Posts Tagged ‘Economy’

Central Illinois  9/12 Project

ShoreBank, Sharia Law and Bank Bailouts

by Central Illinois 9/12 Project

We all know what the words “debt,” “taxpayer,” and “interest” mean, but how many people know what the words “jizya”, “dhimmi” and “Grameen” mean? In order to understand the precipice of disaster that the banking system is resting upon today, one must understand all these words, and then some. No solution can be found by only understanding the first three. Only an illusion of understanding exists until the latter, and more, like “jihad” and “Sharia Law”, are considered.

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The jizya amounts to a tax paid by Non-Muslims to Muslims in order that they may live in peace. A fair comparison is money paid by business owners to neighborhood thugs in order to gain protection. Think Mob. Engaging in this endeavor creates the status of dhimmi – a willingly subservient protected group of third class subjects. Let’s just call this what it is – extortion based slavery. Let us also understand that this is an endgame of this thing called “jihad”.

From the Koran:

(9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

(30:39)  And whatever you lay out as usury, so that it may increase in the property of men, it shall not increase with Allah; and whatever you give in charity, desiring Allah’s pleasure– it is these (persons) that shall get manifold.

(3:130) O you who believe! do not devour usury, making it double and redouble, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah, that you may be successful

(2:275) Those who swallow down usury cannot arise except as one whom  Shaitan has prostrated by (his) touch does rise. That is because they say, trading is only like usury; and Allah has allowed trading and forbidden usury. To whomsoever then the admonition has come from his Lord, then he desists, he shall have what has already passed, and his affair is in the hands of Allah; and whoever returns (to it)– these arc the inmates of the fire; they shall abide in it.

You get the idea.

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Kyle Olson

Las Vegas Mayor Fights Back and Snubs Obama

by Kyle Olson

Look at the bright side, Mr. President: It’s just one less leader you need to bow to.

On two occasions, President Obama has made off-handed swipes at Las Vegas, and both times Mayor Oscar Goodman defended his city.

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Most recently, Obama, with a straight face, was discussing making wise financial decisions (because he’s been so prudent with our money) and told a crowd in New Hampshire:

“When times are tough, you tighten your belts.  You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage.  You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”

So when the customary invitation came from the White House to kiss the ring of the visiting president at the airport (Obama was in Las Vegas Thursday, presumably to bail some water out of the sinking S.S. Harry Reid), Goodman fought back.  He declined the invitation.

Kudos to Mayor Goodman for standing up for his constituents and not tolerating the president’s attacks on his city – as humorous as they were meant to be.

“We are hurting, we have people in foreclosures, we have people having a hard time feeding their families and we can’t stand to have a flippant statement made,” said Mayor Goodman.

“I haven’t heard an apology, I haven’t heard a response, all I do is get invitations,” Goodman went on to say.

I doubt you’ll get an apology from this administration, Mayor Goodman.

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The New Ledger

Why Obama’s Going to Have to Raise Taxes on the Middle Class

by The New Ledger

It’s time for your weekly dose of markets and politics with Coffee and Markets, featuring The New Ledger’s Francis Cianfrocca, a podcast brought to you by the fine folks at Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com and LibertyPundits.com, your new home for Conservative podcasts. In this week’s edition, we hash out what’s happening in Greece and the global markets, President Obama’s broken promises on taxes, and what lies ahead for the big entitlement bomb.

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

The Daily Caller: Showmanship is Not Leadership

Politico: Obama’s Bipartisan Health Summit

The Daily Beast: An Interview With Paul Ryan

Paul Ryan’s Roadmap

The New Ledger

America’s Decline, And Where Recovery Begins

by The New Ledger

“We have never had, in the history of the world, periods of sustained economic prosperity and growth accompanied by a sustained decline in population. Today, every developed nation in the world is witnessing this decline.”

It’s time for your weekly dose of markets and politics with Coffee and Markets, our podcast from The New Ledger with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Sanger: Obama’s Permanent Deficits
TNL: Once Was America
TNL: Marriage and Children in Our New America
Hymowitz: Explosion in Single Young American Men
Spengler: America’s Decline

John M. O'Hara

Obamanomics: An Advanced Course in Big Government in the Age of Obama

by John M. O'Hara

Politicians, pundits, and citizens have long bemoaned the power that “special interests” wield in Washington, D.C. and state capitals across the nation. The pharmaceutical, energy, and defense industries and everyone in between employ armies of lobbyists to educate elected officials on their respective industry interests and to persuade them to protect said interests.  Other groups represent the concerns of a body of constituents, such as general taxpayer, second amendment, or pro-life groups.

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Despite the soiling of the term “lobbyist,” particularly following the fall of Jack Abramoff, these activities are protected under the First Amendment – and rightfully so.  If it weren’t for second amendment groups, Chicago, where I currently dwell, would not have a powerful coalition challenging the city’s irrational, unconstitutional handgun ban in the Supreme Court. The majority of Americans own stock – stock in corporations.  In today’s legislative environment, corporations would do a disservice to their shareholders not to go to bat for their interests in the Beltway ball game.

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The New Ledger

What They Won’t Talk About at the White House Jobs Summit

by The New Ledger

So the President holds a jobs summit, but doesn’t invite the biggest actual producers of jobs — instead stacking the deck with people who believe there just hasn’t been enough government reallocation of taxpayer money. We’ll talk about the summit and the latest details of upheaval at General Motors in today’s edition of Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

Coffee and Markets

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

ABC News: Real Progress or PR Stunt?
Romer on the Jobs Summit
Cianfrocca: Near an Inflection Point on the Economy?
Samuelson on Job Growth’s Challenges

The New Ledger

Black Friday and America’s New Economic Reality

by The New Ledger

So, how was Black Friday for you? For retailers, it was a time to go looking for small reasons for optimism, but the comparison to 2008 is essentially flat. How will the markets react, and what’s the deal with Dubai? We’ll discuss it all on the latest edition of Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

Coffee and Markets

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

LATimes: Black Friday Recap
AP: Wall Street’s Big Week
Ferguson: Obama’s Indecision on Economy Hurting America

The New Ledger

Economy in the Lurch: Negative Interest Rates, the Fed Audit, and Geithner in the Dock

by The New Ledger

Negative interest rates finally materialize, Tim Geithner falls on his face at Congress, and the House moves forward with their policy of gutting the authority of the Federal Reserve. That’s three big stories to talk about on today’s Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

Coffee and Markets

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

WSJ: House Attacks Fed, Treasury
MarketWatch: Panel Votes to Audit Fed Balance Sheet
WP: Threatening the Fed’s Independence
Bloomberg: Geithner Resignation Calls Increase
Ryan and Hensarling: Why No One Expects a Strong Recovery

Publius

Geithner: Economy Is Better By Any Measurement

by Publius

This morning, in testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that, by any measurement of the strength and stability of the US economy, the economy today is better than it was when Obama took office. Sheesh, tell that to the millions of people who have lost their job since January.

Apparently, “any measurement” doesn’t include the unemployment rate, job growth, number of jobs, wage growth, hours worked, home foreclosures, rate of mortgage delinquencies, etc.

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The New Ledger

Inside Harry Reid’s Massive Health Care Tax Plan

by The New Ledger

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has finally brought out the health care bill he’s fashioned behind closed doors over the past several weeks, and it ain’t pretty. The Budget Committee fully implemented 10 year score of the bill is $2.5 trillion. The CBO score, which is really just a six year measure, says taxes will go up $493.6 billion, while Medicare will be cut $464.6 billion. It’s a massive piece of legislation, but will it actually solve any of America’s health care problems? Whatever this legislation is about, one thing is clear: it’s not about making us healthier. We’ll discuss the bill on today’s Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

Coffee and Markets

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You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

Keith Hennessey: Reid’s Tax Increases
Weekly Standard: 2,074 Pages of Bad Ideas
AUL: Reid Releases Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill
Reuters: Key Differences in Bill
Times Online UK: Obama Fears Double Dip Recession
WSJ: Showdown on Health Care

The New Ledger

Coffee and Markets: The Retail Numbers and Federal Reserve Transparency

by The New Ledger

It’s another day with the Federal Reserve at the center of discussion as Ben Bernanke heads to New York City to give some significant remarks. Should the Fed be more transparent? Should it be audited? We’ll talk about that and how the markets respond to the latest retail report on the latest Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

Coffee and Markets

Download Podcast | iTunes | Podcast Feed

You can subscribe to the podcast by following the links above, and if you’d like to email us, you can do so at coffee[at]newledger.com. We hope you enjoy the show.

Related Links:

AP: Stocks Rise on Retail Report
WSJ: The Fed and Transparency
David Ignatius: Dodd and the Fed
Cafe Hayek: Adam Smith and Financial Regulation
TNL: Chris Dodd’s Big Regulation Push

The New Ledger

New Daily Podcast Feature: Coffee and Markets

by The New Ledger

Welcome to Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca. Today we’d like to welcome first-time listeners at our new sponsor, BigGovernment.com.

Coffee and Markets

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Veronique  de Rugy

The Economy is Growing. Right. And I Don’t Have a French Accent.

by Veronique de Rugy

We should be happy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced a 3.5 percent growth in this year 3rd quarter. Yet, most of us aren’t. At least I know I am not. Why? Because I have no faith in the numbers.

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First, the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers include government spending. So, when the government pumps thousands of billions of dollars into the economy it will look as if GDP is growing.

What’s more, the way the GDP accounts for government spending is totally biased: It assumes that if the government is spending $200,000 on a contractor to repave a road in the middle of nowhere that it will create $200,000 of genuine economic value.  By contrast, GDP measures are tougher on private-sector spending. As my George Mason university colleague Garett Jones explained to me recently “So if Exxon Mobil pays an engineer $200,000 per year, that only shows up in GDP if the engineer finds an extra $200,000 of oil to sell, or builds a new machine that sells for $200,000, something like that.  So our GDP measures of “government spending” are awful–and when the government is in a race to spend money as quickly as possible, these measures are going to be even worse than usual.”

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Anthony Randazzo

Avoiding an American Lost Decade

by Anthony Randazzo

In February of this year, I wrote a study (co-authored with Mike Flynn) about the lessons of the Japanese “Lost Decade.” At the end of the 1980s, Japan faced a very similar situation to ours: an asset bubble burst, the economy went into recession, and the financial sector stumbled. In that study we argued (as did others in separate publications) that if American didn’t properly learn the lessons of the Lost Decade, that we too would suffer a similar long night of economic malaise. Unfortunately, the warning has not been heeded.

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Japan spent most of the 1990s screwing around with monetary policy, increasing taxes on its citizens, and spending trillions on stimulus projects. Sound familiar? The result was 10-years of stagnant economic growth, out of control unemployment, and national debt rising to double the rate of GDP, all while the rest of the world laughed at the nation that appeared to be returning to empire status. And that is where we are headed.

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