Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times has been to Iran for a few days, and he's full of deep thoughts about it. But, in keeping with the ideology of his social set, they are his thoughts, not those of the Iranian people.
I’ve received a number of emails, all complimentary. I thank the readers for that. I’d like to go a step farther. My column isn’t read by every subscriber to ToThePoint. My writing needs to be tuned to those who do read my column. So please email me about what you like and don’t like. Are the columns too long, or too short? Too technical or too basic?
I can’t answer the questions that subscribers have emailed me. It’d take all my time. Some questions are so wed to the user’s installation that I’d have to be at the computer to see what’s going on - or install Spyware to watch!
However, I can comment on recurring themes.
Capital flight from Russia has spiked dramatically since President Vladimir Putin first sent troops into Crimea and may reach $70 billion over the first quarter of the year, prompting fears that the country may soon have to impose capital controls to stem the loss.
"It is shocking," says Bartosz Pawlowski from BNP Paribas. "Markets have been extremely complacent, fooling themselves that Russia is invulnerable because it has almost half a trillion in foreign reserves. But reserves can become almost irrelevant in this sort of crisis."
Lars Christensen from Danske Bank says the authorities may resort to some form of financial coercion to lock down funds in Russia. "Capital controls are a serious risk, and should not be discounted. Whatever now happens, there has been permanent damage to the Russian economy because investors are not going to forget this lightly."
The US and the EU are ratcheting up the pressure each day following a spate of sanctions last week on Mr. Putin's inner circle. The latest example came Monday (3/24), when....
With money running low, government functions become inviable
As a mental challenge, try to think of all of the governmental activities — federal, state and local — that could be privatized. Now, go a step further. Suppose you were required to develop a plan to privatize, or make self-supporting through user fees, nearly every activity of government.
Could you or a group of your friends do it? Try it. I expect your success will surprise you.
The reason this is relevant is because most governments will reach their borrowing limits in the not-too-distant future, which means they will have to operate on current revenue from taxes and fees. Many governments have reached or are reaching their ability to increase taxes, and income-tax systems will begin to fall under their own weight. Governments will be forced to downsize and privatize — or private citizens and groups will just take over as they are increasingly doing because of failing government schools, for example.
The U.S. government was created to protect people and property and to ensure liberty; but more and more often, it does just the opposite.
The biggest problem we now face is the most basic of all: our elections are tainted, and our government is becoming more illegitimate each election cycle. Totalitarian control of our lives is just over the horizon.
There are several concrete steps that can be taken to ensure fair elections, but Republicans on Capitol Hill are either too fearful or too corrupted themselves to propose a solution that would result in a legitimate government. I'm writing to ask TTPers what you think should be done.
This week (2/19), Fox News headlined a story: Did An Obama Supporter Vote 6 Times? This article represents the barest tip of the iceberg.
We all know who is benefiting from the fraud, which gets more and more brazen every electoral cycle. Every politician who opposes rational and reasonable steps to prevent cheating and ensure honest elections deserves to be thrown out of the Capitol then prosecuted for knowingly enabling or perpetrating election fraud.
Fraud is rampant and naked, especially in national elections. If it's not stopped -- and it can be -- you realize that we no longer have a legitimate government. And illegitimate governments deserve to be overthrown, indeed they must be.
Reuel Marc Gerecht is not a dumb guy. He was with the Agency in the Middle East back in the 90s, has been a Fellow with a number of "neocon" DC think tanks, and writes a lot of well-informed stuff about US foreign policy.
This week, The Weekly Standard (8/20 issue) ran an article of his, in which you'll learn a lot about the mullah crazies who run Iran, particularly "Supreme Leader" Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (not to be confused with Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, the leader of the 1979 revolution who died in 1989).
Perhaps Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes are taking an August break in the Outer Banks and turned over editorial decisions to some copy editor or marketing intern - because Gerecht's think tankish piece was pumped up into the most idiotically-entitled cover story of any conservative publication in recent years: The Most Dangerous Man In The World.
Has TWS lost its mind? Some medieval turban-head is the world's greatest bad guy? This is a tasteless bad joke, especially given the dangers we face right now that are orders of magnitude larger than this Moslem loudmouth in the Persian desert.
Those dangers are inside our gates, not outside.
A version of this was first written for Christmas 2004. It is addressed to members of the ACLU and other Anti-Christian Liberals. It is obviously not addressed to TTP members! But feel free to send this to any ACLU member should you happen to know one.
Merry Christmas. If that offends you, why should I care? It's your problem, not mine. Let me explain your problem a little more fully. America is a Christian country. It's your job to deal with that, because you're not going to change this fact. America has always been a Christian country, and - open wide now, because you're going to have to swallow this - it will continue to be.
It will continue to be because most Americans aren't Euroweenies. They haven't lost the moral courage to be proud of their country and their civilization. Notice the "most" - which you are not a part of.
You are anti-Christian because you are anti-American. You are anti-American because you are anti-Western Civilization. You are anti-Western Civilization because you are afraid of and intimidated by the envy of the world's impotent. Fear of being envied defines your liberal soul.
Get a few conservative Congressmen together over a few beers and a favorite conversational topic will be, Who's the worst president in modern memory?
No, it's not George Bush. But a number of them can make out a good case that it's his father.
Worse even than Jimmy Carter? will come the astounded response. Yes, they say. Carter inherited a lousy economy and the Soviets on the imperial march. He was a disaster because the little wimp made a bad situation so much worse.
Bush the Elder, on the other hand, inherited a revitalized America, a surging economy, and a collapsing Soviet Union. He did everything to reverse all three. Then he rescued Red China.
Yet you won't get a debate out of them as to the worst Senate of modern times. No question about it: this one, with fellow Republicans in charge.
In addition to two religious nutcases – senile Pat Robertson and terrorist Ahmadinejad – there are large numbers of ordinary Israelis who are pleased about Ariel Sharon’s incapacitating stroke.
Robertson announced that Sharon’s stroke was “God’s punishment” for withdrawing from Gaza, while Iran’s Ahmadinejad announced he was “praying to Allah” for Sharon’s death. While most all Israeli citizens aren’t this crazy or ghoulish, a lot of them think that Sharon’s passing will be, in the words of one Israeli friend of mine, “better for the future of Israel.”
Let’s call these folks Chinese Israelis. The Chinese have an ancient proverb: Be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.
The reality is that Sharon’s passing is a disaster for the state of Israel.
We should have prepared the political battleground before the fighting ever started, by creating a democratic Iraqi government-in-exile. But internal divisions within the Bush administration proved intractable, and future historians will no doubt marvel at the fact that more passion and more man hours were spent fighting Ahmed Chalabi and the Iraqi National Congress than combating the likes of Moqtada and the remnants of Saddam's security forces.
Last week’s column ended with a promise:
“Next week we can discuss further issues, such as what course of action to take if an intruder is a dialer. You sure don’t want expensive calls made to porn sites off your computer.”
I’m going to break that promise.
In the last two weeks I’ve received fewer intruders attempting to invade my computer through my email.
China faces the biggest property default on record as credit curbs threaten to break the housing boom, leaving a string of "ghost towns" across the country.
The Chinese newspaper Economic Daily News said Xingrun Properties, in the coastal city of Ningbo, is on the brink of collapse with debts of $570m, mostly owed to banks. The local government has set up a working group to contain the crisis.
"As far as we know, this is the largest property developer in recent years at risk of bankruptcy," says Zhiwei Zhang, from Nomura Securities. "We believe that a sharp property market correction could lead to a systemic crisis in China, and is the biggest risk China faces in 2014. The risk is particularly high in third and fourth-tier cities, which accounted for 67% of housing under construction in 2013."
Yu Xuejun, the banking regulator for Jiangsu province, says developers are running out of cash. This risks undermining land sales needed to fund local government entities. "Credit defaults will definitely happen. It's just a matter of timing, scale and how big the impact is," he said. The charts below tell the story.
Might as well start with the belly-laugh of the week. Who is this?
It's the President of France, Francois Hollande. The pic was taken Tuesday (9/03) during his visit to a school in Denain, a city in northern France, and put online by AFP (Agence-France Presse, the government owned & operated news agency). It instantly went viral and has all France in hysterics.
AFP pulled it within hours, issuing a "mandatory kill" order to its outlets not to publish it, as it damaged the "dignity" of the president. Too late. President Imbécile is now Hollande's nickname for millions of Frenchfolk.
Don't you wish all of America could laugh at Zero that way? This week we may be on the verge of your wish being granted. And not just America, but most all of the entire world.
Measures that slow the economy block better solutions
Should Americans be spending more on public security, or less? After a week of two horrific events, the Boston Marathon attack and the Texas fertilizer-plant explosion, most would probably answer the above question by saying, “We’re not spending enough.” Such an emotional response is not surprising particularly after seeing the highly competent and courageous response of the police, firefighters and medical first responders.
On Friday, I received an email from a friend asking the question, “Did it make sense to close down half of Massachusetts for a day to capture one 19-year-old suspected terrorist? No, unless he was part of a bigger cell which was the unknown for the police. Did the huge redeployment of law enforcement resources for the week to catch the perpetrators result in more nonrelated terrorist murders or auto fatalities (or perhaps even fewer)?”
One occasionally hears the comment that “we should spend whatever is necessary” to stop terrorism. It sounds good, but on reflection, it makes no sense, and here's why...
After Mr. Obama delivered his second inaugural address week before last, it has been dawning on people that his political strategy is that of the Thunderdome in Mel Gibson's Mad Max 3 movie: "Two men enter, one man leaves." He is totally win/lose, the total antithesis of win/win.
From Mau-Mau tautology mixed with Marxist ideals inbred from his absent father and a mother enriched in the heresies of the deep left Communism of Frank Marshall Davis, this man has unfurled his true colors.
Unbridled by the need to appear moderate for his next campaign, "the One" has declared war on anything or anyone who would stand in the way of his Progressive radical agenda.
Yes, Saul Alinsky's hand can be seen everywhere along with Chicago thuggery, but there is much more.
