Brookes News Update

The US economy: is manufacturing and the yield curve signalling recession?: The signals are mixed about the immediate direction of the US economy. So before anyone starts making predictions I strongly suggest that they recall their economic history and continue to bear in mind the monetary power of central banks
Chinese economy: purchasing power and production: If Chinese economic progress is to be comparatively smooth then the government needs to learn not only the lessons of economic history but also the wisdom of the so-called classical economists whose understanding of fundamental economic forces has been largely forgotten
Putting the Hayekian horse back before the Keynesian cart: an Austrian approach to the business cycle, part I: Mainstream economic analysis starts and often finishes with mutterings about what the 'consumer' will or will not do. But consumption does not drive the economy - only business spending can do that. Policies that promote consumption are actually undermining the capital structure and hence future living standards
Supply-side economics and the money supply, part I: According to supply-siders the key to economic growth and prosperity is low marginal tax rates. However, the supply-side school also maintains that a low marginal tax rate will not be sufficient, that it must be accompanied by a monetary policy that aims at achieving price stability This is a surefire recipe for creating booms and busts
The anti-enlightenment left: This culture war is not a battle of ideas. It's a war against truth being waged by the left. Since religion is the effort to be right morally and spiritually while science is the effort to be right in the physical world, it is not surprising to find the left so passionately against both
Dallas is Bush country and leave your guns at the door!: I covered the war in Beirut in June of '82. I was there for several weeks. During that time I saw first hand how Islamofascists think. They don't know how to read and write but are experts at making bombs. Meanwhile liberal Hollywood Jews, such as Spielberg and Geffen, are throwing money at Obama
Is the US economy still picking up steam?: US economy: manufacturing is not signalling recession - at least not yet. Nevertheless, there is much to worry about, including Bernanke's gross error on capital and credit growth

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Tax cuts mean growth

BY FRED THOMPSON

The results of the experiment that began when Congress passed a series of tax-rate cuts in 2001 and 2003 are in. Supporters of those cuts said they would stimulate the economy. Opponents predicted ever-increasing budget deficits and national bankruptcy unless tax rates were increased, especially on the wealthy.

In fact, Treasury statistics show that tax revenues have soared and the budget deficit has been shrinking faster than even the optimists projected. Since the first tax cuts were passed, when I was in the Senate, the budget deficit has been cut in half. Remarkably, this has happened despite the financial trauma of 9/11 and the cost of the War on Terror. The deficit, compared to the entire economy, is well below the average for the last 35 years and, at this rate, the budget will be in surplus by 2010.

Perhaps the most fascinating thing about this success story is where the increased revenues are coming from. Critics claimed that across-the-board tax cuts were some sort of gift to the rich but, on the contrary, the wealthy are paying a greater percentage of the national bill than ever before. The richest 1% of Americans now pays 35% of all income taxes. The top 10% pay more taxes than the bottom 60%.

The reason for this outcome is that, because of lower rates, money is being invested in our economy instead of being sheltered from the taxman. Greater investment has created overall economic strength. Job growth is robust, overcoming trouble in the housing sector; and the personal incomes of Americans at every income level are higher than they've ever been.

Source

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ELSEWHERE

Fred for Prez: "When his daughter Betsy died, Fred Thompson, a genial 6ft 6in senator for Tennessee, lost his enthusiasm for the rough and tumble of politics. Shortly afterwards he announced that he would not run for reelection.... It dawned on him this year that he could ride back into town as president only when, one by one, the conservative choices for the 2008 Republican ticket revealed their flaws. They seemed out of sync with the party or the country or both. Thompson's name began to be aired by old friends and party power-brokers and, suddenly, the idea of Fred Thompson for president caught fire. Thompson, a good ol' Southern boy with bags of charm to match those under his eyes and chin, is already known to millions as a tough district attorney in the hugely popular TV series Law and Order and has appeared in films such as In the Line of Fire, with Clint Eastwood, and The Hunt for Red October with Sean Connery. A national poll last week put Thompson, 64, in second place behind Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, and three points ahead of Senator John McCain - and he hasn't even declared yet that he is running or spent a cent on campaigning. It suggests that he has the potential to be frontrunner in the Republican field.

Bill Whittle on conspiracy theorists: "No, what fascinates me is the emotional motive of people who, presented with overwhelming evidence that the events that transpired on November 22nd, 1963 or September 11th, 2001 really happened exactly the way it appeared, continue to spin ever more elaborate webs in order to get to a place they need to be emotionally. Who are you going to believe: them or your own lying eyes? ... I've met a number of these people. I know this is harsh, but I'm sick of watching the damage they are doing to this civilization: these people are, to a man, complete losers. Losers. They are desperate and sad people who need to believe in some dark secret to give meaning to their lives."

Google listens -- a little: After my big grumble of last Friday about Google not indexing many of my writings, I find today that all of my more recent articles and all chapters in my 1974 book are now findable via Google! There are still some huge gaps in their coverage, however. They no longer seem to archive my older academic papers, for a start. And with my interest in history I found this article from "The Times" of London very interesting -- which live.com reveals is also reproduced here -- but Google has apparently searched neither site. Weird! I wonder when people will realize that Microsoft's live.com is a much better search engine.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, EDUCATION WATCH, GREENIE WATCH, POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH, GUN WATCH, SOCIALIZED MEDICINE, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, IMMIGRATION WATCH and EYE ON BRITAIN.

List of backup or "mirror" sites here or here -- for readers in China or for everyone when blogspot is "down" or failing to update. Email me here (Hotmail address). My Home Pages are here or here or here

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"Why should the German be interested in the liberation of the Jew, if the Jew is not interested in the liberation of the German?... We recognize in Judaism, therefore, a general anti-social element of the present time... In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Judaism.... Indeed, in North America, the practical domination of Judaism over the Christian world has achieved as its unambiguous and normal expression that the preaching of the Gospel itself and the Christian ministry have become articles of trade... Money is the jealous god of Israel, in face of which no other god may exist". Who said that? Hitler? No. It was Karl Marx. See also here and here.

The Big Lie of the late 20th century was that Nazism was Rightist. It was in fact typical of the Leftism of its day. It was only to the Right of Stalin's Communism. The very word "Nazi" is a German abbreviation for "National Socialist" (Nationalsozialistisch) and the full name of Hitler's political party (translated) was "The National Socialist German Workers' Party".

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