Barcepundit (English edition)

2009-11-19T21:23:00.002+01:00

WHAT A GREAT IDEA to raise the EU's stature: put two virtual unknowns in charge!

2009-11-19T17:33:00.000+01:00

A TOAST FOR THAT! "Drinking alcohol every day cuts the risk of heart disease in men by more than a third, a major study suggests."

2009-11-17T21:22:00.002+01:00

ANOTHER GOOD ONE by The Onion.

Obama's Home Teleprompter Malfunctions During Family Dinner

2009-11-17T16:15:00.000+01:00

I CAN'T BELIEVE someone like Bruce Bartlett could manage to write such a stupid thing:

In 1944, the Austrian economist F.A. Hayek published an extraordinarily influential book, The Road to Serfdom. In it, he argued that liberalism eventually leads to totalitarianism; that is, once a nation has embarked on the creation of a welfare state, there is no natural limit to the size of government until it controls everything, socialism becomes pervasive and political freedom evaporates.

It is an argument that made sense at the time Hayek made it. Liberals were indeed soft on communism in those days and engaged in a massive expansion of government throughout Europe. In England, where Hayek was living when he wrote his book, much private industry was being nationalized, cradle-to-grave welfare programs were being instituted and many of those advocating such measures were not shy about pointing to the Soviet Union as a model to follow.

Since Hayek's book appeared, it has been an article of faith among American conservatives and libertarians that every expansion of government is a step on the slippery slope to totalitarianism. National health insurance today, the gulag tomorrow, many of those on the right genuinely believe, often citing Hayek in support.

Consequently, it is axiomatic that Europe, which is much further along the road to a welfare state than the U.S., is also further along the road to socialism and totalitarianism. Thus it is a grave insult among conservatives for one to be accused of wanting to Europeanize the American economy. It is only a small step removed from being called a communist or Marxist. The difference is only one of degree.

I am often accused of wanting to Europeanize America these days--my friend Larry Kudlow always says so--because I think the magnitude of our fiscal problem is so large that a significant tax increase is inevitable, and that the magnitude of that tax increase is so great that we will eventually need a value-added tax because it will be impossible to get enough revenue through the income tax. Raising income tax rates enough to plug our fiscal hole would be much too debilitating, economically.

In the conservative mind, the VAT, which is embedded in the prices of goods, is the foundation upon which the European welfare state rests. Without its enormous revenue-raising capacity the Europeans never could have financed their welfare states. In short, without the VAT there would be no welfare state in Europe, government would be smaller and the threat of totalitarianism would be much less, conservatives reckon.

By advocating a VAT, I am, in effect, advocating totalitarianism, many of my friends believe. If we institute a VAT it will be like pouring gasoline on the fire of big government. It will get bigger overnight. The only thing holding this country back from having a welfare state as large as Europe's, conservatives argue, is the low level of taxation that most Americans are loath to abandon. Thus in their own minds, conservatives believe that holding the line on taxes, no matter how large the deficit, is the essential prerequisite for the preservation of liberty.

The only problem with this analysis is that it has no factual basis whatsoever. If Hayek were even remotely correct, all of Europe would be one huge gulag by this time. At the very least, Europe would be mired in poverty, growth nonexistent and freedom hanging on by the thinnest of threads.

Well, if you turn someone else's argument into a cartoon it's very easy to say it's wrong, isn't it. Or if you see the world in black and white with no shades of grey then you can't see there's the possibility that Europe is further down the road, although not so much that it's already there. Yet.

2009-11-07T13:22:00.000+01:00

YOANI SANCHEZ, the heroic Cuban blogger, was arrested and beaten with a friend by Castro thugs yesterday. They finally let her go and she's reasonably OK now, fortunately.

2009-11-05T21:40:00.000+01:00

LOL: "Congress Approves $500 Billion For Monument To Human Folly" (The Onion)

2009-11-05T19:04:00.001+01:00

THESE VIDEOS are creepy-ish.

2009-11-04T19:37:00.001+01:00

THE PAIN IN SPAIN falls everywhere:

Spain’s unemployment figures are truly shocking. Almost one in every five workers is out of a job. Only Latvia faces a worse problem. The Spanish employment minister, struggling to put on a brave face, points out the rate of increase is slowing, but that is cold comfort to the millions on the dole. Spain faces a long, hard battle to get back the jobs it has lost.

At 19.3 percent in September, the jobless figure is more than double the EU average of 9.2 percent.

[...] The European Commission sees no improvement in employment for the next two years, while some economists forecast further deterioration. The government is preparing another stimulus package, this disease will be around for years to come.

Plus this:

The new jobless numbers come as the European Commission projected Tuesday that the Spanish economy won’t return to growth until 2011 and the government’s budget deficit will likely reach double digits this year and next.

Meanwhile, in a mental journey to Mars:

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said that Spain’s economy would begin emerging from recession “at the end of this year or the beginning of 2010″, though he acknowledged that unemployment - now nearly 18 percent - would remain high for some time.

He doesn't even realize you can't really have one without the other.

2009-11-04T19:21:00.000+01:00

CAN YOU TRUST IRAN? In a word, no:

Satellite photos indicate that Iran has increased production at a uranium mine, underscoring the need for wider UN inspections to determine whether the country is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

Evidence of stepped-up activity at the Gchine mine, near the Persian Gulf coast city of Bandar Abbas, is seen in pictures obtained by Bloomberg News and the Washington-based New America Foundation, according to four nuclear analysts who examined the images. The mine could produce enough uranium to craft at least two atomic bombs a year, experts said.

2009-11-02T21:30:00.000+01:00

WHEN A GEEK has twins...

2009-11-01T09:42:00.000+01:00

THIS WILL GIVE YOU the best idea of the sorry state of education nowadays; it's from the UK, but give and take it should be the same mostly anywhere....

(via)

2009-10-28T20:17:00.002+01:00

IF THIS finally sees the light, it can't come soon enough:

A new kind of portable electrochemical battery that can produce thousands of hours of power - and soon replace the expensive regular or rechargeable batteries in hearing aids and sensors and eventually in cellphones, laptop computers and even electric cars - has been developed at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

The unique battery is based on silicon as a fuel that reverts to its original sand. The battery can also be left on the shelf for years and inserted into a device to provide immediate power.

2009-10-28T18:02:00.000+01:00

BARACK CLINTON?

During his first nine months in office, President Obama has quietly rewarded scores of top Democratic donors with VIP access to the White House, private briefings with administration advisers and invitations to important speeches and town-hall meetings.

High-dollar fundraisers have been promised access to senior White House officials in exchange for pledges to donate $30,400 personally or to bundle $300,000 in contributions ahead of the 2010 midterm elections, according to internal Democratic National Committee documents obtained by The Washington Times.

I wonder who slept in the Lincold Bedroom...

2009-10-27T10:15:00.001+01:00

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT: Obama's self-portrait (click to enlarge)

2009-10-26T15:10:00.000+01:00

OBAMA, the conservatives' best friend: according to Gallup, he's "manufacturing" them at full speed.

2009-10-26T10:13:00.002+01:00

HELEN THOMAS' 5 lessons for Obama.

2009-10-25T14:57:00.000+01:00

LOL: How to censor a porn movie:

2009-10-24T15:56:00.002+02:00

THIS ISN'T GOOD:

Spain's unemployment rate remained practically unchanged at an EU-high of 17.9 percent in the third quarter after rising for eight consecutive quarters. Officials warned the rate will probably rise again.
The number of jobless now stands at 4,123,300, the National Statistics Institute said.

That figure is down slightly from the second quarter, by 14,100, but this had a negligible impact on the unemployment rate because the workforce also decreased.

2009-10-22T21:29:00.000+02:00

WANNA SAVE THE PLANET? Then eat your dog:...

The eco-pawprint of a pet dog is twice that of a 4.6-litre Land Cruiser driven 10,000 kilometres a year, researchers have found.

Victoria University professors Brenda and Robert Vale, architects who specialise in sustainable living, say pet owners should swap cats and dogs for creatures they can eat, such as chickens or rabbits, in their provocative new book Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living.

The couple have assessed the carbon emissions created bypopular pets, taking into account the ingredients of pet food and the land needed to create them.

See? Korean do it for the sake of Humankind!

2009-10-22T09:44:00.002+02:00

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL has very harsh words about Spain's foreign policy:

Havana's man in Europe is returning from Cuba with a simple request: For his EU partners to drop their focus on human rights. After a two-day visit with the Cuban government, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos will press his Continental counterparts to scrap their 1996 "Common Position" on Cuba in order to fully normalize ties with Raul Castro's dictatorship.

Keep reading.

2009-10-20T15:36:00.002+02:00

MUST READ: Robert Bernstein, the founder of Human Rights Watch, rightfully criticizes the organization for its anti-Israel bias.

2009-10-16T18:55:00.002+02:00

BUMMERS: "Catalonia says no to happy hour"

2009-10-15T16:50:00.001+02:00

THE 10 COUNTRIES most at risk of a meltdown. Guess which is first.

UPDATE. Spanish banking crises, then and now.

2009-10-14T21:31:00.000+02:00

THE FIRST EURO DOMINO may be about to fall: "Latvia threatens foreign banks with huge losses. Crisis-hit Baltic state proposes emergency law to slash mortgage holders' liabilities to lenders."

Which will be the next one? Well, considering this, and this, and this... Don't even want to think about it.

2009-10-13T21:48:00.003+02:00

A PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED picture of the 1989 Tinanamen massacre, from Italy's paper L'Unità. Let's give China another Olympic games! (click to enlarge)

(via El País)