Print Sydney Williams Read Full Bio Thought of the Day: Twenty Four Hours Despite the media’s focus on Hurricane Sandy and the killings in Benghazi, the biggest threat facing the country is the fiscal one. Our federal debt now exceeds 100% of GDP. The magnitude of that debt limits our ability to invest in the future or to respond to the changing dynamics of the global environment. Our house must be reordered before we can assume additional responsibilities. 5 Nov 2012 Thought of the Day: Stark Choices Congress cannot change what IPAB dictates, except with an amended proposal that includes similar cost reductions, and Congress cannot do so without approval from both chambers, with a three-fifths super majority from the Senate. Consequently, what IPAB proposes will become law with no passage of a Bill from Congress and no signature from the President. It is an enormous amount of power to place in the hands of fifteen unelected appointees. To achieve its mandate, IPAB will have to control spending to doctors and hospitals. If that is not rationing, I don’t know what is, no matter what the document may say. 9 Oct 2012 Inflation: Reports of Its Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated There are many ways to destroy wealth, but inflation can do so with insidious ease. It is a tax that creeps up unannounced and surreptitiously makes itself felt. What is important to middle class and poorer people is not what government claims inflation to be, but what it actually costs to buy a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and a pound of chopped beef, and what it costs to fill the car with gas and to heat one’s home. 3 Oct 2012 Early Voting: A Game Changer? Over the past two hundred-plus years of our country, many changes have been made, including the concept of the secret ballot, which did not become universal until 1892. Early voting may not be a “game changer,” but it is sure to have unanticipated consequences, and I suspect that even more changes will come. But will they cause voters to be better informed as to their choices? Will these changes cause candidates to be more open and honest? I regretfully think not. 1 Oct 2012 Thought of the Day: Who Is Mitt Romney? His history is not shadowy like Mr. Obama’s. He did not write his own autobiography before he was thirty, as did Mr. Obama, so as to control the search into his background. Mr. Romney is not only a capable entrepreneur, he is a talented administrator. As governor, he showed he could work across the aisle. He has successfully tackled big problems, but most important, in my mind, he has combined decency and compassion with competency, in both his personal life and in his professional careers. 21 Sep 2012 Thought of the Day: Intentional and Unintentional Consequences The involvement of government in markets, whether it is producing Chevy Volts that only the wealthy can afford (at $39,000, the Volt is priced 30% above the average price of a new car) or the crony capitalism that went into a taxpayer investment in Solyndra solar panels, too often government involvement provides the wrong incentives. This is not to say that regulation is always bad, or that a wild-west atmosphere should drive capital markets. 13 Aug 2012 Thought of the Day: 'Godfather II' Redux The President knows that his only hope is to demean Mitt Romney by taking the campaign into the gutter, a place not unfamiliar to a man who spent years listening to the hate-filled sermons of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, reading “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky, and spending time with friends like Bill Ayers. 8 Aug 2012 Thought of the Day: Leftist Intolerance The issue is much larger than gay rights. The L.A. Times quoted the Reverend Sarah Halverson of Fairview Community Church who said she respects Cathy’s right to speak, but couldn’t help herself, so called his comments “hate” speech. Her words are endemic with what’s wrong with the Left – intolerant illiberalism in the name of fairness and political correctness. 6 Aug 2012 Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire It is fair to assume that without the Fed’s intervention, interest rates today would be higher, but again we cannot know by how much. But the Treasury Secretary is being deceptive when he tells us that our low interest costs are due to the demand and faith of investors. If only that were the case. When he blithely calls on Congress for more stimuli, he risks raising the costs substantially for future generations, in order to satisfy his one short term goal – the reelection of his boss. 5 Aug 2012 The Moral Case for Capitalism To equate “fairness” with redistribution, as the President does, is unfair if one believes success should be rewarded, whether it is a student in class, a hedge fund manager, an Olympian in competition, or a candidate in a Presidential race. The decline in poverty over the past two hundred years – while not by any means complete – is the living manifestation of the virtues of capitalism and why its cessation would doom millions. 31 Jul 2012 Previous 1 2 3 4 Next
Thought of the Day: Twenty Four Hours Despite the media’s focus on Hurricane Sandy and the killings in Benghazi, the biggest threat facing the country is the fiscal one. Our federal debt now exceeds 100% of GDP. The magnitude of that debt limits our ability to invest in the future or to respond to the changing dynamics of the global environment. Our house must be reordered before we can assume additional responsibilities. 5 Nov 2012
Thought of the Day: Stark Choices Congress cannot change what IPAB dictates, except with an amended proposal that includes similar cost reductions, and Congress cannot do so without approval from both chambers, with a three-fifths super majority from the Senate. Consequently, what IPAB proposes will become law with no passage of a Bill from Congress and no signature from the President. It is an enormous amount of power to place in the hands of fifteen unelected appointees. To achieve its mandate, IPAB will have to control spending to doctors and hospitals. If that is not rationing, I don’t know what is, no matter what the document may say. 9 Oct 2012
Inflation: Reports of Its Demise Are Greatly Exaggerated There are many ways to destroy wealth, but inflation can do so with insidious ease. It is a tax that creeps up unannounced and surreptitiously makes itself felt. What is important to middle class and poorer people is not what government claims inflation to be, but what it actually costs to buy a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs and a pound of chopped beef, and what it costs to fill the car with gas and to heat one’s home. 3 Oct 2012
Early Voting: A Game Changer? Over the past two hundred-plus years of our country, many changes have been made, including the concept of the secret ballot, which did not become universal until 1892. Early voting may not be a “game changer,” but it is sure to have unanticipated consequences, and I suspect that even more changes will come. But will they cause voters to be better informed as to their choices? Will these changes cause candidates to be more open and honest? I regretfully think not. 1 Oct 2012
Thought of the Day: Who Is Mitt Romney? His history is not shadowy like Mr. Obama’s. He did not write his own autobiography before he was thirty, as did Mr. Obama, so as to control the search into his background. Mr. Romney is not only a capable entrepreneur, he is a talented administrator. As governor, he showed he could work across the aisle. He has successfully tackled big problems, but most important, in my mind, he has combined decency and compassion with competency, in both his personal life and in his professional careers. 21 Sep 2012
Thought of the Day: Intentional and Unintentional Consequences The involvement of government in markets, whether it is producing Chevy Volts that only the wealthy can afford (at $39,000, the Volt is priced 30% above the average price of a new car) or the crony capitalism that went into a taxpayer investment in Solyndra solar panels, too often government involvement provides the wrong incentives. This is not to say that regulation is always bad, or that a wild-west atmosphere should drive capital markets. 13 Aug 2012
Thought of the Day: 'Godfather II' Redux The President knows that his only hope is to demean Mitt Romney by taking the campaign into the gutter, a place not unfamiliar to a man who spent years listening to the hate-filled sermons of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, reading “Rules for Radicals” by Saul Alinsky, and spending time with friends like Bill Ayers. 8 Aug 2012
Thought of the Day: Leftist Intolerance The issue is much larger than gay rights. The L.A. Times quoted the Reverend Sarah Halverson of Fairview Community Church who said she respects Cathy’s right to speak, but couldn’t help herself, so called his comments “hate” speech. Her words are endemic with what’s wrong with the Left – intolerant illiberalism in the name of fairness and political correctness. 6 Aug 2012
Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire It is fair to assume that without the Fed’s intervention, interest rates today would be higher, but again we cannot know by how much. But the Treasury Secretary is being deceptive when he tells us that our low interest costs are due to the demand and faith of investors. If only that were the case. When he blithely calls on Congress for more stimuli, he risks raising the costs substantially for future generations, in order to satisfy his one short term goal – the reelection of his boss. 5 Aug 2012
The Moral Case for Capitalism To equate “fairness” with redistribution, as the President does, is unfair if one believes success should be rewarded, whether it is a student in class, a hedge fund manager, an Olympian in competition, or a candidate in a Presidential race. The decline in poverty over the past two hundred years – while not by any means complete – is the living manifestation of the virtues of capitalism and why its cessation would doom millions. 31 Jul 2012
Sources challenge White House claim of all-hands-on-deck pursuit of Benghazi suspects21 May 2013, 2:32 PM PDT
Sources challenge White House claim of all-hands-on-deck pursuit of Benghazi suspects21 May 2013, 2:32 PM PDT