Obamacabre for All! No Choice Medicine

Whether termed "Obamacare" or "Obamacabre", no-choice medical care is apt to turn into something quite monstrous in the US under this president and this congress. When Americans are told they have no choice about something, they tend to rebel. How will they react when the macabre reality of Obama's grand plan for America really sets in? Obamacabre is just the middle of the beginning.

...any even remotely aware consumer of health care services has got to realize that the Democrats are on the verge of a massive destruction of the American medicine delivery system. There are problems in health insurance cost and coverage, but not in the quality of care and the innovation instinct, and the Democrats are going to kill the latter in the fruitless quest for improvements to the former. The "government option" is the biggest threat of all, a thinly digusied lurch to Canada-style single payor with the hidden (and increasingly not-so-hidden) rationing and lousy care that canada provides its people with complex diseases and conditions. _HughHewitt

The US is far more diverse than any of the European and quasi-European countries where universal single-payor medical care has been instituted. Americans are already deeply in debt to Medicare -- "the other single payor medical care." Now Obama promises to "fix Medicare" by expanding the failure to include every American? Good luck with that.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the only way to opt out of Obamacabre were to become a government worker? Government worker pensions allow government workers to bypass the social security system. Government worker health care plans can allow gov workers to bypass Obamacabre.

Of course if you are one of the hundreds of millions of Americans in thrall to the government-media-academia-union-trial lawyer-faux environmentalist complex, you will be saying "there is no problem here."

But if you are one of the dwindling numbers of thinking, well-educated Americans who sees Obamacabre as only one of the monsters being spawned by the nest of the incompetencies currently ensconced along the Potomac River, you may begin to consider the John Galt approach to reforming an untamed government. Or you may consider this.

Apparently the "Tea Party" movement forgot to surrender to government and media scorn, and grassroots individuals continue to protest a regime that is growing into a monstrous reich. July 4, 2009 is apt to be an interesting date in that regard.

Government workers, union bosses, faux environmentalists, community activists, and media flacks are quite happy with what the Obamanation is becoming. But small business owners and other members of the productive class who depend upon a wise and impartial government to take a mostly "hands-off" to the daily workings of a real life economy, are beginning to see storm clouds gathering.

Divisions are deep and growing deeper. When a nation's productive classes are the losers in such a quasi-"civil war", the entire nation loses. The parasites win. If anyone truly believes that Obamacabre, or Obamacare, or any other type of no-choice medical care is going to solve that problem, they deserve their fate.

Previously posted at Al Fin

Brocko Bombba Nuka Bombas US Economy

Something odd is happening with the wholesale closing of Chrysler dealerships. It seems that all the dealerships who are closing had connections with either Republicans or other political enemies of Obama. The only Obama donour whose dealership is closing is a piker from Texas who only gave the narcissist-in-chief $200. Maybe he'll learn to be more generous next time.

Consider the partial list of Chrysler dealership owners, listed below. You'll notice that all were opponents of Barack Obama, most through sponsorship of GOP candidates and organizations, but a handful through Barack's Democrat rivals (Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in 2008, for example).

• Vernon G. Buchanan: $147,450 to GOP candidates and organizations
• Wallace D. Alley and Family: $4,500 to GOP.
• Robert Archer: $4,600 to GOP and conservative causes.
• Homer S. Higginbotham and Family: $2950 to GOP.
• James Auffenberg and Family: $28,000 to GOP; $6,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Michael Maroone and Family: $60,000 to GOP; $8,500 to two Democrat candidates.
• Jerome Fader: $6,500 to Democrats; $2,500 to Independent Joe Lieberman.
• Stephen Fay and Family: $13,500 to GOP.
• William Numrich: $20,000 to GOP.
• Robert Carver: $10,000 to Democrats including $1,950 to Hillary Clinton, nothing to Barack Obama.

• Robert and Linda Rohrman: $24,000 to GOP.
• Frank Boucher, Jr. and Family: $18,000 to GOP, $1,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Scott Bossier: $4,300 to GOP.
• Todd Reardon: $17,000 to GOP; $2,000 to one Democrat candidate.
• Russ Darrow and Family: $78,000 to GOP.
• Bradford Deery and Family: $24,700 to GOP.
• Charles Gabus and Family: $30,000 to GOP.
• Brian Smith: $15,500 to GOP.
• Michael Schlossman: $14,000 to GOP; $14,000 to three Democrats ($12,500 to Sen. Russ Feingold).
• Don Hill: $11,000 to GOP; $12,800 to conservative incumbent Rep. Heath Shuler.

• Don Miller: $2,000 to GOP; $1,000 to Feingold.
• Eddie Cordes: $2,150 to GOP.
• Robert Edwards: $1,100 to GOP.
• James Crowley: $19,100 to GOP.
• Stanley Graff: $2,200 to John Edwards (2008 Presidential Run); $500 to GOP.
• John Stewart: $10,500 to GOP.
• John Fitzgerald and Family: $4,600 to John McCain (2008); $2,000 to Hillary Clinton (2008); nothing to Barack Obama.
• William Churchill and Family: $3,500 to GOP.
• Thomas Ganley: $9.450 to GOP.
• Gary Miller: $20,000 to GOP.

• Kevin and Gene Beltz: $18,500 to GOP.
• Arthur Grayson: $14,000 to GOP.
• Eric Grubbs and Family: $26,000 to GOP.
• Michael Leep and Family: $19,500 to GOP; $4,800 to three Democrats including Sen. Evan Bayh.
• Harry Green, Jr.: $10,000 to GOP.
• Ronald Hoover: $5,250 to GOP.
• Ray Huffines and Family: $18,500 to GOP.
• John O. Stevenson: $1,500 to GOP.
• James Marsh: $8,200 to GOP.
• Max Pearson and Family: $112,000 to GOP.

I have thus far found only a single Obama donor (and a minor one at that: $200 from Jeffrey Hunter of Waco, Texas) on the closing list. _DR

Brocko Bombba is a vengeful piece of political egocentrism. Pay close attention to those who attempt to ingratiate themselves to Obama the clown. The pendulum will swing, simply because the current level of corruption is unsustainable.

A Demographic Wave of Cold Water to the Face

Anyone who has not been hiring young Asians has no clue how cultured and curious they are. Their American counterparts have seen life as a perpetual spring break interrupted by brief episodes of work, and are simply in no shape to compete. Spengler Goldman

It is easy to see how the psychology of the US economy changed as soon as it was obvious that Obama was likely to be the next US President. The stock market was the first to slide, but the rest of the US economy began to slump almost immediately. The graph below shows how quickly Obama has moved to turn a cyclic recession into a semi-permanent depression via wholesale corrupt spending and policy.But you knew all that. Here is the bad news: in terms of numbers, the talent that will be needed to build a new prosperity does not exist on the American or European shores. No, the talent in terms of numbers, is in Asia.

Wealth comes from sweat and smarts. Here’s factoid for you: China has 60 million elementary and secondary school students studying piano or orchestral instruments and playing classical music. America has 30 million students, total. China has classical music students at twice the number of all American students waiting in the pipeline to join the job market. Add to these the smart Indian kids who will be graduating from India’s technical institutes with the world’s sharpest math skills, and it seems likely that during the next five or ten years, a good 75% of the best-qualified job market entrants will come from China and India. ...

...If you are a smart Chinese or Indian entrepreneur, are you likely to get richer by moving to the US or by staying at home? Emerging market equities are a far more interesting proposition than the US stock market under Emperor Obama I. Bonus restrictions? Compensation caps? They never heard of them in Mumbai or Shanghai.

America isn’t getting the immigrants any more, that is, the top-of-the-line human capital. As China reorients its economy towards domestic spending, America won’t get the capital, either. America isn’t going to crash. Unless it changes course, it will slowly sink into the mud, like England did during the 20th century.

Equity investment is worth considering in China and India. China’s doing a great job of providing a serious stimulus, and India’s Congress Party victory puts a very qualified Prime Minister into power. It’s a snooze here in the Republic of Zombies. _Spengler Goldman

By zombies, Spengler Goldman refers to the Obama Zombies, the total morons who elected the naked Messiah and who continue to back his suicidal policies. These zombies -- whether in the media, academia, financial industries, or ethnic ghettoes guarantee the continuous decline of the US economic future.

Asia has the talent, and talented Asians still have the hunger to build, create, and transform.

Balochistan Forever!

Balochistan is another "phantom stan", along with Kurdistan and Pushtunistan. Before the days of the United Nations and fixed national borders, we had tribes and tribal areas of control. As the strength of the tribe ebbed and flowed, its area of control would expand and contract -- like a beating heart. Observe B-stan, in the middle of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Iran. And yet Balochistan has no UN representative, no army, navy, diplomatic service. Just like Kurdistan and Pushtunistan. But B-stan is considered important in the halls of power, like the other phantom stans.

Strategically, Balochistan is mouth-watering: east of Iran, south of Afghanistan, and boasting three Arabian sea ports, including Gwadar, practically at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.

Gwadar - a port built by China - is the absolute key. It is the essential node in the crucial, ongoing, and still virtual Pipelineistan war between IPI and TAPI. IPI is the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline, also known as the "peace pipeline", which is planned to cross from Iranian to Pakistani Balochistan - an anathema to Washington. TAPI is the perennially troubled, US-backed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline, which is planned to cross western Afghanistan via Herat and branch out to Kandahar and Gwadar.

Washington's dream scenario is Gwadar as the new Dubai - while China would need Gwadar as a port and also as a base for pumping gas via a long pipeline to China. One way or another, it will all depend on local grievances being taken very seriously. Islamabad pays a pittance in royalties for the Balochis, and development aid is negligible; Balochistan is treated as a backwater. Gwadar as the new Dubai would not necessarily mean local Balochis benefiting from the boom; in many cases they could even be stripped of their local land.

To top it all, there's the New Great Game in Eurasia fact that Pakistan is a key pivot to both NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), of which Pakistan is an observer. So whoever "wins" Balochistan incorporates Pakistan as a key transit corridor to either Iranian gas from the monster South Pars field or a great deal of the Caspian wealth of "gas republic" Turkmenistan.
_ATimes

Pepe "the punk" Escobar envisions Baluchistan as the object of another US expeditionary force, led by Barak Obama. Of course, Escobar is not thinking clearly, which is more the norm than not it seems. And yet, such visions are useful for writers of pulp fiction and journalists of minimal realism. Something to think about when you are high, and lacking in anything important to discuss or cogitate upon.

The serious fact is the state of the tribal areas of the planet -- unstable. From Africa to Asia to parts of South America and the Pacific, the thought of tribal insurgencies can ruin the digestions of many a regional and global leader.

Will we ever see a nation called Balochistan? Probably not of any consequence. And yet, some very pivotal battles over access to energy may happen not far from B-stan. China is there. Pakistan is there. Iran is there. The US and NATO are not actually that far away.

Whether Pepe the punk is correct about the future of B-stan has more to do with the incompetence of Obama than anything else. Only a very incompetent Obama could make Escobar's paranoid visions come true.

Illegitimate Births Double in Japan and US!

Yes, between 1980 and 2007, illegitimate births in both Japan and the US have approximately doubled. Specifically, unwed births in Japan went from 1% to 2%, and in the US from 18% to 40%. The percentages roughly doubled in both countries, but of course the raw numbers (and raw impact) is much higher in the US. But if you think the US has a high percent of bastards, check out Europe:

Increases were much more dramatic in the other countries, with Italy rising from 4 percent to 21 percent, Ireland from 5 percent to 33 percent, Canada from 13 to 30 percent, and the United Kingdom from 12 percent to 44 percent.

...Iceland is the leader with 6 in 10 births occurring among unmarried women. About half of all births in Sweden and Norway are to unwed moms, while in the U.S., it's about 40 percent.

France, Denmark and the United Kingdom also have higher percentages than the United States, according to the report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. _Sourcevia_NewsAlert

Within the US, percentage of bastard births in the black population is 70%, and among hispanics over 50%. What kind of future will these children born without fathers into poverty and (probably) low IQ experience?

You are correct. Someone has to support employment in law enforcement, prisons, and the court system.

People Everywhere Just Got To Be Free

If a specimen of homo sapiens is not free to succeed or fail on his own merits, that specimen is not human. In that sense, Mark Steyn thinks the US is heading in the direction of non-humanity. Steyn's essay "Live Free or Die" speaks to this disturbing trend across America:

In most of the developed world, the state has gradually annexed all the responsibilities of adulthood—health care, child care, care of the elderly—to the point where it's effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, not least the survival instinct. Hillary Rodham Clinton said it takes a village to raise a child. It's supposedly an African proverb—there is no record of anyone in Africa ever using this proverb, but let that pass. P.J. O'Rourke summed up that book superbly: It takes a village to raise a child. The government is the village, and you're the child. Oh, and by the way, even if it did take a village to raise a child, I wouldn't want it to be an African village. If you fly over West Africa at night, the lights form one giant coastal megalopolis: Not even Africans regard the African village as a useful societal model. But nor is the European village. Europe's addiction to big government, unaffordable entitlements, cradle-to-grave welfare, and a dependence on mass immigration needed to sustain it has become an existential threat to some of the oldest nation-states in the world.

And now the last holdout, the United States, is embarking on the same grim path: After the President unveiled his budget, I heard Americans complain, oh, it's another Jimmy Carter, or LBJ's Great Society, or the new New Deal. You should be so lucky. Those nickel-and-dime comparisons barely begin to encompass the wholesale Europeanization that's underway. The 44th president's multi-trillion-dollar budget, the first of many, adds more to the national debt than all the previous 43 presidents combined, from George Washington to George Dubya. The President wants Europeanized health care, Europeanized daycare, Europeanized education, and, as the Europeans have discovered, even with Europeanized tax rates you can't make that math add up. In Sweden, state spending accounts for 54% of GDP. In America, it was 34%—ten years ago. Today, it's about 40%. In four years' time, that number will be trending very Swede-like.

But forget the money, the deficit, the debt, the big numbers with the 12 zeroes on the end of them. So-called fiscal conservatives often miss the point. The problem isn't the cost. These programs would still be wrong even if Bill Gates wrote a check to cover them each month. They're wrong because they deform the relationship between the citizen and the state. Even if there were no financial consequences, the moral and even spiritual consequences would still be fatal. That's the stage where Europe is.

America is just beginning this process. I looked at the rankings in Freedom in the 50 States published by George Mason University last month. New Hampshire came in Number One, the Freest State in the Nation, which all but certainly makes it the freest jurisdiction in the Western world. Which kind of depressed me. Because the Granite State feels less free to me than it did when I moved there, and you always hope there's somewhere else out there just in case things go belly up and you have to hit the road. And way down at the bottom in the last five places were Maryland, California, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and the least free state in the Union by some distance, New York.

New York! How does the song go? "If you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere!" If you can make it there, you're some kind of genius. "This is the worst fiscal downturn since the Great Depression," announced Governor Paterson a few weeks ago. So what's he doing? He's bringing in the biggest tax hike in New York history. If you can make it there, he can take it there—via state tax, sales tax, municipal tax, a doubled beer tax, a tax on clothing, a tax on cab rides, an "iTunes tax," a tax on haircuts, 137 new tax hikes in all. Call 1-800-I-HEART-NEW-YORK today and order your new package of state tax forms, for just $199.99, plus the 12% tax on tax forms and the 4% tax form application fee partially refundable upon payment of the 7.5% tax filing tax. If you can make it there, you'll certainly have no difficulty making it in Tajikistan.

New York, California... These are the great iconic American states, the ones we foreigners have heard of. To a penniless immigrant called Arnold Schwarzenegger, California was a land of plenty. Now Arnold is an immigrant of plenty in a penniless land: That's not an improvement. One of his predecessors as governor of California, Ronald Reagan, famously said, "We are a nation that has a government, not the other way around." In California, it's now the other way around: California is increasingly a government that has a state. And it is still in the early stages of the process. California has thirtysomething million people. The Province of Quebec has seven million people. Yet California and Quebec have roughly the same number of government workers. "There is a great deal of ruin in a nation," said Adam Smith, and America still has a long way to go. But it's better to jump off the train as you're leaving the station and it's still picking up speed than when it's roaring down the track and you realize you've got a one-way ticket on the Oblivion Express. _ Imprimis PDF

Imagine a world without a free country anywhere. This is the world that Obama is bringing in his messianic wake. If you have any alternative ideas, you had best start developing them now.

Obama vs. Godzilla: Is He Up For It?

The global derivatives bubble is at roughly $700 trillion, with the US' share roughly at $200 trillion (PDF).

Obama's first federal budget will be roughly $3 trillion, with almost $2 trillion of that provided by "imaginary wealth." Expect similar or larger deficits and budgets for every year that Obama is narcissist in chief. Obama is determined to prop up the millionaire / billionaire bankers, investors, and speculators who financed his campaign. Obama is willing and eager to joust the windmill of a monstrous investment bubble using the entire country as collateral. And make no mistake, Obama sees himself as the hope of the world -- not just the US.

How long can Obama keep up this charade? The old media is certainly behind the clown prince, providing smoke screens to obscure his gaffs and providing a loud cheering section to celebrate his "triumphs." But the new media is divided between the zombie pro-Obama crowd, and a growing number of disillusioned and skeptical thinkers.

Obama will double the US national debt in just a few years. Financial catastrophe is now all but certain, thanks to this incompetent boob. Anyone who has reason to believe that he will be adversely affected by the collapse of the US economy should perhaps be making contingency plans.

Hyper-Inflation: The Cure that Kills

Obama's $2 trillion deficit for the coming fiscal year budget is just the beginning of the exponential growth of deficit spending and a rapid and repetitive doubling of the national debt over a short period of time. Hyper inflation will be hardest on the elderly and others on fixed budgets. Obama had to destroy social security in order to save it -- except nothing is being saved.

With an unprecedented deficit that’s approaching $2 trillion, this budget proposal is a surefire prescription for hyperinflation. So every senator and representative who votes for this monster $3.6 trillion budget will be endorsing a spending spree that could very well turn America into the next Weimar Republic. For those too young to remember, that was the period in Germany in the years between the two world wars when people needed wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread.

In a 1993 interview, Harvard University law professor Friedrich Kessler offered a chilling portrait of the Weimar Republic: “It was horrible. Horrible! Like lightning it struck. No one was prepared. The shelves in the grocery store were empty. You could buy nothing with your paper money.”

Thanks to the expanding profligacy on Capitol Hill, a version of such economic hell will likely happen here, according to two prominent economists. Johns Hopkins University professor Steve Hanke notes that the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet “has more than doubled in size since August. Unless the Fed shrinks its balance sheet,” he warns, “... inflation will roar back with a vengeance.” _SFExaminer

Behind the egocentric and narcissistic solipsist, is anyone at home? Hello?