Peter Schiff: Economy on Thin Ice, the Poor and Middle Class Should Prepare to Suffer the Most

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Photo Credit: NoHoDamon / Creative Commons Friday’s release of disappointing August payroll numbers should have been a jarring wake-up call warning Wall Street that the economy has been treading on thin ice. Instead the alarm clock was stuffed under the pillow and Wall Street kept sleeping. The miss was so epic in fact (the 142,000 jobs created was almost 40% below the consensus estimate) that the top analysts on Wall Street did their best to tell us that it was all just a bad dream. Mark Zandi of Moody’s reacted on Squawk Box by saying “I don’t believe this data.” The reliably optimistic Diane Swonk of Mesirow Financial told Reuters the report “sure looks like a fluke, not a trend”.

But the opinions of those that really matter, the central bankers in charge of the global economy, are likely taking the report much more seriously. . . Since the markets crashed in 2008, central banks around the world have worked feverishly to push up the prices of financial assets and to keep consumer prices rising steadily. They have done so in the official belief that these outcomes are vital ingredients in the recipe for economic growth. The theory is that steady inflation creates demand by inspiring consumers to spend in advance of predictable price increases. . . In other words, seed the economy with money and inflation and watch it grow.

Thus far the banks have been successful in creating the bubbles and keeping inflation positive, but growth has been a no show. The theory says the growth is right around the corner, but like Godot it stubbornly fails to show up. This has been a tough circle for many economists to square.

. . .This is where we are with stimulus. Six years of zero percent interest rates and trillions and trillions of new public debt have failed to restore economic health, but our conclusion is that we just haven’t given it enough time or effort. My theory is a bit different. Maybe zero percent interest rates and asset bubbles hinder rather than help a real recovery. Maybe they resurrect the zombie of a failed model and prevent something viable and lasting from gaining traction? This is a possibility that no one in power is prepared to consider. . .

The tragedy is that if the policy fails to produce real growth, as I am convinced it will, the price will be paid by those elements of society least able to bear it, the poor and the old. Inflation and stagnation mean lost purchasing power. The rich can mitigate the pain with a rising stock portfolio and more modest vacation destinations. But they won’t miss a meal. Those subsisting on meager income will be hit the hardest.

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Don’t Give the Masters of the Universe Their Amnesty

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Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan / Getty Earlier this week I spoke about the president’s promise that he would issue an executive amnesty to 5 or 6 million people. The planned amnesty would include work permits, photo IDs, and Social Security numbers for millions of people who illegally entered the U.S., illegally overstayed their visas, or defrauded U.S. immigration authorities.

The Senate Democratic conference has supported and enabled the president’s unlawful actions and blocked every effort to stop them. Not even one of our Democratic colleagues has backed the House legislation that would stop this planned executive amnesty or demanded that Senator Reid bring it up for a vote. Every Senate Democrat is therefore the president’s partner in his planned lawless acts.

Tonight I would like to talk about the influence of special interests on our nation’s immigration system. How did we get to the point where elected officials, activist groups, the ACLU, and global CEOs are openly working to deny American workers the immigration protections to which they are legally entitled? How did we get to the point where the Democratic party is prepared to nullify and wipe away the immigration laws of the United States of America?

Just yesterday Majority Leader Reid wrote in a tweet something that was shocking. He said: “Since House Republicans have failed to act on immigration, I know the President will. When he does, I hope he goes Real Big.”

Let this sink in for a moment. The majority leader of the Senate is bragging that he knows the president will circumvent Congress to issue executive amnesty to millions, and he is encouraging the president to ensure this amnesty includes as many people as possible. And the White House has acknowledged that 5 to 6 million is the number they are looking at.

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Obamacare To Cancel Health Plans For 250,000 Virginians

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Larry DowningUp to 250,000 Virginia residents will have their health insurance plans cancelled this fall due to Obamacare regulations, NBC 29 WVIR reports.

“Nearly a quarter million Virginians will have their current insurance plans cut this fall,” said a local NBC-29 anchor on Thursday. “That is because many of them did not — are not following new Affordable Care Act rules, so a chunk of the companies that offer those individuals their policies will make the individuals choose new policies.”

“This goes back to that now heavily-criticized line we heard before Obamacare was put in place: ‘If you like your plan, you can keep it,’” said reporter Alana Austin. “Ultimately, that turned out not to be true for thousands of Virginians and companies in the Commonwealth. … Wednesday Virginia lawmakers on the health insurance reform commission met for the first time this year. Turns out, a staggering number of Virginians will need new plans this fall.”

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Reporter Ticks Off Nancy Pelosi By Mentioning George Bush

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Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty ImagesHouse Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was visibly irritated when a reporter brought up former President George W. Bush and asked whether she thinks Obama is following his lead.

“He’s not relevant right now,” she said at her weekly press briefing Thursday, after a reporter brought up a statement from former Bush administration lawyer John Yoo reported by BuzzFeed Wednesday: “President Obama has adopted the same view of war powers as the Bush administration.”

“Do you agree with that?” the reporter asked.

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3-Year-Old Boy Born Without Fingers Gets “Iron Man” Hand Thanks to 3-D Printer

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Photo Credit: LifeNewsA three-year-old Hawaiian boy received a robotic hand thanks to a 3D Printer. Nicknamed “Bubba”, Rayden Kahae was born without fingers due to Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS), which occurs when an unborn baby becomes entangled in the fibrous string-life amniotic bands in the womb. The bands restrict blood flow and can cause a wide spectrum of clinical abnormalities.

West Palm Beach TV shares more:

His grandmother, Rulan Waikiki, says, “Bubba was born with ABS which is amniotic band syndrome. It’s where the baby’s hands end up without some fingers, some with none, couple little stumps instead of fingers.”

But it’s life as he knew it. And while he thrived, he too knew he was different.

“He knew from earlier on when he could notice that his sister had two hands and he didn’t, that he always said he doesn’t like that hand he wanted one like Tita’s,” Waikiki said.

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Pentagon Official: Obama’s ISIS Strategy Is Doomed To Fail

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Photo Credit: REUTERS / Larry DowningAfter weeks of back and forth, on Wednesday night President Barack Obama outlined his strategy for “degrading” and “destroying” the Islamic State, and on the 13th anniversary of 9/11, Americans were able to finally wake up in a country that had a strategy for the most recent Islamist threat.

The problem is that the strategy — to provide logistical support for Iraqi forces, limited air strikes, and a strong Free Syrian Army — is a foolish strategy that is unlikely to succeed.

The president’s strategy calls for U.S. air strikes against Islamic State targets in Iraq and Syria in support of Iraqi army forces and the Free Syrian Army rebels who are fighting the Islamic State on the ground. Obama made it clear that the U.S. military commitment will be limited to air strikes, as he will not order U.S. ground forces into either Iraq or Syria.

Instead of ground forces, however, the president said that the United States will increase training and logistical support for those armies on the ground, but herein lies a critical flaw: The Iraqis have not proven to be a reliable partner in the war on terrorism. And this, despite ten years of U.S. military training and equipment provided by the United States.

In Iraq, the Islamic State has swept Iraqi forces in a number of recent engagements, with many Iraqi units simply abandoning their posts and refusing to fight. This problem is not one that can be solved through additional training. Even with the added power and confidence-boost of air strikes, a root issue is sectarianism. On a number of occasions, the Iraqi army failed to fight the Islamic State not simply because of bad officers and cowardice: Sunni units simply did not want to fight fellow Sunnis, even if they were extremists.

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Main House Foe of Export-Import Bank ‘Swallows Hard’ at 9-Month Reprieve

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Photo Credit: Bill Clark / CQ Roll CallA leading congressional advocate for pulling the plug on the Export-Import Bank today said he “regrets” that a nine-month reauthorization of the federal agency is part of a Republican-sponsored measure to keep the government running.

“I do not believe that Ex-Im should be part of the CR [continuing resolution]. I regret that the Republican conference is putting it there,” House Financial Services Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said in response to a question from The Daily Signal.

The charter of the Export-Import Bank is slated to expire Sept. 30, but a continuing resolution being considered in the House would extend the life of the bank until June 30 next year.

“I am not enamored with this particular continuing resolution,” Hensarling said after a speech at Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center in Washington. He added:

If I had my druthers, this would not be what would be before me, but I learned very early on in my congressional career that I don’t get to vote on what I want to vote on. I have to vote on what’s in front of me.

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A Conservative College Student Who Lives With Her Parents Pulled Off a Shocking Election Upset

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Photo Credit: Fox NewsFrom her parents’ house to the Florida House of Representatives…

Meet Jennifer Sullivan, a conservative Republican who just might be the most unlikely election winner you’re going to hear about this year.

Sullivan is 23. She’s still in college and she lives with her parents. She ran against much older opponents boasting a lot more money and more influential endorsements.

And she still won the Aug. 26 election by six points and will now serve a two-year term representing an area of about 150,000 constituents.

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MO Legislature Overrides Governor's Veto, Ratifies Statute Mandating 72-Hour Waiting Period for All Abortions

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Photo Credit: TownHallThe Missouri state legislature passed a statute earlier this year requiring all women seeking abortions to wait 72 hours before obtaining one. However, because there were no exemptions enumerated in the bill itself — and thus deemed too “extreme” — Gov. Jay Nixon (D-MO) vetoed it. That’s why Republicans were forced to cobble together a two-thirds, veto-proof majority coalition to override him and get it on the books — which they barely did.

The law will go into effect sometime next month:

Missouri women seeking abortions will face one of the nation’s longest waiting periods, after state lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto to enact a 72-hour delay that includes no exception for cases of rape or incest. The new requirement will take effect 30 days after Wednesday’s vote by the Republican-led Legislature, overruling the veto of Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. He had denounced the measure as “extreme and disrespectful” toward women.

The abortion bill was one of the most prominent Republican victories in a record-setting September session, during which Missouri lawmakers also overrode 47 line-item budget vetoes and nine other bills, including one creating a training program for teachers to carry guns in schools. Earlier this year, the Republican-led Legislature overrode Nixon’s veto to enact the state’s first income tax rate reduction in nearly a century.

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September 11 Anniversary to be Marked in Much-Changed Lower Manhattan

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Photo Credit: AP / Mark Lennihan,A solemn reading of the names. Moments of silence to mark the precise times of tragedy. Stifled sobs of those still mourning.

As the nation pauses Thursday to mark the thirteenth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack, little about the annual ceremony at ground zero has changed. But so much around it has.

For the first time, the National September 11 Museum — which includes gut-wrenching artifacts and graphic photos of the attacks — will be open on the anniversary. Fences around the memorial plaza have come down, integrating the sacred site more fully with the streets of Manhattan while completely opening it up to the public and camera-wielding tourists.

A new mayor is in office, Bill de Blasio, one far less linked to the attacks and their aftermath than his immediate predecessors. And finally, a nearly completed One World Trade Center has risen 1,776 feet above ground zero and will be filled with office workers by this date in 2015, another sign that a page in the city’s history may be turning.

For some who lost loved ones in the attacks, the increasing feel of a return to normalcy in the area threatens to obscure the tragedy that took place there and interfere with their grief.

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