Obama attacks IRAs

by Rossputin | 4:30 pm, April 9, 2013

How much would you need to be able to retire comfortably? If you’re not sure of the answer, don’t worry: the Obama administration will answer for you.

President Obama’s FY 20414 budget will be released on Wednesday ? two months later than the legal deadline. But thanks to administration leaks, too conveniently released just hours before last Friday’s horrendous employment report, we have some idea what it will contain.

Most of the Obama budget will be the same tiresome mix of higher taxes, higher spending, and budgetary gimmicks that would land any private sector CFO in jail.

Despite the larger fiscal impact of other provisions of the Obama budget, it is hard to match the audacity, paternalism, and economic idiocy of Obama’s plan to limit individual retirement accounts to a maximum of $3 million.

What we know so far offers more questions than answers; the answers we have already are bad and the questions even worse.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/04/08/obama-attacks-iras

Stocks Support Sequester

by Rossputin | 7:32 am, February 28, 2013

Judging from the stock market, Republicans should keep doing exactly what they’re doing when it comes to the sequester. Well, almost exactly: it would be better if they didn’t implicitly buy into any of the Obama administration’s sky-is-falling rhetoric by calling, in near-panicked tones, for meetings with the president or for the Senate to do something.

But still, based on people putting their money where their brains are, what’s happening now is basically fine, which is more than enough for a Republican Party that has been routinely outmaneuvered by this president and that often shows less confidence than a 40-year-old virgin visiting the Chicken Ranch.

In the 11 months since the failure of the Simpson-Bowles Commission in March, 2012, the S&P 500 index is up approximately 7%. More interesting, over that same time period, the defense and aerospace industry (as represented by the Exchange Traded Fund, PPA, which holds many of these names) – those companies which the administration is putting forward as likely to suffer pestilence, famine, and huge job losses – is up the same percentage as the broader market.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/02/28/stocks-support-sequester

Stocks Support Sequester

by Rossputin | 7:32 am, February 28, 2013

Judging from the stock market, Republicans should keep doing exactly what they’re doing when it comes to the sequester. Well, almost exactly: it would be better if they didn’t implicitly buy into any of the Obama administration’s sky-is-falling rhetoric by calling, in near-panicked tones, for meetings with the president or for the Senate to do something.

But still, based on people putting their money where their brains are, what’s happening now is basically fine, which is more than enough for a Republican Party that has been routinely outmaneuvered by this president and that often shows less confidence than a 40-year-old virgin visiting the Chicken Ranch.

In the 11 months since the failure of the Simpson-Bowles Commission in March, 2012, the S&P 500 index is up approximately 7%. More interesting, over that same time period, the defense and aerospace industry (as represented by the Exchange Traded Fund, PPA, which holds many of these names) – those companies which the administration is putting forward as likely to suffer pestilence, famine, and huge job losses – is up the same percentage as the broader market.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/02/28/stocks-support-sequester

Mike Coffman Gets It

by Rossputin | 10:35 am, February 26, 2013

As a Republican member of Congress whose mixed-in-every-way Colorado district includes Aurora, suburbs of Denver, and a large Air Force Base, Mike Coffman has long argued that the nation must make cuts in the Defense Department budget.

This week, Coffman will propose legislation to cut $500 billion from defense spending over the next decade through a range of 15 measures that include reducing programs “which do not contribute significantly to military capability,” using local civilian contractors instead of military personnel for “commercial-type activities at military bases,” lowering bureaucratic head count through attrition, and reducing the number of U.S. troops stationed in Europe.

This man is no RINO, and no naïf on defense issues. In addition to having an American Conservative Union ranking of 95 in his four years in Congress and serving on the House Armed Services Committee, Coffman has served in both the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps (in active duty and reserve capacities in each).

He volunteered to join the Army when he was 17 years old. And in more recent years Coffman voluntarily gave up safe, comfortable jobs in Colorado government, both while serving as a legislator and later as State Treasurer, to serve in combat in Kuwait and later helping to establish local governments in Iraq.

Today, Rep. Coffman believes — or at least hopes — that the sequester gives him “leverage to try to get these reforms done.” He doesn’t have illusions that his reforms will pass in the roughly 100 hours before the sequester hits, but rather that over coming months he will be able to pass, whether as amendments or stand-alone legislation, changes that replace across-the-board cuts with specific cuts aimed to save nearly as much money.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2013/02/26/mike-coffman-gets-it

Alan Simpson on the Ross Kaminsky Show (Sunday, 12/9)

by Rossputin | 5:00 pm, December 8, 2012

On Sunday, at 1:05 PM Mountain Time (3:05 PM Eastern), my guest on The Ross Kaminsky Show will be former Senator Alan Simpson (WY), recently of Simpson-Bowles Commission fame.

In recent days, Senator Simpson has seen a YouTube video of his current project, The Can Kicks Back, go viral. It’s rather amusing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjLuj0EhsQg

Our conversation should be informative and entertaining. I hope you’ll try to listen in. If you’re not in range of the radio waves, you can listen online at http://850koa.com

Alan Simpson on the Ross Kaminsky Show (Sunday, 12/9)

by Rossputin | 5:00 pm, December 8, 2012

On Sunday, at 1:05 PM Mountain Time (3:05 PM Eastern), my guest on The Ross Kaminsky Show will be former Senator Alan Simpson (WY), recently of Simpson-Bowles Commission fame.

In recent days, Senator Simpson has seen a YouTube video of his current project, The Can Kicks Back, go viral. It’s rather amusing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjLuj0EhsQg

Our conversation should be informative and entertaining. I hope you’ll try to listen in. If you’re not in range of the radio waves, you can listen online at http://850koa.com

Boehner Punishes the Principled

by Rossputin | 9:48 am, December 7, 2012

A friend e-mailed me some months ago to suggest that I contribute money to a particular congressman’s campaign. My friend is a Democrat of some national prominence, and I responded to him, “You know I never give money to Democrats.”

He said, “No, this guy is a libertarian-leaning Republican, sort of like a young, sane Ron Paul.” So I said I’d do some homework and consider a contribution if the congressman would be willing to have a phone conversation with me.

The next day, with the ringing of my cell phone, began my introduction to Congressman Justin Amash (pronounced uh-mosh’), the 32-year old representative of Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District (Grand Rapids and surrounding areas).

We spoke for nearly half an hour, on topics ranging from abortion to government spending to national defense and – this was Justin’s topic – the idea of private enterprises issuing competing currencies given the debasement being done to the U.S. dollar by our Federal Reserve and Treasury. Clearly, no inside-the-box thinker on my hands.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator, which includes an extensive exclusive interview of Congressman Amash:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/07/boehner-punishes-the-principle

Boehner Punishes the Principled

by Rossputin | 9:48 am, December 7, 2012

A friend e-mailed me some months ago to suggest that I contribute money to a particular congressman’s campaign. My friend is a Democrat of some national prominence, and I responded to him, “You know I never give money to Democrats.”

He said, “No, this guy is a libertarian-leaning Republican, sort of like a young, sane Ron Paul.” So I said I’d do some homework and consider a contribution if the congressman would be willing to have a phone conversation with me.

The next day, with the ringing of my cell phone, began my introduction to Congressman Justin Amash (pronounced uh-mosh’), the 32-year old representative of Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District (Grand Rapids and surrounding areas).

We spoke for nearly half an hour, on topics ranging from abortion to government spending to national defense and – this was Justin’s topic – the idea of private enterprises issuing competing currencies given the debasement being done to the U.S. dollar by our Federal Reserve and Treasury. Clearly, no inside-the-box thinker on my hands.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator, which includes an extensive exclusive interview of Congressman Amash:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/07/boehner-punishes-the-principle

Boehner Punishes the Principled

by Rossputin | 9:48 am, December 7, 2012

A friend e-mailed me some months ago to suggest that I contribute money to a particular congressman’s campaign. My friend is a Democrat of some national prominence, and I responded to him, “You know I never give money to Democrats.”

He said, “No, this guy is a libertarian-leaning Republican, sort of like a young, sane Ron Paul.” So I said I’d do some homework and consider a contribution if the congressman would be willing to have a phone conversation with me.

The next day, with the ringing of my cell phone, began my introduction to Congressman Justin Amash (pronounced uh-mosh’), the 32-year old representative of Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District (Grand Rapids and surrounding areas).

We spoke for nearly half an hour, on topics ranging from abortion to government spending to national defense and – this was Justin’s topic – the idea of private enterprises issuing competing currencies given the debasement being done to the U.S. dollar by our Federal Reserve and Treasury. Clearly, no inside-the-box thinker on my hands.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator, which includes an extensive exclusive interview of Congressman Amash:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/07/boehner-punishes-the-principle

Pied Pipers of Poverty

by Rossputin | 7:50 am, December 6, 2012

If someone writing for Black Agenda Radio says that Newark (NJ) Mayor Cory Booker is “worse” than Barack Obama, in part because Booker has “railed against wealth distribution” and “is ideologically committed to the privatization of public education and to government that serves the rich,” then Booker is probably not the total disaster we have come to expect of big-city Democrat mayors. Some Republicans were no doubt positively disposed toward Booker during the presidential campaign when the mayor criticized an Obama campaign ad that was demonizing Bain Capital.

A writer for the Care2 social action network that emphasizes “a healthy sustainable lifestyle and support(s) socially responsible causes” calls Booker a “superhero” for living in a housing project for eight years and cutting his own salary twice. (He also gets extra points from Care2 for being a vegetarian.)

But what is bringing out this week’s plaudits for Booker from commentators throughout the liberal intelligentsia is his announcement, following a November conversation with a conservative on Twitter, that he is going to live on a food budget of $30, the equivalent of being on a food stamps program, for the next week.

Other politicians have participated in the “food stamp challenge,” and I have no doubt that many of them are well-intended, as Booker’s move may be. But I, for one, am unwilling and unable to judge a policy based on claimed good intentions of its supporters rather than on actual outcomes and compliance with modest philosophical and legal guidelines, such as our Constitution.

Please read the entirety of my article for the American Spectator here:
http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/06/pied-pipers-of-poverty

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