Can Sarah Palin Save Us from Fed's Quantitative Easing?

Over the weekend, the New York Sun took a shot at Ben Bernanke and a whole host of economists that ridiculed Sarah Palin for her immediate criticism of the Fed’s second round of quantitative easing as inflationary and damaging to the US dollar. At the time, even the Wall Street Journal’s pages could barely contain their derision for Palin’s warning of inflation impacting food prices and eroding consumer buying power just when they were most needed for economic recovery. With the dollar tumbling and gas and food prices soaring, the Sun wonders whether we could do worse than to put Palin in Bernanke’s place:

The big question as Chairman Bernanke gets set for his first quarterly press conference is how Sarah Palin was able to figure out sooner than everyone else that the Federal Reserve’s campaign of quantitative easing wouldn’t work. Disappointment in the Fed’s policies is being reported this morning at the top of page one of the New York Times. It reports that “most Americans are not feeling the difference” from the Fed’s “experimental effort to spur a recovery by purchasing vast quantities of federal debt.” It reports that “a broad range of economists say that the disappointing results show the limits of the central bank’s ability to lift the nation from its economic malaise.”

It’s a terrific story, and well-timed, given that on Wednesday Mr. Bernanke will break tradition and meet with the press. It is part of the Fed’s effort to get ahead of what is emerging as a public relations catastrophe, as gasoline is nearing six dollars a gallon at some pumps, the cost of groceries is skyrocketing, and the value of the dollars that Mr. Bernanke’s institution issues as Federal Reserve notes has collapsed to less than a 1,500th of an ounce of gold. Unemployment is still high. Shakespeare couldn’t come up with a better plot. But how in the world did Mrs. Palin, who is supposed to be so thick, manage to figure all this out so far ahead of the New York Times and all the economists it talked to?

The New York Times tried putting a good spin on the Fed’s efforts, but as the Sun notes, it’s a doomed effort. And even Fed members have begun publicly pushing back against QE2:

“I wasn’t a big fan of it in the first place,” said Charles I. Plosser, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and one of the 10 members of the Fed’s policy-making board. “I didn’t think it was going to have much of an impact, and it complicated the exit strategy. And what we’ve seen has not changed my mind.”

One big problem with QE2 is that it attacked the symptoms rather than the problems:

As the economy sputtered last summer, Mr. Bernanke indicated in an August speech that the Fed would start a second round of quantitative easing, soon nicknamed QE 2. The initial response was the same: Asset prices rose, interest rates fell, and the dollar declined in value.

But in addition to being smaller, and solely focused on Treasuries, there also was a problem of diminishing returns. The first round of purchases reduced the cost of borrowing by persuading skittish investors to accept lower risk premiums. With markets closer to normalcy, Mr. Bernanke warned in his August speech that it was not clear that the Fed would have comparable success in persuading investors to accept even lower rates of return. …

Another indication of its limited success: Borrowing has not grown significantly, suggesting that corporations — which are sitting on record piles of cash — are not yet seeing opportunities for new investments. Until they do, some economists argue that the Fed is pushing on a string.

The actual problem in the economy is that government policies and high deficits portend massive tax increases in the near future, and regulatory adventurism promises higher operational costs. With the current administration sending those signals loudly and clearly, capital investors have no good reason to get off the sidelines and put their capital to work. The Fed has no control over that; they can only adjust monetary policy for a problem that monetary policy doesn’t impact significantly. Bernanke and the Fed attacked the one problem they could address — the risk of deflation — and kicked off inflation instead.

Many of us predicted exactly this outcome last fall when the Fed launched QE2, including Sarah Palin. We need to worry less about who’s running the Fed and more about who’s running the federal government. That’s where the problems can actually get solved.

Update: Conservatives4Palin has a good roundup on this.
NY Sun: How about sending Palin to the Fed?
4/25/2011 10:15:45 AM Ed Morrissey, HOTAIR

Sarah Palin in Jerusalem Baruch HaShem

Sarah Palin overwhelms me. She does everything right and decent and good. It is no coincidence that she is right on every issue. Energy, small government, economics, foreign policy -- she nails it.

She is an extraordinary American, and the more they try to insult and demean her, the larger she looms. I pray she runs -- I really do. She could turn this hot mess around -- I believe few could, but she can.

The Jerusalem Post reports via Powerline:

Palin and her husband Todd arrived for a two-day visit on Sunday afternoon and toured the Western Wall and its adjacent tunnels. They will visit the Old City again on Monday, tour Gesthsemane and the Mount of Olives, and have dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at their official residence in Jerusalem. ...

World Likud chairman Danny Danon and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz served as Palin's tour guides on Sunday night. Palin was told that Jews were not allowed to pray openly on the Temple Mount and about the Arab riots that accompanied Netanyahu's decision to authorize the creation of an exit from the Western Wall tunnels in 1996.

"Why are you apologizing all the time?" Palin asked her guides.

Good question. Palin expressed the view that Jews should be able to pray openly on Temple Mount. Why should that be controversial?

"It's overwhelming to be able to see and touch the cornerstone of our faith," Palin told reporters upon exiting the tunnels. ... "She said that she absolutely supports Israel and that America is the biggest friend that Israel has," Rabinowitz said. ...

Danon said that Palin's visit to the Western Wall Tunnels was very exciting. He called upon Obama to make his first visit to Israel as president as soon as possible.

"She really connected to the story of the Jewish nation," Danon said. "She knows the material but there's nothing like standing in front of those big stones and hearing about the connection. I know that she loves Israel, and after a visit like this, she has a personal connection to the Western Wall."

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Palin, who was wearing a large Star of David, told Danon that she had flags of Israel "on my desk, in my home, all over the place" and that she would carry around a flag she bought in Israel.

"She didn't go into diplomatic issues, but I can clearly say from the questions she asked in relation to our conflict here with the Muslims in these holy sites that she knows that we are right and that the Muslims are just claiming things for provocation and they're not right," Danon said.

She toured the Kotel (the Wall) tunnels.
Pam Geller

Saying Hamas is Political [not Terrorist] a Mind F**k

These are word games, Islamic word games. Separating the political organization from terrorism is a mind f**k.

Rauf’s own website, CordobaInitiative.org, states: “Hamas is both a political movement and a terrorist organization.

Hamas is a genocidal organization. Rauf calls them a political organization. The first paragraph of the Hamas charter calls for the annihilation of Israel. Hamas has refused to change that or to recognize Israel's right to exist.

The principles of the Hamas are stated in their Covenant or Charter, given in full below. Following are highlights.

"Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." (The Martyr, Imam Hassan al-Banna, of blessed memory).

"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It, or any part of it, should not be squandered: it, or any part of it, should not be given up. "

"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors."

"After Palestine, the Zionists aspire to expand from the Nile to the Euphrates. When they will have digested the region they overtook, they will aspire to further expansion, and so on. Their plan is embodied in the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion", and their present conduct is the best proof of what we are saying."

Did radical Rauf denounce that? No. He is a silver-tongued snake-oil salesman, and he's got the enemedia in his back pocket.

Payne continues with Rauf's lies:

"My mosque is just a few blocks north of [Ground Zero]. Nine-one-one was our tragedy too. Members of my mosque were among those who were victims.”

He is such a liar. The building was destroyed in the 911 attacks. That building is Ground Zero. "Members of his mosque were among those who were victims..." What tripe. A new morphing meme, part of the protean morphing mosque narrative. The horror is that the few Muslims who died in that attack are considered shaheeds in Islam -- dying in the act of jihad. That is their tragic fact -- who knows if they were pious Muslims and believed that, too? The idea that Rauf keeps separating the few Muslim victims out from the the thousands dead speaks volumes as to how he sees "us" and "them." He is an Islamic supremacist.

Park 51 critics like Palin who take Rauf’s words out of context are using the community center for political gain. Just like the Democrats last week who could not point to a single example of Tea Partiers exhorting violence of the type we saw in Tucson.

Nuts.

UPDATE: Related: Ground Zero Mega Mosque Imam Rauf raised no objections to official calls for suicide bombing in America and Israel
Atlas Shrugs

Palin Blasts Obama's Insensitivity

Palin Blasts Obama on Ground Zero Mosque Endorsement

Brava to Governor Palin for standing up and speaking out against this profoundly insensitive and egregious attack on the American heart. Obama has sealed his fate and shown himself to the American people.

Worse still for his party, but good for the American people, every Democrat now has to come out from his or her hiding place and state a position on Ground Zero mega mosque.

Legitimate Questions for the President

Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive "cross-cultural engagement" and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven't they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite? Mr. President, why aren't you encouraging the mosque developers to accept Governor Paterson's generous offer of assistance in finding a new location for the mosque on state land if they move it away from Ground Zero? Why haven't they jumped at this offer? Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as "hallowed ground"? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.

Other Republican leaders:

John Boehner, the Ohio Republican who is the House minority leader, said: ”The decision to build this mosque so close to the site of ground zero is deeply troubling, as is the president’s decision to endorse it.”

“The American people certainly don’t support it,” Mr. Boehner said.

Representative Peter King, a New York Republican, said that while the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque, doing so needlessly offends too many people.

“President Obama is wrong,” Mr. King said. “It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero. While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much. The right and moral thing for President Obama to have done was to urge Muslim leaders to respect the families of those who died and move their mosque away from Ground Zero. Unfortunately the president caved into political correctness."

Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, also condemned the proposed mosque and the President’s comments.

“There is nothing surprising in the president’s continued pandering to radical Islam,” he said. “What he said last night is untrue and in accurate. The fact is this is not about religious liberty.”

Mr. Gingrich said the proposed mosque would be a symbol of Muslim “triumphalism” and that building the mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks “would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.”

“It’s profoundly and terribly wrong,” he said.

Breitbart isn't Alone

Here's the original post on his own blog in which he launched his campaign:

His words and instructions:
Some insane woman from Alaska is ranting on Facebook about how an Islamic community center built near Ground Zero would be a “stab in the heart of the families of the victims.”
Quite frankly, she’s being a racist loon.
Go report her post on Facebook for being “Racist/Hate Speech” to the admins. Let’s see if Mark Zuckerberg has any balls left.
Update: Oh, hey. If you’re on Tumblr, reblog me!

Once exposed, this dishonest fraud twittered:

This is not really about ‘refudiating’ Sarah Palin. It was a social experiment to explore the boundaries of Facebook’s government-like Terms and Conditions and the power of the Tumblr community.

Free speech on the internet is still a work-in-progress.

And yes, I started it. But Tumblr launched it.

Brian the beast is lying when he claims that it was simply "an experiment to see where the lines are drawn."

UPDATE: Why is this page still up? Where is the left barbarians?

Newt Gingrich Latest Versus Ground Zero Mosque

The list will first begin to grow. The lines are drawn. Where politicians come down on this common sense, common decency issue will define their political careers.

Newt Gingrich comes out against planned Cordoba House mosque near Ground Zero NY Daily News

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the latest high-profile national political figure to come out against the proposed mosque near Ground Zero.

Gingrich, who recently said he was "serious" about running for President in 2012, made the statement on his website.

"The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over," Gingrich wrote.

"America is experiencing an Islamist cultural-political offensive designed to undermine and destroy our civilization."

"The Cordoba House" is a project from a non-profit Muslim organization. Recently renamed Park51, for the address, the building is intended to be an 13-story, multi-faceted community center, which will also house a mosque.

The Cordoba Initiative, who purchased the property for $4 million, says it will promote tolerance, and reflect the diversity of New York City.

Opponents of Park51 see it differently, and some prominent Republicans have joined their cause.

Rick Lazio, potential Republican gubernatorial candidate, and Rep. Peter King have called for an investigation into the financing of the project.

Carl Paladino, Lazio’s republican rival, has said he would use the power of eminent domain to stop the construction of the mosque and instead make a war memorial.

Sarah Palin, one of Gingrich’s potential 2012 challengers, most recently voiced concern for the project over Twitter.

"Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts," she wrote. "Pls reject it in interest of healing."

Sarah Palin Disposes of Muslim Toad Mayor Bloomberg

More demands for tolerance for a radically intolerant ideology.......

Kudos to Governor Palin for responding to a brutish sophomoric attack by an out-of-touch mayor Bloomberg concerning the 911 mega mosque at Ground Zero. Bloomberg is out of his league here. He is incapable of grasping the depth of this woman's heart, soul, good sense, and love of country. I have a piece coming out on Bloomberg's repugnant treatment of former vice-Presidential nominee Palin.

Bottom line, Bloomberg is a Democrat who stole the mayoral election by switching parties so that he could get into the race and get elected. Giuliani, the great hero of 911, could not run again because of term limits. It was Giuliani (who is opposed to the mosque) who anointed Bloomberg as his successor. Yes, the field of candidates was that pathetic. And Bloomberg won, because of Giuliani.

As soon as the Ayatollah Bloomberg got in, he routed term limits -- got that? That's why we are still stuck with this tool. How we wanted Giuliani, but if Rudy had done away with term limits, he would have been ripped to shreds by a propaganda press. But Bloomberg did it, with nary a murmur from a shill press pool.

Here is Sarah Palin's response to Bloomberg's blunder:

Earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg responded to my comments about the planned mosque at Ground Zero by suggesting that a decision not to allow the building of a mosque at that sacred place would somehow violate American principles of tolerance and openness.

No one is disputing that America stands for – and should stand for – religious tolerance. It is a foundation of our republic. This is not an issue of religious tolerance but of common moral sense. To build a mosque at Ground Zero is a stab in the heart of the families of the innocent victims of those horrific attacks. Just days after 9/11, the spiritual leader of the organization that wants to build the mosque, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, suggested that blame be placed on the innocents when he stated that the “United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened” and that “in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.” Rauf refuses to recognize that Hamas is a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of our ally, Israel, and refuses to provide information about the sources of funding for the $100 million mosque. Rauf also plays a key role in a group behind the flotilla designed to provoke Israel in its justifiable blockade of Gaza. These are just a few of the points Americans are realizing as New York considers the proposed mosque just a stone’s throw away from 9/11’s sacred ground.

I agree with the sister of one of the 9/11 victims (and a New York resident) who said: “This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists. I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened.”

Many Americans, myself included, feel it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground. This is nothing close to “religious intolerance,” it’s just common decency.

- Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin Opposes Ground Zero Mega Mosque

Gd, I love this woman! She is not afraid of the jackals, hyenas, and vultures who troll her home, her garbage cans, and her most prized possession, her children. She has spine, character, ethics, integrity, and above all, true grit. If she runs, I'll be right behind her.

Here is Sarah's twitter: (hat tip MZ)

Peaceful New Yorkers, pls refute the Ground Zero mosque plan if you believe catastrophic pain caused @ Twin Towers site is too raw, too real

The Islamic supremacist mega mosque is a stab in the eye of every American. The question is, why there? Why did the terror-tied Imam Rauf spend five million dollars to build a triumphal mosque 600 feet from the site of the largest attack, Islamic attack in American history? There have been 15,644 Islamic attacks since 911 across the world. Each one had the imprimatur of an Islamic cleric. What is being done to expunge the koran of the violent texts that inspire jihad?

The response to the overwhelming pain this mosque has caused has been ad hominem attacks. I find the Cordoba Initiative's callousness towards the grief they are causing radically intolerant.

SIOA is holding another peaceful protest against the Ground Zero mega mosque on September 11th. Be there. It's now or never.

And let me add that I am proud to be a National Advisory Board member of Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin.