I just can’t seem to escape the job while I’m on vacation.
A listener pointed out that a recent article on The Atlantic mentioned me by name. It’s an article full of tribalism and confirmation bias that laments the tribalism and confirmation bias of those who disagree with Obama.
Yes, that’s St Joseph County Councilman Mark Telloyan.
Why not, it’s Friday, I’ll respond.
So much straw man fallacy in this piece mixed with ignorance of the current economy, and what happened in Elkhart. It’s an article about confirmation bias without acknowledging both sides are infected by it. I won’t bother you with all of the facts, but stick to the general paragraph where my name came up and Elkhart, IN.
1) The economy isn’t good. There aren’t many financial and economic experts that think it is. Is it better than 8 years ago? Yes. It got to this point slower than at any other point in history, and is currently anemic at best. The main reason for such a slow recovery is that the government didn’t get out of our way.
2) American’s ignorance of economics, taxes and finances continues to be staggering. Fundamentally ignorant media writing inaccurate articles about it is perpetuating the problem. It’s one of the reasons I help produce Wise Money Radio.
3) You can’t ignore the vast changes in local governments swinging to business and tax friendly officials that has happened in the past 8 years. Those changes are far more responsible for positive economic improvements than the federal government. The Democrats have lost 1030 seats since Obama became president. That doesn’t happen if the President’s policies are successful. The American people like Obama personally, but hate his policies.
4) As for Elkhart, lots of people who have never heard of Elkhart, want to credit Obama for what happened here. Big problem with that assertion … it’s nonsense. Nearly every local leader, and the RV industry (which is essentially solely responsible for the positive turnaround) say Obama’s policies had nothing to do with it.
Obama’s legacy in Elkhart is giving tens of millions of dollars in government grants for green jobs, and electric car manufacturing that never materialized. None of those projects benefitted Elkhart, and they cost the taxpayer millions.
Ball State economist Michael Hicks has also pointed out that Obama was trying to force Elkhart’s economy away from manufacturing even as it was becoming more dependent upon it, and manufacturing is exactly why Elkhart is doing well now. The pro-manufacturing candidate just won the presidency.
The RV industry also sells a ton of product in Canada. Obama doesn’t get credit for Canadians buying RVs.
I should also point out Republican led Elkhart County is where most of this progress is happening, not in Democrat controlled Elkhart city. The recent defeat of the former Democratic mayor illustrates this point.
Darth Moore in his Pri Fighter
Furthermore, Elkhart is well aware they are in another RV bubble, and that it will burst. They are trying to diversify economically because the progress made these past few years is too volatile.
5) The left and the right keep fighting over vacation time. Did my listener say they approved of Bush‘s ‘vacation’ or was that just straw man? You do realize a lot of people who don’t like Obama weren’t thrilled with Bush either right? If not, it’s because you are a tribalist, and assume everyone else is a tribalist also. This notion that if you don’t like Obama, you must have loved Bush is nonsense. Tribalism is killing this country.
Considering Trump has said he won’t live at the White House full-time, I can’t wait to see the ‘vacation’ trackers the liberal media will incessantly report on.
It’s more about dollars than time off. Fact is, Obama has spent over $90 million on vacations alone. It’s an unprecedented amount. Many taxpayers see this as a waste of money. Especially considering funding and budgetary issues. They aren’t wrong, but $90 million is a small drop in the bucket. It just illustrates a cavalier attitude, and lack of good stewardship of our money.
Bush spent over 500 days at his homes mostly working, not galavanting around exclusive resorts, and shopping at great taxpayer expense. If you are away from DC, and not on an official diplomatic trip, people log it as a vacation when if frequently isn’t. It’s media spin, pure and simple.
No president gets to unplug from the job on any trip. Criticism of Bush’s time at home as ‘vacation’ was utterly ridiculous and intellectually dishonest. Criticism of Obama time away from DC tends to be as well. It’s the fashion in which he does it, and the refusal to interrupt his vacations that irks people.
6) Every president should attend the annual Army/Navy game. It should be tradition in my opinion. Bringing up H. W. Bush to take a dig at someone is pretty petty confirmation bias itself. Did my listener say that they liked Bush Sr.’s decision to not attend the game, or did the author of this article just decide they wanted another man made of straw?
7) Yes Obama started wearing the flag pin after taking considerable public shaming as a result of him not wearing one. Let’s not pretend this was anything other than it was … a calculated political move because Obama was taking a likability hit for not wearing one. Criticism of Obama refusing to wear the pin doesn’t evaporate because he was pressured by the public into wearing one.
I also don’t think it should be an issue. Certainly not the issue many have made it out to be. It’s just a pin, and many believe it violates the Flag Code. As I’ve said before, if I were running for office I’d likely wear a Gadsden Flag pin instead.
8) The sheer amount of winning Trump is doing right now on economic issues is unprecedented. Trump has had a hand in Carrier, Boeing, Lockheed, Ford, GM, Sprint, OneWeb, and SoftBank just to name a few. And yes, Trump’s meeting with SoftBank directly affected the Sprint and OneWeb deals according to those two companies. Liberals are spinning that story to claim Trump is lying.
I can not remember the last time a president-elect has put in this much effort, been this involved, and had this much impact. The fact is that Trump is showing his supporters that he’s here to work. Not throw celebrity parties every Thursday at the White House.
What’s more, that 14.4 million increase in jobs is measured against when the job market hit rock bottom in February 2010. If you compare the current number of jobs to the previous jobs peak in January 2008 — which is how job growth is normally measured — the number of private-sector jobs has increased just 5.6 million.
Kuntzman says the reverential tradition “when fans are asked to rise, remove their caps and place them over their hearts” is a “Mussolini-esque introduction of the song.”
A Connecticut father and son are headed for a court showdown with the Federal Aviation Administration over whether the agency can force them to disclose information about drones shown in two YouTube videos firing a gun and deploying a flame thrower in their backyard.
St. Joseph County Judge candidate Doug Bernacchi was asked to leave the St. Joseph County 4-H Fair over the weekend after an allegedly heated argument, the South Bend Tribune reported, but he says that’s not what happened.
Apple is currently working on new technology that would disable your phone’s photo and video capabilities where it is illegal, according to a newly approved patent filing.
After a walk-out by a member who called the proceedings a “witch hunt,” the Allen County Ethics Commission on Monday ruled that probable cause exists to believe County Councilman Paul Moss was guilty of a conflict of interest when he telephoned Sheriff Ken Fries following a June traffic stop.
During a campaign speech in Definance, Ohio, last Thursday, Romney did misstate Jeep’s plans, claiming Chrysler was considering moving “all” Jeep production to China:
“I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state Jeep — now owned by the Italians — is thinking of moving all production to China[.]”
Romney was apparently responding to a confusing statement by Mike Manley, president and CEO of the Jeep brand early last week:
Fiat SpA (F), majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, plans to return Jeep output to China and may eventually make all of its models in that country, according to the head of both automakers’ operations in the region.
Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation. A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.
oming hot on the heels of speculation that some Jeep production may be moved to China comes a bombshell from a Bloomberg report. Fiat is now considering moving Chrysler and Jeep production to Italy.
According to the piece, “To counter the severe slump in European sales, (Fiat CEO Sergio) Marchionne is considering building Chrysler models in Italy, including Jeeps, for export to North America. The Italian government is evaluating tax rebates on export goods to help Fiat. Marchionne may announce details of his plan as soon as Oct. 30, the people said.”
So, let’s be real clear here, we are talking about vehicles that will be built in Italy and exported to America. The evidence is clear that Fiat is looking at ways to move production of vehicles from the US to elsewhere, whether it be China or Italy, costing American jobs. This is becoming indisputable, despite outcries from certain parties to the contrary.
The misery of superstorm Sandy’s devastation grew on Tuesday as millions along the US East Coast faced life without power or mass transit for days, and huge swaths of New York City remained eerily quiet. The US death toll climbed to 39, many of the victims killed by falling trees, and rescue work continued.
The way Victor Whitlock sees it, he’s the last holdout against an unconstitutional bureaucratic grab for still more money, land and control.
To those same officials, however, he’s flouting established law and endangering public health simply to make a point even Whitlock admits will probably be futile.
A traditionally sleepy race for Indiana’s top elected school position has turned into a referendum on education policies that are endorsed by conservatives across the country
Public schools in Indiana have added teachers and administrators much faster than they’ve added students in the past two decades, according to a new report from The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.
“Indiana has had a more extreme trend relative the national average in terms of becoming more top heavy,” says the report’s author, Ben Scafidi, a professor of economics at Georgia College. “Administrators increased at five times the rate of students and three times the rate of teachers.”
Disney (DIS) is buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion, adding the legendary Star Wars
franchise to the entertainment giant’s stable of characters. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Founder George Lucas.
The buyout ranks among one of the largest ever made by Disney. It’s fourth behind the $19.7 billion, $7.6 billion and $5.2 billion buyouts of Capital Cities/ABC in 1995, Pixar in 2006 and Fox Family in 2001, respectively, says S&P Capital IQ. It tops the $3.96 billion Disney paid for Marvel in August 2009.
In his Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “The imaginary teacher shortage,” University of Arkansas professor Jay Greene points out that decades of hiring increases have not boosted academic outcomes.
Olson, Kyle”This strategy of just simply putting more people into the school is not working, and that’s why this idea of just hiring more people or reducing class sizes and those sorts of things are not going to work — because that’s been done for the last several decades and nothing has changed,” comments Kyle Olson of the Education Action Group Foundation.
In US, 15% of Registered Voters Have Already Cast Ballots, and Romney Is Winning
In U.S., 15% of Registered Voters Have Already Cast Ballots
Latest Rasmussen Polls Project Romney To Win 279+ Electoral Votes
According to the latest Rasmussen state polls, Mitt Romney is in position to win the presidency; he should win at least 279 electoral votes. Romney leads in Florida, Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and New Hampshire; Obama leads in Nevada.
