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MAY 16,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

ANOTHER WARNING – FROM BUSINESS INSIDER:  Wharton professor Jeremy Siegel said inflation could spike to 20% in the next two or three years due to "unprecedented" fiscal and monetary stimulus and an explosion of the US money supply.  "I'm predicting here that over the next two, three years, we could easily have 20% inflation with this increase in the money supply," Siegel said in a recent interview with CNBC.  Siegel went on to criticize Fed chair Jerome Powell for not acting to quell inflation in the near term.  The Wharton professor called Powell the "most dovish chairman" that he's ever seen and said that the Fed chair's stance could "be a problem down the road."  In the meantime, Siegel said he is bullish on stocks because fiscal and monetary support is going to keep flowing in.  The problem is that there's no one listening in the Biden administration.  It's an ideological administration, and only the ideology counts. 

MORONIC – FROM DAILY MAIL:    San Diego officials have been slammed for spending public money on 'divisive and misleading' billboards telling black mothers that racism could hurt their babies - before they're even born.  The billboards argue that racial discrimination is behind higher rates of miscarriages and maternal deaths among black women.  They include claims that 'Our black babies are nearly 60% more likely to be premature due to discrimination' and 'Racism hurts your baby long before they're born'.  Carl DeMaio, a former San Diego city councilmember and chairman of Reform California, a conservative political action committee, said the claims were not supported by data and could discourage women from seeking medical care.  'The big lie is that somehow America is filled with racism - when in fact, America has made so much progress on that issue,' he told Fox News. 'It's truly something to celebrate.'  He said the billboards send a 'dangerous and divisive message,' and should be taken down by the county's health department.

May 16, 2021       Permalink

A WARNING FROM HANSON – OVERNIGHT:  After weeks of turmoil in Washington, and in the nation's foreign policy, Victor Davis Hanson gives a fine summary of the dangers that this country now faces.  From Fox: 

Human nature stays the same across time and space. That is why there used to be predictable political, economic and social behavior that all countries understood.

The supply of money governs inflation. Print it without either greater productivity or more goods and services, and the currency cheapens. Yet America apparently rejects that primordial truism.

The United States is more than $28 trillion in debt – about 130% of the country’s annual gross domestic product. The government will run up a $2.3 trillion budget deficit for 2021 after a record $3.1 trillion deficit the year before.

The Biden administration still wants to borrow more – another $2 trillion in new social programs and "infrastructure."

In the crazy last 100 days, the price of everything from lumber, food and gas to cars and houses has soared. Yet many interest rates are still stuck at or below 3%.

Jobs are plentiful; workers are not. Is it a surprise when government handouts discourage the unemployed from taking a pay cut to go back to work?

After being freed from 13 months of quarantine, Americans are splurging. But this huge pent-up demand is causing shortages. Producers fear the Biden administration’s loose talk of higher taxes, greater regulation and cutbacks in energy development.

Are the old principles really obsolete? Should we be printing money while expanding government debt? Is it wise to keep interest rates close to zero and to discourage employment, production and thrift? This dangerous behavior used to ensure inflation, followed by ruinous stagflation.

After George Floyd was killed while in police custody in Minneapolis, some U.S. cities slashed police spending. Police response times have slowed in many places, perhaps because officers are worried about being fired for using force.

The result? In major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, homicide and violent crime rates have increased by double digits.

State and local governments believed they were exempt from primeval laws of deterrence that warned when criminals assumed they would not be caught and punished, then they committed more crimes.
The same dangers of ignoring unchanging human nature apply to foreign policy.

Aggressive opponents such as Iran, North Korea, China and Russia expect that the Biden administration will ignore their brinkmanship. They assume the administration will cut American defenses. And Biden sounds to them more critical of Trump foreign policy than of America’s enemies. Why not take previously unwarranted risks?

So, Russian troops predictably mass on the Ukrainian border. China steps up its harassment of Taiwan. North Korea launches more missiles, Iran hazes U.S. ships in the Persian Gulf. And now, rockets from Gaza pour into Israel.

COMMENT:  Well said.  Painful to read, but well said.  Please read the whole thing.  We are in trouble.  We are forgetting the things that made us a great nation.  We are forgetting the bitter foreign-policy lessons of the 1930s. 

It is correct that basic human nature doesn't change.  Only the circumstances change.

Hanson ends his piece with this:  "When an arrogant present dismisses the wisdom of the past, then an all too predictable future becomes terrifying."

May 16, 2021       Permalink

MAY 15,  2021

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT:

AN OVERDUE CORRECTION – FROM FOX:   The FBI has reclassified the 2017 congressional baseball shooter and would-be assassin as a "domestic violent extremist," ditching the much-maligned "suicide-by-cop" theory that those on the field had condemned as unrealistic.  It came after survivors raised pressure last month after Rep. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, made the original designation last month during a hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray.  "Our intelligence and law enforcement apparatuses require accuracy, precision, and justice. I’m encouraged that the FBI has updated its classification of that nearly catastrophic event to reflect the actual motives of the assailant, and I commend Director Wray for his oversight of that correction," Wenstrup said Saturday. "I will continue to work with the Bureau toward investigating what led to the original 'suicide by cop' determination."  The gunman, James Hodgkinson, fired well over 100 rounds at the congressmen, their aides and others present on the ballfield on June 14, 2017, after asking whether Republicans or Democrats were practicing there.  House Republican Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, of Louisiana, was severely injured in the shooting and nearly died. So was Matt Mika, a Tyson Foods lobbyist and also a coach for the GOP team.  Freely translated, the FBI's original designation was politicized, and the new designation is not.  The FBI must work hard to restore its reputation after years of misuse of the Bureau by the liberal swarms.

I FEAR IT'S TRUE – FROM FOX:   Police should brace for a potentially more violent summer than last year as crime trends show the bloodshed in some parts of the country, such as New York City, picked up earlier than is typically expected, analysts and experts tell Fox News.  "It's not getting any better," Joseph Giacalone, an adjunct professor with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told Fox News. "Let's put it this way: New York City is already ahead of last year's pace, but last year, the homicides and shootings really started spiking at the end of May and into June. So that will be the real tale of the tape, so to speak, to see what's happening over there."  Giacalone said the rise in crime "seems to be centered around the urban environments and the cities."  "So, if you look at New York, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, you name the big cities and they're having huge problems," Giacalone added.  And the anti-police attitude that appears often in the Biden administration doesn't help matters.

May 15, 2021       Permalink

SUCH AN ACHIEVEMENT - OVERNIGHT:  It must feel great to be a member of Congress and achieve high honor.  From Fox: 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also known as AOC, has been ranked the most partisan Democrat of the House of Representatives, according to a new study.

The Squad member ranked No. 427 out of 437 lawmakers analyzed, according to the Bipartisan Index of the 116th Congress (2019-2020) from The Lugar Center in collaboration with Georgetown University.

Other members of the group of progressive congresswomen also ranked low: Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts ranked at No. 426, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota ranked at No. 424 and Rashida Tlaib ranked at No. 414, the study found.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who helped lead impeachment efforts against former President Donald Trump, ranked at No. 423.

Republican Reps. Gary Palmer of Alabama, Rick Allen of Georgia, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Larry Bucshon of Indiana, John Rose of Tennessee, Michael Cloud of Texas and Tom McClintock of California all ranked in the bottom 10 overall.

The rankings are nonpartisan and are based on how often members of Congress work across the political aisle.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., ranked No. 1 overall; John Katko, R-N.Y., ranked at No. 2 and Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., ranked at No. 3, according to the study.

COMMENT:    Recently AOC was ranked as one of the least effective members of Congress.  She's got a big mouth and a small record.  Unfortunately she's in a safe Democratic district, so she probably has a lifetime job.  Same for other members of the Squad.

May 15, 2021       Permalink