Tweet of the day
Massive Lithium Mine Could Meet All US Demand
Researchers have stumbled on a deposit of lithium that in a best-case scenario could supply 700 years worth of current consumption. Lithium is an import component of modern rechargeable batteries. The U.S. currently imports more than 80% of what it uses.
The location in southwest Wyoming is synergistic in several ways: it is relatively close to a large supply of soda ash, which is needed to recover the lithium; it is already at high pressure and temperature, which aids the recovery process; treated water from the recovery process could benefit local communities, agriculture and industry.
Obama knows nothing about Obamacare
Obama’s “I know nothing” about the scandals in his administration might also apply to ObamaCare.
Investors Business Daily wonders “Is Obama just dangerously misinformed about ObamaCare? Or is he willfully misleading the country?”
- The Congressional Budget Office expects 7 million workers — and possibly as many as 20 million — will lose their employer coverage because of ObamaCare.
- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said millions of seniors will get dumped from their private Medicare Advantage plans by 2017 thanks to sharp payment cuts required by the law.
- small businesses now providing coverage face huge rate hikes thanks to ObamaCare’s many market regulations and benefit mandates.
- ObamaCare’s high-risk pools have been a disaster, attracting a third as many people as predicted while costing far more than the administration budgeted.
- Obama’s own health care number crunchers say ObamaCare will force national health spending up 7.4% in 2014, and add billions in costs over the next decade. The Congressional Budget Office says it will add massively to federal health spending.
Obama: I Know Nothing
Great front page story at the Boston Herald:
Obama likes to pretend he is an outsider, that he bears no responsibility for what happens in the government:
- The IRS corrupt, politically motivated investigations of conservative groups
- The seizure of Associated Press phone records
- The orders to stand down and not even try to help the Benghazi heroes
- The stonewalling on the Benghazi coverup
Anything bad, Obama accepts none of the blame; anything good even if it is completely outside government, Obama tries to take credit.
D.C. turns on Obama
“Reporters are tripping over themselves to condemn lies, bullying and shadiness in the Obama administration,” reports Politico.
Obama’s aloof mien and holier-than-thou rhetoric have left him with little reservoir of good will, even among Democrats. And the press, after years of being accused of being soft on Obama while being berated by West Wing aides on matters big and small, now has every incentive to be as ruthless as can be.
This White House’s instinctive petulance, arrogance and defensiveness have all worked to isolate Obama at a time when he most needs a support system. “It feel like they don’t know what they’re here to do,” a former senior Obama administration official said. “When there’s no narrative, stuff like this consumes you.”
Gee, what a shame.
Steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves
A surge in North American oil production, will change the US from the world’s leading importer of oil to a net exporter, says the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Collapse of a mindset
“The twilight of entitlement” is Robert Samuelson’s interesting piece about the collapse of an entitlement mindset. He suggests that we are seeing the demise of a set of expectations about our country:
We had a grand vision. We didn’t merely expect things to get better. We expected all social problems to be solved. We expected business cycles, economic insecurity, poverty, and racism to end. We expected almost limitless personal freedom and self-fulfillment.
Now he says, “65 percent of respondents said today’s middle class has less job and financial security than their parents’ generation. … Poverty is stubborn. Many schools seem inadequate.”
When even a liberal columnist finally understands that the entitlement society must eventually end, there is reason to believe that politicians will eventually realize the same. What cannot continue forever must eventually stop.
