Biden's Plan To Takeover Auto Industry

In one breathtaking regulatory fiat, the Biden Administration revealed its plan to seize control of the nation's automobile industry. General Motors and Ford will no longer be free to sell cars and trucks consumers want.  The government will compel the auto firms to manufacture and sell electric vehicles. 

The industry takeover is disguised as new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission standards for automobiles and trucks.  The proposal authored by unelected bureaucrats would effectively force automakers to increase their sales of electric vehicles, while eliminating gasoline powered models.

Under the EPA directive, the agency anticipates that the emission standards will result in two-thirds of the vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by the 2032 model year.  The federal bureaucrats forecast the stringent standards will mean 46% of medium duty trucks would be electric.

The EPA directive, styled after California's punitive edict, stops shorts of outlawing gas-powered vehicle sales.  California's policy bans gasoline trucks and cars sales in the state by 2035.  The Draconian measure will lead to higher prices for electric vehicles and fewer consumer choices.  

Agency administrator Michael Regan bragged his proposal exceeds the administration's own 50%EV  target by 2030.  Environmentalists cheered the ambitious target but others warned the goal is unrealistically achievable.  Electric cars represented less than 6% of the total new vehicle sales in 2022. 

In nine years, the $1.53 trillion automotive industry will have to retool manufacturing and supply chains while building an ecosystem that doesn't exist at scale today.  But Washington's desk jockeys likely have never set foot in an automobile manufacturing plant.  They don't see any flaw in their scheme.

Office bureaucrats are impatient with the free market auto industry. Although the transition to electric vehicles is moving relatively fast, they believe auto makers are making too many gas models to satisfy customers.  Consumers are just too dumb to embrace electric, the bureaucrats surmise.

The feds are growing restless after offering generous tax credits for years to seduce customers into scrapping their gas vehicles for electric cars.  Taxpayers are footing the bill for this benevolence, which currently includes subsidies ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 depending on the electric model. 

The average cost of an EV in 2022 was $61,448 compared to $49,507 for a gasoline powered vehicle, according to GreenCars, an EV industry source.  The cost disparity would have been even more if Tesla had not lowered some prices by up to 24% last year.  Price remains a barrier to wide adoption

Administration officials claim there are 3 million EV's on the roads today, but data indicates the number is closer to 2 million.  In addition, there are currently 6.8 million hybrid (gas and electric) vehicles. EV's are a tiny number of the nation's 284 million vehicles. The average age of a vehicle is 12 years.

If the EPA successfully reaches its electrification sales goals, it will create a challenge for the nation's already stressed power grid. Experts believe a complete transition to electric vehicle will require as much as 1.25 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. It means increasing grid capacity by 30%.

Not to worry claim the green car crowd.  The government will issue rules on what day and at what time you can charge your shiny EV. This will ease the strain on the grid while ending the pretense of freedom of choice for consumers.  This should concern even New Green Deal activists.

The Biden electric revolution is a gift to China. The Communist nation has cornered the market on most of the rare minerals required to make electric car batteries.  The key minerals include copper, graphite, nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium.  China has built a global dynasty of battery metals.

The World Bank estimates supplies of these key metals would need to increase by 500% by 2050 to meet the global electric vehicle forecasts.  That works out to 3 billion tons of these rare metals.  Mining those metals creates an environmental nightmare that Biden's troops never talk about.  

China already accounts for nearly 75% of global EV battery production.  Tesla will manufacture 40% to 50% of its cars in China this year, according industry sources. Ford announced earlier this year that it would collaborate with a Chinese supplier on building a $4.5 billion electric battery plan in Michigan.

It is beyond ironic that China, the world's top emitter of greenhouse gases, will reap the most benefit from the administration's top-down management of the electric vehicle industry.  Let that sink in.  

As if those obstacles are not steep enough, consider millions of electric vehicles traveling America with a sparse network of charging stations to provide juice for the batteries. Tesla years ago began building its own charging network with its own money.  How quaint--a private sector initiative.

Now the federal government has appropriated $7.5 billion of your tax dollars to build out a national network of EV chargers.  Democrats are already clamoring for $85 billion more. It will take more than several decades to match the ubiquity of gasoline stations on highways and roads in America.

The media echo chamber, led by The New York Times and The Washington Post, are in full throated support mode.  The media giants are publishing articles assuring skeptics that solutions will be found to solve the electric grid, rare mineral scarcity, charging stations and dependence on China.

Never bet against American ingenuity to create technological solutions to solve conundrums. But it will require years of research and development.  There are no magic bullets or shortcuts. Mandating electric cars before these issues can be solved is a recipe for an epic boondoggle.  

But if you say it out loud the New Green Deal activists will accuse you of denying climate science and wanting to end life as we know it on planet Earth.  Government has never been better than private industry at producing anything.  Which is why the Biden prescription needs a dose of reality.   

Opinion: China's Increasing Hostility

• Chinese surveillance balloon destroyed after traveling across the U.S.
• The Pentagon waited more than a week before shooting down the craft
• President Biden's decision-making process showed weakness
• America needs to reset its relations with China to address its hostility

The nation's eyes turned skyward as a Chinese surveillance balloon wafted over America last week. China brushed off the episode claiming it was a weather balloon gone astray, a preposterous lie even for a Communist regime.  Make no mistake: This was a deliberate provocation by China's military.  

Americans watched in disbelief as the balloon maneuvered over an underground nuclear missile silo in Montana.  The balloon hovered over the site before continuing its trek through our airspace. After nearly a week, President Biden green lighted the downing of the balloon over the Atlantic Ocean.  

The president was under increasing political pressure because the optics of a Chinese craft in American airspace called for a response. Military brass, according to the White House, advised against shooting down the ballon for days because of the risk of harmful debris in populated areas.

Finally on Saturday, an Air Force F-22 Raptor jet fired one air-to-air A9X sidewinder missile that tore through the balloon at an altitude of 58,000 feet.  The airship tumbled into the the Atlantic Ocean, scattering debris over a seven-mile area.  Military officials hope to recover sensitive spy electronics.

The administration expects popping the balloon to close the book on the Chinese spy drama.  But the entire episode raises a range of disturbing issues about America's slow response, future relations with the Communist nation and the increasing confrontational hostility of China.

China's use of an old-school espionage balloon was a curious decision. Surveillance balloons were first used in World War I.  Today's superpowers use low orbit satellites, packed with sophisticated electronics, to  photograph, eavesdrop, scoop up signals intelligence and map military installations.

So why did China use a low-tech, highly visible balloon?  The guess is that China's strategy was to invade American airspace to test America's response.  If that was the mission, the Biden administration flunked.  The president's decision-making response showed weakness that will be exploited by China.

China will not only factor Biden's actions into future military decisions, but the Communist regime will take advantage of the episode to sow skepticism among U.S. allies about America's role in protecting their interests when it cannot defend its homeland. 

There is also the issue of the Pentagon's decision to keep Americans in the dark about the approaching Chinese craft. Reports confirm the Pentagon knew January 28 that the balloon was headed to the continental U.S. after flying over Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Canada.  

Once the airship was over Alaska, Biden should have called China's Xi Jinping and served notice the balloon would be shot down. The balloon could have been destroyed over lightly populated Alaska or the Aleutian Islands.  Inexplicably, the president said he was notified until February 1.   

If the roles were reversed, China would have obliterated a U.S. spy balloon as soon as it entered that country's airspace.  

Now there are news reports a Chinese spy balloon crashed into the Pacific off the coast of Hawaii four months ago.  Another spy airship flew over portions of Texas and Florida during the Trump administration. What other Chinese aggression has been kept secret from the American people?

Americans deserve answers.  

Congress must call the military brass accountable for its lack of transparency. The agency never acknowledged the spy balloon until it was captured by amateur photographers and television news cameras as the airship drifted over Montana.  This is not the transparency we were promised.

Why did the Pentagon wait so long?  It  seems plausible that the administration preferred to hide the airspace incursion from Congress and Americans. Perhaps, it was a desperate attempt to salvage Secretary of State Antony Blinken's upcoming diplomatic trip to China to ease tense relations. 

Once the Pentagon ended its charade, Blinken had no choice but to nix the visit to China.  If the trip had gone forward, it would have signaled America was willing to forget the affront and return to business as usual relations with the Communists.

The balloon incident underscores China's growing bellicose actions. Under Xi, China has invaded Taiwan airspace on numerous occasions and conducted military exercises near the island nation.  China has cozied up to Russia since its Ukraine invasion, even conducting joint military exercises. 

A recent memo authored by Four Star Air Force Gen. Mike Minihan warned he believes that the U.S. and China will go to battle in 2025. His warning comes on the heels of CIA Director Williams Burns' revelation that President XI has ordered his military to be ready for action no later than 2027.

America needs to stop treating China as a friendly nation.  Business ties between the two countries have skewed our perspective.  China's stated goal is dominate the world militarily and economically, spreading its Communist doctrine to every nation. Hopefully, the spy balloon is America's wake-up call. 

COVID-19 Exposes America's Drug Outsourcing

To the shock of many Americans, the coronavirus has exposed a glaring weakness in the country's pharmaceutical supply chain.  U.S., drug firms, in the name of efficiency and profits, have outsourced most of the manufacturing of medications to other countries, primarily China.

A Department of Commerce study found that an alarming 97% of all antibiotics sold here are imported from China. A stunning 80% of raw drug ingredients used in pharmaceutical manufacturing come from China and India.  The development has been well known for decades by industry insiders.

Between 2003 and 2013, imports of Chinese pharmaceuticals skyrocketed 192%.  At last count, there were 1,585 drug manufacturing plants in China, generating $138 billion in revenue. The industry employs more than 710,000 people.  Some of those plants and jobs were once located in the U.S.

Most of the generic drugs sold at American pharmacies are imported from China.  Key ingredients for blood pressure medicines, heart disease, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, epilepsy and depression are made in China.  America has become frighteningly dependent on China's supply chain for key drugs.

Consumer Reports research discovered many brand-name drugs are also produced overseas, often in the same plants as the generic equivalents.  With its vast pharmaceutical industry, China has an unhealthy monopoly on the production of drugs the world depends on to treat patients.

As one illustration, the base ingredient for the widely used penicillin drug is manufactured almost exclusively in China.  Nearly half of the Communist country's output is shipped to India where it is repackaged into dosage form for export.  The last penicillin plant in the U.S. closed down in 2004.

Most dietary supplements and vitamins sold in the U.S. are made overseas, the majority in China, according to ConsumerLab.com.  It is nearly impossible for consumer to find out the country of origin of the ingredients.  Often the U.S. distributor is listed on the label, a confusing practice.

The are two main reasons this outsourcing threatens Americans.  The first is the rigorous U.S. government inspections are delegated to understaffed groups in China, putting drug safety at risk.  The second is the utter dependence on a country whose leaders are bent on world domination.

Not long ago the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had an undermanned staff of 13 inspecting Chinese plants.  In 2014, the FDA conducted a total of 46 inspections in China's sprawling drug industry.  The FDA has since boosted its China staff to 29,  but it is still woefully inadequate.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that FDA inspections of Chinese drug manufacturing plants were infrequent at best and some were never visited.  All 217 U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturers are inspected by the FDA every two years.

Relying on Chinese inspectors has proven grossly ineffective. In 2008, contamination of a raw ingredient imported from China and used to manufacturer the blood-thinning drug heparin was associated with at least 81 deaths in the U.S.  And there have been scores of other safety issues.

During an 18 month period from 2018 to 2019, the FDA announced more than 50 recalls of blood pressure medications because the active ingredient valastran was found to be contaminated with trace amounts of jet fuel.  The FDA reported it caused cancer in one of every 8,000 patients.

For American patients, it is unrealistic to take drugs only made in the U.S.  Barbara Young, editor of a publication for the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, made that clear when she wrote: "These days it is very hard for (consumers) to track where your drugs come from."

As she explained, often drugs are repackaged and rebranded along the production and manufacturing process.  Pharmaceutical distributors often don't disclose the country of origin on the product's label.  Even if queried, it is often impossible for retailers and wholesalers to obtain the information.

That issue has temporarily taken a backseat to concerns the coronavirus will create drug shortages as Chinese plants are shuttered. The FDA reported a shortage of one drug connected to the virus, but declined to disclose it.  At least 20 other drugs that rely on ingredients from China are in short supply.

In addition, India announced that it is restricting the export of 26 drugs and ingredients to ensure its country has supplies of antibiotics.  The action will further limit stockpiles of medications destined for the U.S.  If the coronavirus expands, the situation could become critical for U.S. patients.

America is now in the uneasy position of being held hostage by what happens in China and to a lesser degree India.  Should Americans care that China is the world's pharmacy leader?  Yes, because if China slams the door on exports of medicines, U.S. hospitals and clinics could no longer function.

China's stated policy is to achieve world dominance economically and militarily to relegate America to also-ran status.  The regime's "China First" directive is driving the huge buildup in the drug production industry.  What if the Chinese decide to use drug supply as a weapon?

That question may sound hypothetical at this juncture, but it worries the Defense Health Agency, which provides health care and prescription drugs to the military.  The acting director has pointedly stated "the national security risks cannot be overstated."

Those are sobering words that should awaken American policy makers, Congress and the U.S. pharmaceutical industry.  Continuing on the current outsourcing path puts every American's health in jeopardy.  The nation needs to respond by repatriating its drug manufacturing to the U.S. 

Joe Biden: His Son And The Ukraine Oligarch

Democrats accused President Trump of a quid-pro-quid deal with Ukraine in a veiled move to distract media attention from a controversy engulfing Joe Biden and his son Hunter.  Details continue to emerge about the son's involvement with a Ukrainian oligarch's corruption-plagued gas company.

The former vice president and Democratic Party presidential candidate initially shooed away reporters asking questions about his son's questionable activities and the apparent conflict of interest.  The stonewalling ended when Biden was finally prodded into publicly proclaiming to the media:

"I have never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings."  However, Biden is on shaky ground based on credible information in the public domain.

To set the stage, President Obama appointed the vice president his "point person" on Ukraine in February of 2014.  From 2014-2017, he made five trips to the Ukraine in his official capacity as vice president as Russian aggression escalated tensions in the Eastern European country.

During the diplomatic shuttling, Biden's son with two business partners were deep in discussions about a deal with the scandal ridden natural gas firm Burisma Holdings.  One of Hunter's partners, Devon Archer, arranged for a meeting with the elder Biden on April 16, 2015 at the White House.

Official White House records show the meeting lasted until 11:59 p.m.  There are no details on the subject of the discussion.  However, less than a week after their chitchat Archer was invited to join the Burisma board  Three weeks later Hunter Biden became a board member, too.

It is not credible to think the vice president knew nothing about his son's Ukraine dealings after the meeting with Hunter's business partner, especially given the timing of the appointments to the Burisma board.  Unless of course, they just talked about grandchildren.  (Sarcasm intended.)

After the board appointments, Burisma touted its newest member, Hunter Biden.  It prominently mentioned he was the vice president's son.  His official role, as vaguely described by Burisma, was to provide "consulting" for the company on "various matters" and to offer "strategic guidance."

Even while the younger Biden had been negotiating with Burisma, the natural gas company was the subject of an investigation into suspected fraud. Great Britain's Serious Fraud Office froze assets of Burisma as part of a money laundering probe.  The assets were later unfrozen when Ukraine sued.

This wasn't the only brush with controversy for Burisma.  It had been suspected of corruption both inside Ukraine and by the United States.  The secretive company's founder Mykola Zlochevsky was also the subject of official Ukrainian inquiries, including for tax evasion.

None of this appeared to matter to Hunter Biden.  Bank records from 2014 and 2015 show Hunter Biden was personally paid more than $850,000.  Burisma does not release compensation details for board members, but the records were uncovered in U.S. litigation into an unrelated case.

Seneca Partners LLC, which included Biden and his two associates, received regular transfers of usually more than $166,000 per month during the 2014-2015 period, according to the same banking records cited above.  These payments came under scrutiny by the Ukraine's general prosecutor.

It was reported that the prosecutor had made plans to "include interrogations and other crime-investigation procedures into all members of the executive board, including Hunter Biden." Both Hunter Biden and the former vice president have declined to comment on this allegation.

This is where the story about the vice president's unawareness of his son's business dealings begins to crumble.   In March of 2016, Biden addressed a public meeting of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, bragging how he had bullied Ukrainian officials into firing the general prosecutor.

Biden described in detail as news cameras rolled how he threatened to pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees if Ukraine didn't immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.  In Biden's own words, here is what he remembered telling Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016:

"I am going to be leaving here in I think about six hours....If the prosecutor is not fired, you're not getting the money," he recalled telling Poroshenko.  "Well, son of a bitch, he got fired.  And they put in place someone who was solid at the time."

There was one tiny fact Biden omitted.  The prosecutor who was summarily fired was leading a far ranging corruption probe into the natural gas company Burisma Holdings, which employed his son as a board member.  And there is more proof that the elder Biden had to know what was happening.

A New York Times article on December 8, 2015, appeared four months before the firing of the general prosecutor and included information about Hunter Biden's role in Burisma.  Biden's office was quoted as acknowledging that the younger Biden was indeed a Burisma board member.

Bloomberg News recently reported the following: "Joe Biden has said that he's never spoken with his son about his foreign business dealings.  Hunter told the New Yorker earlier this year that he once touched on Ukraine obliquely.  "Dad said, 'I hope you know what you are doing' and I said, "I do."

There is no better example of a possible quid-pro-quid arrangement between a top U.S. official and a foreign government than this case.  The former vice president has publicly admitted he threatened to withhold U.S. foreign aid if a Ukrainian prosecutor was not dismissed.

Joe Biden has skated around this issue by repeatedly claiming he was clueless about his son's business dealings.  Now it is time for the Department of Justice to open an official inquiry to determine if the former veep used his office and American aid to spare his son from prosecution.

There is far more evidence in the public record about influence peddling by Joe Biden than the thin accusations against Mr. Trump for his discussion with the Ukraine president about Hunter Biden. The media and Democrats can no longer cover up for the Democratic Party presidential candidate.

It would  be ironic if the Democrats pursuit of the Ukraine connection with Mr. Trump would instead force the party of impeachment to reconsider the candidacy of Joe Biden, whose interference in a foreign country's justice system weakens his chances in the presidential race.

China: Top Threat To American Secuity

Russia, Russia, Russia. Americans have been spoon-fed a diet of news about Russian election interference, cyber attacks and military incursions. As a result of the frenzied coverage, most people are convinced Russia is the chief menace to America.  However, China stands as a far greater threat.

China's aggressive military spending, its extensive cyber spy network and its burgeoning economic dominance make the nation of 1.3 billion people a force to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.  The Asian superpower dwarfs Russia economically, technologically and militarily.

While Russian hackers have intruded computer networks, no country has compromised U.S. government and business security to the extent of the Chinese.  Most experts agree the Chinese have stolen more secrets than Russia to the detriment of America's security and industry.

Just this year a Chinese government hacker invaded the computers of a Navy contractor, stealing massive amounts of highly sensitive data related to undersea warfare.  The theft included secret plans for the development of a supersonic anti-ship missile for deployment on Navy submarines.

Website Security Today concluded that China is the number one culprit in stealing business intellectual property of U.S. companies.  By some estimates, countries pillage almost $600 million in American intellectual property annually.  Most of that economic damage is perpetrated by China.

Four in ten cyber attacks on American government agencies, defense and high-tech companies originate or can be traced back to China.  While Russia and North Korea are also prowling cyber space, the Chinese have been the most active and most successful in hijacking America's secrets.

Economically, China ranks second only to the United States.  China's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a measure of economic output, is $24 trillion.  However, many economic experts believe China has already surpassed America if the statistics are adjusted for purchasing power.

China's manufacturing output overtook the U.S. almost a decade ago. Its exports are more than a third-larger than America.  Since 1978 when China initiated economic reforms, the GDP has grown tenfold.  The country has a work force of 806 million people, compared to 129 million for the U.S.

China's economy is averaging almost seven percent real growth per year.  The annual growth rate from 2015 to 2017 was 6.9 percent, 6.7 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively. During the same period, U.S. growth averaged less than three percent.  Russia's economy was virtually flat by comparison.

The China boom has allowed the nation to expand its global influence by investing in virtually every country worldwide.  By CIA estimates, China had direct foreign investment of $1.34 trillion in 2017. These investments purchase political and economic influence in a host of nations.

Using its new economic wealth, China has pumped up its defense budget.  Today its military spending is almost four times larger than Russia.  The Chinese are producing more weapons, buying the latest military technology and increasing defense research and development.

Even increased military spending by America will not close the gap soon.  That's because about one-half of America's defense budget goes to military personnel.  By comparison, soldiers' pay makes up a tiny portion of the military budget for China.  The lion's share goes to purchasing new weaponry.

China already boasts a powerful military and it is expanding rapidly.  The Chinese are building more aerial combat fighters, attack submarines, destroyers and are developing a super carrier for its Navy.  According to the CIA, China ranks first worldwide in combat aircraft, battle tanks and submarines.

While Russia has interfered in Ukraine and Syria, the Chinese have been on an island-building spree in the South China Sea to spread its military footprint. China has constructed port facilities, military buildings and airstrips on the man-made islands located more than 500 miles from the mainland.

The island buildup has become a major point of contention between the U.S. and China.  The installations pose a potential threat to about $1.2 trillion in bilateral trade that flows through the South China sea. The islands also enable sustained Chinese air and sea patrols far from its border.

In addition, the Chinese are the main sponsor for the rogue regime in nuclear-armed North Korea. Without China's purchase of North Korean coal and other products, the dictatorship would collapse.  No wonder Kim Jong Un doesn't mind kissing the ring of China's benevolent leader Xi Jinping.

Russia, under Vladimir Putin,  will always be on the threat radar.  But China represents the bigger challenge because of its growing military, economic and foreign influence.  The Chinese goal is to become the world's top superpower.  If achieved, American and global security will be at risk.

America's North Korean Conundrum

North Korea and its narcissistic dictator are on a collision course with the United States.  The rogue regime continues to lob missiles over Japan in defiance of America's protests.  Its hermit leader has conducted nuclear tests flouting past treaties.  There is a gnawing fear of a nuclear holocaust.

Despite the burning North Korean crisis, the liberal media and many Democrats naively continue to preach patience.  They appear to take comfort in the fact lunatic leader Kim Jong Un has not yet leveled a country with a nuclear-tipped missile.  They dismiss his provocations as bluffs.

However, there are lessons to be learned from the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.  When the Soviets installed a missile base 90-miles off the coast of Florida, President John F. Kennedy acted decisively to head off the prospect of a nuclear Cuba threatening American security.

JFK ordered a naval blockade around Cuba to prevent the Soviets from sending more missiles and arms to Communist dictator Fidel Castro. In response, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev dispatched a naval armada to Cuba.  The decision nudged America to the brink of war.

Most military experts warned that an armed conflict was inevitable.  After a tense 13-day standoff Khrushchev blinked, offering to remove the missiles from Cuba in exchange for JFK's promise not to invade the Soviet-backed state. A bargain was struck averting war. 

It will require that same kind of steely resolve for America to deal with North Korea.  Current political leaders are swayed by public opinion polls that clearly show Americans are not interested in a conflict on the Korean peninsula. But Kennedy's calculated risk was unpopular too.

America needs a strategy that will force Kim to give up his missiles and nuclear weapons. Appeasement has not worked despite treaties and gobs of foreign aid by the administrations of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barrack Obama.  Agreements and money won't purchase peace.

Efforts to convince China to intervene on America's behalf are fantasies. The U.S. will never be able to force China to abandon its support for North Korea unless it cuts off all trade with the Communist superpower.  That won't happen because there is too much at stake for American businesses.

U.S. goods and services trade with China was $648.2 billion in 2016, according to the Department of Commerce.  China is currently America's leading trading partner.  China holds the leverage in this arena, not the U.S.  It is folly to suggest that America can bring China to its knees over trade.

China has the upper hand in another area. The Chinese currently own more than $1.24 trillion in bonds, notes and bills issued by the American government.  That figure represents 30 percent of all the debt held by foreign governments. It gives China unparalleled bargaining power.

But that doesn't mean's America's hands are shackled. The U.S. should begin laying the groundwork to kick North Korea out of the United Nations.  No member state has ever been expelled from the organization, but there is no better first candidate than North Korea.

The U.N. charter allows for the eviction of members who have "persistently violated" the organization's charter.  Tossing out North Korea would rob Kim of the perk of having the U.S. pay for its diplomats (aka spies) to occupy posh quarters in New York, Rome and Vienna.

The expulsion would require a vote from the Security Council, a group of nations that include China and Russia.  But it is still worth the effort, if only to send a signal to North Korea that it will be cut off from the rest of the civilized world if it continues its adversarial behavior.

Next the U.S. and its allies should institute a naval blockade around North Korea to prevent any weapons or nuclear materials from reaching the failed state. By targeting military shipments, the move could dent the thriving arms export business that is one of the few sources of state income. 

According to military analysts with knowledge of the regime's shadowy arms deals, the Asian nation trades with Africa and Middle Eastern countries, including Syria.  Those shipments are launched from ports off the coast of North Korea, most notably Pyongyang. 

Although North Korea has a military of 6.4 million men that dwarfs America's force of 2.3 million, it is no match for U.S. naval firepower.  North Korea has no aircraft carriers and only a small fleet of frigates and submarines.  American naval forces would overpower any threat to the blockade. 

On top of these moves, America should tighten the screws of economic sanctions, clamping down on the financial dealings of regime leaders and challenging China to follow suit.  If the past is any indication of the future, Kim will thumb his nose at the U.S. and its allies.

The world can no longer allow a madman to willy-nilly launch missiles over soverign countries.  One day Kim will fire a rocket at the U.S. When that moment arrives, public opinion about North Korean intervention will quickly reverse.  By then will it be too late to save America?