Monday, October 26, 2015

American Dominance is Being Challenged....

This article from the Economist is interesting, but as I point out in my comments below, the author doesn't really scratch the surface of the material facts.

Here is the article from The Economist:

The new game
American dominance is being challenged


There are a number of things being overlooked by the author. 

First, China as it exists today in untenable.  It is far more likely to collapse from within than any of the 'superpowers' or BRIC countries.  Its one child policy has left it with an aging workforce and not enough younger workers to fill the jobs necessary to sustain their economy (circa 2008 it took an additional 25 million new jobs a year to sustain their economy - I'm not sure the number today).  The chances of the yuan becoming the world currency is practically nil, at least until the Chinese government allows it to float, which is very unlikely under a communist regime. China does not have enough of its own natural resources and must import a massive amount of raw materials from other countries, largely from South America and the African Continent.  This makes them as dependent on those countries as those countries are on China.  

Which leads to my second point, the USA rules the seas - all of the seas - and no other single country can come close.  For example:
  • Of the 19 active air craft carriers the U.S. has 10 of them, China and Russia 1 each.  
  • Destroyers: U.S.: 62, China 25, Russia 12.  
  • Were the U.S. does lag behind is subs.  The U.S. has 71 missile & attack subs to China's 69 and Russia's 49.  
  • All in the U.S. has approximately 3+ Million tons of naval power, China 1 million and Russia 900,000.  
Additionally, the U.S. currently has 2 subs to be commissioned in 2016, 2 more currently under construction, and 20 more announced (7 already named).  There are an 44 more vessels in various stages.  All in that's 68 new vessels added to our fleet (not sure how many are scheduled to be decommissioned).  Regardless, my point is we are not, by nature of the number of vessels, going to lose control of the seas anytime soon.  However, another 8 years of foreign policy [or. lack thereof] like the last 8 years may have the U.S. simply cede control of the seas.

While I agree with the author that we are certainly not leading in the fight against ISIS and the Assad regime, I will acknowledge there is a possibility that the Obama regime may have dumbed into a scenario where Russia will get bogged down in the Middle East.  That is not something their economy can withstand long term unless oil prices jump dramatically.  If the U.S. manages their Middle Eastern policy correctly in the coming years, this could have one of two results.  First and most desirable would be for it to drive Putin from power – highly unlikely given his control over state-run media; or second he could be driven to do something extremely foolish in the region which would result in the world coalescing against Russia and beating them back from their expansionary plans via strict economic sanctions. Of course, there is a third option, which is Putin may simply go off the deep end and pull the world into WWIII.  

I would note that the U.S. did not lead the world in nuclear arms talks with the Iranians, the Obama regime lead the rise of Iran to be a legitimate nuclear armed country in less than a decade.  No one, save this author apparently, believes that Iran will abide to any agreement with the U.S.

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

POTUS: Let's talk about 'mass shootings'...

As the POTUS prepares to milk yet another tragedy to further his goal of limiting our 2nd Amendment Rights, we take a hard look at the data.  

Baltimore.

246 homicides through September 26, 2015, September 2015 homicides up 39% from the same month in 2014 and 52% YTD over the previous year.  (non-fatal shooting are up 80% over 2014)
For the year, the 246 homicides recorded through Sept. 26 put Baltimore dangerously close to the record pace of 1993, when 353 people were victims of homicide. The fact that the spike occurred after April 19 bodes even worse: Before the unrest following the Gray arrest, Baltimore had recorded 65 homicides for the year. A four-decade high of 42 homicides in May was topped in July when 45 people were killed in homicides, making Baltimore the second deadliest city in America on a per capita basis, trailing only St. Louis.

Los Angeles.

486 homicides YTD [184 Black - 38%, 212 Latino - 44%, 61 White - 13%, 20 Asian - 4%]

Here are some graphics by the LA Times that show more detail.

New York City.

208 YTD up 9% over YTD 2014

Chicago.

351 YTD up 54%  over YTD 2014

Here is the data for the some of the largest U.S. cities:

2014
2015 % Change
Milwaukee
59
104 76%
St. Louis
85
136 60%
Baltimore 138 215 56%
Washington 73 105 44%
New Orleans 98 120 22%
Chicago 244 294 20%
Kansas City, Mo. 45 54 20%
Dallas 71 83 17%
New York 190 208 9%
Philadelphia 165 171 4%
1168 1490 30%
Year-to-date time periods range from Aug. 11 to Aug. 31.
Source: City police departments
By The New York Times

Can anyone please tell me what the common denominator is for these cities?  

Milwaukee:            Democrat or Socialist controlled since 1908
St Louis:                Democrat controlled since 1953
Baltimore:              Democrat controlled since 1967
Washington D.C.:  Democrat controlled since 1961 Last Republican 1883.
New Orleans:         Democrat controlled since 1936 Last Republican 1872.
Chicago:                 Democrat controlled since 1931
Kansas City, MO:  Democrat controlled since 1930 except for 1 Republican mayor
Dallas:                    Democrat Controlled since 1987 except for 1 term Republican
New York City:      Aside from the 8 years of Mayor Giuliani, it has been Democrat controlled since
                               1946 [Michael Bloomberg changed from Dem to Rep to get elected, then back to
                               Dem to stay elected.]
Philadelphia:          Democrat controlled since 1952

Do you notice any patterns?

According to Albert Einstein the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  

It is not difficult to conclude that the citizens of these cities are indeed insane.   

Monday, October 05, 2015

The Hillary doing her best to blame anyone but herself...

These clips are from NBC's Today Show October 5th - their 'Pancakes & Politics'.  I'm not holding my breath that they've have the equivalent production for any GOP nominee, except possibly The Donald, since he brings in big ratings and we all know they could you some help in that area.





What do you think?

I'm going with, delusional...