Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse
By Thomas Woods
No topic is more timely for a book than the state of the economy. Dr. Thomas Woods managed to make it first to market with Meltdown.
Woods is a history professor and a culturally conservative libertarian who has written past bestsellers such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to History. He is a staunch adherent of the Austrian school of economics, a highly libertarian school opposed to government control of money.
In Meltdown, Woods asks pertinent questions, such as why we should look to the same people for diagnosis and solution of our economic problems who failed to predict the crisis and in many cases actually helped to cause it. He also takes on the conventional wisdom that the free market is to blame for the crisis.
Woods identifies the real causes of the meltdown. There was the bipartisan push for more lending to poor and minority borrowers, regardless of creditworthiness. There were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored corporations that specialized in buying mortgage loans from banks, thus subsidizing more lending. There was the Community Reinvestment Act, which favored diversity ideologues in bank mergers, leading to them running the then-biggest, now-bankrupt banks like Countrywide and Washington Mutual.
But the biggest culprit was the Federal Reserve, which responded to the collapse of the dot-com bubble in 2000 by setting interest rates far below market levels. This upset the workings of the free market, leading investors to engage in projects that there were not the corresponding real resources to complete.
Artificially lowering interest rates also increases the money supply. Woods explains the Austrian theory of the business cycle, which blames government interference with money for the boom-bust business cycle.
He also examines the system of fractional-reserve banking. Woods argues that it is not a true market institution, as it is insured by government against bank runs. Allowing banks to lend more than they actually have in the vault also increases the money supply and leads to the boom-bust cycle.
Finally, Woods examines historical myths about the Great Depression. Herbert Hoover did not 'do nothing' about the stock market crash; he intervened greatly in the market. After being elected promising to roll back Hoover's interferences, FDR imitated and extended them. The New Deal brought all manner of perverse policies, such as destroying crops and prosecuting businessmen for charging prices that were 'too low'.
The New Deal cannot in any way be said to have ended the Depression. The Depression lasted sixteen years. Other countries which experiences similar crashes recovered much more quickly. America had experienced a major crash in 1920, but quickly recovered after President Warren Harding really did 'do nothing'. World War II didn't end the Depression either, as Woods aptly documents.
Overall, Meltdown offers a compelling explanation of America's ongoing financial crisis.
Previous:
Questioning History
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Kalamazoo Tea Party
The Kalamazoo Tea Party drew 500 or so people. They heard speakers including former State Rep. Jack Hoogendyk and Doug Till. Citizens had a chance to make their own comments as well.
Here's the Gazette's take:
Tea-party protesters blast Obama, 'socialism'
Here is the Kalamazoo Tea Party website, complete with much discussion and many photos:
http://kzooteaparty.ning.com/
Here's the Gazette's take:
Tea-party protesters blast Obama, 'socialism'
Here is the Kalamazoo Tea Party website, complete with much discussion and many photos:
http://kzooteaparty.ning.com/
Edmund Burke on America
On Independence Day, this speech by Edmund Burke makes interesting reading.
Edmund Burke Speech - Conciliation With America
Speech on conciliation with America, March 22, 1775
To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as ours is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would not reject a reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it.
The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural course and in its ordinary haunts.
Let the colonies always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government-they will cling and grapple to you, and no force under heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that your government may be one thing and their privileges another, that these two things may exist without any mutual relation - the cement is gone, the cohesion is loosened, and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have, the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of Navigation, which binds to you the commerce of the -colonies, and through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your Letters of office, and your instructions, and your suspending clauses are the things that hold together the great contexture of this mysterious whole. These things do not make your government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the English communion that gives all their life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivffles every part of the empire, even down to the minutest member.
Is it not the same virtue which does every thing for us here in England? Do you imagine, then, that-it is the Land-Tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply, which gives you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely, no! It is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble and your navy nothing but rotten timber.
All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the profane herd of those vulgar and mechanical politicians who have no place among us: a sort of people who think that nothing exists but what is gross and material, and who, therefore, far from being qualified to be directors of the great movement of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men truly initiated and rightly taught, these ruling and master principles, which in the opinion of such men as I have mentioned have no substantial existence, are in truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our situation, and glow with zeal to fill our places as becomes our station and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our public proceedings on America with the old warning of the Church, Sursum corda! We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order of Providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high calling, our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable conquests, not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the happiness of the human race. Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges alone will make it all it can he.
Edmund Burke Speech - Conciliation With America
Speech on conciliation with America, March 22, 1775
To restore order and repose to an empire so great and so distracted as ours is, merely in the attempt, an undertaking that would ennoble the flights of the highest genius, and obtain pardon for the efforts of the meanest understanding. Struggling a good while with these thoughts, by degrees I felt myself more firm. I derived, at length, some confidence from what in other circumstances usually produces timidity. I grew less anxious, even from the idea of my own insignificance. For, judging of what you are by what you ought to be, I persuaded myself that you would not reject a reasonable proposition because it had nothing but its reason to recommend it.
The proposition is peace. Not peace through the medium of war; not peace to be hunted through the labyrinth of intricate and endless negotiations; not peace to arise out of universal discord, fomented from principle, in all parts of the empire; not peace to depend on the juridical determination of perplexing questions, or the precise marking the shadowy boundaries of a complex government. It is simple peace, sought in its natural course and in its ordinary haunts.
Let the colonies always keep the idea of their civil rights associated with your government-they will cling and grapple to you, and no force under heaven will be of power to tear them from their allegiance. But let it be once understood that your government may be one thing and their privileges another, that these two things may exist without any mutual relation - the cement is gone, the cohesion is loosened, and everything hastens to decay and dissolution. As long as you have the wisdom to keep the sovereign authority of this country as the sanctuary of liberty, the sacred temple consecrated to our common faith, wherever the chosen race and sons of England worship freedom, they will turn their faces towards you. The more they multiply, the more friends you will have, the more ardently they love liberty, the more perfect will be their obedience. Slavery they can have anywhere. It is a weed that grows in every soil. They may have it from Spain, they may have it from Prussia. But until you become lost to all feeling of your true interest and your natural dignity, freedom they can have from none but you. This is the commodity of price, of which you have the monopoly. This is the true Act of Navigation, which binds to you the commerce of the -colonies, and through them secures to you the wealth of the world. Deny them this participation of freedom, and you break that sole bond which originally made, and must still preserve, the unity of the empire. Do not entertain so weak an imagination as that your registers and your bonds, your affidavits and your sufferances, your cockets and your clearances, are what form the great securities of your commerce. Do not dream that your Letters of office, and your instructions, and your suspending clauses are the things that hold together the great contexture of this mysterious whole. These things do not make your government. Dead instruments, passive tools as they are, it is the spirit of the English communion that gives all their life and efficacy to them. It is the spirit of the English constitution which, infused through the mighty mass, pervades, feeds, unites, invigorates, vivffles every part of the empire, even down to the minutest member.
Is it not the same virtue which does every thing for us here in England? Do you imagine, then, that-it is the Land-Tax Act which raises your revenue? that it is the annual vote in the Committee of Supply, which gives you your army? or that it is the Mutiny Bill which inspires it with bravery and discipline? No! surely, no! It is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy, and infuses into both that liberal obedience without which your army would be a base rabble and your navy nothing but rotten timber.
All this, I know well enough, will sound wild and chimerical to the profane herd of those vulgar and mechanical politicians who have no place among us: a sort of people who think that nothing exists but what is gross and material, and who, therefore, far from being qualified to be directors of the great movement of empire, are not fit to turn a wheel in the machine. But to men truly initiated and rightly taught, these ruling and master principles, which in the opinion of such men as I have mentioned have no substantial existence, are in truth everything, and all in all. Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together. If we are conscious of our situation, and glow with zeal to fill our places as becomes our station and ourselves, we ought to auspicate all our public proceedings on America with the old warning of the Church, Sursum corda! We ought to elevate our minds to the greatness of that trust to which the order of Providence has called us. By adverting to the dignity of this high calling, our ancestors have turned a savage wilderness into a glorious empire, and have made the most extensive and the only honorable conquests, not by destroying, but by promoting the wealth, the number, the happiness of the human race. Let us get an American revenue as we have got an American empire. English privileges have made it all that it is; English privileges alone will make it all it can he.
Friday, July 03, 2009
POLITICAL UPDATE--Health Care
This update focuses on health care. President Obama is threatening to impose more government control on America's health care system. Socialism will lead to worse care and more death.
John Stossel: "Better" Health Care?
Thomas Sowell: Alice in Medical Care
Deroy Murdock: Reading Obama Care Bills Endangers Human Health
Phyllis Schlafly: Massachusetts: A Model Not to Copy
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama's Health Care Reform in Trouble
Phyllis Schlafly: High Costs of Obama's Health Care Plan
William Hoar: Overdosing on Obama Healthcare
Ron Paul: Fight Government Encroachment into Healthcare!
Ron Paul: When Government Plays Doctor
POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.
John Stossel: "Better" Health Care?
Thomas Sowell: Alice in Medical Care
Deroy Murdock: Reading Obama Care Bills Endangers Human Health
Phyllis Schlafly: Massachusetts: A Model Not to Copy
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama's Health Care Reform in Trouble
Phyllis Schlafly: High Costs of Obama's Health Care Plan
William Hoar: Overdosing on Obama Healthcare
Ron Paul: Fight Government Encroachment into Healthcare!
Ron Paul: When Government Plays Doctor
POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
What's in a Slogan?
Kalamazoo county has a new slogan, courtesy of the Kalamazoo County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Kalamazoo County's new slogan: "You'll be back. We promise"
This replaces the old slogan, "Easy to get to. Hard to leave."
It isn't clear if they considered alternatives such as
I hope they didn't spend a lot of money on this.
"You'll be back. We promise."Sounds kind of menacing.
Kalamazoo County's new slogan: "You'll be back. We promise"
"We identified Kalamazoo as a destination visitors will want to return to with some frequency," said Bill Ayers, president of Discover Kalamazoo, formerly known as the Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Furthermore, we are so certain they will enjoy themselves while being so unexpectedly surprised when they visit for the first time, they will promise they will return."As far as I know, that's not terrorist Bill Ayers.
This replaces the old slogan, "Easy to get to. Hard to leave."
It isn't clear if they considered alternatives such as
Roaches check in, they don't check out.Perhaps Michigan's movie tax credit could be used to produce Escape From Kalamazoo.
What happens in Kalamazoo, stays in Kalamazoo FOREVER.
In Kalamazoo, no one can hear you scream.
Kalamazoo: Like a Black Hole.
I hope they didn't spend a lot of money on this.
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Questioning College
Yet another article questioning the structure of college.
DON'T GET THAT COLLEGE DEGREE!
Previous: More College Articles
DON'T GET THAT COLLEGE DEGREE!
Previous: More College Articles
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
New Union
WMU's part-time instructors have voted to form a union.
Western Michigan University part-time instructors vote to start a union
PIO now a recognized union
WMU part-time faculty sets sights on a union
Western Michigan University part-time instructors vote to start a union
PIO now a recognized union
WMU part-time faculty sets sights on a union
KALAMAZOO Part-time faculty members at Western Michigan University will now be represented by a union.This could mean higher costs for students, but it isn't clear how much they will be able to get during the down economy.
Instructors voted 207 to 29 in favor of collective bargaining according to a count of ballots Monday at the Michigan Employment Relations Commission in Lansing, said a news release by the newly certified Professional Instructors Organization.
The union will represent part-time WMU instructors who teach at least three credit hours in a semester.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Kalamazoo Tea Party
Check out the Kalamazoo Tea Party website.
http://kzooteaparty.ning.com/
They are planning a rally in Bronson Park on July 4, 6-8 PM.
http://kzooteaparty.ning.com/events/july-4-rally-kalamazoo
http://kzooteaparty.ning.com/
They are planning a rally in Bronson Park on July 4, 6-8 PM.
http://kzooteaparty.ning.com/events/july-4-rally-kalamazoo
Discrimination Again
UPDATE: As expected, the ordinance was passed unanimously.
Ken at Bible, Math, and Politics (which needs more math!) highlights the anti-Christian discrimination ordinance expected to be passed in Kalamazoo tonight.
--------------------
Kalamazoo Discrimination Ordinance to be Voted On Tonight!
The title above is my own, as the ordinance will discriminate against those who live or operate a business in the city of Kalamazoo by forcing them to accept homosexuals (or anyone in the "GLBT" group) in housing, employment, and "access to public accommodations."
According to the Kalamazoo Gazette and widely reported elsewhere, the ordinance is likely to pass, and in fact could be unanimously passed. A similar ordinance passed the City Commission unanimously in December, but was then rescinded in January after an unprecedented number of signatures were turned in for a ballot referendum on the matter. Some minor changes have since been made granting more "protections" to religious groups. Fines for violating the ordinance will be $500 a day plus expenses.
The American Family Association intends to begin circulating petitions Tuesday morning if the measure passes the commission, as most expect it will. Given the fact that no commission members have given any indication of a change of heart on the matter, we need to prepare for this. The previous petition drive was only granted 20 days to collect over a thousand signatures (over the Christmas holiday season, no less), and was successful by a comfortable margin. If you are a registered voter of Michigan and know registered voters in Kalamazoo, you can help in the petition drive. Pay attention to the AFA website and stayed tuned for further developments.
The homosexual movement wants to win as many of these local battles as they can before the inevitable day when their agenda will be placed before Congress. Do your part to promote what is right and godly in your area!
Ken at Bible, Math, and Politics (which needs more math!) highlights the anti-Christian discrimination ordinance expected to be passed in Kalamazoo tonight.
--------------------
Kalamazoo Discrimination Ordinance to be Voted On Tonight!
The title above is my own, as the ordinance will discriminate against those who live or operate a business in the city of Kalamazoo by forcing them to accept homosexuals (or anyone in the "GLBT" group) in housing, employment, and "access to public accommodations."
According to the Kalamazoo Gazette and widely reported elsewhere, the ordinance is likely to pass, and in fact could be unanimously passed. A similar ordinance passed the City Commission unanimously in December, but was then rescinded in January after an unprecedented number of signatures were turned in for a ballot referendum on the matter. Some minor changes have since been made granting more "protections" to religious groups. Fines for violating the ordinance will be $500 a day plus expenses.
The American Family Association intends to begin circulating petitions Tuesday morning if the measure passes the commission, as most expect it will. Given the fact that no commission members have given any indication of a change of heart on the matter, we need to prepare for this. The previous petition drive was only granted 20 days to collect over a thousand signatures (over the Christmas holiday season, no less), and was successful by a comfortable margin. If you are a registered voter of Michigan and know registered voters in Kalamazoo, you can help in the petition drive. Pay attention to the AFA website and stayed tuned for further developments.
The homosexual movement wants to win as many of these local battles as they can before the inevitable day when their agenda will be placed before Congress. Do your part to promote what is right and godly in your area!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
POLITICAL UPDATE--The Economy
This update focuses on the economy. The Federal Reserve has doubled the monetary base, which may lead to major inflation. The government has taken over General Motors and Chrysler.
Don Devine: Europe Rejects Obamaism
Steve Sailer: Countrywide’s Angelo Mozilo: He Warned Us—But Washington Didn’t Want To Know
Gary North: Don't Get Trapped in the Next Bubble
Gary North: The Fibbing Fed
Charles Scaliger: GM's Bankruptcy
Ron Paul: GM, Amtrak and an Increasingly Fascist America
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama Is Remaking America Into Socialism
Karen DeCoster: 'Let's Roll'
Steve Sailer: The Gods Of The Copybook Headings With Terror And Slaughter [a.k.a. The Minority Mortgage Meltdown] Return
Ron Paul: Audit the Fed, Then End It!
Phyllis Schlafly: How Young Engineers and Our Economy Are Betrayed
See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader
Don Devine: Europe Rejects Obamaism
Steve Sailer: Countrywide’s Angelo Mozilo: He Warned Us—But Washington Didn’t Want To Know
Gary North: Don't Get Trapped in the Next Bubble
Gary North: The Fibbing Fed
Charles Scaliger: GM's Bankruptcy
Ron Paul: GM, Amtrak and an Increasingly Fascist America
Phyllis Schlafly: Obama Is Remaking America Into Socialism
Karen DeCoster: 'Let's Roll'
Steve Sailer: The Gods Of The Copybook Headings With Terror And Slaughter [a.k.a. The Minority Mortgage Meltdown] Return
Ron Paul: Audit the Fed, Then End It!
Phyllis Schlafly: How Young Engineers and Our Economy Are Betrayed
See also:
The Recession Reader
The Bailout Reader
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Cap-and-Tax Passed
The House of Representatives passed the awful Cap-and-Tax bill on Friday. The bill would hugely increase energy taxes and destroy millions of jobs.
The bill passed by a 219-212 vote. In Michigan, all the Republicans voted no and all the democrats voted yes.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
“Cap-And-Trade” Tax Bill Narrowly Passes House
The 8 cap-and-tax Republicans…and the 44 Democrats who voted no
The bill passed by a 219-212 vote. In Michigan, all the Republicans voted no and all the democrats voted yes.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
“Cap-And-Trade” Tax Bill Narrowly Passes House
The 8 cap-and-tax Republicans…and the 44 Democrats who voted no
Local News
Local news around Kalamazoo.
Ugandan leader a WMU graduate
Oshtemo Township approves 1 percent tax-collection fee
Railroad donates land for Kalamazoo River Valley Trail
Citizens tell panel conditions for migrant farmworkers in Michigan are bad
Judge issues injunction to block gravel trucks from Oshtemo roads
County authority supports fare increases for public transit
Kalamazoo gay-rights ordinance will be revisited Monday
Ugandan leader a WMU graduate
Oshtemo Township approves 1 percent tax-collection fee
Railroad donates land for Kalamazoo River Valley Trail
Citizens tell panel conditions for migrant farmworkers in Michigan are bad
Judge issues injunction to block gravel trucks from Oshtemo roads
County authority supports fare increases for public transit
Kalamazoo gay-rights ordinance will be revisited Monday
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
MSU Allows Concealed Weapons
Michigan State approves exception to weapons ban
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University has approved an exception to its campus weapons ban allowing people with permits to carry concealed weapons to walk or drive through campus with a gun.
The Detroit Free Press reports the East Lansing university's governing board voted 7-1 Friday to make the exception and avoid a conflict with state law. Guns still are banned inside campus buildings and sports stadiums.
The issue was raised by campus police who had to issue citations to people with guns during traffic stops regardless whether they had a permit.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State University has approved an exception to its campus weapons ban allowing people with permits to carry concealed weapons to walk or drive through campus with a gun.
The Detroit Free Press reports the East Lansing university's governing board voted 7-1 Friday to make the exception and avoid a conflict with state law. Guns still are banned inside campus buildings and sports stadiums.
The issue was raised by campus police who had to issue citations to people with guns during traffic stops regardless whether they had a permit.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Crime Wave?
The Gazette has featured a number of stories in the past couple weeks about home invasions and related crimes. It isn't clear whether this is a coincidence or a trend.
Armed self-defence is more and more necessary.
Armed self-defence is more and more necessary.
POLITICAL UDPATE--News from Abroad
This update focuses on news from abroad. Protests continue in Iran. American foreign policy continues to be debated. There is other news from around the world.
Don Devine: War Advice
William Jasper: “Merchant of Death” Trial Still Looms
James Perloff: Iran and the Shah: What Really Happened
Don Devine: OBush Foreign Policy
Warren Mass: ANC Scores Big in South Africa's Elections
Ron Paul: Responses to Piracy
POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.
Don Devine: War Advice
William Jasper: “Merchant of Death” Trial Still Looms
James Perloff: Iran and the Shah: What Really Happened
Don Devine: OBush Foreign Policy
Warren Mass: ANC Scores Big in South Africa's Elections
Ron Paul: Responses to Piracy
POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.
Good Article
From Matt Labash at the Weekly Standard:
Down with Facebook!
No, the reason to hate Facebook is because of the stultifying mind-numbing inanity of it all, the sheer boredom. If Facebook helps put together streakers with voyeurs, the streakers, for the most part, after shedding their trench coats, seem to be running around not with taut and tanned hard-bodies, but in stained granny panties with dark socks. They have a reality-show star's unquenchable thirst for broadcasting all the details of their lives, no matter how unexceptional those details are. They do so in the steady, Chinese-water-torture drip of status updates. The very fact that they are on the air (or rather, on Facebook) has convinced them that every facet of their life must be inherently interesting enough to alert everyone to its importance.
Down with Facebook!
No, the reason to hate Facebook is because of the stultifying mind-numbing inanity of it all, the sheer boredom. If Facebook helps put together streakers with voyeurs, the streakers, for the most part, after shedding their trench coats, seem to be running around not with taut and tanned hard-bodies, but in stained granny panties with dark socks. They have a reality-show star's unquenchable thirst for broadcasting all the details of their lives, no matter how unexceptional those details are. They do so in the steady, Chinese-water-torture drip of status updates. The very fact that they are on the air (or rather, on Facebook) has convinced them that every facet of their life must be inherently interesting enough to alert everyone to its importance.
Local News
Local news around Kalamazoo.
Michigan unemployment rate hits 14.1 percent in May
Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport is set to get $6.63 million in new federal funding
Sen. Tom George urges Republican-controlled Senate to vote on smoking ban bill
Downtown Kalamazoo arena plan to get close look by study group
Kalamazoo County finance director warns of budget deficit
Kalamazoo College to cut positions to erase 2009-10 budget deficit
Revised gay-rights ordinance draws little public opposition Monday
Western Michigan University looking at $5 million budget hole as officials consider tuition rate
WMU stretches outside the city limits
Michigan unemployment rate hits 14.1 percent in May
Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport is set to get $6.63 million in new federal funding
Sen. Tom George urges Republican-controlled Senate to vote on smoking ban bill
Downtown Kalamazoo arena plan to get close look by study group
Kalamazoo County finance director warns of budget deficit
Kalamazoo College to cut positions to erase 2009-10 budget deficit
Revised gay-rights ordinance draws little public opposition Monday
Western Michigan University looking at $5 million budget hole as officials consider tuition rate
WMU stretches outside the city limits
Saturday, June 13, 2009
POLITICAL UPDATE--The Culture War
This update focuses on the culture war. Congress is considering a 'hate crimes' bill to suppress free speech and religious freedom. Abortion and immigration continue to generate controversy.
Nicholas Stix: What The Heretical 2 Case Says About The Federal Hate Crimes Bill
Selwyn Duke: The Hoax That Is Hate-crime Laws
Selwyn Duke: Adding "Sexual Orientation" to Hate-crime Statutes
Gary Bauer: How Will New Hate Crimes Bill Affect Your Free Speech?
Ann Coulter: 49 Million to Five
Thomas Sowell: 'Empathy' Versus Law
Gary Bauer: Obama Erasing a Generation of Pro-Family Advances
Jasmes Edwards: Obama Embraces Amnesty
Ernest Istook: Quiet Amnesty -- Part II
POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.
Nicholas Stix: What The Heretical 2 Case Says About The Federal Hate Crimes Bill
Selwyn Duke: The Hoax That Is Hate-crime Laws
Selwyn Duke: Adding "Sexual Orientation" to Hate-crime Statutes
Gary Bauer: How Will New Hate Crimes Bill Affect Your Free Speech?
Ann Coulter: 49 Million to Five
Thomas Sowell: 'Empathy' Versus Law
Gary Bauer: Obama Erasing a Generation of Pro-Family Advances
Jasmes Edwards: Obama Embraces Amnesty
Ernest Istook: Quiet Amnesty -- Part II
POLITICAL UPDATES are archived here.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Arena of Conflict
There have been several recent developments concerning the proposed arena in downtown Kalamazoo.
Rep. Robert Jones' tax amendment tailored to arena in Kalamazoo
Taxes would be proposed arena's main funding source in downtown Kalamazoo
Sizing up potential arena: Many factors play into scale of proposed downtown facility
WMU, K-Wings consider moving teams to arena proposed for downtown Kalamazoo
First, it appears that State Rep. Robert Jones, always eager to raise taxes, helped to slip through an amendment that makes it possible for Kalamazoo to tax hospitalities, which it previously wasn't.
Third, attendance figures for the Wings and WMU teams make it clear that such a stadium is not necessary.
Previous: Forum of Discontent
Rep. Robert Jones' tax amendment tailored to arena in Kalamazoo
Taxes would be proposed arena's main funding source in downtown Kalamazoo
Sizing up potential arena: Many factors play into scale of proposed downtown facility
WMU, K-Wings consider moving teams to arena proposed for downtown Kalamazoo
First, it appears that State Rep. Robert Jones, always eager to raise taxes, helped to slip through an amendment that makes it possible for Kalamazoo to tax hospitalities, which it previously wasn't.
In late 2008, the former Kalamazoo mayor fast-tracked an amendment to a 1991 state law, making Kalamazoo County the smallest Michigan population center eligible to use hotel, rental car and restaurant surcharges to finance a public arena.Second, County leaders have admitted that "Taxes would be proposed arena's main funding source in downtown Kalamazoo". It would not make money.
According to Michigan House records, Jones' amendment was specifically tailored to "affect only the city of Kalamazoo."
Third, attendance figures for the Wings and WMU teams make it clear that such a stadium is not necessary.
Kalamazoo WingsFourth, commenter turbo25mi ties together some of the players behind this proposal.
• Average home-game attendance in 2008-09: 3,190
• Wings Stadium capacity: 5,113 seats.
• Sold out games last season: 1
WMU hockey
• Average home-game attendance in 2008-09: 2,112
• Lawson Ice Arena capacity: 3,667 seats.
• Sold out games last season: 2
WMU men's basketball
• Average home-game attendance in 2008-09: 2,960
• University Arena capacity: 5,421 seats
• Sold out games last season: 0
Correct me if I am wrong, cause I may not have ALL the info exactly correct but I am pretty sure that these Ken Miller and Bill Johnston guys own Keystone Bank, Greenleaf Trust, a few other expensive restaurants downtown in the Millennium Restaurant Group; owns interests in the Radisson, Sits on a board called Downtown Tomorrow Incorporated which is a real estate development and fundraising arm of Kalamazoo or something of the sorts, sits on Western Michigan Universities board as a trustee AND most recently purchased or now has financial interest and ties to Wing’s Stadium as there are now new ownerships of either the team or the stadium itself (Burdick’s, Radisson owned, is already in the current stadium) and the list goes on and on. Seems to me there are too many people with too many hands in all of this to line their own pockets with more of our money.Check out the comments on the Gazette articles. There is a lot of sentiment against the proposed arena.
Previous: Forum of Discontent
Open Carry Debate
The Open Carry Picnic took place on Sunday without incident but not without controversy.
Gun owners show support for open-carry law at picnic in Kalamazoo
The Gazette article on the event has garnered over 280 comments. (I don't recommend reading them all.)
Surprising to many people, open carry is legal in Michigan (and most states) without any permit required. Many states have interpreted their state Right to Keep and Bear Arms provision to protect open carry but not concealed carry.
Gun owners show support for open-carry law at picnic in Kalamazoo
The Gazette article on the event has garnered over 280 comments. (I don't recommend reading them all.)
Surprising to many people, open carry is legal in Michigan (and most states) without any permit required. Many states have interpreted their state Right to Keep and Bear Arms provision to protect open carry but not concealed carry.
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