Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less. It's pretty simple and The FDC urges you to sign the petition here.
5/28/2008
5/25/2008
Free-Trade Paradox: Poor Benefit More Than Rich
It’s safe to say that the main burden of trade-related job losses and wage declines has fallen on middle- and lower-income Americans. So standing up to China seems like a logical way to help ordinary Americans do better. But there’s a problem with this approach: the very people who suffer most from free trade are often, paradoxically, among its biggest beneficiaries.
The reason for this is simple: free trade with poorer countries has a huge positive impact on the buying power of middle- and lower-income consumers—a much bigger impact than it does on the buying power of wealthier consumers. The less you make, the bigger the percentage of your spending that goes to manufactured goods—clothes, shoes, and the like—whose prices are often directly affected by free trade. The wealthier you are, the more you tend to spend on services—education, leisure, and so on—that are less subject to competition from abroad.
In a recent paper on the effect of trade with China, the University of Chicago economists Christian Broda and John Romalis estimate that poor Americans devote around forty per cent more of their spending to “non-durable goods” than rich Americans do. That means that lower-income Americans get a much bigger benefit from the lower prices that trade with China has brought.
From The New Yorker via Greg Mankiw via Carpe Diem
The reason for this is simple: free trade with poorer countries has a huge positive impact on the buying power of middle- and lower-income consumers—a much bigger impact than it does on the buying power of wealthier consumers. The less you make, the bigger the percentage of your spending that goes to manufactured goods—clothes, shoes, and the like—whose prices are often directly affected by free trade. The wealthier you are, the more you tend to spend on services—education, leisure, and so on—that are less subject to competition from abroad.
In a recent paper on the effect of trade with China, the University of Chicago economists Christian Broda and John Romalis estimate that poor Americans devote around forty per cent more of their spending to “non-durable goods” than rich Americans do. That means that lower-income Americans get a much bigger benefit from the lower prices that trade with China has brought.
From The New Yorker via Greg Mankiw via Carpe Diem
5/23/2008
"It's about...basically...taking over and the government running all of your companies"
Link: sevenload.com
The FDC has told you before that Gore's lies are not about the science of global warming, are the means to an end - and we got a glimpse of that end today.
Maxine Waters, while grilling the Big Oil executives today, stated:
What this liberal will be all about, this liberal will be all about socializing...would be about...basically...the government...taking over and running all of your companies.p>
As is stated at the end of the video, she's taking a page from Hugo Chavez.
5/22/2008
The Death of Conservatism is Greatly Exaggerated
While lamenting that some conservatives are fearing the "liberalization" of America in the near future, Senator Fred Thompson, writing in tomorrow's Wall Street Journal:
...there is still a way to revive the conservative cause. Doing so will require avoiding the traps of pessimism or election-year quick fixes. Conservatives need to stand back for a moment and think about our philosophical first principles.
Conservatives value the lessons of history and respect faith and tradition. They are skeptical of mass movements, perfect solutions and what often passes for "progress." At the same time, they recognize that change is inevitable. They also know that while man is prone to err, he is capable of great things and is meant to be free in an unfettered market of ideas, not subjugated by a too-powerful government.
These were the principles relied upon by our Founding Fathers, and which paved the way for a Constitution that delineated the powers of the central government, established checks and balances among its branches, and further diffused its power through a system of federalism. These principles led to a market economy, the primacy of the rule of law and the abolition of slavery. They also helped to establish liberal trade policies and to meld idealism and realism in our foreign and military policies.
The power of conservative principles is borne out in the most strong, prosperous and free country in the history of the world. In the U.S., basic constitutional government has been preserved, foreign tyrannies have been defeated, our failed welfare system was reformed, and the confiscatory income tax rates of a few decades ago have been substantially reduced. This may be why the party where most conservatives reside, the Republican Party, has won seven of the last 10 presidential elections....
Sen. Thompson concludes:
It's not that conservatives today no longer believe in the validity of these principles. They just find it difficult to stand strong when the political winds are blowing so hard against them. To be sure, standing by conservative principles does not always guarantee success at the ballot box – it did for Ronald Reagan, but not for Barry Goldwater. But abandoning these principles doesn't ensure victory either. Circumstances often play the deciding role. Is there any doubt that the Carter administration's misery index and the Iranian hostage crises allowed Reagan to prevail in 1980?
In this unpredictable world, conservatives should adhere to their fundamental ideals. These ideals have brought our country much success, and may well win the day again. Conservatives must have faith that, more often than not, Americans will make the sacrifices necessary to preserve national security and prosperity.
A political party that adheres to conservative principles should have continuing success – especially if its leadership believes in those principles and is able to articulate them.
Senator Thompson is communicating very eloquently the values that conservatives hold dearly. These values need to be communicated with passion as often as possible to inspire the next generation of conservatives - just as The Great Communicator inspired yours truly.
Senator Thompson would have made an outstanding President.
...there is still a way to revive the conservative cause. Doing so will require avoiding the traps of pessimism or election-year quick fixes. Conservatives need to stand back for a moment and think about our philosophical first principles.
Conservatives value the lessons of history and respect faith and tradition. They are skeptical of mass movements, perfect solutions and what often passes for "progress." At the same time, they recognize that change is inevitable. They also know that while man is prone to err, he is capable of great things and is meant to be free in an unfettered market of ideas, not subjugated by a too-powerful government.
These were the principles relied upon by our Founding Fathers, and which paved the way for a Constitution that delineated the powers of the central government, established checks and balances among its branches, and further diffused its power through a system of federalism. These principles led to a market economy, the primacy of the rule of law and the abolition of slavery. They also helped to establish liberal trade policies and to meld idealism and realism in our foreign and military policies.
The power of conservative principles is borne out in the most strong, prosperous and free country in the history of the world. In the U.S., basic constitutional government has been preserved, foreign tyrannies have been defeated, our failed welfare system was reformed, and the confiscatory income tax rates of a few decades ago have been substantially reduced. This may be why the party where most conservatives reside, the Republican Party, has won seven of the last 10 presidential elections....
Sen. Thompson concludes:
It's not that conservatives today no longer believe in the validity of these principles. They just find it difficult to stand strong when the political winds are blowing so hard against them. To be sure, standing by conservative principles does not always guarantee success at the ballot box – it did for Ronald Reagan, but not for Barry Goldwater. But abandoning these principles doesn't ensure victory either. Circumstances often play the deciding role. Is there any doubt that the Carter administration's misery index and the Iranian hostage crises allowed Reagan to prevail in 1980?
In this unpredictable world, conservatives should adhere to their fundamental ideals. These ideals have brought our country much success, and may well win the day again. Conservatives must have faith that, more often than not, Americans will make the sacrifices necessary to preserve national security and prosperity.
A political party that adheres to conservative principles should have continuing success – especially if its leadership believes in those principles and is able to articulate them.
Senator Thompson is communicating very eloquently the values that conservatives hold dearly. These values need to be communicated with passion as often as possible to inspire the next generation of conservatives - just as The Great Communicator inspired yours truly.
Senator Thompson would have made an outstanding President.
5/13/2008
The hamstringing of America
You could call it a hamstringing. You could call it a neutering. What ever you call it, the road this great country is heading down to combat the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American public, i.e. anthropogenic global warming, will result in a mother lode of unintended consequences - or at least the largest set of UC's since President Johnson's Great Society.
Monday was the day that fate became apparent - when John McCain gave his speech here in Oregon on his planned global warming initiatives if he were President. So, now it can be known that whether we have a President McCain, a President Obama, or a President Clinton the country will be neutered, hamstrung, and the results will not be pretty.
Chris Horner over at Planet Gore gives excellent commentary of McCain's proposals:
McCain is wrong on temperatures, wrong on sea level rise (if the implication is that SLR has accelerated; surely he doesn’t mean we can stop the interglacial SLR), and anecdotal about the rest. And throughout his speech, the anecdotes are either exaggerated, inaccurate, or countered by equal and opposite anecdotal evidence.
Anthropogenic global warming will be proven to be a hoax over time, and indeed it already has - some just haven't gotten or refuse to receive that message. But, no matter. It wasn't about solving the so-called problem of anthropogenic global warming. That was just a means to an end. The end? Putting America and other bastions of free markets in their place. Kick them down a few notches. It was the triumph of guilt over common sense. It was about realizing the dream of a planned economy that dictates to its citizens how to live their lives.
Many who have drank this Kool-Aid will live to regret it. They will realize that Al Gore and his surrogates succeeded in snookering them into sacrificing their livelihood for.........what?
Monday was the day that fate became apparent - when John McCain gave his speech here in Oregon on his planned global warming initiatives if he were President. So, now it can be known that whether we have a President McCain, a President Obama, or a President Clinton the country will be neutered, hamstrung, and the results will not be pretty.
Chris Horner over at Planet Gore gives excellent commentary of McCain's proposals:
McCain is wrong on temperatures, wrong on sea level rise (if the implication is that SLR has accelerated; surely he doesn’t mean we can stop the interglacial SLR), and anecdotal about the rest. And throughout his speech, the anecdotes are either exaggerated, inaccurate, or countered by equal and opposite anecdotal evidence.
Anthropogenic global warming will be proven to be a hoax over time, and indeed it already has - some just haven't gotten or refuse to receive that message. But, no matter. It wasn't about solving the so-called problem of anthropogenic global warming. That was just a means to an end. The end? Putting America and other bastions of free markets in their place. Kick them down a few notches. It was the triumph of guilt over common sense. It was about realizing the dream of a planned economy that dictates to its citizens how to live their lives.
Many who have drank this Kool-Aid will live to regret it. They will realize that Al Gore and his surrogates succeeded in snookering them into sacrificing their livelihood for.........what?
5/05/2008
Commencement advice you're unlikely to hear elsewhere
I wish P.J. O'Rourke had spoke at my commmencement. This is the type of advice that would have been productive - and would have got my attention:
1. Go out and make a bunch of money!Here we are living in the world's most prosperous country, surrounded by all the comforts, conveniences and security that money can provide. Yet no American political, intellectual or cultural leader ever says to young people, "Go out and make a bunch of money." Instead, they tell you that money can't buy happiness. Maybe, but money can rent it.There's nothing the matter with honest moneymaking. Wealth is not a pizza, where if I have too many slices you have to eat the Domino's box. In a free society, with the rule of law and property rights, no one loses when someone else gets rich.
The whole article is here.
H/T Carpe Diem
1. Go out and make a bunch of money!Here we are living in the world's most prosperous country, surrounded by all the comforts, conveniences and security that money can provide. Yet no American political, intellectual or cultural leader ever says to young people, "Go out and make a bunch of money." Instead, they tell you that money can't buy happiness. Maybe, but money can rent it.There's nothing the matter with honest moneymaking. Wealth is not a pizza, where if I have too many slices you have to eat the Domino's box. In a free society, with the rule of law and property rights, no one loses when someone else gets rich.
The whole article is here.
H/T Carpe Diem
5/01/2008
Exxon Paid Almost $3 in Taxes for Every $1 Profit
For all of the uproar about Exxon Mobil's "obscene" profits, it's the government that is making out like bandits - and the government doesn't make a drop of gasoline.
For regular readers of the blog, Exxon Mobil is much revered here for providing the fuel for the engine of freedom. See FDC posts here and here.
H/T: Prof. Mark Perry at Carpe Diem.
For regular readers of the blog, Exxon Mobil is much revered here for providing the fuel for the engine of freedom. See FDC posts here and here.
H/T: Prof. Mark Perry at Carpe Diem.
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