Shot in the Dark

Category: Money

  • There is a lot of ruin in a country, especially this one

    There isn’t enough bad news in the world, so let’s toss another stack of troubles on the table, shall we. At American Greatness, Adam Mill outlines the financial ruin headed our way. The coming reckoning for Washington’s insanely irresponsible monetary policy may dwarf the troubles from all recent recessions and periods of inflation. The Federal…

  • The most valuable commodity will be corrugated tin for the roof of your hovel

    Since we’ll all be living in Bidenvilles soon, it might be wise to develop some skills that our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents learned during the Great Depression for making do in times of want. Yes, we could just tax the rich and take all their money for ourselves, but between inflation and the stock market…

  • Where will you be in nine years?

    The answer may be “in a cave up in the mountains, taking a guard duty shift at the mouth of the cave, projecting how long the canned food can last before another supply run is needed.” Here is a screen capture from the White House proposed budget for 2022. It shows “accounts payable” and “accounts…

  • Wake Me Up When December Ends

    I hate December. It’s cold. It’s dark. And all my year-end bills come due. Annual attorney recertification, vacation condo maintenance fee, hangar rent, Christmas bills plus all the usual expenses. It’s that wallop at the end of the year that annoys me. I hate to see money going out of the checkbook, it should be…

  • If I Did One Of Those “Man On The Street” Interviews…

    … I have a hunch I’d be really be depressed at how many people on a typical college campus would take this article seriously, and at face value.

  • I Vote “Portent”

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: EBT computer system in Louisiana went down for a few hours.  The EBT cards did not show a credit limit.  Shoppers were pissed so Wal-Mart management said “Ignore the limit, honor the cards.” Shoppers went on a spree, cleaning out the store. You know they’ll never have to pay it…

  • A Little Knowledge

    If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my various liberal lawyer friends, it’s this; when I see news of the filing of an absurd lawsuit demanding a bizarre amount of money for an insane claim, take a step back and a deep breath.  A filing does not equal a judgment; while the occasional batspittle-crazy judgment…

  • Nicosia On The Potomac

    Joe Doakes from Como Park emails: It happened once, when the government ran out of money in the midst of a Depression. Could it happen again? Good question. On the one hand, you’d hope people would learn from history. On the other hand, government isn’t “people” in the sense of “individuals acting in concert toward…

  • Fumble

    The Monday Morning Quaterbacking over electronic gambling heats up. When breaking down the various back-up funding plans for the Vaseline Dome, one step was neglected – the finger pointing. For a funding mechanism that was originally billed to deliver $35 million in revenue per year, and continuously revised down to $17 million and then $1.7,…

  • A Look Ahead To The 2011 Session

    January 3: Session kicks off.  Mark Dayton throws a “blue jeans” inaugural.  Musical highlight: the “Alliance For A Better Minnesota” Choir singing “Look For The Union Label”.  For four solid hours. January 4:  The Humphrey Institute releases a poll showing that 80% of Minnesotans want the Legislature to pass Mark Dayton’s budget immediately.  Bloggers point…

  • Trimming The Fat

    Joe Doakes of Como Park writes about New York City’s recent decision to stop using city resources to look for lost pets: It’s sad the City won’t look for lost pets. We lost a cat once and thinking someone may have turned him in, I searched everywhere, for days, visited shelters and even put up…

  • Debt History

    Jeff writing at National Debt Busters writes about the history of the national debt: How do the Presidential Administrations compare? President George Washington through President Gerald Ford, Presidents 1-38, 1791-1976 Debt Increase: $707,142,528,417.78 President James Earl Carter, 39th President, 1977-1980 Debt Increase: $276,666,000,000.00 President Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President, 1981-1988 Debt Increase: $1,672,127,712,041.16 President George…

  • Chanting Points Memo: LGA Cuts Are Killing Minnesota! (Part 1)

    I wrote about it yesterday:  the regional left wants to make Governor Pawlenty’s cuts to the “Local Government Aid” program a major issue in the campaign. If there is any justice – and if Minnesotans can read numbers – it should backfire badly on the DFL. I wrote yesterday about a piece in Twin Cities…

  • Killing Entrepreneurship

    The big nasty untold (by the media) secret of the economy at the moment is that only government is hiring.  And if that stays the case, the country will never be prosperous; prosperity granted to by at the someone else’s sufference (and someone else’s expense) isn’t “prosperity”, it’s being a pet. If America’s economy is…

  • Without Representation

    A DFL legislator would very much like to give school districts the power to raise taxes without voter approval: “In any other year, I would be horrified by the idea,” said Rep. Mindy Greiling, DFL-Roseville. “But I will consider this as a short-term solution. Education funding should be from the state. But schools need a…

  • The Shell Game

    The biggest scam in Minnesota politics?  The intertwined three-card-monte game the DFL plays with state Local Government Aid (LGA), county and city taxes, and city budgets. LGA, for those who weren’t paying attention, was instituted in the sixties and seventies to transfer wealth around Minnesota.  Back then, it ensured outstate towns and school districts got…

  • Dummy

    Yesterday: According to Jim Cramer, a victory by Republican Scott Brown in today’s Massachusetts Senate election will spark a market rally on Wednesday. Today: Stocks Post Biggest Drop Since October As a part-time blogger and full-time wealth management advisor, can I give you some free advice? Jim Cramer is an entertainer. Nothing more. You’re welcome.

  • Punch Bowl

    Between the unseemingly confluence of money and collegiate athletics and the ungangly Bowl Championship Series, the potential for abuse and scandal often seemed to lurk just below the surface. Enter the Arizona Republic and allegations that employees of the Fiesta Bowl were reimbursed for campaign contributions to local politicians whose votes could influence contracts related to the bowl game. …

  • A Roof Over My Head

    …and a hole in the ground. But an investment? …not so sure any more. Another advisor and I were just talking about this over lunch on Friday: is one’s home an investment or just a place to live? The former is only true to the extent that paying off the mortgage and residing in a…

  • Northstar-Struck

    Yesterday was the first day for the “Northstar” commuter rail service. Now, commuter rail is one of those areas where I break with some of my conservative friends – with a big, red asterisk.  Unlike Light Rail, which is a pretty universal money pit, Commuter Rail – heavy cars using existing right of way and…

  • Waste Not

    An observation that eludes many people, especially in these hopey-changey times when the less-“gifted” are seeking a savior from Washington and Michael Moore stalks the land; government is a machine that is designed to waste; waste money, waste resources, waste lives, waste initiative – waste. R. Steven Rogers – a Minneapolis guy  – observes Minneapolis…

  • Krugged

    Doug Williams goes after Paul Krugman’s latest: Krugman is not an idiot. And yet anyone from quick-thinking geniuses to nose-picking morons knew exactly what Krugman’s opinion was going to be about any issue for the past eight years – his opinion was the opposite of whatever the Bush administration supported. Krugman substituted a reliably pure…

  • Start The Rally Without Me

    I hope you can make it to the Tax Cut Rally tomorrow! I will not be there – the NARN show falls smack in the middle of the rally’s time slot so it’d be dicey (and it’s pretty much a project of a competing radio station, not that I’d boycott it, per se; I just…

  • $10,500,000,000,000

    Ten and a half Trillion dollars have been committed by our government for bailouts and stimulus. The USA’s GDP is around 14 Trillion dollars and according to the CIA, our current debt as a percentage of GDP is around 60%. The fact that Japan is near the top of the global rankings at 170% does…

  • Coordination Of Idiocy

    If you have health insurance, you know about Coordination of Benefits; if you have a family and have a spouse or partner who might have health insurance, your plan wants to get their plan to chip in for part of the costs.  It’s understandable… …when treating run of the mill illnesses. The Administration wants to…