No Constraints on Economic Engine

Larry Kudlow

As famed economists Larry Kudlow and Steve Moore accurately point out in a recent column, "strategic tax cuts and regulatory relief after the anti-business rule-making assault by President Obama, not trade and immigration barriers, are the solution to America’s competitiveness deficit."

Rather than  penalize, say Ford, for moving a plant out of the US, Trump should aim to create domestic economic policy which makes that decision non-advantageous from profit, tax and regulatory standpoint.

As Reagan said, barriers need to be removed to release the vast economic engine of America and the entrepreneurial spirit of the American citizen for our economy to reach optimal economic efficiency.

Sadly, Obama and most who share his philosophy view America as a global oppressor, and seek to limit our prosperity, which they deem was obtained on the backs of others.  As former Obama advisor Van Jones stated, "give them the wealth."

BAHL & Steve Moore 2010

Kudlow and Stephen Moore believe, as do I, the wealth belongs to those who earned it.  We did build that, with apologies to Obama and his socialist comrade Elizabeth Warren.

Companies need to forecast levels of return on and return of investment that are competitive, and with the onslaught of regulation and taxation, not to mention the attacks on small business, America is hardly open for business.

If your goal is to reduce prosperity, innovation and invention, you have done a good job by introducing these barriers to success.  With many struggling for friction trying to better life for their families, they fall by orchestration to feel a victim to the capitalist system.

But as Ayn Rand pointed out, "They’ve adopted collectivism so fully they can’t even see themselves as individuals, only as members of a group. And by embracing this as an ideal, they’ve become accessories to their own enslavement."

Kudlow and Moore cite immigration as part of the prosperity of America, and that is very true.  Like free trade, immigration should always be sought and welcomed.  But it must be legal immigration, which is not what is going on today.

Many in the GOP establishment appreciate the immigrants, so they can employ them and increase margins on the backs of paying low skilled workers less than legal workers require.  Democrats welcome illegal immigrants with the hope of expanding their voting base.

Both are in direct violation of the principles and laws set forth in the founding of America.

Donald J. Trump

It is noted that trade, tax and immigration are independent from each other, and those illegally immigrating to America should be dealt with as the law trumps, pun intended, any potential economic or social benefit.

Donald Trump, cited in the piece, is attempting to place the issue on the front burner, where belongs before we lose our country.  A country without borders is not a country.

Trump may not have all the right answers to this problem that has escalated like crab grass for 30 years, but his efforts to find solutions to the problem should be welcomed and not criticized.  Those attacking Trump's ideas likely have an agenda that may be negatively impacted if he is successful.

Sounds good to me.  It is the Art of the Deal.

Well Done Larry!

Friday evening was the last of The Kudlow Report on CNBC, hosted by Larry Kudlow.

Over the years, I soaked up wisdom from Larry, who previously worked in the Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan administration.

In addition, Larry always presided over spirited, yet civil discussion from both sides, which seems a lost art in recent years. The discussion presented the mindset of each side in a respectful manner, offering learning opportunities for all.

Several of the legions of former guests paid tribute to Larry during this last week, and many are included in the following piece.



In conclusion of the last show, Larry presented a final statement of heartfelt thanks and gratitude, noting how faith, and help from many friends, gave him a second lease on life.



Like many, I will sorely miss The Kudlow Report.

Even from a desk or couch through cable television on CNBC, I have greatly appreciated seeming participation in the discussions over the years. I remember discussing with frequent guest and Kudlow friend Steve Moore what an excellent vehicle in promotion of free markets the program was.

Although Kudlow is not disappearing from the CNBC network, I will most certainly miss the hour I spent with Larry most evenings for the last decade.

Well done Larry!

As always, free market capitalism is the best path to prosperity!

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 Howling Winds

There are GOP front runners, and then there is Mitt Romney. GOP challengers to Romney have risen and fallen, but Romney, who looks the presidential part, has remained steady as she goes hanging around 25%.

At the end of the day, it appears none of the GOP challengers can overtake Romney. Mitt has a long list of endorsers, including Bob Dole, Dan Quayle, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and most notably, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Newt Gingrich has a few endorsements of his own, including former OU quarterback and Oklahoma Congressman J. C. Watts and Thomas Sowell, of the Hoover Institution, who I admire greatly.

While all these endorsements are wonderful, Romney does not represent the Conservative most Republicans are clamoring for. Romneycare is an albatross, and his belief of man to be participatory in the greatest hoax of all time known as global warming signals big government inclinations all over the place.

Kathleen Parker, a fellow graduate of Florida State University who I rarely agree with, wrote recently in her Washington Post Column that if the GOP does not support Mitt Romney, it is a death wish.

There is a lot to like about Romney, and he likely is the best chance among those currently running to defeat Obama, or so the pundits say. But looking the best among this group is not a life changing experience, and many in the GOP have doubts and are looking over their backs, which is why the winds are howling.

On the heels of a wonderful column by Jeb Bush in the Wall Street Journal today, our friend and WSJ Editorial Board member Steve Moore is out championing a potential entrance of Jeb into the race. While I do not view Jeb as a conservative, he was a very good Governor for eight years here in Florida, and as my friend Van Bo points out, the I-4 corridor will once again be pivotal in deciding Florida, and thus, the nation. With musings about Condi Rice as a VP candidate, a Bush-Rice ticket could do quite well.

Sarah Palin said last night it is not too late to jump in, leaving many to question whether she is reconsidering her status. I am all for it, but not sure she can get enough in the middle to defeat Obama due to the merciless beating she has taken from the biased media. Then again, few thought Reagan could defeat Carter in 1979 at this point in the process.

Is there another candidate rethinking the issue? Paul Ryan? Donald Trump? Mike Huckabee? Who knows.

Should upstart Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who is quite sound on economic issues but as naive as they come on foreign policy, win Iowa, those winds could turn into a hurricane.

There is a long way to go, and not one vote has been cast. Untold events could be on the horizon.

Not withstanding today's strong rally on Wall Street, the Euro crisis is not fixed and could negatively pressure the markets in a lengthy ten minutes. In fact, with the S&P 500 recently breaking its 50 day moving average to the downside, some technical analysts fear the trend is negative. Bank of America's Mary Ann Bartels sees a potential level as low as 935 on the S&P, some 30% below current levels. Throw in a Euro collapse, and free fall comes to mind.

Turmoil in the middle east is another major issue, as is the uncertainty surround the North Korea government in the aftermath of Kim Jug Ill's death.

Certainly, the situation is fluid, and regardless of what the pundits say, Iowa is still wide open. One can only hope a Conservative with firm footing in the first principles finishes strong. If not, those winds will really start howling.

Marco Market Magic

Florida Senator Marco Rubio sat down with CNBC's Larry Kudlow to discuss the direction of our country, and the pro growth message to lead our country back into a position of economic global leaderships speaks volumes.


Rubio recognizes job creation and a return to pro-growth free market principles are the roadmap to recovery. Meanwhile, Rubio is correct in noting the current administration is smothering small business and job creators with excessive regulation and taxation, understanding the simple but rock solid merits of the Laffer Curve.

America can get back on the right track, embracing a comprehensive energy policy and contracting entitlements while lowering taxes and loosening the regulatory arm of the government. A step in that direction is the debate on raising the debt ceiling. Rubio is on board with Reagan, that government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem.

Kudlow noted there are few people more articulate than the gifted Senator Rubio in the promotion of a strong pro-growth message. Rubio is right in stating the future of America is bright if we follow him on the path to prosperity. Leading the way on what has the look of a magic carpet ride to 1600 in a decade or so is Rubio.

Steve Moore of The Wall Street Journal is already on board! Rock On!

Atlas Strikes Big Screen

The long wait is over. Atlas Shrugged has finally made it to a big screen near you.



Amy Homes of PJTV spoke with several guests of a private showing of Atlas Shrugged Part 1 for their thoughts, including Stephen Moore of The Wall Street Journal.



I thought the assessment by Cal Thomas regarding Ayn Rand and her philosophy was spot on.

Atlas is shrugging today for sure, as we have the most oppressive anti-business administration in memory. Catch this from Freedom Works:



The Kudlow Creed bears repeating: Free Market Capitalism is the best path to prosperity. If Americans who fail to grasp this makes it to see Atlas Shrugged, perhaps they will recognize the power of individualism and entrepreneurship and choose free markets over government programs.

Who is John Galt?

Are We Ourselves?

What is going on America? Are we ourselves? Are we being played as a ship of fools while Captain Earflaps and his wing nuts Cloward and Piven transform America into a socialist nation. While much of the nation is busy voting for singers on American Idiot, the answer unfortunately is yes. Yes they can!

Well, No You Can't.

The Congress is passing mammoth legislation that no one has even read. And, you guessed, that includes not only the members of Congress, but the bill sponsors. Get a load of the arrogance of Speaker Nancy Pelosi:



As you appreciate, some real interesting things have turned up in the health care bill, including a stealth tax on Gold, which has been rising in value as a safe haven against the Obama economic policies. CNBC's Larry Kudlow speaks with Steve Moore of The Wall Street Journal about the issue:



Not only am I seriously concerned about what else we may find in the health care bill, I am even more petrified about the secret items tucked away in the financial regulation bill. FINREG, as it is known, was crafted by Senator Chris Dodd (D:CT) and Representative Barney Frank (D:MA), both of whom are central players in the housing crisis. Instead of leading on legislation governing the financial industry, given their unethical behavior and ineptitude in the governance of Freddie and Fannie, they should be expelled from Congress.

Glenn Beck covers FINREG, oh and so much more, extensively for those of you out of the loop:



Meanwhile, as Glenn mentioned, we have radicals surrounding President Obama. Many of those are members of the 1960's group The Weather Underground. Glenn has discovered their manifesto You Don't Need A Weatherman To Know Which Way The Wind Blows, and it is simply a must read. Once you read it, and you MUST, you will recognize actions currently being taken by our administration and your internal instinct will yearn for your attention.

We learned affirmative action requirements for Wall Street firms existed in FINREG, and today it was discovered that the new financial regulation law exempts the SEC from Freedom of Information Act, thus allowing them to steer clear of having to legally provide documents when questions from the public and the rare instance a news organization formally makes a request, which was FOX Business Network in this case.

Obviously, it has long been forgotten who works for who, and the promise from President Obama to have the most transparent administration is proven to nothing short of a bold faced lie! It was through the freedom of information act we learned of the patents for carbon trading and electrical locking systems patents Fannie Mae won. Yeah, that's right, the government's housing arm Fannie Mae.

You would think the situation is nothing short of out of control, but in fact, is is the plan and has been the plan all along. Obama and his radicals are aiming to destroy capitalism (imperialism in the manifesto) aiming to advance the formation of a Dictator for a new democracy to develop a socialist system. Although America is waking up, many seem to be going right along with it. That is not who we are. We are proud Americans, who value liberty and freedom.

Are we ourselves?

While I will pledge my life, whatever is left of my fortune and my scared honor to fight these tyrants, in asking the question are we ourselves, given what it taking place, it seems crystal clear the answer is an emphatic NO! But if I am asking the question, I may as well hear some good tunes while I am at it, which I plan to do as Cy Cronin and The FIXX hits Hard Rock Orlando Thursday night. As such, Are We Ourselves:

Left Looney on Economics

The James Madison Institute reports on the Economic Literacy of Progressives and finds exactly what you might expect, a train wreck.

George Mason University Professor Daniel Klein and Zogby researcher Zeljka Buturovic surveyed 4,835 American adults on eight questions about basic economics. They also asked each of the respondents about their political leanings, grouping them into six categories: progressive/very liberal; liberal; moderate; conservative; very conservative; and libertarian. They wrote about their findings in The Wall Street Journal.

As Klein asserts, “The left has trouble squaring economic thinking with their political psychology, morals, and aesthetics.”

If you are like me, you run into this thinking everyday. If you take for example our current economic crisis, spearheaded in large measure by decades of socialist programs, most with good intentions, which are geared to assist fellow citizens, you find governmental initiatives that end up being entitlement programs that are drowning our financial system and placing Uncle Sam at the doorstep of bankruptcy. Going green, presented as a worthwhile effort to protect the environment masquerading as a global transfer of wealth, is a prime example of this. Current legislation proposed as the cap and trade bill, if voted into law, will likely be the event that does bankrupt the ole USA.

“We must face the fact that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice"
-F.A. Hayek

We recently had an example of a progressive politician, who really demonstrated what the study identified. Get a load of this recent interview on FOX News Neil Cavuto and Vermont Representative Peter Welch, and must I qualify that he is a Democrat:



That was brutal. Cavuto finally recognized that the progressives are lost in an economic sea. The Congressman simply cannot comprehend what the elimination of the dividends of British Petroleum (BP:NYSE) and other oil related companies would do to the pensions to most Americans.

So with a handful of economic idiots running things in Washington, what can we expect going forward in the marketplace? The worst is behind us according to President Barack Obama. Dr. Arthur Laffer, former economic advisor to President Ronald Reagan, penned an article for The Wall Street Journal that is raising quite a few eyebrows among those on the periphery of the investor community. Art Laffer's colleague, Steve Moore of The Wall Street Journal, weighs in and you better sit down for this one.



Dr. Laffer has put this conclusion forward for a few months now, and when you couple the Gulf Oil Spill, an economic and environmental of unmeasurable magnitude, you put in some sell stops. You may still have some time for trades, but you have been warned.

An Orchestrated Event

There is plenty of buzz surrounding a new documentary to be released in the coming weeks exploring the roots and causes of the financial meltdown. The documentary, Generation Zero, presented by Citizens United Productions, is an eye opening account which should be a mandatory homework assignment for all Americans. Take a look at the trailer.


“This film is about a crisis – one that is as profound as The Revolution, The Civil War, or The Great Depression and WWII,” said awarding winning director Stephen Bannon. “The title ‘Generation Zero’ is ironic, as it refers to both the Baby Boomers and the generation born today: the one generation whose greed and fiscal mismanagement has destroyed the financial legacy and inheritance of the other.”

This film was recently presented at CPAC and left a standing room only crowd spellbound. Among the commentators in the film are BAHL's Blog favorites Steve Moore, Larry Kudlow and Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man, another must read.

Similar to business cycles, there is much to be learned from the behavior of generations, both from psychological and investor perspective. Harry Dent, author of The Roaring 2000's Investor, through his demographic-based economic forecasting, has done some good work in this arena.

This economic meltdown is not an accident, but rather an orchestrated event. Anti capitalistic big government activists, and the current administration is full of them from the top down, have been setting themselves up for decades hoping for a crisis to occur that would present a window of opportunity for them to advance their socialistic agenda. With the housing crisis, assisted in creation by ACORN and their thugs, they got their perfect storm. Remember "you never want a serious crisis to go to waste"?

The economic problems this nation faces are quite critical, and coupled with the moves being made by our elected officials, are extremely dangerous. Beyond the economic issues, the crisis is a matter of national security. It is imperative that the American people clearly understand how this occurred in order to take proper action against those responsible and in an effort to right the wrongs. Generation Zero is a powerful tool in this regard.

Laffer & Moore Unplugged

I had trouble sleeping the other night and while surfing YouTube, I came across video of a very interesting recent dinner party in Chicago which had famed economists Arthur Laffer of Laffer Investments and Steve Moore of The Wall Street Journal discussing our current economic issues. Laffer and Moore, in promotion their outstanding book The End Of Prosperity, covered a wide range of issues.

Perhaps you are also having a hard time nodding off, or you appreciate sound economic discussion as I do (Oh, I do recognize I have issues)? If so, sit back and take a half an hour to become knowledgeable on the economics of the day, which include taxes, regulation and important proposed legislation such as health care and cap and trade.



Although I have had occasion to visit with Steve Moore recently, I would jump at the chance to throw some beers together and host an event such as this down here in Orlando. Should that come to pass, I'll invite all my readers.

Systematic Deception

It is most unfortunate that much of the country is not engaged enough to warp their arms around the deception being thrown at them by the Obama administration and our Congress. Even more distressing is the arrogance and thought process behind the hood winking of the public, from incorrect job numbers, saved jobs and hidden aspects of bills being rushed without proper review.

Greta Van Susteren, host of "On The Record" on FOX News, discusses the deception and lack of transparency with Wall Street Journal senior economics writer Steve Moore:



Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi warns that she will make every effort to push trough this 2000 page bill no one has had time to read this weekend. So much for the transparency Obama campaigned on. Are they hiding something? Why the rush? Sarah Palin accurately calls out the administration on her Facebook page .

Unemployment is now at 10.2% (due to the policies implemented and the free market interference of this administration in the aftermath of a bubble bursting) and things seem to be spiraling out of control, and under the sense of emergency that appears to exist, the government is asking you to trust them as they take power away from from you, through health care and cap & trade for example, and aim to dictate your life.

Our founding fathers wanted limited government, and as Ronald Reagan once said, as government expands, liberty contracts:

Going Galt

Ran across this story on the popularity of Ayn Rand on Reason TV, who is having a week long perspective on Ayn Rand, and found it interesting. Please see the piece:



It a subject I have written about before and the ever growing popularity of Ayn Rand and her classic Atlas Shrugged was addressed in a recent column by Wall Street Journal Senior Economic Writer Steve Moore.

For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism says Moore.

It is no wonder, with leeches coming from everywhere including our own government, that entrepreneurs and capitalists across the fruited plain are attending every tea party possible.

Moore's column, written in January, and the 5o year old classic itself, are incredibly relevant to the goings on today and they demands your immediate attention. The fundamental transformation of our country is fully engaged by the progressives and the time remaining to thwart these economic imbeciles is running out! Go Galt!

A Predictable Economic Event

Wall Street Journal senior economic writer Editorial Board member Steve Moore, whose face time seemed to explode since I visited with him last fall, discusses how the recent raise in the minimum wage has been a major contributor to the steep rise in the unemployment rate for our young workers. Take a listen:


Certainly, in what seemingly is the most significant financial downdraft in our lifetimes, the unemployment rate of all potential workers would rise to difficult levels. But the Congress, in yet another this sounds good when you say it fast move, raised the minimum wage which has had unintended consequences.

Think if you owned a pizza parlor and had five high schoolers working the dining room working for minimum wage, which for discussion is $6/hour. Your budget for dining room employees was $32 per hour. Increased traffic at the pizza parlor for eat in customers could increase your overall revenue, therefore allowing you hire an additional dining room worker. But for the time being, you have 2 cents per hour left in your budget per hour.

In the midst of a growing recession and a rising unemployment rate, Congress decides to raise the minimum wage to $7/hour. Suddenly, should the business owner retain the current staff and hold the hourly schedule, the business owner is now running a budgetary deficit with respect to payroll of 3 cents per hour. With dining room traffic decreasing due to the economic issues, this does not paint a pretty picture.

Additionally, your other staff members, who did not get a raise dictated by the government, are now in a less favorable position versus the hourly workers as the action seems to disregard the merit raises these staff members have achieved over their tenure, potentially leading to a decline in morale.

Since it would be unwise to operate this portion of your business at a deficit, you have some choices to make. How about rising prices? This would be foolish given the current environment. Reduce staff? This is the sensible thing to do, since the remaining workers, happy to be employed and with little alternative due to the economic conditions, will eagerly pick up the slack.

So, the business owner who operated within his budget spending $30 per hour originally, does not go to the government ordered $35 per hour, which exceeds his budget. The business owner drops the dining staff to 4 workers, which would fall within his budget at $28 per hour. Although the business owner has a hard working staff, service suffers with one less worker.

Additionally, the decrease in dining room traffic, coupled with the higher cost of hiring staff, causes the business owner to reduce the budgetary item for dining room workers, which leads the business to be operating with less employees in a contracting environment.

The higher minimum wage acts essentially as a tax on business operations during declining revenues. Recall, when you tax something, you get less of it. In this case, you get less service and most importantly, less jobs, which was the one thing Congress was trying to increase.

Boggles the mind!

Morris Details The Obama Catastrophe

Former Clinton advisor turned political pundit and author Dick Morris joins Sean Hannity on FOX News Hannity to discuss his new book, Catastrophe, detailing the catastrophe that is the Obama Administration.

Say what you will about Dick Morris, the information he puts forth in this book is a must read for the American citizenry, and I think it is right on target. Please take a few moments to hear the case from Morris in the following two part segment:





From the assault on prosperity, also outlined in the fine book The End of Prosperity by Arthur Laffer and Steve Moore, to the thuggery involved in the takeover of businesses and the breaking of contract law to the naive foreign policy which leaves our country extremely vulnerable; from the power grab by the executive branch to the massive deficits are grandchildren will be saddled with, this is in fact a catastrophe.

Independence Day

While most free market capitalist Americans see every day as Independence Day, many government elected officials and left wing loons look to April 15th as a trip to the candy store. They see this day as a day to feed the monster of well intended programs that have given way to a socialistic mentality which is crippling our once thriving economy.

Ari Fleischer, former press secretary for George W. Bush, wrote an outstanding column in The Wall Street Journal on the disaster that our tax system has become. Most, if not all, citizens near the bottom of the scale pay zero taxes, and in fact, receive tax credits making their rate of taxation charted in the negative. An alarming balance of the taxes are paid by the wealthiest of Americans, who are the ones who tend to be most philanthropic and those who start major business who employ high numbers of workers.

The current tax code is indeed an abomination, and Larry Kudlow moderates a discussion on The Kudlow Report with the aforementioned Ari Fleischer, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member Steve Moore, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich and Jim Tisch, chairman of the Loews Corporation (L:NYSE).




The famous novel Atlas Shrugged is some 675,00 words. The Bible is near 800,000 words. Our tax code is estimated at 3,700,000 words. Enough said.

The Obama administration is on a spending spree not seen in our history. President Obama is of the mindset that government and it's checkbook is the preferred avenue of resurrecting the economy, as further evidenced by his speech today. This type of thinking sinks potential workers into a drug users position in the form of welfare and breaks the competitiveness inside of them.

I believe that small business, behind the entrepreneurial spirit with limited governmental regulation and taxation, is the vehicle to provide this great land of ours with a free market path to prosperity. Ronald Reagan believed that as well.

We might come closer to balancing the Budget if all of us lived closer to the Commandments and the Golden Rule--Ronald Reagan

It is with that spirit that there will be over 500 tea parties across this great land today. Among the items spearheaded with Glenn Beck's 912 Project is the subscription of a set of principles and values. The Golden Rule would be one of those, and if any of our politicians recognized this, they would stand firmly against the spending that is set to cripple our children if not tackling us in the meantime. Most all do not, so it is time for action on our part.

Please join me in peacefully making your voice heard. Hopefully, I won't have to Jack Bauer any trouble making ACORN representatives at the Orlando Tea Party at City Hall tonight.

In an effort to better your mood, grab this Revolver and enjoy our annual presentation of the following Beatles/George Harrison composition:

Economic Cyanide

The scary economic times we are experiencing now has led many so called experts to predict we are in the throws a new Great Depression. I don't put much weight on these comments since about 3 economists saw the housing crisis coming, and heck, I have no idea what I am having for dinner tomorrow.

One interesting fellow in this regard is Hary Dent, investment strategist and economic futurist and author of The Roaring 2000's. Dent's stategies are quite interesting and are based primarily on demographics, where for instance, he contends that this post baby boomer generation is the first not to expand in population and thus, as spending has peaked, economic growth will contract.

One could contend that the large number of immigrants that have been pouring into this country over the last several years would be helpful in this regard. But as one of my well respected cohorts, The Wizard, accurately points out, the massive influx of low skilled, uneducated and very poorly equipped immigrants are a tremendous inventory overhang on our system, which is overwhelming our resources and is no longer manageable.

In his book The Roaring 2000's Investor Dent predicted inevitable deflation in 2009 immediately followed by a depressionary cycle. Dent recently visited with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Channel:



Dent is now pushing his new book The Great Depression Ahead, and projects the DOW to fall to around 3800. In an ordinary market, I would unload the truck buying the DOW at 3800.

But wait, damn it, we seem to have upcoming economic policies that will not be investor friendly, and these policies will no doubt heighten risk and limit investment.

In a special column for The Glen Beck Program titled The Looters Are Coming, Wall Street Journal senior economics writer Stephen Moore outlines the economic cyanide for us. Once again, Moore references Ayn Rand and her classic novel Atlas Shrugged. I am glad Ronald Reagan is not around to see this. Now, step away from the window ledge!

"The Strike"

The fallout from the financial crisis has left many of us unhinged as economic truths we subscribe to have been violated all over the place. President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff designate Rahm Emanuel opined he did not want the current finacial crisis to "go to waste" as he signaled that it represented an opportunity for massive governmental intrusion into the private sector and the lives of our citizens for our benefit.

It is clear that the hope and change mindset entering Washington strongly feels that government should be further dictating the commerce of the private sector through new programs and regulation. Wall Street Journal senior economics writer and editorial board member Steve Moore reflected back to the Ayn Rand novel Atlas Shrugged in his recent column in the WSJ 'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years and suggests the fictional tale is becoming fact, and this is not a welcomed development.

Moore is right on target drawing on the similarities of recent governmental actions and those forecasted to emerge and/or expand to the goings on, or "lunacy", in the classic novel.

Most, if not all, of the current issues we are dealing with were due to poorly constructed governmental influence, from the housing crisis to the lack of a sensible energy policy. Now, as Rahm Emanual indicated, more governmental programs will be initiated and thus will be doomed to create even more issues down the road.

I wonder if the non productive leeches John Galt speaks of in the book are representative of the same folks who do not pay taxes that are primed to get money back from the government in Obama's stimulus package. Recall Peggy Joseph?

This ain't gonna work, and for a preview, just grab the 1000 page classic and have at it. Too long for you, read Moore's column.

The End of Prosperity?

I had a chance to visit with Wall Street Journal Editorial Board member and senior economics writer Stephen Moore at a local forum on Friday.

Moore, a frequent guest on CNBC's Kudlow & Company and The Glenn Beck Program, is the author, along with Dr. Arthur Laffer and Peter J. Tanous, of the new book The End of Prosperity: How Higher Taxes Will Doom The Economy If We Let It Happen.

Moore left no stone unturned in his economic commentary, complete with charts and graphs, detailing how a high tax and anti-growth environment will lead this country to unnecessary economic hardship. Unfortunately, this is the rhetoric put forth by President-elect Barack Obama. We can all only hope that the incoming administration, given the turmoil our economy is in, will at a minimum pause on some of the tax policies they campaigned on.

The conference was over before news of the selection of New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary became public. Geithner is a free trade guy, with international experience who has been working closely with the FED in the recent rescue efforts that have taken place during the current economic cirsis. At the end of the day I think this is a good decision by The Obama transition team, one that could provide stability and perhaps curtail much of the uncertainty gripping the markets.

In his comments in Orlando, Moore indicated that he thought the Treasury Secretary would be the most important figure going forward for the next two years or so. Moore was back from the forum in time to join Larry Kudlow on CNBC Reports Kudlow & Company for a round table with Jared Bernstein, Robert Reich and Jimmy Pethokoukis on the markets, the potential implosion of Citigroup and the nomination of Geithner.