Ryan the Right Choice

Four years ago, when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, I could hardly curb my enthusiasm.  When the announcement came early Saturday morning that Mitt Romney had chosen Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, I was equally pumped.

For us conservatives, Romney usually is quite efficient at delivering good speeches, but his commitment to the principles we subscribe to require us to extend a leap of faith.  By bringing in Ryan, who has long championed conservative principles, this seemed to be a move to offer a sense of security to his potential administration.

More importantly, as we have written on many occasion, Ryan is the smartest guy in the room when it comes to understanding the most important issue of the day; the financial crisis our country is in.  While others sit around running the mouth, Ryan put forth a bold plan to put America back on a path to prosperity.

Ryan and his plan has many critics, as sound thinkers join the progressive big government advocates as opponents, but the Ryan roadmap provides a basis for action to upset the current path progressives of both parties have put us on. While critics hammer Ryan, I applaud his bold leadership.

Ryan, a protege of the great Jack Kemp, has a double major in Economics and Political Science from Miami of Ohio and follows the economic theories advanced by the great Milton Friedman.  Ryan spoke with the MacIver Institute recently on the 100th birthday of Friedman regarding the dismal economic status of America under President Obama. Take a listen:


This morning, at a campaign event at The NASCAR Institute in Mooresville, NC, NASCAR legend Darrell Waltrip provided the opening greeting for a Romney-Ryan rally, which had the men flanked by a pair of Sprint Cup stock cars. Since the addition of Ryan to the ticket, I have noticed the rhetoric of Romney has sharpened. Once you dodge the non-sensible Democratic attacks, such as portraying Mitt Romney as a felon, the framing of the debate is simplistic. As Ryan and Romney spell out, the choice is quite clear.  Here is the deal:



Of course the Democrats would be out attacking whoever was chosen with lies and innuendo, but the choice of Ryan gives the Romney campaign street credibility that it is most serious about attacking the critical issue of our time, the financial disaster we find ourselves in due to very poor economic decision making by both parties; parties that lost sight of the principles of governance our nation was founded upon.

The Obama campaign will label Ryan, and thus Romney, as radicals who will end Medicare as we know it and punish the middle class.  For anyone with a lick of common sense, it is obvious this is far from the case.  Meanwhile, the push by the Obama administration to encourage welfare is immoral and seeks to rob citizens of their identity, crashing of the system to ensure those in need turn to government for assistance, losing control of their lives due to their dependencies.

Our growing entitlements are sinking our economy and are quite simply unsustainable.  Medicare as we know it should end, replaced with a program that can support itself, most likely through privatization, with the changes not forced upon anyone currently 55 or over.

Common sense applications to fiscal problems that threaten our national and economic security, utilizing free markets and free enterprise to encourage and support entrepreneurship and risk taking is representative of the vision of Romney and Ryan; helping to bring the promise of the great experiment of America back from near ruin.

I am all for it!

Buying A Free Lunch

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand." ~Milton Friedman

Well that about sums it us does it not?
                                                                                                                                                          
Today is a day to celebrate the life of one of the great economic minds of our day, Milton Friedman, on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Friedman, a long time professor at The University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1976 and was an economic advisor to Ronald Reagan.

Advocates of free market capitalism consider Friedman a champion of freedom.  Top economic scholars, inclusive of Don Boudreaux,  Thomas Sowell and Stephen Moore, have strong columns out today in praise of Friedman.  The Heritage Foundation also has presented a commemorative piece, which thoroughly pounds home the work of Friedman demonstrating the economic benefits of free markets.

Those of us non scholars with degrees in Economics studied principles Friedman simplified.  It was Friedman who advanced the theory that there is "no free lunch", a common sense principle that is most demonstrative. Art Laffer famously presented The Laffer Curve on a napkin, because it was just that simple.  Friedman made complex economic theory simple for consumption.

It is too bad Obama did not encounter Friedman if their paths potentially crossed in Chicago, for Obama obviously has no clue on economic theory.

In my view, it seems clear Obama is intent on crashing the system to create socialism complete with a society dependent on government interaction.  Friedman found interaction from outside sources, including governmental stimulus, which can create inefficient markets, should be limited.

In Sowell's column, he quotes Friedman and illustrates the point: This is one of those heads-I-win-and-tails-you-lose arguments. Even if the government spends itself into bankruptcy and the economy still does not recover, Keynesians can always say that it would have worked if only the government had spent more.

Friedman, who I had the honor to meet in his late years, is a giant in economic theory whose free market capitalist principles have proven correct. Please listen to him destroy a young fan of wealth redistribution:



Friedman had a PBS Series titled Free to Choose, in conjunction with his book of the same name.  It is fitting, as our current government leaders aspire to limit your choices across the board. From GM vehicles, to Chick-fil-A to searching for a 64 ounce Big Gulp in NYC, the elites are flexing muscle these days.  As Friedman noted, the loss of consumer choice leads to market contraction, and a loss of economic freedom.

Under Obama, we have pursued Keynesian economic theories, and they have failed miserably. As Reagan said, "Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so."   Reagan followed the theories of Friedman, which lead to unparalleled economic prosperity; complex theories presented so simply by Friedman many could be written on a napkin.

Happy Birthday Milton Friedman!  Wish I could buy you one of those free lunches, complete with plenty of napkins.

The Truth Hurts

Milton Friedman, economic scholar of the ages, schools Phil Donahue. This is priceless, and quite true. Have a listen:



Wabip!

Can You Hear Me Knockin!

Michele Bachmann (R:MN) correctly indicates that the time is now to make sure your voices are heard in an effort to defeat a governmental takeover of our health care system, which would allow these incompetents unprecedented intrusion into our lifestyle. Please take a listen:



Now, how can you insure another 45 million extra people without increasing the amount of Doctors all the while being deficit neutral and not rationing care? You do not have to be Milton Friedman to recognize this dog won't hunt.

It is far time for this nation to exercise some common sense, not steal individual wealth for the common good!

Although I am told four buses are leaving from Orlando, I cannot join them. However, and this should be fun, I will be playing Doctor and making some house calls on my representatives on Friday. Can You Hear Me Knockin!

Piece By Piece

Five days before the presidential election last year, Senator Barack Obama declared that he and his supporters were "five days away from fundamentally transforming America". The comment flew by most who heard it, but the grim reality is that since his election, this is exactly what he is doing. If most Americans were aware of it, they would be really pissed.

Over on FOX News, Glenn Beck is brilliantly laying out this case on his 5PM EST program, and he is throwing up ratings never before seen. But, and sit down for this one, most of the mainstream media portray Beck as a crackpot, and therefore, many American citizens out busting their ass to make a living and spending time with their family do not have time to get the real story and discount Becks presentations.

In addition, that same mainstream media, as well as several elected officials, have labeled those voicing their opposition to Obama and his policies as racists. Sure, it is a sign of defeat when you pull out the race card, but while all this rhetoric is being tossed about, it distracts us from the reality that the America out founders fought to create is in fact being transformed by this administration.

In a column in Investors Business Daily, famed author and economist, Dr. Thomas Sowell, The Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow on Public Policy at Stanford's Hoover Institution, lays out the evidence. No one can claim Sowell is a crackpot, or for that matter, a racist. Sowell is one of the top economists around these days and his opinions are well worth your consideration. Please take a moment to read his editorial, which I find right on target.

Private and Public Choice

With our economy staggering from the burst of the housing bubble, our elected leaders are implementing economic policies that they hope will cure the ills.

Did you pay attention in economics class? I actually did, and I have to say I would be doing about the opposite of the Obama administration in combating the economic issues.

In a recent event hosted by The James Madison Institute honoring the birthday of famed economist Milton Friedman, one of my former professors, Dr. James Gwartney of Florida State University, makes commentary on the economic issues of the day.

If you failed to pay attention in class back in day, take 10 to get a refresher.



Government is not the answer, as there is no free lunch. Stay true to the Kudlow Creed, as free market capitalism remains the best path to prosperity.

The Real Story

H/T Carpe Diem

Housing Bottom To Lead Recovery

Not withstanding the stranglehold being placed on the vehicles of economic growth coupled with the immoral spending creating massive deficits and the complete lack of respect for contract law, our economy is engaged in a rebound.

What led our economy down was the housing crisis, which culminated in the banks getting creamed with the derivatives gambling they were involved in, freezing credit and punishing housing values and stifling sales activity.

Markets correct themselves, regardless of what politician is claiming credit. Currently, even in the face of the implementation of economic policies that would make Milton Friedman cringe, evidence suggests a bottom is in.

The S&P seems to have bounced nicely off the bottom and has been in an uptrend for several weeks now. Any recovery in the economy will met with rising oil prices, and that is taking place.

The wildcard in the deck is the lagging indicator of jobs. The jobs report will be released in the morning, and indications from the ADP National Employment Report suggests that, although the loss of jobs will continue, likely for some months, the rate of job losses is declining significantly. In a chart gathered from Professor Mark Perry's A+ economic blog Carpe Diem, we see that unemployment claims seem to have peaked a few weeks back. In past recessions, this has proven to be a very sound and reliable indicator.

If we can see improvement in the job situation, we can turn to housing affordability, which is at historic highs evidenced by the chart from professor Perry. If it is given that the jobs losses have stabilized and will be improving, a significant change in the housing psychology can take place, tackling the existing inventory at a accelerated pace which will lead to a resumption of normal price appreciation.

The one, and only, governmental action that has helped housing thus far is the 8K credit for buyers who have never owned a home or those that have not within the prior three years. With prices way down, this is percentage wise a big deal.

I have always subscribed to the stock market being a leading indicator and telling us a story. Therefore, given the recent performance of the market, I am looking for a much better job number and a clear signal the worst is behind us. Then we can turn our attention to the nationalization of industries, higher taxes and regulatory influences that are heading our way thanks to the incompetence we unfortunately placed in policy making positions.

When is the next tea party ?