Friday, February 29, 2008

Let's Investigate

Some time ago, during the last financial panic (It was about crooked lending policies at Savings & Loans, remember?), I saw a man-in-the-street interview, with a woman, actually, in which the interviewer asked the interview'ee her opinion of the multi-billion-dollar federal bailout of the crooked lenders. She opined that since it was the fault of the government, the taxpayers shouldn't be forced to pay for the bailout; the government should pay for it out of it's own pocket!
Now, I thought at the time that this was a citizen who had a very limited concept of finance, government, indeed, was pretty much a moron when it came to anything not within her immediate perceptual surroundings.
I've changed my mind now...
Because of this: FBI to Probe Clemens (sounds painful!).

Roger Clemens: Juiced?


Now, I realize that congresscritters have a desperate need to ger their names and their faces on news-at-eleven, but I really believe that in this case the man(woman)-in-the-street referred to previously was completely correct. Let The Government Pay For This. Or, rather, let the neurotically-driven congresspersons and the equally obsessed "fans" of athletic exhibition corporation employees (ballplayers and the like), foot the bill. This kind of thing is not unlike the never-ending-story known as the Inquest Into The Death Of Princess Diana. The media-stoked need of what H.L. Mencken referred to as the "Booberati", to wrest every pointless detail from a pointless story is mind-boggling. Just think though; the tax dollars saved by requiring this sort of anti-social behavior to be self financed would be immense.
It would mean, however, forgoing a large part of the Circuses component of the Bread-And-Circuses function of government.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

A Merry-Go-Round

It's becoming pretty clear to me - that when it comes to economics and finance I don't have a clue! And, apparently, neither do the folk who make finance their business: according to a New York Times article (February 19) “People don’t know what’s out there..." Phrases like "dire predictions", "driven by fear", "not supposed to happen", "reduced to rubble"... Yes, a financial analyst who can say things like Not Supposed To Happen! That's not somebody I want to manage my portfolio. A friend of mine used to say that if you want financial advice, you shouldn't ask somebody who's living in his car. Pretty soon, that might be the only place you'll be able to find financial experts!
But Wait! There's a solution. Here's Ben Bernanke's explanation of the problem: 'Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the central bank's most recent survey of senior loan officers at large banks found further tightening of loan standards. "Credit that is more expensive and less available is a restraint on our economic growth," stated Mr. Bernanke in his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.' (Christian Science Monitor, Feb. 19)
The problem, it seems, is that as the value of our debt goes down, our economy goes down with it. We're suffering from a shortage of debt. So now, armed with this insight, our government is taking action. Increasing our indebtedness - actually, the debt owed by our children and our children's children, by some TBD amount. A Hundred-And-Something Billion. For openers... They'll send you the check, and send the bill to your children, when they (your children; not the Congresspersons) get a job and become good honest hard-working taxpayers. Except by then it will be important to "Let the hard-working people of America keep more of their money in their pockets", and cut taxes for That generation also. And pass it along to Their children and grandchildren, etc.
When you or I try to do this, we get arrested for running a Ponzi Scheme. If We The People do it though, or our dauntless Congressmen-and-women do it; it's legal (I guess).
Caveat: If you try to save this money the government is "giving" you, perhaps to pass along to your children so they can pay their taxes; All Bets Are Off!
Because the whole problem started (remember?), when we stopped getting farther into debt. You must spend this money the government is (say it again) "giving" you. Enjoy the ride?

Monday, February 11, 2008

Is It Possible?

That This Isn't At All What They Want?



Senator Clinton (D. New York)
"Wants To Be The First Woman President"



Senator Obama (D. Illinois)
"Wants To Be The First Black President"

It seems that every news report concerning the Democratic primaries feels obliged to claim that these candidates want to be the first woman/black/anything-other-than-old-white-guy to become president. I'm skeptical
I truly think that their motivation is simply that they want the damn job!
Which, of course is a suspicious thing in itself. Why any sane person should want such a crappy job, I can't imagine. I just haven't figured out which of them is craziest. Sometimes I think it must be Hillary, since she's seen the wonders of the Presidency at first hand. On the other hand, she stayed the course with President Bill, and has managed to be a New York Senator. These are not small accomplishments. Sen. Obama, well, the naysayers are trying to portray him as perhaps naive and unaware of the pitfalls. Well, if Barack doesn't know about hitting in the clinches and all that sort of thing, he'll certainly know about it by November! I personally like his idea of a post-partisan government, but then I also think pigs should be able to fly. This too, falls into the ever-greater number of Good Idea(s) - Too Bad It's Wrong!
I wish them both well, and hope they avoid hitting in the clinches.

Friday, February 08, 2008

For Thousands Of Years...

Old people have tried to keep young people from having sex - with each other, at least. So far, nothing the adults have tried has stopped the adolescents from sexual activity. Just guessing here, but I'd hazard a guess that they think it's fun. Perhaps they're even feeling somewhat driven. One of the methods being given a good try by the moral leaders of the USA is to tell the youngsters not to have sex! Apparently these old guys remember that they listened to their parents and went along with what the parents told them to do. They do say that memory is the second thing to go with age.Rep. Larry Liston (R. Colorado Springs) says here we should shame the "sluts" . I guess maybe that would work, alright. I'd want to check first with Hester Prynne.
Here in Southeast Asia, people have the same concerns. Especially around this time of year. For reasons unknown, Valentine's Day is widely celebrated in Asia. Parenthetically, it seems that the thing-to-do in Japan is to take your sweetie to KFC for a romantic dinner. And they say there's no romance in the East!
Anyway, in Thailand, Jiraphan Pimpan, head of the new Provincial (to put it mildly!) Cultural Council wants to monitor the "love nests", more familiarly known in the West as "No-tell Motels", that apparently surround Bangkok. In case the teens don't know where they are, the article thoughtfully provides a quick guide to the motels, and also other promising sex venues. However, Mrs. Jiraphan thinks that if the authorities will act as Peeping Toms in these places, the teens will give up on trying to be naughty.
As I said in the beginning, nothing that the "adults" have tried in thousands of years has prevented young folk from having sex. If we just keep trying, the odds must soon swing in our favor though!
Or not.
One possibility I don't believe has been tried yet: Neonatal homonectomy. Just remove all the sources of androgens, and see what happens. Hey, it could work.

Then There Were Two - Republicans

I am, of course, a little late getting to here. But now, with the departure of Mitt Romney, two Republican candidates for President remain. Out of a field of (seemingly) thousands only weeks ago. The cull was bound to happen, of course, because the essential bozohood of such as Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Rudolph Giuliani, et alia, was impossible to overlook. Now, there's John McCain, and God along with His runningmate, Mike (Huck) Huckabee.
The surprisingly viable candidacy of Sen. McCain has caught many pundits... ahh... by surprise! They declared him roadkill last summer, seemingly well back in the pack, surpassed in the polls by a slew of bozos, led by bozo-in-chief Giuliani. Who, eventually, emerged from the primaries with approximately zero delegates. So much for the pollsters. Now, as the aging Senator savors his ascendancy, here is how he explains his GOP-ness:
'In his victory speech on Super Tuesday, McCain laid out his GOP credentials. "I am a Republican because, like you, I want to relieve the American people of the heavy hand of a government," he said. "I am a Republican because, like you, I believe government must defend our nation's security wisely and effectively," he said. "I am a Republican because I believe, like you, that government should tax us no more than necessary, spend no more than necessary," he promised.'
How he squares this proclamation of a light-handed government with a simultaneous declaration of support for sending ever-increasing numbers of Americans to other countries to lay waste to them, I do not know. Presumably we'll hear more about that later.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

It's Good To Know

That the republic is in such good shape that congress has nothing more important to do than "investigate" drug use in professional baseball!
Or - could it be - the lure of the sound bite, the call of the teevee shot, is just too strong for the congresspersons, those servants-of-the-people, to resist?
Here it is! The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is busily interviewing baseball stars, making very sure there's lots of cameras and writers around to document their avid pursuit of Truth; Justice; And The American Way. Here's what the nation's newspaper,
the Washington Post says.... Alternatively, here's what Franksmaunderings said... in August 2005. I remain steadfast in my belief that this dog-and-pony show is entirely for the purpose of evading any purposeful work by a disgraceful congress.
As long as it's not real, our lawmakers will rush to investigate it!
Kind of reminds one of what Mark Twain said about them: "I truly believe there is no truly American criminal class - with the exception of the Congress". One would wish that the committe on government reform would devote some effort to

Reforming The Government!

Friday, February 01, 2008

Then There Were Two

Isn't it remarkable that suddenly instead of being Yet-Another-Old-White-Guy being a prerequisite for running for president, it's now a liability! Here in the waning days of the Republic, it seems the electorate wants to give some new people a chance. Good idea, seeing as how in some two hundred and twenty one years, every President has been J-A-O-W-G. And for the last several administrations, they haven't really performed very well, now, have they? Ignoring the fact that a lot of misguided , historically uninformed luddites think Ronald Wilson Reagan was a good president; we really haven't had a keeper since F.D.R. Ronnie Reagan, as we like to call him, would have been a great president - in the nineteenth century! But times change, and the sand shifts, and even the writing of the...

Now:

Sen. Clinton was trying to run as J-A-O-W-G, and not doing very well, until she rediscovered she was a woman. Doing much better now. I still think the neo-crazies who'd rather pull down the temple than let a Clinton be in charge would make her presidency pretty awful. Better to destroy the government than allow a Clinton to look good.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, is somewhat protected: if anyone rants against him too rabidly, they'll just get tagged as racist. I savor that! He's also smart and well spoken. Good choice - unless he really does believe in trying to govern from the nice side of town.
I would have liked John Edwards. In 2004 and again this year, he actually took positions on issues, and showed he'd studied and thought about them. He's smart and studious. However, in these backward-to times, he'd have to be not J-A-O-W-G. Either that, or he'd have to be a republican; they're all J-A-O-W-G's.
The Poet Of The Protest Movement; Bob Dylan, got it right - The Times They Are a'Changin. Just a little slower than we thought back then.