September 18, 2012

NEWSMAX
Gallup: Majority in U.S. Still Say Government Doing Too Much
by Todd Beamon
September 17, 2012

A majority of Americans still believe the government is trying to do too many things that should be left to individuals and businesses.

The latest Gallup Poll shows that 54 percent of those surveyed Sept. 6 to 9 believe the government is trying to do too much, although that is down from a record high of 61 percent this summer.

About four in 10 Americans, or 39 percent, say the government should do more to solve the nation's problems.

According to Gallup, only a few times in the company’s 20 years of asking the question have more Americans said the government should do more to solve the nation's problems than said the government is doing too much.

Two instances were in the fall of 1992 and again in early 1993, as Bill Clinton ran for and took office as president. Another was in October 2001, just after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to Gallup.

Americans have been most likely to respond that the government was working to do too much during the middle years of the Clinton administration, and in recent years during President Barack Obama’s administration.

The appropriate role of government in addressing the nation's problems continues to be one of the most divisive issues in this year's election.

As such, two-thirds of Democrats (67 percent) think government should do more, while an even larger percentage of Republicans (82 percent) say government is doing too much that should be left to individuals and businesses.

More than six in 10 independents (62 percent) agree that the government is doing too much.

Read more: http://goo.gl/GLZew

TOWNHALL
The UN Gun Control Treaty is Bad for Gun Owners Everywhere
by Chuck Norris
September 18, 2012

Last time I checked, Americans were responsible for making our own laws. We do not invite foreign nations to have a say in how we govern ourselves within our own borders. Yet if you follow what's been going on with the United Nations this year, you know that the USA came perilously close to having other countries dictate our gun laws. And the fight isn't over yet.
The United Nations has been debating an arms trade treaty for nearly a decade now. Though the treaty is ostensibly focused on military arms, it has long been clear that the majority of U.N. delegates consider our personal firearms to be crying out for international regulation, as well. The focus of the treaty would be a demand that governments regulate the sale and possession of firearms worldwide -- all of them, including yours and mine.

Though I believe that firearms should not be in the wrong hands, the proposed terms of this global gun control treaty would overreach wildly into regulating the sale of firearms to law-abiding citizens. In other words, the proposed treaty is a mechanism for Iran and other tyrannical powers to have a say in your gun ownership.

The George W. Bush administration wisely opposed this concept, asserting that any agreement to regulate private gun ownership would represent a threat to our Second Amendment freedoms. This proclamation was the death knell for the first U.N. gun control treaty conference more than 10 years ago.

But bad ideas at the U.N. never go away; they just fade until the political climate changes. Treaty discussions went underground for several years -- until the Obama administration announced a willingness to consider a new treaty, as long as the parties operated under "consensus."

The debate reached a fever pitch during a monthlong marathon negotiation session in July. The goal was to disgorge a treaty in time for the Obama administration to sign it before Election Day. The draft treaty was odious on its face. Among other things, it would have required the United States to "maintain records of all imports and shipments of arms," register the identity of the "end user" of those firearms and then report the user's information to a U.N.-based gun registry. In several drafts, the treaty would have mandated that every round of ammunition be tracked globally.

Read more: http://goo.gl/k642q

AMERICAN THINKER
Deflation's Here, and the Downward Spiral Has Started
by Frank Ryan
September 18, 2012

Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Finland have been issuing short term government notes at negative interest rates since mid-year 2012!

This dangerous precedent has happened before.  Most recently, Japan experienced negative interest rates in the 1990s.  The effects of the economic quandary in Japan and the efforts to restore growth were so misguided that the Japanese are still attempting a recovery.  In almost twenty years, Japan has yet to make a full economic recovery.

The United States and the European Union are next and are headed into the same disaster as Japan unless decisive action is taken now.

Alan Greenspan clearly understood the growing dangers in the economic world in his book, The Age of Turbulence, in which he explains the continuing saga of an increasingly turbulent world economy.

Deflation is characterized by falling prices, falling incomes, declining value of real estate, and an inability to fund government debt and unfunded obligations.

Deflation has begun, and governments continue to push the "cliff" date as far into the future as possible when only quantitative easing is considered by the Federal Reserve and more government spending is considered by the White House.

Unfortunately, current fiscal and monetary policies of most Western nations are merely moving us farther up the fiscal cliff rather than away from it.

In Scranton, Pennsylvania, for example, declining real estate prices for an overburdened tax base on top of substantial unfunded liabilities of a "rust belt" city forced the mayor to cut all municipal pay to minimum wage.

Similar situations will occur for bankrupt cities and municipalities in California.  Should the unfunded mandates and obligations not be cut, an increasing tax burden on property will merely reduce property values further.

At this point, the death spiral of deflation begins, and our economy will collapse.  Economic recovery will be difficult at best because deflation's spiral is so difficult to reverse.  Buyers are rewarded with even lower prices by waiting to purchase goods and services.

Read more: http://goo.gl/KxoNz