Read full post, see embedded content, [...]]]> This is my tipping point. Unless and until sanity returns to the American political system, I will not participate in it in any capacity. The only exception is the possibility that a sane third party arises with a credible promise of reform. That is all.

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Posted in: Corruption, D's, Justice, Politics
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Feed enhanced [...]]]> The paranoid cynic in me has to ask, given the “Democratic” Senate’s obstructionism on closing Camp X-Ray, did Obama whisper to someone that he didn’t really want this right now? Did he twist any arms to get what he requested?

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Feed enhanced by Better Feed from [...]]]> Says Obama Admin, ‘Gays: let’s kick ‘em down the road.’

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Post tags: DADT

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Also-very-smart Brad DeLong shares a less popular but sunnier outlook and offers an FAQ. He also reassures us that if toxic assets are not already fundamentally under-valued, “then we have worse [...]]]> Nobel Prize-winning Paul Krugman despairs over the plan as he understands it now (we’ll see if that changes now that we have an “official” unveiling”).

Also-very-smart Brad DeLong shares a less popular but sunnier outlook and offers an FAQ. He also reassures us that if toxic assets are not already fundamentally under-valued, “then we have worse things to worry about than government losses on TARP-program money–for we are then in a world in which the only things that have value are bottled water, sewing needles, and ammunition.”

By bottled water, I presume he means gallon jugs, not the little land-fill fillers that are edging out beer in consumption to the dismay of others.

Calculated Risk (who also seems reasonably bright) sums things up, and gives another take: “It is pretty clear the administration opposes nationalizing insolvent large banks, and is instead willing to have taxpayers subsidize shareholders of the banks. So the question isn’t “Is this the optimal solution?” (it isn’t) but “Will it work?” Maybe, but at what cost?”

I’ll be back when I finish my Garden of the Apocalypse and make an ammo run.

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Posted in: D's, Economics, Politics
Post tags: Bank Bailout 2009, Brad DeLong, Paul Krugman, Tim Geithner, Toxic Assets

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Personally, I think that Dodd, Geithner & Obama deserve every bit of egg they get on their [...]]]> If you enjoy the gallows humor, then the last few days since it was revealed that AIG is paying big bonuses to the managers that ran their business into the ground have probably been a real laugh riot for you.

Personally, I think that Dodd, Geithner & Obama deserve every bit of egg they get on their face over this.

So. So far, we have everybody screaming an’ hollering about AIG paying bonuses for bad behavior out of their bailout funds.

Democratic politicos jump on the bandwagon and start showing how in tune they are with everybody by clamoring to get the money back.

Then Talk Radio decides to buck the trend and try to make hay on the other side – pay the bonuses! Getting it back is wealth envy! This will be a good test to see if they can swing popular opinion among elements of their listenership that are already committed to the other side. This also creates humorous situations with Republican politicos trying to figure out whether to scramble to the 76% side who want to claw that money back or whether to follow the lead of talk radio, all the while trying to distinguish themselves from the Democrats.

Now we learn that Obama’s treasury and Chris Dodd – the very clowns ready to pull the trigger on legislation to get the bonuses back – are the ones that made sure they could get paid to begin with.

All this noise. The bonuses are bad, and Obama+Treasury+Dodd should have let the stimulus stipulations nullify them. But it isn’t worth going back to get now. With the energy and noise being put into this, something useful could be accomplished.

The bottom line is this: the bonuses amount to less than .1% of the bailout money AIG got. In a perfect world, you’re going to lose more than .1% of any effort you make to friction. Write it off, get over the populist fever, get off your assorted high horses, and move on.

Update: xkcd knows the difference.

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Posted in: D's, Economics, Politics, R's
Post tags: AIG, Barack Obama, Stimulus 2009, Tim Geithner

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If this is really the problem:

Right now, if a middle class family donates a dollar to their favorite charity, they get a 15-cent deduction, but Warren Buffet and Bill Gates make the same donation and [...]]]> I guess it’s reasons like this that budgets are hard to balance, but I think this is step in the wrong direction.

If this is really the problem:

Right now, if a middle class family donates a dollar to their favorite charity, they get a 15-cent deduction, but Warren Buffet and Bill Gates make the same donation and they get a deduction that is more than twice that.

… then there’s no reason not to up the deduction on middle class families… but of course that means even less tax revenue with which to balance the budget.

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Posted in: Budget, Charity, D's, Politics, Taxes
Post tags: Barack Obama, Charity, Taxes

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I didn’t watch. I followed NPR’s tweets for a while before I turned in. So not much else from me. I hear Bobby J. didn’t thrill [...]]]> Factcheck.org says he got some stuff wrong… but looking at it, it’s nothing terrible. Certainly doesn’t approach the sixteen word world record for wrongness in a SOTU.

I didn’t watch. I followed NPR’s tweets for a while before I turned in. So not much else from me. I hear Bobby J. didn’t thrill a lot of GOP thrill-seakers… but what did you expect? I’ve seen Daschle & Pelosi do this job before, and let me tell you, they set the bar pretty doggone low.

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Posted in: D's, Politics, R's
Post tags: Barack Obama, Bobby Jindal, NSOTU

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Followers of a cult of personality will allow their leader to get away with almost anything; believers in justice and basic legal principles will remain loyal to those principles first, not to any individual politicians.

Our lives, property, and liberty are best secured through the existence of strong laws [...]]]> And says it so much better than I can.

Followers of a cult of personality will allow their leader to get away with almost anything; believers in justice and basic legal principles will remain loyal to those principles first, not to any individual politicians.

Our lives, property, and liberty are best secured through the existence of strong laws which apply to everyone, most especially the government, and not by trusting in the “good will” or “good character” of any particular leaders. That’s what it means to be a nation of laws rather than a nation of men: a nation ruled by rational systems rather than one ruled by charismatic authority figures.

America under the Bush administration was moved away from being a nation of laws to a nation ruled by the whim of a single leader. If we are going to move back to being a nation of laws, we must pressure the Obama administration to do so. We cannot and should not simply assume that he and others will just “do the right thing.” We must not be afraid to criticize Barack Obama and his appointed officials with all the same fierceness with which we once criticized George W. Bush – it’s the principles of liberty and democracy which matter, not any one person.

Amen.

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Posted in: D's, Justice, Wars & Rumors
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I’m going to take a few minutes to read, per Gibbs’ suggestion, the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan executive summary (pdf). Even after I do it, I won’t know what to think… because I really don’t understand these topics. I just thought the video was funny.

I think it’s funny too, in a sad kind of way, [...]]]> Funny…

I’m going to take a few minutes to read, per Gibbs’ suggestion, the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan executive summary (pdf). Even after I do it, I won’t know what to think… because I really don’t understand these topics. I just thought the video was funny.

I think it’s funny too, in a sad kind of way, that people at work who have no more clue than I do what the plan does – are parroting Santelli as though he were some sort of Solomon figure. One fellow – a “higher up”, came into the gym while the news was talking about the homeowner bailout and started a rant of his own along the lines of “I guess it’s just my fault; I should have gotten in over my head, too, so I could get a bailout”. I just smiled. He’s the same fellow who just the other day, in a discussion about the Great Depression, asked with a straight face “who won?” World War II.

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Posted in: D's, Humor, Politics, R's, Uncategorized
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Strike three, and strike four.

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Feed enhanced by Better Feed from [...]]]> Human Rights under Obama…

Strike three, and strike four.

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Posted in: D's, Justice
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