A McHurry-Cain on the Brain

Kausfiles :

The See-Saw Cuts Both Ways: Republicans have been gaining in the "generic" Congressional ballot, according to The Hill...As someone rooting for an Obama victory coupled with a small Dem majority in Congress, I've worried that in all the last minute confusion the See wouldn't know which way to Saw, given the countervailing possibility that ticket-splitting voters would side with McCain and compensate by voting for Dems in downballot Senate and House races. ... But if the MSM Final Push to Victory. among other factors, really does help produce a big Obama closing surge, that could (perversely!) tip the ticket-splitters' lever against Franken, Martin, etc., no?

If you think Obama is going to win, having more Republicans around to act as a check (and support him in times of national peril -- something the "Obama wing" is unlikely to do) then voting Republican down ticket makes sense.

A few months back I added my twist: What if the late Obama surge (Yes, I saw it coming!) is more media brain farting than a political storm? This is most unlikely to happen, of course. Obama is ahead in every poll. Still, the voters may take a look at the leap they are about to make and decide to stay on this side of the political Chasm. In this case, folks may vote for McCain but knowing he'll loose, vote for the Republican down ticket (instead of splitting their vote). In which case we could have McCain by a nose and a better than expected Republican outcome in Congress.

Yes, one last pleasant dream.

Who puts the GO in GO-vernment? Barack Does!

Well, I didn't watch Sen. Obama's "advertisement for myself!" because I ain't buying it. Also, I heard consumers will spend less of their own money this Christmas (though likely more of someone else's). So this morning I did a little catching up on what the iO said ("Here's what I'll do!") via a surprising source: The AP.

Obama's prime-time ad skips over budget realities

THE SPIN: "Here's what I'll do. Cut taxes for every working family making less than $200,000 a year. Give businesses a tax credit for every new employee that they hire right here in the U.S. over the next two years and eliminate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas. Help homeowners who are making a good faith effort to pay their mortgages, by freezing foreclosures for 90 days. And just like after 9-11, we'll provide low-cost loans to help small businesses pay their workers and keep their doors open. "

THE FACTS: His proposals—the tax cuts, the low-cost loans, the $15 billion a year he promises for alternative energy, and more—cost money, and the country could be facing a record $1 trillion deficit next year. Indeed, Obama recently acknowledged—although not in his commercial—that: "The next president will have to scale back his agenda and some of his proposals."

When the iO said, "scale back some of his proposals" he meant John McCain's proposals, not the iO's own proposals -- for instance, there is that whole Pentagon thing which can be turned into affordable housing.

On tax increases, his floor has come down from $250,000 to $200,000 in one week. Sen. Biden then knocked it down to $150,000. Let's see, dropping at fifty thousand a week their tax increase floor should be under me by Thanksgiving.  In fact my feet feel more firmly planted already. I thank whatever gods may be for my Go-vernment -- which goes not just for me, but for you, too! 

This looks like France. A landslide.

Via The Corner

Is Team Obama Worried McCain Will Pull It Out?

Don't Let Up, Europhile Obamaniacs. Go to France and get out the vote.

And now that they've invented spell check, even I could do it.

Jules Crittenden » Embarrassment

Yeah, well here’s my advice on that point, Mike. Call yourself a reporter, an editor, a columnist, a commentator, whatever it is you actually do. “Journalist” is a bogus word for people who are trying to make it sound like this wretched business is something exalted, something professional, something that requires arcane, secret knowledge hard come by. All things it never was, as amply demonstrated on a regular basis by some of the best in the business working at some of the finest publications in the nation.

I was talking to a friend about the news "business" a decade or so ago and opined the Columbia school of Journalism graduates were quickly squandering the reputation for reliability that high school drop outs built over the past century.

Sheer Panic: it ain't panty hose.

Nouriel Roubini: I fear the worst is yet to come - Times Online

Dubbed Dr Doom for his gloomy views, this lugubrious disciple of the “dismal science” is now the world’s most in-demand economist. He reckons he is getting about four hours’ sleep a night. Last week he was in Budapest, London, Madrid and New York. Next week he will address Congress in Washington. Do not expect any good news.

Contacted in Madrid on Friday, Roubini said the world economy was “at a breaking point”. He believes the stock markets are now “essentially in free fall” and “we are reaching the point of sheer panic”.

For all his recent predictive success, his critics still urge calm. They charge he is a professional doom-monger who was banging on about recession for years as the economy boomed. Roubini is stung by such charges, dismissing them as “pathetic”.

OK. I know what I'm gonna do. After Obama wins and those government checks start rolling in I am going to cash them and buy gold.

CNN reports Desperately

Yesterday Democratic friends of mine told me of a CNN report about chaos and back stabbing in the McCain Campaign. They were hoping to get me barking mad, of course, but I took the news with equanimity. I good-naturedly pointed out what lying skunks they are over at CNN (it's not about the truth -- unless the truth works -- it's about furthering the lie and shaping opinion to fit the lie). Then today I read this:

CNN Political Ticker: Palin warns Obama would create nanny state if elected

"Are we hearing what he is saying with 10 days to go?” she asked plaintively. “Are voters hearing what he is saying about his plans for bigger government?”

Asked plaintively. Yep: Now it is chaos and desperation in the campaign rhetoric!

Way to go Z-man! Zero out that poll!

Zogby International

“There is no question that this race continues to tighten and that McCain is finding his message again,” said Pollster John Zogby. “It is after all about the economy and that is how McCain tightened it up the last time. I have said over and over again, when he focuses on extraneous issues, he screws up. In today's single day of polling, it was 49% to 46% in favor of Obama. McCain has moved his own numbers each of the three days and Obama has gone down from 54% to 50% to 49%. I have alluded before to this strange, magnetic pull that brings Obama down to 48% or 49%, a danger zone for him. McCain's gains are among white voters, where he now leads by 12 points, and with men, where he again has a healthy lead. There is still a lot of campaign to go. A lot of campaign to go.”

Just the other day the Zog produced a poll with Obama up 12. Now he is saying it is basically a three point race -- in other words, within the margin of error. This swing occurs in a matter of forty-eight hours. A strange magnetic pull indeed. Talk about spin. From the North Pole toward the South Pole.

Confidence

Political Radar: Palin Guarantees Win in Pennsylvania

ABC News' Imtiyaz Delawala reports: Near the hometown of Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin guaranteed a come-from-behind victory for the McCain-Palin ticket in Pennsylvania.

She is so sure they will carry the state that she'll wager those ruby red slippers the RNC gave her.

North Pole, South Pole, Times poll, TIPP poll

On Nova (PBS) the other night they described a theory of parallel universes which says anything that can possibly happen will happen. It reminded me of this election and those polls.

IBDeditorials.com: IBD/TIPP Economic, Presidential Election, and Political Polls -- IBD/TIPP Tracking Poll: Day Eleven

McCain has cut into Obama's lead for a second day and is now just 1.1 points behind. The spread was 3.7 Wednesday and 6.0 Tuesday. The Republican is making headway with middle- and working- class voters, and has surged 10 points in two days among those earning between $30,000 and $75,000. He has also gone from an 11-point deficit to a 9-point lead among Catholics.

But the New York Times has Sen. Obama at plus 13 (52-39).

Why are these polls describing two completely different elections? Perhaps the answer can be found among the undecideds. I think all the polls measure "committed voters" accurately. But the Investor Business Daily poll has close 12 percent undecided. If the pollster puts additional pressure on the voter to "decide right now," they break for Obama. This may accurately reflect what they will do on election day, or it may accurately reflect what they do do when talking to a stranger who has their phone number -- give that person the answer that person wants to hear. If they represent a major news organization, 70 perecent of the people will assume the answer is "Obama."

Which way muse

My Way News - AP presidential poll: Race tightens in final weeks

The poll, which found Obama at 44 percent and McCain at 43 percent, supports what some Republicans and Democrats privately have said in recent days: that the race narrowed after the third debate as GOP-leaning voters drifted home to their party and McCain's "Joe the plumber" analogy struck a chord.

Three weeks ago, an AP-GfK survey found that Obama had surged to a seven-point lead over McCain, lifted by voters who thought the Democrat was better suited to lead the nation through its sudden economic crisis.

Interesting. In the same period that the AP poll swung six points towards McCain, the Zogby poll has swung eight points toward Obama (to Obama +10). They must have swapped call lists or something.

I said a few weeks ago that if McCain pulls a win out we would have to place the entire Main Stream Media and the rest of the Democratic Party on Suicide watch. We might need to add pollsters to the group as well.

A World Crisis of Choice Looms for the US

Someone should tell Joe Biden, "It's the economy, stupid!" But stupid Joe, God bless him, decides he has just got to change the subject from "market meltdown" to "World attacks US when Barry takes over!" This from ABC News:

“Mark my words,” the Democratic vice presidential nominee warned at the second of his two Seattle fundraisers Sunday. “It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We’re about to elect a brilliant 47-year-old senator president of the United States of America. Remember I said it standing here if you don’t remember anything else I said. Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy.”

“I can give you at least four or five scenarios from where it might originate,” Biden said to Emerald City supporters, mentioning the Middle East and Russia as possibilities. “And he’s gonna need help. And the kind of help he’s gonna need is, he’s gonna need you - not financially to help him - we’re gonna need you to use your influence, your influence within the community, to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially, it’s not gonna be apparent that we’re right.”

No Kidding. But what if our judgment tells us you're really wrong? At that point, ain't it patriotic to work with all our heart and all our soul to undermine the policy? You know, like Barack Obama and the war in Iraq. Slow Joe goes on:

"There are gonna be a lot of you who want to go, 'Whoa, wait a minute, yo, whoa, whoa, I don't know about that decision'," Biden continued. "Because if you think the decision is sound when they're made, which I believe you will when they're made, they're not likely to be as popular as they are sound. Because if they're popular, they're probably not sound."

Kinda like the surge in Iraq after the unsound Dem's declared the war there lost.

To sum up what Obama's foreign policy expert said, if America chooses the young and inexperienced Sen. Obama, America will choose a major crisis with potential dire consequences for the nation and the world. Interestingly, Joe isn't asking for patience and support during this anticipated "crisis of choice" from the American people at large -- he's taking that for granted. No, he's asking for support from Obama's own supporters, who worked so hard to undermine the Iraq war. And, given the record, why wouldn't he doubt support would be forthcoming or long lasting?

So according to his future VP, a year from now President Obama could well be trying to Spread the Wealth and fight a World War while his own party abandons him and he has to join the Republicans. Or President Obama could simply capitulate. And Joe Biden can watch it all and say "told ya."

Isn't the better choice not the choose this "Crisis of Choice" in the first place? Why not simply vote for John McCain?

UPDATE: Is Joe stupid like a fox? A different take.

What did Joe do and when did he do it?

What I want to know about Joe the Plumber is:

• Did his boss ever blowup the Pentagon?
• Did he ever do work for a slum lord who defrauded the government?
• Did that slum lord help him buy his house?
• Has he ever supped with bank robbers and murderers?
• Has he lived in a corrupt political environment and never criticized it -- but used it to get ahead?

And by all means, let's have a look at his school records and past alliances.


WBIR.com | Knoxville, TN | McCain speaks with Joe the Plumber

Earlier today, McCain charged that Obama and his campaign have been attacking Wurzelbacher. In fact, Obama and Joe Biden have attacked McCain for portraying Wurzelbacher as representative of most blue-collar workers.

Of course if he a played a blue collar worker on TV he'd support Sen. Obama -- and that would be important. But what's important about Joe is that he asked Sen. Obama to explain an obvious point in his tax plan and the Senator could not do it: instead, he searched in vain for a suitable talking point and potentially screwed the pooch by letting the mask slip. But not to worry, the press will screw the pooch for him.

So the Obama Campaign don't have to attack Joe (though they have). They got the guard dog press to do it for them. After all, the "mainstream press" is just an extension of the Obama Campaign.

Oh the smirk on O's face

Instapundit.com -

WHAT'S WRONG with fighting for plumbers?

Obama Mocks Joe the Plumber, Crowd Laughs

Old Joe has gotten under Sen. Obama's skin. A plumber! "How many plumbers you know making a quarter million a year!?!"

He wants to make a quarter million, O, he does not make it now. How many blue collar guys (and gals) want to make a quarter million? In Ohio I'd say it's everyone who makes less.

Are they still starving in Ireland?

Former UN chief mulls 'phenomenal' Obama presidency

A US presidential poll victory for Barack Obama would be "phenomenal," former UN chief Kofi Annan said Thursday, adding that whoever wins needs to learn the lessons of the last eight years.

Speaking at a conference on hunger in Ireland, he underlined the need for the United States to work in "partnership" with the rest of the world.

A conference on "hunger in Ireland?" Apparently we have to send food to the Irish -- again. Will they accept Franken food? I guess the lesson of the last eight years was: store grain. We'll need it for the next Eight years.

McCain losses the election yet again!

I only got to see the tail end of the debate -- the part where they are running to be The National Superintendent of Schools. Sen. Obama said that as president he would personally oversee the functioning of the preschool in Walnut Creek, Ohio. Apparently, the Mennonite Vote is still up for grabs.

During the after words afterwards, David Brooks, the PBS token conservative, said that we should just skip right to the Inauguration: Is there a supreme court justice in the House to swear the him in? We'll even accept one from a foreign court. Mark Shields seemed subdued. He wondered what really moves Sen. Obama, he seems so unflappable (what will he be like in a crisis?). I only watched 35 seconds of the after debate fish wrap-up, so I won't claim I'm being accurate (not that I ever do).

Apparently, they don't like that plumber guy -- he's become an effective competitor. He might unstop the election.

Now, back to the Campaign.

One lumps or two?

WSJ.com:

What Paulson Is Trying to Do: Banks need a capital injection before they take their lumps.

I thought the Feds were just making up money lumps as they go along. You look at a bank's bank account and say, "stick a couple more zeros behind that one, will ya?" Presto change-o. And this before the Socialist take over.

A trillion here. A trillion there. I'm gonna check under my bed: maybe money appeared.

Remember when they washed their hands of Rwanda? Well, now they're done with Darfur.

BBC NEWS |UN hand-washing day

Therese Dooley of Unicef explains how to wash your hands properly.

There. We no longer need to teach reading.

Spaced Out Government

There was a good Nova episode tonight about the Space Shuttle. I remember its gestation back in the early seventies. At first it sounded like a good idea -- a way to lower the cost of getting into orbit. But as they cut back on the size of the Space program after the moon landings, I remember getting into a discussion with a friend who was a physics teacher. I argued that it made no sense to spend a vast sum of money on an expensive new launch system when we were cutting back on the manned space program. It was fast becoming obvious that by the time the shuttle was operational, there would be no where for it to go and no money left to send it there. It seemed to me that we should just use the Saturn V "moon" rocket to put the heavy stuff up and a smaller rocket to put the manned element up.

Around that time NASA got rid of all the specialized jigs and equipment used in making the Saturn V. The conspiracy minded thought it was done so there would be no going back as the Shuttle ate up more and more of the space budget. Perhaps NASA needed to keep the rocket scientists and engineers busy. In any case, the imperative for the shuttle was no longer "space exploration." Apparently massive bureaucracies put in motion tend to keep going that way.


Well, after two space shuttle tragedies -- disasters designed into the system, as Nova pretty much put it -- and gazillions spent, guess what? To replace the Shuttle they'll build a heavy lift vehicle (even resurrecting much of the Saturn V design) as well as a smaller vehicle for putting humans into orbit.

Interestingly, they managed to blame private contractors who "turned the shuttle around" for part of the failure but never explained what it was they did wrong or forgot to do right. In fact, they failed to show any connection with the private contractors at all. This came from the folks who were hands on responsible. It's just a bureaucratic reflex, I guess -- just stupid blind prejudice at work: it's those cost cutting contractors, I tell you! Actually, complacent and sloppy inefficiencies were more likely the cause (and was that an "ozone friendly" insulating foam that fell of the shuttle in large junks during the launches?) .

In the near future our likely next President, Barack Obama, will launch many new and massive Federal Programs. But he does not appear to believe in The Doctrine of Unintended Consequences. Or perhaps he believes the bad consequences -- whether intended or not -- won't show up until he is gone. But the "bads" should be obvious to all non-journalists by 2016.

The Evils of Capitol-ism

The other day an old friend asked , "What are we going to do about that party they got going on down in Washington? It don't matter who you send there!"

Yup. What about affordable government?

What's clearly on Display in our financial crisis are the evils of Capitol-ism.

I've long thought that the Democrat Party, the National Media and the Federal Bureaucracy are knotted together by self interest and a shared belief in their own importance. Republicans, too, can join them in the knot and often do. Today they form their own political party, the Washington Party, that works to move ever more power to the capital and to the "national centers" -- be it information centers (New York, D.C.), financial centers (New York, Chicago), or entertainment (LA). Basically, for the Washington Party, all problems are national and all problems have a national solution -- and they use the media to bring you along. Your kids go to a lousy school? Look to Washington for the answer, not your local community. This is the platform of "The Washington Party."

The ideology of the Washington Party is Capitol-ism. For a Capitol-ist, both state power and economic power are centered on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, where the inhabitants of the corridors of power meet and bargain. Their preferred form of economic organization is the cartel, sometimes organized by government but always controlled by members of the Washington Party. These new Cartels function much like the old ones -- except they focus on shielding mediocrity (by emphasizing credentials over performance) as well as creating abnormally large benefits for the members.

Of course Cartels are illegal, but only when non-members of the Washington party try to organize them. As we "fight" global warming the Washington Party will organize Carbon Cartels that will dominate the entire economy. These will be promoted as life-saving "Cartels of Caring": it is not about screwing you and benefiting them, it is about saving the planet.

All the institutions at the Center of the Washington Party have scandals connected to them where the national "watchdog" media is late to the scene. When they arrive they start tampering with evidence, and then issue reports with mistakes and omissions that point to conclusions that lie in one direction -- a direction favorable to the Washington Party and the system of Cartels it creates.

If there is a problem with the free market the answer is regulation. If their is a problem with the regulations the answer is more regulation. Problems with the additional regulations require yet more additional regulations. It's a one way ratchet -- at least until the whole rickety structure is about to collapse. Then there is a half-assed deregulation, followed by a collapse which is then blamed on the Free Market. In California ten years ago they "deregulated" the electricity market but kept the price controls in place. This was not an example of deregulation. This was an example of stupidity -- or brilliant bureaucratic strategy. When the doo-doo fell into the wind tunnel and the lights went out in California there was someone else with poo-poo on their face.


The Federal Fannie and its spawn, Frantic Freddie are at the Center of the subprime mortgage mess. Congress constructed a Fun House at the corner of Broadway and Wall Street where low showmanship and high finance meet. Fannie and Freddie were the host, and they brought the good faith and credit of the American people in there to play. In those mirrors everyone looked fat and solvent. The Fat and Frantic Feds were the center of the "Cartel of Caring" which screwed the people it was alleged to help and greatly enriched members of the Cartel. Even now rule one is: protect the Washington Cartels.

So naturally it is reported as if the fault were in the private economy. The Mainstream Media is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Washington Party. The Federal Fannie is already sitting on health care -- another Cartel of Caring. They want of feed it a much bigger slice of the pie -- in fact, the whole banana cream pie -- so if you think it is heavy now, just wait.

Belmont Club » Just so

Western civilization is dying a death by a thousand cuts. The quest for perfection has become such an obsession that it is sought even at the cost of basic functionality. A friend who works at big name consulting firm said that so much attention is focused on ensuring compliance — checking off boxes, making sure that everything is gender-friendly, green, non-racist and whatever else — that sound business is almost an afterthought. In this modern world it’s alright to have something that doesn’t work, as long as it’s perfect.

The Heart and Soul of Capitol-ism is "The Caring Cartel." The business of the Cartel is not the general welfare, but the welfare of the Cartel. In the Cartels of Caring the clerks who run them are king. Barney Frank is an alpha clerk. Clerks cut free of their middle class masters ( and resentful of them) now run government, finance and Eduction. They give Western Civilization the soul of a Clerk.

Check the box.

The Second Presidential Debate

Senators McCain and Obama must have agreed in advance that since they couldn't calm the volatile financial markets, they would try to put them to sleep.

I gave Obama a slight edge at the start and McCain a slight edge at the end. Of course Sen. Obama seems to change his position at will (on off shore oil drilling, for instance) but he is still right, both times! As usual, spending is called investing and tax increases become spending cuts and free money to folks who don't pay taxes is a tax cut. Sacrifice is accepting more from government while insisting someone else pays for it (this is also "living within our means"). The Usual hokum. Obama should win.

Biggest lie: Obama said he would cut more spending then he would add. Granted, he will call his tax increases "spending cuts" (we spent the government's money on tax cuts, remember). Even so, creative math and all, I don't think it is "true."

Goodnight.

Dreaded Secrets -- Revealed!

I often watch "Secrets of the Dead" on PBS. I like the program for what it reveals about Western Intellectuals. One show all but concluded that it really was the Christians who burned down ancient Rome (Christians who were at the same time Jews!).

I first saw the episode that will reprise on Wednesday (Aztec Massacre) in April. It deals with the encounter of the Aztec Empire with "Cortes and the Conquistadors." The program centered on some Spaniards (including women) who were captured -- along with some of the more unruly subjects of the Aztecs -- and sacrificed.

The ritual involved skillfully ripping the heart out of a living human; lifting said heart up to the sky while it is still beating; tossing the heartless (and maybe headless, I forgot to take notes) body down a steep flight of steps; butchering said heartless/headless/discarded body.

Well, I thought we could all come together on this behavior and say "that is just wrong." Liberal and Conservative could finally agree. Marxist intellectual and capitalist Robber Baron, finally, in agreement.

OK, maybe we all know that one special "exception" to the rule -- or two or three -- where ripping out the heart might be understandable (though never condoned). But to do this by the thousands? At what point do we say you've gone from a Civilization that has "a problem" to "A Problem" that has a civilization? I mean, talk about the church militant.

Gee, do I ever lack nuance. First, it was done to keep the sun in the sky and the sun is still up there so they must have done a pretty good job. Plus the Aztecs lacked beasts of burden and their subject people kinda filled that role. And what do you do with an ornery beast of burden? Well, you turn him into a much needed protein supplement. And in a way to encourage the others. So. Sun's in the sky. Maize's in the fields. Pyramid's gettin' built. Capital's kept clean. And all the Spaceships solar powered (sorry, that was Atlantis). Why, times were almost good.

Then Cortes shows up -- a combination entrepreneur and labor organizing thug who's gonna steal your retirement. If only he weren't an entrepreneur but, alas!

At this point the Aztec Priestly caste became the "resistance." The same hat trick performed by the Baathist Party (caste) in Iraq -- an idea promoted by pretty much the same people (read: BBC). What's the evidence the Aztec Priests turned into minutemen? There were Spanish heads on those skull racks. Along with the heads of them new fangled horses (I mean, folks, those equines want to take your jobs).

Well, I concluded that one priestly caste (tenured academia) identifies strongly with another priestly caste. Priest who no doubt bathed more frequently than the on-the-make Spaniards and were more respecting of books and knew the value of a good protein supplement. They knew how to get additional sacrifices from their populations to keep their Temples of Learning up and running. They did not beg for grants, they just took them!

I, on the other hand, saw them as bitter men clinging to their religion and their razor sharp obsidian ceremonial blades and blaming foreigners with their "new ideas" while fearing change.

Meanwhile the Spaniards slip into the role of the Aztecs. And those who rule now can have a certain regard for the problems the Aztecs faced then. I mean, keeping the sun in the sky is thirsty work. And as the sun gets closer, the globe gets hotter. That means more sacrifices to push it back up. And how do you get folks to willingly make them (or unwillingly, if Al Gore's ad campaign don't work)?

Am I being unfair here? Let me think. Nah.

Fear Mongering by the Media does not count.

Dean Baker: The state of the US economy is a direct result of Bush's policies | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

This is the first time in the history of the United States that the president has sought to provoke a financial panic to get legislation passed through Congress. While this has proven to be a successful political strategy - after the House of Representatives finally passed the bank bail-out plan today - it marks yet another low point in American politics.

It was incredibly irresponsible for George Bush to tell the American people on national television that the country could be facing another Great Depression. By contrast, when we actually were in the Great Depression, President Roosevelt said: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."

The Media has been telling us we are already in "the second great depression." They need to absolve the Democrat "Fannie enablers" in Congress so the cause of the crisis is "Bush said boo!" and terrified Wall Street. Of course a lot of them Wall Street Fat Cats are Democrats and they do scare easy. Redeploy into T-bills!

But don't listen to Bush. The fundamentals of the economy are actually great. Until tomorrow, when they will want to blame GWB for the rise in unemployment.

That Washington "thing."

The Democrats in Congress organize “Cartels of Caring.” A “Caring” Cartel is at the very center of the Subprime mortgage mess. Its most visible members came in the form of a “big fat Fannie” and its spawn, an adrenalin addled Freddie. This Federal Grendel and his Ma effectively turned the mortgage industry into a government run cartel. Except in this story, Grendel didn’t lose his arm, home buyers and taxpayers lost theirs. It took advantage of home buyers at one end and mortgage instrument buyers at the other — and the entire US in between once the “implicit” guarantee of Freddie and Fannie finally became explicit. They socialized the risk and let speculators hugely profit.

Citizens struggling to make their mortgage payments don’t give money to politicians. Real Estate speculators do.

Cartels are always sold as being good for the public. Their purpose is to steer power and money to their members. The Democrats (but not just the Democrats) combine these two principles to produce “Cartels of Caring.” In the last few weeks we have found out how much “affordable housing” really cost. Ten years from now we will learn the cost of affordable health care — your life, perhaps, but only after your money.

Do you want them to stick their fat Fannies into your health care? In this respect, the “McCain plan” is better since it does give the patients some control. Sen. Obama constructs another “Cartel of Caring,” only this time he invites the insurance companies to join and removes power from the patients. They will construct a system of incentives to over treat the well and hasten the death of the severely ill. This system will not require a Dr. House — a brief bit of grief “consoling” will do. Twelve stages in two minutes. Because we care.

The Main stream Media is another “Cartel of Caring.” They sell themselves as the watch dogs of the American People when they are actually the Guard Dogs of the Washington establishment — and all the Cartels of Caring they create. Hence their Howling at the Moon when Sarah Palin arrived on the scene.

After the election they will want their own position shored up. They are owed that much (and self interest does dictate…)

If you want a movie that most effectively mirrors the current set up in Washington, watch Goodfellows. “Hey, Congressman, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. Grendel’s a Good Fellow.”

It makes you want to Howl like a Beowulf.

The Vice Presidential Debate

I think Gov. Palin won the debate because the network commentators on NBC were calling it a tie.

I thought her using the word "blunder" in connection with George Bush was a bit extreme, but hey, it seems to work for everyone else. I thought she should have hit more on the failures of Congress in regards to the subprime meltdown and the lax oversight of Fannie and Freddie.

On several occasions Joe Biden said we spent more in three and one half weeks in Iraq than we have in six and a half years in Afghanistan. My guess is he was a bit off in his math (or it is really fuzzy). Three and a half months might be closer. On Health Care: Sen. Biden wants to stick the heavy Fannie of government in our Health Care while Sen. McCain prefers a defter touch.

I thought the best part of the debate was when the families got up on stage. I think I was as relieved as they were that it was over. I'm off to bed.

Update: Western Standard ran the numbers on Sen. Biden's claim.

According to the Congressional Research Service, spending on the war in Afghanistan since 2001 has been $172 Billion. Spending in Iraq is, as the Democrats repeatedly mention, a little under $10 Billion a month.

In other words, Biden's number is off by, oh, something like 2000%. Perhaps Obama's Sub-Committee ought to have held some hearings on Afghanistan after all.