Blogging the economy: GDP only up 1.7% for 2011

These numbers are just bad, no other way to put it.

This comes via Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider: (H/T Drudge)

The full report from Business Insider:

There were high hopes heading into this morning’s Q4 ‘Advance’ GDP report, and though the number was a solid improvement from last quarter’s 1.8% growth, the numbers certainly leave a lot to be desired, especially if you’re bullish.

Headline growth of 2.8% came in below expectations of 3.0%.

Personal consumption growth of 2.0% were below expectations o2 2.4%.

The GDP price index only grew by 0.4%, well below expectations of 1.9%.

Again, not a disaster, just disappointing.

Markets have turned notably negative on the news, and the dollar has fallen as well, as the odds of more easing just went up.

The full announcement is here.

Go read the rest of that, it is pretty bleak reading to tell you the truth. This should serve notice to the socialists, that you just do not tinker with the economic system to give to the “have nots,” because every time you do, someone gets hurt. In this case the people that got hurt, were the ones who played by the rules and did what they were supposed to; as I have written about here and on my other blog millions of times.

What amazes me to no end, is the fact that people, like members of my own family; will still continue to vote for the very people than brought our entire economy down. It simply does not make sense to me at all. You would think that the American people would realize that these people do not have America’s best interests in mind at all, but rather their own.  I guess intelligence is not what it used to be.

 

Funniest.Blog.Posting….ever!

Now this is funny! 😀

Just in case there is somebody out there without any real problems to worry about, the NYT ran this article yesterday:

Young, in Love and Sharing Everything, Including a Password

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!! Just yesterday she was my baby!

Rest the rest: Okay, seriously, I thought this was from the Onion. « Alexandria.

I don’t link to stuff like that very often; but my goodness was it good. 😀

 

Nitpicking Megan McArdle a bit

Megan McArdle is a good writer that makes a whole bunch more money writing than I do.

She writes a very good blog entry about the President’s State of the Union address. In it, she writes the following, that I feel the need to comment about:

The harsh way to put it is that the speech was an extended whine about how all the rich bankers and George Bush have screwed everything up.  That was fine campaign rhetoric when he was a Senator.  But it’s pretty weak when he’s been in charge for most of a full term–two years of that with a majority in congress.

You see this is the entire problem; the Democrats lead by President Obama, continue to perpetuate the outright lie that the President George W. Bush and the cabal of rich bankers caused the Wall Street crisis and that drove our economy into the ground.  This is nothing more than outright historic revisionism.  The truth is the so-called “bankers” took advantage of the situation.  As I have written on this blog and my previous blog, in 1973, the Democrats passed the community reinvestment act.  In 1993, the Democrats added the subprime clause to that act, which created the ability for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack to sell high-risk, adjustable rate mortgages to those who, under normal circumstances could not even remotely be qualified to get them.

There was one thing that did exacerbate the situation, that was the removal by Congress and not by Bush; the regulation that was supposed to prevent predatory lending conditions.  Furthermore,  The Republicans in Congress at the time, can be blamed for backing off an investigation, when the then President of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac played the race card in response to a warning from the Bush White House that the housing market was about to crash.

Now the question as to the morality of the bankers is another story entirely.  However, the very idea that somehow a cabal of banks actually brought the economy down is weapons grade conspiracy theory nonsense.  The only thing that “The Bankers” and Wall Street did was take advantage of a situation created by the very socialists who are blaming the banks for the situation in the first place.

 

Quotes of The Day

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In an interview on CNBC, Gingrich recently emphasized his close identification with the nation’s 40th president: “I’ve done a movie on Ronald Reagan called ‘Rendezvous With Destiny.’ Callista and I did.

We’ve done a book on Ronald Reagan. You know I campaigned with Reagan. I first met Reagan in ’74. I’m very happy to talk about Ronald Reagan.”

Just like when Newt went to the House floor during the Gipper’s second White House term and declared the president’s Soviet policy a “failure.” Here is what Gingrich said: “Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire’s challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing and without a dramatic, fundamental change in strategy will continue to fail. … The burden of the failure frankly must be placed first upon President Reagan.”

This was after Gingrich, as reported in the Congressional Record, had found Reagan responsible for our national “decay”: “Beyond the obvious indicators of decay, the fact is that President Reagan has lost control of the national agenda.” Students of Newt-speak will recognize that by “decay,”Gingrich was generally referring to factors such as crime, illegitimate births and illiteracy.

These blatant contradictions between what Congressman Gingrich actually said at the time about President Reagan and what Candidate Gingrich now offers as fictitious reminiscences of his unwavering allegiance to Reagan remind me of one of the former speaker’s own broadsides against Washington, D.C. “In this cold and ruthless city,” he once said, “the center of hypocrisy is Capitol Hill.” Newt Gingrich is quite obviously an expert on both subjects.

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Presidents should not get automatic support, not even from members of their own party, but they have a right to that support when they are under a vicious partisan assault. Today it is fair to look back and ask who had it right: Gingrich, who backed away from and criticized Republican presidents, or those chief executives, who were making difficult and consequential decisions on national security. Bush on the surge and Reagan on the Soviet empire were tough, courageous — and right. Newt Gingrich in retrospect seems less the visionary than the politician who refused the party’s leader loyal support on grounds that history has proved were simply wrong.

 

The Wrong

Hmmmmmm… Police State? 😯

John Cole over at Balloon Juice asks “How can stuff like this happen?”

Good question….

The Video:

The Story via MSNBC:

A New Mexico man who said he was forced to pull his own tooth while in solitary confinement because he was denied access to a dentist has been awarded $22 million due to inhumane treatment by New Mexico’s Dona Ana County Jail.

Stephen Slevin was arrested in August of 2005 for driving while intoxicated, then thrown in jail for two years. He was in solitary at Dona Ana County Jail for his entire sentence and basically forgotten about and never given a trial, he told NBC station KOB.com Tuesday night.

“[Jail guards were] walking by me every day, watching me deteriorate,” Slevin said. “Day after day after day, they did nothing, nothing at all, to get me any help.”

Slevin’s medical problems extended beyond his dental issues, he said. His toenails started curling around his foot because they were so long, he told KOB.com. And his countless requests to see a doctor for depression medication were ignored, he said.

He said his lawsuit “has never been about the money. I’ve always wanted this to make a statement.”

The $22 million settlement, awarded by a federal jury Tuesday, is one of the largest prisoner civil rights settlements in U.S. history, according to KOB.com.

A very good question, how does that happen? Of course, the Ron Paul people think he is only answer to such things. Something I find to be very humorous; seeing Paul is all about “States Rights.”

 

The Stupid

Stupid people like this ought not be allowed to drive; much less serve in public office. 😡

Via Pix 11 (with video):

Latinos in East Haven, Conn. say they have lived in fear of local authorities for years. However, a feeling of shock and relief came Tuesday after the arrests of four alleged rogue police officers who are accused of systematically targeting Latinos with unlawful search and seizures, traffic stops and even physical abuse.

Despite the indictments for race-fueled attacks on the community, East Haven Mayor Joe Maturo added more fuel to the fire Tuesday by saying he “might have tacos” as his first step to repair relations with the Latino community.

On Wednesday, Conn. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy called Matruo’s comment racially insensitive.

“The comments by East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo are repugnant. They represent either a horrible lack of judgment or worse, an underlying insensitivity to our Latino community that is unacceptable. Being tired is no excuse. He owes an apology to the community, and more importantly, he needs to show what he’s going to do to repair the damage he’s done. And he needs to do it today.”

Whew, that’s weapons grade stupidity right there. 🙄

Related:

Others: The Huffington Post, The Moderate Voice, Crooks and Liars and Mediaite, The Atlantic Online, Gawker and The Raw Story

The Thin-Skinned

Real Clear Politics has the video.(H/T AP)

This does not look good for President Obama at all.

Here’s Jan Brewer telling her side of the story: (H/T AP)

If I were a Democratic Party official or Barack Obama’s campaign staff, I would be in panic mode.

The Book in question:

Related:

Related: The Gateway Pundit, Hot Air and Jammie Wearing Fools, Washington Wire, Weasel Zippers and Outside the Beltway, Michelle Malkin, Mediaite, Wizbang, Hot Air and The Crawdad Hole