Monday, January 2, 2012

Barker's Newsbites: Monday, January 2, 2012


Well, folks... weekday one of what will hopefully be the last full year of the Age of Obama.

This time next year - God willing - we'll all be looking forward to a new administration and hopefully a return to capitalism and constitutionalism.

But, hey... we have all year to talk politics! Today... let's start by announcing the beginning of the new "Bill Lifestyle!"

I'm at my desk... typing away... drinking my first cup of coffee - one more to follow. Cream, no sugar. (This is the usual routine.)

9:00 a.m. - A 6 oz. light probiotic zero fat 90 calorie Yogurt.

More to follow...

11:00 a.m. - One hard-boiled egg.

More to follow...

1:30 p.m. - Two raw carrots.

3:15 p.m. - One grapefruit.

More to follow...

Went to the gym - Gold's - and signed up for the one-week free trial; worked out on the exercise bike for 40 minutes... 8 miles.

5:45 p.m. - One wheat thin cracker with a smear of cheese spread. (Yeah... one cracker!)

More to follow...

6:30 p.m. - Half a steak; raw veggies with lite vinaigrette dressing; maybe half a cup of stuffing; fresh fruit for dessert.

(Oh... and btw... yeah, I've been hydrating - water.)

More to follow...

9:55 p.m. - Last meal/taste of the night: half a cup of 2% cottage cheese for "filling me up" and one of those little, tiny, bite-sized dark chocolate "bottles" of booze (80 calories).

That's it! Night-night!

6 comments:

William R. Barker said...

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/mossad-chief-nuclear-iran-not-necessarily-existential-threat-to-israel-1.404227

A nuclear-armed Iran wouldn't necessarily constitute a threat to Israel's continued existence, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo reportedly hinted earlier this week.

* MOSSAD CHIEF TAMIR PARDO...

(*SHRUG*)

On Tuesday evening, Pardo addressed an audience of about 100 Israeli ambassadors. According to three ambassadors present at the briefing, the intelligence chief said that Israel was using various means to foil Iran's nuclear program and would continue to do so, but if Iran actually obtained nuclear weapons, it would not mean the destruction of the State of Israel.

* "...NOT MEAN..."

* MOSSAD CHIEF TAMIR PARDO...

(*SHRUG*)

"What is the significance of the term existential threat?" the ambassadors quoted Pardo as asking. "Does Iran pose a threat to Israel? Absolutely. But if one said a nuclear bomb in Iranian hands was an existential threat, that would mean that we would have to close up shop and go home. That's not the situation. The term existential threat is used too freely."

The ambassadors said Pardo did not comment on the possibility of an Israeli military assault on Iran.

"But what was clearly implied by his remarks is that he doesn't think a nuclear Iran is an existential threat to Israel," one of the envoys said.

* MOSSAD CHIEF TAMIR PARDO...

(*SHRUG*)

Pardo's remarks follow lively a public debate in recent months over a possible Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. One of the figures at the center of this public debate has been Pardo's predecessor as Mossad chief, Meir Dagan. Dagan has argued that Israel should only resort to military force "when the knife is at its throat and begins to cut into the flesh." He has also criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, accusing them of pushing for an Israeli attack on Iran, and warned that such an assault would have disastrous consequences.

* FUNNY... THIS IS THE FIRST I'M HEARING OF THIS. (HAT TIP TO MY BUDDY CHIP MURRAY!)

In the cabinet, Netanyahu and Barak have been the leading proponents of a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. So far, however, they have not managed to convince a majority of either the "octet" forum of eight senior ministers or the diplomatic-security cabinet to support their position.

* SO THE MAJORITY OF THE ISRAELI CABINET ARE LESS "HAWKISH" THAN RICK SANTORUM AND MICHELE BACHMANN...

* SERIOUSLY, FOLKS... THIS IS WHAT I MEAN WHEN I SAY THAT THE AMERICAN MEDIA AND THE POLITICIANS ARE CONSTANTLY MANIPULATING "WE THE PEOPLE." THEY'RE CONSTANTLY LYING TO US.

* READ THE FULL ARTICLE.

shutupnsing said...

It simply cannot be overstated that 1-These may be the most dangerous times we've ever faced.
2-From the direction we least expect.
It is incumbant on each citizen to do their homework here...our vulnerability reminds me of the ill-fated Maginot line and the fall of France!

William R. Barker said...

* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)

http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2012/01/02/why-dont-the-republicans-play-the-media-bias-game-on-economic-reporting/

He who controls the language of debate has already won, no matter how inappropriate or ridiculous.

The Democratic Party and their media enablers, such as the New York Times, slaughter the Republicans when it comes to economic reporting.

The public discussion of social security taxes, unemployment benefits, and stimulus takes place in the language of Keynesian multipliers and stimulus counter-factuals. (As an example of the latter: the discussion of unemployment benefits as a form of stimulus that will restore the economy to health).

The Democrats and their media enablers use a tried-and-true template to dominate the debate. I use the New York Times article, “Analysts Say Economic Recovery Might Suffer if Tax Break Is Allowed to Expire,” to illustrate how it works:

The article’s objective is to convince readers that all right-thinking people know that the economy will go down the toilet if there is no agreement on extending the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits. They claim that “economists” or “analysts” agree on this. They then interview four economists/economic organizations that support this conclusion and they cite one senior White House official who warns of dire consequences [if extensions are not approved].

They then dismiss one skeptic, who makes a technical point the average reader will not understand.

Voila! “Economists” agree with the Democrat position.

(*NOD*)

* YEP... THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE!

There is no reason why two cannot tango.

* To be continued...

William R. Barker said...

* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)

I have taken the liberty to rewrite the Times article to prove the opposite case. I use four respected economists and one respected media outlet and cite only one supporter of the administration case.

Here is my version, new headline and all. I preserve as much of the original Times language as possible:

Economists Warn That Risky Tax Cut Threatens Social Security, Does Not Help Recovery

Economists warn that the extension of a temporary payroll tax cut threatens Social Security and saps strength from a fragile recovery. Republicans, intimidated by populist attacks from the Democrat left, agreed on Friday to the extension by voice vote in Congress.

The tax cut extension means that the social security trust fund will receive $159 billion less in 2011, causing it to run a deficit for a second straight year. The Social Security trust fund deficit will be paid from the general fund of the Treasury. “This pretty much ends the claim that Social Security is self-financing or that it doesn’t contribute to the budget deficit,” says Andrew Biggs, a resident scholar at the non-partisan American Enterprise Institute and a former deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration.

Although the precise impact of the payroll tax cut this year is impossible to know, analysts generally predict that it will not increase consumer spending because of its temporary nature, its negative impact on the long-term deficit, and the uncertainty it creates.

Stanford economist John Taylor reports that “to think that a temporary cut would stimulate the recovery and get employment growing defies common sense. There is no hard evidence that the temporary payroll tax cut of this year stimulated the economy, and another one for the first two months of next year will obviously do even less.”

University of Michigan economist Joel Slemrod predicts that most households will save the payroll tax cut anyway: “About half say they’re going to pay off debt, about a third say they’re going to save it, and the rest say they will spend it.”

Harvard economist Robert Barro uses the term “voodoo multipliers” to describe the outmoded belief that increases in government spending or temporary reductions in tax payments stimulate the economy.

Yet some economists believe that extension of the payroll tax cut will stimulate the economy. Democrat-leaning and bailout recipient Goldman Sachs estimates that an expiration of the tax cut could knock two-thirds of a percentage point off growth in early 2012.

The non partisan USA Today has seized on independent economists’ views to oppose the extension of the payroll tax cut. Its editorial argues that temporary tax cuts have a way of becoming permanent. Congress will be afraid to restore the payroll tax back to its previous level. Once that happens, social security will become another unfunded entitlement that we cannot afford.

* PRETTY IMPRESSIVE, HUH? NOTHING I HAVEN'T DONE MYSELF... BUT STILL... IMPRESSIVE!

If it is as easy as this, why don’t the Republicans put up a better fight?

* COWARDESS? IGNORANCE?

First, most journalists have little or no training in economics. If they do, they most likely got the Keynesian-consensus version.

Second, Non-Keynesian economists trend to be media shy. They would rather stick to their work, and they know from past experience they’ll likely be misquoted anyway.

Third, I fear that few Republican politicians are well enough versed in Non-Keynesian economics to make a convincing case.

Fourth, the two most-respected international newspapers that might subscribe to my version - the Wall Street Journal and the Investors Business Daily - are in the business of giving factual information for readers who might wager their money on what they read. As such, they cannot afford to engage in political discussion, except on their editorial pages.

Finding a way to get its economic message across should be a top priority of the Republican Party.

* AGREED!

William R. Barker said...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/business/energy-environment/after-three-decades-federal-tax-credit-for-ethanol-expires.html?ref=business

A federal tax credit for ethanol expired on Saturday, ending an era in which the federal government provided more than $20 billion in subsidies for use of the product.

(*STANDING OVATION*)

William R. Barker said...

http://paul.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1937&Itemid=69

* BY THE HONORABLE RON PAUL (R-TX)

Last week, as most Americans were celebrating the holidays with family and friends, the Obama Administration announced plans to seek yet another debt ceiling increase in the New Year.

While some fiscal conservatives will try to block this increase, their efforts are designed to fail thanks to the procedure set up by the last debt ceiling negotiations. Congress would have to pass a joint resolution opposing the increase, which the president could simply veto.

Thus, an additional $1.2 trillion on top of our already unsustainable debt is a foregone conclusion.

Our GDP continues to contract and now stands at $14.5 trillion. The debt already far exceeds that and will soon hit the new ceiling of $16.39 trillion.

* BUT, HEY... FOLKS... LET THE MEDIA "ENTERTAIN" YOU BY CONCENTRATING ON THE HORSE-RACE ASPECTS OF THE POLITICAL SEASON AND NOT THE POLICY OPTIONS.

(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD IN DISGUST*)