Monthly Archives: January 2017

“Stock Market Gained $2T in Wealth Since Trump Elected”

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That’s the headline on a Fox News insider report of Club For Growth founder Stephen Moore’s claim about one outcome of President Donald Trump’s election.  It’s certainly true that the market has run up hard since the election (although it’s had other periods of sharp gains, too, that are unrelated to elections).  Moore also was quoted as saying,

This could be the start of a big bull market rally[.]

There are a couple of things about this, one bigger than the other.  The lesser thing is that the stock market has been in a bull run for most of the year.

The bigger thing, though, is the misconception of “wealth” in the stock market.  The stock market has gained value, not wealth.  Wealth is what someone can spend on necessities and froo-froo, actual goods and services; stock shares aren’t those.  To turn that (gain in) value into actual wealth, all those higher priced shares would have to be sold for real dollars—and if everyone did that roughly simultaneously, most of that value gain would disappear in the selling.

Funding Sanctuary Cities

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White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Federal funds—your tax money—for “sanctuary” cities:

[I]f you defy the laws of this country, you shouldn’t receive federal tax payer dollars from the people of this country…in some cases, you have folks that have committed crimes…and in every other jurisdiction, they say “OK, you’ve committed a crime. You now have to leave the country.”

What the man said.

The NLMSM Throws a Temper Tantrum

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The AP has gotten its panties in a twist, and the rest of the NLMSM seems to be joining them.  President Donald Trump’s Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, is committing the unpardonable sin of not calling on the AP for the first question at his daily noon press briefing and Q&A.  Monday and Tuesday, Spicer called on a New York Post and a LifeZette reporter, respectively.  On Wednesday, it was The Washington Times‘ reporter who asked the first question.

And this, from the AP itself:

Spicer taking the first question from Stinson attracted notice because, before Trump, major news outlets were traditionally called upon to open White House press conferences and briefings.

Isn’t that precious?  The only notice it drew from the adults in the briefing room was that finally press outlets other than the self-important few were getting a chance to ask questions for their publications.

The only notice it drew from us Americans across the nation was, “How refreshing.”

Oh, and, the AP’s major news outlets consists in particular, as the record notes even if the AP won’t, of the AP.

Federal Education Fail

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Reason enough to gut, if not dismantle altogether, the Department of Education is this bit of waste [emphasis in the original].  I disagree, though, that there was no effect.  Those $7 billion clearly had an effect of Arne Duncan’s cronies and those of his staffers in the upper reaches of the DoE.

Despite its gargantuan price tag, [School Improvement Grant program] SIG generated no academic gains for the students it was meant to help. Failing schools that received multi-year grants from the program to “turn around” ended up with results no better than similar schools that received zero dollars from the program. To be clear: billions spent had no effect.

From The Washington Post:

Test scores, graduation rates and college enrollment were no different in schools that received money through the School Improvement Grants program—the largest federal investment ever targeted to failing schools—than in schools that did not.

Suspiciously,

The Education Department did not track how the money was spent, other than to note which of the four strategies schools chose.

Andy Smarick, American Enterprise Institute resident fellow:

Think of what all that money could have been spent on instead.

Indeed.

The US Embassy to Israel

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The fear that moving the US embassy to Jerusalem will have unforeseen consequences—or even foreseen: Palestinian terrorist violent opprobrium—is entirely justified. What isn’t justifiable is using this as an excuse to not make the move. The embassy should be moved, with due planning for protections against and responses to violence attempted against the newly located embassy and Jerusalem at large.

Any idea that the embassy move should be done only after a peace agreement has been made with the Palestinians and their acceptance of a part of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital also is ludicrous. Neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority will agree to such a thing.  Hamas does not and will not even agree to Israel’s right to exist, and the PA hasn’t sufficient control over its population—even did it agree with Israel’s right to exist—to make any agreements regarding Israel’s capital.

Move the embassy.

 

h/t Mosaic Magazine