ECOMINOES Radio: Friday, December 7 From 3-5 PM ET on KineticHifi

No guest on today's episode of ECOMINOES Radio (Friday, December 7 at 3-5 PM ET on KineticHifi - full archives here). Despite the absence of a great guest (which we almost always have), Eric and I will have plenty of entertaining, informative material to share with you. Topics covered will include recent skyrocketing unemployment, the fiscal cliff, a possible Judge Andrew Napolitano presidential run in 2016, and much more. I'll also give you a little taste of an article I'm working on about Nikki Haley, South Carolina's out-of-control crony capitalist governor, who enjoys favorable national media attention (because she's a woman minority Republican) despite having an affinity for handing her cronies key appointments in the state government and suing bloggers who write unflattering stories about her. (Bring it on. Suing me would increase traffic to my site 5-fold and make me a martyr.) Anyway, don't miss this show! 3-5 PM ET on KineticHifi.

Gallup: Unemployment Skyrockets After Election

Contradicting recent "rosy" monthy unemployment reports issued from the government, Gallup has found that the U-3 unemployment rate skyrocketed in November to 8.3%, and the far more important U-6 unemployment rate, which includes underemployed and "marginally attached" workers, ballooned to 17.2% last month. According to Gallup, November saw the most rapid increase in both the U-3 and U-6 rates since the recession officially "ended" in June 2009. Indeed, there were quite a few mass layoffs last month, and, even though I believe that many of these layoffs would have occurred even if Romney had been elected president (due to the high probability of recession around the corner), it's clear that Obama's reelection--and certainty that Obamacare will be implemented--has had a negative impact on employment.

PAC Drafting Judge Napolitano For 2016 Presidential Run

Author's note: The big news from my home state of South Carolina is that Senator Jim DeMint is resigning from the senate to head the Heritage Foundation. (Eric and I will get Heritage's Emily Goff's input on this on ECOMINOES Radio on Friday, December 14. We had Emily on a previous show. Full archives here.) Unfortunately, Governor Haley, who has a reputation for cronyism, gets to name DeMint's successor. I think Lieutenant Governor Glenn McConnell would make a great senator, but we'll see if Haley instead names a crony.

In a similar story, Revolution PAC is forming a committee to draft Judge Andrew Napolitano to run for president in 2016 as a Republican. From Economic Policy Journal, the brainchild economics and politics blogger Robert Wenzel, who Eric and I also interviewed on a previous episode of ECOMINOES Radio:

Next week, Revolution PAC will announce the formation of a committee to draft Judge Andrew Napolitano—the person Ron Paul said he would choose as his running mate—to pick up Ron Paul’s mantle and run as a Republican in 2016 for President, reports Lawrence Hunter at Forbes.

 The Committee will launch its Draft-The-Judge Campaign with a nation-wide petition drive gathering signatures to demonstrate a groundswell of support for Judge Napolitano’s candidacy, says Hunter.

Hunter goes on to say:

No one affiliated with Revolution PAC has discussed this matter with the Judge. He has not authorized the effort or even hinted that he might be interested in running for president. 

Successful presidential drafts are rare but not unheard of.  The two most successful modern efforts to draft candidates for the presidency both occurred in the 1952 campaign.  There had been an effort within both political parties to draft five-star general Dwight D. Eisenhower to run as a candidate for President as early as 1948 and then again in 1951. Eisenhower studiously ignored both efforts.  He was, however, finally compelled to pay attention after Henry Cabot Lodge entered him in the 1952 New Hampshire Republican primary without the general’s authorization.  Eisenhower won the entire slate of Republican delegates in the New Hampshire primary without even campaigning.  After the votes were in, Eisenhower told a reporter, “Any American who would have that many other Americans pay him that compliment would be proud or he would not be an American.”

Hunter than points to my interview with the Judge, where I asked him about running for president:

 ...he recently said “probably not” when asked if he would run.  He may say no or try to ignore the effort to draft him, as Eisenhower did.  That will not deter Revolution PAC from continuing with its campaign to draft the Judge until it has generated such popular support for a Napolitano candidacy that the Judge, like the General before him, will feel compelled to answer the people’s call to duty.

A Judge Napolitano-Tom Woods ticket or a Judge Napolitano-Walter Block ticket would advance the libertarian cause by leaps and bounds. Let's hope it happens.

Judge Napolitano, who calls it like it is, recently hammered "fiscally conservative" Republicans for caving on taxes in the fiscal cliff negotiations:

The Republicans in the House are largely more conservative than at any time since Wilson left office. One would expect them to understand the intent of the voters who sent them there and thus say no to more taxes, no to more spending and no to more borrowing. Instead we have Republican leadership in the House that actually proposed raising more revenue by eliminating deductions on income taxes. They somehow claim that they are being faithful to their stated mission of fiscal conservatism by making you pay more money but at the present tax rates. They, too, have failed economics 101.

Any significant movement of wealth from taxpayers to tax consumers will not enhance prosperity; it will crush it, and it will breed dependence on a government that is fiscally out of control.

Like I said before, running as a Libertarian is pointless; the way to bring change to Washington (and the country) is to follow Ron Paul's model and change the Republican Party from within. A Napolitano candidacy would be a large step in the right direction.

California Schoolchildren Learn To "Tax The Rich" With Ed Asner

Courtesy of the California Federation of Teachers, schoolchildren of the Golden State are learning to "tax the rich" from an animated propaganda film narrated by Ed Asner. (The cutesy film "wasn't created for children", wink, wink.)

From the YouTube description:

Tax the rich: An animated fairy tale, is narrated by Ed Asner, with animation by Mike Konopacki. Written and directed by Fred Glass for the California Federation of Teachers. An 8 minute video about how we arrived at this moment of poorly funded public services and widening economic inequality. Things go downhill in a happy and prosperous land after the rich decide they don’t want to pay taxes anymore. They tell the people that there is no alternative, but the people aren’t so sure. This land bears a startling resemblance to our land.

America: Even In A Bad Economy, You Have To Spend To Earn!!!

Despite the economic gloom and doom I write about daily, even I find myself scratching my head over how tight businesses are with their money these days. Case in point: I've been looking for a part-time job to supplement my meager "new normal" income, and I recently found a well-to-do company that wanted to pay me minimum wage to find leads for them. Given that 1 new client generates several thousands of dollars for this business and they disclosed that they average 1 new client for every 100 good leads, I proposed a flat fee per 100 leads. But they wouldn't go for it. They insisted on paying minimum wage despite having told me they've had trouble finding someone to find leads for them!

My recent experience is a microcosm of American business at large. Companies are terrified to spend money. One could make the case that this is understandable given the uncertainty of the times, the constant deluge of bad economic data, and the advent of Obamacare. But, even in this economy, the fundamental laws of capitalism apply: you have to spend money to make money. Despite the growing influence of central planning, this is still a capitalist nation. And I have news: capital is money. Capitalism, by definition, is risking money in the expectation of reward. You aren't going to make any money if you never take risks, no matter how modest, as in the aforementioned scenario. In fact, if you don't risk money, you lose it. And increasingly so: the Fed claims inflation has been running around 3% this year. It's in fact been running around 8%. In other words, your business's stockpile of cash is losing 8% annually. As a business owner, do you think you could get a better return on your money than -8%? If not, you shouldn't be in business.

U.S. companies are currently hoarding $5 trillion. FIVE TRILLION. That's more than the GDP on Germany. And that money is just sitting there rapidly losing value. If the stewards of this cash had any sense, they'd put it to use. But no. American business owners and corporate execs are apparently satisfied with their -8% return. This is the America we now live in!

Hey, American business: grow a pair! If you agree with my forecast for a double-dip recession regardless of the outcome of the fiscal cliff negotiations, then take a cue from hedge funds and short stocks like crazy. Or buy up commodities. Gold and grain would be a good idea. But just don't sit on your cash while it burns. And certainly don't be afraid to pay someone more than minimum wage for cashable leads. That's just stupid.

Boehner Removing Fiscal Conservatives From Committees

As expected, the Republican establishment is resisting the call to adopt true fiscal conservatism despite having recently shown some backbone in the fiscal cliff negotiations. Perhaps planning to cave on taxes after all, Speaker Boehner is now removing fiscal conservatives from committees as punishment for not voting in lockstep for big Republican spending bills. According to FreedomWorks:

In the final days before the start of the new Congress, House Speaker John Boehner and the Republican establishment are quietly purging strong fiscal conservatives from prominent budget and finance committees. 

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who has a 100 percent lifetime rating with FreedomWorks, has been removed from the House Budget Committee.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, who has a 96 percent lifetime rating with FreedomWorks, has been removed from the House Budget Committee.

Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona, who has a 96 percent lifetime rating with FreedomWorks, has been removed from the House Financial Services Committee.

Sources tell FreedomWorks that these fiscal conservatives were removed from their committees because their votes were not in lockstep with House leadership. Reps. Amash, Huelskamp, and Schweikert correctly voted against a handful of House leadership supported big spending bills: 

Reps. Amash and Huelskamp voted against the House leadership supported Continuing Resolution (H.J. Res. 48) that would have continued our unsustainable levels of deficit spending without the transparency of the open budget process.

Reps. Amash, Huelskamp, and Schweikert voted against the House leadership supported Continuing Resolution (H.R. 2608) that would have funded the government without any spending cuts.

Reps. Amash, Huelskamp, and Schweikert voted against Speaker Boehner’s Budget Control Act (S. 365) which created the failed Super Committee, and allowed President Obama to raise the debt ceiling to over $16 trillion and did not cut, cap, or balance federal spending. 

Reps. Amash and Huelskamp voted against the House leadership supported House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget (H.Con.Res.112) citing that it did not cut enough spending. While a step in the right direction, it would not balance the budget until at least 2040 – far too slowly given the massive size of our nation’s debt. They opted to support the Republican Study Committee’s more conservative budget instead, H.Amdt. 1003.

Call Speaker Boehner and tell him to restore these genuine fiscal conservatives to their respective committees.

[Click here to see a PDF version of this report.]

And remember, the optimal outcome for the fiscal cliff negotiations would be for no deal to be reached and the automatic cuts to be enacted. Republicans should stand up for fiscal conservatism and hold their ground on taxes, even if it results in pain in the short-term.

Manufacturing ISM Latest Indicator Forecasting Recession

Yet more evidence that we face recession regardless of the outcome of the "fiscal cliff" negotiations. November's manufacturing ISM printed at its lowest level since July 2009, the month after the Great Recession officially "ended". This is the 2nd indicator that has recently printed its lowest level since July 2009, and 1 of many recent indicators that fortifies my argument that, if no debt deal is reached, we nevertheless face a brief, mild recession to begin around the new year.

The employment sub-index of the manufacturing ISM also printed at its lowest level since the Great Recession:

To review, the manufacturing ISM is only the latest indicator suggesting recession. In November, we saw the following:

Imports and exports falling to recessionary levels...

...the Chicago Fed National Activity Index showing recession...

...and the Big Kahuna, the Philly Fed's "indicator of indicators", showing that we face economic headwinds.

History Whitewashed: Spielberg's "Lincoln" Inaccurate

Loyola economics professor Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo, with whom Eric and I talked for over an hour in a previous episode of ECOMINOES Radio (full list of show archives here), has written much about Lincoln in addition to this economic writings. Through years of academic research, Dr. DiLorenzo has found that Lincoln wasn't the noble man history has portrayed him to be. According to the professor, Lincoln was actually a bigot and crony capitalist who was unpopular in both northern and southern states. (The history of the Pledge of Allegiance has been similarly whitewashed.)

Naturally, Dr. DiLorenzo has been highly critical of Hollywood's most recent whitewashed treatment of "Honest Abe". Speaking at a recent Campaign for Liberty event, he had this to say:

Part 1 of 3:

Part 2 of 3:

Part 3 of 3:

Expecting No Fiscal Cliff Deal, Gold Investors Hoarding

With Republicans recently growing a backbone and correctly bringing the fiscal cliff negotiations to an impasse, gold investors are buying up the shiny stuff in record quantities. If no debt deal is reached, the recession we face will be deeper, but that's okay. As I wrote yesterday, no deal is the optimal outcome. The debt can can't be kicked down the road any farther, and jumping on the wealth redistribution bandwagon would be the wrong move for the GOP.

Nevertheless, goldbugs' concern is impressive: According to the following chart, gold investors are much more concerned about no deal being reached than they were about the short-term inflationary effects of the Fed's monthly purchase of $40 billion in MBSes or Obama's reelection.