Life, Liberty & The Pursuit of Happiness

A Philosophical framework for our political mess

by Reena Kapoor

Read this to understand what's going on in America today, why Republicans have created such a political morass and why we might thank actually Obama some day, unless of course he morphs into a dictator which he truly is on a path to becoming: Obama's Atomic Bomb

This is the clarity that Obama has brought to the American political scene. To see a president’s clear and principled commitment to an ideology—any ideology—is precisely what America has needed for decades.

Both got it Wrong!

by Reena Kapoor

Camille Paglia at her best - a self proclaimed leftist - she does not let either side off the hook in this insightful article Too Late for Obama?.  While I don't agree with everything she says, her article is a must read for both sides.  And she has that fierce libertarian streak one can only admire.  Are libertarians natural born?

Global revolt of the masses?

by Rakinder Grover

In today's WSJ, Daniel Henninger writes that electorates around the world are casting no-confidence votes against incumbent politicians and bureaucrats.  While I personally am not ready to call this a sustainable trend, it's something to keep an eye on - "green shoots"?  An excerpt:

Some search for an ideological trend toward the left or right in these votes, but the only evident trend is to strike out at whichever blob is currently in power. Even as Americans turned over their country to liberal Democrats, opinion polls showed that the British people were turning toward the Conservatives for relief from listless Labour.

What accounts for the global electorate's growing disgust with the political overclass? Try this: No matter the ideological cast of these governments, they all hold in common one policy: the inexorable upward march of national indebtedness. It has arrived at the edge of the cliff.

Q&A

by Reena Kapoor

All we can do is laugh: Cash for Clunkers Q&A

We can't get reform with backroom deals

by Rakinder Grover

This post in Mish Shedlog's blog is quite revealing.  Do we think we'll get real change/reform if the government cuts such deals and lines the pockets of the existing players? Liberals like Arianna Huffington are getting quite upset about this. And this is certainly not the free market working.  In a few years after the excitement of "doing something" dies down and when people start to realize that things have not really changed (and likely have gotten worse), see insurance and pharma companies still making profits - they'll blame the free market and capitalists.  The problem is the "reformers", even those with "good intentions", are not working to cause real reform.  That requires breaking the cozy relationship of government and business and they are not going to bite the hand that feeds them.

Be scared!

by Reena Kapoor

Here is an excellent video The American Form of Government which provides a real civics education.  Besides providing more evidence for the fact that public education has failed (how many Americans know we were designed to be a Republic and not a Democracy) it also offers great illustration of why Democracy (which US was not designed to be) is often antithetical to liberty.  We should be scared! And while I hate the cynicism that has come upon my own thinking I am convinced USA has turned into a tyranny of the elite - an oligarchy - where the rest of us are ...well...not important.  Wall Street + Obama's henchmen, Obama + UAW + GM or Obamacare + AMA .....   The only thing that remains to be debated is how soon the police state will descend upon our everyday lives. 

Blindness of the Anointed

by Reena Kapoor

This seemingly thoughtful piece in the WSJ yesterday, prompted me to write to the author who blind to his own snobbery was lamenting that amongst his liberal friends; and not because it's wrong but only because it was not helping them manipulate the masses at this time.  Read: If you don't sign up for our lefty agenda it's only because you're not paying attention and are easily distracted.

Mr. Frank --
You suffer from the same elitism - and the same blindness to it - that you accuse your liberal friends of.  I am no conservative but the health care plan that Obama has in mind will die in its tracks not because (as you suggest) people think less of Obama because of his overreaction to the Gates incident but because most Americans possess a rare and solid suspicion of big government solutions. What you consider a panacea for class-divide is hardly that, let alone be the answer to our health-care crisis.  Americans - especially the working class who you imply are stupid enough to vote based on distractions alone - see how poorly government does when it takes over or when it meddles in industry. Besides these simple-minded folks are also becoming less and less enthralled with Obama's preferred solutions to all problems - spend, print, spend, print.  Perhaps time for you to reconsider your own supercilious assumptions and show some respect for the people that voted Barack the President of this country?

Racism - Not always black & white!

by Reena Kapoor

Apparently women of color are immune to allegations of racism.  Stupid me for not knowing this after having suffered through "diversity" training at some of the leading coprorations of this country.  I don't know about you but that does not make me feel warm & fuzzy about the choice of Sotomayor as nominee for the supreme court! I don't know how competent this Latina is but she sure scares me with her glib attitude and penchant for judicial activism, NOT to mention her racist remarks. Yes, read this:

Yet speaking at Berkeley's Law School in 2001, Sotomayor asserted that "I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would \[as judge\] more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn't lived that life." 

If you don't think that's racist, make her a white male in your mind and change the "Latina woman" to "White male" and vice-versa and see what you think.

What Good, Honest Men are Saying & Why It's Scaring Me...

by Reena Kapoor

I listened to a very well-regarded financial planner yesterday. He is an honest man - a very honest man - and a trustworthy one. He always starts by telling his clients that he does not know -- and cannot know -- the future. His practice thrives because he gives good advice in terms of telling his clients about the options and risks and implications of different financial strategies and HOW he would make decisions (factors to consider, etc.) and NOT WHAT decisions he would make.

Enticing private capital? Call it a rescue effort, not a bailout.

by Rakinder Grover

Some information on the "toxic assets plan" expected to be announced by the Treasury next week has begun to surface.  It includes a lot of enticements to get private capital to participate in the purchase of "troubled mortgages".  One of the biggest potential obstacles in getting this all to "work" is politics.  An excerpt from an article in the NY Times:

"Still, the Treasury Department’s biggest obstacle may be the current political environment in Washington, where Democratic lawmakers are furious about the pay packages and bonuses received by executives at companies being rescued by taxpayers.

Many investment executives said they were worried that participating in any bailout program would expose them to political wrath and potentially steep new restrictions on their own pay.

Treasury and Fed officials have remained firmly against imposing any restrictions on pay for companies investing money in the rescue effort rather than receiving money from it."

Is there much of a difference between highly subsidized "investing" and just receiving money?  I expect some polished sales talk from the Treasury and the Administration to try and prevent the populist anger from rising as it did this last week. Oh, the sad circus continues....  if only the government would just stay out ...