Tag Archives: political parties

“We Don’t Have a Strategy Yet”

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President Barack Obama reiterated, in his speech Thursday, his reluctance to strike Syria, whether to support good-guy rebels or to attack ISIS forces there.

He also reiterated his reluctance to go beyond “humanitarian” air strike potshots in northern Iraq, whether to support the Kurds or to attack ISIS forces there.

He also ruled out any sort of military help for Ukraine by the US in the face of the now open Russian invasion of that country.

He also reiterated his reluctance to provide arms and ammunition to the Ukrainian forces so they could defend themselves, even if by themselves.

He didn’t address Iran’s nuclear weapons program at all.

He didn’t address the People’s Republic of China’s increasingly aggressive sea grabs in the East and South China Seas and its increasing harassment of American surveillance flights—in international airspace, albeit above those claimed waters.

This is after two years of butchery in Syria; after four years of watching, according to a West Point report, the growing strength and organization of ISIS; six years after Russia’s invasion and partition of Georgia and six months after Russia’s occupation of Ukraine’s Crimea oblast; over a year after the PRC began its aggression in those Seas.

We don’t have a strategy, yet.

More Regulatory…Foolishness

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Gordon Crovitz identified some.

The Obama administration’s standard reaction to technological innovation has been to block change via regulation….

Federal regulators are also putting the brakes on self-driving cars, which are closely related to the Uber innovation—enabling riders to order a car service using their smartphone app. If fast-moving technology hadn’t collided with slow-moving regulators, this might have been the last summer you’d have to drive your own car.

And

US regulators won’t let car manufacturers go much beyond what Mercedes now offers [active cruise control, automatic braking and lane-keeping technologies]. That means car makers can’t roll out technologies they already have, and auto makers in Europe, which has fewer regulations limiting technology, have surpassed their US competitors.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has warned states not to allow fully self-driving cars, like the one Google is developing, except for testing purposes. The agency says it’s working on a study that will take at least until 2017. Regulators say they’ll release performance metrics for self-driving features, then run the tests, then issue regulations, and only then permit sales. Meanwhile, the agency has delayed a plan by Tesla to replace traditional side mirrors with more effective cameras.

In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not this technology works as well as advertised. Existing liability law will deal with failures. This is Big Government regulating for no other reason than that it can. This produces the opposite of what government is required to do; one aspect of this requirement being clearly laid out in Art I, Sect 8, of our Constitution: To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts….

Because, Big Government. Now shut up, and quit arguing.

Another Look at Tax Inversion Mergers

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Burger King Worldwide Inc is in talks to buy Canadian coffee-and-doughnut chain Tim Hortons Inc, a deal that would be structured as a so-called tax inversion and move the hamburger seller’s base to Canada.

After all, Canada’s corporate tax rate is competitive even with Ireland’s 12.5% rate, at least from the lofty perspective of our own 35% top corporate rate: Canada’s rate is 15%. This inversion isn’t just the fiscally sound thing to do, it satisfies the company management’s fiduciary duty to control costs and maximize profits for the company’s owners.

BK isn’t alone in moving to Canada:

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc, which had been based in California, combined with Canada’s Biovail Corp in 2010 and redomiciled in Canada. The company now has a tax rate less than 5%.

And there are others.

Naturally, the Progressives in Congress and the White House—and no few captured Republicans—are demanding a stop to the inversions. Not in any sensible way, though. Treasury, for instance, is looking at a range of “options to deter or prevent” inversions.

No, BK’s pursuit of an inversion deal only illustrates the distorting, anti-competitive nature of our current tax code, and Treasury’s “options” will only make the thing worse. The right answer is to lower US corporate tax rates to competitive levels. When it becomes more attractive to be in the United States, to invest in the United States, to have a chance actually to turn a profit in the United States, not only will the BKs, the Valeants, and the AbbVies and Covidiens, et al., stay, foreign companies will look to come to the United States, bringing their ideas, their money, and their jobs here.

Even Canada, right next door (the convenience…), is becoming host to these things. But (even) Canada has been improving its tax structure for some years, lowering its corporate tax rate since 2005 from over 22% (still lower than the US’ then) to just 15%. Indeed, here’s a hint:

Tim Hortons [originally a Canadian company until its acquisition by Wendy’s] initially kept its headquarters in Delaware after it was spun off by Wendy’s in 2006. The chain moved back to Canada in 2009, shortly after the Conservative government in Canada lowered the nation’s corporate tax rate.

YGTBSM

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This is what happens when you have a motor boat skipper for a Secretary of State. John Kerry, speaking through his spokeswoman, Marie Harf, had this to say about whether ISIS is at war with the United States:

(Unnamed) Reporter: I mean, even they are announcing, ISIL people in their message, whatever, the recorded message, other messages, that now we are in a war with America.
Kerry/Harf: This is not about ISIL versus the United States. They are killing anyone who gets in their way….
(Unnamed) Reporter: But they are announcing that it’s a war against America. Right or wrong, that’s what they are saying.
Kerry/Harf: Well, they can say whatever they’d like, but what I am making clear is that’s not what ISIL represents. And they don’t represent any religion. They are at war with everybody they come into contact with.

If our professional and chief diplomat can’t even understand when an enemy declares its war against us, how are we supposed to be able to fight back, much less crush that enemy?

“US special forces tried to rescue hostages in Syria but failed”

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So screamed a recent Fox News headline. And

The Obama administration sent US troops to Syria recently to attempt to rescue hostages being held by Islamic State militants, including journalist James Foley, but failed to find them, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

But why is the Obama administration mentioning this now, just after the beheading of Foley by these terrorists? There’s no reason at all, other than as another self-serving claim to be doing something in order to show that they’re doing something in response (!) to an act of monstrous barbarity. This administration also claims ISIS terrorists were killed in the raid. Really? Where—in the aftermath of that failure, or now, in the aftermath of the claim of that effort—are ISIS’ braggings about having inflicted such a defeat on the Great Satin?

Also, why is the Obama administration giving up this classified (or it should be) information at all?

NSC Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said in a statement that the administration had not planned to release details of the operation, out of concern for the safety of the hostages. However, she said, it became clear Wednesday it would be reported in the media and the administration had “no choice but to acknowledge it.”

This makes no sense. If Obama’s administration didn’t leak any of this information, on what basis does it claim this information “would be reported in the media?”

Worse, giving up information about the raid (if it occurred), gives critical information concerning methods and sources to the terrorists, and to anyone else who’s listening, endangering friendly lives and hindering the ability to execute future ops of this type.

Of course, the Obama administration understands all of that. Which brings me back to that earlier purpose, mentioned above. This exposure is all about making Obama and his administration look good in the shower. As illogical as that seems, as immoral as that is, it’s entirely consistent with this administration’s performance these last six years. This act is all about Obama and his administration, and not at all about the safety of American troops or of American civilians situated overseas. After all, after his pretty speech about the beheading, and while Obama’s Own were blatting on about this failed raid, President Barack Obama went back to his golf game and his vacation.

 

Finally, a quibble. This butchery was by ISIS terrorists, not any nation. Full stop. The press really needs to stop muddying the situation, and it really needs to stop legitimizing these terrorists by euphemizing them.