in the real world and the heavily touted hype that "the recession is over because GDP rose 3.5%" is growing. It's obvious that another 7 million jobs which are currently hanging by threads will be slashed in the next year or two. According to the latest Employment Situation Summary (Bureau...

Political Winds Shifting? Perhaps. Two Democrats - governors - were ousted. Why? Taxes, lack of jobs, in short: It's the economy stupid! The fiscal side of the picture is done. Those who are looking for some sort of fiscal stimulative posture out of DC? Forget about it. We had three of those (at least) which have been announced, and they have done nothing. Now here's the challenge: The American People have had it with the job loss and with the vast and fast deterioration of their personal balance sheets and, more importantly, their cash-flow statements. But these problems were...

Charles Hugh Smith Survival+ 3: The Art of Survival, Taoism and the Warring States (March 26, 2009) I'm not trying to be difficult, but I can't help cutting against the grain on topics like surviving the coming bad times when my experience runs counter to the standard received wisdom. A common thread within most discussions of surviving bad times--especially really bad times--runs more or less like this: stockpile a bunch of canned/dried food and other valuable accoutrements of civilized life (generators, tools, canned goods, firearms, etc.) in a remote area far from urban centers, and then wait out the bad...

Exclusive: AIG Was Responsible For The Banks' January & February Profitability Posted by Tyler Durden at 6:35 PM Zero Hedge is rarely speechless, but after receiving this email from a correlation desk trader, we simply had to hold a moment of silence for the phenomenal scam that continues unabated in the financial markets, and now has the full oversight and blessing of the U.S. government, which in turns keeps on duping U.S. taxpayers into believing everything is good. I present the insider perspective of trader Lou (who wishes to remain anonymous) in its entirety: "AIG-FP accumulated thousands of trades over...

Economic Fascism and the Bailout EconomyGary North I do not remember the dropping of the two atomic bombs in August of 1945. As symbols of scientific world transformation, this constituted the most momentous event of the 20th century. This breakthrough, so far, has not led to nuclear war, even though on several occasions, it looked as though nuclear war was a distinct possibility. Nevertheless, the arrival of the nuclear age heralded a transformation of the modern world. We have not yet seen the end of that transformation. There have been two other major events since 1945. I suppose most people...

Shortly after my wife and I were married, she was invited to a sales party by a friend. She was very excited by the cooking utensils that were being promoted. I agreed that we needed more and better pots than we had, however I thought that 250.00 for a set was more than we could afford. After much discussion, I realized that she really wanted these and finally agreed. If my memory is correct, we paid about 25.00 and had a payment of 15.00 per month. For a long time I still thought we had spent too much for this....

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Bailout By Joseph Lawler on 1.13.09 In a recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Stephen Moore highlighted the parallels between today's economic events and those depicted in Ayn Rand's classic Atlas Shrugged. "Many of us who know Rand's work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that 'Atlas Shrugged' parodied in 1957," Moore wrote. Point taken: Rand was eerily prescient in predicting the encroachment of big government during this crisis. Then again, it...