You've got to see this

What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

Let's start with a stack of one million dollars.




(I'm told I need several stacks like this one in order to retire.)

Now think about some of the figures we've heard lately.

Annual Government spending for 2007 was just under $3 trillion. Revenue was $2.5 trillion. Budget deficit therefore was 1/2 a trillion dollars.

The U.S. GDP in 2007 was $14 trillion. In 2008, it was just over $14.5 trillion.

At the end of 2007, the national debt was $9.3 trillion. On Sept. 30, 2008 (the end of the fiscal year) it was just over $10 trillion.

In the last half of 2008, government spending for bailouts and other guarantees related to the financial crisis resulted in new debt and obligations of an additional $8.7 trillion.

Keep in mind what that million dollar bundle looks like.

And now take a peek at one trillion dollars.





Do you see the guy standing in the left-hand corner?
Now imagine 9 more of these.

What the heck do we think we are doing?!

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2009 International Conference on Climate Change

At a time when fear of global warming prompts most of the media, and the majority of politicians (led by our president) to promote actions that will strangle the economy as well as erode our economic and civil liberties, a group of scientists and intellectuals are gathering in New York City to share research and information which contradicts the predictions of catastrophe.

Here's part of what Joseph Bast had to say in his opening remarks:

Approximately 700 people have registered for this event, nearly twice as many as attended last year’s conference. We are delighted to demonstrate once again the breadth and high quality of support that the “skeptical” perspective on climate change enjoys.

Speakers at this conference will address questions that go to the very heart of the global warming debate:

• Does the plateau in global temperatures during the past eight years contradict computer model predictions?

• Do proxy records of ancient climates contradict how computer models characterize the role of carbon dioxide in climate change?

• Does the modern warming have the “fingerprint” of having been caused by greenhouse gases?

• Is there a case for governments to legislate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions?

The 80 scientists, economists, and policy experts speaking at this conference have no shared agenda and no institutional interest in inflating the risks of climate change, and they bow to no government over-seers. They come from 14 countries and 28 universities. They speak out against what the IPCC and many in government and the media claim to be a consensus because their own independent research suggests otherwise.

Many of the speakers' talks will eventually be posted on the web. So far all that's up are Bast's opening words and the keynote speech by Dr. Richard Lindzen, Professor of Meteorology at M.I.T.

Also, portions of the conference will be broadcast live today (Monday) and tomorrow by Swedish blogger Maggie Thauerskold at her Web site, The Climate Scam.

Last year, I was fortunate enough to attend the three-day conference. I had a hard time choosing which talks I wanted to hear most (there were three separate tracks running at any one time!) The speakers were proficient in many different disciplines including climatology, paleoclimatology, physics, politics, economics and policy analysis---all of which have important contributions to make in understanding the challenges we face. Fortunately, many of the talks from last year can still be accessed here. It is encouraging to listen to so many well-informed speakers, to learn more about their research, and to hear of the many efforts being made to bring more rationality into the debate over climate change.

Here are a few of the talks I would recommend:

• William M. Gray, Ph.D. - Oceans, Not Carbon Dioxide, Are Driving Climate
• Vaclav Klaus, Ph.D. - We Should Not Make Big Mistakes over Climate Change
• Roy W. Spencer, Ph.D. - Recent Evidence for Reduced Climate Sensitivity
• Patrick J. Michaels, Ph.D - Global Warming: Some Convenient Facts
• Ross McKitrick, Ph.D. - Quantifying the Influence of Anthropogenic Surface Processes on Gridded Global Climate Data

Many others were interesting and informative, but these are the ones I remember best.

This year, I was unable to justify spending the money to go again, especially after almost half of our savings disappeared in the recent stock market fall. My biggest hope is that by next year the conference won't be necessary--people will finally understand that the alarmist concerns are not scientifically justified (or that restrictive political action is not morally defensible.) But since I can't count on either of those happening, I'll try to set aside enough money for next year's conference.

Battle Shock

So much is happening in the political-economic realm that I am unable to catch my breath between assaults on our freedom and our prospects for economic recovery currently being perpetrated by our federal government. Stephen Bourque over at One Reality captures my sentiments perfectly in in post Shock and Awe: Obama's First Forty Days.

The lack of common sense, let alone proper understanding of the laws of economics is astonishing.

A few examples:

1. In a crisis, with a proximate cause of too much lending and borrowing, the solution offered is yet more debt (and LOTS of it), along with propping up those who miscalculated and mismanaged their finances-- guaranteeing their mistakes will be maintained.

2. In an environment of uncertainty, and where savings are minimal or non-existent, we are told rebuilding our reserves of cash and capital is destructive.

3. We are asked to believe that the sum of prudent individual action (paying off debts, spending less, saving more) is aggregate disaster.

4. At a time when 92.4% of the labor force are employed, and 90% of mortgages are NOT in default, we are told today's crisis is unprecedented and requires massive, immediate, emergency action by the government.

(Update: BLS Feb.'09 report shows employment rate now closer to 90%)

5. The Bailouts aren't working. Money is being poured into leaky, sinking ships (Big 3 auto companies, AIG, Freddie and Fannie are prime examples) without addressing the cause of their failures, and so they will coming back for more.

(Update 3-9-09: GM may go bankrupt anyway, taking taxpayer dollars with it.)

6. There has never in history been a fiscal stimulus that actually stimulated the economy. Strong theoretical explanations exist on why a stimulus never will work. And yet, we are going to gamble Trillions of dollars on it working this time. (If you have evidence to the contrary, I'm interested in seeing it.)

7. In the middle of a recession, with unemployment rising and the stock market falling, our president wants to hobble our businesses further with higher taxes and a cap-and-trade on CO2 emissions to address a "problem" whose existence is questionable (see resources in the side bar.).

8. In his speech last week to Congress, President Obama listed three areas which he thinks are in serious trouble and in need of government assistance: health care, education and energy. But 80% of K-12 is already run by government, over 60% of health care is paid for with state funding, and except for the banking industry, few segments of our economy are more regulated than that of energy. Could the fact that these areas already have heavy government intervention have anything to to with the fact they are ineffective, expensive and in short supply?

Wake up America. Your liberty and your prosperity are under attack.


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CEO of BB&T discusses the Financial Crisis

New video by John Allison on the financial crisis

"The Financial Crisis: Causes and Possible Cures"

PDF file of talk slides

John Allison is CEO of BB&T, one of America's largest financial service institutions. Having held that position for 20 years, he offers a unique insider's point-of-view on the recent financial crisis in his talk "The Financial Crisis: Causes and Cures." Not all of his solutions are fully consistent with laissez-faire capitalism, but he none-the-less brings some interesting insights to our current financial problems and his suggestions take a large step in a better direction. Topics covered in the talk include:

The central role the Federal Reserve plays in managing and directing our financial system, and thus the central, fundamental roll it played as the ultimate cause of the current financial chaos.

How money creation by the Fed is used to fund government spending and in the expansion of the national debt.

How the Fed intentionally lowered interest rates in order to create an environment of low risk. This resulted in distorted signals and incentives which led to both the malinvestment of resources and the discouragement of saving.

How other policies of the Federal Reserve, the S.E.C., the FDIC undermined and destabilized banks by driving the increases in leverage and risk-taking, as well as the depletion of capital--and how these policies remain unchanged today.

The harmful contributions of the rating agencies and fair value accounting (mark-to-market)

The central role of the Fed, the FSLIC, Freddie and Fannie in encouraging and facilitating sub-prime lending which served as the proximate cause of this particular crisis.

The politically-driven misuse of legitimate credit instruments: CDO/SIV/CDO²/CDS

Bailouts: why they won't work; how they hurt healthy banks and stop private solutions

Why short-term pain is now unavoidable, and what strategies and policies might help shorten the correction period as well as work towards long-term stability and growth.

Identification of the underlying philosophy and ideology used to justify and direct government intervention into economic matters.

The talk is worth the 80 minute investment of time in order to hear a succinct overview and analysis of how we got here, and this banker's well-informed thoughts on steps that could be taken to get us back on track to financial security and rising prosperity.

During the boom, many people made good-faith economic calculations based on price signals distorted by government manipulation of the money supply. Others took advantage of lax lending standards, or committed outright fraud. Both types of borrowers are now suffering from home foreclosures, and we all are suffering from the effects of business bankruptcies and layoffs. For decades, this country has supported active manipulation of the money supply, directly by the Federal Reserve, and indirectly by Congress and the Treasury. The culpability is multifaceted.

Our next task is to orchestrate the transition from a mixed-economy to one of economic freedom. Figuring out how to dismantle the myriad of government interventions without causing more economic dislocation and destruction is not an easy or straight forward task. I understand the temptation to use government power and funding in order to stabilize the housing market, or to mitigate and repair the damage that government policies have caused. But, even in periods of transition, we must attend to the basic principle of individual rights. True solutions can not include any further violations of liberty or property. Even when wielded with intent to heal, such violations can only result in further harm.

Allison's recommendations are a good place to start the discussion, but further refinements must be made if we are to stay true the fundamental principles upon which this country was founded, principles which are both moral and practical: the individual's right to Life, Liberty and Property.

Would you like to go to a Tea Party?

Michelle Malkin reports on the wave of Tea Parties occurring across the country, protesting our government's efforts to redistribute wealth from those who earned it to those who blew it.

Read "Going Galt"

And check out the photos and letters from her readers.

Here's a few of my favorites:



And this little heart-breaker: