Honestly: our defense spending is high. We’re still embroiled in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and while we’re withdrawing from Iraq, it really is unclear (President Obama’s various pronouncements notwithstanding) when and under what circumstances we’ll actually leave. So, yes, if we weren’t spending the money we’re spending on defense, we’d have a lower deficit. Maybe. […]
The Kleiner-Perkins “USA, Inc.” report offers possible solutions to the financial nightmare that the US Federal Government — and all of us taxpayers — are facing. I don’t agree with some of these — I think the empty results of the “Stimulus” pretty much negate the first item in #4 — but it’s telling how […]
Governor Dannel P. Malloy (D-CT) has a brilliant idea to help fix his state’s budget shortfall: Got a coupon for 30% a Blu-Ray player? If the Connecticut governor gets his way, you’d still be paying sales tax on that player’s full price. Governor Dannel P. Malloy isn’t earning many fans with his proposal, one of […]
I’m going to continue to post graphs and slides from Kleiner Perkin’s “USA, Inc.” report for some time. Here’s some of their text that accompanies this graph: Take a step back, and imagine what the founding fathers would think if they saw how our country’s finances have changed. From 1790 to 1930, government spending on […]
Most anyone in the IT industry for any length of time knows about Kleiner Perkins, one of the most successful venture capital firms in modern times. Well, as it turns out, Kleiner Perkins put its own people to work analyzing the US Federal Government as if it were a business, one that Kleiner Perkins might […]
Despite occasional efforts by progressives to assure us that the deficit doesn’t matter, or doesn’t matter that much, it does. Our country is bankrupt. It’s not bankrupt in 30 years or five years. It’s bankrupt today. Want proof? Look at President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget. It showed a massive fiscal gap over the next 75 […]
Even as news circulates that Gaddafi may have fled Libya for Venezuela — and I frankly can’t think of two world leaders who more deserve each other than Chavez and Gaddafi, except possibly Kim Jong-il and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — I find my hopes for these various “street revolutions” tempered by history. We, as Americans, have […]
Earlier today, a good friend of mine cited the Federal budget surpluses at the end of the Clinton Administration as an argument for higher taxes. I pointed out that if we had the same Federal budget as Clinton did, we’ve have a surplus, too. Then I put together this chart from a spreadsheet downloaded directly […]
Life Lesson #1: Don’t mess with a Ghurka: OKHARA, Jan 13: Gorkha soldiers have long been known the world over for their valor and these khukuri-wielding warriors winning the British many a battle have become folklore. A retired Indian Gorkha soldier recently revisited those glory days when he thwarted 40 robbers, killing three of them […]
Yes, Dennis Kusinich is suing the House of Representatives Cafeteria for $150,000 because he bit into an unpitted olive: The Cleveland Democratic congressman’s lawsuit seeks $150,000 in damages from companies that operate the Longworth House Office Building’s cafeteria. It says he bought the suspicious sandwich wrap “on or about April 17, 2008,” and eating it caused “permanent […]
