January, 2009 archive
Out on Bailout 1
And how does a flair for the obvious seem so revolutionary?
Oh, I forgot. The obvious is too obscure for most economists because, well, it’s not obscure enough. And it doesn’t require long mathematical formulae and fanciful notions about how people behave that are in no way related to how people behave.
The only difference here is that the victims, homeowners and consumers, are the foundation of the economy, and they are hurting because their wages have not kept pace with rising prices.
The celebrated economist Milton Friedman once said that the true test of a theory is its forecasting ability. Batra’s theories easily pass this sterling test.
This is because in the first edition of his book printed in 2006 Batra vividly foresaw the current economic chaos in all its dimensions. He forewarned us about stock market losses, the credit crunch, homeowner defaults and above all soaring unemployment, starting in 2007 and lasting at least till 2010.
The obvious was too obscure for any but liberal economists, who have been all over this thing like a bad suit for years.
But they were (hoick! ptui!) liberals (which we all know is a dirty thing–Rush Limbaugh told us so), so no one listened to them, for they just weren’t serious enough and, besides, their concern for the average Joe and Jane meant they had no Republican crud cred.
Besides, they did not qualify as members of the Masters of the Universe, given their belief that there is more to civilized society than survival of the fattest.
Batra quotation via Alan J. Heavens.
Seen on the Street 0
Delaware License Plate
OOHLALA
(He wasn’t.)
Pa. License Plate
SUPAGRLZ
(She was.)
N. J. License Plate
4MAGY
(Who’s Maggie? Or are we talking about Amal and the Night Visitors? Or, more to the point, huh? This is one vanity plate that seems to have been worded in vain.)
As a bonus, Cracked dot com’s selection of the 12 most embarrassing photos of 2008. (Warning: Tasteless. Embarrassing usually is.)
Racking Up Even More Legacy 0
Torque-gharib:
(snippage)
When the T-word first arose in court, I remember the convincing Clint Eastwood voice of Justice Department lawyer Terry Henry dismissing torture as an outlandish allegation. But by the time of a March 2006 hearing, not even the bench was giving him the typical respectful benefit of the doubt.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler was hearing detainee lawyers’ claims that a new feeding chair for prisoners on hunger strike was Guantanamo’s latest torture tactic. A prisoner who refused to eat would be strapped into the chair for up to two hours while nutrients were pumped into his nose through a tube as thick as a small broom handle. Kessler paused after Henry assured her that, according to Guantanamo’s medical director and the base commander, the feeding inflicted no significant pain.
Kessler said that she had read many sealed records about the evidence against detainees and about their treatment, and that she now had much less trust in the government.
“I know it’s a sad day when a federal judge has to ask a DOJ attorney this, but I’m asking you,” Kessler said. “Why should I believe them?”
Highlights Reel, Reprise 0
“Well, sure Katrina was bad, but, think about it, we don’t know how many hurricanes George Bush has prevented.”
Via Andrew Sullivan.
Stray Question 1
How did all that dog hair get on a suit that’s been quietly hanging in the back of the closet sandwiched between two sports jackets for a month?
If It Is a House, You Also Lose 0
In the previous post, I went off on drivers who challenge trains.
I must admit, it was colored by my railroad experience.
Whenever we got a report that a train was delayed by hitting (and sometimes by being hit in the side by) a vehicle, we used to look at each other an marvel at the stupidity (or the suicidal tendencies) of the driver.
Plus it was sad. One of our trains once wiped out the entire high school basketball team from one small lower Midwestern community. And I guarantee that the train did not make a hard left and pursue their van down the street.
Plus plus, I was in the complaint department. We knew that, within two weeks, we’d have lots of mail demanding refunds because of some idiot driver.
And that, within a month, some lawyer would be suing the railroad over the crash, hoping the railroad would settle rather than pay a different lawyer to fight back. (Ultimately, the company adopted the strategy of counter-suing for damages to the locomotive–a broken knuckle and a couple of bent grab-irons, maybe some sheet-metal damage. The suits went away, at least for a while.)
Plus plus plus, now there’s this engineer who must live with having severely injured or, more likely, killed someone through no fault of his or her own. Every once in a while–rarely, but it happened–an engineer involved in one of these things was never able to climb into the cab again. Here is a person severed from the career he or she loved (and, while railroaders may hate their employer from time to time, they all love the railroad; the railroad is fun) because someone was too lazy, too selfish, or too intent on dying (yes, a significant percentage of these things turn out to be suicides) to wait for the train to go by.
Anyhoo, where was I headed? Oh, yeah, it’s not a good idea to race a building to the crossing either.
(Aside: I wish I’d started keeping track of these about a year ago. There seems to be at least one a month, just in my little corner of Delaware. But four in one night . . . .)
If It’s a Tie, You Lose 2
I worked for the railroad for 24 years.
Trains are big, heavy, dangerous things.
Except for passenger trains. They are big, relatively light, dangerous things that can go very fast.
A train engineer will tell you that, after wrestling a 100-car freight train with three engines up the Bryn Mawr grade, an 18-car passenger train with two units is a piece of cake.
It can take a mile to stop a passenger train gong 125 miles per hour.
It can take three miles to take a 125-car freight train going 50 miles an hour.
It is not a good idea to challenge a train.
Not even a slow one.
(And I know this crossing. It is definitely slow track.)
Today’s Radio Address 0
In the meantime, Kos speaks sense (link below).
Though I believe that Obama is a good man whose head is screwed on right–that is, left (hell, I have supported and continue to support him strongly enough)–we must be vigilant.
I don’t think we will need to hold his tootsies to the fire, but we should be ready to do so. He has been elected President, not Emperor (had Bush recognized the difference between “president” and “emperor,” he might not be leaving under such a cloud):
At the same time, like this guy, I’m just sick of all the leftie foolishness.
Strip Searched 2
John Cole wrote this so I didn’t have to (it refers to this news story):
The medicine they were looking for was prescription Ibuprofen.
The only difference between over-the-counter and prescription Ibuprofen is the strength of the pill.
You can turn standard (200 mg.) OTC Ibuprofen into Rx Ibuprofen by taking three of them, instead of two.
By the way, after making the girl strip to her underwear in front of a committee, school officials found nothing.
Except a half-naked 13-year-old girl.
It is difficult for me not to think that the whole scene must of have been a little weird.
If I had a picture of her in that state, I would go to jail for a long time, have my reputation trashed in the newspaper and on television, have my picture splashed all over the place, and be required to register with the authorities for the rest of my life.
But they, of course, are (drum roll) School Officials Fighting the War on Legal Non-Addictive Painkillers.
By the way: In Delaware, students are prohibited from having any medicine, whether or not it’s prescription, on them while in school. They are supposed to turn any medicine into the school nurse at the beginning of the school day.
Pop Quiz: What’s the difference between medicine and medication? (Answer below the fold).
The Free Hand of the Market (Updated) 0
What happens without responsible regulation (part umpty-ump of a continuing series):
Note that this does not apply to the peanut butter you find in the market. It applies to peanut butter sold to manufacturers, such as those who make peanut butter cookies, and to institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.
Addendum, Later the Same Evening:
Some of Susie’s family ended up in the hospital. They are still waiting for test results to find out if it’s peanut-butter-cracker-related.
Air Support 0
Judging by all the helicopter activity down by the river where the railroad tracks run, I would say that the Obama Express just passed by.
Digital Wonderland 0
Everything goes digital:
They will no longer respond to older-model analog EPIRBs that transmit at 121.5 or 243 MHz.
The digital beacon’s signal is 50 times more powerful than the 121.5-MHz beacon. This better enables satellites to detect it, shrinking the search area to about 100 yards and allowing rescue crews to reach victims within minutes.
The Acme Mortgage Company. Be Popular. Fool Your Friends. 0
The Washington Post dissects the real estate crash, with a focus on La La Land. The whole thing is worth the 10 minutes it takes to read it. Here’s a nugget:
Some lenders wooed borrowers with generous terms once reserved for the most creditworthy. Mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, eager to profit, started buying more of these loans — in effect, subsidizing the market.
Blinder used the Wile E. Coyote character in the old Road Runner cartoons to explain what happened to prices next: “The coyote is running, running until he runs off the mesa, suddenly he’s out there in thin air and stays there for a while — then crash,” he said.
The markets that crashed the hardest were the ones where prices had climbed the fastest.
In Words of One Syllable (Well, Sometimes Maybe Two or Three Syllables) 0
Noz explains the recently-revealed FISA decision and the law. It’s not what it’s been reported to be (emphasis added):
let’s say that there was a law outlawing the stealing of jelly beans. a guy named george doesn’t pay attention to that law and steals jelly beans continuously for at least three years. then the new york times publishes a story revealing george’s thefts. hubbub ensues, but george is defiant. he thinks he should be allowed to steal and says he’s going to continue doing it because he thinks he should be allowed to. people still grumble that george is committed repeated felonies so after another year and a half later, george gets congress to pass a law that amends the orginal jelly bean act. the amendment makes it legal for george to steal jelly beans for a six month period (beginning with the passage of the amendment), provided that he only steals red jelly beans.
a critic of the amendment sues, claiming that the amendment is unconstitutional because it discriminates against jelly beans on the basis of their color. the court disagrees and upholds the jelly bean amendment, ruling that the constitution doesn’t prohibit that kind of discrimination.
the court’s decision would not have any relevance to the question of whether george broke the law when he stole jelly beans those first three years. first, the issue in that first three year period is not the constitutional issue addressed by the court, but rather the question whether he violated the original jelly bean statute.
Words Fail Me 0
Oh, my.
Now, This Is Just Dumb, Part II 2
Steve has the details.
Now, This Is Just Dumb 0
From Reuters:
Pfui!
It’s his for weeks and months to come.
To paraphrase the words, if not the intent, of Marc Antony: The evil that men do lives after them . . . .
Furrfu.