Miscellany; 09/30/12

Quote of the Day
The real voyage of discovery consists 
not in seeking new landscapes 
but in having new eyes.
Marcel Proust

Regulation and Moral Hazard

I've embedded the below New Zealand-based video before contrasting traffic flow at the same time of day, the one on the left after a power failure. Consider the following example from  Niels Jensen:

Maybe we should learn from the lessons learned in the Dutch town of Drachten. A number of years ago the local council took the seemingly drastic step of removing all traffic lights, most road signs, lane markers and other devices designed to control the traffic flow through the city centre.

The result? The local residents complained at first because they felt less safe, which was exactly the objective of the exercise. When you feel less safe, you slow down and you seek eye contact with your fellow drivers and pedestrians. The experiment has since been repeated elsewhere and the result is the same – a dramatic reduction in the number of accidents everywhere the ‘naked street’ approach (as they call it) has been introduced.

What if we didn't know the government guaranteed our deposits, a loan, or mortgage-based security? As a consumer I would do due diligence, for example, I would want to ensure an MBS was geographically diversified with a preponderance of conventional collateral backed loans.  For other things, I might look at things like ownership stakes and tenure of operations and management, independent audits,  membership in industry or business groups (e.g., Better Business Bureau), prominent customers, depositors, vendors, etc.



Wednesday Night

On Sunday talk soup (e.g., MTP), there was the typical political posturing before this week's first Presidential debate, e.g., the Obama side trying to play down expectations by praising Romney as an experienced debater whom has been preparing 6 years for this debate while Obama has been busy running the country, pointing out incumbent challengers have generally done well (e.g., Mondale and Kerry).

Let's cut through the spin. Obama is trying to play out the clock. he's going into prevent defense; he has 2 major objectives: (1) avoid a Gerald Ford-like gaffe and let his mainstream media allies come away with the takeaway Obama held his own and Romney didn't land a punch, and (2) Obama will try to provoke an un-Presidential reaction, e.g., Gore's disrespectful sighs and in-his-face approach of George W. Bush. Romney has shown a tendency at times of letting his opponents getting under his skin, e.g., his notorious bet with Gov. Perry, and I remember a 2008 debate when McCain made a comment about Romney cutting jobs while with Bain, and provoked a reaction. So i fully expect for Obama to try to land some parting jabs, several are predictable--his notorious flip-flops, his jobs record in Massachusetts as governor, his  Bain experience, trying to buy the Presidency, etc, I wouldn't be surprised to see Obama try to score points on the Akin and Libya 9/11 memo PR debacles, etc. Romney can try to preempt these moves,what he can't afford is to come across as overreacting, defensive and distracted; This would be a good time to have a good "there he goes again" line (might I suggest "we're in the new TV season and Obama is already in negative summer ad reruns")

In addition, Romney should be able to exploit Obama's inaccessible,  rambling rhetoric.and Romney should preempt Obama's cherry-picking predictable nonsense. e.g., 29 months of underwhelming private sector job gains, the slowest job recovery in decades: xx straight months months of 8-plus unemployment., labor force participation rate, anemic GDP growth,  etc.

Don Boudreaux, "Deflating arguments for inflation": 
THUMBS UP

Wages are often sticky downward. think, for example, of teacher unions where longer-tenured, more expensive teachers in a seniority-based system would rather throw junior teachers under the layoff bus rather than to share in compensation an/or work rule austerity measures.

But Keynesians often prefer a little inflation in a challenged economy. Why? Because unlike compensation adjustments, inflation is more of a stealth wage cutter. in the long run, in an inflation-bound economy. workers will demand catch-up adjustments.The real (inflation adjusted) cost of labor falls providing employers with an incentive to hire. As more workers are employed and expand spending, we have a virtuous cycle driving the economy.

Now let's look at the Fed which exercises a government-sanctioned monopoly control over the money supply, presumably in the public interest. it has the power to debase currency.
Boudreaux offers some key takeaways

• "History offers powerful evidence that this trust [in the virtuous Fed]is misplaced. Since the Fed was created in 1913, the dollar has lost 96 percent of its value. By comparison, during the 123 years prior to 1913, the dollar’s value fell by a mere 8 percent."
• "Another problem with using inflation as a “countercyclical tool” is that it initially transfers wealth from creditors to debtors. Debtors repay their loans with dollars worth less than the ones that they earlier borrowed."
• "In addition, because rates of inflation are impossible to predict with any precision, an inflationary policy introduces unnecessary uncertainty into the economy. Households, businesses and investors have to do more guesswork about the future. This added uncertainty is extra drag on the economy."

Don doesn't even mention the non-virtuous transfer of wealth from savers or the distorting effects  on future consumption. for example, during the Internet bubble,  customers accelerated IT purchases from the early Bush years,placing market-distorting redundant orders to ensure fulfillment. During the late 1990's, we had unsustainable asset prices, capital gains and relevant tax revenues.

There's also the Fed's dual mandate of price stability and full employment (particularly the latter); given the preference of incumbent politicians for easy money policies (consider the recent announcement of QE3 by Bernanke during the general election campaign even as Romney warned against it and said he wouldn't reappoint Helicopter Ben Bernanke) .

 "Throughout its history, even up until the current times, the Federal Reserve has continuously succumbed to political and special interest group pressures, and often at the most inopportune times. Existing empirical evidence on the independence of the Federal Reserve, while suggestive of a compromised Federal Reserve, fails to adequately capture the extent of influence of political and special interest groups (Boettke and Smith 2012)."

Reflections on Dodd N. Frankenstein
Why the Dems Forgot the GSE's
Barney "let's roll the dice" Frank vs "Safety and Soundness". 

In a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Sept. 25, 2003, Frank told the committee,” I do think I do not want the same kind of focus on safety and soundness that we have in OCC [Office of the Comptroller of the Currency] and OTS [Office of Thrift Supervision]. I want to roll the dice a little bit more in this situation towards subsidized housing …”

Who failed worse: the crony bankers or House Dems? Maybe if MD Governor O'Malley wins his crony-casino expansion Question 7, Frank will open the new casino by rolling the honorary first dice....

Listen closely to the moderator Anthony Randazzo at the end when he distinguishes between regulation and government-run regulation (which is intrinsically incompetent and ineffective).



Entertainment Potpourri

I seriously doubt that entertainment moguls read a political blog .

Since I'm endorsing Linda McMahon to succeed Lieberman, I thought I would say something about pro wrestling/sports entertainment with prearranged outcomes. I never cared for a number  of Vince  McMahon decisions, e.g., he botched the acquisition of WCW; he booked the talent into jobbing to WWE regulars which undermined the promotion, I would have revamped Nitro and maintained the key PPV''s.  Right now the John Cena character is a stale babyface character but McMahon refuses to turn him heel because his merchandise sells. Current plans seem to be to have Punk job to occasional wrestler/actor The Rock early next year and have Rock job back the title at Wreslemania, maybe in a triple threat match with Punk and Cena.  I don't know how many times they can rerun CM Punk-Cena. Punk and Daniel Bryan are both great characters and technicians, a natural tag team. I would also pair the similarly condescending  Cesaro and Sandow characters ("the Elitists"). The "AJ as GM" angle is annoying; her roles as  a wrestler romantic interest and as a slightly deranged petite female wrestler are more entertaining.  For  the competing TNA promotion Bobby Roode is the best heel character I've seen in years; it was a mistake to take the title off him.

I haven't reviewed new series on CBS, NBC or Fox yet, although I have found new NBC comedies "Animal Practice" and "Guys with Kids" amusing so far.  I disdain abstract art, so seeing a snob paying $300 for a monkey's original was hilarious.

"Revolution" is interesting. The storyline is something has caused all electrical sources (including car batteries) to fail simultaneously. the de facto authority is a roving militia and American flags are seen as part of an outlawed resistance. It seems mysterious amulets can revive some devices like secret  communication terminals.

The CW is reviving one of my favorite series from the late 80's "Beauty and the Beast". In the original series , Catherine, an attorney, is viciously attacked and Vincent, a man with feline characteristics, saves her from further attack and brings her to recuperate from her injuries at his secret shared home under the metropolis streets   I have only seen the excerpt tease below.



Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top,"Gimme All Your Lovin"

Miscellany: 9/29/12

Quote of the Day
We know what a person thinks 
not when he tells us what he thinks, 
but by his actions.
Isaac Bashevis Singer

Political Potpourri

I haven't done one of these in a while; I have to admit the results aren't encouraging at the present time with Obama approval ratings at nearly year-to-date highs and the preponderance of the polls showing a narrow edge to Obama in battleground states.. There are a variety of reasons starting with problems both with Romney and his campaign. i have published several critiques (most recently here).

 Romney can't win simply based on his resume (recall GHW Bush also had "the resume", but he famously admitted lacking "that vision thing"). Romney needs to go big, go for  a free markets mandate and also tackle Congressional reform. He also needs a dash of straight talk,pointing out the status quo is unsustainable and everyone, not just upper income will need to sacrifice. the fact Obama has shown zero leadership besides using accounting gimmicks like double-counting, deferred cuts in projected baseline budget increases. or health care provider price cuts (despite years of doc fixes and provider attrition at at 20-30% below market prices). I think Tanner of Cato has estimated current recipients get over $2 in benefits for every dollar paid in via payroll taxes, premiums, etc. That is unsustainable in or out of government.

I honestly believe no rational person in good faith can vote for Barack Obama. I believe the politically correct term is "mentally challenged". Here is a man, for instance, whom promised bipartisanship but engaged in divisive hardball politics,, ran specifically against the Gulf region wars where not only did he fail to improve on Bueh's negotiated withdrawal from Iraq,but he has already grossly exceeded Bush's 2 terms of fatalities in Afghanistan and vastly expanded drone attacks and Middle East meddling during the Arab spring. not only failed to close Gitmo as promised but immigration and civil liberty reforms--despite in firm control of the 111th Congress. Obama's lack of expertise and experience in business and economics has contributed to the worst jobless recovery since the Depression.leaving him with nothing but excuses, given near zero interest rates and nearly $5.5 trillion added to the public debt. over  twice he inherited (the rest was Treasury instruments held by the social security trust fund), and the first debt downgrade in US history. Obama did nothing to resolve over $40T in unfunded senior liabilities. we see nothing beyond class warfare tax hikes, which narrow the tax base; in any event, there aren't enough rich people to cover existing government spending obligations. We already see the future we're heading for under Obama.whom, unlike Romney, won't be accountable to voters if he wins (because of term limits)  in the European PIIGS crises

There are a few other interesting results in  a couple of widely considered safe blue Senate seats--in Maine and Pennsylvania. Former Maine Gov. King, an Independent, expected to caucus with the Dems, is still the favorite,but the momentum is with the Gop candidates. We are seeing some GOP names tiptoeing into the Missouri race backing Akin against McCaskill. The Dems will continue to try to make this a referendum on political  correctness.

Dick Morris and others have suggested the polls are skewed; one relevant new website claiming Romney is really in the lead is here.There are also two websites with video vignettes of mostly  2008 Obama supporters now supporting Romney: why I changed my vote and my buyer's remorse.



Around the World

•  The Mark v the Euro.  I'm not the only one predicting the Germans will split from the euro PIIGS bond purchases  will be at artificially high prices/low yields. Will Germans bail out the PIGGS? I don't think so. I would specify other discussions but they are proprietary sources.
• One week away from  Chavez liberation? I  hope so. One of my references is a DBA manager at an LA area Catholic university, a Venezuelan immigrant: as I recall, not a Chavez fan.   This blog is not a friend to this despot. Is Henrique Capriles the liberator? I would prefer more of a free marketer, but even a yellow dog would be an improvement over Chavez..
• Europeans are trying their hand at economically ruinous class warfare. thumbs DOWN!.  They are just as illiterate in basic economics as American Democrats and Obama supporters: so much for European education! The last thing France needed with flat growth and high unemployment was to institute a 75% tax bracke (as the article notes, the French desperately need to cut spending and reform/loosen labor regulations). Some German malcontents also want to kill the goose laying the golden egg.
• Is the Russian Connection Over? No, not drugs, but the political alliance between Medvedev and Putin where the Prime Minister and President swapped positions  to keep the Presidency wam for Putin, constitutionally limited to two conservative terms in office Putin has already rolled back modest reforms like decriminalization of slander; there are rumors,that Putin holds the PM ultimately responsible for the inauguration eve protests and  may be ready to throw his political partner under he bus. 

Where Has All Your Freedom Gone?

A recent poll shows only 1 in 3 have privacy concerns about police abuse of law enforcement  access to drone utilization. How many times are Americans going to shove our liberty to be left alone under the bus if and when the statists fear-monger? 

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top, "Cheap Sunglasses"

Miscellany: 9/28/12

Quote of the Day
The most important thing I have learned over the years is 
the difference between taking one's work seriously 
and taking one's self seriously.
The first is imperative, and the second disastrous.
Margaret Fontey

TCS Quote of the Week

"At the end of the day, politicians represent their constituencies but they have this broader and higher mandate of representing the entire country. If the economy of the country goes south, it is not helpful to the country at large. And every politician wants jobs to be created in their constituencies; they want the economy to pick up; and they want growth to accelerate rather than decelerate. I think they need to see the global side of things effecting them … we are all linked in this.”-  Christine Lagarde, IMF

If there was a single moment where the GOP started to lose me it was when one of my legislative heroes Tom Coburn R-OK) sought to divert nearly half a billion in Alaskan bridge earmark boondoggles to fund the rebuild of part of I-10 destroyed by Katrina. Political Senate collusion killed the Coburn amendment 82-15 after a memorable outburst by the late Alaska senior senator Ted Stevens:

"I will put the Senate on notice -- and I don't kid people -- if the Senate decides to discriminate against our state and take money only from our state, I will resign from this body," Mr. Stevens vowed. 

No doubt the bipartisan consensus was there but for the grace of God...If they started with taking away Alaska's earmarks, whose state may be next? Maybe even that of freshman senator Barack Obama? Accountants and judges have codes of conduct when it comes to exercising on any vested interest  If and when spending is necessary it should be based on intrinsic reasons not political rank or tenure. A congressman should only vote for spending knowing his grandkids may end up paying the bills out of their hard-earned money.

Obama Vote Buying: Obama Phones, Obama Money
He Just called to Say He Loves You
And Remember to Vote 
Or Romney Will Cut You Off







Games Congress Plays

Taxpayers for Common Sense details ways Congress makes it difficult to stop abusive spending, whether it's an inability to fully audit the Pentagon, stalling tactics like endless studies, denying funds or authority to close a money-losing, not requested  or redundant items, office, military facility, train routes, post offices, self-imposed restrictions  rules on spending bill adjustments, or procrastinating action on major bills to force less constrained up-or-down stop-gap continuing resolutions. I would like to see Romney address relevant reforms.




Political Humor

This totally explains  DNC Chair  Debbie Wasserman Scultz (D-FL):
High Spin Cycle
Courtesy Forbes, 24 Stunningly Dumb Warning Labels

Paul Ryan now says that President Obama's foreign policy has "blown up in his face" and it's time to go back to the Republican foreign policy. Well, let's see, Obama kept Guantanamo Bay open, the troops are still overseas, and the Middle East hates us. Isn't that the Republican foreign policy? - Jay Leno

[ Yesl Obama should extend his apology tour to 2008 voters..] 

A new survey shows how much time we waste every day. For example, we waste seven minutes in line waiting for coffee, 28 minutes getting through airport security, and four years waiting for President Obama to do something about the economy.- Jay Leno

[And nearly a dozen years for Uncle Sam to pay his bills.]

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top, "I Thank You"

Miscellany: 9/27/12

Quote of the Day
No man who has once heartily and wholly laughed can be altogether irreclaimably bad.
Thomas Carlyle

Rerunning the Election of 1980 or 1936?

As I heard Ann Romney complain about critics of Mitt's campaign, suggesting the campaign is hard and that we critics aren't being constructive. Cry me a river.

This blog has repeatedly provided constructive criticism, but let's point out  that many of the problems faced by the campaign have been predictable and/or self-inflicted. I have  pointed out for several months I expected the Obama campaign to go negative and Romney's wealth in combination with Obama's class warfare rhetoric was entirely predictable. The obvious defense is a preemptive strike (releasing an independently attested abridged version of tax returns}; for a while, I thought perhaps  he was engaging in a risky strategy of luring Democrats like Reid to make reckless allegations he could publicly ambush and  swerve them, but I've been constantly beating the drum that Romney could not afford to allow Obama to define him or make Romney play on Obama's home court, with the reelection campaign's  mainstream media allies,  forcing the Romney campaign to play defense.

Let's point out a few points:

• Fortunately for Romney, Obama is also highly predictable. I have pointed out in several posts that Obama is emulating FDR's political and political strategy his talking points e.g., blaming free enterprise for the great recession/depression. Romney should have anticipated a 1936 rematch. among other things, Romney should be be well versed in Depression economics, the failures of Keynesian policies (e.g., Von Mises, Higgs, etc.) For an alternative perspective, Romney should look at failures in Fed policies, taxpayer exposure because of government guarantees and failures in preexisting regulation including the Fed. I would point out the Dem financial reform failed to deal with the actual users of TARP funds. There was no post audit of government's failures in the economic tsunami. Instead the Dems engage in an unsustainable, instantly obsolete patchwork, a poor substitute for free market competition.
• One of the most  predictable things has been Obama's ritualistic Bush-bashing. It was inevitable that a desperate Obama would attempt  to tie  Romney to Bush's economic policies. I've been beating the drum for some time now Romney needed to be prepared to throw Bush under the bus, to distinguish his Presidency apart from GW Bush, to identify himself as a reformer, to criticize Bush's spending record, unfunded medicare expansion, government crowding out private sector growth, promote various economic liberty reforms, etc.
• Romney will not win by default; the clock is not his friend, he needs to do more than remind people of a weak economy and his own resume; he must expose Obama's statist agenda, the historic failures of planned economies, Obama's failure to embrace free markets and free trade, how class warfare tax hikes narrow the tax base and impair economic growth, and how excess government spending crowds out private sector growth and hiring.and  a 59-point plan overwhelms most voters:he needs a simpler message 
• given voters' economic security concerns, Romney needs to reassure those looking for safety-net programs in a difficult economy means-testing will ensure long-overdue government reform is not made on the backs of lower-income beneficiaries
• Mark Alexander has also made a comparison with 1936 and  FDR

My  Favorite World Leader For the Day

"Tell President Obama I'll call back, I'm playing tennis"- British PM David Cameron. A perfect rebuke to The (Unprofessional) One's own insulting rebuke to the Israeli PM's visit when Obama left the meeting to eat dinner with the family

For the record , I would channel  my inner Clint Eastwood if Obama ever called me. I would turn down any invitation to the White House or job with his Administration,  I do not like Cameron's fawning over a second-rate American politician.

"Piss Christ" is Back

Andres Serrano won a $15K prize backed in part by the unconscionable National Endowment for the  Arts (a federal agency) for taking a photo of a crucifix submerged in a vial of his own urine in the late 80's. He has 10 prints, one currently on display in a midtown NYC gallery as part of a career retrospective.

The contrast to the reaction in Islamic countries over a film NOT backed by the US government is striking, I suspect this "artist" will not try to extend  his provocative works to include historic Muslim figures.

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top, 'it's Only Love'

Miscellany: 9/26/12

Quote of the Day
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
William Arthur Ward

Privatize  It!

The Postal Service last month failed to pay $5.5 billion for its fiscal 2011 prepayment obligation, which originally was due in September 2011 but was deferred by Congress until Aug. 1. That was the first time it ever defaulted on a payment to the Treasury Department. The $5.6 billion due this week, on Sept. 30, represents this fiscal year’s obligation.

The Panderer-in-Chief

From the Washington Post:

After President Obama pledged in March to create up to 15 manufacturing centers nationwide, the first federal grant went to a place at the heart of his affections: Ohio.

 When the Obama administration awarded tax credits to promote clean energy, the $125 million taken home by Ohio companies was nearly four times the average that went to other states.

And when a Cleveland dairy owner wanted to make more ricotta cheese, he won what was then the largest loan in the history of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Either Obama or Vice President Biden has popped up in the Buckeye State every three weeks on average since they took office.

Andrew Morris' review of a Couch-Shughart scholarly review of the Depression notes a few salient points:

• make a point of noting that the Roosevelt administration’s approach in the “first New Deal” (1933-1935) was built around an “anti-market ideology” that “placed much hope in the central government’s ability to produce favorable results” and attributed the Depression to the market.
• provide extensive historical evidence to show that New Deal legislation lacked the checks and balances necessary to restrain political use of the programs.
• conclude that “political self-interest was perhaps the most important motive underlying the administration’s spending decisions. A state’s popular vote for FDR in the 1932 election and its importance to the President’s electoral college strategy are consistently [statistically] significant determinants of the amount of federal aid it received.”

Barack Obama is just an FDR wannabe without gubernatorial experience.

Bernanke Learns to Play Golf:
Tries To Chip In From Moral Hazard

Economist Lawrence Lindsey said that with the Fed purchasing at least $40 billion a month in mortgage debt through QE3, “they are buying the entire deficit.”

The central bank's recently announced bid to stimulate the economy has also taken the pressure off politicians to deal with the U.S. fiscal cliff, Lindsay argued, which could result in destabilizing tax hikes and spending cuts automatically taking effect early next year.

“The Fed, maybe because it can't do otherwise, has told the Congress: 'We're going to buy your bonds no matter what."

Great Moments in Regulation 

Remember Upton Sinclair, sausages and rat feces? Guess what the USDA doesn't check? I'm sure this1997 US News excerpt will whet your appetite for your next burger or steak:

Agriculture experts say a slew of new and questionable methods of fattening cattle are being employed by farmers. To trim costs, many farmers add a variety of waste substances to their livestock and poultry feed and no one is making sure they are doing so safely. Chicken manure in particular, which costs from $15 to $45 a ton in comparison with up to $125 a ton for alfalfa, is increasingly used as feed by cattle farmers despite possible health risks to consumers.Chicken manure often contains campylobacter and salmonella bacteria, which can cause disease in humans, as wellas intestinal parasites, veterinary drug residues, and toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury. These bacteria and toxins are passed on to the cattle and can be cycled to humans who eat beef contaminated by feces during slaughter.Agricultural refuse such as corncobs, rice hulls, fruit and vegetable peelings, along with grain byproducts from retail production of baked goods, cereals, and beer, have long been used to fatten cattle. In addition, some 40 billion pounds a year of slaughterhouse wastes like blood, bone, and viscera, as well as the remains of millions of euthanized cats and dogs passed along by veterinarians and animal shelters, are rendered annually into livestock feed in the process turning cattle and hogs, which are natural herbivores, into unwitting carnivores.

No wonder the Obama's like their steak with arugula:"takes me back: a little hint of Rin Tin Tin".

Remember a few months back when I missed some daily posts because a bad power outage. This excerpt comes from a relevant rant called "Dumb Government"

Here's the first paragraph of a Washington Examiner article printed Monday:

Eliminating the surcharge that allows electric companies to charge customers for power during an outage could make it harder for the utilities to prevent future outages, company officials told the Maryland Public Service Commission, or PSC, on Monday.

In other words, the local power company is working to persuade the dumb government to keep charging customers even when they are too inept to provide the juice they promised. Any economist will tell you the lack of revenues during a blackout should provide a natural incentive for the company to prevent blackouts.

Fortunately, the government is there to squash any sense of a natural economy. Why fix the problem, it says, when we can paper it over with other people's money?

But wait, dear reader, our story gets better (the emphasis is mine):

The surcharge is intended to help utilities earn the revenue they are legally entitled to in months when customers use less electricity than expected, like if a summer month is cooler than usual. This usually amounts to a small sum on an individual customer's bill -- sometimes less than a dollar -- though it means a difference of millions of dollars for utilities. The battle in Washington this week stems from a late-June storm that left thousands of folks near the nation's capital without electricity for more than a week. Without power, these folks lost hundreds of dollars' worth of groceries. They were forced to stay in hotels. And many businesses lost a week's worth of revenues.

Will the power company reimburse them? Oh no... maybe in a free market, but not in this rigged economy. Instead, the customers are forced to pay up. The power companies need that revenue, you know what's next? Will I have to write a check to BP when my truck is in the garage? Big Oil depends on my cash to keep the wells flowing, right? Again, if the government stepped out of the way, the power industry would be forced to fend for itself. Most of today's providers would be out of business in a month.

And yet (see above} Obama is bragging about bailing out failing auto companies and their unions...An end to "too big to fail".

Hall of Shame

From a great investment website rant:  {I had condemned the Houston killing in an earlier post) legalized thuggery and its defenders are unconscionable:

I ask: Would the freest nation on earth publicly execute a wheelchair-bound double amputee at a home for the mentally ill?

It happened last week in Houston. The [two]courageous men in blue there opened fire on the man who was wielding a pen after he demanded a cigarette and a soda.

This guy had one arm and one leg and was mentally ill. Houston cops shot him in the head.

Six Michigan police fired 46 bullets at a mentally ill homeless man in July.

Michigan's finest, well-trained, and noble officers hit the man 11 times — with fewer than 25% of their shots.

Two of those fine Michigan men have been reprimanded; one has been demoted. Their names were not released.

Where is Chuck Norris when you  need him? I bet he could disarm a mentally ill mam wielding a pen or a knife without blowing him away. Other non-lethal options, e.g., mace, tear gas, sedatives, batons, tasers, etc,


Political Humor

Clint Eastwood’s new movie, “Trouble with the Curve,” opened in third place this weekend after making only $12 million. Of course, when he saw a movie theater had so many empty seats, Eastwood was like, “Look at these crowds!” - Jimmy Fallon

[Barack Obama and his doubles are all Clint Eastwood fans. The  gate is understated: because BO said that he would gladly pay him Tuesday for movie admission today. What bothered Clint more was  the President's review of Clint's performance and suggestions, which Clint insisted he couldn't do. And then they talked about the movie.]

Last night the replacement refs made a very controversial call that many people felt cost Green Bay the game. Well, thank God fans in Green Bay don't take their football that seriously. - Jay Leno

[Chief  field justice John Roberts insisted his call was a tax, not a penalty. but he didn't like the Cheeseheads replacing his penalty flag.]

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top, "Tush"

Miscellany: 09/25/12

Quote of the Day   
The family is the nucleus of civilization.
Will Durant


Maryland Politics: Question 7 attacks on Opponents

I usually don't  get involved in the minutiae of state propositions, but on free market principles I don't like artificial constraints and corrupting crony issues on things like gaming. Question 7 is being sold on jobs and tax revenues tied to state education; businesses  don't like paying unnecessary costs, so anyone knows the real story is revenues and profits, so the gaming interests behind question 7 are hypocritically pointing at out-of-state competition:

MGM Resorts International, which reached an agreement this summer with developers at National Harbor to build a resort casino should their site be chosen, has given $2.4 million to a pro-casino campaign committee, For Maryland Jobs and Schools.

Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns Hollywood Casino Perryville and Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races in West Virginia, as well as another potential Prince George's casino site, Rosecroft Raceway, has given $5.5 million to the Vote No On 7 committee.

What would  motivate Penn to oppose Q7? Baltimore Sun explains

 We don't know whether adding a third mega-casino in the Baltimore-Washington corridor would over-saturate the market, but we have already seen signs that the appetite for gambling in Maryland is not infinite. Hollywood Casino in Perryville — owned by Penn National, the same people spending millions on the anti-Question 7 ads — has seen a major drop in revenue since Maryland Live opened at Arundel Mills.

Why does the Sun oppose Q7?

In reality, Question 7 is a massive giveaway to the casino owners at the public expense. It guarantees steep tax cuts for most of the state's casinos and allows the possibility for even greater reductions in the future. The Department of Legislative Services estimates that the casino owners stand to reap a $525 million windfall if Question 7 passes.

Mainstream Media Pumping

I subscribe to a number of news alert services and I have noticed that CNN goes out of its way to spotlight pro-Obama or anti-Romney news- it may be the latest poll  Or say, an upbeat economic report which feeds into the Obama    talking point  that the economy is improving . For example, this morning there was an alert on housing sales in 20 cities.first, most investors are aware that home builder stocks have done well this year; in part, over 100M people are still employed, it's a buyers' market, people are always buying and selling homes, and mortgage rates are cheap.  It depends on the nature and extent of sales . For example, some REIT's are buying houses on the cheap,and then converting them into rentals.

I'm not going to be contrarian for its own sake.  It's difficult seeing wages  pushing up in a weak economy with millions un- or underemployed and the Fed knew about these numbers before announcing QE3 forever.

Sunday Talk Soup Talking Points

I still have a hard time listening to  unchecked political spin,but I listened today to older  MTP and FNS  podcasts.  I liked Gingrich pushing back on this talking  point about the  alleged extremist GOP pro-life plank  He raised  the point of Barack Obama stonewalling the born alive infant protection act in Illinois. I felt he should have pointed out there was a federal version that passed without  a dissenting vote.

Then there was this bogus talking point  over an alleged failure on Romney's part refuting Obama''s ludicrous talking point scapegoating GOP policies for the economic tsunami;  first of all, banking has almost never been laissez  faire. Second, conservatives haven't been in favor of  loose money, "too big to fail", or government guarantees and subsidies, and Obama has built on Bush's record of superspending and regulatory growth. Middle East/Gulf Region meddling and erosion of civil liberties, and government/regulatory failure. Obama reappointed Bernanke.    .                                          

Political Humor

Congratulations to Mitt Romney and President Obama. They both won Emmys for their performance on "60 Minutes" last night. Obama won for acting as if everything has gotten better over the last four years, and Romney won for pretending to care about that other 47 percent. - Jay Leno

[Not only did Obama win lead actor in a comedy series for playing  President but Biden won best supporting actor for the fourth consecutive year. Clint Eastwood's Chair Obama won for guest appearance.]

 The president's re-election campaign slogan is "Forward," which is also his policy on paying for stuff. - Jay Leno

[Which is how our Chinese creditors got the Romneys' home number.]  

HT Carpe Diem



Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top, "La Grange"

Miscellany :09/24/12

Quote of the Day  
If I were given the opportunity to present 
a gift to the next generation, 
it would be the ability for each individual 
to learn to laugh at himself.
Charles Schulz

Terminate Hillary Clinton NOW
Amateurish Foreign Policy Has a Price

 Yes, I'm well aware that change begins at the top, and the real solution is to fire the hopelessly incompetent Obama, but job #1 for Clinton is/was ensuring safety of American diplomats.  Stevens' diary detailed  security concerns; either she knew those concerns or she didn't. Obviously if she knew,the question is: what did she do about it? MORE specifically why was Bush's preventive  policy reversed:

There were major uprisings across the world celebrating al Qaeda’s triumphs 11 years ago on Sept. 11. During the George W. Bush administration, U.S. overseas installations were put on high alert and diplomats were instructed to be extra cautious around Sept. 11. The Obama administration, which downplays the Islamic threat, neglected to undertake these precautions this year with dire consequences.

According to CNN, Ambassador Stevens wrote in his private journal that he was nervous about the decaying state of security in Benghazi. Yet his government took no measures to protect him, and staff evacuated during this month’s attack without knowing if he - the principal U.S. official in country - was safe or even where he was.

 Is Michelle Obama a Competent Mother?
The Predictable Response of Kids to
"Food with Good Taste vs. Food That Tastes Good"

No, I'm not taking a cheap shot at Ms. Obama, but even a never-married bachelor or armchair free-market economist could predict responses of picky eating kids being force fed  unfamiliar unappealing foods or prohibitions of preferred snacks in vending machines. I can still recall mom making occasional sandwiches for lunch I loathed while  in middle school--I particularly disliked a certain  sliced sausage Dad must have liked--and my stubborn mother knew my reaction. I would rather go hungry than eat it--i routinely pitched the sandwich in the trash; I also remember dating this woman who shared a dislike of bean sprouts which came with dinner at a restaurant we liked--we made a game of diverting the other's attention to offload our sprouts on the other's plate. So when Olson writes  about kids taking a pass on hummus and black bean salad (gross!)  and being hungry late in the day because they don't like the higher-costing approved lunches and discard the 'healthy for you foods". Never mind not enough calories for student athletes. I can easily see a black market in Twinkies and Snicker bars. My ritual on exam days at UH was large Hershey's with Almonds bars.  So hearing there's a black market of squeezes of  chocolate syrup in New Bedford (where my retired Uncle Roger lives)  doesn't surprise me.

Familiar readers may know where I'm going with this. one of my baseball stories was a lesson playing first base at the end of my last year of youth baseball (like most left-handers I mostly played the outfield).  My teammates were throwing wildly to first base,and the crowd was booing me. I adjusted how played first-base, playing first base like the outfield--I knew I couldn't improve my teammates' errant throws but I could change how I played first base. Similarly, you have to know kids eating lunch at school, not unlike a writer needs to know his audience.  For example some parents can fold vegetables into juices, omelettes, meat loaf, soups, pasta, pizza. etc., but it's more important to ensure kids are getting enough calories for their activity level in an appealing presentation

Political Humor

Mitt Romney's campaign released his 2011 tax return. Democrats still want him to release all his tax returns for the last 10 years. Romney says he can't do it, and he's got a good excuse. He says his dog ate them and then Obama ate the dog. - Jay Leno

[Obama will soon join the 47% on an incomr tax-free diet.]

In an interview with Univision, President Obama said if there's one thing he's learned, it's that you can't change Washington from within. So what is he saying — that if we want real change, we should throw him out?- Jay Leno

[Yes... Who knew the change we were looking for was Food Stamp Nation,  the federal government losing taxpayer money in car companies, the lowest labor participation rate in decades,lower household net worth or income or we're still losing men in Afghanistan 4 years later?]

Who Is John Galt?



Musical Interlude, My Favorite Groups

ZZ Top, "Francine"

Miscellany: 9/23/12

Quote of the Day 
Anything looked at closely becomes wonderful.
AR Ammons

Maryland Politics: NO on Question 7

i personally don't like gambling and have only rarely participated in the occasional pool or so--I recall a Powerball craze in 2001 while on a project in Wisconsin. I recall being in Vegas a couple of times for academic conferences in the 80's. I remember making a quarter last for an hour on a poker machine (and I had never played poker)

I don't know the history of how states got involved in the marketing of vices, I remember when I went on a campus visit to Bowling Green in Ohio I heard that Ohio was an alcohol beverage control state, an artifact of the 21st Amendment (repealing Prohibition)  Texas has its own share of blue laws (I remember roped off supermarket aisle beer and wine sections on Sundays) and dry counties (I remember having to stop off at a package store before visiting my married sister in Plano to buy a 6-pack as the country was about to elect President Zipper in 1992  Beer is not enough to forget  a national tragedy.)

Likewise, as a libertarian, I also have little tolerance of government monopolies or control over betting or variations, even over innocuous forms like lotteries or parish fundraisers like Bingo night or raffles. The politicians saw revenues pulled in casinos located in Vegas,Atlantic City, reservations and elsewhere and  looking for their "fair share" of tax loot, which they see as being lost to neighboring states, and to sell it to citizens with moral concerns about sanctioning questionable behavior. Typically politicians tried to win support by linking revenue to ideal public funding--in particular there  are sacred cows of public spending: public education. I have not disguised my utter contempt for chronic tax-and-spending Governor Martin O'Malley, whom has Presidential aspirations. Casino-expanding question 7 is being sold on relevant revenues dedicated to increases in education funding. This is really no more than cronyism as usual and a fiscal shell game we've constantly seen in Obama's repeated attempts to bail out state/local  funding (e.g., teachers or public safety) It really becomes a shell game e.g, you can offset spending cuts elsewhere from general revenue outlays for education which will be replenished by dedicated funding ,e.g., gaming tax revenue.

I think education, if and when it is funded, should not be funded by exploiting those with gambling addictions. it's bad enough we have people addicted to government  spending, legalized plunder, out of other people's pockets--including taxes of their children and grandchildren, i.e.,  registered Democrats. but giving Maryland's spendthrift  legislature more play money to fritter away would be morally irresponsible.

Why I'm not supporting Gary Johnson

It' a fair question; his positions are close to mine, and unlike Ron Paul, he has a decent track record as a public sector executive . He also has experience building  a real business.

I wrote a recent post  explaining that my support for Romney has less to do with what he says as much as what he's done. Romney has been a management consultant and turnaround specialist. if anyone is capable of re engineering this albatross of a government  it's Romney.  Job #1 is  defeating the worst President in American history, and Romney is the only viable opponent to the Empty Suit; Johnson was barely registering within statistical error for the GOP nomination Johnson also led  a small  state, has little federal experience and last served a decade ago  One could argue Romney's federal experience is limited, too. But Romney has proven himself to be a quick study, e.g., the Winter
Olympics turnaround.

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

The Commodores, 'Night Shift". Well-done tribute to then recently murdered soul great Marvin Gaye (one of my sisters hated his song "Sexual Healing") and Jackie Wilson. Probably the best single in the post-Richie era. This ends my Commodores' series; my next group is ZZ Top.

MIscellany: 9/22/12

Quote of the Day   
I used to say, 'Things cost too much.' 
Then my teacher straightened me out on that by saying, 
'The problem isn't that things cost too much. 
The problem is that you can't afford it.' 
That's when I finally understood that the problem wasn't 'it'
the problem was 'me.'
Jim Rohn

Economics Quote of the Day

[Adam] Smith it seemed unlikely that the “artificial direction” given to the economic efforts of society would be better than the direction it would have taken “of its own accord.”  But here as elsewhere in The Wealth of Nations, the question was ultimately not one of theory but of fact.

History showed that governments habitually mismanaged economic affairs, that such mismanagement was difficult to correct (in contrast to the market’s swift correction by bankruptcy), and the the whole bias of government projects was toward things that were big and showy rather than useful.  A government will often create works “of splendour and magnificence” to be seen by those whose applause will flatter its vanity and promote its political interests but will neglect “a great number of little works” which may have “extreme utility” but present no “great appearance” to “excite … the admiration” of passers-by.  Down through the centuries governments have been prone to operate at a deficit, often using tricky fiscal devices to conceal just how much they were in debt. -Thomas Sowell HT Cafe Hayek

This was written in 1979  isn't it amazing how prophetic Sowell was back then, we have  Democrat-controlled Senate  hasn't put up a budget in over 1000 days, a President whose own budget was  rejected even by his Senate partisan colleagues,  Obama has been pushing white elephant boondoggles like high-speed trains, Keynesian spending binges dressed up as "stimulus spending". We have baked-in spending increases for most of the budget and Obama's disingenuous idea of "shared sacrifice" is current class warfare tax hikes with deferred cuts in budget increases late in the decade to follow beyond any second term.          

There is a hot best seller largely and predictably  ignored by the fawning mainstream  coverage of the Empty Suit (by way when Clint Eastwood channeled his inner Bob Newhart with the empty chair bit, I thought it would have been much funnier if he had brought  an empty suit to put on the chair next to him]. I know for a fact that I would be at least 5 times a better President--to start with I wouldn't be a whiny bitch scapegoating my  predecessors; you know, you punk, you ran 2 years for a position you weren't qualified for; you know, man up. be careful of what you wish for; at least I have the stones to own up to my performance. There was a rumor around the time of my dissertation defense  some troublemakers might show up, and I was a cocky young academic saying to my chair, they should "bring it on."  I can think of at least half a dozen failing projects I've personally turned around. Those of us who are legitimate overachievers scoff at the pretentious Barack Obama;granted, he won the Presidency with the thinnest resume in  American history, but a yellow dog could have won in an open election with the incumbent at a record low rating; if you elected me President with a conservative Congress I would change the world.

Going back to Edward Klein's bestseller The Amateur, which  I have not read yet, the following comes from the jacket:

In this stunning exposé, bestselling author Edward Klein—a contributing editor to Vanity Fair, former foreign editor of Newsweek, and former editor-in-chief of the New York Times Magazine—pulls back the curtain on one of the most secretive White Houses in history. He reveals a callow, thin-skinned, arrogant president with messianic dreams of grandeur supported by a cast of true-believers, all of them united by leftist politics and an amateurish understanding of executive leadership.
In The Amateur you’ll discover:

• Why the so-called “centrist” Obama is actually in revolt against the values of the society he was elected to lead
• How Obama has taken more of a personal role in making foreign policy than any president since Richard Nixon—with disastrous results

One should note  that the cited credits are not exactly conservative periodicals;

Can lightning strike twice for this snake oil salesman? Fool American voters once, shame on you, if the American people re vote easily the worst, most incompetent President in American history shame on them

Some brief political notes: Romney is tied with Obama in the more accurate Rasmussen and Gallup polls;  if I was in the Obama campaign, I would be worried. it's not just losing the post-convention bounce (which usually dissipates} but Romney has been on the defensive  the last couple of weeks, and apparently their ubiquitous ads are not connecting. If I were Romney, I would campaign as the anti-Obama: no excuses up to the challenge, give me a GOP Congress, the same thing you gave the Democrats, and we'll put the government on a diet that goes beyond the student lunchroom. I'll let free enterprise heal the economy, while Obama can heal the planet in the private sector. I'll get the government out of the way of our businesses producing insanely great  products and services.

Congressman  Gutierrez is quoted as ensuring Obama will deliver a Latino-friendly immigration reform. This is the same scam Obama pulled in 2008, Not going to happen with a filibuster-vulnerable Senate, There was a deal on the table in 2007 which Obama sabotaged in favor of his union bosses. The idea he's going to deliver reform without revamping a visiting worker program is a pipe dream.And I'm  sympathetic on  immigration reform: trust me: any Latino who believes Obama can deliver on that promise is delusional. he couches his language on regaining an overwhelming Dem majority which won't happen. ironically just as anti-Communist Richard Nixon opened the road to Red China, Romney may be the one candidate whom can deliver comprehensive immigration reform.

Around the World

• IDB editorial, 'You Broke Mideast, Mr. President, Now You Own It", Thumbs UP! I got an email alert over the weekend talking about Obama's surge troops now removed: was the operation worth the large casualty count?. This is mostly a rehash of Obama's amateurish foreign policy including one of appeasement to Muslim dissidents, in  particular Egypt, and critical of Israeli policies.I would have talked about the mixed message of expanding drone attacks and Obama's uneven treatment of Iran's green revolution.  There is also a possible link between the Libya consulate attacks and Obama's military actions.
• The Argentina economy  slumping under  Kirchner the reelected widow whom has slowed growth by about two-thirds with counterproductive loose money, nationalized companies and imports and currency controls, etc, Inflation is skyrocketing  and the IMF is threatening censure.
• ECB Bond Buying? Thumbs DOWN!  I think the bailouts amount to moral hazard. 

Unacceptable Law and Order  

A double amputee (one arm and one leg)  was shot and killed after cornering the police officer's  partner in a corner of the group home with his wheelchair and threatening him with a pen in a swiping motion. two armed officers can't disable a one-armed man without using deadly force. No excuses: unacceptable!

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

The Commodores, "Oh, No". One of my favorite Richie songs, I put him next to Paul McCartney in writing memorable pop melodies; I've all but stopped listening to current music. Very few songs with a memorable hook. This song reminds me of a petite lady, one of the daughters of  a UT engineering professor. She was a math ed graduate student and shared an office down the hall from mine, and I had an unrequited crush on her.  Unfortunately for me, she was already involved with an engineer. I had expected to join the USAF as an officer (a meteorologist trainee), but I got passed over and was living inexpensively off campus trying to find work--this was before Austin, then in a no-growth, quality of life mode, grew to its present size. I used to venture onto campus to scan want ads at the library (the placement center  refused to help because I wasn't a current student); I was trying to get a job teaching at a community college to no avail. I tried to go back to pick up high school teaching credentials, but I needed financial aid; my parents refused to submit paperwork, saying they refused to enable my becoming a "professional student". My little brother was enrolled at UT, and I pointed out my parents' data were already on file, but the college bureaucrat claimed using it would violate my brother's "data privacy" (expletive deleted).

Anyway, my crush saw me crossing me campus one day and called me over. I found myself losing myself in those warm brown eyes once again. She was excited to tell me something. She proudly showed off her sparkling new engagement ring, I tried to be happy for her, but my world was crumbling down inside. There was no romantic past, but she knew I liked her; there's more to the story; she understood and handled it gracefully. We've briefly been in touch via social networking over the recent past; her family is multi-generation orange (UT Longhorn); she's a football fan, and one of my nephews had a prominent role with the marching band, but alas two of his brothers are Aggies.

Her friendship has been one of God's blessings in my life; when you love a woman you have no choice but to wish God's blessings on her each and every day of her life, even a life without you.

MIscellany: 09/21/12

Quote of the Day  
I was gratified to be able to answer promptly. 
I said I don't know.
Mark Twain

Obama Narcissism Behavior Watch

Out of concern for creative/Obama campaign rights; I won't reproduce the Obama swirl flag below but here's a current link.  I've seen it everywhere; I think there's a car magnet version for a smaller donation. If you still don't know the symbol in essence they have taken the familiar blur-and-white Obama swirl and have overlaid it over the state region of the flag (a not very creative design (my political humor ad libs are at least 100 times more creative)), and fewer stripes, instead of the original 13 colonies/States. This is, of course, wildly offensive to those of us whom cherish the concept of federalism missing in Obama's obsession with the provably false model of central planning, never mind arbitrary changes to a cherished traditional symbol. IDB has a relevant current editorial  "Obama's Creepy Cult of Personality",

Let me cite a disturbing extract of a chilling pledge from the Obama-swirl shirt minions to the Pied Piper of Failed Liberalism:

The "For All" effort encourages celebrities, politicians and regular folk to submit photos of themselves with their hands — on which messages are scrawled — held over their heart, pledging to vote for Obama so he can provide (fill in the blank) "For All!"
Equal pay ... For All!
Women's rights ... For All!
Food ... For All!
A Future ... For All!

In theory, this propaganda sounds innocuous enough unless you realize it's based on abused statistics and bad economics, even more morally hazardous policies and restrictions on basic economic liberty, and  government meddling in the economy.

Romney Gets It Right on the Tax Return Controversy

I don't know if the Romney campaign reads my blog but several weeks back, I encouraged Romney to release enough tax-related data  about his returns to silence the basic thrust of uber-partisan hacks like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; the elite CPA firm Price Waterhouse Coopers attested to Romney's paying over a 13% rate from 1990 through 2009 and an overall greater than 20%, and Romney's second promised return  2011 showed he gave almost a third of his mostly investment income to charity and only deducted about half of that in his itemized deductions, meaning he paid more taxes than required. (I'll point out he has indicated looking at deductions versus tax bracket changes).(An aside: I worked with the management consulting affiliate of Coopers and Lybrand ; I was part of the Oracle practice in the Chicago area dissolved before the PW merger. we could not own shares in any Cooper's accounting  client even though we had no contact on the audit side of the business.  CPA's have a very rigorous code of conduct, not only fact but appearance of independence. I took the traditional audit course as part of my PhD minor.)

Musical Interlude: my Favorite Groups

The Commodores, "Lady, You Bring Me Up"

Miscellany; 9/20/12

Quote of the Day  
One of the greatest gifts you can give to anyone is the gift of attention.
Jim Rohn

Obama Escalates Dangerous Campaign Battle With Romney With Irresponsible Who's Tougher on China Ad: Once Again Reinforcing his Illiteracy on Basic Economics

 I'm at least grateful the  reelection campaign seems to have retired the President Zipper ad which I debunked some time back. It's interesting to see how much lipstick they can put on Obama's face. I think they've been coasting as the mainstream media has gone after  Romney on the 9/11 north Africa attack memo release and 47% non-income taxpayer worker gaffes.

Most China critics have focused on the fact that China has pegged its currency to the US dollar which they believe is unfair.  They feel a floating yuan would rise against the dollar which would  make our goods  more competitive and our imports more expensive. They feel we are losing jobs because of pegging. Mark Perry of blog host shifting Carpe Diem  routinely publishes positive blurbs on the thriving manufacturing sector (including higher-value products recovery, growth, employment, etc.) One of my favorite libertarian economists Don Boudreaux had an excellent discussion of the China issue on Russ Roberts' EconTalk here; Americans forget we have the world's reserve currency and have benefited from its stability (e.g., the euro crisis)  Bordeaux points out among other things, foreigners buying our debt have lowered our interest  rates a percent point which benefits economic growth. It's hard to argue the point that the Fed isn't at fault for the declining purchasing power of the dollar.

Regular readers know that my favorite Bastiat quote is: "Treat all economic questions from the viewpoint of the consumer, for the interests of the consumer are the interests of the human race." I have been a frequent critic of Romney for his rhetoric on China, at odds with free market/trade principles, something  Boudreaux also pointed out in one of his trademark pithy letters published at Cafe Hayek. Obama can't make this argument because he wants to punitively tax companies which invest overseas, has maintained the highest business income tax rate among developed economies, and he has done little to open foreign markets beyond finally ratifying 3 Bush-era trade pacts. no, Obama is less subtle; he eagerly points out he raised protectionist tire tariffs. Tariffs are anti-consumer; like inflation, this is a more hidden way of taxing the lower and middle class. Obama never learned  the law of comparative advantage.

ANOTHER NEW MISLEADING OBAMA CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL
 
Obama has finally tried to respond to Romney's neo-Reaganite "are you better off than 4 years ago". for the vast number of people, no--whether it's net worth, salary increases... We have had the worst, most jobless recovery since the  Depression. they talked about a string of job gains that starts at the bottom well into Obama's tenure, what they don't say is they are still at a net deficit since Obama took office , and we have the lowest labor force participation rate in decades.  From memory, Obama is taking credit for rebounds in manufacturing, housing, and the stock market.  let me point out almost none of that had nothing to do with Obama's counterproductive policies; the economy usually rebounds after a recession. a far bigger reason is Fed manipulation of interest rates, the real test of a recovery is when you get growth without fiscal and monetary interventions.

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

The Commodores, "Still"

Miscellany: 9/19/12

Quote of the Day 
The truth doesn't hurt unless it ought to.
B. C. Forbes

'Just from one plunderer to another'
WHAT DO YOU  MEAN YOUR GREENBACKS
AREN'T BACKED BY SILVER OR GOLD?  
Have You Read The Constitution?
HT  DRUDGE

I"m Waiting for Romney's Roanoke Moment;
'Obama, you Didn't Pay for That'

There are so many ways Romney should be taking the fight to Obama; take, for instance, Bernanke's decision on QE forever before the election (market manipulation clearly helping Obama), and Senate majority leader Reid is about to make a down payment  by killing the bipartisan-supported Audit the Fed bill. Romney should make more of an issue of savers and people on limited fixed income.bring screwed by near zero interest rates. Ryan should be hammering these points home.

Romney should point out that core inflation is a cruel tax that higher gas and food price instability hurts lower income consumers and the middle class. And Romney should point out that Democrats count  on paying off the debt in cheaper dollars--at the expense of consumers                                                                                                                                                          

It's Time for Straight Talk on Senior Entitlements

I am so sick and tired of seeing self-entitled AARP types, sincerely deluding themselves that they've earned social security and Medicare when in fact both programs have tens of trillions in unfunded liabilities. As I read on the progressive website Huffington Post about some self-entitled  retired RN paying for a plane to display an anti-Romney banner, noting she is not a victim and hands off her government programs. Chances are her unpaid for government windfall will come at the expense of others which is unfair and immoral it's only fair she'll be required to pick up more of her net costs, whether we are talking means-testing, higher deductibles, fewer benefits, and/off lower COLA's

It's time the GOP stops trying to stop vote-buying Democrats from their long-overdue day of fiscal reckoning. See what happened to Scott Walker for pushing back on union greed at taxpayer expense.

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

The Commodores, "Sail On" Hands-down favorite Richie song (well, I also like "Running With the Night').For Maggie wherever she is. Bonus track: dedicated to my beloved niece Emily whom I miss--a pretty Simon & Garfunkel classic. Some lyrics don't fit. Brave Emily at 5 even managed to survive dancing with her untalented uncle.

Miscellany: 9/18/12

Quote of the Day
I think that how one lives 
is more important than how long one lives. 
So I don't feel too bad.
Lim Yoon-taek (32 Year old South Korean cancer victim)
"
Economics Quote of the Day

Many people want the government to protect the consumer. A much more urgent problem is to protect the consumer from the government.-Milton Friedman  (HT Ninos Malek)

e.g., business barriers to entry (e.g.licensing), quotas, pricing restrictions, tariffs, subsidies, merger restrictions, currency debasement, etc.

True Colors

'At an October 19, 1998 conference at Loyola University, Barack Obama spoke against "propaganda" that said government doesn't work and the need to "pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution."'

There is no sugar-coating of redistribution, or legalized plunder. (Any thief, including the common politician, rationalizes his crime.) Obama, already at this point a career politician conveniently and hypocritically dismisses substantive criticism of self-serving  authoritarian progressive policies as "propaganda". The great Greek philosopher Aristotle noted "What is common to many is least taken care of, for all men have greater regard for what is their own than for what they possess in common with others."



Are We Already in the Obama Recession? I Think SO

The Economic Cycle Research Institute calls it the 2012 recession,but you wouldn't know it by stock highs, a rebounding housing sector, or domestic energy expansion in North Dakota, Texas and elsewhere as Mark Perry of Carpe Diem will remind you.

Law-Breaking, Unethical Professor Abuses Her Authority:
Pushing Students to Vote for Corrupt Dems/Obama

A Florida community college professor has been suspended for trying to get class members to sign a pledge to vote straight Dem in the upcoming election.

It may sound improbable but I honestly don't recall a single political conversation while I was in academia; I've mentioned a pervasive progressivism in academia: how did I know? There were anecdotal incidents;for example, while I served on the UWM MBA admissions committee (I mentioned this incident in an earlier post) admission was routine if you had high enough GMAT and/or upper-division GPA; we handled oddball cases; for example, I remember this one Canadian PhD whom got an abnormally low GMAT (obviously unhappy with the formality of taking the GMAT and passive-aggressively sabotaging his application). The business school dean heavily pressured us to grant admission to a minority candidate by gaps on both criteria that we would have routinely rejected. The committee chair, the Dean's stooge, told us she had already been given a scholarship and it would embarrass the Dean if we rejected the applicant. The hypocritical chair and two silent junior female profs voted for: 3-3. The stooge pointed out this was my last committee meeting, and the Dean would name a crony to replace me so resistance was futile. I then changed my vote to present and found myself personally attacked by everyone else--But it was my way of red flagging a corrupt situation without giving the morally corrupt dean the clean majority vote he wanted.

There was another case I was pursuing an opening at a private Oklahoma university and I was told I wouldn't be shortlisted because they were looking for a female for the department. There are other examples as well, but let's say I never felt free as an nontenured faculty member expressing my conservative perspective.

Political Humor

I'm watching the news, and I see these protesters in countries like Egypt, Afghanistan, Tunisia. They're all burning American flags. Where are they getting all these flags? If you hate us so much, how do you have a large supply of flags on hand? - Jay Leno

[It's China's post-Olympic BOGO free clearance sale.]

Arnold Schwarzenegger has written a new book about his affair with his Hispanic housekeeper, and the book is actually called "Total Recall." In response, she's written a book about their affair called "Alien vs. Predator."- Jay Leno

[It's more like "Gray Davis' Recall: The Sequel", and "Son of Aliens".]

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

Commodores, "Three Times a Lady"

Micellany: 9/17/12

Quote of the Day  
Very often a change of self is needed 
more than a change of scene.
Arthur Christopher Benson

A Romney-Campaign Ending Gaffe? No! 
(Wishful thinking of Obama Campaign)

I have to admit that the post header Today, Mitt Romney Lost the Election lured me to the Bloomberg site. To save the curious reader, a progressive website posted an eavesdropped snippet from a Romney conversation with a donor where Romney seemed to concede the 47% or so working households not paying federal income tax: ""believe that they are victims. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. My job is not to worry about those people."



Earth to Romney: That comment, if true, is both offensive and clueless, not unlike Obama's 2008  equally offensive and clueless bitter Midwesterners clinging to their guns and Bibles. Obama thought that Midwesterners were stupid, voting against the politician playing Robin Hood on their behalf, raiding the Treasury and borrowing shamelessly against their childrens' and grandkids' tax bills. The fact that Obama found that he couldn't buy the votes of middle America should be a starting point. Second, there are several reasons to vote against "The (Spendthrift) One". If you  are structurally unemployed, your savings are being gutted by core inflation and manipulated anemic low interest by the Fed; you may worry about the foundation of your senior entitlements going broke, or ponder the chances of finding another job in your field or starting a business in a listless economy.  Even if you are vested in the safety net, you may worry about its viability on an ongoing basis under Obama's  utter lack of management and negotiation skills.

I do think that Romney has a point in the fact that the bottom 47% are freeloaders whom don't pay their fair share of taxes. That fact remains after all the ideology. The idea that whatever vendors that provide goods and services are more worthy than the government unfair, unjust; it constitutes moral hazard. At minimum, there should be some stake vested in frugal government and against undue dependence on government. A pandering Democrat Congress and President fulfill de Toqueville's prediction--"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."                                                                                 

A wider NYT discussion is on the Mother Jonea' expose is here. I was hoping mentally challenged progressives could go through one discussion off this issue without raising the trite predictable disingenuous talking point that low-income workers pay payroll taxes. This is totally irrelevant . A payroll tax is simply a payment that applies to eligibility of mandatory retirement benefits. It doesn't even cover full benefits guaranteed. Both social security and Medicare are government Ponzi schemes. The fact that today's workers  pay only a fraction of their future benefits and their relevant reserves consist of mandatory "investments" in government overspending, not income-producing assets, makes our dependence on future  taxpayers. But the fact remains (as I pointed out in  a recent post) most of today's one-third payroll tax revenues are simply redirected to current beneficiaries. Not a dime goes into general revenues and expenses covering government overhead--Defense, justice,  government agencies and programs, etc.

But one final comment, Mr. Romney: you will be President of all the people, including the freeloaders. Deal with it.

GALLUP: STILL MORE THAN HALF BELIEVE 
THE GOVERNMENT IS OVEREXTENDED

It's not only that Obama is a lousy President, he's an incompetent investor. Government Motors wants free of Obama's micromanagement (e.g., executive compensation: Obama is in a state of denial about a taxpayer paper loss (GM is under $24/share with $53 needed for breakeven); let me post the latest on one of my favorite targets: the Volt:

GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday issued a statement disputing the estimates.

Cheap Volt lease offers meant to drive more customers to Chevy showrooms this summer may have pushed that loss even higher. There are some Americans paying just $5,050 to drive around for two years in a vehicle that cost as much as $89,000 to produce.

And while the loss per vehicle will shrink as more are built and sold, GM is still years away from making money on the Volt, which will soon face new competitors from Ford, Honda and others.

GM's basic problem is that "the Volt is over-engineered and over-priced," said Dennis Virag, president of the Michigan-based Automotive Consulting Group.

Over-engineered and over-priced, just like the government.

Not a surprise to the percentage of Americans who live in the real world, i.e.,  believe that government is doing too much of what should be left to the private sector has declined from an all-time of 61 to 54% (whch I attribute to too much Obama snake oil), as if people don't realize that we have Enron-style accounting for entitlements. smoke and mirrors for ObamaCare, underfinanced pensions, and grossly neglected infrastructure.

END THE FED!




Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups

Commodores, "Brick House"