{"id":2611,"date":"2014-03-04T16:59:07","date_gmt":"2014-03-04T23:59:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611"},"modified":"2014-03-04T16:59:07","modified_gmt":"2014-03-04T23:59:07","slug":"economy-of-thought","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611","title":{"rendered":"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vladimir Putin may have already won the battle for Crimea, without firing a shot.\u00a0 Unless someone attacks his troops, there will be no bloodshed.\u00a0 There will also be no democracy.\u00a0 The government of Crimea will do whatever Putin wants and he will call it democracy.\u00a0\u00a0 If it just ended there it might not be that bad.\u00a0 But it won\u2019t end there.\u00a0 He will now start looking at the Ukraine.\u00a0 This is a different kind of war.\u00a0 It is not the bloody tank invasion mowing down protestors in Hungary.\u00a0 This is the rapid movement of highly armed special forces to take over key positions.\u00a0 It is conquering by the mere threat of violence.\u00a0 When you combine this with the recruitment of top officials sympathetic to Russia and enormous economic pressure the result is a perfect storm.\u00a0 It would be insane for Crimea to rely on the United States for support in dealing with Russia.<\/p>\n

Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviet Union with his economic strategy, not his military strategy.\u00a0 He saw that the Soviet Union\u2019s economy was a house of cards.\u00a0 When they tried to keep up with our defense spending their economy collapsed.<\/p>\n

Vladimir Putin learned from that.\u00a0 He is not making the same economic mistakes.\u00a0 Russian has built real wealth by building pipelines and drilling for oil.\u00a0 In addition, Putin understands the impact unfunded entitlements have on a nation\u2019s economy:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/en.ria.ru\/russia\/20130614\/181653890.html<\/a><\/p>\n

While a modern state must honor its obligation \u201cto take care of its population and ensure its social protection\u201d or face the risk of collapse, European countries have been \u201cliving beyond their means\u201d and are now \u201cwitnessing the rise of a dependency mentality \u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0[that] endangers not only the economy but the moral foundation of society,\u201d Putin said. \u201cIt is no secret that many citizens of less developed countries come to Europe specifically to live on social welfare.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0In contrast, Putin praised Russia\u2019s low unemployment and real wage growth, saying that these, plus the growth of consumer spending and bank lending, are the basic factors stimulating the country\u2019s economy.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe made our choice long ago. We will not renounce our social obligations,\u201d Putin said of the Russian state.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Putin is a lot of things, most of them bad, but this sure sounds like someone who understands the value of capitalism over socialism.\u00a0 He makes a lot more economic sense than President Obama.<\/p>\n

The current strategy for the U.S. with regard to Russia is to apply economic pressure. My question is whether we threaten them or they threaten us?<\/p>\n

The United States has done exactly what Putin warned about.\u00a0 The United States has followed the European model of living beyond its means and developing a dependency mentality.\u00a0 Obama has pretty much perfected the art of irresponsible economicy behavior.\u00a0 It is pretty stunning when a Russian President lectures us on the moral foundation of society.\u00a0 What makes this worse is that he is right.<\/p>\n

The following article in the Wall Street Journal is sobering:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/blogs.wsj.com\/economics\/2014\/03\/03\/rubin-says-feds-qe3-will-lead-to-trouble\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Robert Rubin, Treasury Secretary under Bill Clinton, gives a stark warning:<\/p>\n

\u201cUncertainties could be far greater with the vast increases that have taken place in the balance sheet of the Fed,\u201d which is now worth more than $4 trillion, up from pre-crisis levels around $800-900 billion.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The real threat from Russia may be worse than a military invasion.\u00a0 Europe gets about 30% of its oil from Russia and about 25% of its natural gas.\u00a0 Oil prices have already surged back over $105 per barrel and they may go higher.\u00a0\u00a0 Europe desperately needs Russian oil and gas.\u00a0 Russian desperately needs the cash from selling it\u2019s gas and oil.\u00a0 Who is going to blink first?\u00a0 My hunch is that Europe will do whatever it takes to keep warm.\u00a0 Did anyone check the forecast?<\/p>\n

In the meantime Obama has stopped deep water drilling, he has blocked drilling on public land and he is blocking the proposed pipeline.\u00a0 The only reason we have significant oil supplies now is that he couldn\u2019t stop drilling on private land.\u00a0 The development of fracking technology moved too fast for him to respond. \u00a0We would have much higher domestic oil production if it wasn\u2019t for the brilliant leadership of the first green President.<\/p>\n

Obama took office in January 2009.\u00a0 Now, a little more than five years later we have gone from the most powerful and respected nation in the history of the world to a nearly irrelevant spectator that can be safely ignored. \u00a0Liberals must be very proud!<\/p>\n

TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vladimir Putin may have already won the battle for Crimea, without firing a shot.\u00a0 Unless someone attacks his troops, there will be no bloodshed.\u00a0 There will also be no democracy.\u00a0 The government of Crimea will do whatever Putin wants and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nECONOMY OF THOUGHT - SCOTS HONOR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT - SCOTS HONOR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vladimir Putin may have already won the battle for Crimea, without firing a shot.\u00a0 Unless someone attacks his troops, there will be no bloodshed.\u00a0 There will also be no democracy.\u00a0 The government of Crimea will do whatever Putin wants and … Continue reading →\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SCOTS HONOR\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-04T23:59:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TDM\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TDM\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"TDM\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f189003fdcb2b335f3de16a2756e8e24\"},\"headline\":\"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-04T23:59:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611\"},\"wordCount\":761,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Headlines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611\",\"name\":\"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT - SCOTS HONOR\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-04T23:59:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f189003fdcb2b335f3de16a2756e8e24\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?p=2611#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"SCOTS HONOR\",\"description\":\"What is obviously true, is obviously true\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f189003fdcb2b335f3de16a2756e8e24\",\"name\":\"TDM\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e8ed801b1c503263fb6547c8f9faf3a4cea6964d874cd2797ac10a766c37d0d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e8ed801b1c503263fb6547c8f9faf3a4cea6964d874cd2797ac10a766c37d0d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4e8ed801b1c503263fb6547c8f9faf3a4cea6964d874cd2797ac10a766c37d0d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"TDM\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scotshonor.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT - SCOTS HONOR","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT - SCOTS HONOR","og_description":"Vladimir Putin may have already won the battle for Crimea, without firing a shot.\u00a0 Unless someone attacks his troops, there will be no bloodshed.\u00a0 There will also be no democracy.\u00a0 The government of Crimea will do whatever Putin wants and … Continue reading →","og_url":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611","og_site_name":"SCOTS HONOR","article_published_time":"2014-03-04T23:59:07+00:00","author":"TDM","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"TDM","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611"},"author":{"name":"TDM","@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f189003fdcb2b335f3de16a2756e8e24"},"headline":"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT","datePublished":"2014-03-04T23:59:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611"},"wordCount":761,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Headlines"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611","url":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611","name":"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT - SCOTS HONOR","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-03-04T23:59:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f189003fdcb2b335f3de16a2756e8e24"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?p=2611#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ECONOMY OF THOUGHT"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/","name":"SCOTS HONOR","description":"What is obviously true, is obviously true","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f189003fdcb2b335f3de16a2756e8e24","name":"TDM","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e8ed801b1c503263fb6547c8f9faf3a4cea6964d874cd2797ac10a766c37d0d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e8ed801b1c503263fb6547c8f9faf3a4cea6964d874cd2797ac10a766c37d0d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4e8ed801b1c503263fb6547c8f9faf3a4cea6964d874cd2797ac10a766c37d0d?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"TDM"},"url":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2611"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2615,"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2611\/revisions\/2615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotshonor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}