Why Washington DC is SO Out-of-Touch

Sweet Ride. Uber D.C.'s Rachel Holt
in one of her company's digitally
dispatched luxury sedans. Some
riders use them to get groceries.
(Time magazine)

Describing the über-Washingtonian lifestyle of exotic cocktails, 25 to 30 course dinners, and luxury rides, Andrew Ferguson draws a stark contrast between the affluence of the nation's capital and the country it governs. His Time magazine article, Bubble on the Potomac, is well worth a full read (subscription required), but here are some excerpts:

[The Passenger Bar's] motto? "God save the district." The sentiment is easy to understand, for these are good times in Washington and the seven counties that surround it. Even as the nation struggles, the capital has prospered, making it a magnet for young hipsters but leaving its residents with only a tentative understanding of how the rest of the country lives.

Hayward: Green Energy Bubble Bursting Everywhere

"The green energy bubble "is bursting loudest at the moment, and as usual environmentalists are slow to see that they're about to get run over by a revival of the hydrocarbon economy," writes John Hayward at powerlineblog.com. "Those old dinosaurs may have been big lumbering animals, but the nimble fossil fuels they threw off are crushing the so-called green “fuels of the future” beloved of fruit-juice drinkers and vegans everywhere." Three examples:

• The New York Times reported "Obama pushed hard for the final approval of Shell Oil's long sought permit to begin drilling in a new offshore oil field in Alaska."
• "Obama has grown very quiet about climate change ... He's not attending the UN's 20th anniversary of the Earth Summit that started the whole climate diplomacy circus."
• Germany's "pledge to phase out nuclear power is looking increasingly unrealistic" and "some leading Social Democrats have called for building ... more coal-fired power plants."

Concludes Hayward:  "Have a nice day, green weenies. Your party is over. Deal with it."

16 States with Real Job Growth

The 16 states that have seen job growth since President Obama took office have a few things in common, reports John Merline at Investor's Business Daily (IBD). They are more likely to be business friendly, to keep taxes, spending and regulations low, and to be, on average, more red (conservative) than blue (liberal).

[S]ince the recovery started, red states have had a job growth rate of nearly twice that of blue states.
Tossup states, meanwhile, have performed worse than either red or blue states. In fact, 9 of the 11 battleground states have fewer people employed now than when Obama was sworn in.

European "Austerity" or American "Job Growth"?

Liberals' idea of 'austerity' is raising taxes so that taxpayers are forced to tighten their belts while governments continue to expand theirs. Michael Barone explains why this European-style austerity hurts everyone, including governments:

Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University took a look at what "austerity" in Europe actually means.

What she found is that government spending has increased or not appreciably declined in Britain, France, Italy, Spain and Germany. The only significant spending reductions are in Greece, where the bond market cut off funding. In the other countries, the big adjustment has been an increase in tax rates. European "austerity" is an attempt to reduce government budget deficits largely by increasing taxes and only to a small extent by reining in spending.

The debate before Americans today is which type of policy to pursue: European-style austerity or American-style job growth.

Obama Administration's Binge Spending

"Until Barack Obama took office in 2009, the United States had never spent more than 23.5% of GDP, with the exception of the World War II years of 1942-1946," writes James Pethokoukis. Responding to an article claiming Obama's spending binge never occurred, Pethokoukis put the Obama binge spending record into a simple graphic:

Will: When the Looter is the Government

Is it unanticipated 'collateral damage' from the War on Drugs, or deliberate highway robbery by government agencies? George Will relates a chilling story of a $1.5 million motel, owned by the law-abiding Caswell family since 1955, that should scare every property owner.

The U.S. Department of Justice intends to seize it, sell it for perhaps $1.5 million and give up to 80 percent of that to the Tewksbury [MA] Police Department, whose budget is just $5.5 million. The Caswells have not been charged with, let alone convicted of, a crime. They are being persecuted by two governments eager to profit from what is antiseptically called the “equitable sharing” of the fruits of civil forfeiture, a process of government enrichment that often is indistinguishable from robbery.

Barone: Cocooned Liberals

We all tend toward cocoon living, writes Michael Barone, "associating only with those who share your views, reading journalism and watching news that only reinforces them, [and] avoiding those on the other side of the cultural divide." But cocooning seems to hurt liberals more than conservatives.

Even in a cocoon, conservatives cannot avoid liberal mainstream media, liberal Hollywood entertainment and, these days, the liberal Obama administration. They're made uncomfortably aware of the arguments of those on the other side. Which gives them an advantage in fashioning their own responses.

Liberals can protect themselves better against assaults from outside their cocoon. They can stay out of megachurches and make sure their remote controls never click on Fox News. They can stay off the AM radio dial so they will never hear Rush Limbaugh.

The problem is that this leaves them unprepared to make the best case for their side in public debate. They are too often not aware of holes in arguments that sound plausible when bandied between confreres entirely disposed to agree. We have seen how this works on some issues this year.

Barone offers two examples: liberals' shock that "a majority of justices seemed to take the case against Obamacare's constitutionality very seriously indeed," and the Wisconsin public-unions-vs-Gov-Scott-Brown drama that isn't going well for libs.

Catron: 43 Catholic Organizations Launch Legal Challenge

If the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services "thought the outrage voiced by various cardinals, bishops, and countless lay Catholics over the anti-conscience mandate was mere bluster, they got a wake-up call yesterday," writes David Catron at the American Spectator.

On Monday, 43 high-profile Catholic organizations, including the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. and the University of Notre Dame, filed suit against the Obama administration. In an open letter, the Archbishop of Washington summed up the collective position of the plaintiffs by explaining that the mandate "fundamentally redefines the nation's long-standing definition of religious ministry… HHS's conception of what constitutes the practice of religion is so narrow that even Mother Teresa would not have qualified."

Advice: 9 Rules Women Must Follow to Get Ahead

Despite many examples of females in the top ranks of power, "women held just 14.1% of executive officer positions in 2011 in Fortune 500 companies," writes FINS reporter Julia Steinberg, and "women held 16.1% of [board] seats."

Why are the numbers so low? Despite their talent, education and hard work, many women simply aren't chosen for roles that lead to greater success later. Women often don't have the "intangible skills" needed to gain the attention of higher-ups at the company, says Elena Rand Kaspi, a former consultant to law firm White & Case and the president of LawScope Coaching, an executive career coaching company.

Getting "chosen," then, is an art that many women need to learn. FINS spoke with women executives and leadership coaches to determine the best ways you can position yourself for the next great position.

Steinberg lists the 9 rules women must follow to "help them earn more management roles in the workplace:"

Women Primed to Break Glass Ceilings

From the Wall Street Journal: "The ranks of female chief executives remain thin, with women in the top spot at just 35 Fortune 1000 companies. But the pipeline is promising, says Maggie Wilderotter, CEO of Frontier Communications Corp., adding that "she wouldn't be surprised if the number of major-company female CEOs doubled by 2017." Many women are already in senior management positions proving their worth:

• nearly 73% of Fortune 500 companies now have at least 1 female executive officer
• 24% of senior vice presidents at 58 big companies are women

The Wall Street Journal profiles 10 female executives "whose operational expertise and track record make them likely picks to lead a Fortune 1000 company within five years."

Read the full article, More Women are Primed to Land CEO Roles, by Joann S. Lublin and Kelly Eggers.

Tax Those Oil Companies! Oh, wait, no...

"Who really owns oil companies?, asks Diana Furchtgott-Roth. Probably you, if you have any kind of retirement account, public or private.

Contrary to popular belief, only about one percent of the shares of the five major oil companies are held by officers and directors of these companies. The rest is held by institutional investors and individual Americans, mostly in retirement accounts.

One example: Oil and gas accounted for 21% of the investment returns to the New York State Employees' Retirement System and the Public School Employees' Retirement System.

See her Manhattan Institute issue paper for a list of the real owners of the largest 5 oil companies, and think twice about proposals to single them out for higher taxes. The one hurt could be you.

Raising taxes on a large and productive industry such as oil and natural gas would have widespread effects throughout the economy. It is not just the sticker shock for motorists who already recoil from $5 per gallon gasoline prices. Higher taxes on oil and gas will reduce investment in the industry, lessen economic activity and employment. Even those who do not work or invest directly in the oil and gas industries would be adversely affected. 

Plentiful U.S. Oil

The news gets better and better. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 3 Trillion barrels of oil - "as much recoverable oil as all the rest of the world's proven reserves combined" - lie under a parcel of federal land where the corners of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming intersect (see graphic).

In testimony before the U.S. House subcommittee, Anu K. Mittal, GAO's director of natural resources and the environment, said "this vast [Green River Formation] energy resource will lead to a number of important socioeconomic benefits including the creation of jobs, increases in wealth and increases in tax and royalty payments for federal and state governments."

Video and story at CNSNews.

'Rush Babes for America'

First, Rush Babes for America attracted more Facebook 'likes' in 24 hours than the National Organization for Women's "main page has collected in a little under four years."  Now, "in less than a week, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh's "Rush Babes for America" Facebook page has accumulated more 'likes' than the liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America's (MMFA) Facebook page has accumulated in just under four years," reports Caroline May at the Daily Caller.

MMFA is currently waging a campaign to get Rush Limbaugh off the air for his comments pertaining to contraception activist Sandra Fluke. On Monday evening, MMFA’s Facebook had 57,687 “likes,” accumulated since the organization launched its Facebook page on August 8, 2008.

Also on Monday evening, Limbaugh’s jab at those who have demonized his rhetorical treatment of women — his “Rush Babes for America” Facebook page — had topped 60,483 “likes.” Limbaugh’s group was open for public viewing just prior to the beginning of his radio program on Tuesday, May 8, 2012.

Limbaugh launched “Rush Babes for America” in order to show that women hold a diverse range of viewpoints, including conservative.

Yes we do.

Gavora: Julia and the New Hubby State

"The Life of Julia," writes Jessica Gavora, "follows a cartoon everywoman, Julia, through the milestones of a middle-class American life: education, work, motherhood, retirement. One milestone is pointedly missing: marriage. But, then again, why should Julia get married? She doesn't need to. Like a growing number of single women with children, Julia is married to the state..." Read Ms. Gavora's insightful perspective in the Washington Post.

Good Economic, Energy News for US

If Americans are searching for some good economic, energy and national security news, they'll find it in The New American Oil Boom, a report released May 8 by Securing America's Future Energy (SAFE). Michael Rubin at commentary.com highlights the organization and its report:

Co-chaired by General P.X. Kelley, the former commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Frederick Smith, chairman, president, and CEO of FedEx, [SAFE] has assembled a marquee list of top military brass and CEOs, who together make the case that energy security is not only an economic issue, but a national security matter as well. Together, the business and military experts discuss energy issues with greater fluency and depth than politicians of both parties. Because of government regulation, the oil boom may not be as pronounced as it might be but, even so, the United States last year became a net exporter of refined petroleum products for the first time since 1949.

Petroleum fuels account for 37 percent of U.S. primary energy demand, and during the past five years, U.S. households and businesses have spent a total of $755 billion annually, a major drain on disposable income. Transportation is especially hostage to oil. Liquid fuels provide 97 percent of the energy needed to move cars, trucks, seaborne ships, and aircraft. When the White House pursues policies that limit domestic fuel production, they cripple the economy and empower foreign exporters. Ethanol is no solution. Not only does it drive up the cost of food, but because ethanol-based fuels are priced on the same scale as petroleum fuels, they do not lower the price.

The report, however, is clear-eyed about what the current American oil boom will mean and, as important, what it will not ...

SAFE's full report addresses the following policy issues:

• Key Drivers of the Oil Boom: How are high oil prices, technology breakthroughs, and the natural gas glut coalescing to drive the production boom?
• Trends and Outlook: Which regions present the strongest opportunities for production growth, and what are the prospects onshore, in the federal Gulf of Mexico, and what are the projections for costs and quantity of imports?
• Costs of Oil Dependence: While understanding that production increases will mediate the trade deficit and drive employment growth, what are the limits to these benefits? How does the nature of the global oil market prevent the United States from achieving domestic price advantages, and why can U.S. consumers expect continued price volatility?
• Defining Energy Security: What is the difference between energy security and energy independence, and how should policymakers work to maximize energy security while keeping sight of the long term costs of oil dependence?

The report's long-term policy recommendations include increased domestic oil production, vehicle fuel-economy standards, and a long-term transition away from petroleum based fuels in the transportation sector.

Tough Love for 2012 Grads

Bret Stephens at the WSJournal delivers a hard dose of reality to the Class of 2012 — one that just might help them beat the odds in today's "lousy economy."

...since you're no longer children, at least officially, it's time someone tells you the facts of life. The other facts.

Fact One is that, in our "knowledge-based" economy, knowledge counts. ... Many of you have been reared on the cliché that the purpose of education isn't to stuff your head with facts but to teach you how to think. Wrong.

To this Stephens adds insight on prospective employers, résumés, and competition in the marketplace. A tough but valuable read.

Forbes: How Free Enterprise Saved Civilization

Mired in a prolonged economic Depression and facing a growing world threat, free enterprise and the "extraordinary leadership of a handful of American businessmen" accomplished what "government planning or rationing could not" — make America amazingly victorious over both. That's the message of a new book, "Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II." Steve Forbes highlights two great lessons from it:

First, it tells the largely unknown story of America’s extra­ordinary output of war materials during World War II—output that almost defies imagination. By war’s end the U.S. had manufactured about 70% of all Allied war material, with U.S. factories outproducing everyone else combined.  Ford Motor Co. produced more than Benito Mussolini’s entire Italian economy.

The second thing this book does is emphasize that it was the practice of free enterprise that was behind these production miracles. Countless companies “carried the spirit of free enterprise like a revitalizing force, with the power to meet the needs of total war without losing their identity or creativity or power of self-renewal. … Human ingenuity could solve problems that government planning or rationing could not.”

America's victory was despite New Dealers, not because of them:

So why is it that the astounding achievements of American business during World War II have been virtually erased from popular imagination? Precisely ­because it was business, not government, that performed the miracle. As Herman puts it, “Those … left out of the major decisions about the economy during the war—New Dealers and others—took their revenge by seizing control of the historical message. Business had had nothing to do with the miracle of war production, went the narrative. … It was the vast resources and extended reach of the federal government all along.”

Thankfully Freedom’s Forge sets the record straight, comprehensively and compellingly. Free markets, not big government, are the true source of America’s incredible strength. They enabled us to win World War II, thereby saving Western civilization. And since the war free markets have produced an endless cornucopia of new products and services—and will continue to do so as long as they exist.

IBD: Unemployment Rate is Meaningless

"[I]n the upside-down world of Obamanomics, the jobless figure is increasingly useless, hiding more than it reveals," writes Investor's Business Daily, noting that April's "official" reported unemployment rate was 8.1%.

 Had the participation rate stayed where it was in June 2009 — the month the recession officially ended — the unemployment rate would be more like 11% today. And when you add in all those who can't get full-time work because of the lousy job market, the jobless rate reaches Depression-era levels of 14.5% — unchanged, by the way, from the month before.

Nor does the unemployment number adequately capture the many other ways the job market has deteriorated on Obama's watch. There are, for example, 5.1 million people who've been out of work for 27 weeks or more — nearly double the number when Obama took office. The median length of unemployment is now 19.4 weeks — also nearly double from what it was in January 2009.

Obama has, in other words, managed to give a whole new meaning to the term "jobless recovery," one that the traditional unemployment measure simply isn't able to capture.

 Recent college grads aren't finding jobs either, according to the New York Times.

NYT: Jobs Few, Grads Flock to Unpaid Internships

With an April unemployment rate of 13.2% for 20- to 24-year-olds, college grads are taking unpaid internships to get a foot in an employer's door, reports the New York Times, and many aren't happy about the limited work options or what some view as "exploitation."

Could Traditional Universities Become Extinct?

"Have the tools for [traditional universities'] demise been put in place – the Internet, personal computers, iPads and other tablet PCs, videoconferencing  apps, online publishing and online libraries of very affordable and in many cases, free content?" asks Brian Watt at ricochet.com.

What are parents and students (and in some cases taxpayers) paying for today beyond the acquisition of a diploma? Administrative overhead? Athletic programs? Housing? Maintenance of buildings? Gardeners? Security? Contraception? Liability insurance? Legal counsel? Bail?

The "socializing aspects of university life may disappear," writes Watt, along with "the more radical hybrid of social/anti-social activities – like protests and riots either motivated by winning or losing a sports title or vandalizing school property because capitalism is of course, evil and unfair..."

But consider also that the easy availability of college coursework taught by the best professors in the world to those living in less affluent parts of the world who might never haven been able to afford to attend or be qualified for a traditional university may eventually result in another renaissance, enlightenment or technological revolution giving them the opportunity to learn and then create or do amazing things.

It's an interesting thought:  a first-class education without a crushing student debt burden.