Under which recent president do you think the U.S. economy performed best?

The policies of Presidents Bush, father and son, and Jimmy Carter clearly did not work as well as Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's.

So let's compare their economic performance.  For the numbers show that Democrats can continue "the-Clinton-economy-was-best" ploy only if the Republicans and the news media let them get away with the factual misrepresentation.

Google may have the backbone Congress lacks: The Internet giant is standing up to the Chicom bandits in Beijing.

Why would a for-profit company threaten to pull out of what the investment gurus (who brought you the housing bubble) insist is the greatest market in the universe?

There are three reasons, though only two have been recognized:

The barkeep here at the HFR Saloon can't keep up with the drink orders this week.  Half of them are drinks to celebrate the never-ending pratfalls of the Zero Circus.  The other half are for glasses of beer to cry in, since the Circus' biggest pratfalls will be the ruination of America's economy and national security.

Every celebrant, it seems, wants a different cocktail.  One fellow has a Sidecar.  "Do a lot of business in Albuquerque," he says.  "Every business guy in town knows what a corrupt crook their governor Bill Richardson is - he's the Blagojevich of New Mexico.  You telling me Zero's people didn't know this, that the FBI has a major investigation on him?  I'm telling you, Zero is not ready for prime time.  By the way, always make a sidecar with bourbon, not brandy."

Nearby was someone with a Manhattan.  "I'm from Chicago and we know Blago.  He's much smarter than Richardson who's dumb as a stump.  Look how Blago snookered that arrogant little worm who pretends he runs the Senate.  Blago knew if he nominated a white guy it would be blocked, so he picked a black guy whose only qualification was that he was black, old Tombstone Burris.  Harry Reid had to cave.  Sure proves we're post-racial after November 4, huh?"  He took a sip.  "Be sure and have your Manhattans with rye, not Canadian, whiskey."   

At the end of the bar was a grandfatherly type who was into his second Long Island Ice Tea and feeling no pain.  "Doncha just love Slick Willie's chief of staff running the CIA?  If that isn't a hoot, what is?  Until we get nailed by another 9/11, that is.  That Feinstein broad got her panties in a twist because Zero didn't pick her boy Kappes."

Have you ever had a "free lunch?" A "free lunch" means the benefit you receive has no direct or indirect costs and is not a payment for a past act or a future obligation.

When Hillary, in her Christmas video, showed all of the "gifts" she was going to give us (e.g., "national health insurance," "kiddy care," etc.), she was promising to saddle us with future tax obligations, which are only "gifts" in Washington political-speak - and certainly not a free lunch for the nation.

The administration, members of Congress, and the presidential candidates are in the process of coming out with their "economic stimulus" plans to help avoid a recession or to mitigate the pain if one occurs.

Rather than take this opportunity to offer a real "free lunch" by removing government obstacles to a proper functioning economy, some will propose more spending and regulation because they are more interested in power than doing what is best for the citizenry.  Wouldn't you prefer to get a real free lunch from the government?

[Many TTPers have expressed concern over the recent (12/17/09) Amending of Executive Order 12425 granting certain "privileges, exemptions, and immunities" to the International Criminal Police Organization or Interpol. We are pleased to have TTPer Brent Moody, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Enforcement at the Treasury Department address these concerns.]

Mr. Obama's EO12425 has created considerable paranoia within the conservative blogosphere.  Email alerts and warnings entitled U.S. placed under Interpol authority and jurisdiction by Presidential Fiat and suchlike have become widespread. 

I believe the brouhaha over revoking certain exceptions from exemptions for Interpol and its officials from the International Organizations Immunities Act (IOIA) - exceptions instituted by President Reagan - is based upon misperceptions of what Interpol is and by whom it is staffed here in the US. [See Addendum for texts of both]

The HFR has recovered from its hangover bidding the annus horribilus of 2008 vale ad aeternam, goodbye forever, and welcomes you to what's coming for this brand new year of 2009!

Or rather what might be coming - for as we learned near the start of last year in The 2008 Carpe Diem Filter,  history is stochastic, a series of uniquely unrepeatable events.  There is no such thing as the future, and you can't make predictions about something that doesn't exist.

You certainly can about nature (like what time the sun will rise tomorrow), but not about what people will do, because they haven't decided yet - and in particular, the extent to which they decide to treat problems as opportunities (the carpe diem filter).

Nonetheless, there are some things that look exceedingly likely.  So here goes.

Don't be surprised if 2009 is as weird a year as 2008.  A president who worships at a God Damn America church is worshipped as the savior of America - but for how long?  The media will focus on his every word and deed, and will shout hosannas of positive news regarding everything he touches.  But sooner or later it will dawn on folks that he is no more competent a president than he is a golfer - or bowler.

How much did the federal budget deficit rise in 2007?

Answer: It did not rise, it got much smaller. The deficit has been declining rapidly for the last three years and is now only about 1 percent of gross domestic product, which is far lower than the average deficit for the last half-century.

Left-wing ideologues, such as Paul Krugman of the New York Times, have been predicting for years that the Bush tax cuts would lead to ever-growing deficits. Wrong again.

When did the recession of 2007 begin?

Answer: It never started. CNN and other news media are quoting polls showing many Americans think the economy has been in a recession. But the economy has grown in every quarter of 2007, and employment is at a record high, despite the subprime mortgage problem and the rise in oil prices.

Economic growth in 2007 will be more than 2 percent - not great, but not a disaster or a recession. The reason so many think the U.S. is in a recession is the unbalanced reporting about the economy from many in the left-leaning media who overly report the comments of Bush-hating politicians and the bad, but not the good, numbers.

On Christmas Day, an Islamist fanatic tried to blow up an airplane whose passengers were mostly Christians. And we helped.

Our government gets no thanks for preventing a tragedy. Only the bomber's ineptitude preserved the lives of nearly 300 innocents.

How did we help Umar Abdulmutallab, a wealthy Moslem university graduate who decided that Allah wanted him to slaughter Christians on their most joyous holiday?

By continuing to lie to ourselves. Although willing -- at last -- to briefly use the word "terror," yesterday President Obama still refused to make a connection between the action, the date, and Islam.   You and I know there is a connection.  But our government refuses to know it. Despite vast databases crammed with evidence, our leaders -- of both parties -- still refuse to connect Islamist terrorism with Islam.

The best news this week is that with this issue of the HFR, we get to raise a tin cup of moonshine and say adios to 2008.  Come what may in 2009, it is such an incredible relief to get this sucker over with.

It is, of course, not good news that during Christmas, millions of Americans have been stranded in airports and train stations due to massive winter storms all across the country.  Yet being stranded gives one time to think - and hopefully one thought that will occur to them is that global warming is laughably ridiculous...

... By the way, out of every 100,000 molecules of air, how many do you suppose are molecules of CO2, the evil gas environuts say causes global warming?  39.  How many are man-made molecules of CO2?  1.  That's one-onehundrendthousandth.  Man-made greenhouse gas emissions are irrelevant to the world's weather...

... So now Blago is going to subpoena Zero's chief of staff.  Watching this scandal unfold is almost as much fun as seeing Princess Caroline Kennedy's assumed royal prerogative of being anointed US Senator from New York crashing and burning...

...But now let's focus on what is truly good and uplifting news this week.  For the first time ever, Christmas was celebrated as an official holiday in Iraq.  And let's close this last HFR of 2008 with this heartwarming thought.  Christmas yesterday was celebrated by more people in more places on all seven continents (even scientists in Antarctica) - by far - than any other celebration of any kind, religious or otherwise, in the world.

Which presidential contenders would be best for the economy and which ones worse? Unfortunately, much of the campaign has revolved around a series of largely meaningless sound bites and words like "change."

Some candidates find they can get away with policy prescriptions totally disconnected from their stated goals and empty platitudes, because many in the press demand nothing more, even in the "debates."

I suspect that there are millions of other such voters who haven't a clue about various candidates' positions, let alone understand the actual implications of their declared policies.  So let's discuss them, one by one, and see if that helps us answer the question.