Levi Johnston (Palin) quits the oil fields - Today in Politics
Come on, would you rather have us write about John Travolta’s somewhat odd handling of his son’s death?
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How Best to Stimulate the Economy - Political News?
Eliot Spitzer is writing for Slate after his fall from grace a few months ago. Spitzer says that the Obama government’s stimulus plan should focus not on essential infrastructure refurbishments but rather on “transformative investments” that might springboard the American economy ahead of its competitors. More than that, Spitzer says that it’s incumbent on Obama’s second New Deal to act in this manner in order to “transform our economy and, in turn, some of the fundamental underpinnings of our society”.
One problem with projects far-seeing enough to deserve the “transformative” label is that they are by definition speculative in nature. They wouldn’t be transformative without the risky element of the unknown. Risk is not necessarily bad. A stock portfolio should contain a certain amount of risky holdings because that’s where the highest rates of return can be earned.
Similarly, government make-work projects, if such are to be created by the new government, should also include some high-risk/high-reward ventures. But not many. The federal government’s addiction to gambling with future generations’ economic security is a large part of what has put us in this crisis in the first place. Doubling down by spending vast sums in an attempt to create the infrastructure of the future might well make things worse instead of better.
For instance, Spitzer’s idea that the federal government should push the deployment of next-generation fuel distribution stations is far from a sure thing. The price of natural gas, for instance, has been as volatile as that of oil in recent years. Where is the guarantee that this will be the fuel of the future. Similarly, where is the assured source of hydrogen that would make laying tens of thousands of miles of pipe a good investment? Such an investment could take decades to pay off even if the right choices are made up front. Or all of these technologies could be made obsolete by new development after the money’s been spent. That’s the problem with making a market.
Considering that significant portions of the existing infrastructure is in need of remediation it seems as though getting these essential projects done first would be a more appropriate approach. Doing so would amount to getting our house in order, always a good move before leaping onto the next big thing.
Sustainable Energy and You - Cited by Sharpy News
Rick Strahl just wrote an excellent and timely post - now that oil prices are "back to normal" - about energy, alternatives to oil, peak production, and the impact of an unstable supply on the daily lives of most westerners. The first step in any attempt to change our energy consumption habits is to really understand how much a stable, affordable power supply means to us.
Rick:
Think about it, even if you do nothing more than a little thought experiment with yourself. How would you live if you had to make do with a more primitive society that doesn’t run on power or power that is treated as a luxury rather than an abundant ever available resource as it is now? Or even one that doesn’t run with private cars? Do you live in the suburbs with no way to even get to a store by foot and no public transportation? How will you get to work if your job is in the city that’s 20, 50 or 80 miles away? Will you even have a job? In a drastically shrunken economy that has paid a heavy energy tax that is bound to deflate any economic growth that isn’t likely to come back, do you think you’ll still have a paper pushing job? Or an abstract job like programmer for example? How do you code when there’s no consistent electricity and which business would still need abstract work.
That’s a damn good question and one that, to varying degrees, matters to virtually every American and European worker. A stable, scalable energy industry is one of the primary bedrocks of western civilization.
It’s therefore necessary for citizens to insist that government, at a minimum, nurture an economic environment that allows energy companies to prosper. This means encouraging competition, minimizing regulation, allowing real diversity in the marketplace, and rewarding research and development efforts. It also means, as a careful reading of these requirements implies, staying out of the way of the men, women, and companies that produce the energy we, the consumers, demand.
There is an idea loose in the world that people should reduce their energy use by "turning off" part of their lives. This is an unfortunate Luddite notion and a mistake, culturally and socially speaking. If energy consumption is to be reduced - along with its parallel impact on the natural world - this must be achieved through increases in efficiency of future generations of electronics and through the development of cleaner energy sources. Short of the free world being bombed back to the 1800s or earlier, nothing else will ever reduce energy demand and its effects.
Even now, after just the briefest of lulls in the storm of recent energy price increases, Americans are beginning to re-embrace their darlings of yesteryear, the gas-guzzling SUV. How quickly we forget.
Tags: Energy, Oil, War, Environment
Probe Of Rangel Widens - Cited by Sharpy News
Not looking so good for Charlie. From Roll Call (sub rqd):
The House ethics committee announced Tuesday it will expand its investigation into personal finances of Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) to include allegations of a quid pro quo for donations to a City College center bearing his name.The Committee on Standards of Official Conduct announced its decision in a statement Tuesday afternoon, stating it followed a formal request by Rangel.
“The investigation subcommittee shall have the additional jurisdiction to determine if Representative Rangel violated the Code of Official Conduct or any rule, law, or regulation … with respect to contributions of money or pledges of contributions of money to the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Services at the City College of New York from any person or entity associated with Nabors Industries,” the statement said.
As first reported by the New York Times, Rangel is alleged to have reversed a previous policy stand to help an oil company retain a multimillion-dollar tax loophole while the Nabors Industries’ chief executive pledged $1 million to the City College center.
Charlie should step aside at Ways and Means until this investigation is complete. Really.
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Business Week’s Top 10 predictions of 2008 - Cited by Sharpy News
Maybe they should quit the prediction biz:
There will be a backlash in the green movement after it becomes clear that many of the companies claiming to be green are in fact nothing of the sort. Businesses that proclaim they are “carbon neutral” will find that such proclamations no longer carry much weight among far more skeptical media and consumers.
Nope, much to Business Week’s chagrin, I’m sure.
At least one major U.S. airline will buy another in 2008. The most likely scenario is that Delta Air Lines (DAL) will go after Northwest Airlines (NWA), United Airlines (UAUA), or JetBlue Airways (JBLU). When that happens, others will scramble to cut their own deals.
Nope. Update: They nailed this one. My bad.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg will enter the Presidential race in February, after it becomes clear which nominees will get the nod from the major parties. His multiple billions and organization will impress voters—and stun rivals. He’ll look like the most viable third-party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt.
Nope.
The music industry is in crisis. The key reason is that CD sales are plummeting. Now, it’s going to get worse. This year, the most important retailers, including Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Best Buy (BBY), will look to radically downsize their CD sections. Perhaps there will be no more than one aisle, chock-full of mainstream pop titles.
Nope, though this one is inevitable.
Social network fatigue will set in as people tire of getting yet another invitation from so-called friends to join yet another social network. And, in the wake of Facebook’s fumbled social ads initiative, it will become even more apparent there’s no obvious way to pitch products on these sites without turning off members. Social features will wend their way into all kinds of Web services, from search to news, but the gold rush in social networks themselves will begin to wane.
Nope.
For years, gearheads have dreamed of getting all that video from the Internet onto the big 52-inch screen in the den. But it’s a pain. Look for that to change in 2008. While Apple TV has been a dud, Steve Jobs & Co. will make an aggressive play this year for the most important screen in the house. Perhaps Apple will even make a gorgeous TV itself, with all the necessary Net capabilities inside. And if Apple can’t do it, someone else will.
Nope. Again, this one is inevitable, but no one (outside from the idiots at Business Week) thinks convergence is happening for at least another 3-5 years.
German electronics giant Siemens (SI) will agree to pay more than $1 billion in fines to avoid prosecution by the Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Dept. on charges it paid hundreds of millions in bribes to win foreign contracts.
Apparently, Siemens and the SEC spent all of 2008 “negotiating”. But I can’t see any evidence any fine has been paid. I guess there are three weeks left in the year.
If a recession finally hits, Web 2.0 companies will find there are neither enough ad dollars out there for all of them to survive on, nor enough big corporate buyers such as Google (GOOG), Microsoft (MSFT), and traditional media companies to buy them all out. What’s more, venture capitalists may decide that momentum looks better for clean-tech investments than for Web startups that depend on a cyclical business like advertising. So more will join the “DeadPool,” as the Web startup blog TechCrunch calls its list of failed companies.
Tell that to Huffington Post, which just got $25 million from Oak Partners, or — heck — my own SB Nation, which got a mid-seven figure investment from Accel Partners.
When will the world see $100-per-barrel oil? Paul Horsnell, head of commodities research at London-based Barclays Capital (BCS), is betting that 2008 will be the year.
Woo hoo! They got one!
For a decade, a Net-happy world has cheerfully shared personal information online, with relatively little mainstream concern over privacy. Now, the issue may come to the fore, as carriers and cable companies deploy click-tracking software and publicity about China’s Olympian Internet oversight leaks into the news.
True, there’s a small group of civil libertarians concerned about things like FISA and whatnot, but it’s a small group. These fears have not gone mainstream, unfortunately. This is another blown call, but one I wish wasn’t.
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America Officially Gives Up Green Initiatives - Cited by Sharpy News
Hey! Remember back a couple months ago when it seemed, like, immediately important that we do something about global warming? And Al Gore won a Nobel Prize and gas prices were so damn high? Okay, but that was before the huge economic meltdown of the banks, and the media, and the automotive industry, so now it's more important that we stop thinking about global warming and all the penguins marching to a broil, and start focusing on how we are going to prevent living in Hoovervilles and outsourcing eating to India.
Which is just another way of saying Congress has basically come up with their bailout package for the Big Three automotive companies, and it's not looking good for those of you that were hoping Green Initiatives stood for something other than the color of cold, hard cash.
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Post tags: automotive industry, Big Three, Congress
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The End Of The American Dream?
The bank bailout appears to fulfill a definition of communism.
Spero Forum
by James Quinn
…“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.”
Historian and writer James Truslow Adams in his 1931 book Epic of America
…Mr. Adams penned these words in the midst of the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in our history. It is timely to reflect on these words, as it appears that the American Dream is slipping further out of reach for most Americans. If the dream of a better life for our future generations is lost, it will truly mark a turning point for our great Republic.
…As the politicians scurry to “save” capitalism through the use of communist measures, more Americans are becoming disheartened. The definition of communism according to Webster’s is:
A system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed.
…George Bush, Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke have decided to seize money from the vast majority of Americans who lived within their means, utilized debt sparingly, and worked hard to get ahead, and give it to the most appalling failures in our society.
…These acts fit the definition of communism. We are now more communist than China.
…The American Dream was not founded upon wealth and materialism. It revolves around achieving a better life based on the merits of your intelligence, hard work and contribution to the community of all Americans. There is a moral aspect to the American Dream that has been lost over time.
…The crux of the problem is that Americans, with a strong sense of morality and caring about what is right and wrong, are no longer steering the American ship. Thomas Jefferson declared that Americans had the right to “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence. The government’s obligation is to protect the life and liberty of its people. Representative Ron Paul bluntly speaks the truth about our government:
“The obligations of our representatives in Washington are to protect our liberty, not coddle the world, precipitating no-win wars, while bringing bankruptcy and economic turmoil to our people.”
…Our current system of incentives is inconsistent with the equal rights of others. I was taught the difference between right and wrong by my parents. The pursuit of happiness by Americans is where the American Dream has gone off the track.
…Whatever means necessary to achieve this bastardized American Dream (Nightmare?) has been the mantra of the “Me Generation”. Every disgraced CEO of the last year was part of the Baby Boom generation. Parents, schools, corporations, media and government have taught Americans how to make a living, but have done a horrific job in teaching Americans how to live. The government and Federal Reserve have encouraged the warped American Dream through the use of insane tax, fiscal, and interest rate policies.
…Thomas Jefferson, a wise man by most accounts, thought central banks were not a very good idea.
“If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and the corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered…. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. The modern theory of the perpetuation of debt has drenched the earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burdens ever accumulating.”
We did not heed Mr. Jefferson’s prudent advice. The result for the American people has been persistent inflation that has destroyed the purchasing power of the US dollar. It takes $1.00 to buy what cost 5 cents in 1914, a 95% loss of purchasing power since the creation of the Federal Reserve. Most of this loss in purchasing power has occurred since 1971. “Tricky Dick” Nixon took the country off the gold standard in 1971 and uncorked the bottle and let the inflation genie out. The unchecked issuance of debt by our government, facilitated by Federal Reserve policies since 1971, has brought our great country to the brink of financial disaster.
…During September and October, the country experienced an electronic bank run. Americans rightfully lost trust in all financial institutions and began withdrawing their money. The Federal Reserve has done the only thing it knows how to do. Print money. It has doubled its balance sheet to $2.3 trillion
…The only competent Federal Reserve Chairman in the last 40 years, Paul Volcker, had this to say about the actions of Ben Bernanke in the last year.
“The Federal Reserve has judged it necessary to take actions that extend to the very edge of its lawful and implied powers, transcending in the process certain long-embedded central banking principles and practices. What appears to be in substance a direct transfer of mortgage and mortgage-backed securities of questionable pedigree from an investment bank to the Federal Reserve seems to test the time-honored central bank mantra in time of crisis: lend freely at high rates against good collateral; test it to the point of no return.”
…The Federal Reserve is supposed to be protecting the people of the United States. Transparency is essential for financial systems and democracies to function.
Instead, Ben Bernanke is withholding which banks have borrowed from the Federal Reserve and what collateral was put up for the loans. They have lent out over $2 trillion of your money with no accountability to the American taxpayer.
Entire article can be read at above link.
With a little help from his friends - Today in Politics
It’s funny, Frank Rich wrote a fairly meaty article on what a crummy “president” Bush has been - one that must have been gratifying for him to write and equally fun for many to read - but he was still too nice to him. He refutes White House claims of Bush’s accomplishments like this:
This document is the literary correlative to “Mission Accomplished.” Bush kept America safe (provided his presidency began Sept. 12, 2001). He gave America record economic growth (provided his presidency ended December 2007). He vanquished all the leading Qaeda terrorists (if you don’t count the leaders bin Laden and al-Zawahri). He gave Afghanistan a thriving ‘market economy’ (if you count its skyrocketing opium trade) and a “democratically elected president” (presiding over one of the world’s most corrupt governments). He supported elections in Pakistan (after propping up Pervez Musharraf past the point of no return). He “led the world in providing food aid and natural disaster relief” (if you leave out Brownie and Katrina).
Why accept the Rovian definition of “safe” to mean only that there were no further physical attacks on American soil by foreign agents? Those were never the only dangers facing us, and in truth the policies carried out by this administration have made our daily lives far more perilous than they were before. Bush is not solely responsible for every one of the nasty things we are facing, but he was in a position to either ameliorate them or exacerbate them, and he did the latter on steroids. Our economy was vulnerable, and he made sure the exposure was greater than it had to be. Our friends in the world were many, but under his “leadership” they have been dwindling almost to none.
And Katrina wasn’t something outside of our safety - the danger of destruction to an American city is just as real whether it comes from a lethal combination of bad weather, poor planning, neglected infrastructure and corruption or from Al Qaeda. And how safe are we when the National Guard have been pulled out of our cities to have their time and lives wasted in Iraq? Bush’s response to 9/11 seems to have been to try to remove all of our first-responders from where they would be needed.
Nor did Bush wait until 9/11 to start endangering America - from the very first, he was wrecking our diplomatic relations, undercutting our economy and our infrastructure, and most of all destroying the true underpinnings of our free country - the United States Constitution. The Iraq war alone has cost us so much money that we may never recover, and that’s without the rest of the financial disaster that three decades of deregulation and neglect of oversight are costing us. (And anyway, you can’t leave out the opium trade in Afghanistan’s economy - without it, there’s not much going for them.) And:
He can, however, blame everyone else. Asked (by Charles Gibson) if he feels any responsibility for the economic meltdown, Bush says, “People will realize a lot of the decisions that were made on Wall Street took place over a decade or so, before I arrived.” Asked if the 2008 election was a repudiation of his administration, he says “it was a repudiation of Republicans.”
Strangely, Bush is almost telling the truth, here, except that Republicans like to pretend that 30 years of conservative attacks on America’s economy are all Clinton’s fault (”a decade or so”). But it wasn’t just Bush who made this mess - he had the enthusiastic support of a virtually lockstep Republican Party, not to mention a little help from eager Blue Dogs, twitchy careerist Dems, cowed liberals, and an abysmal press corp that included Frank Rich, whose own treatment of Al Gore helped make this all possible.
One almost gets the feeling that Bush spent his life surrounded by people who told him crap, and some part of him now realizes that he was poorly advised, but it’s just too much for his pickled brain to absorb. Early on I pointed out that, since Bush spent the first 40 years of his life being a drunk, he was emotionally about 15 when he was installed in the White House - and he acted like it. That’s the age at which most people have to start unlearning all the lies they’ve been told, and that usually takes at least another 15 years. Bush is still only starting his path to adulthood. Maybe he’ll know what he really did by the time he’s 80. But I won’t hold my breath.
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Be Kind, Rewind: McCain on Leno - Today in Politics
Whoops we missed it! Senator John McCain was on Leno last night for his first post-election appearance. And hey, he's pretty funny! Now that the election is over and Sarah Palin is somewhere bubbling up toil and trouble, we can honestly say we find John McCain way more tolerable. No one ever said the man didn't have a sense of humor about himself.
Some clips of McCain comparing himself to a baby (and not just because he wears Depends, zing!) after the jump.
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Post tags: Jay Leno, John McCain, Talk Shows, Tonight Show
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Lara Logan Weds Probable Baby Daddy - Political News
Life-ruiner Lara Logan secretly wed her defense contractor lover Joe Burkett in a New York ceremony several weeks ago, and we're only hearing about it now because it's not so much a joyous occasion when you already pretty pregnant and he's just left his wife and you've thrown Michael Ware overboard.
Don't bother buying them any wedding gifts either, since Lara can just fill up her new four bedroom house in DC with all those spoils of war souvenirs she took from Iraq. Because customs gave her a free pass for stealing portraits of Saddam instead of signing up for her secret wedding registry.
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Post tags: Iraq War, Joe Burkett, Lara Logan, Michael Ware
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