Perry's "vulture capitalist" Romney rhetoric tells me its politics as usual rather than being true to conservative principles.
Either Governor Perry doesn't understand how financial markets and private property works (which I doubt) or he is willing to lie to folks who do lack that understanding to get their votes.
Adios, Mofo.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Trendspotting
Does it disturb anyone else that Obama is pushing the envelope on recess appointments just after gaining the power to use the military to detain US citizens indefinitely without a hearing? Or after gaining the power to 'pull the switch' on the internet when it is 'in the national interest'?
Thursday, December 15, 2011
American Sovereignty?
The Obama Regime first wanted to treat terrorists like citizens, trying them in regular courts like criminals with all the civil rights they were not due for making war against the United States. Now Congress proposes treating American citizens like terrorists. http://bit.ly/rW9LEn
This is part of a disturbing trend to discount what being an American citizen means. Perhaps to set the globalization stage for ceding authority to the UN? After all, the UN has certainly done more good things for the world than America! Have you ever read the UN constitution? The only guiding principle is that the UN is supreme over all other authority, and at the UN the dictators all get a vote.
People who enter the country and work using stolen Social Security numbers should be given amnesty for identify theft and the right to vote and automatically registered without any ID? Citizenship means nothing compared to getting these "unregistered Democrats" to the polls!
This is part of a disturbing trend to discount what being an American citizen means. Perhaps to set the globalization stage for ceding authority to the UN? After all, the UN has certainly done more good things for the world than America! Have you ever read the UN constitution? The only guiding principle is that the UN is supreme over all other authority, and at the UN the dictators all get a vote.
People who enter the country and work using stolen Social Security numbers should be given amnesty for identify theft and the right to vote and automatically registered without any ID? Citizenship means nothing compared to getting these "unregistered Democrats" to the polls!
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Obama blames unemployment on the internet!
Obama says businesses are doing more with less thanks to the internet, and that why unemployment is so high!
This reveals either a high level of economic ignorance on his part or a belief that Americans as a whole are that ignorant. If this were true the automobile and the increased mobility and productivity it provided would have destroyed the American economy by reducing employment of farriers, bridle and whip makers, and feed store workers and left us unable to defend ourselves in WW2.
Increased productivity means increased wealth for all and increased employment, unless government screws it up with over regulation and/or misapplication of resources. The only segment that benefits from over-regulation is government workers, many of whom pay dues to Democrat controlled labor unions
There are many historical examples of governments trying to legislate prosperity in direct conflict with the most basic rules of economics. At one point Australia made it illegal for traveling salespeople to drive themselves by requiring them to hire a driver instead. Employment would surely be increased! The actual effect was to increase the price of what they sold, so they sold less and in many cases could no longer make a living as traveling salespeople.
But government ignorance sometimes even extends to basic laws of physics! A bill was once introduced in the Arkansas legislature to "simplify calculations" by legally defining the constant pi to be 3.00 instead of its actual value!
This reveals either a high level of economic ignorance on his part or a belief that Americans as a whole are that ignorant. If this were true the automobile and the increased mobility and productivity it provided would have destroyed the American economy by reducing employment of farriers, bridle and whip makers, and feed store workers and left us unable to defend ourselves in WW2.
Increased productivity means increased wealth for all and increased employment, unless government screws it up with over regulation and/or misapplication of resources. The only segment that benefits from over-regulation is government workers, many of whom pay dues to Democrat controlled labor unions
There are many historical examples of governments trying to legislate prosperity in direct conflict with the most basic rules of economics. At one point Australia made it illegal for traveling salespeople to drive themselves by requiring them to hire a driver instead. Employment would surely be increased! The actual effect was to increase the price of what they sold, so they sold less and in many cases could no longer make a living as traveling salespeople.
But government ignorance sometimes even extends to basic laws of physics! A bill was once introduced in the Arkansas legislature to "simplify calculations" by legally defining the constant pi to be 3.00 instead of its actual value!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
A view to where America is going under progressive Democrat socialism
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501714_162-57336102/as-putin-plans-to-stay-many-russians-want-out/
Corruption is systematic, political competition is less, and few are confidant that the police or courts can protect them. Does that sound familiar?
Russian communists have always been masters of propaganda and doublespeak, from Potemkin villages to grandiose and totally unrealistic 7 year plans, using twisted statistics to support the idea that progress is being made, and adverb filled platitudes to lull the people into thinking that things are okay.
Sounds like the Obama regimes's labor statistics and the so called 8.3% unemployment rate, which if you include all of the people so discouraged that they are no longer looking for work is closer to 16%. Too many people want to accept the idea that government can somehow give you stability, permanence, or freedom from worry. Government cannot do that. Government cannot reduce the risk that is inherent in life on earth. It can move it around, and right now it is reducing risk for members of the ruling political class and those who pay them under the table, and thus increasing it for everyone else.
What government should do is reduce the corruption, not except and excuse it for friends of those in government.
Corruption is systematic, political competition is less, and few are confidant that the police or courts can protect them. Does that sound familiar?
Russian communists have always been masters of propaganda and doublespeak, from Potemkin villages to grandiose and totally unrealistic 7 year plans, using twisted statistics to support the idea that progress is being made, and adverb filled platitudes to lull the people into thinking that things are okay.
Sounds like the Obama regimes's labor statistics and the so called 8.3% unemployment rate, which if you include all of the people so discouraged that they are no longer looking for work is closer to 16%. Too many people want to accept the idea that government can somehow give you stability, permanence, or freedom from worry. Government cannot do that. Government cannot reduce the risk that is inherent in life on earth. It can move it around, and right now it is reducing risk for members of the ruling political class and those who pay them under the table, and thus increasing it for everyone else.
What government should do is reduce the corruption, not except and excuse it for friends of those in government.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Solyndra Chu Chu
Despite Stephen Chu's testimony, Solyndra's problem was NOT that the market price of PV modules dropped unexpectedly. Many investors were expecting poly-silicon prices to drop when new production capacity came online, and most non silicon PV plays using alternative materials like CIGS or Cd-Te had such price erosion built into their forecast scenarios. The DOE certainly knew this was a possibility long before the Solyndra decisions were made.
Solyndra, and all the thin film producers except perhaps First Solar (which just passed 5 GW of production), have a problem with how much it costs to get down their learning curve (see http://bit.ly/DWcBW ). In the long term they have a realistic chance to have a cost advantage over silicon, and CIGS should have a further cost advantage over Cd-Te. But all of the thin film business plans so far have been wildly optimistic about how fast they can get their prices down, and thus greatly underestimated the losses they will pile up during early low volume production at prices that are usually higher than an efficient silicon based producer. The market price erosion certainly exacerbated this, but Solyndra and most others were not economically viable even if module prices stayed high.
Unless DOE was privy to some incredible materials, labor, and overhead cost and yield data from Solyndra that no one else has heard about, Solyndra's cost of goods sold (COGS) was way too high to be viable even if PV module prices had not dropped. This is why their IPO was stopped, not "poor market conditions". Also, Solyndra's propensity for huge non production staffing and administrative costs (like lobbyists) meant they would have lost big even if their production costs had been better.
The Solyndra investors used political influence and played the DOE to get the taxpayers to take all the downside risk, while allowing themselves to retain most of the upside potential for gain. This is exactly what Democrats have been accusing the evil Wall Street firms of! Stephen Chu was just the designated cut out and bag holder, a role apparently that having a Nobel prize does not protect you from!
The real irony, which would be amusing if it weren't so financially painful, is that all of the these firms were competing to be "the next First Solar" (http://bit.ly/kJsekR) and most of them did it, i.e., the initial investors got completely burned out and lost everything, and profits, if any, will accrue to the second or third capitalization.
The lesson we should all learn is that only markets can pick winners, and only markets can accurately monetize technology commercialization. If we let governments do anything other than give R&D tax breaks, we all lose!
Solyndra, and all the thin film producers except perhaps First Solar (which just passed 5 GW of production), have a problem with how much it costs to get down their learning curve (see http://bit.ly/DWcBW ). In the long term they have a realistic chance to have a cost advantage over silicon, and CIGS should have a further cost advantage over Cd-Te. But all of the thin film business plans so far have been wildly optimistic about how fast they can get their prices down, and thus greatly underestimated the losses they will pile up during early low volume production at prices that are usually higher than an efficient silicon based producer. The market price erosion certainly exacerbated this, but Solyndra and most others were not economically viable even if module prices stayed high.
Unless DOE was privy to some incredible materials, labor, and overhead cost and yield data from Solyndra that no one else has heard about, Solyndra's cost of goods sold (COGS) was way too high to be viable even if PV module prices had not dropped. This is why their IPO was stopped, not "poor market conditions". Also, Solyndra's propensity for huge non production staffing and administrative costs (like lobbyists) meant they would have lost big even if their production costs had been better.
The Solyndra investors used political influence and played the DOE to get the taxpayers to take all the downside risk, while allowing themselves to retain most of the upside potential for gain. This is exactly what Democrats have been accusing the evil Wall Street firms of! Stephen Chu was just the designated cut out and bag holder, a role apparently that having a Nobel prize does not protect you from!
The real irony, which would be amusing if it weren't so financially painful, is that all of the these firms were competing to be "the next First Solar" (http://bit.ly/kJsekR) and most of them did it, i.e., the initial investors got completely burned out and lost everything, and profits, if any, will accrue to the second or third capitalization.
The lesson we should all learn is that only markets can pick winners, and only markets can accurately monetize technology commercialization. If we let governments do anything other than give R&D tax breaks, we all lose!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
What's the end game for OWS?
The Occupy Wall Street protests seem to have taken up space in the midstream media that would have otherwise been used by Solyndra, Beacon Power, Fiskar, Fast and Furious, and growing calls for Eric Holder to resign. So they have probably accomplished their tactical purpose for the Obama White House.
Which leads us to speculate, one year ahead of the 2012 general election, what are the middle and end games for the OWS 'movement'.
As more and more people no longer receive unemployment benefits that have maxed out, some of them will just hang out at the OWS sites instead of looking for work. This means more chances for trouble and favorable MSNBC style coverage without the organizers having to spend more money.
The end game scenarios are more disturbing.
Most likely is an orchestrated widespread upswing in disruptive actions and real and threatened violence, in order to try to suppress voter turnout of the law abiding kind.
Unlikely but possible; enough violence to allow martial law to be declared just before the election.
Which leads us to speculate, one year ahead of the 2012 general election, what are the middle and end games for the OWS 'movement'.
As more and more people no longer receive unemployment benefits that have maxed out, some of them will just hang out at the OWS sites instead of looking for work. This means more chances for trouble and favorable MSNBC style coverage without the organizers having to spend more money.
The end game scenarios are more disturbing.
Most likely is an orchestrated widespread upswing in disruptive actions and real and threatened violence, in order to try to suppress voter turnout of the law abiding kind.
Unlikely but possible; enough violence to allow martial law to be declared just before the election.
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