I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.
Nathan Hale
Rant of the Day
From a proprietary financial newsletter;
Watching this administration pretend that refusing to raise the debt ceiling is our real problem, rather than its spending, is simply surreal. All the major players pushing for more debt, including the president, said exactly the opposite just a few years ago. Then, they were criticizing the prior administration, and rightly so, when the debt was $10 trillion. Now, when it's 60% higher, they are feigning outrage that anybody would take their prior position in support of a balanced budget.Just to be more precise: Obama's objection was in 2006, the GOP controlled Congress only 4 of Bush's 8 years, and the public debt at the start of the 110th (Dem-controlled) Congress was $8.7T, just over half (53%) what it is now (and Dems passed continuing resolutions, not the Bush budgets: the purpose, of course, was so they could spend even more under Obama.). And remember how Ted Kennedy thundered with rage when Bush increased education spending by only 70% (and labor by 65%) by 2003? And how the Democrats criticized the unpaid-for Medicare drug benefit--because the government left "doughnut holes" in coverage (that the Dems promptly filled later)?
There is a
HT Cafe Hayek
[The rich] consume little more than the poor, and in spite of their natural selfishness and rapacity…they divide with the poor the produce of all their improvements. They are led by an invisible hand to make nearly the same distribution of the necessaries of life, which would have been made, had the earth been divided into equal portions among all its inhabitants, and thus without intending it, without knowing it, advance the interest of the society, and afford means to the multiplication of the species.
Adam Smith, The Theory Of Moral Sentiments, Part IV, Chapter I, pp.184-5, para. 10.
Every individual... neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it... he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention.Misleading Headlines:
., The Wealth Of Nations, Book IV, Chapter II, p. 456, para. 9.
Fitch Warns It May Downgrade US Over Debt Standoff
I saw this headline (I believe from the Houston Chronicle); this is just the sort of incompetent heading that leads progressives to confuse the financial issue with political process. Credit rater Fitch clearly would hit the US hard if it didn't meet its debt obligation (interest payments) but if the US government starts juggling bills and otherwise resorts to gimmicks (like raiding pension funds), Fitch might still nick the government's rating (i.e., a good credit risk can easily handle its obligations). I have already debunked the social security red herring.
A word to Speaker Boehner: after seeing the Hurricane Sandy bill pass (thumbs DOWN!), I suggest tackling budget reform separately. The political risk/reward ratio is too unfavorable. I don't like the idea of caving on the issue but Obama seems ready to risk a shutdown, which is utterly insane. It's more important at this point to protect confidence in US debt
Hall of Shame: Two More Members (Republicans!)
Bernanke spoke about the misconceptions surrounding the debt ceiling. Contrary to Republican rhetoric, which has suggested that raising the debt ceiling is akin to opening up the spending floodgates, he said it merely allows the government to continue paying its current bills.
He compared not raising the debt ceiling to a family of debtors skipping out on their bills.
"Raising the debt ceiling gives the government the ability to pay its existing bills," Bernanke said. "It doesn't create new deficits. It doesn't create new spending."Okay, Ben: just to quote the great sage, pro wrestler/rock band lead singer Chris Jericho: "Would you PLEASE just SHUT THE HELL UP!" NO, not raising the debt ceiling is more like a credit card issuer refusing to lend more money that will probably never be paid back. Credit limits don't create new spending (they enable new spending )but when the terms are near zero and your crony bankers are willing to finance whatever spending you do as lender of last resort, it's hard to convince a populist government to live within its means and to say 'no' to politically popular spending.
No, it's not a case of skipping out on bills; it'm more like a family still having to make a minimum payment on their full credit card and learning to live on its income without resorting to using a credit card.
- Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) on the Hurricane Sandy bill.
Republican and Democratic supporters of the bill argued throughout the day that everyone should support it, or run the risk of losing votes for future disaster bills that might help people in their districts.
"Florida, good luck with no more hurricanes," Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) shouted to any member who might oppose the bill. "California, congratulations, did you get rid of the Andreas Fault? The Mississippi's in a drought. Do you think you're not going to have a flood again?
"Who are you going to come to when you have these things? We need this, we need it now. Do the right thing, as we have always done for you."Utterly pathetic--so anxious for a drink from the public teat, trying to pressure members to abandon fiscal discipline to support in total larded up bills financed unknowingly by the nation's children and grandchildren and never having heard the maxim 'haste makes waste'
Impeach Obama? Not Just Yet...
Let us reflect the fact that Clinton was justly impeached. How do we know that? An Arkansas judge suspended his law license for misleading the court. Paula Jones, an Arkansas state employee while Clinton was governor, claimed that Clinton asked her to do something of an intimate nature. Most companies have sexual harassment policies forbidding managers from abusing their power over a subordinate for personal gratification. Even when the subordinate is willing (e.g., Lewinsky), policies frown about that because subordinates may infer it's required if they are to advance professionally. So when the Jones team found out that a White House intern had had intimate contact with Clinton, they no doubt felt they had established evidence of a pattern of behavior. (Note: it wasn't the sex itself. If Clinton had had a sexual encounter in a Nevada brothel or with a campaign volunteer in some love nest, adultery may have raised issues of Clinton's morality, but it wouldn't have been relevant in the Arkansas court.)
Clinton resisted testifying and tried to defer it until he was out of office. Clinton, when he did testify, was in a state of denial. It then became a classic case of "he said, she said" until Lewinsky provided physical proof of their intimate behavior.
Perhaps, certainly in the case of many people, what constitutes the level of an impeachable offense is subjective. I felt then Clinton, an Ivy League-trained lawyer, knew exactly what he was doing when he misled the court, and a double standard was not an option. The Dems tried to bargain the charges to a censure but they had enough silent purely partisan votes to block conviction, regardless of the merits.
Word that Obama is in the process of devising a series of executive orders on gun control is probably the straw that broke the camel's back. In looking at the complaints, I have been harshly critical of Obama's arbitrary enforcement of immigration laws, his moratorium on Gulf of Mexico drilling, his unilateral executive order after the legislative Dream Act failed, I don't like Obama going after an American-born cleric without due process, indefinite detention or other liberties However, there are ways to uproot a bad executive order, e.g., through the Congress or the courts. Now if Obama was to thumb his nose at legislation passed over his veto or at court decisions going against him, sign me up. But some of those items, e.g., controversial aspects of the Patriot Act, were also approved by Congress. (But Congress's laws are also subject to judicial review.)
I agree--and have repeatedly warned against--Obama's abuse of executive orders. Obama has never had to negotiate or compromise. He's probably going to push the envelope. But to be honest, if Clinton got acquitted by a GOP-controlled Senate, I find it next to impossible to believe Obama would not be protected by a Dem-controlled Senate.
My Greatest Hits: January 2013
Interestingly, none of my one-off (non-daily miscellany) posts placed. Also, the first post is the runaway most read post, with a bigger pageview gap than between the second and last:
- Miscellany: 12/28/12
- Miscellany: 12/23/12
- Miscellany: 12/31/12
- Miscellany: 12/25/12 Blessed Christmas
- Miscellany: 9/14/12
Daniel Day-Lewis won a Golden Globe for playing Abraham Lincoln and Julianne Moore won for playing Sarah Palin. The foreign press realized that the greatest challenge for an actor in Hollywood is pretending to be a Republican. - Jay Leno
[The Governator thinks it's even harder to be a Republican in Hollywood pretending to be an actor.]
President Obama's half-brother is running for political office in Kenya. Donald Trump has already accused him of being born in the United States. - Conan O'Brien
[It's an ObamaNation.]
The Treasury will not mint a trillion-dollar coin. That is a shame. Wouldn't it be nice to mint up nine or 10 and say we're even? jimmy Kimmel
[Bernie Madoff has volunteered to do the coin flip at Obama's Super Bowl party.]
Republicans and Democrats are working on a new bill to streamline the healthcare system. It will reduce the cost of mammograms and prostate exams. But don't worry. They'll still be free at the airport. - Jimmy Fallon
[I think the TSA misunderstood what Obama meant by 'greater transparency' in operations.]
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Groups
The Sylistics, "Betcha By Golly Wow"
