Wednesday, February 11. 2009
Not paranoid, just curious. Who did this run on the banks on September 15?
 I keep one of these little log cabins around the place, with pine incense. It's a cheery winter olfactory treat, but not just for winter.
The air goes in the door, and the smoke goes up the chimney. Few things for $12. can give so much enduring pleasure.
Does pine incense count as second-hand smoke? Naw.
Mainly in response to Geithner, but to the Admin in general (names removed, obviously):
I am fired up.. uncork a few for me! a little ranting……@*#@**xx.
Geithner looked like a deer in the headlights today.. he bombed in his unveiling. Put some duct tape on him! What an amateur hour-- Obama is in trouble so soon
This moron Geithner doesn't know how a bank loan is made and the fact that mark to market acctg requires the bank to almost surely write a loan down immediately upon making it because its like a new car when you drive it off the lot it is worth less two minutes later after its made ……like bonds these loan portfolios will swing in value based upon the interest rate swings and if there isn't someone who wants to buy a new loan at face then you have to write it down, do you know how many loans are made in conjunction with deposits and relationships etc…?? I am so disgusted these yahoos are really dumb. The Feds/states already supervise the banks.
It's not about just writing down these mortgage securities, CMO's and such, but these banks are required to write down their customer loan portfolios even if they are performing!!
I am getting tired of Obama complaining about Wall Street who the F' does he think owns stocks and bonds?? Just fat cats from NYC??
Almost every person I know has 401K's retirement accts etc that have been crushed and they are measuring their wealth and ability to retire, save and survive on these values etc.. Nationalizing the banks is so stupid it's laughable.
Mark to market acctg serves really who?? The Govt who want to steal the assets of the financial institutions .. can you imagine ?? while they are at it lets nationalize the oil industry .. can you imagine Barney Franks and Dodd making decisions about where to drill and how to allocate capital ?? The retail RE business is about to drop off a cliff.
These guys are proving every day they have no clue about how business works.
Someone tell me I am off my rocker!!!
Can you imagine if all they did was guarantee bank deposits up to a few million dollars at the banks and modified mark to market acctg the trillion dollars of bank bail out capital would be cut by 90% and they would really get a stimulus plan using those same dollars cooking on worthwhile spending projects!
Things will turn around but not before enormous private wealth of this nation is wiped out and redistributed and the country starts over but it will be a decade before this happens and I am starting to wonder if it will happen peacefully?
SAD SAD SAD
Excellent piece. An interview with Ray Dalio at Barron's. One quote:
The D-process is a disease of sorts that is going to run its course.
When I first started seeing the D-process and describing it, it was before it actually started to play out this way. But now you can ask yourself, OK, when was the last time bank stocks went down so much? When was the last time the balance sheet of the Federal Reserve, or any central bank, exploded like it has? When was the last time interest rates went to zero, essentially, making monetary policy as we know it ineffective? When was the last time we had deflation?
The answers to those questions all point to times other than the U.S. post-World War II experience. This was the dynamic that occurred in Japan in the '90s, that occurred in Latin America in the '80s, and that occurred in the Great Depression in the '30s.
 Why buying these cars is "Buying American"
The new stash of mummies in Egypt
Geithner prevailed in bank bailout debate. Related: Geithner, From Indispensable to Indecipherable
Related: Skepticism about Obama's TARP
More on what the stimulus aims to do with nationalizing medical care
I am a Liberal woman. Hear me meow.
Yes, the Dems did undo Clinton's welfare reform. Why?
In Canada, you may be too old for hip surgery
The CIA is helping Britain with their internal Moslem security problems. Meanwhile, Geert Wilders banned from the UK. What am I missing here?
Equally nutty: UK considers rationing air travel
How do Congressmen accumulate money like Rangel?
John Fund explains why Obama & Co. wants control of the census
Clever but dishonest: Blankley on Obama's first press conference
I didn't know we did things like this in the US.
Job losses in the last 6 recessions (h/t, Mankiw)
Tuesday, February 10. 2009
Without registering, you can read some of John McPhee's piece on fact-checking at The New Yorker, here.
Docs have been poo-pooing routine vitamin-taking for many years. We tend to think of it as a rip-off (although I do take a daily Vit D). Studies continue to indicate their uselessness in adulthood, but the placebo effect cannot be underestimated.
 We linked the Bloomberg piece this morning describing what the "stimulus" will do to ration care under Medicare. Also in the stimulus will be a federal monitoring of your medical history and treatment - this from our Canadian friend at Small Dead Ducklings:
The bill’s health rules will affect “every individual in the United States” (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”
[...]
Hospitals and doctors that are not “meaningful users” of the new system will face penalties.
If Obama screws up the American health care system, where the Hell are Canadians supposed to go?
If they want docs to give up their autonomy, they had better find a new, lesser breed of docs in this country. And I'd rather fight with an insurance company about my medical choices than fight with a federal bureaucrat. If the insurance company doesn't want to pay, I can at least pay for it myself.
Be very, very afraid. That's the selling-point of the sh-t sandwich of a ten-year backlog of Lefty projects and political payoffs which constitute the "Stimulus." (See $300 million for golf carts).
It's a recession. We have them regularly. But, given the timing, it's been a golden opportunity to advance every Dem Congressman's pet notion. The tactic wouldn't work, though, unless you scare people into a state of brain paralysis. In Ace's words:
President Barack H. Obama: 'Do what I want, or the economy will melt, and you'll all die poor and alone.'
Irresponsible fear-mongering is not all that presidential. Now that I think about it, weren't we promised a calm, cool, post-partisan president?
We have often observed how Leftist plans are advanced by manufacturing a sense of crisis and urgency, with a government "solution" ready in their back pocket.
How hopey-changey became "We'll scare you into buying this": Dust My Broom, Dino.
In the end, though, the Dems hold a winning hand. The economy will improve: it always does. They will take credit for it. As Paul at Powerline says:
I would add, the Democrats probably have the better political hand because they are betting that the economy, one way or another, will recover. The American economy is usually a good bet, as much as the Democrats are doing (and will do) to impair it.
This from Jonah Goldberg:
Stephen posted the quote from Barro earlier, but I think Will Wilkinson deserves to be quoted at greater length:
The deeper problem, I think, is that the textbook theory doesn’t have any politics in it. In macroeconomics textbooks, government is a benevolent central planner beyond politics. It is assumed, for simplicity’s sake, that governments can act in perfect compliance with theory. It is also assumed that theory is settled before coming to a policy problem, that motivated disagreement over theory is not an essential element of democratic policymaking. But of course, there is politics, which trashes hope of either consensus on or compliance with theory. And that’s how we ended up with the legislative monstrosity actually under consideration in Congress. As Harvard’s Robert Barro puts it:
This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s. I don’t know what to say. I mean it’s wasting a tremendous amount of money. It has some simplistic theory that I don’t think will work, so I don’t think the expenditure stuff is going to have the intended effect. I don’t think it will expand the economy. And the tax cutting isn’t really geared toward incentives. It’s not really geared to lowering tax rates; it’s more along the lines of throwing money at people. On both sides I think it’s garbage. So in terms of balance between the two it doesn’t really matter that much.
The economists can duke it out over the possibility of successful fiscal stimulus. But is there any reason based in up-to-date economic theory to believe that this trillion dollar deficit-spending bill is not, as Barro says, garbage?
Krugman is plumping for it anyway. Hard. So what can one say about Krugman? That he is a creature of extraordinary double consciousness. Perhaps more than any economist of his caliber, Krugman understands that policy is largely determined by the outcome of the public opinion shoutfest. Yet this recognition seems to have no effect on Krugman’s ideas. Rather than bring inside his models disagreement over economic theory and the lack of political incentive to faithfully apply them, which would lead him to radically revise his prescriptions, Krugman leaves his textbook theory untouched and simply tries to win the shoutfest. Krugman’s often unbearable stridency seems to reflect an attempt to overcome the problems of democratic disagreement and incentive compatibility through sheer force of will–as if the deep reality of politics is no match for the rhetorical gifts and gold-plated reputation of Paul Freaking Krugman. It is as if his own imagined ability to singehandedly overwhelm the opposition is part of Krugman’s implicit model of how a politics-free macoeconomic theory can be made politically relevant in a time of perceived crisis, which is to say, a time of rank political opportunism.
Via Insty via Tigerhawk, a brief clip of Friedman on greed and self-interest from 1979. We posted this a year or so ago, but why not post it again?
 Photo: Captain Sully gets key to the city
This time, they beheaded a Pole. To make a point.
Black university in trouble. Why does America even have black universities anymore? I'm not necessarily against it, but it just seems strange. I assume they will accept white applicants.
How health care nationalization is buried in the stimulus package. The stimulus is one giant Trojan Horse.
A Newsweek metamorphosis
Scientific trickery re Antarctic climate
Cato on the stimulus (video): Wilkinson
Liberals: Obama's bill is a triumph for Liberalism
The new battlefield: Robots at war
Misunderstanding Limbaugh. Patterico
It's a recession not a "catastrophe." Right.
Politicizing the economy caused the crash. Deeply true, and the economy is fully-politicized now. It's as if people wanted to imagine that the gummint can control the economy. Who believes that the bozos in politics are smarter than markets? History shows the gummint can only damage it.
A cost-conscious college.
Britain: Health and safety above education. What if a kid slips on the snow and bumps his knee? More Britain: Banning C of E from a political party? Sheesh. That's sick.
Unions 1, America 0
Remember what they did to Gerry Ford when he bumped his head? They basically called him a retarded doofus.
Those salary caps are for "execs," not for the quants and the traders and the deal-makers, etc.
Obama getting the respect he deserves. Dr. Clouthier
Flopping remembers Tony Snow's pep talk, one year ago.
More gun hysteria at the NYT
How to easily save yourself $12,000/year.
I like beer room-temperature, so this beer temperature test does me little good.
Dem tax cheats. Everybody forgets to mention Al Franken.
How the internet damages our culture. Hawkins at Pajamas. Well, Maggie's doesn't damage our culture.
Monday, February 9. 2009
Yesterday was our neighborhood First Annual Deep-Fry Your Turkey Day. We did 9 smallish turkeys, 2 ducks, three chickens. We cranked it up right after church. It was cold enough that we had trouble getting the peanut oil above 320, so it took longer than we planned. All the neighbors got well-fed last night, and all dogs enjoyed the venison butchering scraps. It was reminiscent of a barn-raising.
Why go to the trouble of setting up a fryer just for oneself? We served tons of beer, and venison-black bean soup and cornbread. And cupcakes. And ceegars. Red-neck Yankees know how to have fun. Next time, we'll do two pots of oil, not one, to halve the time - but we did not expect such a response for a last-minute plan. All dogs were invited, too, of course.
One bucket of birds in brine:
Our fryer set-up. The basket insert works best for the turkeys, but chickens and ducks don't need it and can just go on the stick.
Our Louisiana-style rub and bird-injection table. The green stuff is sauteed, pureed, then strained garlic, shallot, onion, carrot, and celery for injecting.
We cranked up one of these in the driveway to keep warm. Worked well, as long as it didn't set you afire.
We set it all up like this. Readers have seen that old fire engine before. 
We also had the last doe of the season to butcher as the birds were frying. She'd been hanging for a couple of weeks, but probably frozen through most of the time. Note Golden chewing on the hide. That always happens. A pal is just beginning the skinning. I brought home a foreleg with the hair for my pup to play with. Yes, that is an old fireplace in the 1890 garage, so the gentry would not have to get into a cold car. For the comfort of the chauffeur no doubt, too.
That's how one of my LI ducks came out of the fryer:
How is the turkey after all of this effort - overnight brining, injecting, Cajun rubs, etc.? Tastes like turkey, but pretty good turkey. The skin is especially good. In future, I think I'll do ducks and chickens, but not turkey - things with a higher skin/meat ratio.
I brought a venison shoulder home, too, from that doe in the garage. I think I'll braise it with root vegetables when the turkey is eaten.
What a fine country we Americans live in. We are not convinced that the Obamanites know how to appreciate it. A good life is a simple matter.
About individualism, kindness, office politics, etc. Mediocracy
 We had all sorts of comments on my Joseph Campbell video post, so I thought I'd tell you what following my bliss might entail.
Islamorada. 2 bedrooms, pool, ocean, and only $295,000.
Dead-Hobo-reporting glitch claims another Obama appointee. This hobo in the basement thing is getting out of hand, but I thought we called them "homeless persons" now - or "Those Difficult to Serve." Oh well. More on the Dem culture of corruption.
CBO: Recession will end in 2009 without stimulus. Related: Will the MSM ever correct Obama's absurd economic statements?. Related: Math says "stimulus" will cost $275,000 per job.
Peter Schiff was right before. Maybe he is right again.
Stimulus gives Milwaukee money for schools they neither want nor need
Remember the guy who linked immunization with autism? Bad person.
Talk radio failure has tantrum
Honeymoon over? Steyn
We have the same problem: Raccoons vs. the White House
The broken window theory of crime prevention works
Why is the White House taking over the Census?
The Vietnam War: Everything you know is wrong. h/t, Driscoll
Illinois sheriffs want citizens armed.
David Warren begins:
One of the key functions of modern government is to reduce, by law, the options people have, especially when they are facing challenges to survival.
A classic example of this is socialized medicine. Like all socialist systems, government health care creates big shortages and surpluses, beyond the reach of market correction: in this case, serious shortages of doctors, nurses and essential equipment, balanced by huge surpluses of administration and unspecialized support staff.
By contrast, one need never go far to find a dentist or a veterinarian in Canada, because these fields have not been fully "socialized."
So if you have a toothache, or your cat is ill, you know where to go.
Vets, dentists, and lawyers - still outside the State. I believe that there is no case to be made for socializing medicine which cannot also be made for socializing legal services. Whole thing here.
Many sites have linked Mark Boone's TCS essay titled How Republics Die. He begins:
Insofar as an economic downturn has traceable causes, the present recession seems to have origins in the behavior of at least three groups of people: reckless lenders, who encouraged people to spend their money irresponsibly; reckless borrowers, who took their advice and spent well outside the limits of need and the ability to repay; and a government which at times encouraged such behavior through organizations such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
This is old news to the astute observer and the regular reader of TCS. What they may not know is how vividly, and how long ago, great philosophers warned us just how dangerously our society was using money. The great philosophers understood that economics operates on a moral plane, indeed a spiritual plane; that economic problems are often moral problems; and that financial markets are corrupted as much by bad behavior as by bad economic theory. The antiquity of their advice only serves to belie its strikingly acute contemporary relevance.
The whole essay here.
Sunday, February 8. 2009
Norman Mattoon Thomas (Nov. 20, 1884-Dec. 19, 1968) - some of us are old enough to remember him running for President - was a leading American socialist, pacifist and six time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.
Norman Thomas said this in a 1944 speech:
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "Liberalism", they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform."
 Photos of Chai Wallahs (h/t, Grow a Brain)
Everything about speech balloons. Cool. (h/t, David Thompson's Friday Ephemera)
$100 billion to New Orleans. What's to show for it?
What am I doing with my gifts?
Obama dimishes himself to serve Pelosi
Dicks of New York? This is about as mature as a whoopee cushion. The audience should ask themselves what they have done to protect NYC from terrorists.
Why PA is slipping away from the GOP
What causes personal bankruptcies in the US? (h/t, Tiger)
Incentives matter: betting on weight loss
He wants Obama to force people to listen to his radio show
Europe's war on free speech. Brussels Journal. Europe, like most of the world, has never really been a freedom-loving place.
Viking:
Including debt service, the cost of the Generational Theft Act is estimated at $1.175 trillion, all of which will be borrowed to be paid by America's children.
Think of it this way: we're going to borrow and spend almost one Russia, or one India. We could buy South Korea or Mexico. We could have our own continent by purchasing Australia and all their handsome actors and actresses. We could have Belgium, Sweden, and still have some pocket change left over for Greece. We could have five Hong Kongs.
Job loss: Women and minorities Men hardest hit!
The stimulus tragedy. WSJ
Via Gateway:
MICHAEL GREENSPAN ON THE STIMULUS: “This monstrosity of a bill, and the assumptions underlying it (e.g., ‘Politicians are wiser than non-politicians,’ ‘Citizens don’t own what they earn,’ etc.), are making me consider joining the Republican Party.”
Plus, from Harvard economist Robert Barro, interviewed in The Atlantic: “This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s.”
This was the Dems' moment to strike. From Jonah Goldberg (h/t Anchoress):
The economic crisis was almost too good to be true. Like FDR and Lyndon Johnson, Obama was poised to act on Rahm’s Rule of Crisis Exploitation in a way that would not only guarantee a newer New Deal and an even greater Great Society, but would also receive bipartisan approval. That’s why Obama wanted so much GOP support—so as to ratify the left turn to European-style social democracy, particularly when voters cottoned on to the con.
But that didn’t happen. Obama and his party were undone by their hubris. There was just too much muchness in the bill. The once impressive support from conservative economists evaporated. Right-wing radio has been having one long tailgate party celebrating Obama’s overreach. According to the polls, voters are souring on the whole thing. Republicans finally discovered testicular fortitude—and they seem to like it.
There is still probably bipartisan support for a stimulus bill, but only for a measure intended to stimulate our market-based economy rather than one that hastens its Swedenization.
Again, Obama’s presidency has many victories ahead of it, and Democrats still run the show. But the perfect storm of liberalism has dissipated to mere scattered showers.
From Here Comes the State in Weekly Standard:
Voters, then, have every reason to expect from Washington a stimulus bill that will help restore growth. But they aren't getting one. The stimulus plan is flawed. It marries a few measures that count as stimulus with tons of spending on a domestic agenda that the Democrats have waited years to push through Congress. Why? Because Obama and the Democrats who run Congress are more interested in an idea than they are in economic recovery.
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