- Home
- About Us
- Contributors
- Departments
- Topics
- Back Issues
- Weekly Archives
- AmSpecBlog
- Subscribe
- Newsletter
- Advertise
- Donate
- Contact Us
- Daily Digest
- Templeton Essays
- Jan 6–12 13–19 20–26 27–31
- Feb 1–2 3–9 10–16 17–23 24–29
- Mar 1 2–8 9–15 16–22 23–29 30–31
- Apr 1–5 6–12 13–19 20–26 27–30
- May 1–3 4–10 11–17 18–24 25–31
- Jun 1–7 8–14 15–21 22–28 29–30
- Jul 1–5 6–12 13–19 20–26 27–31
- Aug 1–2 3–9 10–16 17–23 24–30 31
- Sep 1–6 7–13 14–20 21–27 28–30
- Oct 1–4 5–11 12–18 19–25 26–31
- Nov 1 2–8 9–15 16–22 23–29 30
- Dec 1–6 7–13 14–20 21–27 28–31
Saturday, September 20, 2008
McCain v. Palin?
Posted by on 9.20.08 @ 7:52PM
Boy, if you want to rile up Politico commenters, just pose the question: "If Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin manage to win this election for the Republicans, will they be fighting over the White House in four years' time?"
'Privatizing Profits, Socializing Losses'
Posted by on 9.20.08 @ 12:35AM
So says Michelle Malkin about the Mother of All Bail-Outs, adding:
I have had it with Pollyanna conservatives who continue to parrot the "fundamentals of the market are great!" line.
The fundamentals of the market suck. The fundamentals of capitalism have been sabotaged.
Many of my libertarian friends bear a deep resentment toward Michelle Malkin -- mostly because of Bush and the war, both of which the libertarians loathe -- but it should be remembered that Malkin's big break was winning the 1995 Warren Brookes Fellowship from the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute. (The Brookes Fellowship was more recently held by Jeremy Lott and is currently held by Lene Johansen.) There are times when Malkin's inner libertarian speaks loudly, and this is one of them.
As to the MOABO, she's absolutely right, of course. Wall Street has essentially blackmailed U.S. taxpayers into footing the bill for managerial greed, ineptitude and corruption. The alternative to the bailout is economic collapse, yet there's no prospect of recouping the millions collected by the executives who were (over)paid to run these institutions into bankruptcy. They reap the profits, taxpayers absorb the losses.
And what "reforms" are proposed to solve the inevitable problems caused by bad regulations, subsidies and corporate welfare? More of the same. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Friday, September 19, 2008
One Last Note on McCain's Meltdown
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 6:30PM
McCain did a weird semi-back-off today on Chris Cox, saying that Cox is "a good man" -- but then insisting that Cox still should resign. But again, he gave not a single specific, factual reason why. He just said the problems happened on Cox's watch. Again, that shows ignorance: Cox can only do what he has statutory authority to do, and he does not have direct statutory authority to micromanage financial institutions -- plus, his job elsewhere is merely to enforce the law and to stop rule-breaking, not to tell companies like AIG how to run their businesses. McCain did again complain about a lack of transparency on Wall Street, as if he still hasn't been told that the one unambiguous triumph of Cox's short tenure has been his successful effort -- actually, multiple efforts -- to improve transparency of corporate books, to levels never before seen on Wall Street. Again, McCain is utterly ignorant, but too headstrong to even bother learning basic facts about his chosen subject. His performance all week has been disgusting. Utterly disgusting. Actually, worse than that: contemptible.
Don't Waste the Palin
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 3:56PM
I don't think John McCain has the anti-statist instincts to do what Daniel Henninger suggests. But I do like this line: "You say Sarah Palin doesn't have enough 'experience' to run Washington? Washington is barely fit to be run."
Flying Low
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 3:45PM
Airports are very high-tech places. So why do they always so degenerate into the state of nature?
Re: Paulson Details
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 3:19PM
I cringe along with everyone else at the notion of Henry Paulson spending up to $1 trillion in public money to buy bad mortgage-backed securities from failing financial institutions. There is one potentially bright spot, pointed out by (gulp) Barney Frank: These securities will be purchased at a steep discount, and will be worth a whole lot more after restructuring. The software was always right. Securitized mortgages paid off, even allowing for defaults. Right now, somebody with some authority needs to engineer the financial rework. Congress just wants to wait around, then point fingers. Paulson has been given the authority, and, unfortunately, he has to use it.
The Era of Omnipotent Government Is Upon Us
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 2:15PM
One of the things that concerns me most about the pending $1 trillion bailout of the financial sector is that it reinforces the idea of government as an all-powerful entity that can fix any problem. Reporting on the campaign trail, going to these town hall meetings, it has always amazed me how people assume that government has infinite resources -- whether it's health, housing, bad weather, or plain old bad luck -- Americans have come to assume that government will be there to insulate them from the ups and downs of everyday life. The pending action will only make things much worse. Americans who purchased homes that they couldn't afford, banks that made loans to those who they shouldn't have, financial institutions that made risky bets on derivatives even though they had no idea what they we betting on -- they're now all off the hook. And the bill will be paid by responsible working class Americans who either paid their mortgages or deferred purchasing property because they were priced out of the market by skyrocketing prices driven by irresponsible lenders and borrowers, and those who invested reasonably. The fact that Hank Paulson can snap his fingers and come up with $1 trillion to rescue financial institutions means Americans will assume government can dip into a bottomless well to cure any ill in society.
McCain on Bailouts
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 1:52PM
It's something you'll rarely hear me say, but TPM makes a good point. John McCain says he's against bailouts, but happens to have supported every major bailout this year.
Obama's Surge
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 1:33PM
He's now up 5 points in the Gallup daily tracking poll. The longer the market turmoil lasts, the better for Obama. And I don't see how the fact that taxpayers are staring at a $1 trillion bailout is good for McCain, either.
FL22: Allen West to Debate Ron Klein
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 12:11PM
Rep. Ron Klein (D-FL) has agreed to debate Allen West, the Iraq war veteran who's running as a Republican challenger in Florida's 22nd District.
According to the West campaign, the debate will be Oct. 20 at the Boca Pointe Country Club, and will be moderated by reporters from the Boca Raton News, the Palm Beach Post and the Florida Sun-Sentinel.
The debate presents a big opportunity for West, a retired Army lieutenant-colonel who's gotten shockingly little support from the GOP establishment in his campaign to upset Klein, a freshman Democrat who reportedly had a 10-to-1 financial advantage as of early August.
West is one of the candidates discussed in a South Florida Times story today about black Republicans.
Finally, the Truth About Journalism
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 11:52AM
"The shocking truth about journalists . . . is
that we are simply lazy. And often
intoxicated."
-- Marty Beckerman, in his
new book,
Dumbocracy
Hunter S. Thompson once called Beckerman a "morbid little bastard." He forgot to add insane, obscene and sacrilegious. Marty's a friend of mine, but as a journalist, I have to be objective about the guy.
WSJ eviscerates McCain
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 10:57AM
Wow. This is much better than anything I have written on the subject of McCain and Cox. The WSJ just rips McCain to shreds.
McCain slew the able one....
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 10:37AM
Upon a night's reflection about John McCain's attack yesterday on Chris Cox, ESPECIALLY on his explanation for it, I have concluded the following. McCain's outburst was flagrantly ignorant, disgustingly demagogic, and pathetically panicky. Just when he had a chance to prove his mettle as someone who could be level-headed in a crisis, he instead showed himself to be a hothead and a bully who goes off half-cocked while firing blanks.
On substance, I noted yesterday that McCain criticized Cox for NOT reining in naked short selling when in fact Cox has been so far out front in reining in naked shorts that he has been getting criticism for it from the other side -- including from McCain's onetime virtual amenuensis, Michael Lewis. Lewis is the guy who ran around the country in 1996 following McCain for The New Republic, writing again and again that McCain, not Dole or Gramm, should be president. (Lewis's column is misinformed, too, because he makes no distincition between regular shorts and naked shorts -- but that's beside the point.)
McCain complained that there is a lack of "transparency" on Wall Street. The truth is that Chris Cox has done more to make corporate books transparent than anybody in the history of mankind. McCain didn't just criticize Cox for bad decisions, but for the far more serious offense of "betray[ing] the public trust." That's the kind of charge you level at somebody for malfeasance, for corruption, not for policy choices. Its scurrilous for McCain to say that, and it's despicable. Finally, as NRO's Jim Geraghty wrote yesterday, the last thing you want to do in a crisis -- unless there actually is either corruption or gross dereliction of duty -- is to change horses right in the middle of the crisis, with nobody ready to step into the job.
Neither McCain nor his advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin could offer any specifics for what Cox should have done but failed to do -- OTHER than the factually incorrect statement about naked shorts. They quite literally do not know what they are talking about -- not in terms of having misguided opinions, but quite literally in terms of not having a clue about the facts.
McCain has demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt the truth of his statement some months ago that he (paraphrasing from memory here) "doesn't know much about economics" and that he needs "help" on the subject. Well, exactly.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 10:31AM
Don't follow the regulation herd
Don't blame Gramm-Leach-Bliley
Historical perspective on financial crisis: it can be fixed
A history of false religion, from Marx to Environmentalism
Highlight the role of government, treat markets like adults
The only thing Josh Howard got across is that he doesn't care
More Paulson Details
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 10:29AM
Hank Paulson just announced the outlines of his rescue plan aimed at purchasing the bad mortgage assets that he said were "clogging up our financial system" so that capital can begin to freely flow.
He said this would require a "significant investment of taxpayer dollars," in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
In addition, he said that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the U.S. Treasury Department, would increase purchases of mortgage backed securities.
So the bottom line is that there are these really crappy investments out there in the market that no private business would touch with a ten foot pole, so now the federal government will use taxpayer dollars to purchase them. Splendid.
Trillion Dollar Bailout?
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 9:50AM
That could be the pricetag of the Paulson rescue plan for financial markets. A depressing week for limited government conservatives gets worse.
Palin's Inattention to Detail
Posted by on 9.19.08 @ 9:17AM
The Washington Post today has a report up about how Gov. Palin has a keen ear for her constituents' desires, but gives little attention to the sausage-making necessary to accomplish her goals.
That could explain how she ended up with a climate change commission in Alaska run by an environmental advocacy group.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
McCain Coulda Won One Like the Gipper
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 11:18PM
John McCain's descent (reversion?) into quasi-socialism is all the more perplexing given that he has done best in this race when he has actually sounded and behaved like a Republican. Or so I argue in Splice Today.
Dem Lawmaker's Son Probed in Palin E-Mail Hack
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 9:00PM
The Knoxville News-Sentinel and Nashville Tennessean are reporting that David Kernell, 20-year-old son of Tennessee state Rep. Mike Kernell (D-Memphis) is at the center of an investigation into the hacking of Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account.
The younger Kernell, a student at the University of Tennessee, was identified by several bloggers based on his Internet handle "rubico10." Michelle Malkin has more., including a report by Computerworld that a Georgia-based Web operator is cooperating with federal authorities in the investigation.
UPDATE:
Memphis TV reporter Shane Myers
posted this photo of Kernell and reports that Memphis talk radio
host Mike Fleming of WREC is on the
story.
Multiple news organizations are now following up on this story, and a blogger who helped identify "rubico10" tells me he has been contacted by a newspaper reporter.
Woulda Been So Easy...
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 6:24PM
Instead of the panicky, absolute meltdown on economics by John McCain this week, it would have been SO easy for McCain to use the current economic crisis to his advantage. To wit, a statement like this: "As the co-author of two bills, in 2002 and 2005, to rein in Fannie and Freddie, and as a proven longtime opponent of corporate corruption, I am the man to handle problems like this one. In these tough times, I join former officials from Democratic and Republican administrations alike in calling for a new, temporary entity modeled after the old Resolution Trust Corporation, to help us keep the problems from turning into a collapse. Right now the economy clearly is shaky and many Americans have reason to be worried -- but there is absolutely no need for panic. Strong action is necessary, but it must be sober action. It must not saddle taxpayers with too much potential debt. It must stabilize the markets, but not reward irresponsible behavior. It must stop panic, but not stop all losses. It should improve long-term economic prospects, not exacerbate them for short-term comfort. My opponent would tax innocent investors and pensioners a great deal more, specifically on their investments, just as their investments are taking a hit already.
"I would, instead, immediately move to make those investment tax cuts permanent, so that innocent 401K owners and retirees could count on the value of their life savings. And I would urge the Federal Reserve and Treasury and president all to make crystal clear that they will support a strong dollar going forward, so that investors domestic and foreign would know that this is a sound economy and that their investments will not lose value. I would also cut borrowing by the government by demanding that Congress eliminate all earmarks for the next fiscal year, AND to cut the total budget allocations accordingly. I will have other concrete proposals later in the week, but the most important thing to realize is that this is no Great Depression, that the underlying strengths of the economy are substantial enough to mean that these tough times are just that: tough times, but not so tough that the sky is falling. We are Americans. We can get through this. With my leadership, calm leadership, we will."
Note to Krugman: If It Doesn't Fit...
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 6:23PM
This just made my day.
Radley Balko notes this exchange from an Intelligence Squared U.S. debate that took place this week:
PAUL KRUGMAN
And private insurance? That's the thing, I -- Actually, can I just -- I wanted to ask a question. And --JOHN DONVAN [MODERATOR]
Please--please do--PAUL KRUGMAN
--and I wanted to ask, actually two questions, to the audience. First, how many Canadians, would Canadians in the room please raise your hands. [ONE PERSON APPLAUDS, LAUGHTER]JOHN DONVAN
We have about seven hands going up--PAUL KRUGMAN
Okay, not as many as I thought. Okay, of those of you who are not on the panel who are Canadians,, how many of you think you have a terrible health care system. [PAUSE] One, two--JOHN DONVAN
We see -- almost all of the same hands going up. [LAUGHTER]PAUL KRUGMAN
Bad move on my part. [APPLAUSE]
The Obama-Raines Connection
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 6:13PM
I've been beating up on McCain all day, but this is a good ad tying Obama to former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines:
Son of Democrat Pol. Implicated in Hacker-gate
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 6:09PM
Via Eric Dondero, I see the Tennessean is reporting:
Kernell, a Memphis Democrat, confirmed that it is his
20-year-old son, David, who is being widely named on Internet blogs
and chatrooms in connection with an unfolding story about Palin's
hacked e-mail accounts.
Private Accounts and Stock Performance
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 5:49PM
In a snarky post titled, "Retiring, McCain Style," Matt Yglesias points to a chart showing that since McCain initially proposed Social Security private accounts in his 2000 presidential run, the Dow has gone down 8 percent. It's a common tactic among liberals to seize on short-term market fluctuations to invalidate the entire idea of private accounts, but they make a huge error by neglecting the fact that private accounts are voluntary and would only make sense for younger Americans. Any financial advisor will tell you that it makes much more sense for somebody who is, say, 30, to invest aggressively in equities, because that person will have the luxury of time to ride out short term market fluctuations, whereas somebody in their late 50s would be much better off parking their money in bonds and cash that offer lower returns in exchange for more stability. What Yglesias essentially is saying is that if people who were approaching retirement in the past eight years would have bet their retirement savings on the stock market, they would be worse off -- but those are the people who would be least likely to take advantage of private accounts (in fact, the Bush proposal didn't apply to anybody over 55).
So when talking about private accounts, what's relevant is market performance over a period of, say, 30 or 40 years. Though I generally think the S&P 500 is a better way of measuring stock market performance than the Dow over the long haul given its broader components, for the sake of consistency, I'll point out this Google finance chart showing the performance of the Dow between January 1970 and today (which would represent the time between somebody being 30ish and retirement). The aggregate gain: 1,268.1%. So I'd love to make a deal with Matt. How about I get to invest my payroll taxes in the stock market, and he gets to stay in the current Social Security system? We'll meet up in 40 years and discuss who ended up better off.
Bainbridge RIPS McCain on Cox
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 4:53PM
The wise Professor Bainbridge rips McCain a new one for McCain's comments on Chris Cox, calling the comments "moronic." Wow. Strong stuff.Â
And McCain was late, too
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 4:04PM
Wow -- it turns out that not only had Cox done as I said, which was to have well over a month ago ordered his staff to develop the new regs, but he actually put out a press release YESTERDAY announcing that the new regs would take effect today. In short, they had already been in effect for about 12 hours before McCain complained about there being no moves against naked shorts.
Re: McCain and Economic Conservatives
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 3:59PM
I associate myself, ex post facto, with every word of Phil's post below (if he doesn't mind). His summary of the call with Holtz-Eakin and its implications are dead solid perfect. I would just add two other things Holtz-Eakin said that McCain is proposing. First, there would be a "safety and soundness regulator for every financial institution." Huh? What in the Lord's name (or the names of Marx and Engels) does THAT mean? Then, while I myself have suggested -- and taken heat from conservatives -- that mild steps should be taken by government, indirectly, to provide disincentives for huge executive compensation packages, McCain would go so far as to make Eugene V. Debs happy. Quoting Mr. H-E: for executives, McCain would "make sure that every dollar of cash- and non-cash-compensation is put to a shareholder vote."
Messrs. Hayek, Friedman, and Adam Smith have now had toxic waste poured into their graves.....
McCain and Economic Conservatives
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 3:44PM
McCain may have gained traction among social conservatives by naming Sarah Palin as his running mate, but his emotional and irrational reaction to the crisis on Wall Street risks alienating economic conservatives, and, as far as I'm concerned, it renews questions about whether he has the temperament to be an effective president.
His reaction to this week's news has thus far been to huff and puff about greed on Wall Street, call for a commission to study the problem (very legislator-like), and to make vague promises about tough and aggressive regulation.
At a speech in Cedar Rapids today, McCain began to offer more details, which included firing SEC Chairman Chris Cox, as Quin mentioned.
I just got off of a call featuring Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain's economic policy adviser, who was asked several times what Cox specifically did wrong that would warrant his firing and what it would accomplish to fire him in the middle of a crisis.
Holtz-Eakin couldn't give a specific answer -- he just kept repeating that Cox (who he did not mention by name) had a "track record that did not meet the standards that John McCain felt appropriate."
Also, he was asked if it mattered that McCain, as president, didn't have the authority to fire a sitting SEC commissioner. Holz-Eakin said McCain would publicly ask him to resign, and thus intimidate him into doing so.
In other words, in seeking to be the anti-Bush (see: "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job") McCain would move to the other extreme, so that in his administration, anything bad that happens will lead him to scapegoat officials, even if McCain can't point to any specific wrongdoing, and even if it wouldn't do anything to help solve any of the underlying problems.
Also today, McCain's called for a new government agency to deal with the mortgage crisis, which he described thusly:
Holz-Eakin expanded a bit on this plan, but it doesn't get any better. On the one hand, the idea is to prevent taxpayer bailouts. But on the other hand, he acknowledged during the call that this new government agency would have the backing of Treasury, and therefore, taxpayers. So under McCain's proposal, instead of waiting for companies to be on the verge of collapse to bail them out, government will take all comers.
Anything McCain proposes on the campaign trail will obviously get revised should he become president, but his track record as Senator does not bode well for small government conservatives. He pushed campaign finance reform and voted for Sarbanes-Oxley, over the objection of critics who at the time argued that the legislation would create new problems while not solving what it sought to address. In both cases, the critics have been proved right. But it doesn't matter to McCain, who makes decisions purely on passion rather than reason.
McCain would govern based on his own outrage, and conservatives would be left hoping that at any given moment he's outraged about the same thing as they are.
Re: McCain Has Lost His Mind
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 3:35PM
It's also difficult to prove exactly how big a problem naked short selling is, and how much it played into our current economic problems. I'm not saying that it isn't a bad thing. I'm just saying that I've never seen a convincing case that it has widespread, terrible effects. Usually the arguments I've seen are offered by some guy whose publicly-traded company started failing, and started to see their stocks getting shorted (which is perfectly legitimate). We can't blame all of this on phantom trading.
UPDATE: Then I run across Andrew Cuomo's promise to "probe" short selling, and I'm reminded of Ted Frank's piece on prosecutorial zeal in our July/August issue. Every phone call from every hedge fund is going to get scrutinized, all because politically ambitious prosecutors have got to "do something."
Holtz-Eakin's Nonsense
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 3:17PM
In a conference call for the McCain campaign, domestic advisor Douglas Holtz-Eakin stumbled again and again when asked by representaitves of major newspapers to give any specific reason why McCain had called for Chris Cox to be fired. Maybe somebody ought to look into Holtz-Eakin's history of giving congressional testimony before Cox when Cox was still in Congress. Maybe H-E, who usually is level-headed, got this feelings hurt and has held a grudge. Just sayin'......
Re: Rep. Ryan
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 2:39PM
Phil is right. In fact, I know some brilliant former elected officials who thougth Ryan should have been McCain's veep pick. Ryan is absolutely correct. And McCain is running around like a headless chicken who (to mix metaphors) is yelling that the sky is falling. If McCain crosses the road he's suggesting, he'll get run over by an electoral truck.
Rep. Ryan Talks AIG Bailout and Moral Hazard
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 2:17PM
I just had a chance to join a blogger conference call with Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis), one of the few members of Congress who actually understands economics, and we discussed the tumult on Wall Street and its implications on government regulation.
Specifically, I asked Ryan to follow up on his statement to the Washington Post that "My instincts and gut tell me [the Federal Reserve Board] made the wrong move" in bailing out AIG.
Ryan, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, qualified his comments by saying that he didn't have access to all of the information that they did, and understands that they came to the conclusion that AIG's fall could have a ripple effect on credit markets throughout the world. But he explained why he is instinctively opposed to these actions.
"We are sowing the seeds of a massive moral hazard with these moves," Ryan said. "Not only are we monetizing these problems, which is inflationary, what we're doing is we're telling the markets: 'You better become too big to fail, and we'll bail you out. So load up, grow bigger, take on more risk, because if you're not too big to fail, like Lehman Brothers, then you'll go down...' So I worry that we are creating a real moral hazard that is going to have to be unraveled."
He added -- rightly, in my view -- that the Fed should take a lot of blame for causing the crisis in the first place.
"They kept interest rates too low for too long during the Greenspan period," he said. "It was a period of easy money, and easy money created this credit bubble. You put bad loans in it, and the derivative system, these credit default swaps, went beyond rationality."
I also asked Ryan, given the heated rhetoric on both sides about taking on Wall Street, how we could avert an overreaction like what happened with Sarbanes-Oxley (passed in the wake of the 2002 accounting scandals that rocked Wall Street) in which regulation created more problems than it solved.
"On the regulatory front, we need to just relax, and see this through this crisis moment…" he said. "What we need is not a pile of new regulations, because what we'll do is just push firms overseas and just make America less of a financial powerhouse. We need smart regulations, moderate regulations that fit the 21st century, centered on the notion of transparency. Capitalism cannot work without good information. So the regulations need to be focused on transparency and having good information between the buyer and the seller for these markets to function."
John McCain should be listening to this guy.
McCain Has Lost His Mind
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 2:07PM
Now McCain wants to fire Chris Cox from the SEC specifically because Cox supposedly "allowed naked short-selling." This is just the latest in a string of utterly panicky statements this week in which McCain has shown that he doesn't have a clue what he is talking about. The truth is, Cox actually did move to ban naked short-selling, and withstood harsh (but wrongheaded) criticism from almost all quarters when he did so. His staff was working on regs -- which takes some time -- to make the ban permanent. He has been pushing since the first time I ever met him, in 1993, to curb outlandish short-selling. He was probably the single most avid person in all of Congress AGAINST aggressive short selling, and has tried ever since he got to the SEC to curb it. Blaming him for naked short selling is like blaming McCain for losing Vietnam.....
Question: Where was McCain when Cox actually did ban naked shorts? Did he put out a statement congratulating Cox for doing so? Did he put out a statement since then demanding quicker action on the permanent regulations? Did he even know until yesterday that naked shorts weren't some sort of sheer panty-hose that one of his old girlfriends wore way back when?
Obama Jumps Up By 4
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 1:15PM
In today's daily Gallup tracking. The number itself isn't as important as the trend. The crisis on Wall Street is clearly weighing on McCain and boosting Obama's chances. Apparently, McCain's War on Greed rhetoric isn't helping him.
Obama Getting Disagreeable
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 11:26AM
For a long time, Barack Obama argued for a "new kind of politics" in which people of good faith could "disagree without being disagreeable." But now that the last six weeks of the campaign are approaching, he's advising his supporters in the battleground state of Nevada to get downright nasty:
From the AP, via Drudge.
McSpain
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 11:16AM
There's a new controversy involving an interview that John McCain gave to a Florida affiliate of a Spanish radio station, concerning whether McCain either did not know who the Prime Minister of Spain was, or wouldn't meet with him. What happened was that the interviewer was asking him about a number of South American countries and their leaders, and then she turned to Prime Minister Zapatero of Spain.
"I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are our friends and who want to work with us in a cooperative fashion," he responded, and then shifted gears to Mexico. That may sound like a dodge, but it doesn't suggest that he doesn't know who leads Spain or that he would not meet with the leader of Spain.
There's a bit of a back and forth, and then McCain said, "All I can tell you is that I have a clear record of working with leaders in the Hemisphere that are friends with us and standing up to those who are not. And that's judged on the basis of the importance of our relationship with Latin America and the entire region." Liberals have taken this to mean that McCain assumed Zapatero was some rogue leftist leader from Latin America, but within the context of the broader interview, I don't think it does.
One thing I wonder is whether, since this was a radio interview, McCain was doing it over the phone. I've done many of these before, and sometimes the connection isn't that great, and especially since McCain was speaking to a woman with an accent, I can see how that can result in confusion.
For instance, at one point, it turns out she said, "What about Europe?" But the first time I heard it, even I thought she said, "What about YOU?"
That's why it didn't surprise me that McCain responded with, "What about me, what?"
TPM has the audio up here, so you can judge for yourselves, but I think it's too inconclusive to cause McCain much grief, at least outside of the Spainish media.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 10:53AM
Cautionary tale for people who bring "Change"
Look on the bright side of financial collapse
Petraeus should have our trust by now
Re: Wither the Polls?
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 10:21AM
The problem, too, is that McCain and Palin have been going around the country talking about how they're going to "shake up Washington" and "put government on the side of the people" and "fight for you," but they haven't really explained what they are going to actually shake up or fight for. As inexperienced as Obama is on economic policy, in recent days McCain has been more about fire and brimstone directed toward Wall Street "villians" than about anything else. McCain thinks that the only way to distance himself from President Bush is to keep flaring his nostrils about greed and self-interest. If the American people want a president who will take on Wall Street like a schoolyard bully, they'll just vote for the Democrat.
Why Bailouts Are Bust
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 9:39AM
An informative piece by Alan Reynolds on the problem of bailouts in today's New York Post. He also acknowledges that while "something" had to be done in the case of AIG, that "something" didn't necessarily have to include effectively nationalizing 80 percent of the company.
Re: Barr Suing in Texas
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 9:18AM
Jim, you're definitely right about Sarah Palin's third-party-style populist impact -- it's as if Maverick had picked Ross Perot as his running mate. Which is probably what got David Brooks so peeved.
Re: Barr Suing In Texas
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 8:48AM
It's an amusing demonstration of the fact that many rules adopted to keep third-party candidates off the ballot are routinely waived or ignored when it comes to the two major parties. But I'm not sure this sends the right message -- or is the best use of resources -- given that one of Barr's biggest problems is ballot access in several states. (His other problems are Sarah Palin and that Ron Paul press conference, as your humble servant has pointed out.)
They Really Don't Like Her, Do They?
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 7:06AM
John Hawkins at Right Wing News offers his list of The 20 Most Obnoxious Anti-Palin Quotes So Far, among them:
- Andrew Sullivan: "With Sarah Palin, America has taken one very large leap toward a completely theocratic politics."
- Eleanor Clift: "If the media reaction is anything, it's been literally laughter in many places across newsrooms."
- Lindsay Lohan: "Is our country so divided that the Republicans best hope is a narrow minded, media obsessed homophobe?"
Hawkins' list is a work in progress -- surely dozens of new entries will be added to the competition before lunch today.
Whither the Polls?
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 5:21AM
At the Volokh Conspiracy, Jim Lindgren notes that Obama has edged ahead in four of the five most recent national polls and suggests the three likeliest explanations:
- The Republican convention bounce naturally expired.
- The press's direct attack on Sarah Palin is working.
- The Wall Street collapse and the bailouts are turning voters toward Obama/Biden.
Explanation 1 is obvious enough, and Explanation 2 is certainly plausible, given the relentless media negativity toward Palin for the past three weeks.
Explanation 3 is most disturbing. Granted, economics is not John McCain's strong suit, by his own admission, but Barack Obama certainly has no record in the area. Bad economic news generally disfavors the incumbent party, but Obama must still convince voters that he is the man to be entrusted with the task of recovery and reform.
Let me add a possible fourth factor not listed by Lindgren: Obama has unleashed a wave of harshly negative ads in swing states, and these are having an impact. Obama's ads flatly call John McCain a liar, and these ads haven't been effectively countered by McCain's own ads.
Barr Suing in Texas
Posted by on 9.18.08 @ 4:51AM
Everybody talks about the rule of law, but Bob Barr is doing something about it:
Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr has filed suit that would keep voters from seeing the names Barack Obama and John McCain on their voting machines, saying they failed to follow the Texas law to get their names placed on the ballot. The Libertarians are claiming that both the Texas Democratic and Republican parties missed the deadline to certify their presidential nominees and report them to the Texas Secretary of State.Obviously, the Texas ballot-access law was intended to keep minor party candidates like Obama and McCain off the ballot.
Texas law says that has to happen 70 days prior to the general election. The problem? Neither party held its convention in time to meet that Aug. 26 deadline. Obama and Joe Biden were nominated by roll call vote on Aug. 27, and McCain and Sarah Palin until Sept. 3.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Bad Hair Day
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 9:38PM
Watching Palin on Hannity, I have one question. What have they done to her hair? Now she looks like anyone else hoping for positive coverage in the Washington Post's Style section. Something special has vanished.
Ownership Society? You Got Owned
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 6:50PM
I still think the "investor class" is a strong potential constituency for limited government, but Jesse Walker highlights a commenter making the case for the opposite point of view:
The ownership society is sold as a way to get people to embrace the market and oppose government control of the market. I think the opposite is going to prove true. As more and more people are dependent on the market doing well, the political pressure to ensure that no one loses in the market will be greater and greater.
Voters invested in the stock market will be likely to rebel against damaging tax, spending, and regulatory policies if they understand how they will impact the bottom line. But this counterargument can't be easily discounted in light of the AIG bailout. Too big to fail is just the right size to bail.
Israeli Politics Break
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 6:09PM
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has won the Kadima primary to replace Ehud Olmert as prime minister, but the Jerusalem Post reports that she will likely have trouble forming a government, meaning elections early next year, which would be a good thing. In my view, Livni is making a huge mistake by placing too much faith in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas -- who, even if earnest, has no power to implement any peace agreement. Before any such blunder is made, Israelis should at least have a say in the form of national elections.
Re: Fizzle?
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 5:52PM
Phil, a week ago, when Gallup had McCain up by 5, the Democrats were panicking, betraying their fundamental (and arguably rational) lack of confidence. Three weeks ago, when Obama was up by 8, Republicans weren't panicked in the least, nor should they panic now.
It could be argued that both Democrats and Republicans nominated their least-electable candidates. Therefore, the election is fundamentally a test of coalition strength. My hunch is that, despite all the brand damage of the past few years, and despite whatever errors Team Maverick has committed, the Reagan coalition is larger and more coherent than the Dukakis coalition. No Democratic presidential candidate since 1976 has won a majority of the popular vote and it's unlikely they'll break that jinx with the current nominee.
"Never take counsel of your fears." Coincidentally, a new poll shows McCain leading 48-39 in Virginia.
McCain Campaign on Palin Email Hacking
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 5:28PM
Rick Davis just released this statement:
"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."
McCain's Fizzle
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 3:39PM
The Gallup tracking poll now has Obama back up by two points -- which compares with a five point post-convention lead for McCain. I think what we're seeing here is that McCain got as much milage as he was going to get out of the initial Palin rollout and the standard convention bounce, and also, that the crisis on Wall Street has benefitted Obama. And I think McCain has made a huge blunder by putting Wall Street in his cross hairs with his heated rhetoric, especially since he isn't offering any specifics, and certainly nothing coherent.
No, North Carolina Is NOT a Battleground
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 2:24PM
Somebody at the Associated Press has been reading too many Obama press releases:
Democrat Barack Obama made an aggressive play for this traditionally GOP state and polls showed the race tightening. That forced Republican John McCain to defend his turf or risk ceding the southern state -- and its 15 electoral votes -- to Democrats for the first time in 32 years.Barring a "live boy/dead girl" scenario, John McCain will win North Carolina by double digits. He's led every poll in the state since April, and the only two non-partisan polls taken since Sarah Palin joined the ticket show the Republicans leading by 17 and 20 points. There is no reason -- at least, no journalistic reason -- for AP to try to turn Team Obama's fantasy into a folie a deux.
Now, just seven weeks before the election, North Carolina has become a general-election battleground, one of 13 states where both candidates are competing with television commercials and campaign staff on the ground.
The Palin Surveillance Program?
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 2:14PM
Did left-wingers hack into Sarah Palin's e-mail account? Eric Dondero has the story. Wired reports that "Palin has come under fire for using private e-mail accounts to conduct state business." I thought these folks were against snooping around in people's e-mail?
Nickels Redux
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 2:12PM
Some time ago, I wrote a column about how comparitively rare nickels were in circulation. It proved an unusually popular piece, getting some three dozen written responses and a radio interview. (The interviewer suggested I might have too much time on my hands.)
From today's USA Today:
One trucker died and two others were injured in a pre-dawn crash that left $182,000 worth of nickels on Interstate 95 near Orlando, the Sentinel says.
State troopers and federal agents "are securing the scene, while local members of the Treasury are en route," according to Florida Today. "The Treasury employees will pick up all the nickels."
By our calculations, the U.S. Mint will have to pick up 3.64 million coins.
Bulletproof
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 1:38PM
Uncle Pundit came back from his broker's office today and declared: "If I had a gun I'd shoot myself. But I can't get credit to buy a gun."
McCain on AIG
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 10:33AM
As I wrote earlier, it doesn't really matter who is elected, at least on the regulatory front (arguably, as a Republican, McCain would be in a position to get even more intrusive regulation passed):
"Today, the government was forced to commit $85 billion to stop the collapse of AIG, another in a growing series of events that includes Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These actions stem from failed regulation, reckless management, and a casino culture on Wall Street that has crippled one of the most important companies in America. The focus of any such action should be to protect the millions of Americans who hold insurance policies, retirement plans and other accounts with AIG. We must not bailout the management and speculators who created this mess. They had months of warnings following the Bear Stearns debacle, and they failed to act.
"We should never again allow the United States to be in this position. We need strong and effective regulation, a return to job-creating growth and a restoration of ethics and the social contract between businesses and America. Important questions remain to be answered by Wall Street. Did executives mislead investors and regulators about the severity of the problem? We must investigate whether or not there was misrepresentation on part of the company executives. If there was, there must be penalties. We need to change the way Washington and Wall Street does business, and as President I will."
U.S. Embassy Attack In Yemen
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 10:26AM
The death toll is up to 16, but no reported American casualties.
IBD Offers A Necessary Reality Check...
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 10:20AM
...for the grandstanding now-we-get-to-regulate-the-world crowd.
AIG Thoughts
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 9:55AM
Over on the main site, I have a piece up about Warren Buffett's warnings about the dangers of derivatives. Just wanted to offer a few mixed thoughts about the stunning $85 billion AIG bailout.
--I don't think conservatives have truly grasped what these
means for the big picture. The fact that federal authorities had to
essentially nationalize the largest mortgage companies and the
largest insurance company within weeks makes the government's role
in our financial markets unprecedented.
My former employer, Reuters, estimates that when you combine all of the
bailouts and other rescue deals orchestrated in the past year,
taxpayers could be on the hook for up to $900 billion. Now, all of
those people who are always clamoring for more regulation of the
free market can argue that if taxpayers are going to come to the
rescue anyway, why don't we place more restrictions on private
enterprise to protect taxpayers from huge market failures? On this,
McCain and Obama both agree -- regulation needs to be overhauled --
there's no stopping it now. The only question is how intrusive.
--Beyond that, liberals now can point to this huge rescue of Wall Street, and ask, what will we do for "Main Street"? They'll argue that if we have hundreds of billions of dollars to dole out to Wall Street finance companies that mess up, how come hard working Americans can't get government health care? They can fill in the blank for any government program that choose.
--More specifically, as far as this instance, the Fed really gave mixed signals. On Friday, it seemed to draw a line in the sand, and say, no more bailouts were coming. It held its ground with Lehman, and then it caved on AIG. So basically, there's no way to avoid the moral hazard problem. Any American company knows that if they're big and interconnected enough, the government will come its rescue, no matter how much it screwed up.
-- But with that said, was it necessary? If AIG went bankrupt, it would have been a major financial disaster of global repercussions, and I don't think conservative commentators truly appreciated that. AIG was the backstop, essentially insuring a lot of other financial firms that owned mortgage debt, so it's collapse was much more likely to set off a negative chain reaction than an average bank. This op-ed, I think, does a good job of explaining why the collapse of AIG would have been so damaging.Â
Feeling the Pain He Helped Cause
Posted by on 9.17.08 @ 5:17AM
Barack Obama -- who after just three years in the Senate ranks near the top in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- blithely ignores his own party's role in the mortgage crisis:
[Obama] assured a rally in the Denver suburb of Golden that he understood the impact the crisis was having from Wall Street to Main Street. "Jobs have disappeared, and peoples' life savings have been put at risk. Millions of families face foreclosure, and millions more have seen their home values plummet," he said. "These are the struggles that Americans are facing. This is the pain that has now trickled up."And then he jets off to Beverly Hills for a fundraiser with Barbra Streisand, Leo DiCaprio, Jodi Foster, Steven Spielberg, et al. Ain't it amazing how Democrats are always claiming to feel your pain, even while they and their rich buddies just keep growing richer and richer?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
New McCain Ad on Economy
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 8:24PM
Vague and calmly reassuring -- a positive message. But we're probably past the point in the campaign when positive messages have much impact. It's now a duel fought with chainsaws at close range, the object being to cut the other guy off at the knees. I suppose Team Maverick wants to leave that ugly business to the 527s.Finally -- More Cowbell!
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 2:54PM
Don't let the collapse of Lehman Brothers shake your faith in the greatness of American capitalism. Some entrepreneurial genius has created More Cowbell DJ, a Web site where you can add more cowbell -- and more Christopher Walken -- to any MP3 track. I tried it with the Eagles' "Witchy Woman":
Re: Wait A Minute, Michelle
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 2:21PM
Point absolutely taken, Robert, but Horowitz' political conversion was really more a case of the Black Panthers (allegedly!) murdering a close friend of his than any grandstanding Marxist professor's ideological overreach.
David Freddoso's Latest Crime
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 2:17PM
Having read the fact sheet against him, I think The Case Against Barack Obama author is guilty of exposing the weakness and shoddiness of the Obama opposition research department. The "Freddoso thinks he's an expert on everything" section is just pathetic.
Wait a Minute, Michelle
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 2:08PM
Michelle Malkin says you shouldn't send your kids to Connecticut College because one of their left-wing professors wrote an anti-Palin column.
But where did Malkin go to school? Oberlin College, one of the most left-wing campuses on the planet. Lots of famous conservatives are alumni of left-wing institutions, including David Horowitz (B.A. Columbia, M.A. Cal-Berkeley) and Ann Coulter (B.A.Cornell, J.D. Michigan). Exposure to Marxist professors seems to produce an opposite effect with many students.
Sadly, Not Quite!
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 1:50PM
John Cole cites the latest AmCon-AmSpec snark up as evidence that "this election is going to drive people to madness." In Daniel Larison's defense, I did start it.
MSM Rule: Only Democrats Can Joke
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 12:10PM
McCain economic adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin jokes that his boss created the Blackberry. Associated Press treats it like real news.
Re: Obama Spending Advantage?
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 12:01PM
Right, Jim. And here's the thing about McCain accepting public-financing: it's a lump-sum, no-strings-attached payment. As soon as the RNC ended, McCain collected a check for $84 million. Whereas actual fundraising -- the kind Obama is doing -- always comes with an overhead cost. The gross revenue from tonight's Hollywood fundraiser might be a record $9 million, but the net revenue to Obama and the DNC will be substantially less.
For the record, I oppose public financing of political campaigns and never check the $1 contribution box on my tax forms. Let the scoundrels fend for themselves, I say.
What Obama Spending Advantage?
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 11:53AM
Barack Obama continues to smash fundraising records, bringing in $66 million in August. John McCain raised a record (for him) $47 million, aided by enthusiasm for Sarah Palin. But these numbers only tell part of the story.
Between party funds and campaign funds, the Republicans appear to have had about $200 million banked as of Sept. 1. The Democratic total as of that date appears to have been roughly half that.
The Obama campaign reported $77 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 1. The Democratic National Committee, the main conduit for party donations to be spent on the presidential race, hasn't yet reported its August numbers. But given that it has long lagged behind its Republican counterpart and only had $7.7 million on hand at the beginning of August, the Sept. 1 total is expected to be far less than what the Republicans have on hand. Democratic fund-raisers have said they expect the DNC to report August contributions of about $25 million.
Sen. Obama became the first presidential candidate to opt out of public financing and the spending limits that go with it, on the belief that he could raise more on his own. While his monthly totals have consistently surpassed Sen. McCain's, it looks likely that the two will have similar amounts to spend in the weeks leading up to the November election. Sen. McCain can't spend more than $85 million of the money he raises, but party committees can spend whatever they raise.
A big reason the Democrats haven't hit Stacy McCain's "panic button" is they assumed Obama would have a huge spending advantage going into the home stretch. McCain, unable to compete in private fundraising and subject to spending limits, would find himself outspent, out-organized, and outgunned, negating his gains from the last two months. It is now looking as if McCain and the Republicans might actually be in a relatively strong position in terms of money. If the Democrats haven't hit the panic button yet, they must be getting close.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 11:41AM
If Obama's is better, McCain's must be pretty bad
NY Times should acknowledge improvements in Iraq
Why hasn't the Obama candidacy profited from the financial troubles?
Power sharing in Zimbabwe far from perfect
Calling Obama the most pro-abortion candidate ever is not a lie
Bias? What bias?
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 11:15AM
John McCain to obscure cable-TV host: "I know you're a supporter of Senator Obama."
In fact, Mika Brzezinski is the daughter of former Carter administration foreign-policy bungler Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is now bungling foreign policy for the Obama campaign.
Obama's Blown Oppourtunity
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 11:14AM
Over at the Politico, I have a piece arguing that Obama blew his chance of making this an issues-based campaign when he turned down McCain's offer of town hall debates. Just for the record, here's McCain's letter proposing the debates.
Remnants
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 10:15AM
This has got to be a first. We had two hurricane-related deaths in St. Louis this past weekend. Thirteen throughout the Midwest. Miniscule compared to the Gulf Coast, but, still, weird.
The Age and Guile of John McCain
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 9:58AM
I didn't think much of the argument that Sarah Palin's relative inexperience will help highlight Barack Obama's inexperience but then I reviewed a Palin biography for the Washington Times and ended up writing, well, this:
"Barack Obama and company have criticized Mrs. Palin's relative inexperience and her small town start in politics. Superficially, they have a point. (Though, in fairness, we should note that Mr. Obama won his first elective office by having all the other candidates thrown off the ballot, that he has never held a government executive post and that he is serving his first term in the United States Senate.)"
How to Become a 'Hate Monger'
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 8:49AM
David Freddoso wrote a book about Barack Obama, and has therefore "made a career off dishonest, extreme hate mongering" and is a "card-carrying member of the right-wing smear machine . . . a smear merchant," according to the Obama campaign.
Building a reputation as a right-wing smear merchant usually requires decades of hard work, but industrious young Mr. Freddoso seems to have risen to the top of the hate-mongering heap in just five short years.
Once Again, Byron York Does Right...
Posted by on 9.16.08 @ 8:36AM
...what the rest of the media does wrong and finds out--surprise, surprise!--the much maligned McCain "comprehensive sex education"ad is totally accurate. Hopefully York's reporting here gets the attention it deserves because the idea that the ad is a scurrilous lie has already become an article of faith out in the national echo chamber.
Monday, September 15, 2008
How Not to Lose the 'Celebrity' Label
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 8:17PM
It's like Karl Rove is running their campaign:
Barack Obama has planned appearances at back-to-back Beverly Hills fundraisers Tuesday evening, with the events on track to raise more than $9 million combined, possibly breaking the single-day fundraising record.Anybody want to bet Steve Schmidt can't turn that into a laugh-out-loud campaign ad by Wednesday morning? And here's a juicy tidbit:
Fear is also a great motivator. With the rapid rise of rival Sen. John McCain in the national polls over the past week and the hubbub surrounding his vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a renewed sense of urgency has gripped Democrats.I love the smell of panicky Democrats in the morning! (Hat tip: Jammie Wearing Fool.)
"People are really scared that McCain is gaining," said a Hollywood politico involved with Tuesday's fundraiser. "In my 20 years here, I have never seen folks write checks like this."
Video: Obama in 2000
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 8:00PM
Campaigning against Rep. Bobby Rush for Congress, Obama cited his chairmanship of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge as qualifying him for the office:
Is Sarah the Real Maverick?
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 6:46PM
I don't know if Tyler Cowen is on to something, but I could think of much worse things than a more independent Sarah Palin.
Cheney on the Fly
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 6:09PM
The absolute MUST-read of the week is Matt Labash's tremendously engaging account of going fly fishing with Dick Cheney. I must admit that no matter what calumny gets heaped upon Cheney, I have not lost one bit of admiration for him. I think he has received, in terms of public perceptions, an incredibly raw deal. He's a great American. Labash's account also makes him out to be an all-around great guy. It's good to see the supposed Darth Vader humanized like this -- I just wish every American could read this piece, because then Cheney might appear to be less Darth Vader and more.... oh, I dunno, Ben Kenobi doesn't really work, but you get the idea......
Dodging the Kasich Bullet
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 6:04PM
I still am amazed that the McCain team never seemed to show the slightest interest in John Kasich for veep. His political strengths for the ticket were substantial. Then again, if Kasich had been the choice -- an idea I was pushing hard in the final several weeks -- it would have been disastrous. Why? Because Kasich is a managing director at Lehman. In this "gotcha" atmosphere, there is no way the media would have allowed him to escape blame if he were the Veep nominee, regardless of the fact that he seemed to have nothing to do with the company's fall....
Berlau: Hooray for Failure!
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 5:54PM
OK, that's not exactly what John Berlau's saying, but . . .
Business failure is not only a permissible outcome of capitalism, it's a necessary one. As the great economist Joseph Schumpeter has written, the process of "creative destruction" is essential for the market to function. For innovation to flourish and the standard of living of the populace to improve, the market must be free to reward success and punish failure.He's talking about Lehman Brothers, of course, and who can argue? Subsidies, bailouts and other forms of corporate welfare are not "free enterprise," and conservatives ought to oppose such measures.
The End Is Nigh
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 4:31PM
Those looking for solace in these times of economic crisis will certainly enjoy tonight's two-hour CNBC Special: "Wall Street in Crisis: Is Your Money Safe?"
McCain Stem-Cells Himself to Swing Voters
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 4:08PM
John McCain has a new ad touting his support for taxpayer-funded stem-cell research. In fairness, the ad doesn't specify embryo-destructive research (though McCain has voted to overturn the existing Bush policy). But other than its lack of explicit potshots at pro-lifers, it doesn't sound much different than an ad his Democratic opponents could run.
Re: Trickle-Down Obama
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 4:06PM
Groan. This is why I hate moderate Republicans, compassionate conservatives, etc. No matter what a GOP politician does, he will be slammed by Democrats as an extreme right-winger. So you might as well get your money's worth, I say. Call for the abolition of the federal Department of Education, zero out the National Endowment of the Arts, denounce Medicare as socialism -- at least do something to merit the inevitable "extremist" label. Otherwise, people will get the idea that the being middle-of-the-road is "extreme," which makes liberalism "centrist." What then is deserving to be called "left-wing"? Pol Pot, maybe.
Trickle-Down Obama
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 2:30PM
Of course, the Democrats think McCain is a free-market zealot.
Re: McCain vs. Capitalism
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 2:24PM
This is why this election is so depressing for supporters of free markets and limited government. Obama is overtly hostile to anti-statist arguments and McCain doesn't understand them, basing his ad hoc economics entirely on his sense of justice and outrage. That makes the federal government likely to receive new powers to solve economic problems it played a large role in causing.
Re: McCain Vs. Capitalism
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 1:51PM
Not that he needs me to buttress his point, but I could not agree with Phil more. I have a sinking feeling following the news today that our once and future leaders are about to destroy the national economic village to save it.
McCain vs. Capitalism
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 1:08PM
Here are John McCain's remarks at a town hall meeting in
Orlando, Florida:
"Today we are seeing tremendous upheaval on Wall Street. The American economy is in crisis. Unemployment is on the rise and our financial markets are in turmoil. People are concerned about our economic future. But let me say something: this economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. Our workers are the most innovative, the hardest working, the best skilled, most productive, most competitive in the world. My opponents may disagree, but those fundamentals of America are strong. No one can match an American worker. Our workers sell more goods to more markets than any other on earth. Our workers have always been the strength of our economy, and they remain the strength of our economy today.
"It's time to set things right. When I am President, we're going to put an end to the abuses in Washington and on Wall Street that have resulted in the crisis we are seeing unfold today.
A Word On David Foster Wallace, As Remembered
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 11:55AM
I've posted some thoughts on this morning's sorry and inadequate "remembrances"of the man who until he hanged himself this weekend was one of America's greatest contemporary writers--which is to say remembrances that tell us more about the self-serving and shallow critics who wrote them than the man they are supposedly eulogizing.
Shorter Clark Stooksbury
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 11:53AM
Until Sarah Palin hugs an ANWR caribou while a bird of peace alights on her shoulder, and embraces Barack Obama's tax plan, I'm still going to hate her.
Does God Hate Barack Obama?
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 11:29AM
That's not exactly the question that I take up in my latest Guardian column on the Democrats' woes. It's more like a question some cheeky theologian might formulate while reading said column.
The Biden and Palin Effects
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 11:10AM
Having chosen Joe Biden as his running mate, Obama is up all of 12 points in Delaware -- but in the last poll taken in the state before that, prior to his picking Biden or even wrapping up the Democratic nomination, Obama was already up by 9 points.
By contrast, since picking Sarah Palin, McCain has gone from being up 6 points in Alaska to being up 31 points.
Re: Crisis on Wall Street
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 10:45AM
Phil, Democrats always demonize "Corporate America" for what? Profit. So when major companies go belly-up, shouldn't Democrats celebrate? "Good news! The rich are going broke!"
But they don't do that, do they? Why not?
Crisis on Wall Street
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 10:41AM
I'm watching the Bank of America -Merrill merger press conference in shock, reflecting on the fact that coupled with Lehman, it means that the housing crisis has now led to the collapse or takeover of three out of the top five U.S. investment banks in a matter of months. Add the Fannie and Freddie bailout to the mix -- and the fact that one of the world's largest insurers, AIG, is also faltering -- it's a pretty scary proposition for the economy, which I'm now thinking hasn't come close to bottoming out. These were not fly by night operations, but vaunted institutions that you never thought were going anywhere.
The one positive aspect of the news today is that the Fed and the Treasury Department finally drew a line in the sand and decided not to step in with yet another bailout (in hindsight, we see what a farce the Bear Stearns action was, since Lehman ended up collapsing and Merrill ended up having to seek a buyer anyway). This is what happens in capitalism. Companies mess up, and no matter how big, they're allowed to fail and lessons are learned.
Unfortunately, in this presidential election, we're facing a choice between two candidates who have varying degrees of hostility toward markets. The new McCain-Palin TV ad calls for, "tougher rules on Wall Street to protect your life savings." McCain may support lower taxes than Obama, but he still has the regulatory itch.
Daily Must-Reads
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 10:40AM
Feeling the heat, Chavez looks to Moscow
New game creates new controversies
Advice to Feminist Ceiling Breakers
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 10:25AM
Some excellent advice by dissident feminist Camille Paglia in the Sunday Times. And note the feminists' howling response:
In the US, the ultimate glass ceiling has been fiendishly complicated for women. Our president must also serve as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, so a woman candidate for president must show a potential capacity for military affairs and decision-making. As a dissident feminist, I have been arguing for 20 years that young American women aspiring to political power should be studying military history rather than women's studies with their rote agenda of never-ending grievances.
The gun-toting Palin is a brash ambassador from America's pioneer past. She immediately reminded me of the frontier women of the western states, which first granted women the right to vote after the civil war - long before the federal amendment guaranteeing universal suffrage was passed in 1919. Frontier women faced the same harsh challenges and had to tackle the same chores as men, which is why men could regard them as equals - unlike the genteel, corseted ladies of the eastern seaboard… Feminism, which should be about equal rights and equal opportunity, should not be a closed club requiring an ideological litmus test for membership.
ACORN & vote fraud
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 10:03AM
Several municipal clerks across [Michigan] are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families. The majority of the problem applications are coming from the group ACORN, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has a large voter registration program among its many social service programs. ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees. "There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."
(Via Hot Air.) What does a "community organizer" do? Vote fraud, among other things, it seems.
The reason this is such bad news for Team O? Well, Obama is counting on ACORN and similar voter registation/GOTV efforts to win. They frequently make reference to their thousands of "new" registrations in Virginia, etc. They've spent millions of dollars to fund this stuff, and if it turns out that many of these "new" voters are actually double registrations or bogus names? Not good.
And good luck on Election Day, when your GOTV teams try to round up "Mick E. Mouse" and "Don L. Duck" to go to the polls.
The Feminist Left vs. Palin
Posted by on 9.15.08 @ 9:12AM
Good stuff on today's Wall Street Journal op-ed page from libertarian feminist Cathy Young, who finds Sarah Palin's "can-do feminism infinitely more liberated than the what-can-the-government-do-for-me brand espoused by the sisterhood."
Sunday, September 14, 2008
- Michael Ledeen on Iran and Democracy
- When the Party Was Over
- Feeding the Beast