h/t Shippedout

Rick Santelli: “4/5ths of the reduction in unemployment is due to the drop in the labour force participation rate. And that is a biggie.”

Via

With apologies to Keats, at fourth para from end here (afraid full text may be subscriber only):

…Bierce defines beauty as “the power by which a woman charms a lover and terrifies a husband”…

From Robert Wenzel’s ‘David’ speech.

Please allow me to begin with methodology, I hold the view developed by such great economic thinkers as Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek and Murray Rothbard that there are no constants in the science of economics similar to those in the physical sciences.
In the science of physics, we know that water freezes at 32 degrees. We can predict with immense accuracy exactly how far a rocket ship will travel filled with 500 gallons of fuel. There is preciseness because there are constants, which do not change and upon which equations can be constructed.
There are no such constants in the field of economics since the science of economics deals with human action, which can change at any time. If potato prices remain the same for 10 weeks, it does not mean they will be the same the following day. I defy anyone in this room to provide me with a constant in the field of economics that has the same unchanging constancy that exists in the fields of physics or chemistry.
And yet, in paper after paper here at the Federal Reserve, I see equations built as though constants do exist.

(h/t Me No Dhimmi)

A “feisty” interview with James Delingpole , via the highly recommended Quadrant magazine.

“The president has a very difficult time with the business community. Most people in business and most people who are successful are Republican that’s just a fact of life.” – Bill Daley President Obama’s former Chief of Staff

h/t Dave

h/t Revnant Dream

And “the scapegoating mechanism.”

Stick to your pay, pal – “What’s especially clear is that Thiel has almost no understanding of ‘stuff’ except helping people pay for it.”

Give the left enough rope, and they’ll hang themselves.

h/t Rolf

One to pass along to your kids and grandkids.

Via Zerohedge. Full five-part series here.

So I urge you as quickly as you possibly can: Get the hell out of Brussels.
Go back to your countries, and stay away from here as much as is humanly possible. Because Brussels, those of you who know the Star Wars Trilogy, this is the evil empire. The Berlaymont is the Death Star, where any hint of innovation is left at the door as you walk in to meet with bureaucrats and politicians, who you can always tell when they’re telling lies because their lips are moving.

h/t LC Bennett

Indeed.

Okay. You want to be the President of the United States of America, Michelle? You want to be the Commander in Chief? You want to be the leader of the free (?) world? Um, if you can’t see an ambush coming from Jimmy Flipping Fallon, who is a former SNL cast member (after the Phil Hartman era which is when SNL stopped being funny), and thus, by definition, a flaming liberal with no class who is wholly reliant on adolescent gutter humor, do you really think that you’re qualified to be the CiC? I’m serious. If you and your staff aren’t smart enough or self-aware enough to figure out that you don’t go walking into obvious set-ups with slack-jawed TV talk show hosts, then do you REALLY think you are going to be able to go up against Putin or the ChiComs? Hon, if you get rolled by JIMMY FALLON, then you won’t stand a chance against Hu Jintao.
But then, the very fact that the gateway to the Oval Office is now kept by the likes of undignified flotsam like Jimmy Fallon and these other TV carney hacks is just more proof that this country is officially, totally and irrevocably screwed.

h/t EBD

“DID YOU KNOW HOUSING STARTS ARE HIGHER THAN EXPECTED!!!”

Gilat is home.

The Israeli army is an open and transparent army. We are conscripted by law but we also serve knowing there is no one else to do so. We serve and risk our lives and in return expect not to be left behind in battle. It’s as simple as that. Everyday Gilad was still behind bars this covenant was getting weaker. A terrible blow would have been served to Israeli society if Shalit’s fate would have been similar to Ron Arad. Gilat Shalit is my brother, he is my son. I want him home.

Vaclav Klaus;

Unlike you, I am neither a visitor to Europe nor an uninvolved observer of it. I live here, and I do not see any reason to describe the current Europe in a propagandistic way, using rosy colors or glasses. Many of us in Europe are aware of the fact that it faces a serious problem, which is not a short- or medium-term business cycle-like phenomenon. Nor is it a consequence of the recent financial and economic crisis. This crisis only made it more visible. As an economist, I would call it a structural problem, which will not, by itself, wither away. We will not simply outgrow it, as some hope or believe.

I’d embed it if I could: Harry Koza on BNN on the European debt crisis – “Enough already, stop the madness”. Related – watch jaws drop at the BBC.