“Everything you heard about me is true. . . . I am not a free marketer. . . . I believe in the heavy hand of government.” — Bill De Blasio

John Fund, writing in National Review, explains why the hard-left speakers at De Blasio’s inauguration do not bode well for NYC.

Look, I have a soft spot in my heart for radical idealists of any persuasion. In a political era dominated by poll-tested remarks and blow-dried hair, at least they are passionate believers in something. In 2012, I wrote an obituary celebrating the life of the “mellowed” Marxist writer Alexander Cockburn.

But couldn’t we have done better than Harry Belafonte as the keynote speaker at Mayor de Blasio’s inauguration? De Blasio really is a hard-left true believer. He wasn’t kidding when he told business leaders after his election, “Everything you heard about me is true. . . . I am not a free marketer. . . . I believe in the heavy hand of government.”

But how heavy? Well, last September the New York Times ran a story on de Blasio’s political roots, and found that he had returned from a 1988 visit to the Marxist Sandinista regime of Nicaragua “with a vision of the possibilities of an unfettered leftist government.” This was long after the Sandinistas had been exposed as human-rights violators on a grand scale and purveyors of anti-Semitic slurs. In 1990, the year Nicaraguans voted the Sandinistas out of office, de Blasio was asked at a retreat of the Nicaragua Solidarity Network what his vision of society was. “Democratic socialism,” he replied. The Times also noted that in 1994, when de Blasio was 32, he even honeymooned in Cuba, violating the U.S. ban on travel to that country.

When pressed during the mayoral campaign about his quote that he advocates “democratic socialism,” de Blasio blustered and claimed, “That’s not a quote from me, that’s someone’s notes.” The Times contradicted him, though, reporting: “The notes were, in fact, written by him; a copy is kept at the New York University archives and was reviewed by the Times.”)

We have it on Bill de Blasio’s own authority that his views haven’t changed. “But it doesn’t matter,” he said in explaining the notes. “The bottom line is the values that I have put forward I think have been consistent over the last quarter-century or more.”

That’s exactly what I and other New Yorkers are afraid of as we look toward the future and guess what Mayor de Blasio’s plans for the city will be over the next four years.

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I spent some time with Senator Johnson at a recent Cato Institute policy conclave. I liked what I heard from the Senator, as did most of the event’s attendees. As such, I am not surprised that Senator Johnson is coming after Obama for egregious executive overreach. Obama thinks he can cut a special O’Care deal for politicians at the expense of the voters. Senator Johnson now calls him out.

On Monday, Jan. 6, I am filing suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin to make Congress live by the letter of the health-care law it imposed on the rest of America. By arranging for me and other members of Congress and their staffs to receive benefits intentionally ruled out by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the administration has exceeded its legal authority.

The president and his congressional supporters have also broken their promise to the American people that ObamaCare was going to be so good that they would participate in it just like everyone else. In truth, many members of Congress feel entitled to an exemption from the harsh realities of the law they helped jam down Americans’ throats in 2010. Unlike millions of their countrymen who have lost coverage and must now purchase insurance through an exchange, members and their staffs will receive an employer contribution to help pay for their new plans.

It is clear that this special treatment, via a ruling by the president’s Office of Personnel Management, was deliberately excluded in the law. During the drafting, debate and passage of ObamaCare, the issue of how the law should affect members of Congress and their staffs was repeatedly addressed. Even a cursory reading of the legislative history clearly shows the intent of Congress was to ensure that members and staff would no longer be eligible for their current coverage under the Federal Employee Health Benefit Plan.

The law states that as of Jan. 1, 2014, the only health-insurance plans that members of Congress and their staffs can be offered by the federal government are plans “created under” ObamaCare or “offered through an Exchange” established under ObamaCare.

Furthermore, allowing the federal government to make an employer contribution to help pay for insurance coverage was explicitly considered, debated and rejected. In doing so, Congress established that the only subsidy available to them would be the same income-based subsidy available to every other eligible American accessing insurance through an exchange. This was the confidence-building covenant supporters of the law made to reassure skeptics that ObamaCare would live up to its billing. They wanted to appear eager to avail themselves of the law’s benefits and be more than willing to subject themselves to the exact same rules, regulations and requirements as their constituents.

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If you look at a enough charts it’s not hard to draw historical comparisons to fit your frame of mind. After reading an article comparing this market to 1928-29 I was reminded of Roger Babson, founder of my alma mater Babson College who correctly called the crash of ’29. His “ten commandments” ring true even today.

Babson authored more than forty books on economic and social problems, the most widely read being Business Barometers (eight editions) and Business Barometers for Profits, Security, Income (ten editions). Babson also wrote hundreds of magazine articles and newspaper columns. He was a popular lecturer on business and financial trends.

Babson was an investor and sometimes director of many corporations, including some traded on the New York Stock Exchange. He established an investment advisory company Babson’s Reports which published one of the oldest investment newsletters in America.

Babson had “ten commandments” he followed in investing and encouraged his readers to do the same. These were:

1. Keep speculation and investments separate.
2. Don’t be fooled by a name.
3. Be wary of new promotions.
4. Give due consideration to market ability.
5. Don’t buy without proper facts.
6. Safeguard purchases through diversification.
7. Don’t try to diversify by buying different securities of the same company.
8. Small companies should be carefully scrutinized.
9. Buy adequate security, not super abundance.
10. Choose your dealer and buy outright (i.e., don’t buy on margin.)
    

On September 5, 1929, he gave a speech saying, “Sooner or later a crash is coming, and it may be terrific.” Later that day the stock market declined by about 3%. This became known as the “Babson Break”. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression soon followed.

The post Calling the Crash of ‘29 appeared first on RichardCYoung.com.

Elizabeth Warren and her ilk always believe that every problem is solved by a bigger and more intrusive central government. Warren should give our Constitution the once over where she would learn that our Founders did not intend for central government intrusion in Washington. Working Americans have taken it in the neck over the last two presidencies due to excessive spending and debt, a hideous foreign policy of nation building, and the most uncompetitive tax code among industrial countries. Warren is as dangerous a Senator as exists in Washington today. Working Americans would benefit by cutting the federal footprint in Washington by 40%, switching to a totally private retirement system, junking Obamacare now, throwing out the tax code, and mandating a 10/10/10 flat tax program on corporate and personal income and final retail sales. With this plan, there would be no tax on dividends, interest, capital gains and estates. Under the Democrat leadership of Obama/Pelosi/Reid/Warren, the job creation environment in America is at the most desperate level since WWII—a fact not debatable.

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Kale is a known provider of live enzymes for the liver. The Food Babe blog explains that enzymes can trigger cancer-fighting chemicals that have the power to dissolve unhealthy cells throughout your body. I start everyday here in Key West at Help Your Self with a kale; celery (number one in my mind as a high blood pressure fighter), and cucumber-based green drink. This article by the Food Babe is right on the money and will help put you on a course you can follow, as I plan to do, for a lifetime. Read the article with care. You will benefit for years into the future.

Kale is one of the most powerful plant foods in the world. Its one of the things I would take with me on a deserted island. 1 cup of kale contains 190% of your Vitamin A, 90% of your Vitamin C, mega does of B6, Manganese, Calcium, Copper, and Potassium. Kale protects your eyes from the sun, preventing cataracts. The enzymes released from kale go in to your liver and trigger cancer fighting chemicals that literally dissolve unhealthy cells throughout your body. Animals with tumors are given a diet of kale and their tumors actually shrink. These are just some of the benefits!

Juicing kale unlocks even more power because your body is able to absorb the live enzymes and nutrients immediately without having to digest it.

George Gilder, technology writer and expert on entrepreneurship, discusses with Peter Robinson how wealth is essentially knowledge. If you don’t have time to watch the full interview skip to the last ten minutes which I found most rewarding.

Legendary Hong Kong movie mogul Run Run Shaw has passed away at 106 years old. Back in the 80s, thanks to host Mark Tier, Debbie and I were invited to Mr. Shaw’s studio and mansion for dinner. We will never forget the night. What a gracious and modest man.

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Debbie and I are pictured here with our old time French friends Yolande and Sylvie at La Creperie in Bahama Village in our hometown of Key West. With much of America frozen solid, it is the perfect time for us all here to pitch you on a sub-tropical get away to our southern-most city. Key West is a small island about 150 miles southwest of Miami and just 90 miles from Cuba. When Debbie and I are in town, you will find us on many days with Yolande and Sylvie here across the street from Blue Heaven. When you get to town, you want to make La Creperie and Blue Heaven your first two landing spots. You’ll be right in the center of Old Town and will smile at your acuity for choosing Key West rather than some distant foreign outpost.

If you are coming as a couple or with good friends, consider the Marqusea Hotel or the Gardens Hotel. If instead you are arriving with the fam, you will be well taken care of at the Casa Marina resort. The top end restaurants in town, where cost is no matter, are the Café Marquesa and Louie’s Backyard. Book the Marquesa for dinner and Louie’s for both lunch and dinner. Debbie and I are also often at 915 and Antonia’s on Duval Street, Michaels in Old Town, and Seven Fish tucked away on a quaint Old Town side street. Calling ahead to reserve is a must. After too much revelry the night before, pick up a Green Drink or healthful breakfast, lunch or snack at Help Yourself on Fleming.

To hang out with the locals, where little has changed since Hunter S. Thompson was in town decades ago, head to Pepe’s, The Half Shell Raw Bar, and Schooner Wharf, all tightly packed in on the waterfront. For wine, the best in Key West is Vinos on Duval, owned by our long-time friends Clayton and Val. To this day, Clayton holds weight class power lifting records in his home country of New Zealand.

You’re in for a great sub-tropical getaway.

Bon appetite,

Dick and Debbie