A Separation Of Economics & State

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For the week ending November 21 the DOL reported that the number of initial claims for unemployment benefits declined by 35,000 to 466,000. Although this decrease is good news the jobloss recovery will probably continue because the level of new claims typically must be below 400,000 to result in payroll growth - the labor force always has a natural churn of hundreds of thousands of new claims every week. Based on a chart provided by Mark Gongloff there should be a payroll change of minus 40,000 jobs associated with this new initial claims figure.

Now to turn our economy around we need in the words of Ayn Rand "a separation of economics & state." What we have is illustrated in the graph above that is based on Christina Romer's (BO's Head of the Council of Economic Advisers) & Jared Bernstein's (Chief Economist and Economic Policy Adviser to Biden) work on January 9, 2009 that shows the expected effect of the Stimulus on the unemployment rate - the actual unemployment rate is also shown for comparison illustrating that the expected result of the stimulus is reversed.  Romer & Bernstein were tasked to develop BO's plan to recover from the 2008 recession & they both certainly bought into the Stimulus 100 percent. It should be noted that although Romer has academic economic credentials Bernstein is considered to represent a progressive pro-labor perspective - he has degrees in Fine Arts (Music), Social Work, Philosophy, & Social Welfare.

A separation of economics & state would unleash the free enterprise capitalistic system to create wealth without the encumbrance of government interference which is the menace that is the root cause of our unemployment problem. Fred Charette writes "only entrepreneurs create jobs by risking career & capital to start & build businesses that employ people to make useful things & provide needed services. By contrast, the government & the unions destroy jobs."

But go a step farther to understand why we need unfettered free enterprise: Bill Burbage writes - "no entrepreneur has ever had the objective of 'creating jobs'. (In fact) they constantly seek to eliminate jobs. People go into business to make a profit. If any jobs are created in the process there is no way to avoid it. To create more jobs, the sovereign must remove as many obstacles as he can between the entrepreneur & his ability to make a profit. No other stimulus is necessary. Instead of eliminating the obstacles that already exist, we are preparing to pile on even more with the carbon tax & healthcare reform."

Now with regard to the carbon tax, healthcare reform & all of BO's other socialist programs Curtis F. Von Der Ahe writes - "hiring will not pick up until the full effects of cap & trade, healthcare reform, pro-labor laws, & new taxes are known. Unfortunately, once they are known, hiring still won't pick up."

With all of this in mind I am reminded of one of my life long mentors Peter Drucker saying - "it is not the company that makes a profit that rips off society but the one who doesn't." Boy do we have examples to prove this over the past year.

In summary, unemployment & the standard of living in a country are functions of the market value of all the socialist programs of the past in that country. This is exactly what we are living with now & it won't be reversed any time soon unless those of us who understand this message participate as best we can to stop BO's economic policies & programs that are intended to shape America to look like Europe for starters.

The Coming Malicious Faceless Entity

I received a message from a subscriber to ReturnToExcellence.net alerting us to the lead editorial in Thursday's WSJ entitled "A Breast Cancer Preview."  The editorial highlights the release last week of revised lower breast screening guidelines made by the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force - a federally funded task force meaning that BO paid for it.

 

The group's recommendations were published in the Annals Of Internal Medicine.  They dropped guidelines for women to have a mammogram every year starting @ 40 & replaced them with recommendations for testing done every other year from 50 to 74.

 

For anyone who thinks that rationing is not part of BO's universal healthcare plan please consider these reduced (read rationed) breast care recommendations were coupled with a call later in the week by the American College Of Obstetricians & Gynecologists for reduced cervical cancer screening .  All of a sudden Pap tests are now recommended @ a later age & @ less frequent intervals. 

 

It is obvious that BO plans to partially offset the increased costs of insuring the currently uninsured by reducing both the number & scope of medical procedures of those currently insured.  Finally we have found a topic where BO's administration thinks costs matter.  The reduced number of PAP tests & mammograms being recommended admits that less healthcare treatment & screening results in lower costs.  Now why can't we apply this principle to consumer driven healthcare without all of the trillion dollar reforms that BO & Congress are planning for one sixth of our economy?  But then you know the answer to that.

 

None of the 16 members of the breast screening panel who were interviewed could recall how many members voted for the revised lower guidelines but all could say that there was a consensus - in other words the members of the panel hope the blame will go to the anonymous task force itself & not the individual members as if the members have no culpability.  This is the type of malicious faceless entity that will control our medical procedures under BO's universal healthcare plan.  Now these two panels want us to believe that their so-called independent work the same week revising long standing guidelines for both breast & cervical cancer testing that have saved so many lives is merely a coincidence.  We don't know how dumb BO thinks we are but it is obvious that he certainly plans to find out.  I can hardly wait to find out too.

Homosexual Marriage In NJ Via The Lame Duck

Below is a message from Steve Lonegan that immediately affects NJ & could easily spread to other states. Steve's message pertains to NJ's lame duck Senate getting ready to pass a homosexual marriage bill. The point is that the Democrats do not have the votes to pass such a measure so four Republicans came from nowhere to provide the needed votes for passage. Worse yet, if possible, Governor-elect Chris Christie who had campaigned as a traditional values conservative opposing homosexual marriage & who also had accepted support from groups like the NJ Family Policy Council has remained silent on the matter.

Now I had some great discussions with many of you just before the election re the importance for all of us to find candidates who live & will govern by the principles that our country was founded on. This was also one of Alan Keyes main points in his speech @ the Woodbridge Tea Party on October 24. Chris Christie was not such a candidate - I thought Christie would come in and tinker around the edges for a few months & it would not be long before you would not be able to tell the difference between Christie's & Corzine's governance. I never thought it would be this soon that the similarities would surface but I sure am glad that neither Carol or I voted for Christie.

Just read the horror story below & if this is important to you call any of the people Steve lists @ the end of his message if you have not worn your fingers out during the last ten months.

Last Friday "gay" marriage was DOA. State Senate Judiciary Chairman Paul Sarlo, a Democrat, said that he wasn't going to bring the bill to enact it before his committee, because he didn't think it had the votes to pass during the "lame duck" session. But something happened over the weekend. According to NJN, four liberal Republicans in the New Jersey Senate - Bill Baroni, Jennifer Beck, Kip Bateman, and Sean Kean - said that they would provide the votes to pass gay marriage in New Jersey. That's right, the Democrats lacked the votes to pass gay marriage, so they weren't going to even try. Then four liberal Republicans crossed-over to help and now it looks like New Jersey will have gay marriage. This is a flip-flop, because legislators like Jennifer Beck are on record as opposed to ramming through votes during the lame duck session, after an election, when no one is paying attention. Voters in thirty one states have voted on and defeated gay marriage. Apparently, these four "Republicans" would deny New Jerseyans the right to vote on this culture changing issue, and they would condone slipping it through in the still of the night. During his run for Governor, Chris Christie campaigned as a traditional values conservative and is on record as opposing gay marriage. State Senator Tom Kean Jr. - the leader of the Senate Republicans - is on record as supporting an amendment to the state constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman. Christie and Kean have each received the benefits of the support of New Jersey's traditional values conservatives. Both have been favored by groups like the New Jersey Family Policy Council. Now, they have fallen silent. We needn't have gay marriage in New Jersey. A strong, clear statement by Governor-elect Chris Christie and Senator Tom Kean Jr. will help these four Republican State Senators to think again. As Kean said in 2006, when the State Supreme Court first raised the issue of gay marriage, "The eyes of the country are on New Jersey." Please call Governor-Elect Christie and Senator Kean and ask them to implore these four Republicans to oppose a vote by the legislature on gay marriage and support putting the question on the ballot for all the voters of New Jersey to decide. Contact Governor-Elect Chris Christie c/o Senator Joe Kyrillos (Transition Team member) 1715 Highway 35, Suite 303, Middletown, NJ 07748 (732) 671-3206 SenKyrillos@NJleg.org Contact Governor-Elect Chris Christie c/o Senator Sandra Cunningham (Transition Team member) 1738 Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, NJ 07305 (201) 451-5100 SenCunningham@NJleg.org Contact Senator Tom Kean Jr. 425 North Ave. East, Suite C, Westfield, NJ 07090 (908) 232-3673 SenKean@NJleg.org Contact Senator Bill Baroni 3691A Nottingham Way, Hamilton Square, NJ 08690 (609) 631-9988 SenBaroni@NJleg.org Contact Senator Kip Bateman 36 East Main St., Somerville, NJ 08876 (908) 526-3600 SenBateman@NJleg.org Contact Senator Jennifer Beck 32 Monmouth St., 3rd Floor, Red Bank, NJ 07701 (732) 933-1591 SenBeck@NJleg.org Contact Senator Sean Kean 1955 Highway 34, Bldg. 2A, Wall Township, NJ 07719 (732) 974-0400 SenSKean@NJleg.org On to Victory, Steven Lonegan