An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi
Around the World
Proving that economic illiteracy goes beyond 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.:
- French President François II (Hollande), Master Legal Plunderer, has rejected troubled automakers Peugeot's decision to slash 8,000 jobs and close its Aulnay plant near Paris in 2014. Rumors have been swirling about Peugeot has requested a bailout. No doubt Hollande is looking at Obama's "saving" Government Motors and Chrysler by trying to manipulate the auto market, e.g., throwing taxpayer money at them (e.g., Cash for Clunkers). And a potential government stake in Peugeot? The last thing Peugeot needs is some socialist demagogue pulling puppet Peugeot's strings. No doubt Hollande was watching when Obama fired his first car company CEO. And as soon as he finds out the people responsible for pushing job cuts.... Hollande is already spending money he doesn't have, having rolled back long-overdue pension reform. Bastiat must be rolling over in his grave.
- French President François II engaging in Obama-style token bait-and-switch. Government appointees and administrators are downsizing salaries and perks/expenses (e.g., security details); other cuts are being taken by high-level managers of state-run companies. (I don't have to tell readers I don't think there should be such things as government-owned businesses.) Now, I agree that socialists aren't deserving of original salaries/benefits given their general incompetence about business affairs, but this token, symbolic crap is like Obama's "budget cuts": all hat, no cattle. There aren't enough rich people and token administration cuts to put a serious dent in the French budget deficit.
- European Rant of the Day: Jan Boucek / Adam Smith Institute "Market Hypocrisy". All you have to do is tweak a few words here and there, and it sounds like a rant I would make. In yesterday's post, I discussed the LIBOR scandal whereby the interbank rate was somewhat artificially lower, because Barclays reported a lower than actual lending rate for "wink-and-a-nod" purposes. So Boucek points all the grandstanding by Labour (British version of progressive Democrat) politicians over the whipping boy flavor of the month (any Barclays' executive vs., say, JP Morgan Chase CEO Dimon), when, in fact, the central bank is engaging in the most egregious form of manipulation with near-zero rate interest rate which is essentially robbing prudent savers and fixed-income beneficiaries, not to mention monetizing government overspending; politicians have engaged in market-distorting policies, e.g., to subsidize green energy initiatives; and politicians are masking unfunded senior entitlement liabilities...
- Argentine President Cristina Fernandez has decreed that, in addition to state-owned banks, privately-held banks will be required to make loans capped at roughly 16%, well below more reliable private sector estimates of inflation at 25%. No private bank in the world would make a loan under these conditions; what is she going to do--imitate the US Congress in entitlements and do a "bank fix"? If you want even more evidence of dysfunctional Argentinian economics, consider this: "The president of Argentina’s Central Bank (BCRA), Mercedes Marcó del Pont, stressed the importance of the recently approved bank’s charter reform and denied that printing currency leads to the creation of an inflationary state “since inflation is rooted in other causes” Marcó del Pont ... anticipated some pictures will be coming down from the bank’s hall of fame “beginning with Milton Friedman.”". Let me guess: maybe there's a third crackpot female leader in Argentina, let's call her Argentinian Court Chief Justice Juanita Roberts, whom will rule mandatory private-sector lending below cost constitutional...
- European Blog Question of the Day: George Soros has written an interesting post hoc analysis of the eurozone crisis which dealt with how regulators allowed banks to collect bonds (including those of the PIGS) without proper valuation of risk; thus, many banks in the post-2008 era were caught holding bonds dropping in value as less-competitive PIGS founds themselves struggling to balance budgets and meet bond obligations. This had the net effect of contracting bank assets, rendering the banks all but insolvent; as Tim Worstall asks the same type question I did about the so-called financial reform bill during the last session of Congress, when the Democrats doubled-down on the responsibilities of the Federal Reserve: "If it was indeed the regulators that caused this then what is the argument behind giving the regulators greater powers?"
If I could characterize the Presidential race at the moment, I would say that Obama is in the lead but Romney is just a step back, in good position for a home stretch surge. Obama is leading in enough battleground states to be the favorite at this point, but the big caution is that there is a significant undecided and Obama is not clearing 50% in any state except predictably Democratic states; I expect most undecideds will break for the challenger. Romney still has to close the sale.
Poll Summary Courtesy of NationalPolls.com
| Updated 7/10/12 | Obama | Romney | Tossup |
AVERAGE | 251 | 196.5 | 90.5 |
| Huffington Post | 253 | 191 | 94 |
| Washington Post | 237 | 206 | 95 |
| NY Times | 217 | 206 | 115 |
| CNN | 196 | 159 | 183 |
| NPR | 237 | 206 | 95 |
| Real Clear Politics | 221 | 181 | 136 |
| Electoral-Vote | 326 | 212 | 0 |
| NationalPolls.com | 321 | 211 | 6 |
Is the woman Ann Romney mentioned on Romney's short list Condoleezza Rice? Matt Drudge is clearly promoting her on his famous portal (DrudgeReport), identifying her as a front runner. Short reaction? I hope not; I could live with the selection, but keep in mind that I've been continually urging Romney in this blog to distance himself from George W. Bush. It would be more difficult to name any one person more closely linked to Bush and his foreign policy than Condi Rice. In a certain sense, Dr. Rice would nicely complement Romney's slim credentials on military/foreign policy, and there's no doubt that Condi Rice, a tenured Stanford University full professor, is no Sarah Palin. There is some grumbling in social conservative circles since Romney has been on the record to nominating a pro-life VP (and Condi is pro-abortion choice), but it is clear that Romney is going to carry the McCain states, which loathe Obama, regardless of whom he puts on the ticket. Romney could also signal this isn't your grandfather's GOP.
But with all due respect, I prefer Kay Bailey Hutchison for the reasons I specified in my original post. Unlike the unmarried Condi Rice, Kay is married with children; she would dovetail nicely with suburban moms, a key voting demographic that Romney needs to address. Kay would bring geographic balance to the ticket, and I think she's respected on both sides of the aisle, something that will be an asset in dealing with the Senate bottleneck.
I also worry that Mitt's selection of Condi Rice would sent a wrong signal about his priorities (it's the economy, stupid!); for the most part, Obama has blurred the party lines on Middle East policy. I'm no Karl Rove--I'm just an armchair political strategist, but there are few votes to be had by trying to run the "I'm tougher than Obama is on defense" line when Obama is out there playing whack-a-mole with drones all around the Gulf region. If I was Mitt, I would be looking at ways to differentiate myself from Bush and Obama, e.g., on nation building. I would express concerns about Obama's vacillating foreign policy (e.g., Egypt), expansion of involvement in the Middle East, without Congressional approval (e.g., Libya), and certain flip-flops and decision style (e.g., Gitmo, his micromanagement of drone targets, and his dithering on Afghanistan). Mitt Romney already enjoys strong support among veterans, and I don't see where he wins new support to the ticket from choosing Condi: African Americans are going to vote for an American President, not Vice President, and ideological feminists are not going to switch their support. Condi is also too tied with George W. Bush. I think Obama would much rather have an excuse to remind people who shot UBL than his dismal economic record.
Three more things: the Bain record, the Latino support problem, and the SCOTUS decision.
- Romney needs to avoid sounding defensive on Bain. I think that he needs to compare and contrast his executive experience with Obama's, point out that Obama has had one of the most anti-business administrations on record, how Obama has contributed to uncertainty in the markets, and what he can do to reduce uncertainty as President.
- Romney should endorse Marco Rubio's version of the Dream Act. He should stress respect and support of traditional institutions, including marriage, family and the church. He should identify with social mobility goals and lowering the regulatory burden for hard-working Latino entrepreneurs.
- It's very clear that the Democrats think that they have Romney boxed in on ObamaCare because of similar characteristics to RomneyCare, including the individual mandate. Romney needs to do a better job explaining that the federal burden of health care costs is unsustainable and reform alternatives, the principles behind federalism, lessons learned from Massachusetts, the need for citizens to vest in their health care decisions, the adverse effects of regulation on private sector choices and costs, equal protection for any health care tax benefits, and deregulation of health insurance plans (including self-insurance and multi-state operations).
My thoughts and prayers with her surviving Mom, Constance, her similarly beautiful sisters Jeannie and Melina, and her son Jason. (Susie is my second cousin: Connie is my mom's cousin and a favorite relative with a heart of gold. I had a great relationship with my late feisty Grand-Aunt Ida.) I knew that Susie had health issues, but I didn't know about her cancer (see a promotional video for the cancer cause below).
Connie's family lived in an apartment just up the street from my maternal grandfather's house while he was still running his grocery store; in addition to numerous visits, we stayed at my grandfather's for a few weeks while I was in fifth and sixth grades (while my Dad secured family housing at his new duty assignments), and we kids were constantly at each other's houses. To this day, Connie teases me about singing along with the theme song of my beloved Hercules cartoons (below). [I was terrible: my grandfather loved this canned boneless chicken (which I absolutely loathed), and one day when I learned that we were going to have that, I got myself invited to dinner at Connie's.]
Connie's late husband Norm bought a house a few blocks away sometime after we moved to South Carolina. I remember going to Connie and Norm's house for Christmas dinner while my Dad was stationed in Germany with the rest of my family; Susie obsessively kept replaying the late Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle". When I last saw Susie in 1995, I reminded her of that, and she laughed, saying that Melina was now the Jim Croce fan in the family. As I write this tribute, I've got the song playing on auto-repeat (via Magic Actions for Youtube) in remembrance of Susie. Jim Croce tonight has another angel in his audience tonight; Susie, please put in a request for my favorite, "I Got a Name".
Joss Stone is AMAZING.
Political Humor
Farmers in France have started giving their cows two bottles of wine every day, in order to make better beef. Unfortunately, all the cows wind up doing is texting their ex-milkers. - Jimmy Fallon
[The French will do anything to win the cow tipping contest at the Olympics... The dairy cow union also won retirement at 11 years, every July off, and only real French cheese sold in supermarkets... After a couple of bottles of wine, a cow will let just about anyone milk her for free: what dairy farmer will buy her then?]
Wall Street says they prefer Mitt Romney for president. And by God, who could question Wall Street's judgment? - David Letterman
[You know the economy is bad when even Wall Street can't make money under Obama...]
A new survey indicates that Obama supporters love iPhones. So if you have an iPhone, chances are you are going to be supporting President Obama. In a related story, if you support Governor Chris Christie from New Jersey, chances are you love IHOP. - David Letterman
[You can still find some 2008 iCans. Yes!]
Yesterday, House Republicans held their 33rd vote to repeal Obama’s healthcare law. It was mostly a symbolic vote that accomplished nothing — or as Congress calls that, a vote. - Jimmy Fallon
[After the SCOTUS decision on ObamaCare, Barack Obama gave a speech on the decision. It was mostly a symbolic speech as subsequent Rasmussen polls showed no change in public opinion--or as the Obama campaign calls it, a free political ad.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Who, "I Can See For Miles"
