At Real Clear Politics this morning, the Top 5 Stories are as follows:
Record Number in Government Anti-Poverty Programs
More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years.
The Folly of Subsidizing Unemployment
The unemployment-insurance program involves a balance between compassion—providing for persons temporarily without work—and efficiency. The loss in efficiency results partly because the program subsidizes unemployment, causing insufficient job-search, job-acceptance and levels of employment. A further inefficiency concerns the distortions from the increases in taxes required to pay for the program.
The recovery is a creature of confidence, or its absence. "In normal times, psychology doesn't matter much. It reflects economic conditions," says Zandi. "But in abnormal times, it's the reverse. Psychology determines economic conditions." What the boom and bust left is a massive case of collective doubt.
The Obama Vision of Federal Government
[President Obama gave] a stirring Sunday secular sermon [in New Orleans on the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina] on the value of the federal government—and on the idea of national community that, in its best incarnations, it does or should represent to us all.
He wanted to prove not only to the people of the [Louisiana] but the people of the nation that the feds can be a source for good.
70% of Americans Know They’ve Been Conned
Two years into what had been sold as a new politics and a new approach, the 70 percent are fully aware that they have been conned, suckered, and taken to the cleaners by a hyper-ideological amalgam of leftist public intellectuals, snarling bloggers, career politicians with limited abilities who are often corrupt, and a president wholly inexperienced in the management of complex problems who is in way over his head and prisoner to slogans and schemes that make for great campus debates -- but for disaster in the real world.
It’s a High-Tech Looting of We, the People; it’s reparations to the "deserving" from the "undeserving." Forget about the injustice and the immorality of it all and follow the mass dependence on public funding to its logical conclusion: what happens when there are no jobs to service this debt via tax revenue? What happens to all and sundry who are fed, clothed and sheltered by American treasury monies when the treasury money is gone?
Speaking of unemployment, I’ve been laid off from my position as Social Media Consultant at Carmel Coast Publishing Enterprises—no worries; it’s a friendly parting and but a sign of the times. And even though it was only a part-time job, it was sufficient for my needs. But now, my only source of income is…you guessed it, my novel.
I’ll get right to the point: I need to raise $10,000 to pay my bills and my taxes. So far, I’ve sold 23 books from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, 15 via Kindle and 150+ via my novel’s website. Here’s what I need:
556 books sold from Amazon and B&N;
589 books sold from the Tale of the Tigers website;
2000 Kindle Editions sold. (Only $5.00!)
I will accept any combination thereof and, of course, donations will be much appreciated.
You can do so here:It’s tough for me to get out and do the hard-core, in-person marketing I need to do because I’m the sole caregiver for my great-aunt. (My inability to be away from home for long periods stands as one of the reasons that I finished the novel and took the chance on self-publishing. Therefore, nearly all of my marketing has been online, word-of-mouth and reputational.) All of the reviewers have judged Tale of the Tigers to be an exceptional work and I am grateful to those who have bought, read and commented. But now I need more.
About the national debt: many observers conclude that it is impossible for the United States to recover from such a crushing weight. I’m not sure that I believe this, though. Oh, it isn’t that I don’t believe that the debt isn’t lethal or isn’t meant to be so. It’s merely that God-inspired human inventiveness and ingenuity always seem to save the day. Sometimes we see through a glass darkly as to how, but, with faith, hope, love—and work—the light can be turned on.
God gifted to me an allotment of talents and I chose to invest them rather than bury them. I know for a fact that I am far from being the only recipient.
UPDATE: Love ya, Jeff.
UPDATE: To the fine gentlemen at the RoadRaceAutoX.com message boards: I would say that my work isn't "chick book," but others might be a better judge. There's no bodice-ripping and there's some cussing and violence, so there's that. :) At any rate, welcome and thanks for the link! I think you will enjoy it; my reviewers are mostly men.
UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit and Ace of Spades HQ readers! I'm humbled by your purchases, donations and good wishes. As for the tally: 37 additional Kindle Editions sold and $1,100 in sales and donations! As for Amazon, I have to get a report from my publisher but I can tell that the book is selling when my rank drops. More report--and blogging tomorrow. I'm very grateful!
