Miscellany: 4/02/13

Quote of the Day
Become a student of change. 
It is the only thing that will remain constant.
Anthony J. D'Angelo

Most Nauseating News Quote of the Day:
Out of the Mouths of Babes

Reports from inside North Korea also revealed that North Korean soldiers have been issued bread, instant noodles, sausages, milk, and dried fish that appeared to be supplied by the United Nations as aid meant for the civilian population. - Washington Free Beacon

Time Has More Than One Mediocre Columnist

I've already written a couple of commentaries on bad Joe Klein columns. I'm actually quite used to reading things I disagree with all the time. For example, yesterday when researching my rant of loss of the purchasing power of the dollar, I ran across a writer advocating devaluation of the dollar. I try to vary the content but I don't go out of my way looking for opposing material or author to criticize in the blog. So why did Michael Grunwald's "I'm With the Tree Huggers" motivate me to write a commentary? (Basically Grunwald would love to do anything to frustrate the refining or consumption of carbon-based fuels--even having Obama kill the Keystone XL pipeline for any or no reason.)

I think the analysis is intellectually dishonest (it makes a number of unspecified provocative assumptions, it basically assumes the climate change alarmist agenda and simply asserts its  "scientifically based facts" but does not support them and begs the  question), it lacks necessary context and a relevant discussion of economic issues, and  it is poorly toned to the point of arrogance. Some sample quotes:

• The respectable center has recognized that climate change is not only real and man-made but also a genuine emergency. Fossil fuels are broiling the planet. It’s a choice between Big Oil and a more sustainable planet. 
• I’ve mocked the activists who whine about Obama’s “climate silence” while ignoring his climate actions— like unprecedented efficiency mandates that have slashed demand for dirty energy and unprecedented green investments that have launched a clean-energy revolution. 

This is so over-the-top nonsense, one hardly knows where to start. First, we are talking about a pipeline, a form of transportation; you can transport oil by other methods (e.g., ship or rail) to refineries There wouldn't any need to ship oil if there wasn't a market and customers for oil products. Second, China is now the biggest oil-consuming nation. China is trying to lock up as much supply as they can from exporters-including Canada. Whereas US domestic production is increasing, a significant percentage of limited foreign supply is from less friendly, stable partners, and I would much rather import from friendly, neighboring countries.

Another point is the major source of new carbon emissions is from developing countries like China and India, not the US. All that Grumwald would achieve is imposing high unilateral costs on American businesses and consumers, in an already challenging economy. The shale gas revolution, which Grunwald must oppose on principle, has significantly cut C02 emissions more than all busybody policies, subsidies, etc. put together. As for Obama's "unprecedented green investments", a manifestly wasteful, incompetently administered crony Big Green Energy giveaway given an already unsustainable public debt;  the issues with many alternative energy sources deal with their scalability, reliability, lack of adequate storage, etc. Efficiency goals Gruswald praises are full of hubris, not unlike the automatic government healthcare provider payment cuts, which ever since have had to be "fixed" by Congress. Mere fiat by a grossly incompetent Demagogue-in-Chief whom hasn't got the slightest idea about the difficulties in designing, engineering, and producing a vehicle will prove to be easier said than done. (Remember how Congress reclassified vehicles to accommodate mileage standards?)

A choice between Big Oil and the planet? Energy companies of all sizes are fulfilling what consumers want at a reasonable price. Grunwald has a problem with personal lifestyles, including personal transportation, air conditioning, etc. An explosion of the middle class globally will increase demand; natural price increases due to tight supplies will increase the economic incentive for alternative fuels and technology.

If you want to see how crony capitalism "investments" for Big Green has worked out for companies during the Age of Obama, look at the 5-year chart of First Solar stock prices...

 Courtesy of Google Finance

Stockton, CA, Bankruptcy, and the Pension Question

Nobody is going to convince me Alameda County Administrator Susan Muranishi deserves to be paid more than the President at nearly $425K a year and that the 63-year-old will get a retirement package starting at $400K for life. (I heard one of FNC's liberal commentators basically congratulate Ms. Muranishi for negotiating such a lucrative deal at the expense of California's already overtaxed citizenry.)

Sweetheart union deals, like the corrupt Obama Administration crony auto bankruptcies, negotiated during better economic times have created an unsustainable public pension situation:

Last year, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee reported that unfunded pension obligations across the nation amount to more than $2.8 trillion and may be as high as $4.4 trillion. Illinois lacks funds for nearly 72 percent of the pensions it guarantees, while California and Texas are short by more than half. North Carolina's debt is lowest but is still more than a third short of what its system has promised to pay out.

Stockton, a city of 300K, is just the tip of the iceberg:

 Since then, a half-dozen cities have filed for Chapter 9 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, including the city of San Bernardino. Nearly two dozen California cities, from San Jose and Watsonville to San Bernardino and Compton, either are facing bankruptcy or financial emergencies 

Stockton slashed its police and fire departments, halted bond payments, cut employee benefits and adopted an emergency spending plan that cut many city services. But the city continues to pay into the state pension. California's $225 billion Public Employees Retirement System already is underfunded by $87 billion. Stockton's biggest creditors insured $165 million in bonds the city issued in 2007 to keep up with CalPERS payments as property taxes plummeted during the recession. Stockton now owes CalPERS about $900 million to cover pension promises 

Stockton has been prioritizing CalPERS payments over partial payments for other claimants. The CalPERS preference is dictated by California. The other creditors claim that  it's unfair they are taking a haircut but not CalPERS. CalPERS, already vastly underfunded, is worried about a slippery slope if the federal judge rules everyone needs to share the pain.If the federal judge does require more equitable cost sharing, we might see California appeal to SCOTUS, say based on the Tenth Amendment.

I'm often sympathetic to Tenth Amendment arguments, but not in this case, which violates the principle of equal protection and the rule of law. California public pension systems for Baby Boomers must be reformed.

For the Legalization of Pets

I myself don't own a pet, which profoundly disappointed my oldest niece when she was younger. (I've frequently done the road warrior bit, and renting apartments can be more difficult.). You would think with hundreds of thousands of successfully domesticated ferrets, Big Nanny would find bigger fish to fry, but you would be wrong. According to Wikipedia:

A government study by the California State Bird and Mammal Conservation Program estimated that by 1996 about 800,000 domestic ferrets were being kept as pets in the United States.Ferrets were once banned in many US states, but most of these laws were rescinded in the 1980s and '90s as they became popular pets. Ferrets are still illegal in California under Fish and Game Code Section 2118 and the California Code of Regulations, although it is not illegal for veterinarians in the state to treat ferrets kept as pets. In November 1995, ferret proponents asked the California Fish and Game Commission to remove the domesticated ferret from the restrictive wildlife list. Additionally, "Ferrets are strictly prohibited as pets under Hawaii law because they are potential carriers of the rabies virus"; the territory of Puerto Rico has a similar law.Ferrets are restricted by individual cities, such as Washington, DC, and New York City. They are also prohibited on many military bases. A permit to own a ferret is needed in other areas, including Rhode Island, Illinois and Georgia do not require a permit to merely possess a ferret, but a permit is required to breed ferrets. It was once illegal to own ferrets in Dallas, Texas, but the current Dallas City Code for Animals includes regulations for the vaccination of ferrets. Pet ferrets are legal in Wisconsin, however legality varies by municipality. The city of Oshkosh, for example, classifies ferrets as a wild animal and subsequently prohibits them from being kept within the city limits. Also, an import permit from the state department of agriculture is required to bring one into the state. Under the Common Law, ferrets are deemed "wild animals" subject to strict liability for injuries they cause, but in several states statutory law has overruled the common law, deeming ferrets "domestic."

Political  Cartoon

The Obama Administration consoled the bunnies: "free birth control" under ObamaCare means fewer rabbits will die.

Courtesy of Henry Payne

Political Humor

A number of major corporations pulled pranks online. Google introduced a feature called Google nose. YouTube said they were shutting down for two years to pick the best video on the site. And Apple made their user agreement hundreds of pages long. Oh, that was not a prank? Silly me. - Jimmy Kimmel

[...Congress made laws...]

President Obama is getting ready to unveil his new budget nine weeks after its original due date. Or as his dog Bo put it, "Yeah, yeah. I ate the first draft. I know the drill." - Jimmy Fallon

[The credit bureaus gave him an incomplete and knocked off a couple of letter grades.]

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Group

Earth, Wind & Fire, "After the Love is Gone". This concludes the series; my next brief series: U2.