Morning Joe 11/7/2011 -- More Cain, Silly Perry and Crazy Republicans

On Morning Joe today they returned to an all Left/Centrist panel to discuss Republicans. I suppose when discussing Republicans, getting the Republican viewpoint is not necessary. In spite of Mika saying it's a waste of time to talk about Cain, they talked about Cain and how it's amazing the media haven't destroyed him yet. Media are having a hard time recognizing their irrelevance.

Joe continued bashing Cain on foreign policy. Then they showed the Silly Perry cut and paste video. Scarborough isn't the right person to criticize silly -- a feature length film could be scrapped together of his silly moments which would make Perry look sober and reserved.

Chris van Hollen was on and he talked a lot and said nothing (now, unlike Cain, van Hollen is real politician) about the Super Committee -- Joe is opitmistic the committee will do something big. Let's hope not.

In other news not reported on Morning Joe, Iran is close to nuclear capability, Libya is slowly building toward war, there were deadly bombs in Iraq, Europe is imploding, the Fast and Furious scandal has not disappeared, more taxpayer supported green energy companies have wasted the money Obama gave them, Obamacare is a gigantic problem, OWS is showing their true colors and testing the patience of their government supporters, and much more you'll have to find in real news shows or in the new media. 

Morning Joe 10/31/2011 -- Those crazy Republicans

On Morning Joe today the topics during the first segment were Herman Cain's problem regarding sexual harrassment charges from the 90s, a cut and paste video of Rick Perry acting silly during a New Hampshire speech, Romney's steady ascendancy to the nomination, the Super-Committee's "progress" toward dealing with the deficit and debt and the problem of campaign financing and Wall Street influence over elections.

The guests this morning were Steven Rattner, John Heilemann, Prof. Lessig, Saxby Chambliss, Mark Warner and a few others like Peter King talking about sports. Rattner had a chart which shows Intrade predicting Romney will win the primary by a large margin. There was much talk about Cain and Perry fading and the steady Romney winning by keeping his head down and plowing through. There was no mention of where the Cain support will go if Cain is run out of the race because of this sexual harrassment charges from the 90s. There was no talk about Ron Paul who consistently shows up in third place with around 10-15% of the votes. Is the Republican Party ready for Paul? If candidates like Perry, Bachmann, Gingrich, Santorum and Cain start falling away, will their support go to Romney or Paul?

What about Paul's ideas? I've seen Paul on a few news shows in which he's able to express his libertarian ideas, but, for the most part, the coverage is mainly about the latest craziness regarding Cain, Perry or Bachmann. There's an influential part of the Republican Party which craves true opposition to progressivism, and they obviously don't think Romney represents an opposition force. The question is whether these Republican voters will choose Romney because the conventional wisdom says he's more electable, or will they go with someone like Paul who doesn't implode in the primaries and does represent a true opposition to Obama?

None of it matters, really, unless the House and Senate races result in a housecleaning in DC and put true opposition in power across the board, but I don't think the Republican Party as a whole is ready to become an opposition force against statism. The race is not about a Republican beating Obama -- it's about anti-statist forces winning and truly limiting government power. Anything short of radical change will result in the same old system growing larger, more expensive and more powerful.

The problems which aren't discussed much on Morning Joe all emanate from a government system which has become too powerful and too political, thus destroying our economy and killing the growth of small businessed which are the heart and engine of our economy. This powerful system is also bogging down America in foreign entanglements which drain our resources and waste the lives of young men and women who shouldn't be asked to fight in and protect countries which work against us at every turn. This powerful system has also consolidated financial control by co-opting powerful corporations and centrally planning the economy through the Fed's control of the nation's financing. Not to mention how this powerful system steps on civil liberties as it lumbers toward its grand designs. Obama says America has become soft, and, by America, he means public support for the State -- Obama and  progressives envision a powerful State supported by true New Age Patriots that guides domestic economic direction and establsishes our place in the global economy, thus competing for top leadership in a new global order driven by the vague goals of social justice. But these are big, scary ideas, and it's best to reduce our concerns to Cain's past troubles and Perry's silliness in New Hampshire -- reality politics like Survivors or Big Brother or Angry Housewives. It's also fun to watch the daily polls rather than consider Big Issues that just depress people. Morning Joe is a valium in a big scary world.

Morning Joe 10/28/2011 -- Raising government revenue

There was an interesting discussion on Morning Joe today. The topic was the Super-Committee and the Republican proposal to raise revenues through closing loopholes as opposed to the Democrat plan to raise tax rates on the rich. Mika took the position that tax rates on the rich have to be raised, while John Meacham and Scarborough argued that raising tax rates will only benefit tax attorneys, that closing loopholes will force companies to pay the full amount of their taxes and therefore bring in more revenue to the government. If these are the two options, and nothing more, than Scarborough and Meacham are correct.

What was not discussed is the wisdom of transferring more wealth from the private sector to the government. Both Democrats and Republicans have proposed spending cuts as well, but the details haven't been analyzed. The best plan would be to eliminate all special favors provided to businesses by government, because the favors are part of the crony-problem so many people are discussing. We need systemic changes, not tweaks to the same system. Comprehensive tax reform is systemic change if it limits government power. In addition, we need to place barriers between the State and the economy. No one is talking about a plan that ends all corporate welfare, whether it's through the tax code, subsidies or regulations which block competition from below. But, this argument is moot unless something is done about the Fed and it's control over the nation's money supply. Mayer Amshel Rothschild, founder of the House of Rothschild, said:

Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws.

Scarborough, Meacham and others in the political class would say that we can only do what's politically feasible, and that pipe dreams of limiting government power make for great theoretical discussions, but in political reality our options are limited, so we have to cut the best deal possible and hope for the best. This mindset is what's destroying us, and, because no one will present a comprehensive plan, there's never movement on the conversation. One of our biggest problems is a lack of courage in the political realm where everyone keeps their head down so they won't get it cut off. The statist system in DC has gradually placed America in a position where systemic change is vital, otherwise we move inexorably toward collapse. All it would take is one international event to bring down the house of cards built mainly by Europe and America, although China is building on the house of cards with extreme vigor.

The Super-Committee is looking for what's politically feasible, not what needs to be done for sustainable economic growth. When Bankers from America, Britain, France and Germany got together in the early 20th century, a central bank system was developed that's now destroying America and Europe. That system has to change, and in it's place we need free markets/finance and limited government power. I sound like a broken record, but when the media work full time convincing people we only need to somehow get more money from the rich and we'll be okay for awhile, it requires a strong and full-throated opposition to combat this statist nonsense. 

Unless nations create new wealth, we're all going to use up resources and then fight one another over the little bit left. A cooperative/competitive, free, global economy awaits us if we have the imagination and courage to embrace it, but if the arguments on Morning Joe are any indication, we're not courageous or imaginative at all, only pragmatic and small-minded and stalled in what's politically feasible.