When Ronald Reagan was in office, it was about one in ten. Now one out of five dollars that flow into the pockets of Americans comes from a government check (not counting wages and salaries).

Among Americans without a high-school diploma, just two out of five are working.

The trouble is that too many Americans are dependent on government help. The most courageous Republican in the country is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, the man who took on the government unions — and he faces a recall election in June, with polls showing the voters split down the middle. Obama is hoping that Americans will circle the wagons around their existing entitlements — that they have been down so long that they have forgotten what it feels like to be in an economy driven by entrepreneurship.

David P. Goldman is the columnist “Spengler” for Asia Times Online; his latest book is How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too).

There’s nothing like getting back to 2010 levels to make you think “strong expansion”!!!! Whoooo, baby, the ditch is the limit!

If we want to keep this going we all need to run out and buy cars. Two each! But don’t drive them – that would support gas prices and be fatal! Just leave them in the driveway with large, colorful Obama campaign stickers plastered all over. Be sure to insure them with comprehensive coverage, because somebody biking by to go to the supermarket might become offended and attack.

…..….read more HERE

In keeping with the recent trend of so-called green companies going into the red, another solar energy company supported by President Obama’s top administration officials declared bankruptcy today.

Solar Trust for America received $2.1 billion in conditional loan guarantees  from the Department of Energy — “the largest amount ever offered to a solar project,”according to Energy Secretary Steven Chu — for a project near Blythe, Calif., butdeclared bankruptcy within a year. It is unclear how much of the guarantee, if any, was actually awarded.

Senior officials in Obama’s administration had very high hopes for the Blythe project. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar attended the groundbreaking ceremony, which he described as “a historic moment in America’s new energy frontier” and “another important step in making America’s clean energy future a reality.” Chu trumpeted at the time that Solar Trust would prove that “when we rev up the great American innovation machine, we can out-compete any other nation.” 

….more HERE & HERE