Telegraph
"The litany of failure began with his attempt to pass a modest gun control bill in the wake of the Newtown massacre. The vast majority of Americans were favourable (if probably uninterested), the media backed it and – in the aftermath of that bloody horror – it seemed inevitable. Yet the President couldn't garner the votes. The problem wasn't just the Republicans being mean or the NRA being surprisingly smart, it was that Obama's 2012 victory had come at a price. He'd so slandered, slammed and irritated his opponents that they refused to work with him. And so the lame duck presidency became a dead duck. .....Syria. Presidents rarely have trouble sending Americans to war. There's a
tradition that it's the executive's prerogative and Congress usually
defers to the hawks. But on this occasion Obama first said he'd go to
the Congress, then declined even to do that, then allowed all talk of
war to slide into silence. Again, his nervousness about seeking approval
wasn't just down to Republican partisanship (on this occasion, the GOP
establishment queued up to back him). It was because Obama had weakened
the case for war through incompetence. ........Finally, there was Obamacare. This
was the most important screw-up of all because it related to the
biggest proposal of the first term: universal healthcare coverage.
It was promised that people could keep their old insurance plans, that
costs would fall, that the system would be easy to navigate. On the
contrary, millions risked higher premiums and losing their old plans.
And the website – the basic nuts and bolts of the operation – functioned
less professionally than a 13-year old's tumblr of cute looking cats.
To be fair, many of these problems have been addressed. But the damage
is done. Obamacare looks overambitious and poorly conceived. ..........But rarely has a presidency been so damned by its own president. He has
alienated much of the Congress, run a foreign policy based upon a
conscious rejection of world leadership, spent too much, expanded the
welfare state, and failed to ensure that his administration is at least
functional."
Tuesday, 31 December 2013
Saturday, 23 November 2013
A million of our young out of work, dictatorship by Brussels and why Mr Cameron can no longer ignore the people on immigration
Daily Mail
"In less than six weeks, unless there is a decisive Government U-turn, Britain, as required by the European Union, will throw open its jobs market to the 29 million citizens of Romania and Bulgaria. It’s a development which could have the most considerable implications for the Prime Minister, British society and, most importantly, this country’s one million unemployed young people. Yet David Cameron and his ministers are approaching January 1 with a head-in-the-sand insouciance which is so sadly typical of a political class that is increasingly remote from the lives and concerns of ordinary voters. Incredibly, the Government has refused to estimate how many migrants will arrive. .......Salford University research reveals Britain already has one of the largest Roma populations (which includes migrants from Romania and Bulgaria) in Western Europe — with about 200,000 living here. That figure, typically, is four times higher than the Government’s own estimates. Worryingly, MigrationWatch UK chairman Sir Andrew Green, whose research has proved painstakingly accurate over the past decade, is predicting 50,000 arrivals every year from Romania and Bulgaria from January 1. Over five years, that is the equivalent of the population of a city the size of Hull."
"In less than six weeks, unless there is a decisive Government U-turn, Britain, as required by the European Union, will throw open its jobs market to the 29 million citizens of Romania and Bulgaria. It’s a development which could have the most considerable implications for the Prime Minister, British society and, most importantly, this country’s one million unemployed young people. Yet David Cameron and his ministers are approaching January 1 with a head-in-the-sand insouciance which is so sadly typical of a political class that is increasingly remote from the lives and concerns of ordinary voters. Incredibly, the Government has refused to estimate how many migrants will arrive. .......Salford University research reveals Britain already has one of the largest Roma populations (which includes migrants from Romania and Bulgaria) in Western Europe — with about 200,000 living here. That figure, typically, is four times higher than the Government’s own estimates. Worryingly, MigrationWatch UK chairman Sir Andrew Green, whose research has proved painstakingly accurate over the past decade, is predicting 50,000 arrivals every year from Romania and Bulgaria from January 1. Over five years, that is the equivalent of the population of a city the size of Hull."
The death of Microsoft
Zdnet
"Operating systems are commodities that are free or almost free - like device drivers are today. Say goodbye to Windows revenue. Servers and tools will become more important as apps, computes and storage move to the cloud - public or private - to enable powerful mobile user capabilities. But MS has to move cross-platform or lock themselves out of the fast growing Linux server space. MS isn't going to win the ad battle against Google. Stop trying. Office will be the 8-track tape of business apps in 10 years. Few people need what it does - file compatibility is the sales driver, not features - and as Google Docs and other apps proliferate at much lower cost, more people will leave."
"Operating systems are commodities that are free or almost free - like device drivers are today. Say goodbye to Windows revenue. Servers and tools will become more important as apps, computes and storage move to the cloud - public or private - to enable powerful mobile user capabilities. But MS has to move cross-platform or lock themselves out of the fast growing Linux server space. MS isn't going to win the ad battle against Google. Stop trying. Office will be the 8-track tape of business apps in 10 years. Few people need what it does - file compatibility is the sales driver, not features - and as Google Docs and other apps proliferate at much lower cost, more people will leave."
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Here's the evidence that QE has harmed the UK economy
Telegraph
"Bit late on this, but a report this week by the management consultancy McKinsey has attempted to quantify the distributional consequences of central bank asset purchases (so-called quantitative easing) which I referred to in my column this morning. Pretty terrifying reading it makes too, hammering home the point that QE has been extremely beneficial to indebted governments and other borrowers, but on the whole very damaging to households, particularly elderly ones reliant on fixed income forms of saving. ........QE has resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from households the governments. And they say central banks are meant to be independent."
"Bit late on this, but a report this week by the management consultancy McKinsey has attempted to quantify the distributional consequences of central bank asset purchases (so-called quantitative easing) which I referred to in my column this morning. Pretty terrifying reading it makes too, hammering home the point that QE has been extremely beneficial to indebted governments and other borrowers, but on the whole very damaging to households, particularly elderly ones reliant on fixed income forms of saving. ........QE has resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from households the governments. And they say central banks are meant to be independent."
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Resist green tax suicide like the brave Poles
Christopher Booker,Telegraph
"Wholly predictable last week was the ghoulish eagerness of the warmists (including David Cameron) to blame the Philippines typhoon disaster on “man-made climate change”. Those sceptics who actually consult the evidence wearily pointed out that in recent years tropical storm activity, including Pacific typhoons, has been less intense than for decades; and that Asia was hit by even worse typhoons in the past, notably in the late 17th century, at the height of the “Little Ice Age” when the world was much colder than it is now.
Meanwhile, in Warsaw, 10,000 officials and climate activists are gathered under the auspices of the UN, in yet another desperate attempt to agree that we must all be taxed and regulated into further reducing our “carbon emissions”. An innovation this time, however, was a 50,000-strong mass demonstration nearby, in support of a “counter-conference” sponsored by Solidarity and other Polish groups, to protest at how the UN’s bogus science is being used to “deceive the world”. As the country that relies more on coal for its electricity than any other in Europe, Poland is leading the way in resisting the pressure for the EU to commit economic suicide by raising its insane “carbon-reduction targets” even higher — pressure led by our own Government.
When can we hope to see 50,000 people turning out in Britain to protest that we have the most idiotically self-destructive energy and “climate” policies in the world?"
"Wholly predictable last week was the ghoulish eagerness of the warmists (including David Cameron) to blame the Philippines typhoon disaster on “man-made climate change”. Those sceptics who actually consult the evidence wearily pointed out that in recent years tropical storm activity, including Pacific typhoons, has been less intense than for decades; and that Asia was hit by even worse typhoons in the past, notably in the late 17th century, at the height of the “Little Ice Age” when the world was much colder than it is now.
Meanwhile, in Warsaw, 10,000 officials and climate activists are gathered under the auspices of the UN, in yet another desperate attempt to agree that we must all be taxed and regulated into further reducing our “carbon emissions”. An innovation this time, however, was a 50,000-strong mass demonstration nearby, in support of a “counter-conference” sponsored by Solidarity and other Polish groups, to protest at how the UN’s bogus science is being used to “deceive the world”. As the country that relies more on coal for its electricity than any other in Europe, Poland is leading the way in resisting the pressure for the EU to commit economic suicide by raising its insane “carbon-reduction targets” even higher — pressure led by our own Government.
When can we hope to see 50,000 people turning out in Britain to protest that we have the most idiotically self-destructive energy and “climate” policies in the world?"
Sunday, 10 November 2013
Obamacare: a great way to demonstrate to millions Obama lied
Andrew Bolt,Herald Sun (Australia)
"Even as President Barack Obama sold a new health care law in part by assuring Americans they would be able to keep their insurance plans, his administration knew that tens of millions of people actually could lose those their policies."
"Even as President Barack Obama sold a new health care law in part by assuring Americans they would be able to keep their insurance plans, his administration knew that tens of millions of people actually could lose those their policies."
Saturday, 2 November 2013
The Fed is locked in a QE prison of its own making
Telegraph
"It wasn't meant to be like this. When the Fed launched QE, this policy experiment was supposed to be limited to an ex nihilo monetary injection of $600bn (£377bn). Even if the tapering had started in September, as was widely expected, the total would have topped $4,000bn by next spring."
"It wasn't meant to be like this. When the Fed launched QE, this policy experiment was supposed to be limited to an ex nihilo monetary injection of $600bn (£377bn). Even if the tapering had started in September, as was widely expected, the total would have topped $4,000bn by next spring."
European law created this tax racket that robs us of billions
Telegraph
"The EU has completely destroyed the sovereign right of national governments to levy tax in a country where income is earned ..... It all stems from the “four freedoms” laid down in the founding treaty of the European Union, especially the freedoms of “capital” and “establishment”, which entitle firms to move all their income to the country where they want their tax base to be, to give them the smallest tax liability. This has completely destroyed the sovereign right of national governments to levy tax in a country where income is earned. Google, Amazon, Apple and the rest can thus quite legally channel all their earnings wherever tax rates are lowest.
In 1992, a further massive loophole was opened up by the Maastricht Treaty, which, in preparation for the single currency, extended the “freedom of capital” to countries outside the EU, including tax havens such as the Cayman Islands or Jersey, with even lower tax rates. This is how, for instance, our water companies manage to pay so little tax, despite making profits averaging at 30 per cent a year. They have also learnt the cleverest trick of all, which is to borrow huge sums from their tax-haven-based owners, at artificially high rates of interest, which can then be offset as a business expense against their profits, shrinking their tax liability still further. Even more disturbing is the way no one ever publicly admits that this is what makes such a colossal racket perfectly legal."
"The EU has completely destroyed the sovereign right of national governments to levy tax in a country where income is earned ..... It all stems from the “four freedoms” laid down in the founding treaty of the European Union, especially the freedoms of “capital” and “establishment”, which entitle firms to move all their income to the country where they want their tax base to be, to give them the smallest tax liability. This has completely destroyed the sovereign right of national governments to levy tax in a country where income is earned. Google, Amazon, Apple and the rest can thus quite legally channel all their earnings wherever tax rates are lowest.
In 1992, a further massive loophole was opened up by the Maastricht Treaty, which, in preparation for the single currency, extended the “freedom of capital” to countries outside the EU, including tax havens such as the Cayman Islands or Jersey, with even lower tax rates. This is how, for instance, our water companies manage to pay so little tax, despite making profits averaging at 30 per cent a year. They have also learnt the cleverest trick of all, which is to borrow huge sums from their tax-haven-based owners, at artificially high rates of interest, which can then be offset as a business expense against their profits, shrinking their tax liability still further. Even more disturbing is the way no one ever publicly admits that this is what makes such a colossal racket perfectly legal."
The Obamacare meltdown continues: New report says most top hospitals won't accept Obamacare
The Hockey Schtick
" Most of the 18 hospitals on this year's U.S. News and World Report's Honor Roll will accept insurance from just one or two companies selling plans on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) insurance exchanges, according to a Watchdog.org investigation."
" Most of the 18 hospitals on this year's U.S. News and World Report's Honor Roll will accept insurance from just one or two companies selling plans on the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) insurance exchanges, according to a Watchdog.org investigation."
Thursday, 31 October 2013
'Green Dave’ Cameron as much to blame as 'Red Ed’ Miliband for energy crisis
Christopher Booker,Telegraph
"But what few people yet realise is how far this catastrophic mess we are in was not only predictable, but has also been quite deliberately brought about, through the Government’s own policies. Their central aim, though never openly explained, has been twofold. One leg has been to build, by 2020, some 30,000 wind turbines, so ludicrously expensive that we must pay double or treble the market rate for the power they so inefficiently produce. The other leg is that, to make this seem competitive, we should also eventually be made to pay twice the going rate for all other forms of electricity: hence the “carbon tax” on coal and gas, and the colossal price we are to pay for power from Hinkley Point and other new nuclear power stations (four times the cost of nuclear, estimated by a Royal Academy of Engineering study only nine years ago)."
"But what few people yet realise is how far this catastrophic mess we are in was not only predictable, but has also been quite deliberately brought about, through the Government’s own policies. Their central aim, though never openly explained, has been twofold. One leg has been to build, by 2020, some 30,000 wind turbines, so ludicrously expensive that we must pay double or treble the market rate for the power they so inefficiently produce. The other leg is that, to make this seem competitive, we should also eventually be made to pay twice the going rate for all other forms of electricity: hence the “carbon tax” on coal and gas, and the colossal price we are to pay for power from Hinkley Point and other new nuclear power stations (four times the cost of nuclear, estimated by a Royal Academy of Engineering study only nine years ago)."
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
NSA infiltrates links to Yahoo, Google data centers worldwide, Snowden documents say
Washington Post
"According to a top secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — ranging from “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.
The NSA’s principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency’s British counterpart, GCHQ. From undisclosed interception points, the NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants.
The infiltration is especially striking because the NSA, under a separate program known as PRISM, has front-door access to Google and Yahoo user accounts through a court-approved process."
"According to a top secret accounting dated Jan. 9, 2013, NSA’s acquisitions directorate sends millions of records every day from Yahoo and Google internal networks to data warehouses at the agency’s Fort Meade headquarters. In the preceding 30 days, the report said, field collectors had processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records — ranging from “metadata,” which would indicate who sent or received e-mails and when, to content such as text, audio and video.
The NSA’s principal tool to exploit the data links is a project called MUSCULAR, operated jointly with the agency’s British counterpart, GCHQ. From undisclosed interception points, the NSA and GCHQ are copying entire data flows across fiber-optic cables that carry information between the data centers of the Silicon Valley giants.
The infiltration is especially striking because the NSA, under a separate program known as PRISM, has front-door access to Google and Yahoo user accounts through a court-approved process."
Tuesday, 29 October 2013
US to curtail spying on allies
SMH
"The snooping scandal is a direct result of disclosures of US secrets made to media organizations by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor now living in asylum in Russia. ....After Obama and Merkel spoke by phone last week, the White House said the United States is not currently tapping her phone and will not in the future, begging the question of whether it had been done in the past....The Wall Street Journal reported the NSA ended the program that involved Merkel after the operation was uncovered in the White House review that began in the summer. The program also involved as many as 35 other world leaders, some of whom were still being monitored, the report said. ....."
"The snooping scandal is a direct result of disclosures of US secrets made to media organizations by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor now living in asylum in Russia. ....After Obama and Merkel spoke by phone last week, the White House said the United States is not currently tapping her phone and will not in the future, begging the question of whether it had been done in the past....The Wall Street Journal reported the NSA ended the program that involved Merkel after the operation was uncovered in the White House review that began in the summer. The program also involved as many as 35 other world leaders, some of whom were still being monitored, the report said. ....."
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