Thelma & Louise: Republicans & Democrats?

I have been trying on facebook to explain my assertion that interest, soldier's pay checks, Medicare and Social Security can be paid even with the debt ceiling crisis. Maybe this chart will help.

While I do not think defense contractors will receive that high a priority, the chart shows that if Obama does not pay Social Security it is because he has chosen not to pay it. I talked about this last week. 

George Wallace said in 1968 that there was not a spits worth of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. On many issues this is correct. Both parties debt proposals are inadequate-both parties are spiting on the people. Where are we headed riding in our national car piloted by Republicans and Democrats? Click here to find out. 

Does The President Have A Plan?

No, he doesn't. I do not understand why Obama has no published plan, everyone else does. This is excruciating to watch. Sorry to inflict it one you. 

The legend, probably apocryphal, is that Nero played a fiddle while Rome burned. Obama refuses to produce a plan because it is his perception that it benefits him politically. 

We need his proposal now. 

Is The Government Broke?

I keep reading that the US government is broke. This is nonsense. Imagine a wealthy heiress with an income of $2 million, who constantly spends $3 million. She has borrowed $14 million to keep up her lifestyle. Is she broke? Not really, but at some point she will have to cut spending. She may have to sell her New York apartment, and be limited to her L.A. Mansion. She may have to give up the cocaine, and only use pot. Instead of $20,000 dresses, she might have to get by with $1,000 dresses. But she could balance her budget.

While my analogy is flawed to a degree, as all analogies are, we will have to learn to live with less, like our heiress. This applies to me; this applies to you—the government too.

The problem is that Republicans continue to advocate absurd levels of defense spending where a plane costs $35 million, but we have no enemies to use it against. Russia cannot even control the Ukraine! What is the Republican solution? More wars.

The problem is that the Democrats have devised these giant unsustainable "entitlements" that are really Ponzi schemes. If current trends continue, and they won't because they can't, the unfunded Medicare liabilities are somewhere between $50 and $100 trillion. What is the Democrat solution? Expand Medicare.

This is why I oppose an increase in the debt ceiling. It is better to make the hard choices now rather than have the choices made by bondholders later. The government need not default. This is a myth.

Stand Firm Boehner

An excellent video with a mix of various commentators.

Do Electric Cars Make Sense?

Looks Cool, But Does It Make Sense?The last time I wrote about electric cars it caused a flurry of posts on facebook. I quoted Gary Jason, who has written a new post at Liberty Unbond on this issue:

The Australian has reported the results of a fascinating British study. It turns out that electric cars (EVs), those holy icons of the Green religion, may actually produce more atmosphere-destroying emissions over their lifetimes than regular, gasoline fueled cars — when you do the commonsense thing and factor in the energy it takes to produce the necessary batteries.

The Australian quotes a Britsh report which had these conclusions:

The study was commissioned by the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, which is jointly funded by the British government and the car industry. It found that a mid-size electric car would produce 23.1 tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime, compared with 24 tonnes for a similar petrol car. Emissions from manufacturing electric cars are at least 50 per cent higher because batteries are made from materials such as lithium, copper and refined silicon, which require much energy to be processed.

Many electric cars are expected to need a replacement battery after a few years. Once the emissions from producing the second battery are added in, the total CO2 from producing an electric car rises to 12.6 tonnes, compared with 5.6 tonnes for a petrol car. Disposal also produces double the emissions because of the energy consumed in recovering and recycling metals in the battery. The study also took into account carbon emitted to generate the grid electricity consumed.

Unless one has a source of self generated electricity, I see little advantage to such vechicles at this time. Since this is not a large expenditure, a tax break for these vechicles will give the manufacturors time to see what they can accomplish. Unless there is a battery breakthrough, my guess is not much will be accomplished.