Say, who’d have ever thought THIS would happen?

CBS Lobby, NYC

Republicans, Democrats reach agreement: “we’ll raise taxes on “the rich” now, cut spending uh, … later!” This whole thing has never been about revenue – the tax increases on a select few won’t  make a dent – and it’s certainly never been about cutting spending, which will never happen, so why have we gone through this exercise? It’s all part of the circus: the two political parties pretend to govern and the media pretends there are principles and genuine issues at stake. Which there are, but none that were addressed by anyone in Washington. I hate to sound gloomy on the cusp of a new year, but we don’t seem to be headed in a good direction.

Unless you distill it, that is

Party Hat, New Year’s Eve

Scientists: asparagus can prevent hangovers.

Peek-A-Boo, English style

Terrorists’ll  do the darndest things!

Scotland Yard loses terrorist being kept under “close surveillance ” after he fails to show up for bed check. They don’t think he’s a direct threat to the nation “at this time” but then, how would they know that when they don’t know where he is or what he’s doing?

This is how they keep watch on the most dangerous terror suspects; lesser ones must drop them a postcard fortnightly.

Bring on Fracking, II

Syrian rebels behead Christian, feed corpse to dogs. These are the “moderate” muslims we’re supporting. The sooner we don’t need the Middle East’s oil, the faster we can get out of there and let them play alone in their sandbox, the better.

Hollywood celebrities respond to Newtown, non-celebrities respond in kind.

The Milk Cliff looms

 

Got Milk?

Tomorrow we revert back to one of the Post-New Deal’s greatest market interventions, “parity pricing” for milk. Expect milk to double to $7 per gallon as our government imposes 1949 price supports based on 1914 price levels.

The ultimate absurdity of the “dairy cliff” is that there is no need for federal intervention in dairy markets. The supply and demand for the vast majority of food products made in America function just fine without government price controls. The worst disruptions have perennially occurred for a handful of items such as sugar and corn, as well as dairy products, which are under political protection. Politicians have long exploited these disruptions to help drum up donations to their re-election campaigns.

There is no chance that farm-state congressmen will draw the lesson from the “dairy cliff” that they are unfit to rule American farmers, retailers and consumers. This looming debacle is further proof that the only way to reform farm programs is to abolish them.

But if we did that, what would happen to corn, and our ethanol mandate? Oh, the horror!

Bring on fracking

Ah, but we have friends in Washington

OPEC takes in $1 trillion this year on oil revenues.

Muslim extremism on the rise in Africa. Wahabi schools funded by Saudis preach violence against non-believers.

Saudis fret as shale oil threatens monopoly, revenues.

Somewhere there’s an answer hidden in here – can you find it?