President Obama’s War on Wealth: When All Else Fails, Tax the Rich – NY Post   “This is redistribution for its own sake — the cost be damned. It took Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels about 30 seconds of his State of the Union rebuttal to demolish that idea. To get the rich to contribute more, explained Daniels, you don’t raise tax rates. This ultimately retards economic growth for all. You (a) eliminate loopholes from which the rich benefit disproportionately (tax reform) and (b) means-test entitlements so that the benefits go to those most in need.”

Bernanke Has “Finger on Trigger” for New Bond Buys – Reuters   “The Federal Reserve has moved closer to embarking on a new round of its controversial money-pumping after the central bank and its chairman Ben Bernanke highlighted a grim outlook for the U.S. economy.”

Adding Up to Nothing: Obama’s Fast Talk on the Economy – NY Post   “Three years after the Hope and Change president took office, Hope turns out to mean high taxes and lots of regulations, and Change consists of celebrating the government’s takeover of General Motors and belittling technological progress that destroys some jobs even as it creates others. The Great Uniter is all about class warfare.”

The World from Berlin: ‘The EU Will Pay Even If Greece Doesn’t Deliver’ – Der Spiegel   “It makes no sense if we keep promising more money but don’t combat the causes of the crisis,” Merkel said in an interview with six European newspapers. “Amid all the billions in aid and rescue funds, we Germans also must watch that we do not lose our strength in the end — because our possibilities are not endless either, and that would not help Europe as a whole,” Merkel added. “We show solidarity, but must not forget (countries’) own initiative.”

Why Europe’s Crisis Can’t Be Averted – Reuters   “Effectively, the unlimited swap lines have solved most of the global liquidity problems, and have prevented the otherwise very scary prospect that a liquidity run could become a self-fulfilling insolvency process. But that of course doesn’t mean that the world’s economies are all solvent.”