26 March 2010
Today’s Tabbloid
PERSONAL NEWS FOR [Link]+webnews@[Link]
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Chavez Arrests the President of Castro Applauds ObamaCare
Globovision Television [Cato at [The Club for Growth]
MAR 25, 2010 05:23P.M.
Liberty]
MAR 25, 2010 09:38P.M. This says it all. s glowing endorsement will be next.
By Ian Vasquez
Today, the Venezuelan government arrested Guillermo Zuloaga, FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
president of Globovision Television, the only remaining television on
public airwaves critical of Hugo Chavez. According to the government, King Dollar [Larry Kudlow’s
Zuloaga made offensive comments about Chavez (which is against the
law in Venezuela) while speaking at a conference of the Inter-American Money Politic$]
Press Association (IAPA) in Aruba, where media representatives MAR 25, 2010 05:18P.M.
criticized the Venezuelan regime’s crackdown on freedom of speech.
Globovision and Zuloaga have been under constant harassment from the
government, and Chavez has promised to close the station. Last July,
Cato held a forum in Washington on “Venezuela’s Assault on Freedom of
the Press and Other Liberties,” which was to feature Zuloaga. After the
event was announced, however, a politically directed court prohibited
him from leaving the country. So Zuloaga taped this 3 minute
video address to the Cato audience and sent his son and vice president of The biggest story out there right now has got to be the re-emergence of
Globovision, Carlos, to take his place. Robert Rivard of the IAPA also King Dollar. This could be a major game changer for both Wall Street
spoke at the forum. You may also see various short videos prepared by and Washington. All the dollar bears from the beginning of this year, and
Globovision for the forum starting here. all the gold bulls, have been completely and utterly wrong.
“It is becoming a crime to have an opinion.” That’s how Carlos Zuloaga Now, why is this? Is it Fed head Ben Bernanke’s monetary restraint?
summed it up this afternoon when he referred to this incident and the Nope. Is it Tim Geithner’s spirited dollar defense? Nope. It’s Greece,
recent arrest of former Venezuelan state governor Oswaldo Alvarez Paz Portugal, Italy, and the sinking euro, which has dropped 12 percent from
for having said during a Globovision interview that Venezuela has early December. And there’s no end in sight.
become a drug-trafficking haven.
Unsurprisingly, the broad dollar DXY index is up 10 percent, reversing a
How will hemispheric leaders and the Organization of American States 17-percent drop from March to November of last year. Gold, meanwhile,
react to this renewed attack on free speech in Venezuela? is off 12 percent.
Now you know me: I love King Dollar. You can’t have a growing, healthy,
free-market, supply-side, capitalist economy without a reliable currency.
I learned that from Ronald Reagan. But this King Dollar story is getting a
little weird. After all, the Fed is still pumping out money like there’s no
tomorrow. Its balance sheet is still growing. Meanwhile, tax rates are
going up, not down.
But here’s the key point: the euro is going down — more. And this could
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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [Link]+webnews@[Link] 26 March 2010
wind up being a big game-changer for investors. expense of American justice.”
By the way, Ben Bernanke is being bailed out by this cheap euro, the Nothing could be farther from the truth. Despite the postponement, Liu’s
same euro that can’t seem to bailout its weakest European sisters. It’s a confirmation is proceeding at breakneck speed. His hearing was
very strange story. As I’ve said before, Mr. Bernanke ought to go to the scheduled only 28 days after his nomination, while the average Obama
Greek Parthenon and genuflect over the weak euro bailing out his super- appointee waited 48 days for a hearing and the average Bush appointee
easy money policy. waited 135 days. And Senate Democrats themselves cancelled all
hearings Tuesday afternoon so they could attend the ObamaCare signing
A high dollar can suppress nascent inflation pressures. And if you take a ceremony at the White House.
look at February, you’ll see that price indexes came down. (They had
been rising for several months.) So without inflation worries, a high Moreover, Leahy’s intent is not so much to urge the timely vetting of
dollar gives Mr. Bernanke a lot of zero-interest-rate running room for as judicial nominees, but to further the government’s Blitzkrieg takeover
far as the eye can see. of civil society – before the Democrats’ congressional majorities turn into
pumpkins this November. As Liu stated in a January interview with
The question is whether a high dollar is in fact good for stocks and NPR, “now we have the opportunity to actually get our ideas and the
economic growth, because oftentimes a rising currency can be progressive vision of the Constitution and of law and policy into
deflationary. A lot of people on Wall Street are shying away from the so- practice.”
called “risk trade,” meaning stocks, in favor of the dollar trade.
According to Liu, that progressive vision includes constitutional rights to
Speaking of deflation, is the Chinese renminbi going to be revalued in health care, education, housing, and welfare payments. Liu states
order to choke off inflationary pressures in China? If you think all this outright that “rights to government assistance” are “essential to liberty.”
currency talk is confusing, join the crowd. He defends this contradiction by claiming that “experiences of other
nations suggest that the existence of such rights is compatible with
To sum up, as a good free-market supply-sider, I want a reliable King constitutionalism.”
Dollar and low marginal tax rates to spur economic-growth incentives
here at home. Now, I may get the former, but I am probably dreaming on Liu’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee thus concerns much
the latter. more than a seat on a federal appellate court (just when you thought the
Ninth Circuit couldn’t get more radical). The Washington Post has noted
But then again, despite Obamacare’s tax-and-spend big-government that the hearing might serve as a test of Goodwin Liu as a Supreme Court
policies (which remind me of the Eurozone), we could get free-market nominee. With so much potentially at stake, postponing Liu’s hearing to
banking reform if Sen. Chris Dodd stays with me and ends too-big-to- ensure it receives the Senate’s undivided attention — and any other legal
fail. Could we be looking at the Dodd Dollar? Think of that one. method of stopping or delaying by even one day his ascension to the
bench — serves “American justice” rather than betraying it.
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Ramming Through Radical
Globocop vs. Nanny State [Cato
Nominee Takes Back Seat to
at Liberty]
Ramming Through Obamacare MAR 25, 2010 04:48P.M.
[Cato at Liberty] By Christopher Preble
MAR 25, 2010 04:56P.M.
Max Boot opines in today’s WSJ that ObamaCare is a threat to U.S.
By Ilya Shapiro global military power, and, by extension, a threat to global security. I
disagree. Because we should be seeking to offload some of the costs of
Senate debate on the health care reconciliation bill forced Democrats to policing the world, I hope that our current fiscal difficulties will force an
postpone yesterday’s hearing for Goodwin Liu, President Obama’s ultimately worthwhile trade-off.
controversial nominee to the Ninth Circuit (which covers the western
states). Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy accused To be clear, I share Boot’s disdain for this massive expansion of federal
Republicans of “exploiting parliamentary tactics and Senate Rules” — power. Similarly, I don’t dispute Boot’s characterization of the health
GOP senators have stopped consenting to afternoon hearings for the care legislation as likely to impose a huge net cost. Rather, the central
duration of the health care debate – to delay Liu’s appointment “at the flaw in the piece is his unwillingness to think clearly about our
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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [Link]+webnews@[Link] 26 March 2010
government’s obligations to our citizens, and of other governments to the freedom of expression. For example, promoting hatred
theirs. against any identifiable group would not only be considered
inappropriate, but could in fact lead to criminal charges.
The rationale whereby the U.S. government defends other countries, and Outside of the criminal realm, Canadian defamation laws also
U.S. taxpayers pay for it, is flawed. Under our Constitution, the American limit freedom of expression and may differ somewhat from
people grant to the federal government explicit powers to protect and those to which you are accustomed. I therefore ask you, while
defend the security of the United States. Treaties negotiated during the you are a guest on our campus, to weigh your words with
course of the Cold War effectively equated the defense of other countries respect and civility in mind. . . .
with that of our own so that today the U.S. government provides “public
goods” for people who are not now, and have never been, parties to our So much for inalienable rights.
unique social contract.
Steyn highlights the view of the lead investigator of Canada’s “Human
As such, today’s U.S. military chiefly fights other people’s wars, and Rights” Commission: “Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I
builds other people’s nations. The primary role of the U.S. Department of don’t give it any value.”
Defense is the defense of others.
I would offer a rebuke, but Ezra Levant has done it better than I ever
These commitments have been sustained since the end of the Cold War could. Crank your volume up, sit back, and enjoy:
under the premise that the costs are both low and sustainable over the
long term. But it is becoming harder and harder to maintain these
pretenses. By seeking to provide global public goods for all of humanity,
we are saddling our children and grandchildren with huge costs. FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Fiscal pressures have the potential to cause the American people to Obama Right on “Don’t Ask,
scrutinize military spending, and this scrutiny could ultimately force
Washington to revise some of the core assumptions that have driven Don’t Tell” [Cato at
force planning for a generation. If that happens, we might finally shift
the burdens of defense spending back onto those who benefit from such Liberty“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”]
spending. MAR 25, 2010 01:51P.M.
By Christopher Preble
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS Secretary Gates’s new guidelines for “don’t ask, don’t tell” are consistent
with the Obama administration’s plan to alter—and eventually
Free Speech in Canada [Cato at reverse—the misguided policy. Both the guidelines and their ultimate
goal deserve broad public support.
Liberty]
MAR 25, 2010 03:57P.M. In the nearly 17 years since it was enacted, DADT has impeded military
effectiveness by prohibiting motivated and well-qualified individuals
By David Rittgers from serving their country.
Free speech isn’t exactly free in Canada, and even Glenn Greenwald and A new generation of military leaders, both officers and enlisted, has seen
Mark Steyn agree on this point. When conservative commentator Ann the harm and injustice done by this policy, and is ready for change. As
Coulter (who can be uncivil, but shouldn’t be muzzled by the state for it) this cohort advances through the ranks, and as an earlier generation that
tried to give a speech at the University of Ottawa, she was warned by the was not willing to change retires from service, we should anticipate a
political correctness police not to hurt anyone’s feelings: relatively smooth transition to a policy that has been adopted in many
other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Israel, and the
I would, however, like to inform you, or perhaps remind you, United Kingdom. But the strong leadership shown by President Obama,
that our domestic laws, both provincial and federal, delineate Secretary Gates, and Chairman Mullen on this issue will likely prove the
freedom of expression (or “free speech”) in a manner that is essential final ingredient to ensuring that DADT dies.
somewhat different than the approach taken in the United
States. I therefore encourage you to educate yourself, if need Click the player below for more about why it is time to scrap the policy:
be, as to what is acceptable in Canada and to do so before
your planned visit here.
You will realize that Canadian law puts reasonable limits on
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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [Link]+webnews@[Link] 26 March 2010
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS - Teresa Ghilarducci, director of economic policy analysis at the New
School for Social Research, is the author of “When I’m 64: The Plot
On Tonight’s Kudlow Report Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them.”
[Larry Kudlow’s Money Please join us. The Kudlow Report. 7pm ET. CNBC.
Politic$]
MAR 25, 2010 12:57P.M.
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
Dealing with Police [Cato at
Liberty]
MAR 25, 2010 12:00P.M.
By Tim Lynch
Yesterday Cato hosted the premiere screening of the new film, 10 Rules
This evening at 7pm ET:
for Dealing with Police, produced by our friends at Flex Your Rights.
The Washington Post has a nice piece about the film and event here. 10
BERNANKE’S EXIT STRATEGY
Rules is a gold mine of useful information (both legal and practical) for
CNBC senior economics reporter Steve Liesman reports.
handling police encounters. Legal books are too often impenetrable and
just too time-consuming for laypersons. 10 Rules is a media-savvy
KING DOLLAR & BERNANKE … EURO DEBT THREAT …
vehicle that can alleviate the problem of constitutional illiteracy in
CHINA CURRENCY TRADE WAR ... WHERE’S THE
America. In less than 45 minutes, you acquire the information you need
INFLATION? … FED GETS A PASS FOREVER? … BANK
to know. Get the dvds and encourage others to show them at high
STOCKS STILL STRONG
schools, colleges, and other venues.
- Adam Boyton, Deutsche Bank Sr. Currency Strategist; Fmr. Australian
Treasury Official
- Peter Navarro, “The Coming China Wars” Author; University Of
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
California - Irvine Business Professor
SO … HOW DO YOU PLAY THE MARKET RIGHT NOW?
Thursday Links [Cato at
- Chip Hanlon, President Delta Global Advisors
Liberty]
MAR 25, 2010 11:43A.M.
- Dan Fitzpatrick, [Link], President & CEO; Senior
Contributor, [Link]
By Chris Moody
HAMP FAILURE?
• Too bad no one saw this coming: Social Security is now in the red.
CNBC’s Diana Olick will report on the Home Affordable Modification
• Now that the health care bill is law, you should know exactly how
Program
it’s going to affect you, your premiums, and your coverage over the
next few years. Here’s a helpful breakdown.
LET THE FALLOUT BEGIN...
BUSINESS (DEERE & CAT) ALREADY BEING SLAMMED BY
• As the health care overhaul crosses home plate, global warming
OBAMA CARE - HOW SERIOUS A PROBLEM?
legislation steps up to bat.
- James Pethokoukis, Reuters Money & Politics Columnist
• Appreciate this: Chinese currency rise will have a negligible effect
on the trade deficit. For more, read the whole paper.
SOCIAL SECURITY TIPPING POINT: HOW TO FIX SOCIAL
SECURITY
• Podcast: “A Plea for Divided Government” featuring John Samples,
author of the forthcoming book The Struggle to Limit Government.
- Steve Moore, Senior Economics Writer for the Wall Street Journal
Editorial Board; “Return to Prosperity” co-author
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Today’s Tabbloid PERSONAL NEWS FOR [Link]+webnews@[Link] 26 March 2010
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS
FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS Is the Health Care Lawsuit For
Social Security in the Red [Cato Real? [Cato at Liberty]
MAR 25, 2010 08:52A.M.
at Liberty]
MAR 25, 2010 08:55A.M. By Ilya Shapiro
By Doug Bandow The Hill asked me the following question:
Social Security is officially in the red. The New York Times reports that Thirteen state attorneys general have filled a lawsuit claiming that the
the system will pay out more than it takes in this year. Explains the new healthcare reforms are unconstitutional. Is this a real legal challenge
Times: or a political stunt?
The bursting of the real estate bubble and the ensuing Here’s my response:
recession have hurt jobs, home prices and now Social
Security. The challenge is very real—and necessary—but we are in
uncharted territory here so it’s difficult to predict how courts
This year, the system will pay out more in benefits than it will react.
receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not
expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the The strongest and most important legal argument attacks the
Congressional Budget Office. constitutionality of the individual mandate to buy a certain
approved health insurance plan. Never before has the federal
Stephen C. Goss, chief actuary of the Social Security government—or any other—tried to force Americans to buy a
Administration, said that while the Congressional projection particular good or service. Never before has it said that every
would probably be borne out, the change would have no man, woman, and child alive has to purchase a particular
effect on benefits in 2010 and retirees would keep receiving product, on penalty of civil or criminal sanction or forfeiture.
their checks as usual. And never before have courts had to consider such a
breathtaking assertion of raw power — not even during the
The problem, he said, is that payments have risen more than height of the New Deal, when the Supreme Court ratified
expected during the downturn, because jobs disappeared and Congress’ regulation of what people grew in their backyards
people applied for benefits sooner than they had planned. At on the awkward theory that such behavior affected interstate
the same time, the program’s revenue has fallen sharply, commerce.
because there are fewer paychecks to tax.
The individual health care mandate is an even greater
Analysts have long tried to predict the year when Social expansion of congressional power under the Commerce
Security would pay out more than it took in because they view Clause. And it cannot be justified under the Necessary and
it as a tipping point — the first step of a long, slow march to Proper or General Welfare Clauses either, because these
insolvency, unless Congress strengthens the program’s provisions guide the exercise of Congress’ enumerated
finances. powers without adding to them. In short, if the challenges to
this health care “reform” fail, nobody will ever be able to
The crisis is now, since the vaunted “trust fund” is filled with non- claim plausibly that the Constitution limits federal power.
recourse government bonds–essentially worthless pieces of paper.
There’s no there there when it comes to financing future benefits. Either You can read here the responses of other pundits — including several
payments have to come down or taxes have to go up, unless we adopt non-lawyers, curiously.
real reform centered around personal accounts. And the latter course
seems ever more distant after Congress voted to expand federal control
over every Americans’ health care.
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FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE BLOG FEEDS program provides large subsidies to developers and few benefits to
low-income families.
Don’t Need More Rental
• A major social benefit of private and unsubsidized rental and
Subsidies [Cato at Liberty] housing markets is the promotion of responsible behavior. Tenants
MAR 25, 2010 08:48A.M. and potential homeowners must establish a good credit history,
save money for security deposits or downpayments, come with
By Tad DeHaven good references from employers, and pay the rent or mortgage on
time. Renters must maintain their apartments decently and keep
At Tuesday’s congressional hearing on the future of Fannie Mae and an eye on their children to avoid eviction. By contrast, public
Freddie Mac, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) said that “It’s a mistake for the housing, housing vouchers, and other types of housing subsidies
government heavily to subsidize homeownership.” Coming from one of undermine or eliminate these benefits of market-based housing.
the biggest cheerleaders for federal homeownership subsidies, and an
architect of the housing meltdown, a conversion from Frank would be • Federal housing subsidies are very expensive to taxpayers. In 2010,
welcome. the federal government will spend about $26 billion on rental aid
for low-income households and about $8.5 billion on public
Unfortunately, Frank followed the comment with a call for more rental housing projects.
housing subsidies:
We are much better off trying to subsidize rental housing,
because when you put people into decent rental housing, you
do not confront the problems we have seen putting people
inappropriately into homeownership.
Frank is correct that tying oneself to a mortgage is much riskier than
renting. The federal bias toward homeownership has been predicated on
its alleged civic virtues, but there’s no virtue in being a slave to an
expensive mortgage, especially when one’s house is worth less than the
note.
But the government’s dismal experiences with rental subsidies, including
public housing, demonstrate that more federal interventions are
unwarranted. In addition to abolishing homeownership subsidies, the
federal government should also abolish rental subsidies, as a Cato essay
by Howard Husock argues.
The following are some key points from the essay:
• Before federal subsidy programs were begun, and before the
widespread use of detailed housing regulations and zoning
ordinances, private markets did a good job of provided housing for
lower-income Americans. During the period from 1890 to 1930, for
example, vast amounts of new working-class housing were built in
American cities. Data from that period show that a significant
percentage of residents of poor neighborhoods did not live in
overcrowded tenements, but instead lived in small homes that they
owned or in homes where the owners lived and rented out space.
• Since the 1930s, the federal government has funded one expensive
approach to low-income housing after another—without seeming
to notice that the new approaches were made necessary less by
market failure than by the failure of past public policies. Public
housing projects erected to replace slums soon became severely
distressed, housing vouchers meant to end “concentrated poverty”
instead moved it around, and the low income housing tax credit