By Les Dunaway
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Meredith Whitney looks at the state of the states. With the end of stimulus money and the end of QE2 (quantitative easing) just weeks away, this is timely. In January we talked about the states “The States – America’s PIIGS?” in relation the EU countries.
Several states have used stimulus money to put off dealing with systemic problems – … Read more...
By J. Randolph Evans
On May 7, 2011, first lady Michelle Obama, echoing President Barack
Obama, addressed the success of the United States military in killing
Osama bin Laden. She made her remarks in Iowa, the first state to
decide in the 2012 election cycle. The last time she was in Iowa was to
campaign in the 2008 presidential election.
Observations©
By Donald S. Conkey
On May 6, 1999 the Tribune published my first Mother’s Day tribute to my mother. Ironically the day it was published was the day Mother was buried in the family cemetery in Huron County, Michigan.
That was a difficult day. But sooner or later most of us figure it out that mankind came into mortality for a grand purpose: to be tested and tried and … Read more...
By J. Randolph Evans
Several Republican candidates for President appeared in Greenville,
South Carolina on May 5th, in the first of many “debates” to come. Not
every candidate or potential candidate made his or her way to South
Carolina, the home of the third state to decide in the nomination
process (after Iowa and New Hampshire). Indeed, several political
heavyweights who are considering a presidential run decided to pass on… Read more...
By Les Dunaway
The long expected housing double dip has happened. Diana Olick, Reality Check, reports that March 2011 numbers are lower than the March 2009 trough. In a second piece she discusses reasons for the dip. Unfortunately, her analysis has since been damaged by today’s unemployment report. In her 23 March 2011 analysis she states “The pros are that the job market is slowly recovering. Jobs are key to … Read more...
By John Douglas
All of us can remember what are called “gotcha moments,” moments in time when something important happened and we can recall years later where we were when we first heard the news. Such was the attack on Pearl Harbor for our older citizens, the assassination of President Kennedy for my generation and the attacks of 9/11/01 for most of us. This past week we added another gotcha … Read more...
By J. Randolph Evans
On April 27, 2011, the White House staff handed out to reporters a
certified copy of the longer form of the Certificate of Live Birth for
President Barack Obama. Shortly thereafter President Obama appeared
before the White House Press corps and confirmed that it was his birth
certificate.
This is not the first time that the birth issue has been addressed by
the Obama team. Indeed, … Read more...
By John Douglas
Until now, historians generally consider our 15th President, James Buchanan to have been the worst President in American history. While in office from 1857-1861, he sat by and did nothing to halt the oncoming War Between the States and the sectional crisis that was tearing the nation apart. Fortunately for America, Buchanan chose not to run for reelection and went home, making way for Abraham Lincoln.
That … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
Well, this has been an interesting week and not all bad. The world got to see Ben Bernanke admit, live and in color, that his Fed can’t do much about unemployment and then tell us the inflation that’s hurting every American family “won’t last long”. It would have been interesting to understand the logic that led him to that conclusion.
Larry Kudlow “Gold Slams Bernanke” … Read more...
By J. Randolph Evans
President Barack Obama has officially launched his campaign for
reelection as President of the United States. His budget for his
campaign is one billion dollars.
So far, Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing about the 2012
election – it will be a referendum on the first term of President Obama.
This is not to say that issues like the deficit, spending, gas prices,
unemployment, and … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
This April 18th, 2011 will be one of those dates hated by school kids – because it will be part of the dreaded “essay question”. It’s still to be seen what the essay will describe – the beginning of America’s slide into oblivion or the beginning of her heroic escape from the yawning abyss of Euro-socialism.
One essay tied to 18 Apr 2011 can be written now … Read more...
By Les Dunaway
In a move surprising only those who believe demagoguery is a substitute for economics, the Standard & Poor Ratings Services downgraded its outlook on the US to “Negative” from “Stable”. This is the first step toward a downgrade of the US credit rating from AAA, which would increase borrowing costs and hasten America’s spiral into economic ruin.
“More than two … Read more...