A San Francisco Billionaire Just Bought Obama and Delayed the Keystone XL Pipeline

While the media is obsessed with the Koch brothers this campaign season, a billionaire hedge fund manager from San Francisco just bought off the White House to the tune of $100 million in order to delay the Keystone XL pipeline decision.
From Fox News:

The Obama administration once again has punted on a final decision for the Keystone XL pipeline, announcing ahead of the holiday weekend it is extending a key review period indefinitely — a move that could push off a determination until after the midterm elections. 

Republicans, as well as red-state Democrats who want the proposed Canada-to-Texas pipeline approved, slammed the administration for the delay. Democrats even threatened to find ways to go around the president to get the project approved. 

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that this well over five year long process is continuing for an undetermined amount of time,” Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., said in a statement.

What you won’t hear about in mainstream media is how Billionaire Tom Seyer drove the decision by promising to spend $100 million to help Democrats in the midterm election who help defeat the project:

Why Not Print More Money?

Greece: The history behind the collapse

Georges Prévélakis

Historically positioning themselves between an unruly, oriental population and the western powers, since 1981 Greek elites have siphoned off EU funds into a bloated public sector favouring corruption, patronage and social climbing. The threat posed to Europe by the breakdown is less contagion to the centre than a wave of anti-western feeling that could exacerbate geopolitical instabilities in the region.

It all started two years ago, in the autumn of 2009. Having won a convincing victory at the head of the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) in the parliamentary elections, the new Greek prime minister, George Papandreou suddenly opened a real Pandora's box. Forced to admit to his electors that he would not be in a position to keep his manifesto promises, he accused his New Democracy opponents and predecessors of having concealed the extent of the deficits and debt. To explain the contradiction between his resounding declaration prior to the election ("There's plenty of money!") and the inevitable austerity policy that would follow, he deliberately exaggerated the position and compared Greece to the Titanic.

His announcement had serious consequences. The markets took fright; the government found that it was unable to finance its deficit or to honour debt repayment dates. Threatened with bankruptcy, the effects of which would destabilize the entire European economy, the European Commission, the ECB and the IMF set up a troika that came to Greece's aid by standing in for it in the markets. In exchange, the Greek government was asked to stabilize the situation by reducing the deficit and undertaking structural reforms. This was in spring 2010.^[1]

More than a year later, in summer 2011, there was no mistaking the fact that these measures had failed. Reforms had been carried forward only minimally; the public sector was still acting in a spendthrift fashion, despite cuts in salaries and pensions, whilst the public spending deficit had been only slightly reduced and the ratio of debt to GDP was rising. The Greek government, bogged down in its own contradictions, had taken steps that were too late, utterly inadequate and, very often, counter-productive. The administration, already ineffectual and dysfunctional, was now immobilized by incoherent political reactions. The economy slid into a deep recession that could only partly be accounted for by the absence of state stimulus measures and a shrinkage in the purchasing power of civil servants and pensioners. A series of contradictory statements from the government posed threats to various sections of the population (doctors, lawyers, civil servants, and so

The Essence of Government, as Captured by Cartoons

Daniel J. Mitchell | Nov 23, 2013

I greatly admire the way some political cartoonists are able to effectively capture the essence of an issue.
And when it comes to government, I’ve always enjoyed the cartoons that portray the state as a blundering, often-malicious, overweight nitwit. You can see some of my favorite examples here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
But I don’t recall ever seeing a cartoon that manages to illustrate the real nature of politics.
Until now, that is. Enjoy this Glenn McCoy cartoon, which cleverly shows the attitude of Washington’s ruling class when confronted by ordinary citizens who band together to defend themselves from predatory politicians.

Glenn McCoy, by the way, had a very respectable showing in my poll allowing readers to pick their favorite

John Stossel -Freeloaders

Death and Taxes

Click on the picture to enlarge

Our Government Knows Best

GOP Watchdog: There’s Reason to Fear Obama Agencies

Kyle Becker | On 07, Oct 2013
The GOP’s top watchdog Darrell Issa told the Daily Caller’s Ginni Thomas that “there’s a reason to fear” Obama’s government agencies. The warning comes on the heels of investigations into the IRS’ political targeting of the Democrats’ political enemies and the NSA’s lawless surveillance on all Americans.
We have entered a time to “love my country, fear my government,” Issa said in the interview. “Right now, there’s a reason to fear the IRS and other agencies, including the EPA, who are loaded with people who feel empowered to bend the rules against those they disagree with,” the California Republican continued.
Before becoming president, Barack Obama was a radical community organizer, and was rated the most “liberal” member of the U.S. Senate in 2007 – to the left of self-described socialist Bernie Sanders.
What made the U.S. government exceptional in the history of mankind is that the Founders designed a system of government that restrained their ability to abuse the system for their own petty partisan or personal purposes. Under a system of liberty, for example, corporations are not able to use the coercive power of government for unfair gain, and individuals generally have to make an effort to pay their own way — no free-riding on the backs of others.
Under the guise of wealth redistribution in the supposed name of “fairness,” the government is laying claim to run every aspect of people’s lives. Once the government can dictate the terms of the economy, the rest follows — any behavior that threatens the political class can be outlawed. Freedom is ultimately suppressed,