EDITORIAL: Big-government extremism

The rising wave of popular activism in the United States is ritually derided by liberal commentators, politicians and academics as fringe-movement politics. But recent polling reveals that skepticism about government is broad and deep. Discontent with Washington has become the mainstream position; those who defend big government are the real extremists.

Lemme see . . .

-- According to the Labor Department Thursday, first-time jobless claims last week totaled 456,000, down 24,000, but up 14,000 from the week ending March 27 (days before Obama said "We are beginning to turn the corner . . . the worst of the storm is over!") and up 11,000 from the week ending 3/20 and up 2,000 from the week ending 3/13 and up 17,000 from the week ending February 6. In fact, the latest claims figure (456,000) exactly matches that from the week ending January 2 (days before Obama said "The trend is pointing in the right direction") but up 2,000 from the week ending December 26. The 480,000 first-time jobless claims for the week ending April 10 nearly matches the figure for the week ending December 5 (483,000), a number which prompted Obama to say "The trend line right now is good, the direction is clear!". (H/T: Uncommon Misconceptions).

Despite the staggering "improvement" in the latest figures and the massive census hiring, the 4-week moving average for first-time jobless claims is up 2,750.

"You would think they'd be saying thank you, that's what you'd think." -- Barack H-----n Obama

-- In a separate report, the Labor Department admitted that wholesale prices jumped by a 'more-than-expected' 0.7 percent in March, while food prices spiked by 2.4 percent, the biggest surge in 26 years. "Experts" say 'move along, nothing to see here' regarding food prices since food prices are often volatile. After all, you have to go back only 26 years to find numbers like this. In fact, wholesale food prices have jumped 6.8 percent during the past year. Gasoline prices rocketed by 2.1 percent in March. On the bright side, if you exclude food, energy, capital equipment, health care, autos, trucks, publishing, telecommunications, water, air and rail transportation, all textile, wood, paper, computer, appliance and furniture products, plus the rest of the economy, the March wholesale inflation rate was ZERO PERCENT! The producer price index has soared 6 percent in the past year.

You would think they'd be saying thank you, that's what you'd think.

-- In another sign of a powerful recovery, the jobless rate rose in a total of 24 states in March, with 11 states posting rates above the national average, stuck at 9.7 percent for three months in a row. Thirty-three states have used up their jobless benefit funds and have had to borrow nearly $40,000,000,000 from the federal government to keep doling out benefits. Florida, Georgia, California and Nevada saw their jobless rates hit new record highs in March; Florida and California over 12 percent and Nevada hit 13.4 percent unemployment.

You would think they'd be saying thank you, that's what you'd think.

-- A new survey of around 950 business owners by the National Federation of Independent Business found that "capital expenditures remain near record lows, sales are still weak, and credit lines are hard to find" and "few businesses say they plan to hire new workers within the next three months," echoing the findings of another poll of small companies (100 or fewer workers), done by American Express, which had "one in five businesses [saying] their companies are 'sinking ships,' while more than half said they were merely 'staying afloat,'" (CNNMoney, 4/15).

You would think they'd be saying thank you, that's what you'd think.

Speaking of small businesses, since start-ups and bootstrap companies are a good source of job creation, and these fledgling companies depend on 'angel' investors planting the seed money, the Chris Dodd finance "reform" bill -- as even BusinessWeek admits -- "has three provisions that, taken together, could dampen angel investing far more than the Great Recession. Currently, fledgling companies can raise money from accredited investors -- high-net-worth individuals -- without regulatory approval." So, to fix this job-fueling and economic-growth-producing problem, the "Dodd bill would require money-raising startups to register with the SEC, which would get 120 days to review the filing," and review a slew of pornographic websites from government computers. "The wealth and income baselines for [angel investors] would also double. The bill proposes revoking the rule that allows angels to follow federal regulations, rather than various state rules, in funding companies . . . the anti-angel section of the Dodd bill constitutes a step in the wrong direction," (BusinessWeek, 4/20).

You would think they'd be saying thank you, that's what you'd think.

But! Existing home sales rose 6.8 percent (5.35 million units, annual rate) in March. "The process of a recovery has begun!", proclaimed the president of Naroff Economic Advisors, Joel Naroff. Oops. That quote was from back in August of 2008, when "the worst housing slump in decades [was] far from over," (MSNBC, 8/25/2008). March's rate of 5.35 million units per year is about a million units per year slower than the 6.33 million units per year rate posted for August, 2006, which MarketWatch said showed "a continued implosion in the housing market," and evidence of a "sluggish economy" under George W. Bush. And when the current $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and $6,500 for repeat buyers ends at the end of this month, then what?

Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"

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