A picture from President Obama's post-Constitutional America

I'm shocked. SHOCKED, I say.

I was strolling around the waterfront fish market in DC on Saturday, admiring the whole octopi, the squid, lobsters, jumbo crab legs and Maryland blue crabs for sale.

Imagine my surprise when I spotted this sign above a pile of crabs.

...But this is all good news, according to this administration. Remember, food stamps stimulate the economy!

Say, did someone mention another Obama record?

...according to the latest update from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), some 423,000 Americans found their way to minimum way subsistence, courtesy of Food Stamp handouts from Uncle Sam. Since the start of the Second Great Depression, food stamp participation has increased by 18.7 million, and is now at an all time higher 46.3 million.

All Bush's fault, or something. At least the chart below appears to be plateauing... Actually, sorry, no. It isn't.

Not to worry, folks.

At least the USDA has an excellent handle on how food stamps are being used.

Sorry. I couldn't restrain my chortle.


Hat tip: Occam's Razor X.

Welcome to the post-racial presidency: Obama 2012 campaign will 'abandon the white working class'

The New York Times offers the highlights of the newly revised presidential reelection strategy:

...preparations by Democratic operatives for the 2012 election make it clear for the first time that the party will explicitly abandon the white working class...

...All pretense of trying to win a majority of the white working class has been effectively jettisoned in favor of cementing a center-left coalition made up [of a] substantial constituency of lower-income voters who are disproportionately African-American and Hispanic...

...A top priority of the less affluent wing of today’s left alliance is the strengthening of the safety net, including health care, food stamps, infant nutrition and unemployment compensation. These voters generally take the brunt of recessions and are most in need of government assistance to survive...

How very far he has fallen since his keynote address at the 2004 Democrat National Convention.

...even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us — the spin masters, the negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of “anything goes.” Well, I say to them tonight, there is not a liberal America and a conservative America — there is the United States of America. There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America — there’s the United States of America.

In other words, someone is preparing to divide us -- a spin master, a negative ad peddler who embraces the politics of "anything goes" -- and is willing to do anything to retain power.

Come what may.

Useful idiots hardest hit.

Middleton: Contraction Interruptus

Reggie Middleton of Boom Bust Blog:

I have always been of the contention that the 2008 market crash was cut short by the global machinations of a cadre of central bankers intent on somehow rewriting the rules of economics, investment physics and global finance. They became the buyers of last resort, then consequently the buyers of only resort while at the same time flooding the world with liquidity and guarantees. These central bankers and the countries they allegedly strive to serve took on the debt and nigh worthless assets of the private sector who threw prudence through the window during the “Peak” phase of the circle of economic life, and engaged in rampant speculation.

Central bankers worldwide have interrupted the cycle here under the apparently mistaken impression that they can override the business cycle and skip past the contraction phase. This is most apparent in equity markets where excess liquidity has pushed all equities straight up, as well as bond markets where yields have been suppressed to artificial (ZIRP) levels. The truth cannot be concealed in real asset markets where properties are still dropping. It was the real asset market that kicked off the bust to begin with, and it will probably be the real asset markets that bring us back to reality.

The extended contraction has only been exacerbated by the folly of central economic planners experimenting on a global basis and in concert to defeat the laws of economic mother nature.

Oh, and for those still under the mistaken impression that contagion has been contained, Barclays is here to disabuse you of that quaint notion: Italy Is Finished: "Mathematically Beyond Point Of No Return".

The era of Europe's heavily unionized, social welfare states is drawing to a close. Misery, war and poverty will follow as certainly as night follows day. Pity that Democrats are too stupid to get the message here at home.

Heart-Stopping Chart o' the Day

From IceCap Asset Management, courtesy of the invaluable Zero Hedge:

Fully 20% of all disposable personal income comes from government redistribution of wealth.

It is this money -- borrowed from future generations by the Obama Democrats -- that has fueled the modest rise in consumer spending over the last three years.

It should come as no surprise that this level of wealth transfer is unsustainable.

As for what comes next, rent the movie Road Warrior.