Can you say "State Capitalism"?

While you are enjoying your Danish and morning coffee (you can still buy a cheese Danish, can’t you?  They haven't been banned by the food police, have they?), I am looking out for your interest. My coffee comes with a dose of Squawk Box. No, not some electronic gizmo. It is the CNBC business channel “Good Morning” show. It actually isn’t as awful as it sounds. In fact, one gets more hard news from it than most other “good morning” shows which usually come with a large dose of fluff. What’s that? Demi Moore is in rehab? Who knew? Where’s Ashton Kutcher when you need him?

At any rate, every January there is a world conference of the financial powers that be, both political and titans of industry, held in Davos, Switzerland. If you want to know why the world economy is in the tank… the smartest men in the room go to Davos, Switzerland in the middle of winter for a conference.  Why? 

CNBC usually gets lots of anecdotal stories from this event. Where else can you interview George Soros, Warren Buffett, the President of Coca Cola and Angela Merckle (Chancellor of Germany) all at the same place? Sometimes the stories are amusing. Sometimes you can pick some tidbits to help your stock trading from company presidents. Then there is the ever popular segment about business television hosts wearing funny snow hats. Quite amusing.

This year is different. With the Europe on the verge of collapse and the United States mounting piles of debt beyond anything that can be repaid, business, financial and political leaders are examining the very essence of capitalism. They have concluded that capitalism as we currently understand it, has failed us. It needs to be reviewed and redefined. It needs to align more closely with the "needs of the people." It needs to be controlled, massaged, yanked in. It needs to become more like the “state” capitalism that exist to a large degree in Europe, and to a much larger degree in China.

Wikipedia defines state capitalism as “commercial (profit-seeking) economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or existence of a significant number of state-owned business enterprises.”   Oye!!!! More subtle definitions include countries in which the state highly regulates privately owned corporation, and/or determines which corporations get credit, usually with strings attached to benefit projects of the state. All of this applies to China. Much of it applies to France and the bulk of the European Union. The goal is ultimately for private business to serve the needs of the state first. There was even serious discussion that countries that practice state capitalism will leave countries like the United States in the dust within the next five years.

So now that you are totally bored, what’s that have to do with the United States? Look at what is happening here. General Motors is owned by the government. The Obama administration now controls who gets loans to go to college, and is now trying to establish guidelines that universities must meet in order to accept students with government controlled loans. It is cherry picking industries who benefit from government largesse (Solyndra) and those who get up the proverbial whazzoo (think the car dealerships the government forced to close when it took control of GM and Chrysler).

This is scary stuff. What is even scarier that it was being seriously discussed by the president of Coca Cola this morning on CNBC as something that ought to be considered. Maybe it was that cold mountain air and snow in Switzerland. Or maybe it was the funny hats that the hosts were wearing. Or maybe he is afraid of the Bully in Chief Obama, who has shown a willingness to throw private enterprise under the bus in order to achieve his “state” capitalism dreams…which by any other name is socialism.

At the end of the day, the financial problems the world today are experiencing have nothing at all to do with capitalism, but with some really bad judgments made by governments over the past years. They spent too much. They borrowed too much. They printed too much money. That happens in all types of economic systems. That was the root problems of the workers’ paradise, the Soviet Union…and the problem in Europe…and the problem in the United States. The only way to fix capitalism or socialism or any other kind of “ism” is don’t do those things.

But that’s a hard lesson to learn.

Lessons from South Carolina: Christie Is a Few States to the North!

Here are some lessons to be learned from the Newt Gingrich win in South Carolina:

1) The supplicant lap dog Obama press has been given notice that their antics will not be tolerated anymore. John King, the reporter/debate host tongue lashed by Newt Gingrich in the last election, was more responsible for the Gingrich win by his inane, bias question than Gingrich himself. Indeed, that question may have changed the history of this election cycle and the presidency itself. Play fair boys!!! Where is Spiro Agnew when you need him?

2) There is no such thing as the “women’s vote.” Exit polls showed that women voted for Gingrich in greater numbers than the elite media had estimated. Why were they surprised? Women have achieved equality with men with more women graduating from college than men, and thus entering the workforce looking for non-existent work. These aren’t the shrinking violets with lace aprons of the 1950’s. When the economy goes south and she is a working mom, the “woman” will vote just like a man. Economy knows no race or gender.

3) The Republicans are pissed. Romney is a fine man and would make a great president. But to quote a CNN analyst, he is like a mayonnaise sandwich on a silver tray. No taste!!! Republicans not only want to win, they want to tell Obama and his supporters in the press off in the process.

4) Romney can’t win the nomination with 70% of voting Republicans opposing him. He can’t get more than 30% of the vote outside of New England. Some pundits are finally figuring that out claiming the Republican Party leadership is now on the phone called Jeb Bush and Bobby Jindal. It won’t be them. It will be Chris Christie who made the rounds last weekend to CNN, Fox, Imus, plus and appearance on Oprah?? Really?? He even criticized Romney, his endorsed candidate, on the tax return issue. Snookie for VP?

5) Romney’s Waterloo will be Virginia. Santorum and Gingrich failed to properly file petitions and are not on the ballot. Ron Paul is on the ballot. If Santorum and Gingrich unite and ask their supporters to vote for Ron Paul in order to derail Romney in the delegate vote count, and Paul wins, Romney is finished. Don’t be surprised if this happens.

Gingrich has risen from the dead twice. One more time he will be a religion. But the Republican Party won’t…can’t…nominate him for President. His negatives are too high. The rank and file want a scrapper. South Carolina has raised the hue and cry. Florida, the next primary, is important.  Although its delegate count has been reduced because it broke Republican Party rules on primary placement, it is a winner take bonanza.  Current polls show Gingrich ahead by 10 points.  Ouch!!!!!

Ain’t politics fun?

Quit Bashing the Cafaro's!!!!

The Vindicator reported this morning  that at an FOP meeting somewhere in Boardman the other night, Jay Macejko, the Democratic endorsed candidate for Mahoning County Prosecutor, when asked what he would do different than Paul Gaines, the current prosecutor, replied that he would show up to work sober. That sent the audience a twittering with Gaines asking Democratic Party Chairman David Betras if Macejko just called him a drunk. To which Betras replied, “It sounded like it.”

Now on its face, this is hysterically funny especially if you know all of the parties involved. It is Mahoning County politics at its worst, or best, depending on your point of view. It certainly merits comment, but this is Mahoning County, folks, and this is lame compared to most of what goes on.

Vindicator columnist Bertram de Souza seized this political moment and pontificated poetically in his Sunday column. Unfortunately, he turned it into an anti-Cafaro rant. That wasn’t so funny. De Souza dredged up all the old allegations surrounding the move of Family Services from Cafaro’s plaza on Youngstown’s east side to the old South Side Hospital building, and all the attendant legal falderal that went with it.

It’s time to get over this and leave the Cafaro family alone. At the end of the day, Mahoning County made a bad bargain when entering into the McGuffey Mall lease with the Cafaro’s and the Cafaro’s were proven right in the courts. Without commenting as to who was right and who was wrong, this turned into a criminal prosecution instigated by the Mahoning County Prosecutor rooted at least partially in the fact the Cafaro family allegedly funded someone to run against him. Those charges extended to numerous county officials as well as the Cafaro family, and were eventually dropped except for the County Treasurer who pled guilty to something or other. Whether or not the move to Oak Hill was the right thing to do has yet to be determined, and won’t until all of the financial ramifications are washed out over the next several years. We all hope for the best…AND NOW IT IS TIME TO PUT ALL OF THIS GARBAGE BEHIND US.

The Mahoning Valley, after 35 years of taking it on the chin, now faces unprecedented opportunity for growth. Indeed, this area will probably lead Ohio in growth over the next several years. But there are challenges: legal, technological, and quality of life issues all mixed up into one that needs to be addressed, and it will take all of us working together.

The Cafaro family have been leaders in the community. They have been generous to a fault in philanthropy to this area. Their name is everywhere. The family kept its headquarters in the City of Youngstown when everyone else deserted the city. When business and people were leaving the area in droves, the Cafaro family invested tens of millions of dollars in its Niles – Eastwood Mall facility including a stadium and conference/display facility…and a minor league baseball team.

Maybe de Souza knows something I don’t know, but enough already. He is shocked that a business interest would donate money to a political candidate? Bertram, go to Washington for a day and look for the where the lobbyists are. Believe me, I would rather have Cafaro fund candidates than any of the mobsters that did it for 30 years landing a good portion of our judiciary and legal profession in jail, disbarred, or dead.  We all want good government. But with this kind of garbage being written in the paper continually when a local business becomes involved in local politics, it’s a wonder anyone would do anything at all.  We need the help of the Cafaro's, and everyother business in this area if we are to succeed and reach our full potential.

I don’t know whether what the Cafaro’s did was legal, illegal, or otherwise. And I don’t care. This family has been a mainstay for this area for as long as I can remember. I can think of at least two local projects in the works right now that could benefit from their help, but I won’t ask. If I were Anthony Cafaro, I would tell this area to go to hell.  But he won’t. At the end of the day, he believes in this area, and I think he will continue to do his best to see this area succeed.

Now it’s time for Bertram and the Vindicator to get off the high horse, and put this matter to rest. Stirring up old "stuff" just doesn't cut it anymore.

Iran: THE Most Important Issue in this Election

While the press is busily showing its political savvy by asking Mitt Romney whether he believes states should have the authority to outlaw contraception, the real threat to the United States is getting the grand tour in Central America. This week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran is visiting Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba, to name just a few of his stops. While George Stephanopoulos is worried about the Republican stance on birth control, Iran is bringing the next great war to our back yard.

It never ceases to amaze me how the left wing supplicant press ignores the story that has no explanation or excuse. Mahmoud isn’t here for his health. He is shoring up support in this hemisphere with his leftist buddies for what is to come. The only issue that counts is how close Iran is to having a nuclear bomb. While we have been fiddling, Rome continues to burn, and we are running out of time.

Foreign policy is all about perception. What do you think the other guy will do if (fill in the blank) happens? Ronald Reagan was a master of mastering perception. He let folks believe he was a little nuts, and it gave them pause. It might have even frightened them just a tad. At any rate, it worked and paved the way for the fall of the Soviet Union.

The problem with this game of foreign policy is what if there is a misperception or a misstep? What if Ahmadinejad’s assumptions are wrong; or worse, what if they are right? George H.W. Bush sent the wrong vibe out to Saddam Hussein about how the United States would react if he invaded Kuwait, and Saddam took the cue. What message has this country been sending to Iran since the hostage crisis and Jimmy Carter? The mullahs should have been taken out then. Instead, we have been playing patsy with these guys, and now they are very close to having a nuclear bomb.

Just how close is open to question. What’s not open is whether or not Iran has the means to deliver an atomic bomb to a target. Right now, it has the capability of hitting Israel. It also claims, with some back up, that it can reach Western Europe. As for the bomb itself, estimates go from six months to three years. This morning the expert said by the end of this year. If the tour through Central America is a clue…what is Ahmadinejad looking for?

Mutually assured destruction (MAD) is not an assumption on which you can base foreign policy decisions when dealing with a madman. He and his cohorts view the world through a distorted lens of religion and martyrdom. Life is expendable to these folks. They don’t care if they are destroyed. In their eyes, damage done to their enemy is worth the effort in the bigger picture of the struggle of civilizations. The goal is to destroy Israel. And if they bet that the United States is a paper tiger who will not respond, then we have problems. Given how Obama has treated the Iran with kid gloves since coming to office, that is not such a risky bet.

But there is an insurance policy the Iranians can buy. Put a nuclear armed missile at America’s back door. Yes, President Obama, you may retaliate if we hit Israel, but what city of yours is expendable? Miami? Tampa? Houston? Iran's armed missile doesn’t have to be spot on accurate…it just has to be close. And it is 18 minutes away if not closer.

That’s what’s at stake. So Mr. Stephanopoulos, while you and your fellow Obama sycophants are worried about Romney and birth control, Ahmadinejad is laughing out of both sides of his mouth at silly Americans like you.

The most important issue in the election, more than the economy, more than gay marriage, more than Obamacare, more than birth control….is which person running for office right now, including Barack Obama, is up to the task of handling Iran. Our lives may depend on it.

Iowa Be Damned; Rommey's Math Doesn't Compute

I am writing this on Tuesday morning of the Iowa caucuses. Nobody knows who the winner is going to be. Over the course of the Iowa campaign to win a very strange yet quaint election process, we have seen candidates rise and fall. First there was the Republican Michele ma belle, then Rick Perry, then Herman Cain, then Newt Gingrich, and finally Rick Santorum cresting today…the day of the event. Santorum may be the last non-Romney standing…the question is for how long.

And that should be a concern for Romney and his constant 25%. It is interesting listening to the press commentary, the vast majority of which is centered on how Republicans will coalesce around Romney in the end. I don’t know what math class they took in school, but obviously not the same one I did. Romney cannot win the nomination with 25% of the vote. This guy has 75% of the Republican party working against him. I think everyone can agree that none of the non-Romney candidates can win the general election. So where will their support fall as that 75% looks for a place to land?

Start with Ron Paul who has a firm 20% of the vote and an enthusiastic following. His voters are committed. I can assure they will not line up behind Romney. Then there are the evangelicals. They are the most important of the group because they have to be enthusiastic about a candidate and be willing to show up in November to vote…enthusiastically. They have bounced around from Bachmann to Cain to Gingrich and right now have roosted with Santorum, and conservative Catholic. These folks don’t want Romney. Catholicism is a stretch for some of these folks, and Mormonism is a bridge too far. The Republicans cannot afford to alienate these folks. They need to show up in November in big numbers. Then there are the Tea Party folks. Romneycare in Massachusetts may be a wall too big to hurdle for these folks. They don’t trust him.

There is one other factor that plays into Mitt’s 25% solution. Many of the states this year have forsaken winner take all primaries. That means that Romney may win a state, but will show up at the convention with maybe 30% of the delegates from that state at best.

So, prior to knowing who wins the Iowa caucuses, let’s do some speculation. Let’s say there is essentially a three way tie tonight between Romney, Santorum, and Paul. On to New Hampshire, which everyone agrees will be won by Romney. Then there is South Carolina…to Santorum or Gingrich. Then Florida…also to non-Romney Santorum and or Gingrich. And it goes on and on like this through super Tuesday in March. Where does Romney come up with more than 25% of the delegates that equals his 25% of Republican support?

I like Mitt Romney. I think he would make a fine candidate against Obama. But I am not excited about him. There is no passion. And after the debacle with McCain, I believe the Republican Party will not nominate another milk toast candidate. It won’t be enough to simply vote against Obama. Republicans want, and deserve, someone they can vote for. They need that type of candidate to win.

Hello Chris Christie.