“Stop the bad stuff” is what John Boehner told a bunch of us at breakfast a few weeks before the election. That’s how he defined the GOP mission. Now he’s Speaker.

And now there’s an opportunity for both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to move in the direction of a supply-side economic growth model to reduce chronic unemployment and really get the economy moving again.

You can’t govern from the House alone. Boehner knows that. But he also knows that you can stop the redistribution, the big spending, the overregulation, the tax hikes, and the war against business and investors.

The economy is picking up this new political vibe. Economic growth has shifted to 4 percent from 2 percent (even though the Fed hardly acknowledges this). And just in the last six weeks, indicators of better jobs and business confidence have been springing up everywhere.

The economic upturn probably started late last summer, but it has picked up steam since the elections. Car sales, ISMs, small-business confidence, and brisk holiday retail sales — the indicators all look good.

And what’s helping light things up? Low-tax-rate clarity. Stopping the pork-barrel, earmarked, omnibus spending bill. And now the potential undermining of Obamacare. Plus, the hope for broad-based spending limits, and even a corporate tax cut touted by Obama and hopefully the new House Republicans. Trust but verify. And right now I’m willing to trust.

(more…)

George Will in today’s Washington Post:

Now we have explainers. They came into vogue with the murder of President Kennedy. They explained why the “real” culprit was not a self-described Marxist who had moved to Moscow, then returned to support Castro. No, the culprit was a “climate of hate” in conservative Dallas, the “paranoid style” of American (conservative) politics, or some other national sickness resulting from insufficient liberalism.

Last year, New York Times columnist Charles Blow explained that “the optics must be irritating” to conservatives: Barack Obama is black, Nancy Pelosi is female, Rep. Barney Frank is gay, Rep. Anthony Weiner (an unimportant Democrat, listed to serve Blow’s purposes) is Jewish. “It’s enough,” Blow said, “to make a good old boy go crazy.” The Times, which after the Tucson shooting said that “many on the right” are guilty of “demonizing” people and of exploiting “arguments of division,” apparently was comfortable with Blow’s insinuation that conservatives are misogynistic, homophobic, racist anti-Semites.

On Sunday, the Times explained Tucson: “It is facile and mistaken to attribute this particular madman’s act directly to Republicans or Tea Party members. But . . .” The “directly” is priceless.

(more…)

I don’t have much to say about the recent Arizona shootings by madman Jared Loughner, except this:

Many commentators almost as mad as Loughner have attempted to connect this lunatic’s actions to “inflammatory right-wing rhetoric.” I won’t go into here the long list of inflammatory left-wing rhetoric (and actions) that spill over into open violence. (Michelle Malkin has a good summary — with detailed proof — if you’re interested.)

Instead, I’ll make a suggestion.

If the Left wants to eliminate at a stroke the vast majority of heated, hated right-wing rhetoric there’s a very simple way to do that: give up.

Get out of the way. Stop advocating the violation of individual rights every day in every way. Stop trying to get legislation passed that steals private property for the purpose of funding your favorite social engineering goals. Stop extolling the alleged virtue of interpreting the U.S. Constitution in ways that further Progressive goals. End your advocacy of coercion through government.

Your cause is not noble, your methods are not virtuous, your philosophy is not just. Your ideas are more than mistaken; they’re immoral, impractical, and unconstitutional. Change your philosophy and change your behavior and ‘the Right’ will have no longer have an incentive to fight back against your support for squishy tyranny.

(more…)

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

So, how was your Christmas vacation? Coffee and Markets is back from our holiday offseason to talk about what 2011 will bring, the rise of China, the challenge of microfinance, and Thomas Sowell’s take on Federal Reserve policy.

We’re brought to you as always by Stephen Clouse and Associates. You can find our iTunes feed at CoffeeandMarkets.com. If you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

China Post: A Chinese Century?
The Economist: Microfinance Under Attack
Uncommon Knowledge: Thomas Sowell on the Fed

My family and I were shocked and saddened when we learned of the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, her staff and constituents. Gabrielle is a hard worker, a talented legislator and a genuinely dear person. She is universally liked in the House and every member who served with her feels deeply for her, her family and all those involved. We are praying for her recovery, the recovery of all those injured and comfort for the families of the fallen.

This attack was an unspeakable act of violence and those responsible must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of state and federal law.

Yesterday, House officials informed Members that there was no evidence of a wider threat to Members or the public and ordered a full security review for members and staff going forward.

Planned legislative activity will be postponed in lieu of more appropriate resolutions on the floor.

Having made a longstanding practice of holding town hall meetings, we are determined to continue our public schedule without interruption and will follow the recommendation of US Capitol police and local law enforcement to ensure the safety of the public and our staff at future events.

A word or two of admonition.

(more…)

There is no proof yet that Christianne Amanpour is a child molester. Let that sink in for a second. Outrageous, right? Especially when simply said out of the blue like that. Yet that is how the media is treating the insanity of the left-wing progressive charge that conservatives, Sarah Palin and the Tea Party are somehow responsible for the actions of a man who had been obsessed with his target since 2007, more than two years before the Tea Party was in existence.

Amanpour, on her low-rated “This Week” program on ABC, said the following in her report of the tragic act of insanity in Arizona when a disturbed gunman open fire, killed six and wounded more than a dozen, including Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. “…But in fact the suspect in custody, 22 year old Jared Loughner, has no known ties to the tea party or any conservative group.”

It was an unprovoked, out of context slam at a group of people who had nothing to do with anything involving this act of barbarism. But it was exactly what most progressive leftists want the story to be – “forget the tragedy, forget the victims, we have to try to use this to our political advantage and blame conservatives.” After all, never let a crisis go to waste, right?

Most old media left-wing attack dog types are only implying it, but some are flat-out saying it. For example, Paul Krugman, about whom there is also no evidence of child molestation yet, blogged that while there wasn’t “yet” any proof, “…it’s long past time for the GOP’s leaders to take a stand against the hate-mongers.” Implicitly this means that the Democrat party is free to not take a stand against anyone using any inflammatory rhetoric because they don’t do that. Makes you wonder if Mr. Krugman has ever heard of Alan Grayson, MSNBC or many of President Obama’s own remarks.

Media Matters for America Senior Fellow (in what can only be described as watching television and complaining about it) Eric Boehlert, about whom there is ten times the evidence of being a child molester than conservatives are responsible for the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords (in case Eric can’t do math, when you multiply by zero you get zero) could not resist the urge to run to Twitter to blame the right, even though his employer managed to. (As of 3:00 am Media Matters website had no mention of the tragedy.) He took the opportunity to attack Andrew Breitbart and Sarah Palin, falling in line with all the other progressive bomb-throwers who seemingly received “Tweeting points” from a central command.  In his rage, which is pretty much a typical day for Mr. Boehlert, he forgot to do one things…condemn the act or offer any condolences or prayers for the victims whatsoever. In fact, he only wrote one tweet with the name Giffords in it, the others that mention her were retweets.

(more…)

Given that at least two of my recent web postings on the race for RNC Chair dealing with Reince Priebus’ unsuitability for that particular job have made it into emailed discussion threads among all RNC Committee members, I’d like to respectfully address you as regards what those postings represent and what they do not.

I saw one reference from Mr. Henry Barbour suggesting that open criticisms of the various candidates, obviously including my own, actually represents hating. Truth be told, if they represent anything, it’s love – as in love for our country in perilous political and economic times, with a sincere desire to impact politics to improve the Republican Party, so that we may do what’s right for America, not continue down a path of doing things wrong.

Well, whoever these people are that seem to wake up each morning hating all of our candidates for chairman jumped on my use of the phrase “personal contributions” and are acting like I was somehow trying to mislead folks.

Unfortunately, and with all due respect, in this a Tea Party and New Media age, that is the language of the antiquated and self-appointed back room deal-making pol interested in little more than stifling dissent to his chosen candidate.

The Tea Party, an energized base due to Democrat over reach and the ability for citizen activists to publish their thoughts, has changed American politics. It is for that reason I am writing you. It is so important to the future of the RNC, the GOP and even America, I believe it warrants some thought and careful consideration as you prepare to elect a new Chair.

Later today, I will publish a list of valid reasons why so much of the GOP base finds Reince Priebus unsuitable for Chair. But that is not my purpose with this letter.

(more…)

The same sort of deception and unfairness by Big Labor that would have allowed union organizers to replace workplace elections with coercion-prone “card check” is rearing its ugly head, and this time it may be Girl Scouts who pay the highest price.

President Obama’s National Labor Relations Board is currently considering Roundy’s v Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades, AFL-CIO. The union is hoping to persuade the NLRB that if an employer lets one outside party onto their premises, they have to let everybody in. Since, you know, there’s no real difference between allowing a charity to collect a few bucks and inviting in a union organizer who’s trying to get your customers to boycott your store …

Should the federal government force employers to treat all outside organizations alike, the clear answer for anyone with half a brain is to deny access to everyone equally. One business owner, Brett McMahon, writes at Halt The Assault:

If this new request by union leaders is allowed to become law, its effect will be for many business operators like myself to have no choice but to close doors to any outside groups. The impact to charities ability to operate and reach support would be devastating. Ultimately, unions are trying to make sure that no one wins.

Sorry, Girl Scouts. Sorry, Boy Scouts. Sorry, Red Cross. And the local soup kitchen. This is not hyperbole. This is a direct threat to the ability for small business to say who comes onto their property and how they affect their business.

(more…)

We all know it is difficult to teach an old dog new tricks, but apparently it is even more difficult to teach an old politician new ideas. They are still rearranging furniture in their office in preparation for this session, and the new batch of beltway babblers are acting more like Bozo the Clown than fiscal hawks. But government should not be conducted like a circus.

Raising the so-called debt ceiling will let the government continue to spend like clowns while they distract the people with their dazzling spending ability. The reality is that the spectacle has become somewhat nauseating for some and conservatives are saying that the show is over.

New Speaker of the House, John Boehner has indicated he is ready to lead the charge to immediately cut spending in an effort to avoid hitting the latest arbitrary debt ceiling. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says that Congress has to vote to raise the debt ceiling or incur financial disaster when creditors to the US will no longer be willing to loan us money.

The Facts

Politicians have raised the debt ceiling 74 times since March of 1962. They have raised it 10 times in the last 10 years. The debt ceiling stands at almost $15 Trillion, and increases around $19 million every hour.

(more…)

He has conquered the world of finance and remains firmly on top of it. He writes bestselling books. He dominates leftist philanthropy. He co-founded the Democracy Alliance, an ultra-secretive billionaires’ club that wants to transform America into a European-style socialist state – or worse. He owns the Democratic Party. Now George Soros, who also fancies himself a philosopher, is positioning himself as a media magnate in order to continue his assault on America’s values and institutions.

Like the protagonist in the classic Orson Welles movie Citizen Kane, Soros can never have enough power. But unlike Charles Foster Kane, the haughty, imperious fictional media mogul, Soros views himself as much more than a mere leader. With a straight face he told reporters, “It is a sort of disease when you consider yourself some kind of god, the creator of everything, but I feel comfortable about it now since I began to live it out.” (The Independent – UK, June 3, 1993)

Although markets have helped make him a billionaire several times over, Soros has declared war on capitalism. He blames markets and something he calls “market fundamentalism”— and not the suffocating regulations and high taxes his funding of left-wing groups promotes – for the current economic slowdown. “The entire edifice of global financial markets has been erected on the false premise that markets can be left to their own devices, we must find a new paradigm and rebuild from the ground up.”

“The system we have now has actually broken down, only we haven’t quite recognized it and so you need to create a new one and this is the time to do it,” Soros told the Financial Times in 2009. In an interview with Der Spiegel the previous year Soros said European-style socialism “is exactly what we need now. I am against market fundamentalism. I think this propaganda that government involvement is always bad has been very successful – but also very harmful to our society.”

Only in the twisted messianic fantasies of this octogenarian billionaire whose demeanor is that of a James Bond villain could such phantom armies of marauding free market fundamentalists wreak havoc on America. Perhaps these were the same laissez-faire legionnaires who brought us Sarbanes-Oxley, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government bailouts of private industry, farm subsidies, ethanol mandates, smart growth, and the disastrous Community Reinvestment Act in recent decades.

(more…)

Today, in 1946, the first General Assembly of the United Nations opened in London. We’ve had peace ever since.

Glenn Reynolds in the Wall Street Journal:

American journalists know how to be exquisitely sensitive when they want to be. As the Washington Examiner’s Byron York pointed out on Sunday, after Major Nidal Hasan shot up Fort Hood while shouting “Allahu Akhbar!” the press was full of cautions about not drawing premature conclusions about a connection to Islamist terrorism. “Where,” asked Mr. York, “was that caution after the shootings in Arizona?”

Set aside as inconvenient, apparently. There was no waiting for the facts on Saturday. Likewise, last May New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and CBS anchor Katie Couric speculated, without any evidence, that the Times Square bomber might be a tea partier upset with the ObamaCare bill.

So as the usual talking heads begin their “have you no decency?” routine aimed at talk radio and Republican politicians, perhaps we should turn the question around. Where is the decency in blood libel?

(more…)

From The Economist:

Politicians have repeatedly given in, usually sneakily—by swelling pensions, adding yet more holidays or dropping reforms, rather than by increasing pay. This time they have to fight because they are so short of money. But it is crucial that the war with the public-sector unions is won in the right way. For amid all the pain ahead sits a huge opportunity—to redesign government. That means focusing on productivity and improving services, not just cutting costs. (Indeed, in some cases it may entail paying good people more; one reason why Singapore has arguably the best civil service in the world is that it pays some of them more than $2m a year.)

The immediate battle will be over benefits, not pay. Here the issue is parity. Holidays are often absurdly generous, but the real issue is pensions. Too many state workers can retire in their mid-50s on close to full pay. America’s states have as much as $5 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities. Historic liabilities have to be honoured (and properly accounted for, rather than hidden off the government’s balance-sheet). But there is no excuse for continuing them. Sixty-five should be a minimum age for retirement for people who spend their lives in classrooms and offices; and new civil servants should be switched to defined-contribution pensions.

Another battleground will be the unions’ legal privileges.

(more…)

Jack Shafer in Slate:

Sheriff Dupnik’s political sermon came before any conclusive or even circumstantial proof had been offered that the shooter had been incited by anything except the gas music from Jupiter playing inside his head.

For as long as I’ve been alive, crosshairs and bull’s-eyes have been an accepted part of the graphical lexicon when it comes to political debates. Such “inflammatory” words as targeting, attacking, destroying, blasting, crushing, burying, knee-capping, and others have similarly guided political thought and action. Not once have the use of these images or words tempted me or anybody else I know to kill. I’ve listened to, read—and even written!—vicious attacks on government without reaching for my gun. I’ve even gotten angry, for goodness’ sake, without coming close to assassinating a politician or a judge.

From what I can tell, I’m not an outlier. Only the tiniest handful of people—most of whom are already behind bars, in psychiatric institutions, or on psycho-meds—can be driven to kill by political whispers or shouts. Asking us to forever hold our tongues lest we awake their deeper demons infantilizes and neuters us and makes politicians no safer.

(more…)

From the Associated Press:

Federal prosecutors brought charges Sunday against the gunman accused of carrying out an assassination attempt on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killing six people at a political event in Arizona.

Investigators said they carried out a search warrant at Jared Loughner’s home and seized an envelope from a safe with messages such as “I planned ahead,” “My assassination” and the name “Giffords” next to what appears to be the man’s signature. He allegedly purchased the Glock pistol used in the attack in November at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Tucson.

Court documents also show that Loughner had contact with Giffords in the past. Other evidence included a letter addressed to him from Giffords’ congressional stationery in which she thanked him for attending a “Congress on your Corner” event at a mall in Tucson in 2007.

(more…)

Don’t ever let a horrible slaughter at a supermarket go to waste.

A rescue helicopter lifts off as first responders evacuate victims from a “Congress on Your Corner” event in Tucson, Arizona, where U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) among others were shot and seriously wounded. (Reuters)

Democrats plotted to blame the tea party patriots for yesterday’s slaugher in Arizona.

A democratic operative admitted this to The Politico.

Of course, Politico buried it in their story.

One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did.

“They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers,” said the Democrat. “Just like the Clinton White House deftly pinned the Oklahoma City bombing on the militia and anti-government people.”

Another Democratic strategist said the similarity is that Tucson and Oklahoma City both “take place in a climate of bitter and virulent rhetoric against the government and Democrats.”

This Democrat said that the time had come to insist that Republicans stand up when, for example, a figure such as Fox News commentator Glenn Beck says something incendiary.

The shooter was a pro-Marxist, anti-flag, anti-Constitution, anti-religious crackpot.
He was hardly a tea partier.

(more…)

An extreme, left-wing Democrat group calling itself 21st Century Democrats has had the gall to send out an email blast using as a fundraising tool Saturday’s criminal shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Judge John Roll and four others were killed in the incident, one of them a 9-year-old girl, but these Democrats are ignorant enough to be using this incident to try and squeeze donations from its supporters. Some might think the action of 21st Century Democrats is itself a crime — a crime against decency.

The email blast sent out Sunday morning to its supporters tells members that “we don’t know yet” why Jared Loughner shot Gabrielle Giffords but goes on to lay the blame on Sarah Palin and Gifford’s opponent in the past election for using “violent imagery” in his campaign.

The email goes on to ask members to “join us in sharing your thoughts and prayers to the Congresswoman and her family by visiting our website where we have set up a page for you to do so.” Naturally once you click on the link you are taken to a page that prominently displays the group’s DONATE NOW button. It is not in the slightest way discreetly designed. As soon as you go to this so-called prayers page you see a large button asking for donations and another one underneath it urging visitors to “sign up” for email blasts and information.

Disgustingly, 21st Century Democrats is using this crime in a fundraising effort.

Gauche is hardly a strong enough word to describe this action.

(more…)

When Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head and six others were killed Saturday morning by a gunman Jared Loughner, the left wing smear machine went into high gear. Left wing politicians blamed the Tea Party (before the gunman was even named), and left wing hate sites blamed Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh for the shooting, when it was actually done by one of their murderous own. It’s always one of their own.

Loughner’s leftwing high school friend, Caitie Parker, remembers him as a “political radical”: “He was left wing,” she wrote; “As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal.”

FOX News has reported that the shooter’s favorite books are the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kampf. Loughner is also reportedly an atheist. There’s an anti-bible quote in one of his videos: “Every United States Military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix is receiving one mini bible before the tests. Jared Loughner is a United States Military recruit at MEPS in Phoenix. Therefore, Jared Loughner is receiving one mini bible before the tests.”

Loughner also has a creepy “music video” up on YouTube, in which he is dressed as a terrorist and burns an American flag. FOX News has confirmed that the hooded figure in the video is indeed Loughner.

Also, Congresswoman Giffords is a major Blue Dog Democrat — almost so right wing that she would be considered a conservative in certain areas. She was on almost every important issue essentially a Republican. Her only major left position was support of Obamacare.

But on immigration, she is a blue dog. She supports Second Amendment gun rights and opposed the ban on guns in Washington, D.C. She is also a very strong supporter of border control.

The left hates her. The DailyKos put up a post on January 6, which has now been pulled, saying: “My CongressWOMAN [Gabrielle Giffords] voted against Nancy Pelosi! And is now DEAD to me!”

This shooting is what they teach, this is the poisonous fruit of their indoctrination. Clearly, Loughner is sick, mentally ill — but suckling at the lefty teat is deadly poison for the soul.

(more…)

What does the Ft. Hood massacre, and Saturday’s Arizona massacre have in common? Almost nothing.

With Ft. Hood, an open islamist gunned down dozens in an attack he all but said he was going to launch, and the best the Left could do was blame America’s love of guns while preaching that we cannot rush to judgment. To this day apologists on the left still will not bring themselves to conclude that Major Hasan was a Jihad terrorist animated by radical Islam.

On the other hand, the blood hasn’t even been mopped up yet in Tucson, and disgusting opportunists on the Left have already declared the Arizona massacre an official act of the Tea Party:

DISGRACEFUL: Krugman Blames GOP For “Attempted Assassination” Today (Before We Found Out He’s a Leftwinger)

Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik Blames AZ “Prejudice & Bigotry” for Shooting (Video)

Yes, that’s right. The very same people who cannot figure out what animated Major Hasan al Jihad, have swiftly concluded that the lunatic who murdered 6 people Saturday was motivated by the Tea Party.

(more…)