Steve Jobs The True Capitalist, McChrystal Admits We Weren't Ready for the War on Terror, and Pointing Out Blatant Hypocrisy

Got a blog post on the American Thinker today entitled "Steve Jobs- A True Capitalist."  An excerpt:

Despite a lack of charitable giving, Jobs has done much more by selling a product that enriches consumers' lives.  While the "Great Society" welfare programs have left inner cities a decaying corpse of what they used to be, Jobs gave electronics at an inexpensive price to those who still dwell in such living conditions.  Ipods are as cheap and prevalent as ever; there is no doubt that iPads and MacBooks will someday be the same.  While politicians never waste a minute to boast about welfare programs that have failed to deliver prosperity after nearly four decades, Jobs brought gadgets of wonder to the masses in a matter of years.  He was not bound by the moral justifications of using other people's money to buy votes but to invent and create for the sake of profiting.  Improving living standards in society was only a secondary effect to Jobs' visionary business model.

The world may have lost a great mind, but it can still learn a great lesson from the legacy of Steve Jobs.

Jobs was a great man who enriched all of our lives so it only makes sense that Obama and crew want to get their grubby little mitts on everything Jobs worked for.  Via LRC Blog:

Writes Stephen Gross:

"It occurred to me that the Jobs estate will probably face about $2 billion in estate taxes. That is approximately what the Federal Government spends every hour. So he worked hard for a lifetime and now a third of his wealth will be squandered in one hour."

I hope the food stamps and drone strikes are worth it.  Since I am on the topic of jobs, the official numbers were released today which showed a bit of improvement.  Mish has the summary:

Here is an overview of September Jobs Report, today's release.

• US Payrolls +103,000
• 45,000 Striking Workers Return
• Net effect is +58,000 jobs
• Of the 103,000 jobs added, 444,000 of them were part-time jobs
• Thus, 341,000 full-time jobs vanished this past month, replaced by part-time workers
• US Unemployment Rate Flat at 9.1%
• Participation Rate +.2 to 64.2%
• Actual number of Employed (by Household Survey) rose by 398,000
• Unemployment rose by 25,000
• Those not in the labor force dropped by 224,000
• Civilian population rose by 200,000,
• Civilian Labor Force rose by 423,000
• Average Weekly Workweek rose .1 hours to 34.3 hours
• Average Private Hourly Earnings rose 3 Cents 10 $19.52
• Government employment decreased by 34,000

I highlighted the best part.  Many are reasoning that a return of 45,000 Verizon workers contributed to the better-than-expected results which makes sense but there are other factors at work showing an improving economy as I pointed out yesterday.

While the jobs report is a bit of good news (for the short while anyway) we have party pooper ex commander Stanly McChrystal saying what most who hold an ounce of common sense about the way the government operates have already known.  Via HuffingtonPost:

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. began the war in Afghanistan with a "frighteningly simplistic" view of the country, and even 10 years later lacks knowledge that could help bring the conflict to a successful end, a former top commander said Thursday.
Retired Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal said in remarks at the Council on Foreign Relations that the U.S. and its NATO allies are only "a little better than" 50 percent of the way to reaching their war goals.
Of the remaining tasks to be accomplished, he said the most difficult may be creating a legitimate government that ordinary Afghans can believe in and that can serve as a counterweight to the Taliban.

Hmmm, an industrialized country's military not understanding a tribal and underdeveloped society.....yeah no surprise there.  That doesn't mean we shouldn't spend another trillion dollars and 10 years fighting over there of course.  If you want to see one of the better anti-war, pro-Ron Paul videos out there, watch the great new Revolution Super PAC ad:

I forgot to mention this yesterday, but check out this hardly reported but very important revelation Reuters reported on:

(Reuters) - American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.

Now of course this is a horrible thing and should be talked about more, but Anthony Gregory does a fantastic job commenting on it today in his LRC column:

How fitting that the presidency that Tea Partiers accused of planning to convene death panels to handle health care rationing has openly admitted to having created such a panel whose declared purpose is not simply to withhold socialized medical resources, but to direct the cold-blooded murder of citizens who are sufficiently bothersome enemies of the regime. Yet in a majestic irony, many of the conservatives who feared Obama’s life-and-death bureaucracies are cheering on his most explicit and frightening seizure of dictatorial power in all his presidency, and perhaps one of the greatest of all presidential power grabs in the sweep of U.S. history.

Looks like we have another death panel Paul Krugman will approve of.  Of course if this were Bush, the left would be having a field day with this one but we have Democrat and Nobel Peace prize laureate in office really showing the world how much we value freedom.  Gregory's article is highly recommended.  I will end with this hilarious image that sums up the Occupy Wall Street movement perfectly:

Like the tea party, it's a damn shame that the movement had to be hijacked by one of main political parties.  What could have been a decent referendum on the government's extra cozy relationship with the big banks has quickly turned into another punching bag for the main stream media.  Instead of MSNBC throwing rocks it's Fox News.

Update- Hilarious via Congressional Budget Office:

As you requested, CBO and the staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) have
estimated the budget impact of S. 1660, the American Jobs Act of 2011, as introduced in
the Senate on October 5, 2011. CBO and JCT estimate that, in total, enacting S. 1660
would decrease deficits by about $6 billion over the 2012-2021 period (see enclosed table).
That estimated deficit reduction of $6 billion over the coming decade is the net effect of
$447 billion in additional spending and tax cuts in titles II through III and $453 billion in
additional tax revenue from the surtax specified in title IV.
S. 1660 is similar to S. 1549, the American Jobs Act of 2011, as introduced in the Senate on
September 13, 2011. Provisions in title I, II, and III related to both federal revenues and
spending are identical for the two bills. The only difference between the bills is that S. 1660
replaces the provisions in title IV (Offsets) of S. 1549 with a surtax of 5.6 percent, starting
in 2013, on a taxpayer’s modified adjusted gross income in excess of $1 million (or
$500,000 in the case of a married individual filing a separate return), indexed for inflation.
JCT estimates that title IV of S. 1660 would increase revenues by $453 billion over the
2012-2021 period, whereas title IV of S. 1549 would increase revenues by $450 billion
over that period.

But wait, here is the kicker:

In yet more other words, the great populist gimmick that is the Buffett Tax will have the great benefit of generating, between 2011 and 2021 enough money to plug a debt hole, at the rate America currently spends money, of 4 months.