Time To Say Goodbye

In one of the best scenes in the movie Heat, Robert DeNiro tells Al Pacino: “Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.” And while the “heat” isn’t exactly on, I have come to the decision that it is time that I fold this little experiment in social and political punditry, at least temporarily.

That fact of the matter is that while initially a fun and intellectually stimulating hobby, Postcards has become a tremendous draw on my time. I find increasingly that I come home from 10 hour days of staring at a 17-inch computer monitor at an office only to trade it for another two or three hours at night and early the next morning staring at a 13-inch laptop.

Please don’t misunderstand me, it has been a labor of love, but it is a labor nonetheless. I’ve just come to the conclusion that these hours could be better spent elsewhere – exercise, for one, Mrs. Goldwater and the children for another. To use a tired cliché, I guess you could say I’m stepping down to spend more time with my family.

To all forty or so of you who have taken the time to stop by and comment over the past five months, you have my undying gratitude. Your input and comments have been truly inspiring.

But for now at least, it is time to say goodbye…

A Geek's Dream

If George Lucas had only written this into Episode I instead of Jar-Jar Binks:



ht: TigerHawk

Enough Already - Declare Franken Winner

Look, I'm not any more ecstatic about the prospect of a Senator Al Franken any more than most of the folks who peruse this site are. But the fact of the matter is that after all of the legal remedies were exhausted, Franken won. He won by the slimmest of margins, but he won nonetheless.

It is time for Norm Coleman to accept the hand dealt him, acknowledge his disastrous campaign, and move on.

The citizens of Minnesota deserve it. Boy, do they deserve it.

US Ready To Ease Preconditions On Iran

The US is set to drop a key precondition for continued nuclear negotiations with Iran, Obama Administration officials are hinting. The US has long insisted that it will not conduct diplomatic discussions with Iran unless Tehran shuts down its nuclear facilities during the early stages of discussions.

With Tehran recently announcing that it has installed 7,000 centrifuges in its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, the precondition would appear to be without teeth anyway.

As the Administration debuts its new-sheriff-in-town routine with Western Europe and Turkey, Tehran and Pyongyang continue work on their nuclear ambitions unimpressed. As years of useless UN sanctions and resolutions will attest, carrot-and-stick diplomacy won’t go very far. And if we are not willing or unable to go on the offensive, we may at least want to reconsider our position on the defensive…

Jailhouse Rock

Not the kind of publicity I think the President is going for. Perhaps he's looking for one of them there presidential pardons...

A Candle In The Wind…

OK, I probably should have ended my posting for the day with the Harry Kalas obit, but news today of the passing of another legend of sorts – adult film star Marilyn Chambers.

If there was ever a starlet to capture the euphoric highs and monotonous lows of pornogra…oh forget it, just read the news here.

Heeeeeeeeeeeee’s Outta Here!

There. I said it. I couldn’t think of a more appropriate lead-in than that. Harry Kalas, a legend in Philadelphia sports broadcasting for over four decades, has died today at the age of 73. Reports are that Kalas collapsed in the broadcast booth before the start of the Phillies game in Washington, DC earlier this afternoon.

If there was ever a voice to capture the euphoric highs and monotonous lows of the game of baseball, Harry Kalas’ baritone was it. Together with former Phillie Richie Ashburn, the pair called Phillies games for both radio and television broadcasts throughout the 70’s, 80s, and most of the 90s, ending only with Ashburn’s death in 1997. Kalas continued to broadcast with other commentators following Ashburn’s death, culminating with his dramatic call of the Phillies World Championship in October of last year. I’m glad he got to see his beloved team reach that pinnacle, and share in the city’s pride during the ensuing celebration.

For many, including me, Harry Kalas was Philadelphia baseball, but he was so much more. The sound of his voice year after year was a soothing reminder of the hope and promise the start of each season brought after a cold and dreary Philadelphia winter.

Now his absence will only remind me of the passage of time.

WSJ On Private v. Public Health Insurance

The Wall Street Journal editors have posted a rather ominous-sounding editorial on their site: The End of Private Health Insurance. The opinion that follows is as sobering; namely, that this middle class entitlement will neither encourage competition nor ultimately allow the public to choose how they receive health care services.

If You Vilify Them, They Will Leave…

The New York Times puts a curious spin on the current trend of mega bankers leaving the confines of their Wall Street palaces (by force or otherwise) for the greener pastures of smaller investment houses. The reasons, the Times asserts, vary: joining banks that do not face tightening regulations, including foreign banks; opting to go with start-up companies with the potential for a future payout; or, leaving simply because of culture clashes at merging companies.

One other possible explanation - how about that these guys simply looked across the street at the AIG building and the witch hunts their financial counterparts were subjected to over compensation and said, “Not me”.

But some feel this exodus is a good thing; that this marks the beginning of a “broad and necessary” reshaping of Wall Street. “If risk-taking spreads out to these smaller institutions, it is no longer a systematic threat,” says Matthew Richardson, professor of economics at New York University.

Huh? But I thought that the current financial conflagration occurred because the toxic assets of the big guys were whacked up, bundled and repackaged to the smaller guys. It became a systematic threat when the smaller institutions assumed this risk. I'm not sure how hiring on some of the braintrust that made some bad decisions on Wall Street will reduce this risk on Main Street.

Check...matey!

Arrghh!! Somali pirates have raised the stakes in their continuing game of high seas chicken, this time seizing an Italian tugboat with sixteen Italian crewmen on board. Earlier, French commandos stormed a sailboat held by different Somali bandits, freeing four captives. However, one captive died in the operation. Gotta admire the French for trying though; hope similar operations are on the drawing board over on the American side.

The Obama team is said to be continually monitoring the situation and weighing options in between bites of their deep dish pizzas.

I'll leave the planning to the professionals, but is it unrealistic to send a group of Navy frogmen in under the cover of night to cause slow leaks in the lifeboat? You can't plug leaks and guard a captain at the same time...

Update:
Checkmate, matey! - Of course, Navy SEALs snipers under the cover of night are also effective. Good call by the President to authorize it and God bless the US Navy for carrying it out.

Saturday Morning Blogroll

What others from around the blogosphere were saying this week...

CENTER LEFT:
Crooked Timber - a remedy to counter conservative Supreme Court decisions...
Donkeylicious - the solution to social security? Bring in more immigrants!...
Huffington Post - in defense of Harold Koh...
Glenn Greenwald - Noting contradictions between candidate Obama and President Obama on habeas corpus...
Anonymous Liberal - Reconsidering the Geithner plan...

CENTER RIGHT:
Exurban League - Obama reaches out to "moderate" pirate community...
Argghhh!! - One experience with life under a national health care system...
Keith Hennessey - Does the President's budget cut the deficit in half?
Neo Neocon - Mistaking America's arrogance for Obama's?
RedState - The New York Times: doomed and deservedly so?...

Giving Polar Bears Their Due Process

The Washington Times is reporting that new global warming legislation under construction in Congress contains (at the moment, anyway) a provision allowing global warming victims to sue the federal government for damages stemming from government or corporate inaction on climate change.

The Trial Lawyers Association has voiced opposition against the measure, saying they are “just too darn busy” litigating pharmaceutical and tobacco product liability cases.

Hillary To Sell Bill To Pay Debt

So many ways to go with this one...

Barney Diplomacy

Apparently, strong foreign policy will not be a hallmark of the Obama Administration, so says Sen. Chuck Schumer:



Then again, strong foreign policy is sooo 1980’s.

ht: Townhall

Obama And War Funding

In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, President Obama framed his request for an additional $83.4 billion in funds for Afghanistan along familiar themes: “the Taliban is resurgent and al Qaeda threatens America (emphasis mine) from its safe haven along the Afghan-Pakistan border.”

It will be interesting to watch this drama unfold. Not only from the standpoint of watching Pelosi and her gang of thugs twist and contort at the thought of providing additional war funding, but also for the reaction of congressional republicans who slogged it out with President Bush during similar funding battles. I agree with the President on this issue, and hope republicans of similar mind will stand with Obama as well.

But one teensy wrinkle I think the administration may need to reconcile – do you recall the stink raised by democrats (including Obama himself) concerning the “imminent threat” justification they claimed Bush used for the invasion of Iraq? If we are to hold President Obama to the same standard, does Afghanistan pass this muster? If the Office of Homeland Security is to be believed, the answer is no. “We maintain there is no credible information to suggest there’s an imminent threat against the homeland at this time”, according to an agency statement released in November 2008.

So if al Qaeda’s danger isn’t imminent (and by extension, Afghanistan’s), why all the fuss?

Pirate Plot Thickens…

Somali pirates holding a freighter captain hostage are receiving reinforcements by way of other pirated ships rushing to the scene with a cargo of human shields of their own. This, as the USS Bainbridge surrounds the drifting lifeboat in an attempt to force the bandits to give up the standoff.

General Petraeus has indicated that other US warships will be arriving on the scene shortly, including the guided missile frigate USS Halyburton. Halyburton?! I knew Dick Cheney’s bloody hands were all over this somehow!!

Rebuilding The Brand

But reconnecting with a younger generation of voters doesn’t mean conservatives should attempt to emulate Britain’s Conservative Party, writes Kimberly Strassel in today's Wall Street Journal.

In fact, what’s happening in Britain should seem vaguely familiar, albeit with the roles reversed…

And 41% Think Communism's Bitchin'...

When Barack Obama was elected last November, I chalked it up to an electorate that was: battle weary after seven years of fighting a war on terror; frustrated with eight years of Republican management (or mismanagement as it were) of the executive office; and, frightened at the sight of their life savings and other investments evaporate overnight. But I was comforted somewhat by the thought that democrats, emboldened with a spark of political relevancy, would inevitably overextend themselves leading to swift retribution at the ballot box.

I still think the former will occur; however, after reading the results of this Rasmussen poll, I'm not sure of any short-term political ramifications benefiting republicans. The phone survey found that 53% of adult respondents believe capitalism is better than socialism, with a quarter apparently not being able to tell the difference between the two.

Perhaps more alarming for the Republican Party, only 37% of those surveyed under the age of 30 years old prefer capitalism - almost evenly divided among those who are BFF's with socialism (33%) and those who couldn't focus their attentions away from the Xbox long enough to venture an opinion (30%).

As we saw in the election, Obama was able to connect with this voting segment in a manner that made republicans seem stale and out of touch. This survey would seem to further that notion - and signal to the GOP that it has its work cut out for it in terms of outreach programs to the younger generation of voters.

Behind The Numbers

Philip Klein of the American Spectator presents a fairly detailed breakdown of the 46 million uninsured Americans number that is used as the rallying cry by proponents of universal health coverage.

Being that we may have over $600 billion for health care reform on the line, I think additional due diligence on this number would be helpful.

Update:
Came across this op ed piece from Ramesh Ponnuru (National Review) in this morning's New York Times. His hook - universal health shouldn't be the goal of health care reform; more affordable and portable health care should.

Update, Part II:
Keith Hennessey weighs in on the 46million figure as well...

Yes We Can Go Broke Together!

The New York Times this morning is reporting that the Obama Administration is encouraging banks and other large investment houses to create bond instruments very similar to the war bonds sold in both World Wars; but these Bailout Bonds will be used instead to assist in the bailout of the financial industry. I thought bailout bonds are what you posted when your Uncle Manny got in trouble for talking to those painted ladies by the bridge?

Anyway, the conventional wisdom here is that banks will create these instruments, or funds, that will buy up other banks’ troubled assets. It is assumed that the bond holder will eventually profit once the funds sell the investments for a profit. Also built into this assumption is that these legacy assets are worth more than currently valued. If the opposite holds true, there are considerable risks for investors.

I’m having a hard time understanding how this Ponzi scheme differs from the one that got us into trouble the first time.

Mortgage Woes Continue

Two recent articles on the nation’s mortgage industry would appear to confirm that we haven’t quite hit bottom in this sector of the economy yet.

This one, from Reuters, reports that seven percent of homeowners with mortgages were at least 30 days late on their loans in February. While on its face this statistic may not appear all that concerning, it represents an increase of 50% from the same period a year earlier. What is perhaps more troubling is the fact that this delinquency rate represents “prime” loans, where the borrowers ostensibly are more “creditworthy”. Additionally, almost 40% of subprime borrowers were at least 30 days delinquent, up from 24% from the same period a year earlier.

But the $95 billion we’ve spent on loan modifications helped, right? Er, maybe. This second article notes that when loan contracts were actually modified under government-sponsored loan modification plans, just 37% of these loans reduced the monthly payment by more than 10%. And even when monthly payments were reduced by 10% or more, just under a quarter of these loans became seriously delinquent after six months.

I guess the "good" news in all of this is that at least there appears to be plenty of apartment space available...

Winning Hearts And Minds

Shouldn’t this be working the other way? Shouldn’t a US congressional delegation meeting with a Marxist dictator with a history of brutal suppression of his nation’s citizenry be extolling the virtues of capitalism, free market and democratic reforms instead of the other way around?

“What really surprised me, but also endeared me to him, was his keen sense of humor, his sense of history and his basic human qualities,” said Representative Bobby Rush (D-IL). Oh brother. No doubt this would come as a surprise to Cuban ex-pats currently living in the US and the countless thousands of their friends and relatives who suffered and died as a result of Castro’s “qualities”.

He’s a charmer, that Fidel…

At Least The K-Car Had Pinstripes...

This is what we've been sinking billions into GM for??

Unveiled as a joint venture between General Motors and Segway (you know, the folks who make those intimidating mall security cruisers), the new PUMA (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility) can carry two passengers and travel up to 35 miles on one charge of its lithium-ion battery.

No word yet on whether genuine Corinthian leather will be optional on future versions.

Israel Tests Missile Defense

While President Obama may believe that investment in "unproven" missile defense systems is money not well-spent, the nation of Israel feels a bit differently. Yesterday, Israel successfully tested a missile defense system designed to protect it from Iranian attack. In remarks before Israel's parliament last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alluded to a nuclear-capable Iran as the biggest threat to his nation's security.

But It Was Kobe Beef, Your Honor...

Whew... the ranks of eligible candidates for "Father of the Year" were thinned by at least one yesterday with the onset of proceedings against one Marcelino de Jesus Martinez of Salinas, CA. Martinez is accused of selling his 14 year-old daughter into marriage for $16,000, beer and meat.

Police were tipped off to the dowry contract only after Martinez went to authorities to get his daughter back because payment wasn't made.

VT Legalizes Gay Marriage

The Vermont legislature narrowly achieved an override of a gubernatorial veto on gay marriage yesterday, becoming the fourth state to legalize such unions and the first to do so through the legislative process.

Through the legislative process....those are four key words. Admittedly, while my own feelings on this issue are mixed and continue to evolve, I applaud the people of Vermont for using the legislature rather than overreaching judges to enact this change.

Gates: Less Is More

Perhaps bowing to current economic realities, the technological sophistication of current and imagined foes or a little of both, Defense Secretary Robert Gates outlined a new defense mantra in the Era of Obama: less is more.

The plan doesn’t necessarily represent a cut in defense spending per se; but rather, a shift on how these funds are currently spent. Gone are the days of laser beams on friggin’ sharks, replaced by lower-level insurgent targeting and surveillance systems.

Admittedly, national defense is not my bailiwick. You want a treatise on SpongeBob or some other piece of pop fluff, I’m your guy. But even based on a cursory review of Gates’ remarks, I would be inclined to agree with him. I just hope that the Administration (and by extension, the Pentagon) retains some sort of R&D budget large enough to continue the research into 22nd Century weapons systems. I’m not sure the US would have been able to strike with such surgical precision as it has in the last few conflicts had it not been for decades of research and development. The same goes for our mastery of the seas – part of our Navy’s success can be directly attributed to the technology and equipment that have enabled it to mobilize and deploy on literally a moment’s notice.

And besides, laser beams on sharks would be kind of cool.

He Is Human, After All...

I haven’t seen too much mainstream media coverage of Obama’s latest presidential gaffe, but apparently the President mistakenly referred to the native language of Austria as Austrian when it is actually German. The misstep occurred during a news conference, when asked by a European reporter what the President learned from European leaders during his recent trip. Obama’s response:

It's an interesting question. I had already formed relationships with many of them. ... There's a lot of -- I don't know what the term is in Austrian -- wheeling and dealing -- and, you know, people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics.

I suppose it could have been worse…

Let's See If A Cat Could Do This...

Sophie Tucker, a pet dog who fell overboard in rough seas off the coast of Australia and survived for four months alone on an island, has been reunited with her owners.

The Obama TARP Pits

Why is the Obama Administration resisting efforts by some banks to return TARP funds? Fox Business Channel’s Stuart Varney thinks he know why…

The Financial Times has another view - the banks are going to need to find the money from somewhere in order to buy up all of those toxic assets...

Rocket Man

On Saturday, North Korea once again defied international condemnation and went ahead with its planned launch of a communications satellite *cough* long-range missile *cough*. For his part, President Obama was quick with a response. “North Korea broke the rules, once again, by testing a rocket that could be used for long-range missiles,” Obama said during an address in Prague. Give 'em Hell, Barack!

Despite the President’s forceful rhetoric, it appears that little, if anything will actually be done by the international community aside from the usual pointed but ineffective UN resolutions. As Obama stated, this isn’t the first time Pyongyang has flouted international law; and it can reasonably expect to continue to do so, so long as China and Russia run interference in the UN.

The North Koreans are starving, broke, and have nothing to lose – it’s hard to negotiate with a position like that, just ask former Presidents Bush and Clinton.

Hard Times For Harvard

Even hallowed Harvard University isn’t immune to the ravages of economic recession. The school has announced that it plans to cut capital spending by as much as half after its $36.9 billion endowment lost as much as $8 billion in the last quarter of 2008 alone.

The spending cuts are expected to impact Harvard Medical School, as well as the planned Harvard Stem Cell Institute, which broke ground early last year in the city’s Allston section.

Apparently, Harvard’s research on growing stem cells into money hasn’t panned out as they initially hoped.

NATO: We’re Behind American Troops (Waaaaay Behind Them)

Despite President Obama’s attempts to paint the daunting effort ahead for his Overseas Contingency Operation at the 60th anniversary meeting of NATO earlier this week, it seems that old Europe simply isn’t buying it.

The 5,000 additional forces NATO members did manage to pledge will be divided among 3,000 short-term deployment troops, and 1,500 – 2,000 members of the French Surrender Brigade. I’m sorry, that was a knee-jerk reaction – 1,500 – 2,000 training and technical personnel for the Afghanistan police and military force.

I just hope Obama's groveling before the feet of Europe will have a payoff at some point.

Feet Of Clay, Tongue Of Pitchfork

Financial disclosure forms released by the White House yesterday (yesterday!) indicate that Lawrence Summers, one of President Obama's top economic advisers was paid approximately $5.2 million by the hedge fund D.E. Shaw in 2008.

What's all this again about "my administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks"?

Chavez On Capitalism

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez told that nation's state television that the G20's attempts to regulate the global financial meltdown were "impossible", and that capitalism needs to fail. "It is impossible that capitalism can regulate the monster that is the world financial system. Capitalism needs to go down, and we must take a transitional road to a new model that we call socialism."

Hmm....rampant inflation, shortages of basic staples and increasing political isolation - I think I'll take my chances with capitalism. But that's not to say that Obamanomics won't have us there soon enough...

He Said It, Not Me!

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hailed President Barack Obama as "my new comrade" after their first face-to-face meeting on Thursday.

I had a feeling those two nutty kids would hit it off...

Saturday Morning Blogroll

What others from around the blogosphere were saying this week...

CENTER LEFT

Huffington Post - GOP defends Sanford, others, for taking stimulus money...
Glenn Greenwald - Endless right-wing self pity...
Truthdig.com - Putting the "care" in health care...
The Confluence - Commentary on Pat Oliphant's recent controversial cartoon...
Matt Yglesias - Dropping Mark-to-Market is a bad idea...

CENTER RIGHT

Sistertoldjah - Are we moving to 1932, or further back in time?...
The Volokh Conspiracy - Gay marriage in the heartland...
Patterico's Pontifications - What E.J. Dionne could learn from Penn Jillette...
Vodkapundit - The New York Times endorses...Nazinomics
Professor Bainbridge - Whatever Obamanomics is, it isn't capitalism...

Truing Up “Hope”

Stanford economist Michael Boskin is not a fan of the Obama budget. In this morning’s Wall Street Journal, Boskin writes:

But what is not just worrisome but dangerous are the growing trillion dollar deficits in the latter years of the Obama budget. These deficits are so large for a prosperous nation in peacetime -- three times safe levels -- that they would cause the debt burden to soar toward banana republic levels. That's a recipe for a permanent drag on growth and serious pressure on the Federal Reserve to inflate, not the new era of rising prosperity that Mr. Obama and his advisers foresee.

Stagflation - sounds like the 70’s all over again. Read the whole thing here.

Maybe They Come For The Hospital Food

The organization Integrated Care Collaboration (ICC), a nonprofit group of health care providers for low-income and uninsured patients in Texas, has released a report claiming that nine people accounted for over 2,600 hospital emergency room visits in the Austin, TX area alone over a six year period. The ICC estimates these visits cost over $3 million, and project this cost upward to over hundreds of millions of dollars nationwide. The group’s fix? Technology – the ICC believes an automated system to identify patients who abuse the system will save time, money and resources.

Two things about this report aren’t sitting well with me. The first is the statistic – nine people accounting for over 2,600 ER visits – my Spidersense usually starts to tingle when I see a figure like that, as more often than not it’s indicative of fraud. I wouldn’t be surprised if this proves to be the case once the details behind the numbers are examined. The second, the notion that technology, or universal access or any of the other big government approaches to health care currently bandied about by the administration will lower the cost of medical care. In this regard, there are few options available: reducing the amount of care provided or reducing the amount paid for care – neither of which I feel would be satisfied by the system proposed by the ICC. Ultimately, those patients would still need to be seen and treated, the costs of which would need to be picked up somewhere downstream.

Schools Receive First Hits Of Stimulus Smack

The nation’s schools have begun receiving the first wave of supplemental funding under President Obama’s Economic Stimulus Program. The $44 billion dollar infusion will go ostensibly toward saving teachers’ jobs, although the administration has not been shy about its intent to use federal money and power to “transform” public education.

“This is a historic opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to lay the groundwork for a generation of education reforms,” said Obama’s Education Secretary Arne Duncan. If we are truly "laying the groundwork", it stands to reason then that this “once-in-a-lifetime” stimulus bump received by Big Education will be anything but.

One can only imagine how tomorrow’s youth will be able to repay Uncle Sam for this historic opportunity.

Oh that’s right, MoveOn.org already has:

Meltdown At The G20

Protesters turned violent yesterday in demonstrations coinciding with the start of the G20 Summit.

British police suspect many of the rabble to be professional protesters – anarchists from Italy and France, mixing with the disenchanted crowds. The report mentions the protesters included environmentalists, anarchists, anti-war folks and workers demanding action from world leaders. Just how much more “action” they require of their respective governments beyond going into hock to pay for massive stimulus and spending programs is unclear.

Clare Smith, a member of G20 Meltdown and a 27 year-old post graduate anthropology student, played a giant game of Monopoly inside Paternoster Square as her chosen method of protest. “This is a parody of what’s going on inside the building,” Smith said. “Meanwhile, the poor are getting poorer and that has even started to show in this country.”

Admittedly, the idea of protesting a government that spends piles of money it doesn’t have to underwrite a lifestyle that allows a 27 year-old anthropology student to play Monopoly is a bit vexing to me.

Who is to blame then? A lot of ink has been devoted to this subject, but I think economists Steven Horowitz and Charles Dana sum it up nicely:

Before talking about how we did get here, let me say a quick word about what didn’t cause this mess. Those who wish to blame greed for the crisis need to explain how and why it is that greed seems to causes crises only at specific times, despite the fact that it is omnipresent as a feature of human nature and market economies. As the economist Larry White has noted, if we saw a bunch of planes crash all on the same day, we wouldn’t blame gravity. It’s always there. Something else must be at work. I would argue that the key is the set of institutions through which greed or self-interest is channeled. That is, good institutions can cause self-interest to generate desirable unintended consequences, and bad ones can cause undesirable ones. So perhaps we should be looking at institutions and policy.

The full text of their work can be read here.

Ignorance Is Strength

Does anyone else notice the creepy similarities between Treasury Secretary Geithner's picture featured on Drudge this morning and a certain computer commercial based on a classic dystopian novel?

Sec. Geithner tells CBS News that GM's Wagoner may not be the last CEO shown the door by the administration.

Used Car Salesman-In-Chief

Would you buy a car from a guy who says, “Starting today, the United States government will stand by your warranty”? Neither would I, but that’s the new pitch at Honest Barry’s Used Car Emporium.

But just don’t look too closely at that U-S of A certified warranty if you currently own a GM car or truck prior to the effective date of the Warranty Commitment Program, as it doesn’t cover current warranties or safety recalls.

Ah, remember the days of the K-car?

One World Is Enough…

Dr. Nina Federoff, a scientist and advisor to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and current Secretary Hillary Clinton, told the BBC program “One Planet” that there are already too many people living on planet Earth. “We need to continue to decrease the growth rate of the global population,” said Dr. Federoff, “the planet can’t support too many more people.”

I disagree with Dr. Federoff's assessment. I think the planet is more than capable of supporting the current population and then some. However, I do feel the global population may be unable to support itself in a few decades if current birth rate trends continue. As Dr. Federoff points out, the global population growth rate is already decreasing. And as the birth rates in industrialized European nations continue to decrease (as are those of developing countries, though just not at equal rates) and the current population ages and consumes more and more government resources, many national economies will be pushed to the brink if not over the edge.

We’ve already begun loading the chambers in this game of economic Russian Roulette, and so far, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel seems to be one of the few leaders sane enough to try to push her country away from the table.

My New Favorite Blog

Sorry CW, you’re so 2008. Yuval Levin over at National Review recommended a new blog created by Keith Hennessey. Hennessey was an economic advisor to President George W. Bush, and ran the President’s National Economic Council in 2008.

Hennessey fills the knowledge gap of current economic issues and policy decisions with incredible detail from a firsthand perspective. Be forewarned - his posts are not the snarky mind candy you find on this site. His narrative is purposely long but it is worth the read.

If you have a couple of hours to kill this morning, pour a cup of coffee (or two) and enjoy.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel?

The Consumer Confidence Index held steady at 26.0 in March, up a tick from its 25.3 reading in February. The positive increase followed three consecutive months of declines, but economists remained dour as they had expected a CCI of 28 for the month.

Is the worst over? It depends on who you ask. I think the economic freefall that has gripped the American psyche over the last six months may be waning, and that we may well indeed be “bottoming out”. But that is not to say that good times are necessarily ahead. My feeling is that Americans have digested about as much apocalyptic gloom and doom as they can, have assessed their particular situation and have come to the conclusion that they’ll survive – that they have indeed survived. Perhaps a little poorer for the experience, but definitely a little wiser.

Navel Gazer Of The Day…

If a drunk never leaves his stool, is it drunk driving? This is not a philosophical dilemma analogous to the tree-in-the-woods question, this is an actual case in which Ohio authorities have charged a man with drunken driving where, after responding to a call of a crash, officers found 28 year-old Kile Wygle amid the wreckage of a motorized bar stool powered by a deconstructed lawnmower engine. Wygle later admitted to the officers that he had consumed 15 beers before getting behind the bar of his bar stool. The young man has pleaded not guilty and has requested a jury trial.

Fight the power.