An actual and meaningful reform plan has been offered by Britain's new ruling coalition:

The plan, as laid out by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, would roll back a proliferation of “nanny state” laws, non-elected administrative bodies and surveillance systems — many of them a product of Labour’s 13 years in power — that critics say have curbed individual freedoms and enlarged state powers to a degree unrivaled by most other democratic societies.

These plans also include changes to the voting system, creating a fully elected House of Lords, stabilizing the ruling party by requiring 55% to vote to dissolve Parliament, and a 50% requirement for MPs to win reelection, rather than the simple majority they now have.

If only some of these changes occur, there will be profound implications for Britain's power structure. The British people would have a much greater impact on their out of control government, which would hopefully reign in its rampant overspending and centralization efforts.

Harvard Business School study finds that private companies cut spending when government spending is increased. The authors are shocked at this result. But is anyone else really surprised? More:

Recent research at Harvard Business School began with the premise that as a state's congressional delegation grew in stature and power in Washington, D.C., local businesses would benefit from the increased federal spending sure to come their way.

It turned out quite the opposite. In fact, professors Lauren Cohen, Joshua Coval, and Christopher Malloy discovered to their surprise that companies experienced lower sales and retrenched by cutting payroll, R&D, and other expenses. Indeed, in the years that followed a congressman's ascendancy to the chairmanship of a powerful committee, the average firm in his state cut back capital expenditures by roughly 15 percent, according to their working paper, "Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing?"

"It was an enormous surprise, at least to us, to learn that the average firm in the chairman's state did not benefit at all from the unanticipated increase in spending," Coval reports.

Over a 40-year period, the study looked at increases in local earmarks and other federal spending that flowed to states after the senator or representative rose to the chairmanship of a powerful congressional committee.

Spain has recently acknowledged the failure of its 'Green' jobs program, and now they are moving to reverse the policy, in the interests of averting a Greek situation with spiraling debt and falling revenues. One could even say that this plan is contributing to the unsteadiness of the Euro, and thus to the world economic recovery as well.

Just goes to show, yet again, that a government cannot realistically and efficiently redirect the course of an economy. What does this mean for President Obama and his 'Green' jobs push? Just a redoubling of his efforts. More pie in the sky thinking from the guy who wants to ban nuclear weapons. The actual functioning of the world has no effect whatsoever on his thinking.

Overthrowing Kim: A Capitalist Manifesto (part 1). Be sure to read the other parts in this fascinating piece.

David Horowitz dives into the intellectual idiocy that is Cornel West, a man feted by Progressives as a shining light. A light for what you ask? Here is the general idea:

For West and progressives like him, the democracy that matters is not the one we live in but the so-called economic “democracy” that Marx and Lenin and their disciples promised and then discredited by piling up continents of corpses in the futile effort to realize their utopian schemes. Of America’s actual democracy, West has this to say: “The American democratic experience is unique in human history not because we are God’s chosen people to lead the world or because we are always a force for good in the world, but because of our refusal to acknowledge the deeply racist and imperial roots of our democratic project.”

Charles Krauthammer really nails it in his piece on appeasing Iran. Appeasement still doesn't work. Not sure why they keep trying it though. Isn't one definition of insanity trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results?

Some great links highlighting fraud at the U.N. Of course stories like this will get zero actual attention, because we wouldn't want people to know that our tax dollars are getting thrown into a useless money pit, now would we?

George Will on immigration scare tactics from the Left:

Late-night comedians, recalling World War II movies in which Gestapo officers demand "show me your papers," find echoes of fascism in Arizona's belief that there are occasions when police officers can reasonably ask for someone's documentation. On Tuesday, Barack Obama, showing contempt for the professionalism and character of police officers, said: "Now suddenly if you don't have your papers and you took your kid out to get ice cream, you're going to be harassed."

Time was, presidents were held to higher standards than comedians. Today's liberals favor indignation over information, but lawyer Obama must know that since 1952 federal law has said: "Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him."

Never let the facts get in the way of a good opportunity to demonize the opposition!

The scary reality of the European debt crisis:

The new stability package suffers from the same problem as all the other ones the European Union has come up with in the months since the Greek crisis started rattling the markets last year: It tries to fix the symptoms, not the causes.

Greece has exposed deep structural problems within the euro. There is no mechanism to stop governments breaking the rules. There is no popular support for massive fiscal transfers between countries. The rules for the euro area have turned out to be unreliable. And there is no way to start stimulating economic growth again in the heavily indebted nations.

Those are the hard questions. Even 750 billion euros won’t get close to answering any of them.

So a repeat of all this drama in the next few months isn't out of the question. Can the EU restrain the debt-laden spending of Greece, Spain, Portugal, etc? And how close are France and the UK to a similar situation? Is anyone writing budgets in the US paying any attention? I'm guessing they'd rather learn the hard way.

Scary that one man can crash a market... Goes to show that the floor traders and market makers have a definite place in the system, as a brake on human and computer errors that trigger potential catastrophes by igniting a domino effect of sell off orders. Not sure if there is a way to fix this either, other than not letting the whole market become computerized. Also goes to show that Congress or anyone else will never be able to stop market crashes. They are inherent in the system. Now if they would just quit manipulate the major components, like sub-prime mortgages, maybe the crashes wouldn't be so big. Yeah right.

Amidst the cries of racism fomenting violence against tea partiers and supporters of the new Arizona law on illegal immigration, it is of course the other side (during a pro-illegal immigrant rally) that is violently attacking people and relying on mob tactics. Which of course won't get mentioned on any national newscasts. With regards to the immigration issue, they are going to have a hard time getting around the fact that polls show 70% approval for the new law.

Why is more FTC internet regulation included in the House version of the financial reform bill? Why even bother asking, as our current government will take any opportunity to give a regulatory agency more power over our lives and economy with no oversight. They don't even bother to convince the people of the wisdom of a certain action, they just empower a federal agency to make whatever changes they want and that is it. Witness what happened with C02 regulation via the EPA.

Why are we rushing to emulate the socialism of Europe when they have been moving steadily in the opposite direction for years? A few good points:

The federal government spent $3.5 trillion last year while taking in just $2.1 trillion, producing a deficit-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio of 10%, a level not seen since World War II. By contrast, the European Union requires member countries to keep deficits at 3% of GDP. If America was in Europe, we’d be Greece.

What’s worse for us is that we’ve pretty much given up trying to address the root problem, which is the decade long spending binge initiated by George W. Bush and then tripled down on by Barack Obama. The VAT isn’t a way to streamline a complicated tax code; it’s a new spigot to flood money into the pockets of teachers who can’t be fired, and securities regulators who can’t get enough porn.

The grand irony here is that the very continent we’re scrambling to emulate has been moving aggressively in the opposite direction on taxes and economic policy.

While the US keeps corporate taxes frozen near 40%, EU countries have slashed them down to an average of around 25%. Top marginal income tax rates, which in the US are 35%, are under 25% all across the former East Bloc.

The author also makes the great point that the supposedly socialist government in Sweden was refusing to bail out Saab while we were rushing to bail out GM and Chrysler. All while challenging Greece on who can tie up a larger percentage of GDP in debt. Read the rest here.

Al Gore buys a new mansion. More do as I say, not as I do, from the man making millions off of global warming.

More proof that the United Nations is a complete joke: Iran elected to U.N. Commission on Women's Rights. Why the U.S. keeps bankrolling this organization is a mystery to me. And we can look forward to another traveling circus when Iran's joke of a president comes to visit New York in the near future. You know he loves all the media attention that gets showered on him. Maybe Columbia will invite him back for another "lecture". Maybe this time he can speak on why Iran is such a free place for women.