February 27, 2009
Shadow History
Here's an interesting item I haven't seen anywhere in the mainstream media: A forthcoming paper in the Journal of Archeological Science dates an early human site in South Carolina at more than 50,000 years ago. If this isn't a measurement error it's an astonishing finding that throws much of what we know about early humans right out the window. I checked with a friend, a professional archeologist, who told me, off-the-record, that he hopes it's true, that the implications are huge and that sometimes we do discover new stuff. Which leads me to wonder — among other things — whether legends of ancient lost cities of gold in South America may have some truth to them???
February 26, 2009
Cant Ain't An Option
"You just hate people," Sharon said. "No, I don't," I replied. "You hate anybody in power, you're totally unfair." "I love the world," I said. With that she winked at me. So as not to compound my errors I'll refrain from comment on the occasion of Mr. Obama's visit to Congress except to say that in a funny way it's a very good thing that everybody seems to like his speech. So much of our current situation is psychological: if people keep their spirits up we'll manage to fix things faster and, conversely, if people expect only the worst then that's what we'll get. I'll suspend my percolating skepticism a while longer. But what I want are real actions.
February 24, 2009
No Sense of Measure
I really hate to agree with Chris Matthews (why do I watch him??) and I don't want to prefigure my assessment of this evening's non-"State of the Union" State of the Union speech. Nevertheless, it's worth taking note of the depth of Barack Obama's counterfeit beliefs. He's been on a tear recently, talking about the dangers of our current situation — yeah, OK, everybody gets it already — about why we need a big government recovery program. So without missing a beat, yesterday he holds his "fiscal responsibility summit" and talks about halving (!!) the deficit by the end of his first term. Well, which is it? He can't have both. Doesn't he realize that? Why can't someone in the smart set around him explain the arithmetic? What kind of mixed message is he sending? Is it that much of a struggle to reconcile what he sees with his eagerness to get along with everybody? And didn't he ever learn that you can't be all things to all people? We already had a recent President who for whatever reason didn't understand that. Billy-Bob or something, I forget. Unsound. He got impeached. And just about everything he did didn't work out so well over the longer run... Looks like we're now repeating history as farce.
February 16, 2009
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
It seems that from across the spectrum, economists and seasoned financial reporters have fairly quickly arrived at a consensus: the Obama administration's Tarp plan won't work because it doesn't go far enough. Perhaps the most influential column I've seen comes from Martin Wolf of the Financial Times (free registration). He argues that the Obama team is asking the wrong questions, and I'm sure that that's exactly what's happening. It's difficult, indeed, to imagine Larry Summers asking the right questions, just as it's difficult to imagine Obama political operators being willing to contemplate shutting down those very banks who've been top Obama fundraisers. The politics of hope, unfortunately, doesn't apply to banks — nor to policy-making generally. As Martin says, it's not at all ludicrous to ask whether Barack Obama's presidency has already failed.
February 11, 2009
Shovel-Ready F-22's to the Rescue
By Chuck Spinney
Marmaris, Turkey — President Obama is on the cusp of a victory in his effort to sell the economic recovery program, and the Military–Industrial–Congressional–Complex, or MICC, is poised to jump on his train. As Julian Barnes reports in the Los Angeles Times, Lockheed is now using Obama's "shovel-ready jobs" argument to protect its F-22 cash cow from being terminated at the completion of the currently approved production quantity.
February 9, 2009
My New Jeep
Having been asked, here's the story: a few weeks back, on a Thursday, I took my 1994 Jeep Wrangler (only 56,000 miles on it) down for its DC inspection. At the inspection station the clutch failed. I drove home in second gear, having to turn off the ignition just to put it into gear. It needed brake work also, which I'd been procrastinating over, for a total of about $3,000 bucks to get it road-worthy but only five days to bring it back for inspection. Since its blue-book value, in top condition, was about $4,000, and it wasn't in top condition (having several of the seams on the soft-top split, zippers on the soft doors broken, back seats removed for the dog's convenience, dash panel plastic broken from when someone ripped off the stereo, etc.), it hardly seemed worth getting repairs. That same afternoon I called my bank, USAA, and they gave me a loan in about five minutes — to my complete shock and amazement — so, armed with what was essentially a blank check that I'd downloaded from the USAA site and printed at home, I went straight to a dealer (Safford in Springfield, VA) for a replacement. My preference would have been to get the middle of the three Wrangler models, stripped down, but all that the dealer had was a loaded base model. Not quite as good off-road but actually a smoother ride on-road. Hard top, stick shift (six forward gears plus high and low 4WD), full electronics package, dark tinted windows, extra-large alloy wheels, etc... Engine and drive train made in Germany. With a USAA pre-negotiated price and a few other discounts I got about $3,000 off the sticker price plus $750 for the old Jeep. A five year loan at 5.74% which, as it turned out, Chrysler financing was slightly cheaper than through USAA. Insured, however, through USAA, which can't be beat. I hadn't set out that morning to buy a new vehicle but sometimes life comes at you fast. Anyhow, I'm very, very happy with the new Jeep — the dog is happy too — and I feel like I've done my part to boost the economy!
February 8, 2009
How (Not) To Control a Bureaucracy
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. That's my reaction to Jim Jones and his "expanded" NSC. I know — most people outside
February 3, 2009
Yes, for Judd Gregg
President Obama has made a very good choice for Commerce. An inspired choice. Senator Judd Gregg is a genuine moderate — in temperament, at least, if not always in practice — and will bring reasonable pragmatism to bear. (See his voting record against his party, here.) One observation I've not noticed other commentators make: the demoralizing effect this appointment has on other Republican Senators shouldn't be underestimated. Judd Gregg is a senior Senator, well respected, well liked, and from the politically consequential state of New Hampshire. If he's willing to bail out, what does that say about the disarray he leaves behind? It'll be most interesting to see how he presents new ideas from the Obama administration to his former colleagues.
