Fed Kills Yields Retirees Suffer

Published: Fri, 02/17/12

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In This Issue:

Barack Obama Must not get Reelected—Your Personal Security is at Stake By Richard C. Young
Who’s Looking Out for You? By E.J. Smith
‘Occupy CPAC’ protesters paid $60 for the day The Editors
Obama Wants to Give You Billions The Editors
Krauthammer on Obama’s Budget: Truly Scandalous The Editors
Cramer: Obamacare is Hampering Job Creation The Editors
AH-64D Apache The Editors
Fed Kills Yields Retirees Suffer By E.J. Smith
The President’s Newest Unconstitutional Healthcare Mandate The Editors
VIDEO: Comedian Tim Hawkins – The Government Can The Editors

Young Investments Client Letter: Sign up to get the letter mailed directly to you by clicking here.

JANUARY YOUNG INVESTMENTS CLIENT LETTER:
What to Expect in 2012 One of the more common mistakes individual and even professional investors make is ignoring or underestimating future events. During the past three years, both the Dow and the S&P 500 posted positive returns. While 2012 could certainly be another favorable year, investors would be well advised to expect continued periods of high volatility. Read more here!

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Barack Obama Must not get Reelected—Your Personal Security is at Stake!

Here is some real irony: the naked vulnerability surrounding the Wall Street barons and Hollywood yahoos. America’s wealthiest citizens are among the most exposed. Just think of those Manhattan high-rise co-op buildings and banking palaces. When the juice blinks off for an extended period, all those Wall Street skyscrapers and movie town estates will go black and dead. Talk about trapped!

Meanwhile, mom and the kids back in the Greenwich compounds will be on their own with little in the way of food and water, zero transportation or communications availability, and almost certainly no defensive position. And at the movieland estates, all security systems, along with communications and transportation options, will have failed. In quick order, it could get real uncomfy around now stilled movieland swimming pools. Lot’s to consider, wouldn’t you say.

So what’s your next move? I know what mine is. I’m going to boot up my reading and study program—burn up the lines to my Amazon account. And I will continue in orderly fashion to shore up my weakest positions. Inertia is the real problem. It is tough to make difficult decisions on unpleasant topics no matter your good intentions and strong resolve. It is always easy to wait till tomorrow. I have been involved with personal security and defense for a number of years, and the more I read, the more concerned I get. What is increasingly clear is that I am on my own. The folk in Washington are continuing to agitate in the Middle East with expected results. Two horrific Supreme Court appointments best exemplify the administration’s anti-Second Amendment position. It does not matter who ends up getting the Republican presidential nomination! What matters is that the fellow currently residing in the White house does not get another shot or two at the Supreme Court. I hope all Americans understand the grave nature of the Supreme Court issue. America cannot tolerate a second term of Barack Obama! Make it a good and well-prepared week.

Warm regards,

Dick

>> read more

Who’s Looking Out for You?

Biden Asleep at the Switch

To require Catholic hospitals and colleges to provide birth control “is an unprecedented, outrageous and unacceptable attack on religious freedom,” said Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of Providence, Rhode Island, in a statement. Cardinal designate Timothy Dolan said in New York, “The federal government should do what it’s traditionally done since July 4, 1776, namely back out of intruding into the internal life of a church.” Vice President Joe Biden, the first Catholic vice president, didn’t say much other than that the White House is working to address concerns raised by the Catholic Church.

Tim Thomas Gets It

Boston Bruins MVP goalie Tim Thomas posted on Facebook:

I Stand with the Catholics in the fight for Religious Freedom.

“In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

– by Martin Niemöller, prominent German anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran pastor, best known as the author of the poem “First They Came…”

Barbell Strategy

I’ve written about Tim Thomas making the political statement of the year by skipping the White House photo op. I’ve also written about my barbell strategy to help retain the young families and retirees in the state of Rhode Island. It could apply to almost any state in New England or to Michigan, where Thomas is from. Tim Thomas tells it like it is. There’s an untapped groundswell of support for a libertarian/Republican leader like him. I’d love to help him make it happen.

A Lose-Lose Comptroller Election

Someone who doesn’t get it is New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli. He was on NPR’s Here and Now defending defined-benefit pensions, reasoning that recipients spend the money in New York anyway. So it’s good for the economy? Give me a break; they’re off to Florida.

You know, what’s sad is that in November of 2010, New York voters had a choice between DiNapoli or Republican Harry Wilson. How Wilson got through as the Republican candidate is beyond me. Wilson was President Obama’s point man for the GM bailout. Last year, teamster president James P. Hoffa, in retaining Mr. Wilson, wrote in a letter to union members dated February 28, “This team was led by turnaround expert Harry Wilson, the lead architect of General Motors’ restructuring, and they drove a great deal of progress in the last several weeks.… A critical reason for bringing in Harry’s team is to fully scrutinize the company’s operating assumptions and plan—this was one of his key roles in restructuring GM.”

Life’s Not Fair in New Jersey Education

With sweet pensions to support, it’s no wonder New York and New Jersey have the highest per-pupil education spending in the country. New Jersey Education Union Director Vincent Giordano, who makes $555,000, was asked why poor families don’t have a choice to get out of failing schools. He said, “Well life’s not always fair and I’m sorry about that.” But apparently he’s not sorry about collecting union dues and monopolizing the school system with collective bargaining.

Public-Sector Collective Bargaining in Your State

Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity CEO Mike Stenhouse writes, “A study released this week by the Goldwater Institute details the crippling financial impact of public-sector unionization. The study projects that a ban on collective bargaining and contracts could save Ocean State taxpayers $252 million per year in excessive government worker compensation. These savings are more than double the estimated state budget shortfall currently facing Rhode Island.”

Obama’s Non-Recess Recess Appointment

In “Obama’s Union Point Man” Phil Kerpen of the National Review Online writes, “While a lot of attention has been focused on the procedural defect of these appointments … there has been far too little attention paid to the most radical of these appointees: Richard Griffin.” This is Obama’s nod to failed card check legislation. Kerpen continues,

But with a difficult reelection on the horizon that will depend heavily on support from union bosses, this year Obama took his union pandering to another level, installing Griffin with far less scrutiny than Becker received. There was no vetting of Griffin’s background. In fact, Obama named him as an appointee only on December 15, 2011—less than three weeks before the Obama non-recess recess maneuver. He never went through the normal background check performed by the Senate. He never filled out the usual questionnaire, or met with any Republican senators.

This is how an Obama-empowered executive branch will work around the U.S. Constitution.

>> read more

Obama Wants to Give You Billions

The president wants to give you billions of dollars. In debt, that is. In his budget for 2013, President Obama promises voters that, if reelected, his administration will generate a deficit of $2.8 trillion over his next four years in office. That’s a stark contrast to the President Obama who told Americans in 2009 that he would halve the budget deficit by the end of his first term.

On Monday, the President proposed a $901-billion deficit for 2013, larger than the entire national defense budget. That’s supposed to be considered an improvement. The massive 256-page budget proposal reads like an extended campaign speech. In contrast, presidential candidate Ron Paul has outlined a budget of only a few pages that would generate budget surpluses in two years at the federal level. Paul achieves this feat without even touching Social Security, Medicare, veterans’ benefits, or federal and military retirement programs.

But take a closer look at the president’s budget and even his meager attempt at deficit reduction loses its appeal. Federal outlays never actually decrease in the administration’s budget; they increase annually—forever. The president bases even this dismal-sounding scenario on rosy predictions of a decade of economic expansion uninterrupted by recession, something almost unheard of in America’s history. Instead of proposing much-needed spending cuts, the president urges growth-stunting tax increases to increase revenues.

If you’re “rich,” the president’s budget has some nasty plans for you. Barack Obama wants your money and will raise your taxes back to the Clinton-era rates to get it. He has singled you out for higher taxes on capital gains. The president will also nearly triple taxes on the dividends many retirees use to fund their living expenses. He will eliminate tax advantages for oil and gas and coal companies, reinstate Super Fund taxes, repeal LIFO accounting, tax carried interest as ordinary income, and more. And perhaps worst of all, the president would like to reinstate the draconian death taxes of 2009. It should be free to die, no? All these nifty tax increases are in the fine print of the president’s budget proposal, where the mainstream media won’t look.

But why should Americans believe the president’s numbers in the first place? In the new budget, the president predicts a deficit of $901 billion for 2013. In last year’s budget, he projected a deficit of $768 billion. What number will he come up with by the end of the year? It’s anyone’s guess.

Increasing taxes on the nation’s small businesses is the wrong way to balance the budget deficit, if the president even intends to balance it at all. The nation needs real cuts in spending, and the only candidate for president today offering a plan to actually cut spending levels in 2013 is Ron Paul.

>> read more

AH-64D Apache

The AH-64D Apache is the most advanced multi-role combat helicopter for the U.S. Army and a growing number of international defense forces.

Customers: In all, 12 nations fly, have ordered or have selected AH-64D Apache helicopters for their defense forces.

The U.S. Army has ordered more than 600 Apache aircraft through multi-year contracts and follow-on purchases. Boeing delivered the first AH-64D Apache to the Army in April 1997, and the first production AH-64D Apache Block III in October 2011. Follow-on orders and upgrades will keep the Apache in production well into the next decade.

International customers include Egypt, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. The first international AH-64D Apache was delivered to the Royal Netherlands Air Force in May 1998, and the first international AH-64D Apache Block III will be delivered in 2012. More than 300 new and remanufactured international AH-64Ds have been delivered or are in production.

General Characteristics:
Length: 58.17 ft (17.73 m)
Height: 15.24 ft (4.64 m)
Wing Span: 17.15 ft (5.227 m)

Primary Mission Gross Weight 15,075 lb (6838 kg)

Hover In-Ground Effect (MRP)
Standard Day: 15,895 ft (4845 m)
Hot Day ISA + 15C: 14,845 ft (4525 m)

Hover Out-of-Ground Effect (MRP)
Standard Day: 12,685 ft (3866 m)
Hot Day ISA + 15C: 11,215 ft (3418 m)

Sea Level Standard Day
Vertical Rate of Climb (MRP): 2,175 fpm (663 mpm)
Maximum Rate of Climb (IRP): 2,915 fpm (889 mpm)
Maximum Level Flight Speed: 150 kt (279 kph)
Cruise Speed (MCP): 150 kt (279 kph)

Hot Day 2,000 ft 70 F (21 C)
Vertical Rate of Climb (MRP): 2,050 fpm (625 mpm)
Maximum Rate of Climb (IRP): 2,890 fpm (881 mpm)
Maximum Level Flight Speed: 153 kt (284 kph)
Cruise Speed (MCP): 153 kt (284 kph)

Two high-performance turbo-shaft engines and maximum cruise speed of 284 kph
Laser, infrared, and other systems (including target acquisition designation sight/pilot night vision sensor) to locate, track and attack targets
A combination of laser-guided precision Hellfire missiles, 70mm rockets, and a 30mm automatic cannon with up to 1,200 high-explosive, dual-purpose ammunition rounds

Background:
The first fully equipped U.S. Army unit with the AH-64D Apache was fielded in November 1998. The U.S. Army fielded its first overseas AH-64D Apache unit in October 2001.

Between 1984 and 1997, Boeing produced 937 AH-64As for the U.S. Army, Egypt, Greece, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

More than 1,800 Apaches have been delivered to customers around the world since the Apache went into production.

The U.S. Army Apache fleet has accumulated more than 3 million flight hours since the first prototype aircraft flew in 1975.

Miscellaneous:
The U.S. Army has fielded AH-64D Apache Longbow units around the world.

As of December 2011, U.S. Army AH-64D Apache helicopters have logged nearly 900,000 combat hours in operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, and New Dawn, and in overseas contingency operations.

Army aviators in the first battalion that will fly the AH-64D Apache Block III helicopters have begun simulator and flight training, with the first class completing training in December 2011.

The Apache performs across the full spectrum of operations as a force multiplier for Combatant Commanders and supports the safe return of troops.

Source: Boeing

Recent News: Boeing, US Army Mark Delivery of 1^st AH-64D Apache Block III Combat Helicopter – November 2, 2011

Boeing Receives US Army Contract for Low Rate Initial Production of AH-64D Apache Block III – October 25, 2010

>> read more

Fed Kills Yields Retirees Suffer

Barack Obama cannot get reelected.

Much has been written about the president’s decision to force religious institutions to provide coverage for contraception, surgical sterilization, and abortive drugs in their insurance plans. The president’s proclamation has correctly been identified as an infringement of First Amendment rights. To stem the subsequent backlash, the president decided to “compromise” by forcing insurance companies to pay for the coverage themselves. Money is fungible—it doesn’t matter who writes the check. Religious institutions will simply end up paying for services they object to via increased premiums.

The bigger issue in this so-called compromise is that the president abandons one constitutional overreach by adopting another. The president creates a new mandate, telling companies that they must buy a service for their customers. Where is the constitutional authorization for such rulemaking? The left will justify the mandate with the interstate commerce clause. But laws the left defends prohibit interstate competition between insurance companies, meaning the clause can’t possibly apply.

Lost in the culture war between right and left has been the abject unconstitutionality of both of the Obama administration’s proposals. See for yourself. Where in the president’s enumerated powers is there authorization for such rulemaking? The abuse of the Constitution is the number one reason Americans must defeat Barack Obama in 2012. The president cannot be allowed to nominate Supreme Court justices who will refuse to uphold the Constitution as written.