Commentary by Dick Young
As Thomas Sowell says in Politics vs. Gold, gold cramps the style of politicians who want to inflate the currency to pay down their debts. Inflation is the same as stealing from taxpayers, and anyone else who holds dollars or dollar denominated assets. The steady generation of money from the Federal Reserve can’t possibly make America’s retirees, the Chinese, the Japanese, or investors like you and me very happy. Official inflation statistics have been below the Fed’s inflation target lately, so why are people buying so much gold? The fear of future inflation is based on the massive, unsustainable fiscal deficits being run by the radical Obama administration, on top of those generated by the neocon led Bush administration to finance wars that America has no business being in. The fear of future inflation is also based on the accommodation of these fiscal deficits by a Federal Reserve that has no valid claim to political independence. The Bernanke Fed has thrown its morals out the window and is actively helping the Federal Government refinance its debts at low-low interest rates. As Sowell also points out, the federal government is staring down the barrel of a Social Security gun, looking at having to pay more out than it takes in very soon. An easy and politically sneaky way to deal with that imbalance in assets and liabilities is to print a boat-load of money. Where gold comes into this equation is as an inflation identifier. Gold, as a simple piece of unchanging metal, shouldn’t become more valuable or less in a steady dollar environment. However the market is pricing in a serious inflation in the price of gold in dollar terms, putting a glaring light on politicians who would rather their inflationary ways were kept hush-hush. Obamacare made it harder on buyers and sellers of gold to do their business, and gave the government a look into their sales. Remember that FDR stole Americans’ gold from them. Don’t think it couldn’t happen again.
Commentary by E.J. Smith
The last time I checked, thanks to big government, our entitlement programs have spun out of control. Yet, U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius singles out resistance to change for the unpopularity of Obamacare. In her editorial in today’s Wall Street Journal, Health Insurers Finally Get Some Oversight, she writes, “There’s a long history of special interests using similar attacks to oppose change. In the mid-1960s, for example, some claimed Medicare would put our country on the path to socialism.” Has she actually looked at the track record for Medicare? She goes on to boast that 46 states have already received grants to beef up their premium review and oversight capabilities. In other words, the federal government has already strong armed states to do its dirty work dictating what insurers will charge for their services, or else. In addition, the clear instructions to new state-base health insurance marketplaces called “exchanges” that will be created in 2014 will put more government between you and the care you receive. The government will determine who makes the cut on the exchanges which will limit your choices like never before. And you think Medicare is out of control now, just wait.
Commentary by Timothy Jones on Rahm in Retreat by Robert Costa, National Review
Rahm Emanuel’s exit to “run for mayor” is nearly laughable. As much leaked information and speculation has never followed such an exit. The Obama administration is doing all it can to distract the media and Americans from the fact that it hates Rahm, and Rahm likely hates the administration. Obama lavished so much praise on Rahm Emanuel at the start of his administration that it became politically unfeasible to dump him when the two men realized that their governing styles simply wouldn’t work together. Now the administration is doing everything it can to pump up the story that Rahm is leaving to become mayor of Chicago. This is just evidence of the lengths to which the Obama administration will go to save face.
Commentary by Dick Young on ObamaCare’s Hotel California by the editors of The Wall Street Journal
The blind are leading the blind when California is basing its insurance exchange on that of Massachusetts. Why anyone thinks Americans would want to buy something as personal as health insurance in an exchange format is beyond comprehension. The amount of needless and expensive health coverage that will be required for these exchanges to work will distort the insurance market even further. Americans have been given new burdens to the benefit of insurance companies, big government bureaucrats, and central planners.
Commentary by E.J. Smith on How Obama Thinks by Dinesh D’Souza, Forbes
How does Obama think? Just ask Dinesh D’Souza. His story made the cover of Forbes magazine. He writes: “If Obama shares his father’s anticolonial crusade, that would explain why he wants people who are already paying close to 50% of their income in overall taxes to pay even more. The anticolonialist believes that since the rich have prospered at the expense of others, their wealth doesn’t really belong to them; therefore whatever can be extracted from them is automatically just. Recall what Obama Sr. said in his 1965 paper: There is no tax rate too high, and even a 100% rate is justified under certain circumstances.” Dinesh D’Souza’s new book “The Roots of Obama’s Rage ” was released yesterday.
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