King or jester?  Obama's views and decisions regarding GM and Chrysler are not looking good for his economic legacy.  This WSJ editorial starts to flesh out many of his decisions and thier likley effects.  It is instructive to read as it provides a perspective on Obama's decisoin making skills which will likely affect many other aspects of our lives.

Update - Hat tip to Instapundit.

A Rasmussen poll just released shows the Tea Parties were very well received by the public, with 51% having a favorable view versus 33% with an unfavorable view.  Particularly interesting, 54% of mainstream Democrats viewed Tea Parties favorably.

Not surprisingly, only 13% of the political elites had a favorable view of the events.

The public is shifting its view on "global warming" according to a new Rasmussen Report.  Currently 34% of those sampled believe human activity is the cause of "Global Warming", this is a significant decline from 47% a year ago. 

Today 48% feel planetary trends are the root cause of "Global Warming", versus only 34% a year ago.

The "Global Warming" mantra is used by state and national politicians to push for broader and stronger regulations and taxation related to carbon energy. 

As the "conclusive" evidence on climate change is increasingly criticized by the scientific community, it is silly to restructure the economy and reduce living standards until to evidence is conclusive that such a restructuring is critical to America's well being.

By creating highly invasive and complicated tax regimes related to carbon energy, politicians are again pursuing a massive power grab to gain further control of American's economic lives.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out if the public continues to demand harder scientific evidence to accept "Global Warming" as a man-made problem.

Ultimately, personal freedom is only possible through economic freedom. 

PJTV estimates nationwide Tea Party turnout to be 500,000 +. 

Here is how Daily Kos sums up the events.  Surprised?

“The "tea party" rallies went unmentioned. In Washington, D.C., despite temperatures in the 40s and a driving rainstorm, about a thousand demonstrators assembled across from the White House. The front page of the Times found space for a big story with accompanying pictures of competing public demonstrations in Kabul, Afghanistan, but not a word about the American protestors.”

Eugene Robinson, of The Washington Post attempts to cast an objective eye at the protests, but exposes his true sympathies with lines such as:

"The made-for-television demonstrations in cities across the country were generally small, and the only thing they proved conclusively is that -- you might want to sit down to hear this -- some Americans don't much enjoy paying taxes."

Here is another perspective he offers on the events:

"The protests were all over the map, and thus hard to take seriously. A reality check would show that Obama's approval rating is running higher than 60 percent in most recent polls."

Clueless.

Here is a great where Barney Frank is asked about his responsibility for the sub-prime crisis.  How to best describe the interaction?  A friend summed it up best.  The student is so calm and articulate, while Barney appears to be a mental midget.
 

Enjoy, and then weep for our country.

This is a monthly review of the events driving the stock market.  It is published each month at the website www.valueexpectations.com.

This month the review has an intuitive explanation of how the government will induce private parties to over pay for bank assets as part of Timmy G's toxic asset bailout.

April '09 Monthly Market Review

Ideally have someone make a giant foam acorn and nutcracker!

Traveling today, so my commentary is a bit on the short side. Here were some of the more interesting articles I read this morning from the Real Clear Politics and Real Clear Markets sites.

Opening day for the White Sox - Sunny and 90's per Global Warming Forecasts.  Nah, high 20's with wing chill.  Where is Al when we need him?

Timmy G. is ready to take on bank managers.  Not sure if he had a Freudian slip with his "when" vs. "If" comment, but regardless it is very bad to continue hearing the government talk about replacing private sector employees.

Was the housing mess Alan's fault?  My friend John Tamny, no Greenspan supporter, argues the weak dollar policies the Treasury pursued over the past 4 years is the real culprit.

If you thought the Congress did a nice job with "home ownership" and the rise of mortgage backed securities, wait until you see what they do with "Cap and Trade" for carbon emissions. 

Have a great day.  If you know of anyone involved with a tea party, and they need a website to promote their event and get better organized for future events, please have them visit: www.teapartynexus.com .  We will provide them a free website with administrative rights to post blogs, photos, event notices, and email members for current and future events.  Together we can make a difference.

Share your favorite sign ideas for the upcoming Tax Tea Parties leading up to the April 15th Tea Parties around the country!

Lets try to get 100 by next week!

Be Heard and Make a Difference!

Here is a link to a national radio station locator.  Find the ones near you and get them involved!  It will tell you the station format and take you to their web page.

Share your success with everyone here - By creating excitement you create results!

Be Heard and Make a Difference!

The Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post takes a look at Obama's performance during the summit. The article' s opening paragraph sums up the story:

"Barack Obama has proved in the past few days that he can work smoothly and productively with a wide range of foreign leaders -- provided that he allows them to set the agenda."

It seems as though the main economic achievements of the summit revolve around the world adopting Euro-Style market oversight. When exactly was the last time European Economic Policy led the way forward for growth and wealth creation?
My guess is that as history is written on this crisis, Obama's role will be summarized as follows - Here is a man that continued the dubious nationalization policies started by Bush, placed more technocrats than the market, and ultimately through political pandering made the crisis much worse than it should have been. These events will serve as the foundation for a new smaller government movement in 2010.
 

Read the entire story here.
 

Sometimes you just need to laugh.  Enjoy

The Progressive Guilt Test, Take It.

The People's Cube is a hilarious site that mocks socialist and communist approaches to life.

Read the entire story here.

Www.realclearmarkets.com is a great source of interesting and timely articles on various economic and finance related topics.  Steven Malaga, an editor for the sight wrote a thought provoking article noting how the definition of "rich" seems to creep ever lower as government become ever more lustful for revenue.

The article is very good.  Read it here.

Congressman Paul Ryan today summarized the House GOP’s budget and contrasted it to the proposal put forward by President Obama (PO).

A few aspects of the GOP budget are very admirable:

1.      It cuts in half the debt PO’s plan will accumulate by 2019.

2.      It freezes spending on discretionary spending, excluding defense, and veteran care.

3.      It attempts to reform Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security – absent a real effort to work on this aspect of the budget, the nation will never achieve a balanced budget given the size of these expenditures.

Does anyone wonder why the markets are scared?  Our Treasury Secretary looks as nervous as Mike Tyson at a spelling bee (thank you Bob and Tom) whenever he has to talk about finance; The administration entertains the idea of the dollar not being the world's reserve currency; The cost to invest via capital gains taxes will increase; Now President Obama (PO) has become a Portfolio Manager deciding to buy GM and sell Chrysler AND hired a new GM CEO.

Later today, Obama will essentially announce that he forced GM's CEO Wagoner to resign, and will allow GM infinite time (in 60 day periods) to restructure, while Chrysler will likely go bankrupt in 30 days.

This is another example of how the current government team in Washington DC, insists on taking more control over the economy.  Last Friday, Treasury essentially ask for permission to take over any company it wants under the guise of systemic risk, now the government will run industrial companies.

Markets like fair, consistently applied rules.  Our politicians consistently show the ability to change rules on the fly to garner attention and try to wrestle 15 extra minutes of fame, something markets abhor.  Simutaneously, the more PO reaches to bring his vast business acumen to solve economic problems, the longer our economy will likely underperform.  The current mantra from PO is his UnStimulus will add or save 3 million jobs.  Since when is saving jobs coming out of a deep recession a acceptable goal?  Given how much he is spending, that is such a low standard it will rank among the worst Presidential economic performances in our country's history.  No doubt PO would make a great addition to a business, sadly though he would be in the marketing department not in the CFO office.  All told, it is not surprising the markets have not embraced PO "Change" favorably.

We will feature various Milton Friedman videos over time as very few people can explain and defend the power of freedom, capitalism, free markets and limited government better than Dr. Friedman.

I attended The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business because of his influence on the school's faculty and intellectual orientation.  While he had moved on to the Hoover Institute by the time I started at Chicago, his influence and lessons have been integral throughout my career. 

Here he discusses the 4 ways to spend money.  You can spend your own money on yourself.  You can spend your own money on someone else.  You can spend someone else's money on yourself.  You can spend someone else's money on someone else.  This forth way is particularly troublesome, and is basically what our current congress and Obama is trying to do allot more of while they are in power.  While the video quality is poor, the audio is very good and will help you better explain one of the key tenets behind the Tea Party Movement.  Enjoy.

Note: The last 40 seconds do not have sound, but the lesson is well taught and the reward for your patience is priceless.

Three different stories out this weekend, related to Obama and his policies.  Bottom line - people are wising up about his budget, in a historical context our financial crisis seems to be "just average", which is bad as things are likely to get worse before they get better, and administration claims that charitable giving will not decline due to Washington's power grab is dare we say nothing more than " Dreams From Poor Policy Advisors". Somehow I do not think this one will be a best seller.

This article that I co-wrote with John Tamny, Editor of Real Clear Markets, published in Investors Buisness Daily, captures why Obama's class warfare policies will ultimately damage the middle class.  Originally published during the Democratic Primary, it remains as relevant as ever given where Washington is headed at the moment.

Read the entire article here.