Year: 2013

The financial world was shocked this month by a demand from Germany’s Bundesbank to repatriate a large portion of its gold reserves held abroad. By 2020, Germany wants 50% of its total gold reserves back in Frankfurt – including 300 tons from the Federal Reserve. The Bundesbank’s announcement comes just three months after the Fed […]

Our major public policies are based on the assumption that America will continue to enjoy growth. Economic growth and population growth. Through most of our history, this assumption has proved to be correct. These days, not so much. Last week, the Commerce Department announced that the gross domestic product shrunk by 0.1 percent in the […]

Ring. Ring. “Hello, this is Tom.” “Happy birthday to you, Tom!” “Who is this? How did you know it was my birthday?” “Your birth date is public information – it’s listed on your voter registration card. But that’s not important. What is important is that I’m here to help you.” “Help me?” “We feel it’s […]

Some things are easy to mock, such as Al Gore — Pope Gorus IV of the Holy Church of Global Warming — selling his Current TV for hundreds of millions of oil dollars. But some other things are so bizarre it’s difficult to mock them because they come across as mockery already. Such is the […]

President Obama has nominated an anti-Israel former Senator to be the next Secretary of Defense of the United States of America. Senator Chuck Hagel has refused to sign a letter supporting Israel, opposed labeling Hezbollah a “terrorist organization,” and supported direct dialogue with the terrorist group Hamas. Senator Hagel even voted against labeling Iran’s Revolutionary […]

Vice President Biden unfurled his genius during a Google+ “fireside” hangout last month stating that: having “armed guards in schools would be a terrible mistake.” Really, José? Why don’t you rock up to Price Middle School in Atlanta on Monday morning and bray that insanity to the teachers and students who were spared an early grave […]

I’m getting tired of President Obama blaming Republicans for everything. This week it was immigration. In Las Vegas the president called for a policy that would provide a clear path to citizenship for illegal residents who pay their taxes, learn English and abide by the law. He warned that if bipartisan talks in Congress break […]

We don’t need more regulation of energy use, cap and trade, carbon taxes, or any of the range of new measures President Obama is pushing to deal with climate change. According to Bloomberg News, U.S. carbon emissions are down 13 percent over the past five years and that they are now the lowest since 1994. […]

When I was a Boy Scout in the early 1960s, I earned a few merit badges and learned some very important life lessons along the way. One of them was the Scout Motto: “Be prepared!” I remember the Scout Oath: “On my honor, I will do my best, to do my duty to God and […]

It’s cold and snowy as I write this. Thank goodness the federal government provides us with “helpful” winter tips (: ready.gov/winter-weather: ). Did you know, warns our government, that “(w)inter storms can range from a moderate snow over a few hours to a blizzard with blinding, wind-driven snow that lasts for several days”? News to me. Or […]

“No amnesty!” Good luck with that. “Secure the border!” Yeah, that, too. Why not? Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas describes the problem with unenforced illegal immigration laws to Politico’s Ginger Gibson: “The crush of illegals have bankrupted local governments, shut down hospitals, overwhelmed schools and crashed local economies, hurting largely Hispanic citizens.” He’s against the […]

At least Romney had binders. Binders full of qualified women to fill cabinet positions, that is. Democrats mercilessly pounded Romney for the binders comment he made during the 2012 presidential campaign, but I’ll bet the Obama campaign now wishes Romney had passed the binders on to Obama since it seems he’s having a hard time […]

“Why this fat cat likes Obama’s tax plan” was the headline of a full-page ad La Jolla, Calif., investor Norman Lizt took out in The New York Times in August. No, it wasn’t really an endorsement. Lizt wrote that he has been a successful investor over the years, but if Americans re-elected President Barack Obama […]

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals emphatically smacked down the crazy idea that the president has the power to make recess appointments while the Senate is not in recess. “An interpretation of ‘the Recess’ that permits the President to decide when the Senate is in recess would demolish the checks and balances inherent in the […]