Inquiring Minds Want to Know

“Slavery has been a fact of human existence throughout recorded history. Why did it suddenly create capitalism a couple of centuries ago in a few select places, namely the Netherlands, Britain and the American colonies? Why didn’t the Romans create it? The Vikings? The Spanish? It is true that slavery and cotton production played a large role in the American economy, but they weren’t determinative. As Phillip Magness of the American Institute for Economic Research points out, slave-produced cotton and its derivatives accounted for 5 or 6% of GDP prior to the Civil War. … If slavery was the basis of capitalism, one wonders, why did the capitalist North dare wage a war to destroy the seedbed of its own prosperity? Why didn’t the region that was the great source of capitalism win the war based on its superior economic wherewithal rather than getting ground down by a more financially proficient and productive North? Finally, how did American capitalism survive the end of chattel slavery?” —Rich Lowry

Food for Thought

“Some Biden Administration officials initially tried to downplay the seriousness of the spy balloon by suggesting that satellites could do everything the balloon could do. So, there’s nothing to worry about. Of course, it’s difficult for the untrained person to understand how a balloon could be more effective than high-tech satellites. Well, the balloon can hover, and it did. But assuming that a satellite is just as effective, why then did communist China risk an international incident if there wasn’t some significant benefit?” —Gary Bauer

“The White House claims the Chinese spy balloon couldn’t safely be shot down over Alaska due to potential debris. We now know the balloon had explosives on it, so we just trusted the Chinese wouldn’t crash the thing into a major, populated area? Quite the risk.” —Katie Pavlich

Grand Delusions

“What I will say about the balloon is that the president handled it effectively and with strength.” —White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield

“China sent that surveillance ballon over. The Biden administration was calm, calculated, and effective.” —Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

“Yeah, so, look, I think that — and we have talked about this before, about how the — when it — when the PRC government surveillance balloons … transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times, as you just mentioned, during the president’s — the prior administration and once that we know of the beginning of this administration’s. But never for this duration of time, as we know.” —White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre “answering” a question about the three alleged “Trump” balloons

Demagogue

“One [Republican] member says they want to cut the woke agenda. What’s that? What cuts does that mean? Some say the ‘woke military agenda.’ I don’t even know what the heck they’re talking about.” —Chuck Schumer

The BIG Lies

“We are now seeing the lowest number of illegal crossing between ports of entry since February of 2021. It doesn’t mean our work is done. As you all know, we still have more work to do and we’re going to keep at it. But unlike Republicans in Congress who simply pull the political stunts and tried to get in the way, we’ve got an actual plan to address these very challenging issues. And as you see, as I just laid out, our plan is indeed working.” —Karine Jean-Pierre

“We’ve seen gas prices go down, again, because of the work that this president has done.” —Karine Jean-Pierre

“Let’s not forget, we have seen record wages go up.” —Karine Jean-Pierre

And Last…

“Why the never-ending crisis? It’s all about the money. Biden doesn’t want to end the [COVID] emergency that he himself stated was over many months ago because it allows him to continue dishing out billions of dollars of health and welfare benefits to his voters — automatically and unilaterally.” —Stephen Moore