“Men of experience succeed even better than those who have theory without experience…If, then, a man has the theory without the experience, and recognizes the universal but does not know the individual included in this, he will often fail to cure; for it is the individual that is to be cured.” –Aristotle

Aristotle’s wise words from 2,500 years ago gives us the precise reason why the president’s statist economic policies are failing miserably. Keynesian economists like New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman believe that during times of economic slowdown, it is the government’s responsibility to jump start the economy and spur economic growth by the government itself spending large sums of borrowed money – usually on make work public works projects. The theory goes that when the government spends large sums of money during a slowdown, this will somehow motivate businesses and consumers to spend money as well.

Two years after the president’s ’stimulus’ plan, with consumer confidence at all time lows and with unemployment at 9.2% and rising, the plan has obviously been a failure. That is why it is difficult to understand why someone of Krugman’s stature, as late as July of  this year, would argue for more stimulus spending and downplay the need to address our massive national debt when it’s obvious that the stimulus package has failed:

“What I keep hearing from Washington is one of two arguments: either (1) the stimulus has failed, unemployment is still rising, so we shouldn’t do any more, or (2) the stimulus has succeeded, G.D.P. is growing, so we don’t need to do any more. The truth, which is that the stimulus was too little of a good thing — that it helped, but it wasn’t big enough — seems to be too complicated for an era of sound-bite politics.’

“So no, I mean, the deficit doesn’t matter. The economy matters. And that’s why somehow or other, Obama has got to get jobs being created.”

Again:

“Men of experience succeed even better than those who have theory without experience”

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Brad Jackson and Ben Domenech are joined by New York Times’ best selling author Brad Thor to discuss his newest thriller Full Black, how he develops material for his books, the importance of highlighting the work of the fearless patriots in America’s Special Forces, and the upcoming Warner Bros. film adaptations of his blockbuster novels.

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

What happened when a CITIZEN EXAMINER was given an all out press pass, and allowed to observe the NEA in their own element? This is just part of what he saw. Parents and all taxpaying citizens, though unfulfilled with the promises of transparency, should at the very least get a a peek behind the curtains of the educators of their children. I’d say don’t be surprised by what you see, but there are plenty more videos on the way. So enjoy as this as much as you can, and feel free to leave a comment if you so desire.

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From The American Independent:

A Lansing medical marijuana dispensary is offering medical marijuana patients a choice of a half a gram of medical pot or a marijuana-laced baked good called a “medible” in exchange for registering to vote.

On the dispensary’s website, owner Skekina Pena writes:

Protect Your Access! Vote 2011:

All dispensaries are doing a voter registration drive. If you sign up at Your Healthy Choice, we will assist you in filling out the registration form and will mail it out for you. We believe in power in numbers and everyone taking a stand. So in appreciation, we will reward legal patients with a .5 gram free or a free medible! I’m planning an event for the preliminary voting that will have shuttles to the polls! We have to amend our Lansing ordinance! May God bless our efforts!

The webpage then encourages readers to support Lansing City Council candidates Derrick Quinney, A’Lynne Robinson and Harold Leeman. It also encourages readers to vote against City Council candidates Carol Wood and Jody Washington.

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The more I hear people criticize Governor Rick Perry for saying New York’s decision to legalize same-sex marriage was “their business,” the more I want to put a “Perry 2012” bumper sticker on my car. And when that criticism continues, because he also said things like “that is fine with me” and “that is their call,” I actually wonder if we understand freedom at all.

Honestly folks, do we have the courage to be free?

After all, Perry is only saying what he’s been saying for years, and what Thomas Jefferson spelled out in the Kentucky Resolutions (1798).  Namely, that states enjoy a sovereignty that allows them to make decisions apart from the federal government and apart from the consensus of other states.

Perry bases these statements on the Tenth Amendment, which clearly states: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” While this amendment does many things, one of the most important things it does is set clear limitations on the power of the federal government. It also demonstrates that our Founders believed every power not explicitly “delegated” to the federal government belongs to the states, “or to the people.”

Does Perry agree with same-sex “marriage”? Certainly not: which is why he supported an amendment to the Texas Constitution that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman in 2005.  But Perry understands that just as Texas had every right to define and protect traditional marriage within their borders, so too other states have the right to foolishly undermine that same institution within theirs. (I think New York’s decision was stupid, but the expression of freedom doesn’t have to be smart in order to be legitimate.)

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From The Associated Press:

A fast-approaching deadline is bound to heighten anxiety. That’s what happening on Wall Street as investors grow increasingly uneasy about the political stalemate over raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

The Dow Jones industrial average has closed down for four sessions in a row. And the declines have been steeper each day, reaching almost 200 points Wednesday.

Lawmakers face an Aug. 2 deadline or risk triggering an unprecedented federal default and unpredictable fallout in the economy. As the contentious debate in Washington heated up, initially the stock market didn’t show much reaction. But recent days have reflected signs of greater concern.

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Circular firing squads are very helpful…when they’re done on the other side of the aisle. That is why Democrats are so happy lately, sitting back and watching all the Republican in-fighting over deft ceiling deals. Sadly, Republicans have been all too happy to oblige. It’s time for them to stop and shift the onus to Democrats in the Senate and the White House, where it belongs.

The normal way passing legislation works is the House passes a bill, the Senate passes a bill on the same subject, they come together in a conference committee to hammer out the differences to form one bill, then both chambers vote again on the finished product. The way this debt negotiations have been going is the House passes a bill, the Senate and the President say they don’t like it. The House passes another bill, the Senate and the President say they don’t like it. Lather, rinse, repeat.

While this kabuki dance goes on, Republicans keep offering more and more plans, fighting amongst themselves and the media reports it as if they are the ones being unreasonable. This needs to stop.

It’s too late to stop a vote on the latest plan introduced by Speaker Boehner, it’s out there and everyone is expecting a vote on it. But that should be the last vote the House takes on the issue until the Senate acts on something.

What good will that do?

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Today, in 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Within weeks Europe would be engulfed in World War I.

I was shocked (er, sort of) to learn that each month the Treasury Department sends out 80 million checks to various recipients. That’s a little over 25% of the population. I guess it’s no surprise, however, when you consider only half the households in our country pay any income taxes.

Lately, President Obama has been beating the scare drum, suggesting those most vulnerable will not receive their monthly checks unless we increase the debt ceiling.  But there’s a dirty little secret that no one in the mainstream media is willing to tell you: the Government, through Barack Obama, decides who gets paid and who doesn’t. And if you don’t get your check, then it means he decided you were not important. Blame him.

It’s all about priorities, and as the chief executive, Barack Obama takes the pot of money the Congress confiscates for him via taxes and divvies it up. He decides which of the 80 million checks get paid based upon the revenue he has at his disposal. There is money coming into the treasury all the time, and there will be money to pay some (but not necessary all) checks if/when we reach the debt ceiling.

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Big Government’s very own Andrew Breitbart stopped by our studio recently to discuss his latest book, Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World.   Check out the episode below to learn more about his days as a liberal parrot and how his father-in-law’s suggestion to actually listen to Rush Limbaugh helped him see the light of day.

It was after a few months of listening that Breitbart discovered that (shocker!) Rush was not a racist, sexist homophobe, but in fact a journalist who, using AM radio of all things, spent every day painting a vivid picture of the Democrat Media Complex.  Rush was analyzing the source material of the world (NY Times, NBC, etc) and exposing it as the front line of the political battle.  Main stream media used “objectivity” as their greatest weapon.

Breitbart goes on to describe the new media revolution (starting with Matt Drudge in 1995) and explain his hope for the future.  He wants the center-right nation to fight for its soul.  To commit to the battle in the media with the same force and excellence as NPR and Jon Stewart.

Andrew talks about co-creating the Huffington Post so that the left would have a home online (and grant source material to conservatives).  And when asked who’s winning, he admits that while the Left still controls the money, the Right is winning tactically.  His goal with every story is to aim it straight at MSM, to dare them to cover his news.  And it seems to be working.

Check out the full interview, here.

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The Obama administration recently proposed raising corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards affecting cars and light trucks sold in America to 56.2 miles per gallon by 2025.  However, in a surprising development, the administration is now taking heat from Democratic legislators from Michigan including liberal Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who is up for re-election in 2012, in addition to congressmen representing districts in which German automakers operate in the South.

Last week, 14 of Michigan’s 15 congressmen plus both its senators penned a letter calling the 56.2 miles per gallon standard “overly aggressive” and “not reasonably feasible.”  (Rep. John Conyers was the lone non-signatory among the delegation). The letter further indicates that the standard would have a negative impact on jobs and promotion of U.S. manufacturing.  Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder had previously signed a letter urging a sensible approach on CAFE.

But less reported on was a letter sent the day before by South Carolina Rep. Trey Gowdy and Tennessee Rep. Charles Fleischmann expressing concern about the administration’s approach.  Gowdy and Fleischmann appear concerned that German automakers who manufacture vehicles in their districts—Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen—could be unfairly hammered by the rules, with attendant negative consequences for employees and their communities.  Reads the letter:

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A recent “infographic” released by the White House tries to assign the blame for our massive debt and deficits to former President Bush and Republican Congresses.  However, the graphic conveniently omits President Obama’s record and his plans for the fiscal future of our country.  If the President had his way and his Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal was enacted, here is what a comparison of the increase in public debt would look like:

As the graph above shows, the debt held by the public increased $2.4 trillion between 2000 and 2008, from $3.4 trillion to $5.8 trillion.  Under President Obama’s budget proposal, the debt held by the public is projected to increase $6.1 trillion between 2008 and 2012, from $5.8 trillion to $11.9 trillion.

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Standard & Poor’s government-credit-ratings guru David Beers played his cards close to the vest on the topic of a U.S. downgrade in our CNBC interview this week. However, this head of S&P’s global sovereign-ratings business — with a staff of 80 covering 126 countries — issued three strong warnings to the debt-ceiling negotiators in Washington.

Beers avoided direct comments on any of the key debt-limit plans. But when I asked him about joint congressional committees that would report back with additional budget savings at the end of the year, he said, “Well, naturally, it’s going to raise questions . . . we would have to look at the balance of incentives and disincentives that might increase or decrease the probability of that type of approach being effective.”

In other words, both the Harry Reid plan and the John Boehner plan could contribute to a downgrade this summer since it’s uncertain whether joint committees will get the necessary votes for large-scale budget cuts and deficit reduction by year-end. There are no guarantees.

I then asked Beers about a two-step debt increase. This is part of Speaker Boehner’s plan — a roughly $1 trillion debt-ceiling hike now and a roughly $1.8 trillion increase next year. Beers has a problem with that.

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You may recall that Sodexo slapped the SEIU with a RICO suit in March, citing the labor union’s “blackmail, vandalism, trespass, harassment, and lobbying law violations designed to steer business away from Sodexo USA and harm the company.”  SEIU had filed a motion to dismiss the suit, but according to a press release just issued,  a United States District Judge has denied the SEIU’s motion and ruled that Sodexo’s case can proceed.

“The court has validated our decision to file this lawsuit using the federal racketeering statute,” said Sodexo General Counsel Robert Stern. “This ruling clears the path to discovery and trial, allowing us to present evidence the SEIU has conspired to extort Sodexo by threatening financial damage unless we cave in to its demands. The SEIU’s campaign was designed to illegally threaten our company. We will continue to challenge the SEIU’s illegal behavior until it ends.”

The food services corporation has accused the SEIU of engaging in nefarious activities intended to harm the company, some of which include:

• Hacking into a Sodexo education website, in knowing violation of federal computer crime laws, and posting a link to one of the union’s own websites where malicious and disparaging claims were made about Sodexo
• Infiltrating, under false pretenses, a prestigious medical conference and throwing plastic roaches onto the food being served by Sodexo
• Falsely claiming that the Company’s food production plants have “rodent problems” and scaring hospital patients by insinuating that Sodexo USA food contained bugs, rat droppings, mold, flies and maggots, and that Sodexo provided linens contaminated with the “remnants of someone else’s hospital waste”
• Harassing Sodexo USA employees by threatening to accuse them of wrongdoing

The complaint also describes, among many other things, activities that are similar to other instances of the SEIU’s exploitation of college students to manufacture outrage against Sodexo and opposition to the company’s food services on campus.

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Back in the 80s, Wendy’s, the fast-food giant, ran a very successful ad campaign known as “Where’s the beef?”…

Perhaps the Republicans should revise the famous line for an ad campaign and call it “Where’s the plan?”.

Obama has spent his entire presidency talking about “his plan” while denigrating and disparaging plans of other serious legislators or endorsing plans crafted by busy tax-and-spend congressional Democrats. He famously referred to “his plan” during the health care debate, promising all sorts of goodies to everyone with an interest with statements like “if you like your like plan, you can keep it,” while assuring us all that his plan would lower costs and insure more individuals, regardless of the economic illogic of this argument.

In the end, the law forever stamped as “Obamacare” was a 2,000+ page hodgepodge thrown together by years of busybody work from the desk drawers of congressional staffers, professional theorists and lawyers, all with an interest in increasing the regulatory and taxation State. We never actually saw Obama’s Plan, because there wasn’t one. None of his comments or predictions had to be true, because, well, at the time the plan wasn’t his. Now he owns it.

When Paul Ryan presented his Road Map — a serious long-term budget proposal that seeks to incrementally decrease the burden of runaway entitlements with as little pain as possible — Obama dismissed it as “anti-American”. Reasonable people can disagree with aspects of Ryan’s plan, but to simply dismiss it as anything less than a serious attempt to get us on the road to fiscal recovery is not serious leadership.

At best, it’s agitation from a community organizer.

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Last week “Mr. Cool” lost his cool. Barack Obama, frustrated at his inability to strike a deal with Republicans in Congress on raising the debt ceiling, stormed out of a meeting saying, “enough is enough.” As of today, the negotiations are in limbo.

I’m sure you’ve been following this story. Leaders in both political parties say that if the debt ceiling (the federal government’s borrowing limit) is not raised by August 2, 2011, the government supposedly will run out of money and will default on its obligations. This, the Establishment says, will trigger a global economic meltdown.

(You may recall this same “sky is falling” rhetoric was used back in September 2008 when former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was running around Congress asking for a blank check for the bailouts and then forcing banks to “take the money or else.”)

At any rate, while leaders in both parties say they need to raise the debt ceiling they have very different ideas on the type of deal they’d be willing to strike.

Here’s how things shake out: Some Republicans are willing to raise the debt ceiling and allow more borrowing, but only if Democrats make significant cuts to the bloated federal budget without raising taxes that would kill jobs and harm an already limping economy. Obama has indicated that he’s willing to nibble around the edges on government spending, but will not sign onto any deal that does not include tax increases.

And so here we are. No deal. (Most Americans don’t want the debt ceiling raised at all, but their views don’t seem to count much here in Washington. Check out this Gallup poll.)

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From Politico:

Rep. James Clyburn and a group of House Democrats are urging President Barack Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if Congress can’t come up with a satisfactory plan before the Tuesday deadline.

Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, said Wednesday that if the president is delivered a bill to raise the debt ceiling for only a short period of time, he should instead it and turn to the phrase in the Constitution that says the validity of the U.S. government’s debt “shall not be questioned.”

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Like the ACORN mobs who would barge into banks to demand that they not foreclose on homes, our country is being community organized by our “Alinsky-ite in Chief” Barack Obama. The “Rules for Radicals” disciple knows that it is more important to cause a ruckus with a loud and angry mob than it is to have the truth and the will of the people on your side. That’s why, in his nationally televised address to the nation, he called on Americans to call Congress on his behalf to intimidate and bully a capitulation from the GOP.  All that was missing were the whistles and the screams for “justice”.

The stories in the Washington Post and other compliant media outlets were damning:

The Capitol switchboard was on the verge of being overloaded with calls from across the country Tuesday morning after President Obama called on Americans in an address to the nation Monday evening to contact their members of Congress about the high-stakes debt battle playing out in Washington.

Of course, as the stories unfolded, it turns out that a whole lot of those calls were from Americans warning their Congressmen not to cave-in to the President’s demands and to hold firm on the debt ceiling and the tax increases Obama desires. So much so that by the end of yesterday afternoon, the 80-strong freshman class (who were sent to Congress largely by the Tea Party voters intent on finally changing Washington and the establishment GOP) held strong and withheld support for Speaker Boehner’s debt plan. The President’s plan to intimidate a tax-laden compromise out of the House backfired.

Clearly, the wrong people got the message in the President’s speech and somehow those Tea Party extremists learned how to use a telephone.

This will never do. Don’t you people realize that when the President calls on Americans to contact members of Congress, he’s really just talking to his radical and dedicated base? Don’t you realize he really only means that the agitators and “No Justice, No Peace” radicals are the ones who are supposed to make noise and push the agenda?

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On today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, Pejman Yousefzadeh is joined by Mustafa Akyol to discuss the seeds of liberalism within Islam, how those freedoms were trampled in Muslim countries, and how the Arab Spring and the Green Movement in Iran might restore that personal liberty.

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

Related Links:

Islam without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty
Islam Will Find Its Own Way to Freedom
The Forgotten Liberalism Within Islam
Mustafa Akyol on the Basic Compatibility of Islam with Free Market Economy

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