America's Ignorance

From Lew Rockwell's Blog:

UPDATE: Ken Schouten writes:

I am Canadian, a regular visitor to LewRockell.com, and do not change my habits when I travel. I was in the Beijing airport the other day and there was a group of MBA students from University of Connecticut waiting for the same flight as me. These students were very well dressed for a group of people that has not produced anything of significance to date. I overheard them talk down about some of the clothes and styles of the Chinese, the food they eat, the dirtiness of the cities, etc. One comment stood out: “Beijing, the city that gets under your fingernails.” Nice to be able to talk about your lender that way. They truly do view Asia as a place where people just make stuff for them. I tried to engage one of them: I asked her about the economics courses that she took. She was “not really interested in economics because she was specializing in Marketing and International Business.” Pretty much representative of the rest of the crowd—judging by the comments and conversations that I overheard. On the airplane, I was seated next to a Chinese executive for a large American company; any one of the students could have spoken to this guy and really learned something about International Business and Marketing in China; they were oblivious. This Chinese executive (non-MBA) spoke to me about his concern about the future of the US currency (thinks it will collapse) and diversification plans for the Asian part of the business (do not include US), while the MBA students went on talking about which cars they were going to own after graduation.

If this is any indication of what is coming out of other schools, the future stewards of American business are clueless.

3 Government Reports Point to Fiscal Doomsday Ahead for US

From Money&Markets:

And, unfortunately, that’s precisely the situation we’re in today: Three recently released government reports now point to fiscal doomsday for America; and one of the reports, issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), says so explicitly:

• The CBO paints two future scenarios for the U.S. budget deficit and the national debt. But it plainly declares that fiscal disaster will strike in EITHER scenario. Furthermore …

• The CBO states that its fiscal disaster scenarios could cause severe economic declines for decades to come, including hyperinflation and destruction of retirement savings.

• The CBO then proceeds to admit that even its worse-case scenario could be understated by a wide margin due to panic in the financial markets or vicious cycles that are beyond control.

• Separately, in its Flow of Funds Report for the second quarter, the Federal Reserve provides irrefutable data that we are already beginning to witness the first of these consequences in the United States: an unprecedented cut-off of credit to businesses and consumers.

• Meanwhile, the Treasury Department shows that America’s fate remains, as before, in the hands of foreigners, with the U.S. still owing them $7.9 trillion!

• And despite all this, neither Congress nor the Obama Administration have proposed a plan or a timetable for averting these doomsday scenarios. Their sole solution is to issue more bonds, borrow more, and print more without restraint.

Roll Call Vote Results

Did your congressman vote for the health care package in the house?

Find out here: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll887.xml

If they did, vote them OUT.

From PajamaMedia:

Freedom, David Hume famously observed, is seldom lost all at once. More often, it leaks out slowly. The petty tyranny of good intentions colludes with the bureaucratic imperative to stymie individual initiative and barter liberty for the sake of central control.

Last night, it happened by a slender margin: 220 votes to 215. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the 1900-page bill. One Republican — first- and (I suspect) last-term Anh Cao of Louisiana — voted for it. You can see the entire roster of votes at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll887.xml. Did your congressman just vote to further impoverish the country, rob you of choice in managing your medical care, and arrogate to Washington decisions that should be left to the individual? Consult that list and remember next year and in 2012.

Comic Relief

From Despair.Com

America in 2012: Hyperinflation?