War on Terror Almost Costing as Much as Sub Prime Dead Beats

$860 billion.

Almost as much as all the sub prime slime has cost us, but at least you can say with the Iraq war it was for a good cause.

Warning - All knee jerk pacifist rhetoric will be summarily ignored as we've heard your side for the past 8 years and I'm sure nothing new will be said.

Empirical Economic Proof Why the War on Drugs Has Failed

I can make no simpler nor convincing of an argument for the legalization of drugs that this;

Do You See What I See?

OK, let's see if you can tell where the REAL problem lies.



Is Ms. White's problem the big bad republicans and George Bush forced this horrible housing market upon her or....(fill in the blank)"_____________________________."

A Week of Oil Charts #5 - "The US Doesn't Have Enough Oil to Make a Difference"

B as in B

S as in S.

The US has lots of oil. Enough to fuel 65 million cars for 60 years arguably.


But we'll never know because the likes of Nancy Pelosi and her socialist brigade of democrats insist you me, poor people and rich all pay more for gas because it would ruin her pompous constituents' view of San Francisco Bay...errr...I mean "it's bad for the environment."

Never have American's handicapped themselves and retarded their progress for such stupid reasons.

McCain vs. Obama - Money Raised

I love it when I'm told the Republicans/Conservatives in this country have all the money.


If you think for a second Obama is some innocent, poor farm boy from Illinois with no connections and therefore no strings attached, you are a fool.

The Democrats Take Over the Fed

Like the judicial system, the democrats are attempting to take what should be unbiased, apolitical institutions and turn them into political footballs, namely the Federal Reserve. Having things such as an unbiased judicial system, not to mention central bank, is vital if you desire to have any semblance of an operating country. Alas nothing is sacred to the socialists in this country.

Of course, many thanks to the MSM to bringing this to our attention, NOT!

How Much of the Mortgage Market Does Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Account For?

A neato chart by the NYT. Even though they are communists, scratching their heads why their ad revenues are plummeting, I will give a hat tip to them for this splendid and fine chart;


ht to housing.com

A Week of Oil Charts #4 - You are Big Oil

Presumably according to leftist religion (I've decided to call it a religion because socialism cannot be proven to work and it's largely based on faith and hope and self-appointed leaders asking you to give them your money), "big oil" would be owned by a few ultra rich elitists. You know, Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld each holding a 33% share with the tie breaking vote going to Hitler (who was resurrected by a secret CIA program to provide Bush guidance - it's true!).

However, that annoying pest to leftist religion known as "truth" paints a different picture.



Apparently we all own big oil. You do, your friends do, your mom does, even your grandpa. If you participate in pretty much any 401k, 403b and 457 plan, it's almost a guarantee you own a piece of big oil. And not just a small piece, a big piece. Matter of fact the whole damn thing.

This is another ramification people who like to bash big oil better start thinking about. If you want to tax them more, then that means their price will go down and you'll be hurting not only yourself, but the millions of other Americans who've invested in them indirectly via their retirement programs. And if you really do care about the elderly who are living on a fixed income, how about you not destroy the value of their underlying investments and leave them be. Additionally, dare I point it out, oil (and other commodity firms) are about the only stocks that have been doing well over the past year. Imagine how much less would be in your retirement account if you didn't invest in big oil.

Of course, this is called "logic" and "thinking things through" which is something the big oil conspiracy theorists cannot do. They can only "link" about one or two levels, a perfect example being corporations moving offshore.

You hate them.

You already tax them at 40%.

And you want to tax them more.

You demand they pay for everything.

And then you act surprised that they move offshore to Abu Dhabi or the Caymans or Ireland.

It's like beating your wife and being surprised she leaves you.

Alas, they cannot link the two together and therefore not only are corporations bad for making a profit (be they oil firms or otherwise) they're doubly bad for having the gall to move to a more business friendly environment.

Regardless, it's these kind of things, where there is a lapse or an inability to link the consequence with the action that triggered it, where I often opt not to debate socialists as it's pointless.

Al Qaeda and Taliban Deaths vs. US/UK/Allied Deaths

I've spent the last hour trying to find some kind of official figure. Does any junior deputy military economist happen to have these figures or know where I could find them?

The Banking Industry Needs Ronald Speirs

The parallels between this and the banking industry is unreal.

I wish it would be just as simple as going to the likes of Wachovia, UBS, Indy Mac, and the bevy of other blood letting banks out there and tell them, "I'm taking over."

A Week of Oil Charts #3 - How Big is Big Oil

"Big oil" is english for "I'm a freaking idiot."

When people use the phrase "big oil" and are referring to the likes of Exxon and BP, you can know, with immediacy that person doesn't know what they're talking about. And the reason, despite these corporations being multi-billion dollar firms, is that they're not really that big.

Not that big compared to the rest of the economy;

(I'd love to see I Pod profits to oil profits)

And not that big compared to the REAL big oil; nationalized oil firms in the Mideast.


Ergo, I think we should start a campaign to revoke the voting rights of people who use the term "big oil."

The Starbucks Solution

Starbucks is closing 600 stores and so their customers are signing petitions now to keep them open.

1. Anybody want to point out the OBVIOUS freaking solution to this problem then?
2. This speaks volumes of the mentality of (predominantly) liberal thinking of the clientele that goes to Starbucks. The solution lays in protesting, not a free-market solution like BUYING MORE FREAKING COFFEE!!!!
3. The tone these people have as if this is some kind of major trauma or problem. There are times I wish we had another Great Depression to put these idiots' minds in perspective.
4. HOW MUCH TIME ON YOUR HANDS DO YOU HAVE AND HOW KITCHY-KOO IS YOUR LIFE YOU CALL UP STARBUCKS BECAUSE THEY CLOSED A BRANCH??? I just want to see their daily planners and one day in those planners;

9AM - Wake up
10AM - Go to Starbucks and talk to other locals who have a lifestyle that allows us to go to Starbucks and not have a real job like the people in "Friends."
11AM - Shop at the local whole/organic foods market.
Noon - Afternoon Starbucks serving as a pre-game show to "The View."
1PM - Watch "The View" and then go back to Starbucks to discuss with friends how insightful the people on The View are.
3PM - Return home to work on local community initiative to ban smoking in private homes. Then start new initiatives to not only ban smoking, but drinking and thinking and talking.
4PM - Whew, is it 4PM already? I need Starbucks!
5PM - Go home to change for an interpretive dance/play at the local theater put on by the local unemployed actors guild - thank god they serve Starbucks!
8PM - Time for my power-hip-hop-infused-pilates-yoga class!
9PM - Feed the cats
10PM - Decaf Starbucks!

I can only imagine what John Wayne and George Patton would think of America today.

A Week of Oil Charts #2

A troll once wrote in, "well how do you know that it's the value of the dollar that's affecting the price of oil."

And if you think about that question, it is one of those genuinely stupid questions out-come-based educated kids will ask, thinking there is no such thing as a stupid question. Because the question answers itself.

Yes, the value of the dollar or any currency will affect the price of things, especially if you're importing it. So to, again, advance our basic economic understanding of why gas prices are so high, one of the main reasons is the value of the dollar has dropped, thereby necessitating more dollars to buy that same barrel of oil compared to other currencies;


The interesting thing about this, is in addition to Nancy Pelosi and the democrats continuing to do their best to keep oil prices high, the left is also indirectly to blame for high oil prices in that what they do for careers does not help the value of the dollar.

A Week of Oil Charts #1

I got an outstanding report send to me the other day which does a great job of showing why oil is so overvalued, why it isn't BIG OIL that's been driving up prices and is about the best way I can think of (aside from $4 per gallon gasoline) to convince those (primarily on the left) that it is plain, simple economics driving prices and not some BushCheneyHaliburton Bogey Man.

And I say this with a half conciliatory tone in that I want to in a very Dennis Prager type way to try to convince those otherwise instead of just berating them as "stupid effing liberals." That being said, if these charts don't convince you, then I have no problem berating you, simply because if you can't see this is why oil prices are so high, then you literally, quite LITERALLY are one of two things;

1. A moron
2. An operative who fully knows why gas prices are so high, but will feign otherwise because you have a political agenda and are not only being intellectually dishonest, but a hypocrite as well.

So here's the first chart, which I think some of us are already familiar with, other commodities have been going up as well;


This obviously points out that if you're going to blame "big oil" for manipulating prices, then you might as well blame "big wheat" "big aluminum" and "big copper." Prices of pretty much all commodities have been going up because of increasing demand from other countries around the world growing at a much faster pace than the US.

Again, if you are to be intellectually honest, then you should be just as pissed at big corn or big coal. You would also have to expand your conspiracy theory to make it so Bush and Cheney not only ran oil, but all these other commodities as well.

Awwwww, Poor Babies

This is a photo of oil traders in shock at the precipitous drop in oil prices.



The irony is they're upset because the price of oil DROPPED.

To hell with them.

How Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Work

This sums it up.

Paid Maternity Leave

80 weeks off the ladies of Sweden get when they have a kid.

That's 560 days. A year and a half you get off from work, WITH PAY, for having a kid.



I'd be curious to see how many of them then spring for day care so they can go about and play for a year and a half and not really raise the kid. Or, since this is Sweden, have the government day care take care of the kid while they take a 16 month vacation.

Anybody from Sweden know if people do that? They get the 1.5 year maternity leave, but then send the kid to day care and loaf around for 16 months?

Oil as a Percent of the Trade Deficit

Another interesting chart from The Economist.



Didn't realize oil was nearly half our trade deficit.

I Said an Alaskan Polar Bear Heater!

So one of my favorite movies is the original Nutty Professor. And probably the best scene is when Buddy Love goes in an orders an Alaskan Polar Bear Heater (which you will click on now).

This guy actually made one and tried it.

I too shall follow in the footsteps of Buddy Love and try one.

Thus concludes your obscure American trivia of the day.

Single Christian Groups

In my elder 20's I was recruited to play some basketball at this league for single Christian men. Only two problems;

1. Not Christian.

2. Kind of your run of the mill Irish/Jewish/American short white guy. I can dribble and pass, but my aim is nothing like Halo 3.

In any case, the presumed goal of the Christian's singles group was (I'm guessing) to meet other single Christian ladies. There was not one girl around, except for the janitor who was not...um...young.

Then I realized it was more of a polite way to get people interested in perhaps joining the church. And I'm inclined to agree. It was through comradery and fun that you would emphasize the positive aspects of Christianity (salvation, forgiveness, free wine on Sundays) and not the fire and brimstone and guilt and no smoochy smooch until married BS that you could recruit some people.

That being said, I think I will join the Church of Mindless Self-Indulgence. They have a better sales pitch.

The bachelor life is actually not too far off from this.