The Wise and Wherefores

The GOP

2009-11-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/042922.html

A Great Opportunity For Republicans But . . .

2009-11-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

since they have no solution either (remember this all began under Bush and Paulson), I have no doubt they will blow it.

Ron Paul vs. Michael Moore

2009-10-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hn6ad4_FzM&feature=player_embedded

Commercial Real Estate Over The Cliff

2009-10-29T16:09:00.001-07:00

I have been seeing this in my business for the past year. The banks are literally sitting on thousands of delinquent and pre-foreclosure loans. The federal government pressured the FASB to change the mark-to-market requirement and now nobody really knows the financial condition of the banks. However, I believe that next year many local and regional banks will either fold or be swallowed by the larger banks because of their bad commercial real estate portfolios.

Barney is Frank

2009-10-27T15:28:00.000-07:00

One thing you can say about Barney Frank is that he makes no qualms about his desire for more government, unlike many so-called "conservatives" who claim to be Thomas Jefferson when campaigning but turn out to be more like Olympia Snowe. Check out the video link.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2009/10/26/frank_we_are_trying_on_every_front_to_increase_the_role_of_government.html

2009-10-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the P/E ratio. Pay $140 for $1 in earnings? Not me.

Doug Casey on Real Estate

2009-10-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

"People don’t understand that buying property with a mortgage is just the same as buying stocks on margin. It’s caused speculative bubbles and malinvestment. Until the malinvestment in those countries is entirely liquidated, you don’t want to invest in real estate in them. But a lot of countries, especially in the third world, have no mortgage debt whatsoever. Zero mortgage debt. You want a piece of property, you pay for it in cash. That keeps prices down and the market much more stable. And it makes for more interesting speculations, because if a mortgage market develops in the future, it could light a fire under prices."

The TARP Lie

2009-10-21T08:02:00.000-07:00

The TARP funding was claimed to be necessary in order to prevent a freeze of the capital markets, particularly commercial lending. As you can see from the graphic above, since the time of its issuance, commercial lending has not increased, but rather has decreased. The TARP funds were in fact used in part by the Treasury to buy shares in troubled companies and to ensure that Wall Street firms with holdings in those troubled companies were protected. Large banks receiving TARP funds have used the money to buy up smaller banks and increase their reserve accounts with the Fed.

Bad News For Re-Financing

2009-10-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

The chart above shows that sources (other than the Federal Reserve) of funding for refinancing of residential mortgages is drying up. With a large wave of Alt-A and Option Payment mortgages due for interest rate resets next year, and the Fed saying it will stop purchasing agency debt in March of 2010, who will provide the new monies?

2009-04-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

From the Washington Post

2009-03-30T16:06:00.000-07:00

Creeping Nationalization

2009-03-12T10:47:00.000-07:00

By Russell Roberts on Financial Markets

I call it implicit nationalization. It's no better than the real thing. The New York Times reports: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/business/economy/11bailout.html?_r=1&hp

The list of demands keeps getting longer.

Financial institutions that are getting government bailout funds have been told to put off evictions and modify mortgages for distressed homeowners. They must let shareholders vote on executive pay packages. They must slash dividends, cancel employee training and morale-building exercises, and withdraw job offers to foreign citizens.

As public outrage swells over the rapidly growing cost of bailing out financial institutions, the Obama administration and lawmakers are attaching more and more strings to rescue funds.

The conditions are necessary to prevent Wall Street executives from paying lavish bonuses and buying corporate jets, some experts say, but others say the conditions go beyond protecting taxpayers and border on social engineering.

Some bankers say the conditions have become so onerous that they want to return the bailout money. The list includes small banks like the TCF Financial Corporation of Wayzata, Minn., and Iberia Bank of Lafayette, La., as well as giants like Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.

They say they plan to return the money as quickly as possible or as soon as regulators set up a process to accept the refunds. On Tuesday, Signature Bank of New York announced that because of new executive pay restrictions in the economic stimulus package, it notified the Treasury that it intended to return the $120 million it had received from the government only three months ago.

The Fastest, Surest Way to Learn Real Economics

2009-03-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

by David Kramer at March 9, 2009 10:02 PM

Forget about reading Austrian Economics. In fact, forget about reading in general. I have finally discovered what is the fastest, surest way to learn real economics: it's listening to NPR (National Public Radio). All you have to do is realize that EVERY SINGLE THING their radio hosts and guests say about economics is 100% FALSE, i.e., that the complete opposite of what they are saying is TRUE economics!

Billionaire Investor Jim Rogers On The Economy

2009-03-04T14:26:00.000-08:00

GE CEO Endorses Fascism

2009-03-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

Check out the fourth and fifth paragraphs.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alFhb34_4s_M&refer=home

"Stimulus"? - Right

2009-03-02T08:51:00.000-08:00

http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/61030.html

Cartoon

2009-03-02T08:45:00.001-08:00

Robert Higgs on War, Taxes and Economic Crises

2009-02-28T14:02:00.001-08:00

http://www.independent.org/blog/?p=1412

Video

2009-02-28T13:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/025593.html#more

Obama's Biggest Bailout Beneficiaries: Lobbyists

2009-02-27T13:34:00.001-08:00

by Christopher Manion
A fascinating and ominous article (vie Drudge) features Fidelity's Edward Johnson, a critic of FDR and of Obama's "New Deal II."

"Johnson, sounding like he’s never been a big fan of the original New Dealers from the 1930s, warned of too much government involvement in the economy and indicated Fidelity is beefing up its government-affairs unit to fend off possibly burdensome new regulations."

Isn't it curious that the best these all-powerful financial titans can do to defend themselves is hire lobbyists? Yet that's exactly what is happening all over the private-sector, as it faces mass nationalization.

But wait, there's more: next, Johnson has the temerity to blame the government! (no names mentioned, he's not insane, and he has to be careful: apparently he lives in Massachusetts):

"[T]his climate was caused by many well-intentioned policies - stimulated by individuals at high levels in government and sanctioned by regulatory structures."

Two dark clouds appear (and no silver lining): first, Mr. Johnson had better be careful, economist Dan Mitchell tells the reporter, because it's "risky" for Mr. Johnson to criticize government. It might "anger government policymakers."

And second, deferential ignorance by "professionals" still runs rampant: "But William Cheney, chief economist at Boston’s John Hancock Financial, said he 'very much' disagreed with Johnson’s version of FDR’s New Deal policies. Roosevelt’s initial policies did boost the economy, which faltered after FDR tried to rein in government spending, Cheney said

Obama Arrogance

2009-02-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

Dear Editor:

President Obama proclaimed that "The American people are watching. They need this [stimulus] plan to work. They expect to see the money they've earned, they've worked so hard to earn, spent in its intended purposes" ("Jindal rejects La.'s stimulus share," Feb. 22).

If Mr. Obama were truly concerned about having money spent in its intended purposes, he'd let people keep much more of what they earn. Each of us earns income by working, saving, and taking risks - efforts that we exert to improve our standard of living as each of us judges best. Few people earn income intending for a third party to confiscate large chunks of it. And only unalloyed arrogance can lead such a third party to imagine that he or she, better than each of the income earners, knows best how to spend the confiscated funds.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

Real Estate Reality

2009-02-25T14:29:00.000-08:00

From CNBC: investors just bought from the banks a number of lots, uncompleted houses, and competed houses in Vero Beach, Florida, for 17 cents on the dollar.

Politicizing Mortgage Lending - It's Not New

2009-02-24T11:35:00.000-08:00

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DE7DB153EF933A0575AC0A96F958260

From A Reagan Appointee

2009-02-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts263.html

"We Are Going to Seize Cash, Bank Accounts, Jewelry, Artwork, Houses, Cars, Boats. . ."

2009-02-22T09:33:00.000-08:00

By Thomas DiLorenzo

Those aren't the words from a script for "The Sopranos," but the blabbering of a socialist-minded government lawyer in heat, the Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein.

After "subprime" borrowers began defaulting on home loans in Baltimore City, the city government panicked over the loss of property tax revenue. So they're suing Wells Fargo Bank for allegedly preying upon the presumably ignorant, helpless, and unable-to-read-mortgage-applications population of the city. Although this is nothing but a wild and unsubstantiated accusation by a city government whose mayor was just indicted for felony theft, perjury, fraud, and misconduct in office, the U.S. Attorney is chomping at the bit to loot and plunder Wells Fargo employees, many of whom were strongarmed by the same U.S. government into making all those bad loans in the first place.

Also,
Let's put the latest installment of Obammunism in perspective:

1. For several decades HUD, the Fed, The Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the equal housing laws, Congress, and every tentacle of government involved in housing forced, bribed, and coerced mortgage lenders to make trillions of dollars in bad loans to unqualified or "subprime" borrowers, promising them that the risk would be wiped away by Fannie and Freddie when they purchased and "securitized" the bad loans. The Community Reinvestment Act was just one part of this scheme.

2. This was all part and parcel of an underhanded or underground attempt to implement one plank of FDR's plan for socialism in America known as his "Economic Bill of Rights" ("Every family has a right to a decent home" -- at someone else's expense).

3. Now that thousands of these bad loans have defaulted, the advocates of Obammunism have not given up: The latest scheme is to tax the 93% of Americans who make their mortgage payments to keep these deadbeats in homes they still cannot afford. Renting is not an option, for some reason. It's the "right" of these parasites to live at the expense of the more productive members of society, after all. The sainted FDR said so.

I Know How This Guy Feels - Great Rant

2009-02-20T18:34:00.001-08:00

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853

Quote Of The Day

2009-02-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

H.L. Mencken sagely observed,
"[I]f experience teaches us anything at all it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. His very existence, indeed, is a standing subversion of the public good in every rational sense. He is not one who serves the common weal; he is simply one who preys upon the commonwealth"

Adds Thomas DiLorenzo:
"Not all plunderers live in the D.C. area, of course. Economists Richard Vedder and Lowell Galloway once documented that there is a substantial (20–40 percent) "income premium" in every state capitol compared to the average income in the rest of the state.

As Americans celebrated their democracy during the recent elections, which will not change how their government is run in any significant way, they proved once again that we have become a nation of chumps and suckers."

Republican Socialists

2009-02-18T09:09:00.001-08:00

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e310cbf6-fd4e-11dd-a103-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Great Video

2009-02-18T09:00:00.000-08:00

U.S. Economic Fascism - It's Undeniable

2009-02-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

From USA Today

Does auto task force trump a car czar?

From a "car czar" who could have micromanaged the foundering auto industry, for better or worse, Detroit automakers now will be delivered into the hands of a committee, the White House says.
The Presidential Task Force on Autos — its members not yet named — will consist of representatives of nine governmental agencies and the White House, and will be run by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers.

Corruption At Every Turn

2009-02-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

By Russell Roberts

On the same day the Washington Post reports the passing of a $790 billion spending package that includes about $50 billion for so-called infrastructure, it also reports on a Department of Transportation audit of spending on roads:

Design and engineering companies helping to build the nation's highways ran up millions of dollars in inappropriate charges at the expense of taxpayers, including bills for parties, luxury car leases and hefty paychecks for executives, according to auditors.

Among the "unallowable expenses" singled out:

$355,767 to pay the personal income taxes of executives.

$301,667 to lease 45 automobiles,including Mercedes, BMW and other luxury brands.

$247,685 for dinners, tickets to sporting events, theme-holiday parties.

$60,000 paid to a consultant with only a verbal agreement.

$35,352 charged by two firms for "image-enhancing items such as golf shirts."

The Transportation Department audit, which took four years, examined bills from a sampling of 41 design and engineering firms picked from 3,580 firms that had active contracts with state departments of transportation. Auditors looked at data from 2003because it was the most current year available when the review began.

Weekend Cartoon

2009-02-14T15:09:00.001-08:00

The Job Creation Myth

2009-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

By Russell Roberts

The idea isn't just to employ people. The idea is to employ more people than we're employing now. That's the claim of stimulus. It's not enough to spend money. It's not enough to hire people. The claim of President Obama and Brad DeLong and others is that by spending money, other things that wouldn't otherwise have happened, will happen.

Yes, constructing a pool requires workers. But if workers who know how to build a swimming pool are already fully employed or close to it, then building a community wave pool is just going to drive up the wages of construction workers. Those higher wages discourage people from building a pool in their back yard or paving their driveway. If that's the case, then NO JOBS GET CREATED. Jobs get moved around from the private sector to the public sector. But there's no net job creation. The word "net" in the previous phrase is really redundant. Job creation really is about net jobs not gross jobs.

Of course there isn't full employment in the construction business. I assume some people who know how to build houses can also build swimming pools. And a lot of people are holding off on that backyard pool or the new driveway. So maybe a lot of the people who are good at building pools are unemployed. In that case, jobs will be created by the public spending. But you would never want to count the number of workers working to build the pool as a measure of the number of jobs created. And it isn't ridiculous to wonder if jobs will be created by building more community swimming pools. It's a good question, not a stupid one. The answer depends on the unemployment rate among the people with the skills to do the job. The answer depends on the location of the public project and the local unemployment rate of the people with the necessary skills. The answer depends on the ability of people who aren't but who have the relevant skills to find out about the new opportunity.

The answer also depnds on whether the mayor puts the project out to bid to the lowest bidder or uses his friend's firm.

Once all those community wave pools get built, maybe the people who built them will want a nicer house and they'll hire even more of those unemployed construction workers. That's another way that the spending might create jobs. (This is the so-called multiplier effect which presumes that taxpayers don't reduce spending in anticipation of higher taxes in the future.) But ignoring that possibility isn't the mistake that John King is supposedly making. He's supposedly missing the obvious undeniable so-called fact that spending and stimulus are the same thing by definition. But they're not.

If You Still Have A Job, Be Thankful

2009-02-06T10:55:00.000-08:00

By Russell Roberts

The January job numbers were released today and weren't very encouraging.I have cleaned up the first part of the AP story in case you'd like to read it without the opinions and overwrought verbs of the reporter. Words in bold are mine:

Recession-battered employers eliminated 598,000 jobs in January, the most since the end of 1974, and catapulted increasing the unemployment rate to 7.6 percent. The grim figures were further proof that the nation's job climate is deteriorating at an alarming clip with no end in sight.

The Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the drawn-out recession is having on workers and companies. It also puts even more pressure on Congress and President Barack Obama's administration to try to revive the economy through a stimulus package and a revamped financial bailout plan, both of which are may be nearing completion.

The latest net total of job losses was far worse than the 524,000 that economists expected. Job reductions in November and December also were deeper than previously reported.

With cost-cutting employers in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate bolted increased to 7.6 percent in January, the highest since September 1992. The increase in the jobless rate from 7.2 percent in December also was worse than the 7.5 percent rate economists expected though the tenth of a percentage point difference could be treated as negligible.

All told, the economy has lost a staggering 3.6 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. About half of this decline occurred in the past three months.

"Companies are in survival mode and are really cutting to the bone," said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics. "They are cutting and cutting hard now out of fear of an uncertain future."

Factories slashed cut 207,000 jobs in January, the largest one-month drop since October 1982, partly reflecting heavy losses at plants making autos and related parts. Construction companies got rid of 111,000 jobs. Professional and business services chopped 121,000 positions. Retailers eliminated 45,000 jobs. Leisure and hospitality axed 28,000 slots.

Those reductions swamped employment gains in education and health services, as well as in the government but I won't bother telling you the size of these increases.

To repeat what was said a few paragraphs earlier in a trivially different way: Just in the 12 months ending January, an astonishing 3.5 million jobs have vanished, the most on record going back to 1939, although the total number of jobs has grown significantly since then which is just a confusing way of saying that as a percentage of the work force, it's nothing close to 1939

Remember The Baloney About A Profit For The Taxpayers From The Bailout?

2009-02-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a2dHh.RbAogk&refer=home

2009-02-04T09:21:00.000-08:00

Off Topic

2009-02-04T09:17:00.000-08:00

What A Surprise!

2009-02-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Even though thousands are being laid-off/terminated from jobs that actually produce something, the federal government payroll is increasing. Face it, the U.S. is well down the road to western European statism.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090131/D9627HU00.html

I'll Bet that George Washington Flew Commercially

2009-01-30T17:16:00.000-08:00

By Don Boudreaux

Citibank will now reject delivery of a corporate jet. As reported in yesterday's Washington Times, "Pressure to cancel the deal came from the Obama administration and amid a chorus of concerns from politicians who are worried about how banks that have received federal funds are spending the money."

Overlook the sad fact that bailout money is being used to exponentially expand the scope of market activities over which government exercises direct control, and instead ask: Does no one see the sick hypocrisy here? A man who flies in a private jet paid for exclusively with taxpayer funds (Air Force One) scolds other persons for flying in private jets paid for only in part with taxpayer funds.

Another "Quasi-Governmental" Pig At The Trough?

2009-01-29T17:23:00.000-08:00

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/28/news/economy/postal_service/index.htm

Coming Inflation?

2009-01-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

The banks are sitting on a huge increase in the money supply, as the chart shows (click on the chart to enlarge). They have not loaned it because of their bad balance sheets (i.e., big losses in the recent past and anticipation of future losses). The Fed has been paying them to keep the cash in reserve. If/When it makes it way into the economy, inflation will likely go through the roof.

Great Video (after the ad)

2009-01-27T12:48:00.001-08:00

The Magnitude Of The Banking Bailout

2009-01-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

The Declaration Of Dependence

2009-01-25T10:35:00.000-08:00

By Don Boudreaux on Current Affairs

President Barack Obama's inaugural declaration that "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works" is further evidence that the wisdom and values that animated America's founding generation are lost - evidence that too few Americans today possess a mature skepticism of power and a love of liberty, and that too many Americans today are subject to adolescent crushes on charismatic charmers.

If Thomas Jefferson thought as Mr. Obama does, he would have written in 1776:"We hold this truth to be self-evident, that all men are endowed by their government with the unalienable right to be taxed, subsidized, regulated, lectured, scolded, herded, harassed, and otherwise ruled in whatever wayswork."

And these soaring words would have been part of a Declaration of Dependence.

I Want Some TARP

2009-01-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul On The Future Of The Dollar

2009-01-22T16:02:00.000-08:00

A Letter To The Wall Street Journal Regarding The Next Bailout

2009-01-21T11:08:00.000-08:00

Dear WSJ: Obama Calls for Responsibility, While Acting Irresponsibly
'No one can spend $1.5 billion of other people's money responsibly.'

By Donald J. Boudreaux
Business & Media Institute
1/20/2009 10:52:07 AM

Editor, The Wall Street Journal
200 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10281

To the Editor:

You report that Barack Obama will call for "a new era of responsibility" ("Obama to Call for a New Era of Responsibility," Jan. 20).

His actions belie his words. By seeking an extra $800 billion for "stimulus," Mr. Obama will generate a typhoon of irresponsibility. Consider what Arnold Kling says at the blog EconLog: "How many people will have meaningful input in determining the overall allocation of the billion stimulus? 10? 20? It won't be more than 1000. These people - let's say that in the end 500 technocrats will play a meaningful role in writing the bill - will have unimaginable power. Remember that what they are doing is taking our money and deciding for us how to spend it. Presumably, that is because they are wiser at spending our money than we are at spending it ourselves.

"The arithmetic is mind-boggling. If 500 people have meaningful input, and the stimulus is almost $800 billion, then on average each person is responsible for taking more than $1.5 billion of our money and trying to spend it more wisely than we would spend it ourselves."

Absolutely no one can spend $1.5 billion of other people's money responsibly.

Sincerely,

Donald J. Boudreaux

Don Boudreaux is the Chairman of the Department of Economics at George Mason University and a Business & Media Institute adviser

Ron Paul On Obama's Inauguration Speech

2009-01-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

On Property Taxes

2009-01-20T11:27:00.000-08:00

By Sheldon Richman

"Apologists for government undertake bizarre mental contortions to show that we have consented to be taxed. Balderdash. I was never asked to consent, and I’m sure you weren’t either. I refuse to accept the nonsensical argument that by not vacating the parcel of land I purchased, I have signaled my “tacit consent” to be plundered and bullied. That implies the government owns the territory it rules and therefore can set the conditions under which it is used. That sounds like feudalism. Are we merely tenants of the governmental landlord?"

Republicans for Clinton

2009-01-19T10:28:00.000-08:00

by Laurence Vance at January 18, 2009 03:22 PM

"They aren't even acting like Republicans when they are out of power. When Clinton was president, some Republicans acted like the conservatives they claimed to be. Then, when Bush was elected and they enjoyed an absolute majority for much of his terms, the Republicans showed their true colors--big government statists just like the Democrats.

Since the day her husband became the president, the personification of evil according to all Republicans has been Hillary Clinton. So, what did the Republicans do when Mrs. Clinton appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to receive the first vote toward her confirmation as secretary of state? With but one exception (David Vitter of Louisiana), the Republicans on the committee voted for Hillary.

Here are the pathetic Republicans on the committee who voted for what they claimed for years was the personification of evil: Richard Lugar, Bob Corker, George Voinovich, Lisa Murkowski, Jim DeMint, Johnny Isakson, John Barrasso."

Even More Socialism On The Way?

2009-01-18T10:13:00.000-08:00

Posted by Bill Anderson at January 17, 2009 07:54 PM

Nearly a century after the creators of the Federal Reserve System believed they had given the banking system its "magic bullet," today's government geniuses are proposing the next logical step: a government bank. No, I am not kidding:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The incoming Obama administration is considering setting up a government-run bank to acquire bad assets clogging the financial system, a person familiar with the Obama team's thinking said on Saturday.
The U.S. Federal Reserve, Treasury and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp have been in talks about ways to ease a banking crisis that is once again deepening -- and a government-run "aggregator bank" is among the options.

Outgoing Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair both said on Friday a government bank was one of a number of ideas U.S. regulators had been discussing.

The source said advisers to President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office on Tuesday, were also considering the idea of an aggregator bank among a range of options that could be pursued.

David Axelrod, a top adviser to Obama, told Reuters the new administration would have something to say about a fresh approach to the financial crisis in "the next few days."

Oh, yes, socialism is a "fresh approach." Yeah, it is "fresh" the same way that a newly-created cowpie is "fresh." I hate to tell these geniuses that a government bank is going to be enmeshed in all sorts of corruption and political pressures before long. However, like the Tennessee Valley Authority, it never will go out of business, just as long as there is a living, breathing taxpayer to squeeze.

A Great Cartoon

2009-01-16T15:32:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbTIJ9_bLP4&eurl=http://www.garynorth.com/public/1769.cfm

So You Wonder Why Your Retirement Is Gone

2009-01-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

From Gary North

In December, Portfolio.com published a fascinating essay by Michael Lewis, "The End." Two decades ago, Lewis became an overnight sensation with his book, "Liar's Poker." It was a study of the hottest of hot shot investment bankers. The term, "liar's poker," got into common usage.

His article features one of the cleverest pieces of art work I have ever seen. It is a morphed image of the famous bronze bull on Wall Street, located just outside the New York Stock Exchange. The bull is on its side, dead.

Lewis begins with a description of his three years at Salomon Brothers, beginning in 1985.

"I'd never taken an accounting course, never run a business, never even had savings of my own to manage. I stumbled into a job at Salomon Brothers in 1985 and stumbled out much richer three years later, and even though I wrote a book about the experience, the whole thing still strikes me as preposterous -- which is one of the reasons the money was so easy to walk away from. I figured the situation was unsustainable. Sooner rather than later, someone was going to identify me, along with a lot of people more or less like me, as a fraud. Sooner rather than later, there would come a Great Reckoning when Wall Street would wake up and hundreds if not thousands of young people like me, who had no business making huge bets with other people's money, would be expelled from finance."

Quote Of The Day

2009-01-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
H. L. Mencken
US editor (1880 - 1956)

Huffington Post on Ron Paul

2009-01-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

Ben Cohen writes in HuffPo about "10 Republicans who should stick around.' Here he is on Ron Paul:

Ron Paul won pretty much every Republican debate hands down, proving that brains and ideas won't get you far in the GOP. The doctor from Texas ultimately failed because he decided to tell the truth about the massive hypocrisy and corruption of the Republican Party, and tried to offer something similar to the original Republicanism of small government, civil liberties, and a humble foreign policy. Paul's small government libertarianism may be outdated (probably by a hundred years or so), but his analysis of the United States fiscal and foreign policy were incredibly accurate and insightful.

On Bush's version of capitalism, Paul said:

Deficits mean future tax increases, pure and simple. Deficit spending should be viewed as a tax on future generations, and politicians who create deficits should be exposed as tax hikes.
On the war in Iraq, Paul less kind:

Cliches about supporting the troops are designed to distract from failed policies, policies promoted by powerful special interests that benefit from war, anything to steer the discussion away from the real reasons the war in Iraq will not end anytime soon.
Amen. Please stick around, Ron.

As The Bush Days Wind Down

2009-01-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

He left off the list: Killed the Republican Party for the foreseeable future. Now if Obama can do the same for the Democrat Party, we might have a chance.

By Bill Anderson at January 12, 2009 01:30 PM

Fred Barnes continues the Neocon lovefest with Bush, reminding us in the Weekly Substandard that Bush really was a great president. Barnes lists 10 Great Things that Bush did in his eight years, including:

1. He stood against "global warming." (He did?)
2. "Enhanced interrogations" of "terrorists." (What the ancients once called torture.)
3. "The rebuilding of presidential authority." (Let none call it dictatorship.)
4. "Unswerving support for Israel." (What Israel wants, Israel gets.)
5. The No Child Left Behind Act. (Oh, yes, this legislative fraud is a mark of greatness.)
6. Promoting democracy abroad. (And destroying it at home, like his fellow Jacobins.)
7. "The Medicare prescription drug benefit." (Please, no. Not this one. Rove said passage would help ensure Republican dominance in government for decades, another Social Security Act. Gotta love these "political geniuses.")
8. "John Roberts and Sam Alito." (Of course. Why had I not thought about that? Two guys who believe in Government uber alles and are not afraid to rule that way.)
9. "He strengthened relations with east Asian democracies (Japan, South Korea, Australia) without causing a rift with China." (Yeah, and I bet they are soooo grateful to King George.)
10. "Finally, a no-brainer: the surge." (True, one does not need a brain to support the "surge." Glad we agree on something, Fred.)

And You Thought Some Businesses Were Recession-Proof

2009-01-11T12:13:00.000-08:00

Adult Entertainment Industry Wants a Bailout
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/economy/adult-entertainment-industry-wants-bailout/

Bush Or Obama - Government Stimulus As A Tool Is Failing

2009-01-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

Click on the graph to enlarge it. Government stimulus efforts are already immoral because they pass on to future generations debt obligations that they had no say in incurring. Soon, government stimulus efforts will also have no impact on current GDP. Turmoil will follow.

Soon It Will Be Time To Invest In Real Estate

2009-01-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

Mortage rates are now below 5% for people with good credit. If you want to invest in properties in Indiana, I would be more than happy to assist as your broker.

http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013609484

2009-01-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

I Was Wondering When This Would Happen

2009-01-05T09:17:00.000-08:00

These shows drive me crazy with claims that defy all economic sense. For example, why would prospective buyers of a house pay more for an upgrade performed by the current owner than the buyers could have it done to their specifications themselves? However, the article is tongue-in-cheek, as it should be.

Blame Television for the Bubble
The real housing villain is on cable.

By JIM SOLLISCH

So now we know what happens when too many people who have too few assets buy too much house with the help of too many risky mortgage products and too little oversight. And while there's plenty of blame to go around -- unethical mortgage brokers, greedy bankers and irresponsible homeowners -- one culprit continues to get off scot-free: HGTV.

That's right. The cable network HGTV is the real villain of the economic meltdown. As the viewership reached a critical mass over the past decade -- HGTV is now broadcast into 91 million homes -- homeowners began experiencing deep angst. Suddenly no one but the most slovenly and unambitious were satisfied with their houses. It didn't matter if you lived in an apartment or a gated community, one episode of "House Hunters" or "What's My House Worth?" and you were convinced you needed more. More square feet. More granite. More stainless steel appliances. More landscaping. More media rooms. More style. You deserved it.

If you had any doubts about your ability to afford such luxuries, all you had to do was look at the 20-something couple in the latest episode choosing between three houses. Should they go for the fixer-upper, priced at $425,000? Or the one with the pool for $550,000? What about the one with room to grow for $675,00?

"How much money can these people possibly make?" I shout at my wife before wrestling the remote from her house-hungry little hand and switching it to the nearest sports program. "The guy can barely string together two sentences!"

And yet on episode after episode for this entire irrational decade, HGTV pumped up the housing bubble by parading the most mediocre, unworthy-looking homeowners into our living rooms to watch while they put their tacky, run-of-the-mill tract homes on the market for twice what they paid and then went out and bought houses with price tags too obscene to repeat. You couldn't watch these shows without concluding that you must be an idiot and a loser if you lived in a house you could actually afford.

HGTV is an evil empire that never rests. You can loathe your current domicile 24/7 with programs such as "Stagers" (move a few things around and double the value of your home); "Designed to Sell" (you can sell your house, even if the house next to yours is in foreclosure); "Design on a Dime" (see, it's cheap); and "Property Virgins" (losing your virginity was fun, wasn't it?) Every show features highly attractive hosts who show you how to "unlock the hidden potential" in your home, how to turn a $10 thrift-store table into a "wow" media center, and how to make everything "pop." Pop is the word of choice on HGTV.

Ironic, isn't it, given the fact that pop is the sound we keep hearing from the McMansion-sized housing bubble HGTV created.

Coming To A Government Near You

2008-12-30T21:14:00.001-08:00

http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2008/12/28/news/community/1aaa02_road.txt

Mencken On Politicians

2008-12-30T18:23:00.000-08:00

"The only way to success in American public life lies in flattering and kowtowing to the mob. A candidate for office, even the highest, must either adopt its current manias en bloc or convince it hypocritically that he has done so while cherishing reservations in petto. The result is that only two sorts of men stand any chance whatever of getting into actual control of affairs -- first, glorified mob-men who genuinely believe what the mob believes, and secondly, shrewd fellows who are willing to make any sacrifice of conviction and self-respect in order to hold their jobs."

Hold On To Your Hats

2008-12-29T09:37:00.001-08:00

The Coming Hyperinflation?
Posted by Lew Rockwell at December 28, 2008 07:28 PM

Bob Higgs writes:

During recent months, the Fed has flooded the banking system with reserves, which the banks have chosen to accumulate as (legally) excess reserves, rather than using the funds to add to the volume of their outstanding loans and investments. The Fed’s recently adopted policy of paying a small rate of interest on bank reserves accounts for some of this accumulation, but the amount is so gigantic that it seems much more likely that the banks have greatly increased their assessment of the risk involved in lending and investing as usual and therefore have chosen the lower yielding but less risky alternative of accumulating more and more reserves. Since August, the amount of excess reserves has risen from $2 billion to $559 billion. A graph of this astonishing development shows an abrupt transition from a virtually horizontal line (approximately zero excess reserves for decades) to a virtually vertical line (a quick jump of $557 billion in three months).

So far, this explosive increase of reserves has had only a small effect on the growth of the money stock as measured by the conventional monetary aggregates, such as M2, although the rate of growth of the monetary aggregates is beginning to increase substantially, as shown in this graph.

Because the public’s demand for cash balances has also risen, the recent increases in the money stock have not given rise to increased prices in general. In fact, the major price indexes have fallen slightly in recent months, although the bulk of this decline has occurred because of the decline in the price of oil and related products since July. Price indexes for goods other than energy have declined very little - certainly not enough to justify the many expressions of fear of impending deflation (setting aside whether an actual deflation ought to be feared or not).

At matters now stand, by far the greater threat is rapid inflation, notwithstanding the ongoing recession. When the banks begin to feel more comfortable with expanding the volume of their conventional loans and investments, they will have more than $550 billion on hand to employ for that purpose. The multiplied effect of such a vast amount of lending, as newly created deposits make their way through the fractional-reserve banking system, portends a gargantuan increase in the money stock and hence a correspondingly enormous jump in the general price level. As the public responds to the acceleration of inflation by reducing its demand for cash balances, the increased velocity of monetary circulation will contribute to even more rapid price inflation.

So much potential new money is now impounded in the commercial banks’ holdings of excess reserves that it is difficult to see how the Fed will be able to stem the flood once the banks begin to transform those excess reserves into normal loans and investments. If the Fed attempts to sell enough government securities to soak up the growing money stock, it will drive down the prices of Treasury bonds and hence drive up their yield, increasing the government’s cost of borrowing to finance the huge budget deficits the government will be running because of its various bailout commitments and so-called stimulus programs. This scenario holds the potential for a complete monetary crackup.

I have never been inclined toward touting doomsday financial scenarios. I raise the possibility now only because, as I consider the situation portrayed in the graph of excess reserves linked above, I am unable to foresee how the Fed and the Treasury can navigate through these treacherous waters - waters that their own previous actions have whipped to a foam - without creating terrible financial and economic harm. If the dollar survives the ministrations of Bernanke, Paulson, Bush, and the Obama gang, its survival will be something of a miracle.

A Rationale For Thrift

2008-12-24T21:38:00.000-08:00

My guess is that the goverment will continue to find ways to penalize saving. Afterall, the govenment needs for us to spend at high levels to keep tax dollars flowing.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/23/politics/otherpeoplesmoney/main4684774.shtml?source=RSS&attr=_4684774

In A Nutshell

2008-12-24T20:46:00.000-08:00

This is a concise statement of why only a total economic crisis will change our system, which is inherently flawed.

From the Independent Institute:

Republicans often say we need a successful businessman, small-town leader, or citizen whose accomplishments are outside politics to shake things up in Washington or the state capitals. But those who work in the market labor under a totally different system, set of incentives, and institutional dynamic.

The government’s defining character renders it immune to fundamental reform by outsiders. Unlike the market, government finances itself through coerced taxation, not honestly earned profits. It maintains dominance through the threat of violence—police and imprisonment—not through voluntary exchange. Government power corrupts and cannot be purged of its intrinsically coercive and political nature. Outsiders cannot stay outsiders long once inside the halls of power.

Bush "Logic"

2008-12-23T18:14:00.000-08:00

From the Daily Reckoning:

George W. Bush said last week that he had to kill capitalism to save it:

"We abandoned free market principles to save the free market system," he is quoted as saying.

Let's see, how does that work…perhaps you could try a little hanky pank with your neighbor's wife in order to save the sanctity of your marriage? Or rob a bank in order to prevent theft? Or eat a few extra desserts at Christmastide in order to keep slim

So You Don't Think We Live In A Police State?

2008-12-19T11:41:00.001-08:00

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2008/12/galveston_false_arrest.php

Let's Say Good-bye to Bush The Lesser

2008-12-19T11:37:00.000-08:00

From Karen DeCoster

George Bush in July 2008: "Should the government bail out private enterprise? The answer is no, it shouldn’t,” Bush said. As for high gasoline prices and energy conservation, Bush’s opinion is “People can figure out whether they need to drive more or less; they can balance their own checkbooks.” After listening to Bush promise GM and Chrysler a bailout on NPR, just moments ago, one thing keeps coming back to smack me in the face. Something ya just can't miss but no one seems to want to discuss. Here is something that is a bit dated (June post, June market cap, March financials), but things have only been worse for GM since this graphic was put together.
Here is GM's Restructuring Plan for Long-Term Viability which was submitted to the Senate Banking Committee & House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Page 8 correctly states that GM had a ($60) billion negative net worth position at September 30, 2008. $60 billion negative. Not one time has any media commentator or government official proposed how this can be overcome, allowing GM to continue to operate in the long term. No one dares to address one of the largest elephants in the room. Can you tell that government is run by lawyers and not businessmen or accountants?

Interesting Thoughts As The Year Ends

2008-12-19T11:27:00.001-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff247.html

Do We Need A Detroit Bailout? Really?

2008-12-19T11:11:00.000-08:00

Of course not.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/17/politics/otherpeoplesmoney/main4672633.shtml?source=RSS&attr=_4672633

Old News But The Reality Is Still True

2008-12-19T11:04:00.001-08:00

Too Big To Fail?

2008-12-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

By Don Boudreaux on Seen and Unseen

Bankruptcy doesn't make assets -- such as factories, machines, contractual options to buy raw materials, workers' skills -- disappear. If markets still exist for products produced by these firms, Chapter 11 is the best way to discover this. Some workers might lose their jobs and some suppliers might lose their markets, but there would be no industry-wide collapse of the sort portrayed by the bailout's cheerleaders.
But what if refusal to bail out these firms results in their complete failure? Even then -- especially then -- the case for a bailout crashes. Really big firms such as GM, Ford and Chrysler are really big users of productive inputs, like rubber and steel. Almost all of these inputs have alternative uses and could be used by other firms or in other industries.
A government bailout of the Big Three keeps huge amounts of productive inputs in firms that can't use them efficiently. Forcing taxpayers to subsidize the continued employment of gargantuan quantities of raw materials, labor and capital goods in unproductive pursuits is a recipe for economic stagnation. The popular and politically convenient myth has matters backwards: The bigger the unprofitable firm, the more vital it is that it be allowed to fail.

The Land Of The Free?

2008-12-11T19:54:00.000-08:00

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-12-11-cigar_N.htm?csp=34

The Great Albert Jay Nock On The State

2008-12-11T15:33:00.000-08:00

The history of the State being what it is, and its testimony being as invariable and eloquent as it is, I am obliged to say that the naive tone of surprise wherewith our people complain of these matters strikes me as a pretty sad reflection on their intelligence. Suppose someone were impolite enough to ask them the gruff question, "Well, what do you expect?" – what rational answer could they give? I know of none.
Polite or impolite, that is just the question which ought to be put every time a story of State villainy appears in the news. It ought to be thrown at our public day after day, from every newspaper, periodical, lecture platform, and radio station in the land; and it ought to be backed up by a simple appeal to history, a simple invitation to look at the record. The British State has sold the Czech State down the river by a despicable trick; very well, be as disgusted and angry as you like, but don't be astonished; what would you expect? – just take a look at the British State's record! The German State is persecuting great masses of its people, the Russian State is holding a purge, the Italian State is grabbing territory, the Japanese State is buccaneering along the Asiatic Coast; horrible, yes, but for Heaven's sake don't lose your head over it, for what would you expect? – look at the record!

What Causes Investment Bubbles?

2008-12-11T12:09:00.001-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/024370.html

Why Don't People Understand This?

2008-12-10T15:26:00.000-08:00

From Declan McCullagh

The indictment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich offers more than a sketch of a man drunk on power. It should remind us that the more power politicians have to bail out private companies, the more likely they are to abuse it....Blagojevich is charged with threatening to withhold government funds from the Tribune Company, which apparently wanted financial assistance in connection with Wrigley Field (it owns the Cubs). The governor allegedly was willing to consider extending aid from the Illinois Finance Authority -- but only if the Chicago Tribune fired editorial board members who had dared to criticize him in print.

The State Knows No Bounds

2008-12-10T14:44:00.000-08:00

From Lew Rockwell

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) wants to mandate a college football playoff. Now, I know that no one in Parasite City (except Ron Paul) sees any area of private life as beyond the federal government's writ, but isn't this slightly ridiculous, even for a neocon? (Thanks to Jason Newbury)

From Gary North

2008-12-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

Obama said this on Sunday's "Meet the Press": "The auto industry is the backbone of American manufacture."

The Big three automakers are not the backbone of the American manufacture. Rather, they are located just below the backbone.

Goodbye To Free Markets

2008-12-09T15:54:00.000-08:00

By Russell Roberts on Politics
As we prepare to partially nationalize the American automobile industry, it is a good time to remember that George Bush is not a free market ideologue and that he did not pursue free market policies. Please remember that in his last year in office he initiated and condoned measures that helped destroy the natural feedback loops that allow markets to recover from the inevitable mistakes that human beings make. And tell your children. I know. It seems obvious. But twenty and thirty years from now, there will be people writing about how George Bush's free market ideology caused the mess we're in.
Here is the kind of problem that we are going to see more and more of as politicians respond to incentives rather than to some idea of the "public good" (HT: Travis Page). Basically a Wisconsin member of Congress, Steve Kagan, wants the bailout of Chrysler to be contingent on another company involved with Chrysler re-opening two paper mills the company had closed.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when billions of dollars are up for grabs.
Will no one stand up to stop this?

It's Good To Live In a "Freeish" Country

2008-12-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

On Monday, December 1st, a SWAT team with semi-automatic rifles entered the private home of the Stowers family in LaGrange, Ohio, herded the family onto the couches in the living room, and kept guns trained on parents, children, infants and toddlers, from approximately 11 AM to 8 PM.
The team was aggressive and belligerent. The children were quite traumatized. At some point, the “bad cop” SWAT team was relieved by another team, a “good cop” team that tried to befriend the family. The Stowers family has run a very large, well-known food cooperative called Manna Storehouse on the western side of the greater Cleveland area for many years.
There were agents from the Department of Agriculture present, one of them identified as Bill Lesho. The search warrant is reportedly supicious-looking. Agents began rifling through all of the family’s possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family’s personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.

Leave It To The Government To Kill Initiative

2008-12-08T16:06:00.000-08:00

State Silences 8-Year-Old GuitaristPosted by Chris Brunner at December 8, 2008 04:24 PM

Tallan Latz is an American blues guitar prodigy. He received his first musical instrument, a drum kit, at the age of three and began playing acoustic guitar at age four. By the age of eight, he had played on-stage with performers the likes of Jackson Browne and Les Paul.
He's in two blues bands and used to play in public, until bureaucrat Robert Anderson of the Wisconsin Labor Standards Bureau found out.
You see, in Wisconsin it's perfectly legal for Tallan to drink in a bar with his father present. It is not, however, legal for Tallan to "perform" in the same setting.
Tallan was quoted in a local article saying, "It feels pretty bad because that just broke my dream. My dream is to play guitar."
Bureaucrat Anderson could care less: "The kid is definitely a prodigy, and you'd like to see him have opportunities. But if I'm made aware of a violation, I have to enforce the statute." One has to wonder if he makes the same attempt to enforce all of the other stupid laws in his state.
Bureaucrat Robert Anderson can be reached at 608-266-3345.

Why The U.S. Economy Will Decline

2008-12-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

Writes Robert Higgs:

It is clear that the government’s frantic actions of the past several months have created a situation in which investors have little confidence about the character of future property rights in the United States. The takeovers of Fannie, Freddie, and AIG, the massive interventions into finanancial markets, the huge bailouts of banks and other financial institutions, mixed with letting Lehman Brothers go down and resisting a bailout for the Big Three auto manufacturers (so far, at least) — all these actions, and others, imply that a rational investor would do well to attach a huge risk premium to any money he puts into investments even for the intermediate term, not to mention the long term.

One of the clearest expressions of this outlook that I have seen so far was made recently by Lou Jiwei, the chairman and chief executive of the China Investment Corporation, who expressed a lack of confidence in Western financial institutions and said that his giant fund would make no new investments in them in the foreseeable future. As the New York Times reported:
“Right now we do not have the courage to invest in financial institutions because we do not know what problems they may have,” Mr. Lou said as part of a panel discussion on the second and final day of the Clinton Global Initiative conference [in Hong Kong].... Mr. Lou said that the sheer pace of new initiatives and new rules issued by Western regulatory agencies was disconcerting and made it even harder for him to choose worthwhile investments. “If it is changing every week, how can you expect me to have confidence?” he asked.

As Governments Become Desperate For Dollars, Expect More Of This

2008-12-06T14:13:00.000-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_bi_ge/farm_scene_cow_tax_2

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/12/04/gwinnett_recycling_fine.html

On The Nationaization of American Industries

2008-12-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

From Michael Rozeff:

We are entering upon a sequence of events that will, in the end, transform the American economy even more than now into a slow-growth, no-growth, inflationary, regulated, stalled, and inefficient economy. It will be a miracle if the Fed’s expansion is brought under control and reduced. The Fed will maintain its lending and even expand it. This can only atrophy both the banking system and the capital markets. Inflationary pressures are bound to build up, and that will lead to economic controls. The Treasury will look for ways to regulate capital markets still further, and this will undermine them. There is no worse signal than the Treasury’s intrusion into maintaining zombie institutions that should fail and be re-organized. This has already happened in the cases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

This all means that efficient institutions, companies, and persons will be penalized at the expense of the inefficient ones or the deadbeats. More and more will buy tickets to Washington to beg for relief. The end of the road is government control of the means of production. When companies can no longer finance themselves through the standard private means of capital markets and banks, they turn to government. When government can no longer handle the bankruptcies, it seizes the means of production.

A GOOD WAY TO THINK ABOUT BAILOUTS

2008-12-05T15:48:00.000-08:00

FROM BILL BONNER:

There are only so many resources in the world - only so many workers…only so many tons of steel and only so many barrels of oil. In a real, free-market economy, ordinary people decide how these will be used. They vote with their money. They buy a beer, for example…and send a signal to the whole world. "Beer is what we want!" So, the hop growers get hopping…the beer truckers get trucking… and the brewers get brewing. The 'hidden hand' directs resources to where they are needed. People get what they want.
And then, along comes the U.S. Congress…in its all its majesty. We don't care what Mr. Market says, it declares, 'It is cars from Detroit that the people shall have.' And then, the money that would have gone into making beer is diverted to the auto industry. Resources follow the money. The steel delivery trucks head for the auto plants, not to the brewers. The oil that might have been used by a distillery is instead siphoned off to fire up an auto plant. The capital that might have been used to build more breweries in Anaheim is instead used to prop up old assembly plants in Detroit. And then, the consumer pays more for his beer - because the brewers didn't increase production - and more for his cars too…Detroit knows the game is rigged in its favor; why bother to cut costs?
Of course, subsidizing the domestic auto industry is just what economists have been cautioning other countries NOT to do for decades. Typically, a woebegone country in Africa or Latin America wants its own airline and its own auto industry. Its citizens could perfectly well buy their sedans on the open market…and count on the commercial airline industry to move them through the sky. But where's the prestige in that? Where are the sweetheart contracts…the bribes…the payola…the baksheesh?

ON THE AUTOMAKER BAILOUT

2008-12-05T15:38:00.001-08:00

By Russell Roberts on Politics
This (HT: Drudge) is supposed to be serious rather than funny. At the top of the article, the head of Chrysler threatens that if the government doesn't bail out the auto companies, it could trigger a Depression. Then this:
Congressional leaders are reviewing three separate survival plans from the automakers in preparation for hearings Thursday and Friday, as they weigh whether to call lawmakers back to Washington for a special session next week to vote on an auto bailout.
Officials at the White House and the Treasury and Commerce departments are also scouring the automakers' plans. White House press secretary Dana Perino said it is "too early to say" whether the companies have outlined a path toward viability that justifies new federal assistance.
"It sounds to me like the companies have given this a lot of thought and are willing to make some tough decisions," Perino said. "We just need a little more time to pore through the documents.'"
Let's look at the verbs: reviewing, scouring, poring, weighing.
To what purpose?
Congress and the White House are going to decide whether the plans are sufficient for a viable future of the auto companies?
Why don't the Big Three save the money it takes to put together Congressional testimony and the time it takes for the people in charge to make the trip. Why don't they just take out ads in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times outlining what they're going to do with the money. Then they can try this really novel idea. They can sell bonds and borrow the money. If the plans look good, people might lend them the money. If the plans are lousy, they won't get the money.
Now I understand it's hard to borrow money when things don't look so good for your future. But that's why Congress shouldn't be lending them any money. Particularly because politicians don't have an incentive when they're spending other people's money to weigh, review, scour and so on with an eye toward the profitability of the plans.
When people have lost faith in you because you've performed poorly, you have to pay a premium to get them to invest. That's a feature not a bug.
The other thing I'd tell those execs: why don't you spend less time begging and more time trying to save your companies the old-fashioned way, by improving your product?

The New American Command-and-Control Economy

2008-12-05T15:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/steelman7.html

Obama's Cabinet Choices

2008-12-02T14:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/waroniraq/109160

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Hardcore Investigative Journalism Defined

2008-11-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

Posted by Ryan W. McMaken at November 29, 2008 10:50 AM
Please pardon me while I vomit:
Says msnbc:
"The Obamas represent a welcome change as an openly affectionate and romantic couple for many Americans. Some experts say that the soon-to-be first couple embody the ideal healthy relationship, and that they can stir up love around the country. The New York Daily News even predicted a baby boom attributed to election night friskiness inspired by the Obamas. "

Even if I were an Obama supporter, the sheer idiocy of this article would make me throw up in my mouth a little bit. "...stir up love around the country...?" I've heard Celine Dion lyrics that are less trite and meaningless.
This is the sort of hard-hitting journalism we need in times like these: Fawning reports about irrelevant issues.

Bush Wants History To See Him As A Liberator Of Millions

2008-11-28T16:14:00.000-08:00

He is more likely to be seen as the man who killed the Republican Party for years to come!

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081128185323.mpq7bsa8&show_article=1

The Nationalization of Insolvency

2008-11-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north665.html

The Toxic Wife

2008-11-27T14:58:00.000-08:00

Imagine that. In this age of equality and political correctness, there are still golddiggers around.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/3527803/Recession-When-the-money-goes-so-does-the-toxic-wife.html

A Thanksgiving Day Thought

2008-11-27T14:40:00.000-08:00

A Vivid ContrastPosted by Butler Shaffer at November 27, 2008 01:12 PM

As Barack Obama gurgles the collectivist mindset that "we rise or fall as one nation, as one people," it is fitting to recall the contrasting thoughts of William Bradford of the early 17th century Plymouth Plantation:

"At last after much debate of things, the governor gave way that they should set corn everyman for his own particular... That had very good success for it made all hands very industrious, so much [more] corn was planted than otherwise would have been ... The experience that has had in this common course and condition, tried sundrie years, and that amongst Godly and sober men, may well evince the Vanities of the conceit of Plato's and other ancients, applauded by some of later times; that the taking away of propertie, and bringing into commone wealth, would make them happy and flourishing, as if they were wiser than God."
[With thanks to Robert Anthony Peters.]

Arrested?

2008-11-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2008/1121083gas1.html

It Never Stops

2008-11-23T20:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Citi-US-bailout-talks-reports/story.aspx?guid=%7B15A026EC-CEA0-4C82-92EC-199B794F0968%7D

From A Republican Congressman: "It's Not Your Money"

2008-11-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZyAd_rJAx4

Get A Real Job!

2008-11-23T10:00:00.000-08:00

http://mises.org/story/3214

Your Turn May Be Next

2008-11-23T09:58:00.001-08:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/brown-c2.html

A Real World Example Of Bail-out Math

2008-11-23T09:47:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q52peCKBLLQ&eurl=http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/