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Kevin Rudd (also known as Kevin Krudd) is about to have an essay released in which he calls for a New World Order. Without a doubt what Krudd is actually advocating is a lot more than socialism – he is advocating Communism. In his essay, Krudd denounces what he terms the “unfettered capitalism of the past three decades” whilst he calls for a new era in which government intervention and regulation feature heavily.
The problem here is that this form of heavy government intervention has failed in the past. The New Deal experiment by Roosevelt is a prime example of how this kind of intervention fails in its task to bring an economy out of the morass of high unemployment, and other ills.
Also, Krudd has a bit of a problem if he describes the way in which the economy has worked for the past 30 years as a “great neo-liberal experiment”, rather, it is what he wants that will be the the “neo-liberal experiment”, and if it is allowed to proceed then we will find ourselves falling further and further into an economic depression.
Krudd has decreed:
“Neo-liberalism and the free-market fundamentalism it has produced has been revealed as little more than personal greed dressed up as an economic philosophy. And, ironically, it now falls to social democracy to prevent liberal capitalism from cannibalising itself.”
Mr Rudd writes in The Monthly that just as Franklin Roosevelt rebuilt US capitalism after the Great Depression, modern-day “social democrats” such as himself and the US President, Barack Obama, must do the same again. But he argues that “minor tweakings of long-established orthodoxies will not do” and advocates a new system that reaches beyond the 70-year-old interventionist principles of John Maynard Keynes.
The problem with the Krudd analysis is that Franklin Roosevelt did not rebuild US capitalism. The reality happens to be that the USA took longer than necessary to come out of the Great Depression because of the failure of the Government intervention. What Krudd fails to appreciate is that unemployment actually got worse during the Great Depression, not better. What saved the USA was not the policies of Rossevelt, but the Second World War.
The neo-liberal socialists like Kevin Rudd seem to think that they understand Keynsian economics. They cling to the fact that Keynes advocated that there should be government intervention during times of high unemployment. What they fail to understand is that J.M. Keynes actually understood that what is also needed is private investment to help keep the economy working or well-oiled.
Like his rather incompetent counter-part in the USA, the new POTUS, Barack Obama (Sotero perhaps is more correct), Kevin Krudd believes that it is necessary to bash the CEOs of businesses and banks and to grandstand about what has gone wrong. The Kevin Krudd “fix” has been a stimulus package that will cost the tax-payer dearly, but it will not help to bring the economy out of the present recession.
When Kevin Krudd blasts CEOs for awarding themselves bonuses, he should think about how this is hypocrisy in its worst form because members of Parliament do not exercise any restraint at all. The essay by Krudd seems to be indicating that he wants to plunge Australia into a government that is based upon communism. He is talking the double talk, attacking the straw-man that he refers to as neo-liberals, when in fact it is his policies that are those of the neo-liberals.
Also, he is attacking the trade and economic policies of the Hawke-Keating years (when Keating was Treasurer) which has led to Keating’s own attack upon Kevin Krudd (and a well deserved attack by Keating). Paul Keating was responsible for most of the changes in the Australian economy that have been very painful. The fall-out from those changes has seen an end to Australian manufacturing industry. At this moment we are seeing that one of the few remaining companies has made a decision to lay off employees and head to China – the company owns the brands of Bonds and Dunlop. In some ways it is inevitatble because these brands simply cannot compete against the Chinese imports. The costs of manufacturing are just too high, and with all of the Green nonsense that we suffer these costs will continue to rise in the future.
I happen to agree that we need to have some kind of justification for some of the CEO bonuses that are handed out, especially when they are given at the expense of employee jobs (QANTAS) but it is not right for the Prime Minister to bash these compnanies by implying things that are not necessarily true.
There is little chance that the Krudd stimulus package will work. The reason? There is too much pork in the package, and that pork is not going to help job creation. If Krudd had been following true Keynesian economics, then the solution would have been to lower taxes first. Those companies that are struggling need to start looking at ways of reducing their waste and bloat. They should not be relying upon a government handout. The government handouts to companies such as General Motors Holden are in reality quite wasteful. That money is not going to fix the underlying problems within the motor industry. We are a small nation, and if we were to continue to have a viable motor industry then we need to be able to sell the cars in the overseas markets. Is this happening? In other words why is the product not being sold on the world market? Why is the product so uncompetitive? Throwing money at these car manufacturers is jut not the way to resolve these questions.
I do not believe in the level of government intervention advocated by Kevin Krudd. Perhaps it could be said that I am a libertarian because I believe in less intervention, not more, but I do not see myself in that light because I have certain differences of opinion with the Libertarians. There are many areas where Government intervention is somewhat necessary, but I think that the intervention should be short-term and not long-term as Krudd seems to be advocating.
I suspect that few Australians have any knowledge of the real Kevin Krudd agenda. I just hope that more Australian voters will become aware of his very dangerous policies, especially when they begin to realise that he wants to drive us towards communism, which is the real name for what he is advocating.
The SSPX bishop Richard Williamson was recently reinstated to the Catholic Church after an ex-communication applied by Pope John Paul II over disciplinary matters concerning the SSPX. This ex-communication was lifted by Pope Benedict in an effort to reconcile the SSPX to the main body of the Catholic Church. If Catholics do not totally understand what took place then how on earth are Protestants, Jews or other interested parties to understand what has taken place.
The issue that has arisen is related to personal remarks made by Williamson. The man is not infallible and what he has stated – I disagree with him totally – is a private opinion that is not related in any way to his role within the Church.
The Catholic Church does not ex-communicate people because of their stated political views, unless those views are diametrically opposed to the moral teachings of the Church. In this case the views expressed, of holocaust denial, even though very repugnant has nothing to do with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. We need to see the issue of his reinstatement from that point of view.
However, the political views expressed by Richard Williamson about the 6 million Jews and the 2-3 million Catholics who also perished in the Hitler death chambers are very repugnant to the majority of Catholics, including Pope Benedict XVI, a German who was himself opposed to Hitler.
Richard Williamson, in an interview on Swedish TV denied the possibility that so many perished, despite the evidence to the contrary that exists at the concentration camps. It seems that he also denies the fact that so many Catholics and other Christians also died in these same camps. Since we are supposed to have free speech, he is entitled to express:
“I believe that the historical evidence is strongly against — is
hugely against — 6 million Jews having been deliberately gassed in gas
chambers as a deliberate policy of Adolf Hitler,” Williamson said
recently in an interview with a Swedish television station, which also
appeared on various Web sites after its broadcast. “I believe there
were no gas chambers.”
but Williamson is not an historian, so what evidence has he seen to in fact deny what took place? His claim that there were no gas chambers shows that he has not read the records relating to the existence of the gas chambers, neither has he given any indication that he acknowledges the death of the disabled and weak in German society by gassing at hospitals prior to the outbreak of the second world war, and the travesty against the Jews that took place during that time. It would seem that he did not read the diary of Anne Frank and he dismissed other evidence provided by eyewitnesses to the experiments that took place.
However, the Vatican is taking steps against Williamson over his holocaust denial, and I do believe that these are the correct steps to take:
The Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has said
Williamson will not be allowed to perform priestly functions if he does
not recant. He said the pope was unaware of the comments when he
rehabilitated Williamson and three other members of the Society of
Saint Pius X.
Pope Benedict himself has distanced himself from the views of Williamson. The young Josef Ratzinger was forced to join Hitler Youth, but he did not attend the sessions – he got away with the non-attendance. He displayed extraordinary courage through his own defiance. For Pope Benedict the comments are a searing reminder of the past travesty against Jews from Germany, Poland, Holland, and other European nations.
Do I believe that Williamson should be disciplined? Yes, I believe that the disciplinary measures that are being taken are appropriate. If he is to be ex-communicated again then it needs to be for church disciplinary reasons and not the political reasons behind the present uproar.
I have no doubt that Angela Merkel is a good woman. I have no doubt that she has a Christian background, but she has no understanding of the Catholic Church and her comments and demands are unhelpful. I fully support those who are upset about Williamson’s remarks.
Gateway Pundit: Pelosi Tells ABC Birth Control Will Help Boost Economy
The Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi believes that funding birth control – aka abortion funds being given to Planned Parenthood and other abortion mills will boost the economy.
I guess, Nancy is an admirer of Malthus and Mills.
There were many things that Congress put in place during the Clinton presidency, and it was 8 years later that there was a giant sneeze – much more than a hiccup – when the excesses from the Bush and Clinton periods came to a sudden halt. There is no doubt in my mind that the rot was put in place during the Clinton years.
All the same, now that Umbama is president of the United States, he is the one that has to face the rapid slowing of the USA economy as well as a rapidly slowing world economy. If he gets the ecomonic measures wrong – and looking at the proposed packages I do fear that the measures being suggested will make matters worse, not better.
More and more people are being thrown out of work now than a few years ago, although many who lost their jobs early last year are still unable to find new ones. The pressure is there to give these people a welfare package. However there is a cost involved in handing out this money without getting something in return.
Amongst the measures being considered by the Umbama administration are:
- cutting the working week to try and avoid retrenchments;
- paying companies to cut working hours (this is a bad idea)
- a tax cut to all taxpayers including low income earners who do not already pay tax;
- spending on alternative energy (a waste of money);
- money to build an extended energy grid;
- make federal buildings more energy efficient;
- money to weatherproof homes;
- protection of health insurance cover for 8 million at risk of losing their cover;
On top of this there is concern about the health of the banking sector. Throwing funds at this sector is not going to bring about reform which is needed – reform is necessary because of the excessive salary packages in that sector which means the shareholders and other stakeholders were losing out.
Policies on the fly, which will probably be the hallmark of this presidency could be very harmful to the US economy and since when America sneezes, the world sneezes too, it could be worse for the rest of the world. Socialist policies do not always work, if anything they tend to entrench the unemployed, taking away their incentive to want to work. It is a very fine line to get this right.
Family Planning Associations such as Planned Parenthood are nothing more than abortion mills. Using taxpayers’ money to fund these abortion mills is going against the moral principles of a Christian nation.
The family planning organizations claim that they are trying to help women and children in the poorer nations but that is absolute garbage. Abortion funding and the pushing of abortion in those countries is not going to resolve the underlying problems that exist. It is the wrong answer for the crisis.
In those poorer countries girls are forced into marriage at a very young age. Most are no more than 12 years old when they are forced into marriage. They are too young to be having babies. They should be receiving an education. However, in those same poor countries girls are denied the right to an education.
Take Bolivia for example, the girls as young as 14 are forced to find work as maids, and yes some are forced into marriage. There is no such thing as real consent in these situations. The poverty cycle continues so long as girls are being denied the right to an education. However, do the liberals who scream for abortion on demand also scream about the rights of these children? No. There is a deafening silence on these very issues.
In the African nations, and in particular Sierra Leone, which is extremely poverty stricken the women are left without any proper medical care. Is it just about economics though? No. Sierra Leone, like a lot of other African nations is dominated by Islam. There is your answer – about how women are treated.
The aid workers should be expelled from these countries if they are going to advocate abortion as a panacea. They are just peddling more death and there will be a surge in maternal deaths, not a drop if these people are allowed to continue with this form of advocacy.
The flight data recorder has been examined and has confirmed the story of the pilots that a bird-strike caused the double engine failure which led to the crash landing on the Hudson River.
photo courtesy BBC NEWS
You can read the story here.
photo courtesy BBC News
BBC NEWS | Special Reports | A pilot’s eye view of NY crash flight
It is worth checking out this dramatic footage of the landing of the Airbus A320 in the Hudson river. The passengers are seen scrambling out of the emergency exits within seconds of the landing on the river.
Airplane crash-lands into Hudson River; all aboard reported safe – CNN.com
This has to be a miracle landing. The pilot, through his actions and cool approach has saved the lives of all on board the aircraft when it landed in the Hudson River. The potential catastrophe occurred because of bird strike just after take off. The pilot’s quick thinking and actions are to be commended.
Flight 1549, headed to Charlotte, North Carolina, was airborne less than three minutes, according to FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown.
The pilot radioed to air traffic controllers that he had experienced a bird strike and declared an emergency, a New Jersey State Police source said.
Sources identified the pilot as Chelsey B. “Sully” Sullenberger.
“I think a lot of people started praying and just collecting themselves,” said passenger Fred Berretta. “It was quite stunning.”
Witness Ben Vonklemperer said he watched the plane from the 25th floor of an office building.
“If someone’s going to land a plane in the water, this seemed the
best possible way to do it,” Vonklemperer said. “The way they hit it
was very gradual. A very slow contact with the water.”Passenger Jeff Kolodjay said he was sitting in seat 22A, near one of the engines.
“The plane started filling with water pretty quick,” he said. “It was
scary. There was a lady with her baby on my left-hand shoulder, and she
was crawling over the seats.”
US Airways CEO Doug Parker said 150 passengers and five crew
members — two pilots and three flight attendants — were on board.
The Coast Guard took aboard 35 people, according to Coast Guard Cmdr. Ron LeBrec.
“I had a long conversation with the pilot,” said New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg. “He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and
tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and assures us
there were not.”“It would appear that the pilot did a masterful
job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that
everybody got out,” Bloomberg said.
US Airways CEO Doug Parker said 150 passengers and five crew
members — two pilots and three flight attendants — were on board.
The Coast Guard took aboard 35 people, according to Coast Guard Cmdr. Ron LeBrec.
“I had a long conversation with the pilot,” said New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg. “He walked the plane twice after everybody else was off, and
tried to verify that there was nobody else on board, and assures us
there were not.”“It would appear that the pilot did a masterful
job of landing the plane in the river and then making sure that
everybody got out,” Bloomberg said.
“We circled around … the captain came on and said, ‘Look, we’re
going down. Brace for impact.’ Everyone looked at each other and we
said our prayers. I said about five Hail Marys,” said passenger
Kolodjay, who is from Norwalk, Connecticut, and was headed to Charlotte
to play golf.
Jerry Wallis, who said he was a private pilot, said he watched the plane go into the water.
“I’ve got to tell you, the people flying that airplane deserve all the recognition and commendation they can get,” Wallis said.
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“If someone’s going to land a plane in the water, this seemed the best
possible way to do it,” Vonklemperer said. “The way they hit it was
very gradual. A very slow contact with the water.”
Passenger Jeff Kolodjay said he was sitting in seat 22A, near one of the engines.
“The plane started filling with water pretty quick,” he said. “It was
scary. There was a lady with her baby on my left-hand shoulder, and she
was crawling over the seats.”
Rudd sends home 16 asylum seekers – National – the age.com.au
In a very clear cut case the Rudd government has acted properly in my view by sending home the asylum seeker to Indonesia. For the very first time this is a clear cut case of economic refugees, since they have stated that they had to flee their homes because they could not earn a living after they had been caught illegally fishing in Australian territorial waters.
The issue here is border security, and for this reason these Indonesians should be sent home. They are not in fear of their lives because of war, and they are not fleeing a one child policy. Neither are they facing persecution as Christians, Buddhists or Hindus as a result of Muslim intolerance.
There have been times when I have been clearly on the other side in this particular debate. I do believe that it was wrong to send the Chinese woman who was pregnant with her second child back to China. She was forced to undergo a late term abortion and then faced further punishment. Australia had a duty to protect her and her family from this kind of behaviour by the Chinese government because it was genuine persecution. I am only citing one case where I have believed that the refugees should have been allowed to stay and that the application of “economic refugee” has been incorrectly applied in the past. However, this is clearly not the case with these individuals.
It is for this reason that I stand against David Manne of the Refugee and Immigration Centre because he is talking about these illegals as not having the opportunity to put there case. Sorry, but where there is no war there is no case, and where there is clearly an economic motivation there is no case. These illegal immigrants were already guilty of entering Australian waters to fish illegally, why should they be allowed to remain in Australia as illegal immigrants. We need to take a tough stance, otherwise our borders will remain porous.
Over the past month or so I have been having a lot of fun with the traffic exchanges. Whilst I have cooled towards Royal Surf (mostly so that I can study the strategy necessary to always win against the “enemy” at the other end of the map), I have been finding more and more exchanges. My latest finds have included a very new exchange called Traffic Strike. As a member of another exchange and upon signing up, I was given a pro upgrade but on top of the upgrade was the challenge to enter 50 site URL’s 30 banners and 30 text ads, and be awarded a very generous number of credits. The text ads are a challenge but I rose to the whole challenge and fulfilled the request within 2 days of this exchange starting.
I am delighted with the fact that at Surfin Wild I now have 7 direct referrals, Abundant Hits there are 2 direct referrals, and I have some other direct referrals. The big one is at Big Ben Hits where I have been getting a variety of random referrals and these are now going down to the next level. For once I can see how there is benefit in having these referrals. I really do hope that someone will pay for an upgrade soon. I am hoping that I will end up with sufficient cash earnings to pay for my own upgrade on this particular exchange.
Now I was encouraged to join something like Clix Sense, even though I had resisted joining that particular exchange. I made the decision because it said I could be a free member. However, there is a very nasty catch with Clix Sense and it is one that I personally do not appreciate. What I discovered is that there is no way that free members are likely to earn large amounts of money at Clix Sense. In fact the free member is restricted to two views at a time, worth $0.01 each. There is the carrot that the upgraded members get to view over 500 ads waiting for them. However, with no money to use for such an endeavour and I must admit that my own sense of “is this a scam?” also comes into play here, I made the decision that this was a very bad deal. On top of that, someone else on another exchange has sent out a warning that the people who run Clix Sense are the same people behind Storm Pay. I am not familiar with the controversy, but it seems that Storm Pay does not pay its users, and so there is the real possibility that there is a scam going on. What is worse, Clix Sense does not include a means of deleting the account. Most other exchanges give me the option of deleting the account, but not Clix Sense. So I wrote them an email and yes, my account was deleted as requested.
There are alternatives to Clix Sense and they are better paying alternatives for the free member like myself. I found one called Commercial earnings, and the first most pleasant thing I discovered upon joining is the fact that the free member has access to more views than the 1 or 2 at Clix Sense. This is very encouraging. I am hoping to accumulate some cash into a Paypal account so that I can start paying for other things on the Internet, and drawn down the balance of any earnings. However, this might take a while….
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