WSJ : Bidenomics no basis in math
Will we have to wait until we default on what we owe our elders before we face hard math?
Remember that Europe pays for its social programs with flat payroll and consumption taxes, we alone try to live off the rich.
Why I’m Running for President
Source: The Wall Street Journal (free link).
I don’t know anything about this fellow. My first impression of him on TV last night was that he reminds me of Ben Shapiro, an unfavorable connection.
But, the more the merrier I say. I’ll listen, at least, to anyone running for president who wants to change the world.
Symbols Matter
Jim Wright is the author of Stonekettle Station. He is retired military. He has the creds. He has the chops. He knows whereof he speaks. A few here won’t like what he has to say about Biden and Russia and Ukraine and the Republican Party. I suggest you read it anyway. I suggest you follow him instead of the armchair cowboys who tell you what you want to hear.
Why Ukraine Must Win
The Prime Minister of Finland makes it very clear what the stakes are in the Ukraine. For them, for Europe, for all democratic countries.
Belarus is next.
Putin will continue to absorb neighboring countries until he is stopped.
China, Russia and the U.S. ‘Red Line’ on Ukraine
Source: The Wall Street Journal (free link).
The U.S. is starting to look like a fall-down drunk stumbling across the world stage under a spotlight. We demand apologies from China for our own foolishness (attacking weather balloons) and throw down “red lines” that we couldn’t walk if our life depended on it.
The issue at hand, according to SoS Antony Blinken, is our fear that China will provide “lethal support” to Russia for its war in Ukraine. This admittedly is a worrisome prospect, given China’s nearly infinite manufacturing capacity. But apart from slobbery complaints and stamping our feet, what, realistically, can we do about it?
WSJ recommends that we “get serious about rebuilding U.S. defenses.” I agree, but the first step is an unlikely one: Stop sending arms to Ukraine.
Why does the South have such ugly credit scores?
It’s certainly not what I would have guessed. It has nothing to do with race or education or even income. According to this article, it is medical debt. It can happen to anyone at any time at any income level.
I also had no idea how bad credit scores could cripple an entire economy.
This is a 6-minute read, but worth the time.
Mass shootings continue, including in rural Mississippi.
We are having some fun now. Mass shootings continue at a nice clip. Not all were “urban” (wink, wink), some were “real Americans” (wink, wink, wink). To borrow a phrase from the women’s movement, Americans need more guns like fish need bicycles. I know, an armed society is a polite society…reality, however, is not so much. Thank you gun lobby.
Biden declares ‘Kyiv stands’ in surprise visit to Ukraine
President Biden’s visit to Kyiv is doubly surprising. First because it was unexpected, and second because recent think tank reports have been sounding caution alarms over escalation of the war against Russia.
Did Biden go to Kyiv to show the flag, or to deliver unpleasant news?
I worry that Poland is planning to front a NATO coalition that will enter Ukraine to fight the Russians directly. This would be consistent with a show-the-flag visit. On the other hand, the White House may have decided that it is time to begin the process of ending the war. This would be consistent with a delivery-of-unpleasant-news visit.
Either way, I expect Biden’s bellicose and defiant rhetoric will continue, at least for the time being.
Big Green
Robert Bryce Big Money on Climate Policy
We constantly hear that politicians are in the pocket of “Big Oil” but it turns out it is the other way around. Political spending on Energy policy by Big Green is more than four times that spent by Fossil Fuel/Nuclear advocates.
That comes from a mix of those cynically cashing in on wind and solar manufacture, utilities hungry for subsidy dollars, and a caste of American and European Oligarchs who fly around in private jets unconcerned with the impact of $5 gas and expensive food and electricity for the serfs.
So, in this David and Goliath battle, it turns out that Exxon is David.
Tidewater News and Opinion Forum 