Category: Uncategorized

Krugman bets on Japan

And yet, somehow I doubt he’ll admit that his neo-Keynesian advocacy of more government spending, more money printing, and more debt is incorrect when Abenomics, as applied Keynesian stimulus in Japan is known, fails.  We already know that when it fails, it will be for the same reason that Obama’s $787 billion stimulus package failed: it was too small.

These days we are, in economic terms, all
Japanese — which is why the ongoing economic experiment in the country
that started it all is so important, not just for Japan, but for the
world. In a sense, the really remarkable thing about “Abenomics” — the sharp
turn toward monetary and fiscal stimulus adopted by the government of
Prime Minster Shinzo Abe — is that nobody else in the advanced world is
trying anything similar. In fact, the Western world seems overtaken by
economic defeatism….

It would be easy for Japanese officials to make the same excuses for
inaction that we hear all around the North Atlantic: they are hamstrung
by a rapidly aging population; the economy is weighed down by structural
problems (and Japan’s structural problems, especially its
discrimination against women, are legendary); debt is too high (far
higher, as a share of the economy, than that of Greece). And in the
past, Japanese officials have, indeed, been very fond of making such
excuses.

The truth, however — a truth that the Abe government apparently gets —
is that all of these problems are made worse by economic stagnation. A
short-term boost to growth won’t cure all of Japan’s ills, but, if it
can be achieved, it can be the first step toward a much brighter future.

So, how is Abenomics working? The safe answer is that it’s too soon to tell. But the early signs are good — and, no, Thursday’s sudden drop in Japanese stocks doesn’t change that story.

What is the difference between Keynesianism and Neo-Keynesianism?  The true Keynesian believes that there is a time for government spending to contract.  The Neo-Keynesian says: in times of growth, spending must be maintained in order to preserve economic growth.  And in times of contraction, spending must be increased in order to kickstart it.

SE+ is shipping

I’ve been informed by Marcher Lord that the new Summa Elvetica hardcover is now shipping to the preorders.  If you receive it, please let me know how it looks; it will be a while before my copies get to me.

Mailvox: Vox’s First Law redux

Rufusdog is the latest to discover that I really and truly don’t give a damn what he happens to think:

Vox could be a strong voice for gun rights, but when he says things this
stupid he just comes off like a crazy person and loses credibility. He
dishonors those children and their families and damages his own
reputation in one crack pot post.

Vox is what he is.  Take him seriously or dismiss him as a crazy person, it makes no difference to him.  Nor does he care in the slightest for honoring “those children and their families”.

As for my reputation, well, one of the dangers of dismissing someone as a crackpot means that the individual so dismissed no longer has any fear of it.  If you happen to believe in the economic recovery of 2009, global warming, and the heroic teachers of Sandy Hook elementary school, that’s fine with me.  It doesn’t bother me any more than your belief in unicorns, evolution by natural selection, or human equality.

Vox’s First Law: Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from insanity.

And the Boy Scouts fall

Another bastion of traditional morality falls to PC pressure:

After lengthy and wrenching debate, local leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have voted to open their ranks to openly gay boys for the first time, but heated reactions from the left and right made clear that the BSA’s controversies are far from over.

The Scouts’ longstanding ban on gay adults remains in force, and many liberal Scout leaders – as well as gay-rights groups – plan to continue pressing for an end to that exclusion even though the BSA’s top officials aren’t ready for that step.

Meanwhile, many conservatives within the Scouts are distraught at the outcome of the vote and some are threatening to defect. A meeting is planned for next month to discuss formation of a new organization for boys.

The formation of new organizations to replace the old, corrupted ones is the only practical response that is likely to succeed. It’s a little remarkable that anyone still takes “thus far, but no farther” seriously as a strategy; once the hard line is crossed, the subsequent lines in the sand tend to fall rapidly in comparison.

“The result was
welcomed by many liberal members of the Scouting community and by
gay-rights activists, though most of the praise was coupled with calls
for ending the ban on gay adults. “I’m so
proud of how far we’ve come, but until there’s a place for everyone in
Scouting, my work will continue,” said Jennifer Tyrrell, whose ouster as
a Cub Scout den leader in Ohio because she is lesbian launched a
national protest movement.”

If you or your sons are currently involved in the Boy Scouts, I recommend immediately resigning the organization.  It is already mortally wounded and its demise is now only a matter of time.  It is much better to put your time and energy into the traditional alternative that will be born from the ashes of what was once a great organization.

Leftists always seek to invade and subvert all non-leftist institutions.  Once the will to keep them out is lost, the eventual subversion of the institution is assured.  The only way to prevent this is for organizations to be set up with charters containing strict limits on the permissible range of changes that may be proposed in the future; anyone who proposes a change outside that range should be immediately dismissed from the organization.

Another step reaches the Cabinet

The dam is cracking:

Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search
warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible
co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized
seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News
on Thursday.

The
disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack
Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had
agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations
that involve journalists.

Eric Holder’s ability to protect Obama has just been compromised.  Not necessarily destroyed, but compromised. Even the Obama defenders in the media are going to be nervous about permitting this sort of precedent, knowing it can be used against them.

Diversity in Stockholm

The Diversity Gospeleers can celebrate more joys of vibrancy in Sweden:

Unrest in Stockholm’s suburbs continued for a fourth night as rioters showed their anger over a police shooting a week ago by setting fire to cars and buildings and pelting emergency workers with stones.

As many as 30 cars burned in the Swedish capital’s southern suburbs, while 11 were set alight in the Husby area, north of the city centre, where the violence broke out four days ago, police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said by phone today. Police detained one person, a 16-year-old girl suspected of preparing an act of arson. That followed eight arrests since Tuesday….

Last night, firemen trying to rescue a restaurant in
Skogaas were attacked by stone-throwing youths. Police officers were
also attacked in Husby. Several other suburbs also reported vandalism and fires.

In this vein, an interesting observation from a Minnesotan visiting Rome: “You see a lot more Muslims in Minneapolis than you do in Rome.”

Forget the audits

The AP reporters should be more worried about being targeted by the Obama administration’s drone operators:

“The Obama administration continues to claim authority to kill virtually anyone anywhere in the world under the ‘global battlefield’ legal theory and a radical redefinition of the concept of imminence,” said Zeke Johnson of Amnesty International.

It’s a very bad combination, when you’ve got a lawless administration that is willing to sic the IRS and the FBI on the media as well as its political opponents, and is simultaneously claiming a right to assassinate American citizens at will without so much as an arrest, let alone a trial.

Diversity in London

John Piper’s Diversity Gospel demonstrably isn’t any more of God than
his Jesus tornadoes are.  The Diversity Gospel brings death and
devastation in its wake; it is the modern version of the Tower of
Babylon. Its fruits are undeniable; the advocates of the Diversity Gospel have much for which to answer.  They have blood on their tongues, including the death of the English soldier butchered by Africans in broad daylight yesterday:

Another eyewitness revealed how he watched the two attackers behave like ‘crazed animals’. The man, known only as James, said he and his partner saw two black men attack a young man aged around 20 in a Help for Heroes T-shirt in Woolwich, south-east London, like he was ‘a piece of meat’.

Fighting back tears, he told LBC Radio: ‘They were hacking at this poor guy, literally. They were chopping him, cutting him. These two guys were crazed. They were just animals. They dragged him from the pavement, dumped his body in the middle of the road and left (it) there.’

He said that after the ‘horrendous’ attack, the two men, in their 20s, stood around, waving knives and a gun, even asking people nearby to take pictures of them ‘as if they wanted to be on TV’.

‘They were oblivious to anything, they were more worried about having their photo taken, running up and down the road,’ he said. ‘They had no intention of running off or leaving or anything.’

And the blood of the diverse and vibrant they welcomed will soon be on their tongues as well.  Rivers of it. It won’t be long before the Saxon starts killing, and when he does, he won’t be doing it one vibrant at a time. Consider the following sub-headline: “Masked English Defence League supporters flood Woolwich: Far-Right clash with police near scene of killing”

It brings Kipling to mind.

“The Saxon is not like us Normans, His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice and right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow with his sullen set eyes on your own,
And grumbles, “This isn’t fair dealings,” my son, leave the Saxon alone. 

“You can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your Picardy spears,
But don’t try that game on the Saxon; you’ll have the whole brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest chained serf in the field,
They’ll be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are wise, you will yield.”

Covering up the false flag

State officials are secretly attempting to bury the public records related to the Sandy Hook “shootings”:

The staffs of the state’s top prosecutor and the governor’s office have been working in secret with General Assembly leaders on legislation to withhold records related to the police investigation into the Dec. 14 Newtown elementary school massacre — including victims’ photos, tapes of 911 calls, and possibly more.

The behind-the-scenes legislative effort came to light Tuesday when The Courant obtained a copy of an email by a top assistant to Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane, Timothy J. Sugrue. Sugrue, an assistant state’s attorney, discussed options considered so far, including blocking release of statements “made by a minor.”

“There is complete agreement regarding photos etc., and audio tapes, although the act may allow the disclosure of audio transcripts,” Sugrue wrote to Kane, two other Kane subordinates and to Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sedensky, who is directing the investigation of the killings….

As envisioned by Kane, the bill wouldn’t be limited to the Newtown file.
“We are seeking legislation to protect crime scene photographs
protecting victims and certain 911 tapes,” Kane told The Courant
Tuesday. “It is something that I have been concerned about for years and
years and the situation in Newtown brings it to a head. I don’t want
family members seeing pictures of their loved ones publicized in a
manner in which these are subject to be published.”

He said as he sees the legislation, it would apply to “basically
crime scene photographs depicting injuries to victims and recordings,
911 recordings displaying the mental anguish of victims. Things like
that, of that category. And it seems to me that the intrusion of the
privacy of the individuals outweighs any public interest in seeing
these.”

No doubt anyone who is familiar with the government’s interest in “the privacy of individuals” will find this justification as ludicrous as I do.  One wonders what sparked the sudden need for this secretive legislative effort; did someone notice the forgotten Heinz bottle lying next to the “corpses” or was it the datestamp on the pictures taken three weeks before the scheduled event?

Reviewing Men on Strike

Dr. Helen Smith’s Men on Strike was released today.  I reviewed it at Alpha Game.  An excerpt:

With the publication of Men on Strike, Dr. Helen Smith
fires an important shot in the ongoing cultural war for the soul, and
indeed, the survival, of Western Civilization.  It is a shot she fires
in defense of the defenders, in defense of the barricades, in defense of
the gates, against the lawless barbarians marching under the banner of
the Female Imperative.

If the horror stories and red pill realities she chronicles will not be
unfamiliar to those who are regular readers of the androsphere, they are
nevertheless particularly effective when presented, largely
dispassionately, one after another in succession.  Dr. Helen does an
competent job of drawing clear links between a legal regime biased
towards women and the fearful behavior of men who no longer see
sufficient incentive to perform the roles that society has long expected
and required of them.

Read the rest at Alpha Game.