Ultimate Political Incorrectness: Black Americans Commit Majority Of Gun Murders. So Take Away the Guns From Black Men

African American Black persons, mostly young black men, commit the majority (57%) of gun homicides.  They also commit over 52% of all homicides.  The sensational massacres, as horrific as they are, are much less than 1% of gun homicides.

Blacks make up 13% of the population (both sexes) but commit 57% of gun homicides.  It's even worse since it's more like 6.5% of the population (males) committing 57% of the gun homicides.  Where is this discussion in the media?  Where is the program or plan to alleviate this problem?

Political correctness prevents ANY discussion of this fact.  What IS our plan to address this problem?  What,we don't have one??  If you can't correctly name your problem, you will be unable to solve the problem.  This is the problem with political correctness.  \

Instead we focus on relatively few sensational massacres.  Yes, it's horrible that several hundred people have gotten "mowed down" by psychos in public settings at Sandy Hook and Colorado, but there are about 11,000 people murdered by guns (2010) each year and, on average, about 57% of those are committed by black persons (mostly black men).  This means that something like 6,300 murders per year are committed by black persons (mostly young black men)!  

The sensational massacres are "peanuts" compared to routine gun murders committed in mostly impoverished inner cities by black men. There's almost no comparison!  See the data below.

Here's the raw data below from the BJS (Bureau of Justice Statistics) on Table 7 (click as usual to enlarge):

There were about 11,000 deaths in 2010 due to guns.  There were about 16,000 homicides by all means. See data from the CDC here (on table 10).  Since we have 315 million persons, gun deaths are about 3.5 gun homicides per 100,000 persons.  For all homicides, the rate is about 5.3 total homocides per 100,000 persons.    From the BJS (page 11),  in 2008, the offending rate for blacks (24.7 offenders per 100,000) was 7 times higher than the rate for whites (3.4 offenders per 100,000).

On average, Blacks committed 52% of all murders, 57% of the gun murders and committed 66% of the drug related homicides (1980 to 2008)

It's Dangerous to be Black in this Country!

But when you talk of day-in and day-out gun violence and murder, it is blacks (and mostly black men) who are the number one cause of murders (all) at 52%.   And 90% of their victims are other black people.   It's dangerous to be black in this country!  But it's because of their own community!  

But due to our "political correctness problem", all of this can't be uttered much less discussed.  Instead we chase other rabbit tails that are relatively insignificant.

Other data from the BJS:

Figure 1:  Black Homicides are 8 Times Higher Than Whites 
(25 murders per 100,000 population for Blacks vs 3 murders per 100,000 population for Whites)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

Figure 2:  Blacks Victimized 6 or 7 Times Higher Than Whites

The majority of murders are committed with guns of some sort.

Figure 3:  Gun Use Comprise Most Homicides  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

Argentina Economic Minister: "I Want to Leave"

This guy looks like a deer caught in the headlights, doesn't he?  What got him so flustered?  It was plain and simple questions from a Greek reporter asking 1) what is the rate of inflation in Argentina? and 2) the IMF has threatened sanctions against Argentina because of fraudulent economic statistics, what are you going to do about that?

From The Telegraph:

"I have a very simple question for you, which seems very complicated these days: How much is Argentine inflation at this moment?" the female interviewer asked.

"Official statistics show month after month the inflation and this is the only inflation possible," the minister responded in Spanish.

"But, how much is it?" she insisted.

The journalist then noted that the IMF has warned that it will impose sanctions against Argentina for putting out false statistics. "What will you do about that?"

"I don't know, I don't know. Can we turn off the camera a moment? I want to leave," Mr Lorenzino said.

Off camera, Mr Lorenzino can also be heard to say: “Talking about inflation statistics in Argentina is complex.”

Government Causing College Tuition Inflation

The main point of this post is that the government is primarily responsible for college tuition inflation over the past 14 years and has created a new bubble in college debt.  The reason?  The Federal government has explicitly backed and guaranteed a  flood of loans (easy money) from various institutions and has created a flood of money into for-profit educational businesses and public and private schools --- pushing up tuition prices.

Have a look at the following graph showing that college tuition has outpaced CPI inflation by a huge margin.

Figure 1
College Tuition and Fees Vs. Overall Inflation from 1985 thru 2011

The Real Reason For Tuition Inflation

From Inflation Data dot com, Gordon Wadsworth, who spent 19 years in college financial aid gives us the answer:

..the main reason tuition continues to rise is a dramatic change that took place regarding the Federal Stafford Loan more than a decade ago. When Uncle Sam opened the floodgates to government-backed student loans without parent income restrictions in 1992, colleges welcomed the news with open arms. The sudden injection of millions of additional aid dollars only furthered tuition increases. Add to that the government’s continued promotion of the Stafford Loan as a low-cost program, and you have the formula for hyper-inflationary costs.

When the government made it exceptionally easy for students to borrow massive amounts of money, the colleges followed the lead by increasing their tuition rates. This combination led to record-level borrowing. Today the average undergraduate student loan debt is nearing $20,000. Those who go on to graduate school often end up with an additional $30,000. Law and medical students report an average accumulated debt from all years (undergraduate and graduate study) of $91,700.

Student Loan Bubble and Upcoming Bailouts 

In my blog Student Loan Bubble and Bailout, I detail how the amount of college debt has risen dramatically since 2000 and now that debt has become unsustainable with rapidly rising default rates. This is a direct result of rising costs and a depletion of credit-worthy borrowers. There's no one credit-worthy left!

The amount of student debt outstanding is now $1 Trillion vs $250 billion just 10 years ago.  This flood of easy money is likely to end in another bubble bursting with more bad debt bailed-out by the Federal Government.

Remember, it was a flood of easy (under-priced) money caused the housing inflation and subsequent bubble with the government, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and government tax incentive at the epicenter of that bubble. The collapse of that bubble created a huge crisis and surge in government deficit spending.

Expect More Crises

Expect more crises caused by clueless and/or disingenuous people in Congress.  It won't end until these people are voted out of office and the Federal Reserve is ended.  But that's another upcoming blog post.

Obama Deliberately Disrupting Air Travel

Obama is deliberately trying to amplify the effect of the ever-so-small sequester spending cuts. His strategy has been to portray small 4% spending cuts as "draconian," so his genius administrators and him have decided to maximize air traveler inconvenience and then blame it on the Republicans. I hope the public can see how despicable this is.  It also exposes how poorly the government is managed and argues loudly for less government, not more.

Obama is determined to "prove" that big government is better and that there is zero room for ANY spending cuts.

It's time to run this guy out of town on a rail.   Tar and feathers would be equally suitable.

Air travelers already pay the majority of the FAA budget through air fare fees, so the 'damage' should be limited, right?.   There's where you're wrong thanks to our affirmative action President!  People, you're getting what you deserve!  Here's the Wall Street Journal exposing the sorry state of affairs.

Flyers directly fund two-thirds of the FAA's budget through 17 airline taxes and fees—about 20% of the cost of a $300 domestic ticket, up from 7% in the 1970s. Yet now the White House wants to make this agency that can't deliver what passengers are supposedly paying for even more dysfunctional.

The sequester cuts about $637 million from the FAA, which is less than 4% of its $15.9 billion 2012 budget, and it limits the agency to what it spent in 2010. The White House decided to translate this 4% cut that it has the legal discretion to avoid into a 10% cut for air traffic controllers. Though controllers will be furloughed for one of every 10 working days, four of every 10 flights won't arrive on time.

It Gets Worse

From the same WSJ article,

Legally speaking, the sequester applies at a more general level known as "accounts." The air traffic account includes 15,000 controllers out of 31,000 employees. The White House could keep the controllers on duty simply by allocating more furlough days to these other non-essential workers.

...the FAA is even imposing the controller furlough on every airport equally, not prioritizing among the largest and busiest airports. San Francisco's Napa Valley airport with no commercial service will absorb the same proportion of the cuts as the central New York radar terminal, which covers La Guardia, JFK and Newark International, as well as MacArthur, Teterboro, New Haven, Republic and other regional fields.

Like most government work, productivity continues to decline. Staffing of air traffic controllers has remained the same but the number of flights have dropped 23% since the late 1990s, so there's an overstaffing issue and a PUBLIC UNION issue as well.

More Federal Government Incompetence

For more than a decade the FAA has promised to modernize and make the civil aviation system more efficient and reliable, but the only things it has reliably generated are delays or cost overruns or usually both. The project, known as NextGen, is four years off schedule with no end in sight.

The FAA's troubles are the result of bad management and a lack of oversight, according to multiple Department of Transportation Inspector General audits. A 2011 investigation found that one part of NextGen ran $330 million over budget—or half of the FAA sequester—and then the FAA paid the contractor responsible $150 million in bonuses that were supposed to be an incentive for making the budget targets. The overruns are now approaching $500 million, and that's merely one item.

This administration is a shining example of why the government deserves LESS of your tax dollars and LESS of a role in the economy not MORE as Obama and Democrats insist!  As as many functions of the Federal Government as possible should be devolved to The States because everything the Federal government touches is mismanaged to the Nth degree.  See How to Cut $450 Billion in Federal Spending.   See Healthcare Law Shows Obama's Inability to Govern.  

It's time to reverse course and seriously reduce government expenditures.  The sequester cuts are peanuts compared to the task required.

European "Austerity" Is All About Tax Increases--Not Spending Cuts

Lower taxes and less government help the economy.  Higher taxes and more government hurt the economy.  These statements you can take to the bank.

The Economy is Facing some Tough Headwinds  (You think??)

In my blog, Austerity? What Austerity? I note that government (public) expenditures in Europe are mostly going up and, in the few countries where spending is going (slightly) down, it's just a reversal of spending gains in prior years.  Here's the evidence (unfortunately I can't find data for 2011 and 2012):

European Austerity is All About Tax Increases

Most of Europe is in recession.  This shouldn't be a surprise, but don't believe that it's from government austerity!   It's because taxes have been going up and because many peripheral countries are trapped in the euro but need a much lower, devalued currency instead.

Nearly all of the "austerity" in Europe is due to raising of taxes; especially on highest earners and VAT increases.  From Daniel Mitchell at RealClearPolitics:

The PIIGGS imposed no austerity at all on the public sector in the past five years. Government spending on bailouts, subsidies, grants, salaries and entitlements commands a much larger share of these economies than it did just a few years ago.

European austerity has been focused on the private sector — namely, taxpayers with high incomes. That is the second thing the PIIGGS have in common. The highest income tax rate was recently increased in every one of the troubled PIIGGS except Italy (where it was already too high at 43%). The top tax rate was hiked from 40 to 46.5% in Portugal, from 41 to 48% in Ireland, from 40 to 45% in Greece, from 40 to 50% in Great Britain, and from 48 to 52% in Spain.

I’ve already discussed their unfortunate propensity to hike value-added tax rates. Alan explains that they’re doing the same thing for income tax rates. 

In other words, Veronique de Rugy is correct. The “austerity” in Europe generally has been in the form of higher taxes, squeezing the productive sector to prop up the public sector. 

Budget Cutting and Reducing Government Works

History is full of examples where government expenditures were drastically reduced but the private economy boomed:  government spending dropped drastically in the US after World War II and after the Korean war.

So, listening to Democrats and Paul Krugman their biggest cheerleader, austerity is a "dirty word."  He wants even bigger deficits!   Here's some other examples from Daniel Mitchell at RealClearPolitics (with some quotes from Alan Reynolds at RealClearPolitics and IBD)

In Iceland, which did not throw taxpayer money at the banks, government spending was slashed from 57.6% of GDP in 2008 to 46.5% in 2012. The deficit fell from 12.9% of GDP to 3.4%. The economy began to recover in 2011. Iceland’s economic boost from fiscal frugality was neither unorthodox nor unique. After all, the U.S. economy boomed in the late 1990s when federal spending was cut from 22.3% of GDP in 1991 to 18.2% in 2000 [government spending NEVER actually declines but, instead, GDP boomed]. In Canada, total federal and provincial spending was deeply slashed from 53.2% of GDP in 1992 to 39.2% in 2007 with only salubrious effects.

 Compare the tax raisers to tax reducers (from the same article):

It is enlightening to compare the depressing performance of these tax-and-spend countries to the rapidly-expanding BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and MIST economies (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey). Government spending is frugal in these countries, averaging 32.1% of GDP in the BRICs and 27.4% for the MIST group. Rather than raising top tax rates, all but one of the BRIC and MIST countries slashed their highest individual income tax rates in half; sometimes lower. Brazil cut the top tax rate from 55 to 27.5%. Russia replaced income tax rates up to 60% with a 13% flat tax. India cut the top tax rate to 30% from 60%. Similarly, the top tax rate was cut from 55 to 30% in Mexico, from 50 to 30% in Indonesia, from 89 to 38% in South Korea, and from 75 to 35% in Turkey.

Baltic Countries Had Real Austerity and are Back to Growth

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia imposed real government spending cuts and are recovering nicely now.  Estonia's president Toomas Hendrik Ilves recently rebuffed Paul Krugman in HuffPost of how horrible government spending cuts are there by saying:

Ilves, a strong austerity advocate, told Bloomberg News in May that the EU should implement austerity in order to boost economic expansion. “You can achieve growth through austerity. Estonia has done that.”

Other quotes from that article say:

Estonia, which in 2011 became the latest country to join the eurozone, has been heralded by some as an austerity success story. That year, it clocked a faster economic growth pace than any other country in the European Union, at 7.6 percent. Estonia is also the only EU member with a budget surplus, and had the lowest public debt in 2011 -- 6 percent of GDP. Fitch affirmed its A+ credit rating last week.

Climate 'Change' Update

It's a fact that the earth's atmosphere has been slowly and gradually warming (about 1.6 degrees F in 100 years). But, intriguingly  the warming has apparently "paused" in the past decade or two. Meanwhile carbon dioxide levels, although still quite low at 380 parts per million, have continued their gradual ascent.

In my blog "Global Warming Made Easy" I've presented data about the extent of warming and the extent of sea-level change. The post is mostly raw data but I make a point that warming and sea level change is very gradual (1/10th inch per year) and does not appear to be catastrophic. I also mention there that the cost of mitigating the effects of sea level change is orders of magnitude cheaper than attempts at carbon capture and sequestration. See here. In subsequent blogs, I've indicated that molten salt Thorium reactors may be the carbon-free answer to the future of global energy. Thorium reactors are being tested commercially in Norway and soon in China---even though America invented the technology.

The real danger to earth's inhabitants is the extreme cost burden of trying to capture carbon dioxide spent to avoid fairly mild consequences. Worse, so-called "cap and trade taxes" and "carbon trading" schemes are all about taxing and thereby ruining the world's economy and that these 'measures' won't do anything to reverse the warming.  As you've surmised, global politicians are the biggest danger to the health and well-being of earth's inhabitants!!

Not only are politicians the biggest danger to earth's inhabitants, but the climate scientists are slowly discrediting themselves by their inability to "process" actual data that global temperatures are not increasing recently (appear to have "paused") and that their models are wrong.  Worse, the scare-mongering continues but is thankfully receding.

But Al Gore, nearly a US president, is continuing to spout his extreme climate-change scare tactics despite the fact that global temperatures are failing to confirm the dire and direst predictions. Here are some quotes from a speech at Harvard in February 2013:

Gore stated that consequences of global warming are compelling and devastating...

“The dangers we face are almost unimaginably dire,” Gore said. “My hope is based on the history of our experience as a species.”

Gore said that the warming climate has destructive effects on human health. He noted examples of climate change that have influenced insect behavior and, therefore, the spread of diseases such as West Nile virus.

Gore continually stressed the urgency of the current situation, appealing to the audience with analogies.  “We’re using the atmosphere as an open sewer and it’s functionally insane,” Gore quipped.

Now global warming is helping to spread the West Nile virus??  Oh my God! Worse, Harvard is supposed to represent our best and brightest intellects, but Al Gore's nonsense gets an audience?

Actual Climate Data Vs Climate Models

Here's some recent data about global temperatures compared to the climate model predictions. Mind you, billions and billions of dollars have been spent (invested??) at academic institutions to fund 'scientists' who are trying to develop the climate models. I guess when job security is on the line---that could explain the reluctance of scientists to admit partial failure after billions and billions have been spent!  A small amount of modesty and humility is also indicated as the climate is quite a complex thing and defies easy prediction. Humility is a quality that you will find from true scientists---people who will admit that they don't know everything.

Figure 1 Global Temperatures Versus Various Climate Models

Figure 2 IPCC Climate Model Predictions Versus Recent Measurements

Figure 3
Upper Troposphere Temperatures Were "Supposed" to Rise and Create a Runaway Temperature Scenario. The Earth's oceans were predicted to "boil." There is no evidence of that "theory."

I support continued research in the area of "climate change." It would be incredibly foolish to NOT study these issues. I also call on our nation's scientists, our nuclear industry and our government to re-invigorate our research and to test commercially the intrinsically-safe Molten Salt Thorium reactors as a path forward since we have decades of Thorium fuel already stock-piled.

Islam: Making a Difference, One Body at a Time

"Mohammed is God's apostle. Those who follow him are harsh to the unbelievers but merciful to one another."  Quran 48: 29

"O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty"  Qur'an, Sura 9:123

Let's be clear, Islam is the only religion (ideology) in the world that prescribes violence against other people who are "unbelievers". There are some 109 verses prescribing violent "war" against those who oppose Islamic "rule."  In fact there are few counterbalancing views of tolerance or peace in the Quran. There's no "turn the other cheek" in Islam!  Yes, the Old Testament has violence but it is confined to the specific historical situation, not an open-ended prescription of violence.

Mohammed himself was a violent man in a violent time which is amply reflected in the Quran. This is the source of centuries of blood and tears caused by Islamic violence. Since 9/11 alone, there are over 20,000 deaths attributed to Muslim jihadists (not including war deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq).  To read more about Islam and the Quran, see the website called Religion of Peace.  

Recent worldwide Islamic Terrorist Acts:

• In the past week alone: April 6 to April 12, there were 49 Jihadist attacks killing 195 persons with 468 injured.
• In the last month alone, March 2013, there 189 Jihadist attacks killing 988 and injuring 2093 persons.

For a very good and complete list of Islamic terror since Sept 11, 2001, check out this very detailed list.

Outrageous Muslim Violence In Thailand

In my blog "One Day, 5 Murders By Islamists in Thailand", I describe that over 4000 persons (Buddhists) have been mowed down by Islamic murderers in southern Thailand since 2004.  The reason?  Oh there are made up reasons including separatist feelings, but the truth is that these people are ignorant, useless and desperately unhappy and lash out at anyone in murderous rage----a rage supported by they religion!  These people are criminals plain and simple.

I say in that blog:  "As in all other parts of the Muslim world, this violence continues because no citizen informs the authorities of sons, friends, brothers or cousins that are making bombs, buying grenades, hiding guns and plotting attacks.

Because no citizen stands up for what is right, the entire community is complicit in the violence!

It's not just the "radical element" as the "politically correct" would like you to believe.  The violence is supported by Muslim scripture, teachings and many religious leaders everywhere and tolerated by the entire Muslim community.  The entire Islamic culture refuses any self-examination since they blame everyone else for their problems."

Boston Bombers

I'm listening to the media coverage of the Boston marathon bombers and the subject of Islam hasn't come up much at all.   Very few reporters would even know how to handle such a topic.  In case you haven't heard, both suspects were Islamic from Chechnya and/or Russia.

One of the bombers is reported to have said that "I don't have any American friends. I don't understand them."  I find this telling and it reminds me of the few occasions that I've been around Muslims in America.  Usually Muslims that I've met (since I was in engineering field and met mostly engineers) were reasonably prosperous but unhappy to be here.  They'd rather be back in their home countries regardless how impoverished or violent.  I've noticed that Muslim women (wives), in particular, do not integrate well into the community. To a great extent they choose this (of course) by separating themselves due to their attitudes, social awkwardness, low confidence and their choice of clothes (wearing scarves or Hijab headgear).  Muslims are not so common in America but those that are here seem to integrate somewhat better in this country and in Canada compared to other places.  In Britain, for example, Muslims create entire "Islamic" neighborhoods where "nonbelievers" can face intimidation by thugs or punks.

Back to the Boston Bomber deaths.  Don't expect any condemnations of such violence by any Islamic leaders.  There won't be any.

World Central Banks Facilitating Huge Deficits

Central Banks Facilitating Huge Deficits 

World Central banks are making it easy for governments to spend huge amounts of money that they don't have. There is no need for any spending reforms or restraint while the Central banks are printing money ad infinitum.

The Central banks all over the world are also limiting the rise of interest rates and interest payments on their debts.  Zero interest rates are limiting the cost of servicing the rapidly rising debt.

The US's cost for interest payments back in 2008 was $451 billion, when interest rates were "normal" but the national debt was about $10 Trillion. In a few more years, we'll have $20 Trillion in debt---double the debt of 2008.  So, if interest rates were "normal" than interest payments on the debt would be DOUBLE the amount in 2008 or $900 Billion!!  Mind you, our current defense budget is $680 billion.  Our entire Federal tax collection is only $2400 billion, so $900 billion is a huge number.

What happens if inflation picks up sharply (the last thing anyone is expecting at the moment) and/or the bond market revolts and demands 10% on government bonds?  Interest payments could jump to about $2,000 billion per annum!  The debt that we're creating doesn't go away!  Debt is like a stone around your neck!

A worse example: take Japan, with 230 percent debt-to-GDP ratio, a rise of interest rates from about 1.0% currently to just 2 % would consume half of their annual budget.. The Japanese are already borrowing 10% of their GDP per annum, so debt is already accumulating rapidly.  In terms of debt sustainability, they are rapidly moving up the time when they reach a point of no return.  It's getting close.

More details about the Japanese budget situation from Forbes,

In the FY 2011 ordinary budget expenditures total JPY 92.4 trillion. Of this, JPY 28.7 trillion (31.1 percent) is expenditure for old age social security programs, and JPY 21.5 trillion (around 25 percent) is debt service. A doubling of interest rates would double debt service costs to 50 percent of budget. Is this feasible? Obviously not.

But the situation is actually direr still, as we see by looking at FY 2011 budget “revenues.” Of the JPY 92.4 trillion in revenues, only JPY 48.1 trillion has come from taxes. The remaining JPY 44.3 trillion has come from additional government debt issuance.

Huge Japanese QE Program

The Japanese Central bank recently has embarked on a HUGE quantitative easing (money printing) program that is 3 times the magnitude of the US QE program in relation to the size of their economy.  They aim to go from -0.5% deflation to 2% inflation.  If they succeed and investors demand 2 or 3% for holding government bonds (as opposed to the 0.5 to 1% range of yields currently), they are deep, deep budget trouble.  One might expect their rates to rise to Italian or Spanish levels of about 5% when their situation is "distressed."

It's entirely possible that the Japanese will trigger an unmanageable crisis in their debt markets.  Already the Japanese bond market is in turmoil already---having huge and unprecedented price swings that are triggering circuit breakers nearly every day.   I've said for 3 years now that Europe will be the epicenter for the next leg of the financial crisis.  I believe it's still true, but now Japan is in contention for that prize.

The flood of free money in Japan may fund a carry trade to other Asian countries---precisely what caused the Asian crisis of 1997.   Like I've said, free money and zero interest rates create bubbles on top of bubbles.

The New and Absurd Financial Orthodoxy

Below is a summary of the new financial orthodoxy from Charles Gave's article Take Everything That You Know and Burn It reprinted in Zero Hedge.  Have a look at his entire article.

He describes, tongue-in-cheek, the now prevailing financial orthodoxy in force from the USA to Japan and most places in between:

1. Government allocates capital better than the private sector, and should use interest rates, exchange rates, price fixing, price controls or whatever artifice it deems fit to ensure that capital goes to where it is properly directed.
2. The alpha and omega of the central bank’s proper role is to finance government spending.
3. Money belongs to the government, as we have seen properly demonstrated this week in Cyprus.
4. Property rights, the antediluvian obsession of the market fundamentalists, have been subject to a doctrinal revision “the template” as also shown this week in the eastern Mediterranean.
5. As a result of this new paradigm, asset prices must rise for the foreseeable future so long as The Great Oz decrees that the money printers keep printing. How can asset prices fall while the US central bank is printing more than $80bn a month? Even the unreformed Bundesbankers will surely grasp that if the European Central Bank did the same thing, the euro's problems would disappear overnight and prosperity would swiftly return to southern Europe, (Really, Germans should not be allowed into politics until they have had a primer indoctrination at either Cambridge or Princeton.)
6. More money creates more wealth, and more wealth, especially in real estate, creates more jobs—evidence to the contrary in Spain only represents a small setback on this road to happiness. As we all know, a rise in real estate prices leads to a massive increase in productivity, a prerequisite for an increase in the standard of living.
7. Services or goods provided to the population by the government, borrowing money from the central bank to pay the fellows who produce the goods that nobody needs with money that does not exist, will add tremendously to the GDP. This is a sure sign that the right policy is being pursued.
8. These goods and services anyway have a higher moral value than the ones produced in the private sector. One should simply compare the "social usefulness" (a favorite notion of Lenin and Stalin) of a nurse versus a hedge fund manager to be convinced. I rest my case.

It's too bad that all of this will lead to financial ruin: debasement of currencies, higher inflation, ruining savers and retirees and more government intervention because of another "crisis."

I'm afraid that, in the years ahead, it will end up leading to bloodshed as the only way to get rid of the idiots who are ruining our nations will be to shoot them in the head--so profoundly stubborn are they in their "dogma" and phony orthodoxy.

1913 Income Tax Starts at 1%

Tax returns are due today: April 15, 2013.  To make note of this day and provide a glimpse as to how federal taxes started exactly 100 years ago, I've attached page 1 of form 1040 from 1913 below.

Top Tax Rate was 7% in 1913

The tax rate for the vast majority of people, after the standard deduction of $3,000 and up to $20,000 annual income, was 1%.   There was another 1% (2% top rate) on income over $20k up to $50k, 3% on income of $50k to $75k.  The top rate on income over $500,000 was 7%.

Four years later, the tax rate was 77% or an eleven-fold-but that's another story.

Put This In Perspective

Prices (and presumably wages) are roughly 25 times higher now compared to 1913, so income of $20,000 in 1913 is equivalent to $500,000 today.  So, the 1% income tax covered incomes up to $500,000 (in today's dollars).  

Since the standard deduction was $3,000 or about $75,000 in today's prices, the vast majority of people did not pay any income tax at all.  The top rate was 7% on income over $500,000 (or $12.5 million in today's dollars).

The Federal Reserve act passed in 1913 and this body is responsible for the 23 fold price inflation (at least) in 100 years.  That's 2,300% over 100 years!  The Federal Reserve was created to maintain "price stability" and "economic growth."  What a joke! Prices went up 110% from 1913 to 1921 alone!  I'll cover this disaster in another blog entry.

IRS Form 1040 in 1913

The House of Horrors Trial--Unreported by Media

A USA Today article by Kirsten Powers wonders why nobody is aware of the horror story emerging from the murder trial of Kermit Gosnell, a black abortionist in Philadelphia.  She asks, why isn't this page one news?

Indeed.

Why haven't you heard the news?  Because media outlets are refusing to cover it.  For what it shows is the dark underbelly of abortion clinics and that it is unlikely to be an isolated case.  It's shocking and blood-curdling stuff:

From USA Today:

Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell's former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.

NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, "described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, 'literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body." One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his "snipping" technique to use on infants born alive.

Massof, who, like other witnesses, has himself pleaded guilty to serious crimes, testified "It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place." Here is the headline the Associated Press put on a story about his testimony that he saw 100 babies born and then snipped: "Staffer describes chaos at PA abortion clinic."

Chaos?  Horror is more like it.

Eight co-defendants have pleaded guilty and most will testify against Gosnell.   Gosnell's wife Pearl has confessed to performing abortions and may, herself, go to prison. From The Daily Mail other testimony during the trial:

Kermit and Pearl Gosnell

"Stephen Massof, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to the murder of two newborns at the clinic, revealed Thursday that he witnessed an abortion at 26 weeks - two weeks beyond the 24-week limit in the state.

He also claimed he saw about 100 babies born alive and then 'snipped' with surgical scissors in the back of the neck, to ensure their 'demise'.

'It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place. It is literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body,' he told NBC.

A Grand Jury report said the clinic was crawling with cats and reeking of animal urine and feces.   Furniture and blankets were stained with blood and instruments were not properly sterilized.
Disposable medical supplies were also reused while vital medical equipment such as the defibrillator and EKG machine were 'generally broken'.

Disturbingly, the report alleged that fetal remains were stuffed into: 'cabinets, in the basement, in a freezer, in jars and bags and plastic jugs'.

Tiny baby feet, it is claimed, were discovered in specimen jars, lined up in a macabre collection."

In other trial testimony, 

"Prosecutors allege that Gosnell’s untrained staff let patients pick between ‘local,’ ‘twilight,’ ‘’heavy’ or ‘custom’ anesthesia based on how much they could pay. And they say he did little to monitor patients afterward, failing to utilize blood pressure cuffs, oxygen machines, a pulse monitor and other standard surgical equipment.

The jury heard testimony from the mother of “Baby Boy A,” the child aborted alive in July 2008 who was so big Gosnell “joked” that he could have walked to the bus stop; and from the employee (Adrienne Moton) who saw the baby before “Gosnell rushed in and carried the boy away.”

There is so much that is wrong here!  

To some extent this entire story is surely part of the African American and the larger American cultural "train wreck."  Several of my recent blogs (one here) have criticized the Media and television coverage that CONSTANTLY misrepresents the sorry state of African American "culture." "Train wreck" is an apt description.  Most white people don't have a clue about how bad it is.  The incident of Gosnell gives just one glimpse as to what I'm talking about--which is another reason that major media outlets are ignoring the story.  

Furthermore, one of my blogs (here) makes a point that affirmative action has created a two-tier qualification level of medical doctors: one level for blacks and one for all of the rest.  The result of these two-tier standards is that two doctors like Gosnell and Conrad Murray are somehow being granted medical licenses.  Conrad Murray received his medical degree in Granada, the same medical school as unlicensed Stephen Massof, of one of the defendants above.  

Nebraska Cornhusker's Rex Burkhead & Jack Hoffman - An Inspirational Story

Check out a moving story of a 7 year old cancer survivor and his new friend:  Nebraska Husker running back Rex Burkhead:

It's well worth a look.   Have some tissues ready.