Geithner Travels Globe Essentially Begging For Money To Finance U.S. Debt

I know. The actual headline of the referenced article reads "pitching U.S. debt" but we all know what this really amounts to. It is a vindication of Margaret Thatcher when she said: "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."

Unfortunately for Obama and his Democrat cronies, it happened much sooner than they expected. So now, Secretary Geithner must go abroad and seek new infusions of funds to support what amounts to a socialist agenda.

From the Associated Press:

Timothy Geithner, architect of bank, auto and economic rescue plans, has another high-stakes job these days: traveling bond salesman. ... Geithner, who traveled last week to the Middle East and Europe, has to convince foreign investors to keep buying Treasury bills, notes and bonds; they hold nearly half of the government's roughly $7 trillion in publicly traded debt.

But all of this comes with very grave dangers to the U.S. economy. Not just selling the debt but the deficit spending which drives the debt up even further.

Read on:

If foreign demand for U.S. debt sags, that could drive up interest rates and spell big trouble for an economy hobbled by 9.5 percent unemployment. Higher rates would make it more expensive for consumers to buy homes and cars, and for businesses to finance their operations. In the worst case scenario, a rush by foreigners to sell their U.S. debt could send the dollar crashing and inflation soaring.

Although some analysts say that this would never happen, don't pretend that the possibility isn't there. After all, the analysts were convinced that the Japanese would never be able to attack Pearl Harbor.

But there are some very telling signs about how the rest of the world feels about our government's current spending spree:

Last month, [Geithner] visited China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries. That trip was marked by an extra dose of drama. In March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said his country was concerned about the "safety" of the large amounts of money it had lent to the United States. ... The deficit-cutting proposals the administration has so far revealed would fall far short of what is needed. "If the Obama administration has a credible plan to bring the deficits down, they are keeping it a deep secret at the moment," said Michael Mussa, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. With nearly three months left in the budget year, the Obama administration forecasts that this year's deficit will total $1.84 trillion, more than four times the size of last year's record tally. ... When Geithner told a packed auditorium at Peking University that Chinese investments in the U.S. were safe, his comment was greeted by laughter.

That should have been a huge eye-opener to Geithner, Obama and the Democrats who continue to call for spending like drunken sailors.

It should be a huge eye-opener for the rest of us as well.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Geithner Travels Globe, Pitching U.S. Debt
Associated Press via MSNBC
July 19, 2009

Global Warming Not Affecting Chicago?

The central thesis of global warming theory is that as concentrations of atmospheric CO₂ rise then so does global temperature. Unfortunately for Al Gore and the AGW alarmist crowd, global temperatures have remained steady or have been declining since 2003 despite the fact that CO₂ concentrations have been rising (thanks to the industrial efforts of China and India whom the leftists want to exempt from any type of carbon restrictions).

The city of Chicago is feeling the effects of this period of Global Cooling:

The cloudy, chilly and rainy open to June here has been the talk of the town. So far this June is running more than 12 degrees cooler than last year, and the clouds, rain and chilly lake winds have been persistent. The average temperature at O'Hare International Airport through Friday has been only 59.5 degrees: nearly 7 degrees below normal and the coldest since records there began 50 years ago.

If the Global Warming alarmists were correct, temperatures should have gone up, not down. That would be true for the temperature in the Great Lakes as well as in the atmosphere.

Global Warming theory has once again failed it own test.

You can access the complete entry on-line here:

So Far, June's Chill Is One For The Records
Steve Kahn
WGN Weather Center
June 12, 2009

DPRK (North Korean) Communists Hold American Journalists; Threaten A Kangaroo Court

Communists don't change. From Stalin to Mao to the current leadership of DPRK (Pronounced Dee-Perk), it has always been the same: Sustain a reign of terror, even if it means trying and convicting innocent people. Evidence and transparency are irrelevent, just make arrests and start tossing people in prison.

According to the late Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and his epic work The Gulag Archipelago, that is how communists work. North Korea hasn't changed one little bit along those lines.

From the Associated Press:

North Korea announced that two U.S. journalists were about to go on trial — then came the mysterious silence. The day passed Friday with no updates of the criminal proceedings that were supposed to begin Thursday for TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee.

And what were these two supposed to go on trial for? Read on:

The journalists — working for former Vice President Al Gore's California-based Current TV — were arrested March 17 as they were reporting about the trafficking of women. It's unclear if they strayed into the North or were grabbed by aggressive border guards who crossed into China. Although the Americans were accused of illegally entering North Korea and unspecified "hostile acts," Pyongyong has yet to publicly announce the exact charges against them. South Korean legal experts have said a conviction for "hostility" or espionage could mean five to 10 years in a labor camp.

Given the track record of lies and distortions that make up the bulk of the history of communist regimes, I would venture to guess that aggressive border guards crossed into China. How can I make such a claim? Read the history of "justice" in DRPK:

Venezuelan poet Ali Lameda described to the human rights group Amnesty International in a written report his experience in a North Korean court that sentenced him to 20 years in a labor camp in 1967. Lameda, a member of the Venezuelan Communist Party, said he was working as a translator in Pyongyang when he was accused of spying, sabotage and infiltration — allegations he denied. No evidence, formal charges or specific allegations were presented during the one-day proceeding, he said. Instead, court officials repeatedly demanded that Lameda confess his guilt. A defense lawyer was assigned to him, but the attorney gave a long speech praising the late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung before suggesting his client be sentenced to 20 years.

No, the communists haven't changed one little bit.

Where is Barack Obama and why isn't he demanding the release of these two Americans being illegally held by DPRK? He and the Democrats are certainly vocal enough when it is the U.S. holding legitimate terrorism suspects.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

North Korea Silent About US Journalists' Trial
William Foreman, Jean H. Lee and Kwang-tae Kim
Associated press
June 5, 2009

China Warns United States: Stop Printing Money; Situation May Cause U.S. Loss Of AAA Rating

I find it very disturbing that major news outlets here in the United States are not following this story more closely. Perhaps because to do so would mean casting Obama and his cronies in a negative light.

The story is that in order to finance the massive debt we are running up (5 times larger than what the Bush Administration ran up) we are prining money at a break-neck pace. And it is causing concern among those who are floating our debt right now, namely, the Chinese government.

From the Telegraph UK:

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, said: "Senior officials of the Chinese government grilled me about whether or not we are going to monetise the actions of our legislature." "I must have been asked about that a hundred times in China. I was asked at every single meeting about our purchases of Treasuries. That seemed to be the principal preoccupation of those that were invested with their surpluses mostly in the United States," he told the Wall Street Journal.

What happens when the Chinese call us on these loans? We won't be able to pay and our monetary systems collaspses.

More:

Mr. Fisher, the Fed's leading hawk, was a fierce opponent of the original decision to buy Treasury debt, fearing that it would lead to a blurring of the line between fiscal and monetary policy – and could all too easily degenerate into Argentine-style financing of uncontrolled spending.

I think we are already at the "uncontrolled spending" stage with the Democrats feverishly trying to squander our children's and grand-children's future by saddling them with huge debts and liabilities in order to waste money on ear-mark and pork projects now.

The Oxford-educated Mr. Fisher, an outspoken free-marketer and believer in the Schumpeterian process of "creative destruction", has been running a fervent campaign to alert Americans to the "very big hole" in unfunded pension and health-care liabilities built up by a careless political class over the years. "We at the Dallas Fed believe the total is over $99 trillion," he said in February. "This situation is of your own creation. When you berate your representatives or senators or presidents for the mess we are in, you are really berating yourself. You elect them," he said. His warning comes amid growing fears that America could lose its AAA sovereign rating.

Massive spending will not get us out of this. Nor will increasing the size of the government. In fact, those two actions in tandem will cause the situation to get worse and worse which is precisely why the United States is in danger of losing the AAA sovereign rating.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

China Warns Federal Reserve Over 'Printing Money'
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Telegraph UK
May 27, 2009

NASA Acknowledges 'Deep Solar Minimum'

It is true that most Americans no longer believe in Anthroprogenic (Man-made) Global Warming. Why? Mostly because of the harsh winter that we just endured and the unusually cool spring we are looking at right now. If greenhouse gas emissions are supposed to make temperatures go up, then why are temperatures going down? That is what people are asking.

But these observations may be showing us just the beginning of things to come. Most legitimate scientists (i.e. those scientists who are not on someone's political payroll) are coming to the conclusion that climate change, whether it be warming or cooling, is driven by our sun. NASA has recently lent it's support to that position by acknowledging the possibility of a "deep solar minimum."

What that means is that our sun has slipped into a period of decreased activity and decreased solar energy output.

From Science@NASA:

The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower. 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73%). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days: plot. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008. Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87%). It adds up to one inescapable conclusion: "We're experiencing a very deep solar minimum," says solar physicist Dean Pesnell of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "This is the quietest sun we've seen in almost a century," agrees sunspot expert David Hathaway of the Marshall Space Flight Center.

And to show what that means graphically:



Sunspot counts are clearly at a minimum and that means decreased solar energy output as evidenced by the solar irradiance measurement:



NASA scientists admit that they do not know what will happen next. But it is clear that the sunspot cycle and the solar irradience cycle are more closely tied to global temperature change than any greenhouse gas emissions are. We know this because thanks to the efforts of China and India, greenhouse gas emissions have increased over the years, but global temperature has gone down, not up.

Other effects:

A 50-year low in solar wind pressure: Measurements by the Ulysses spacecraft reveal a 20% drop in solar wind pressure since the mid-1990s—the lowest point since such measurements began in the 1960s. The solar wind helps keep galactic cosmic rays out of the inner solar system. With the solar wind flagging, more cosmic rays are permitted to enter, resulting in increased health hazards for astronauts. Weaker solar wind also means fewer geomagnetic storms and auroras on Earth. A 12-year low in solar "irradiance": Careful measurements by several NASA spacecraft show that the sun's brightness has dropped by 0.02% at visible wavelengths and 6% at extreme UV wavelengths since the solar minimum of 1996. The changes so far are not enough to reverse the course of global warming, but there are some other significant side-effects: Earth's upper atmosphere is heated less by the sun and it is therefore less "puffed up." Satellites in low Earth orbit experience less atmospheric drag, extending their operational lifetimes. Unfortunately, space junk also remains longer in Earth orbit, increasing hazards to spacecraft and satellites.

Also, if those sunspots don't return and solar energy output does not increase, we will be in for some very cold times ahead.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Deep Solar Minimum
Dr. Tony Phillips
Science@NASA
April 1, 2009

Both The Remote Sensing Systems Of Santa Rosa And University Of Alabama (Huntsville) Dataset Show Temperature Going Down

See the two above graphs? They both show that the earth has been in a cyclical cooling trend for the past several years. Although no one can accurately predict what the trends will be for the years to come, both of the data representations show that all of the hype about the world coming to an end because of man-made "greenhouse" gases is nothing more than ... well ... a bunch of hype.

Greenhouse gas theory holds that as greenhouse gas emissions increase, global temperatures go up. Since 2000, greenhouse gas emissions have indeed gone up thanks to China and India, but as the data shows, temperatures have gone down. The theory has failed its own major test.

Also note the UAH graph has detail explanations with regards to certain outlier events (the eruption of Mount Pinatubo and the cycling of El Nino) in addition to a fourth-order polynomial fit to show what the trends are. No global warming alarmist would ever mention such natural causes nor such contrary evidence in any of their arguments.

August 8, 2008, The Opening Day Of The Olympic Games

As a former athlete, I am completely opposed to the idea of mixing politics and the Olympics. I was stunned back in 1980 when America's worst President of all time, a disaster named James Earl Carter, used our Olympic athletes as political pawns and punished them for the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by not allowing them to compete in the Moscow Games. The boycotting of the Games changed nothing and the only symbolism it produced was that it showed how flaky Carter had become. When the boycott was announced, the rest of the world finally saw how spineless and ineffective he was.

But I am also opposed the idea of a host country mixing politics and the Olympics, especially by revoking visas of private citizens who wish to attend the Games and by attempting to silence any criticism athletes may have of the host government.

Such is the case with Gold Medal winning speed-skater Joey Cheek who co-founded Team Darfur. His visa was revoked by the Chinese government because he is very critical of the Chinese support of the Sudanese who have been causing genocide in the Darfur region.

USA Today has a nice article about that situation and the fact that a Team Darfur member will be carrying the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies:

Lopez Lomong, a Lost Boy of the Sudan and a member of Team Darfur, was selected Thursday as flag bearer for the U.S. Olympic team in Friday's opening ceremonies. His selection came the same day winter Olympian and Team Darfur co-founder Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by China. Cheek, a 2006 gold medal winning speedskater who had expected to arrive in Beijing on Thursday, is angry that the Chinese government is taking this "effort to suppress discussion about human rights." He was happy about Lomong's selection but said it had no bearing on his situation. Lomong, 23, a 1,500-meter runner, was born in Sudan and driven from his family after a rebel attack — a fate shared by thousands of children. After escaping from a rebel camp at 6, he spent 10 years in a refugee camp in Kenya before arriving in Tully, N.Y., and becoming a citizen a year ago "His selection is a statement to how moving his story is," Cheek said. "The fact that he survived these tragedies is an amazing story." Cheek had planned to attend the Games to support the 70-plus athletes competing in Beijing who have signed onto Team Darfur. The group is critical of the Chinese government's funding of the Sudanese regime responsible for the genocide in Darfur. Cheek is less concerned about not going to the Olympics than he is about "the muzzling of athletes" who are competing. "I really hope the International Olympic Committee will make all efforts to protect competing athletes and their right to be able to speak about this or any issue they consider to be relevant," he said.

President Bush was also critical of the Chinese government's record of human-rights violations during a speech at the new U.S. embassy in Beijing. But the President never entertained the idea of boycotting the Olymipics and he has made it clear that his attendance at the opening ceremony is to support U.S. athletes, not to give any kind of legitimacy to the Chinese policies.

From the Seattle Times:

Eager for the Olympics to begin, President Bush gave a pep talk to U.S. athletes Friday and then settled in for the opening ceremonies, after starting his day with another swipe at China's human rights record. "It's gotta be really exciting, thinking about marching in that stadium and representing our country, "an enthusiastic Bush told the cheering American contingent gathered in the Olympic fencing center. "We appreciate all the hard work you've put in to get to this spot," said Bush, accompanied by wife Laura and his father, former President George H.W. Bush, the U.S. team's honorary captain. "We want you to win as many golds as you possibly can. Go forth, give it all you got." ... Bush earlier used the dedication of the new U.S. Embassy to prod China to lessen repression and "let people say what they think." The communist nation, which tolerates only government-approved religions, has rounded up dissidents ahead of the Olympics and imposed Internet restrictions on journalists that some say amount to censorship, all contrary to Beijing's commitments when it won hosting rights for the games. "We strongly believe societies which allow the free expression of ideas tend to be the most prosperous and the most peaceful," Bush said at the vast American diplomatic complex, built at a cost of $434 million. The past week has seen blunt language from both sides - with China clearly unhappy that its record of repression was being repeatedly aired even as it was seeking to revel in its long-anticipated debut on the world's biggest sporting stage.

At one venue, the embassy dedication, the President rightly criticized the Chinese government. At the other venue, a pep talk for the American Olympians, the President rightly offered praise and support for U.S. athletes. That is how it is done.

The athletes are in agreement:

Dwyane Wade, a member of the superstar-laden men's basketball team, said he was happy Bush would be in the stands. "We get support of our president, that means a lot. That means a lot of people ... back home want us to succeed," Wade said. "So we have to go out there and play like we're representing the US of A," he said. "If we do that ... we'll win it."

That's all I have to say about the politics of the Olympics. The Games are about the athlete and the sport. If the athletes want to say a few words, let them. But don't forget why they are there to begin with.

You can access both articles on-line here:

Darfur Refugee To Carry Flag For U.S. At Opening Ceremony
Janice Lloyd and Dick Patrick
USA Today
August 7, 2008

Bush Gives Pep Talks To US Olympians In Beijing
Paul Alexander
Associated Press via The Seattle Times
August 8, 2008

Gas Prices Emerging As The #1 Issue, But Is Senator McCain Listening?

We now have an issue we can lock onto and really draw a direct comparison between the Free Market Republicans and the Socialist Democrats. Gasoline price and domestic energy production. And, if the Republicans and Senator McCain play their cards right, it could go a long way towards bringing some sanity back to the halls of Congress this November.

From Dr. Bobby Eberle at GOPUSA:

It was easy for Democrats to blame the "big" oil companies. They would bring oil executives before Congress, lambast them, and feel good about themselves. However, public opinion is changing. The American people are seeing through the left-wing effort to cloud the issue. The price of gasoline is driven by supply and demand. The proper approach is to address both aspects. We should conserve and look for energy alternatives to hit the "demand" side. We should also look at the "supply" side and see how ridiculous it is to leave the fate of America in the hands of unstable Middle-Eastern countries when we have huge supplies of untapped domestic oil. Americans want to drill at home, and Sen. McCain has a golden opportunity to seize upon this issue. Is he listening? In a recent survey by Rasmussen Reports, Scott Rasmussen notes that "most voters favor the resumption of offshore drilling in the United States and expect it to lower prices at the pump."

According to the Rasmussen poll, 67% of voters now believe that drilling should be allowed off the coasts of California and Florida compared to 18% who are opposed.

Heck, even China plans on drilling off the coast of Florida and they plan on drilling directionally to tap mineral reserves that lie within U.S. waters! Why shouldn't we drill there instead?

Dr. Eberle goes on:

In his speech, McCain says: "But the stakes are high for our citizens and for our economy. And with gasoline running at more than four bucks a gallon, many do not have the luxury of waiting on the far-off plans of futurists and politicians. We have proven oil reserves of at least 21 billion barrels in the United States. But a broad federal moratorium stands in the way of energy exploration and production. And I believe it is time for the federal government to lift these restrictions and to put our own reserves to use. "We can do this in ways that are consistent with sensible standards of environmental protection. And in states that choose to permit exploration, there must be an appropriate sharing of benefits between federal and state governments. But as a matter of fairness to the American people, and a matter of duty for our government, we must deal with the here and now, and assure affordable fuel for America by increasing domestic production." Here, the senator is right on target. We must increase domestic production to address the "supply" side of the equation. Congress is standing in the way, and the American people must make their voices heard on this issue. Just as we stopped their attempts at amnesty, if we join together, we can demand more domestic oil production. Make no mistake... through legislation and regulations, Congress is responsible for our vast dependence on the Middle East for oil. This is where the left is so out of touch. People like New York Sen. Chuck Schumer stand up and demand that President Bush pressure countries like Saudi Arabia to increase production, but he won't allow production at home? The president gets criticized by the liberals for being a "bully," but that's exactly what Schumer wants the president to be when it comes to increasing oil production. Rather than increasing our national security and driving prices down by producing more oil at home, the only thing Schumer wants America to do is to actually increase our dependence on foreign oil by demanding OPEC supply more.

Yes, Congress is part of the problem here. Since the Democrats took control, the price of gasoline has almost doubled and rather than actually doing something sensible (like increasing production here at home) they have falsely accused oil companies of price gouging, blocked efforts to bring prices down, and actually driven the price of gasoline up with those idiotic ethanol requirements. Further, those ethanol requirements resulted in us using more oil than ever before so it didn't do anything to reduce our reliance on foreign oil.

The Dems haven't done one thing to ease the consumer's pain at the pump. Despite Democrat claims to the contrary, they do not care one whit about the problems faced by Joe and Jane Average American.

The next time you see someone who voted Democrat, thank them for the high energy prices.

Finally:

Sen. McCain is on the right track in calling for lifting the ban on offshore drilling. He is right that we need more domestic production. He needs to step up and lead on this issue. We can't cower to the left and be afraid of angering some environmentalist. McCain needs to stop the global warming chatter, and show the American people that the best way to ensure America's national security interests are to take our fate out of the hands of the Middle East. I certainly hope he can do it.

Senator McCain needs to come out swinging on this issue. Is he listening to us? I don't know yet. But it is clear the American voter is watching closely now to see who promises what before November.

You can access the complete column on-line here:

Gas Prices Emerging As #1 Issue - Are You Listening Sen. McCain?
Dr. Bobby Eberle
GOPUSA.com
June 18, 2008