Obama Asks for Budget Cuts - by 0.002%

President Obama is really showing some spending restraint here. He's calling on his cabinet members to cut $100,000,000 from a budget he has inflated to $3,550,000,000,000. That's less than two thousandths of a percentage point.

Farewell, kids' future.

Mitt Romney Quote of the Day

In the final analysis, we know that only the private sector -- entrepreneurs and businesses large and small -- can create the millions of jobs our country needs. The invisible hand of the market always moves faster and better than the heavy hand of government.

Taken from remarks to the House Republican Conference. Read the entire excellent excerpt.

The Economy: You Reap What You Sow

The credit collapse: How could anyone NOT see it coming? For decades hundreds of millions of Americans have sold their future for immediate luxuries - in the form of home equity loans, credit card debt and adjustable rate mortgages. Of course, shortsighted companies took advantage of consumers' stupidity in exchange for a quick buck. I think it all goes back to the "me-me-me, now-now-now" attitude of the baby boomer generation.

Prophetic were the lyrics of a 1990s Kevin Gilbert song:

"The baby boomers had it all, and wasted everything.
Now recess is almost over, and they won't get off the swing."

Well, recess is certainly over, and those who cashed in their financial future are simply reaping their own noxious harvest.

Also timely was the counsel of LDS Apostle Joseph B. Wirthlin:

“All too often a family's spending is governed more by their yearning than by their earning. They somehow believe that their life will be better if they surround themselves with an abundance of things. All too often all they are left with is avoidable anxiety and distress” (May, 2004).

My family is one of very modest means, but we've managed to avoid the pitfalls of deficit spending. Sure, we don't have a giant flat-screen TV, we drive a couple crappy sedans and our home isn't exactly dinner party material. But still, we have zero debt (excepting a standard mortgage). So I'm not really missing those extraneous niceties at this point.

Michigan Governor Granholm Disgusts Me

Michigan must raise taxes – by a LOT – or "people will die." That's the message from our ineffectual, gutless leader in Lansing. She's referring to proposed cuts to Medicaid to help balance a bloated state budget with a $700 million shortfall. It's the basest, most incendiary rhetoric in the book--and she uses it with abandon in every declaration du jour.

"Cut welfare spending, and PEOPLE WILL GO HUNGRY AND DIE."

"Cut education spending, and PEOPLE WILL BE DUMB AND DIE."

"Cut highway spending, and PEOPLE WILL HAVE ACCIDENTS AND DIE."

"Cut any form of spending whatsoever, and PEOPLE WILL DIE."

Or some variation on that theme.

So yes, let's not cut spending. Let's raise taxes. Provide incentive for people and businesses to leave the state. Shrink the economy, thereby reducing state revenue. And instigate new tax hikes to cover the shortfall.

And guess what. When that happens, PEOPLE WILL STILL DIE.

I'm disgusted.