I am in the middle of reading Dick Morris and Eileen McGann's new book Revolt!: How to Defeat Obama and Repeal His Socialist Programs. The book gives the authors' game plan for tackling Obamacare, the crippling of free speech on talk radio and the internet and how to stop cap and trade. As most of you probably know, Morris was Bill Clinton's political consultant for 20 years, and is now a commentator for Fox News.

The chapter that I found most helpful was entitled "How Obama has screwed up our economy" in which the authors discuss why tax hikes won't cut the deficit, and how tax cuts stimulate the economy. They give examples such as when Reagan agreed with a Democratic Congress to raise taxes in 1982. "The deal was that for each dollar in tax hikes, they would cut $3.00 in government spending. ...But although the taxes went up, the spending never came down. In fact it rose. From 1983 to 1988 federal outlays increased 808 billion to $1.1 trillion." The authors also point out that when Clinton cut the capital gains rate from 28% to 20%..."growth averaged 4.6% over the next three years--1.6% higher." Morris points out that part of the growth during the Clinton administration was due to this capital gains cut (along with a booming tech bubble and economy). Interesting stuff.

"Manning Up" or Wimping Out?

I have a review up at Pajama's Media on Kay Hymowitz's new book Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys:

Kay Hymowitz's new book wants the current generation of "child-men" to "man up." But maybe our society shouldn't have spent decades tearing them down.

You can read my review and comment here.

Thanks to all the readers who let me know about the WSJ article by Kay Hymowitz on her book Manning Up: How the Rise of Women Has Turned Men into Boys. The name of the article, "Where have the good men gone?" seems to indicate that there are no good men left, only boys who are confused Peter Pan wannabes living a freewheeling lifestyle much to the lament of women who need them to "man up" and serve their romantic and financial needs.

The video included to the side of the article shows the author talking to a WSJ reporter about the problem, never addressing the concerns of men, except to mention that they are confused about their roles in the new economy and society where they are seen as expendable family members. The article and interview seemed geared toward fixing the problem for women, not for men, who apparently have no voice in the matter. No wonder they turn to other more satisfying avenues such as video games, music, hobbies and partying --at least there they can find a way of life that fulfills some of their needs.

Mark Perry at Carpe Diem blog has three interesting charts on the federal budget (via Newsalert).