Doom 'N' Gloom

Today's Funny is from Lisa Benson and it ain't so much funny as it's frickin' TRUE. The House passed this dumb-ass legislation (that they probably didn't read… again…) this past Friday with a 219-212 vote, as most of you Gentle Readers know. But there is hope the bill will fail in the Senate… and I'll quote from a piece written by Jay Cost at Real Clear Politics:

Despite the narrow victory, the distribution of the House vote actually suggests that the climate bill will have a tough road ahead in the Senate, as the following analysis will show. To start, let's break down the House vote by state caucuses. The following map does this. If a state's House caucus voted in favor of the bill on Friday (i.e. a majority of House members in the state voted yea), it is shaded green. If its caucus voted against (i.e. a majority voted nay), it is shaded red.

If the vote in the House on this bill had been calculated like the vote for President in the case of no majority winner in the Electoral College - where each state gets one vote - the climate bill would not have passed. Twenty-two state caucuses voted in favor of it while twenty-eight voted against. The bill passed in large part because of strong support from California and New York, which accounted for more than 26% of the total votes in favor of the bill.

Let us pray. I know MY senators (Texas) will vote against the bill, but those of you who live and vote in the green-colored states in the illustration above should be writing your senators early and often in opposition to this bill. Or call them up.

―:☺:―

Are you ready for another round of stagflation… last seen during the first Jimmuh Carter presidency? You better be, coz it's coming. Here's David R. Burton and Cesar Conda, writing in last Sunday's Washington Times:

Both the money supply and federal spending have increased at breathtaking rates over the past year, unprecedented in peacetime. The policy decisions made by the Federal Reserve Board and Congress virtually assure we will enter a period of 1970s-like stagflation.

The recovery, when it comes, will combine slow economic growth, unusually long un- and underemployment, stagnating real incomes, rising interest rates and inflation. There is little that policymakers, having made colossal mistakes, can do to prevent such an outcome. However, there are steps that can be taken to shorten the period of stagflation and return to an era of robust economic growth, good jobs and stable asset and consumer prices.

The money supply is measured several different ways. They all show alarming increases. The monetary base (coins, currency and bank reserves) has doubled over the past year. It is increasing at a rate 12 times the average since 1981. M1 (the monetary base plus checking deposits) increased last year by roughly 16 percent, a near record and three times faster than average since 1981. M2 (M1 plus most savings deposits and money market funds) increased 9 percent in the past 12 months (a rate more than 50 percent higher than the average since 1981).

[…]

Instead, the Obama administration seems bent on doubling down and making a bad situation even worse with massive increases in business and individual taxes, nationalizing or taking control of major industries (including automakers, banks, insurance and health care), hidden but huge energy-cost increases in pursuit of the chimera of global warming and ever greater entitlement spending. The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated the Democrats' health reform plan would increase federal spending a further $1.3 trillion over 10 years.

Stagflation is baked in the cake. The question remains whether policymakers take the necessary steps to shorten the period of stagflation.

Read the whole thing, as it's said. Ain't I just FULL of sweetness and light today? But… let's inject a lil levity in this doom and gloom screed… in the form of parody:

Umm… the answer to "who's watching" would be ME. And YOU.