Doom and Gloom From the Experts

Over at SayAnything, avid NBfPB reader Bat One, picks up on a report out of Royal Bank of Scotland - hardly crackpots - that minces no words: doom and gloom are warranted. You won't get much of an argument out of me, I've been saying that we are skirting a Depression by the skin of our teeth but that we could well be headed there due to egregious policy mistakes (here, here, here, here, here, here and here). Obama and the Pelosicrats have done almost everything wrong in the sphere of economic policy and they have succeeded in beating the animal spirits of the US economy into a coma. And we are powerless, to wit we stand only a small chance of a reprieve from the latest policy blunder only due to the death of a 92 year old man. Without such an intervention of fate, a last minute add-on $19 billion bank tax would be sailing onto Obama's desk to be signed into law, representing just one more blow to the economy that we can ill afford. This wounded beast of a Congress and administration is thrashing about wildly, still able to take hunks of prosperity out of our hides when it connects. Hang on tight.

UPDATE: It is worth remembering what Nobelist Robert Mundell said would happen when we raise taxes on dividends and capital gains...nose dive.

UPPDATE: Allen Meltzer sums up nicely what I have been saying on this blog for almost two years now, Obama and the Pelosicrats have gotten nearly everything exactly wrong on economic policy - the stimulus was never going to be anything more than an expensive waste, our leaders have absolutely chilled the entrepreneurial spirit with both legislation and rhetoric, and tax and fiscal policy is sucking resources out of the private economy. They've done, literally, nothing right. Romer, Summers, Bernstein, Goolsbee, Furman...the whole sorry lot have botched it to the point of malpractice. If it was the politics then they should have resigned in protest.

UPPPDATE: I almost forgot that Obama-supporter and voter, Mort Zuckerman has been mincing no words for ahile now about Obama's economic policy program. Niall Ferguson makes an appearance too. Recent reports have Dick Fischer talking about how "regime uncertainty" hurts job creation. There is a chance that these voices are just now coming to the surface and will be absorbed and acted upon by the White House and Congress. Just a chance mind you. My belief is that these voices, if they've even gotten through the highly cloistered walls of officialdom, have been saying this for some time and the White House has simply ignored them because 1) they simply don't jibe with their idealogical bent or 2) they actually don't think that the terrible jobs picture will hurt them in coming elections or in 2012.

Santelli The Sequel

If I had to listen to Steve Liesman's Keynesian BS all day long, I'd lose it too.

The Futility of Tax Soaking the Rich, Part 247

Just keep telling yourself, people don't respond to incentives...

Biden Shows Exactly Where Dems' Achilles Heel Is Located

Major asset to the political opposition that he is, Joe Biden has just laid out the central focus of attack for Republicans in November and certainly in 2012 - they can't bring back the jobs, we can. Romney, T-Paw, Daniels, who-bloody-ever can just run on the slogan, "They gave up on jobs for America, We Will Bring Back the Jobs" or something a tad more pithy, punchy and tight. Still though, that's the main message. 'they flailed and they admit it, but it is pretty darned, easy, get out of Americans' way and the jobs will come.'

Whistleblowers Are Dangerous

This seems like a REALLY big deal, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that whistleblowers against lawless injustice coming from the top aren't deemed as heroic as they were...oh, say...two to four years ago.

Bubba Is Our Talisman!

As much as I am not a Bubba fan (although given present circumstances, I look back on the Bubba years with more nostalgia than I once did), I sure as hell hope he goes to the game against Ghana. For better or worse, Bubba is our new talisman, our 12th man, our good luck charm. Hope to see you in the stands (or better yet on the sideline) on Saturday Bubba!!!

Democratic Congress: A Still Dangerous Wounded Beast

"...however... even crippled, she will still be dangerous, like a wounded beast."

- Captain Jack Aubrey, Master and Commander, the Far Side of the World

The financial reform bill will become law and here is the WashingtonResearch Group's take: "There is no way to view this bill as a positive for the financial sector." (You may view that as good, but it is not. No matter what animosities you may have toward banks and bankers, what hurts the financial sector hurts the economy and hurts job creation, which hurts us all.)

But the actual contents of the financial reform bill are not the big or most immediate problem. What is? The fact that a deeply unpopular President and an even more unpopular Democratic Congress, many of whom are unlikely to win reelection, are still seriously fucking with our economy. They are set to be shown the door, but for now they are still inside breaking shit. Take Chris Dodd. He is so unpopular in his liberal home state of Connecticut (not for policy reasons mind you, but because he is so offensive to most people's sense of decency) that he's not even running again, but this major reordering of a large sector of the economy, that will do major damage, is his baby.

Read one of my more brilliant previous posts here. In it I said "The fact is that even though this government is wildly unpopular, all of the prosperity damaging legislation seems to be getting passed anyway. Cap and trade is dead, huh? Businesses ain't banking on that rosy thought right now, the evidence says to remain fearful." That is the BIG DEAL behind this financial reform news - that a lame duck government continues strangle economic growth as its last and final act before they are booted off the stage. Actually, lame duck is not the right term. I believe that two things are baked in the cake 1) Dems lose one house of Congress minimum in November, and 2) Obama is a one termer. But it doesn't matter, enormous damage can be done and is being done before we get to escape from the one-party rule of anti-capitalists. Businesses and investors know this and are thus still in hiding, and so the economy will remain sluggish and the least skilled among us will continue to bear the brunt of the hardship. All we can hope for is that it doesn't get worse before it gets better but that is wishful thinking at this point.

UPDATE: Here is Dick Bove on the actual bill - not on the wounded beast phenomenon.

Once Again, My Pervasive Influence

Wow folks. Check out this post of mine and then check out this editorial and this column. Coincidence? I think not. Once again, behind the scenes, NBfPB sets the agenda for our society's public discourse!!

Another Reason to Throw the Bums Out

GREAT!!!! Another 2000+ page bill that we have to pass to see what's in it. Don't these asshats in Congress realize that voter anger is to a great extent over process as well as policy? Impenetrable bills, that no one reads, that can't be reasonably and thoroughly debated line by line is not our idea of democratic representation. THAT is where a good portion of the anger in the land comes from and these buffoons' skulls are too bloody thick to figure it out. Good riddance come November.

The Aussies Are Bloody Geniuses

Got a crappy Prime Minister? Just get him to fold up shop, step down, bow out. Easy peasy Japanesey. Yeah, seriously, no kidding - just get rid of him. How awesome is that?!?!?! If only we could do that with you know who. No, we have to have these pesky E-L-E-C-T-I-O-N-S.....shit, am I starting to sound like Tom Friedman...sorry. Anyway, if I had known anything about the Aussie system and how easy it was to rid the nation of the big bozo, I would have bought me some mining stocks.

Those Aussies, I knew I liked those people. Honestly, when you found a nation with a bunch of Irish convicts the results were bound to be good.

Expert

Large and In-Charge for America 2012?

Why just President? Hell, let's run the Fat Ticket in 2012: Barbour/Christie. This would be conservatism's perfect answer to liberalism's ultimate phoney-baloney duo, Kerry/Edwards - with their vapidity, elitist loathsomeness but good hair - two down-to-earth fat guys with substance and common sense.

Job Creators in Revolt

Ladies and Germs, I've been telling you and telling you and telling you that Obama has been waging war on American business. Business leaders have been treading lightly in order to try to work with the new regime because, as has always been the case, you want to have a seat at the table because it pays off. In the case of this administration and this Congress, it doesn't pay off - they are so inherently anti-business that a seat at the table means nothing, less than nothing actually as it means you get excoriated on camera. So business is finally pushing back and taking the 10% unemployment rate and jamming up the politicians asses. Ivan Seidenberg, the CEO of Verizon and Chairman of the Business Roundtable, laid into Washington yesterday. Like many CEOs, Seidenberg has to contend with terrible macro-economic policy as well as a full frontal assault on his industry by regulators (rogue regulators to boot). It is about time. The Democrats have placed a boot on the throat of American business when what was needed was a hand up, thus we have 10% unemployment that is now structural (meaning it won't go away easily) rather than cyclical. I don't know this moron in the White Houes thinks he's going to succeed with all the job creators in the land in revolt.

UPDATE: Seidenberg is a blunt, blunt New York kinda guy. Listen to southern gentlman Fred Smith say the same thing.

Moratorium Smackdown

Wow. I didn't expect this. The ruling is a devastastng blow to Dear Leader. He made a bad decision on the moratorium and now it appears that he did so outside the confines of the law. The fact that an entire region is now breathing a sigh relief - that they only have one, not two, disasters to deal with - at the hands of a judge should be highly embarrassing to the Obama administration. This is an unambiguous defeat, but the only thing worse than having maneuvered into this spot, would be if the administration appeals the ruling. It would be the most politically tone-deaf move they could make, waging a bloody-minded legal battle to put people out of work, with the oil gushing all the while. But I wouldn't put it past them. Final note, this is assuredly a big win for Bobby Jindal, this was a gamble and he won.

UPDATE: OH MY GOD! So dumb. And so quick to come back with a promise to appeal too...from our putatively deliberative, thoughtful, careful policy powerhouse of an executive!

UPPDATE: In other words, "we will stop at nothing to destroy the Gulf region's economy and drive up gas prices ahead of summer driving season!"

Why Don't ObamaCare Disaster Stories Have the MSM Trademark "Unexpectedly"??

Why didn't this bit of news get the MSM's now trademark rhetorical flourish of bewilderment..."Unexpectedly"? I mean, it qualifies in that it: 1) is a negative result from the foolish policies emanating from this administration and the congressional Democrats, and 2) was, like totally expected.

How About a Human Resources Czar?

It started with Joe Biden, the gaffetastic King of All the Senatorial Buffoons, has continued through a small army of Mao-loving socialists and radical greens, and is now bookended with a military commander who appears to congenitally loathe the political class (above and beyond acceptable norms for the military) hired to attend to a politcally sensitive military mission. I'm beginning to think Obama doesn't know how to hire the right people for the job at hand....

Again folks, not his fault...ours.


UPDATE: I am not justifying McChrystal's behavior, but I told you that the level of respect for our C-in-C among military brass is non-existent. McChrystal's views are not anomalous, he is typical...he's just the only one who couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Economic Nationalism Is Dumb

As noted here many times, Brazil has a shitload of oil that it wants to extract and sell. It has to build out alot of infrastructure to support a huge, world-class local energy sector. Alot of the work needs to be done in Brazil, but not all of it. Still the Brazilians insist on a policy of keeping work that can be done cheaper and better elsewhere home in Brazil. I first chronicled how this silliness meant higher cost to the Brazilian tax payer. Now it is looking like this dumb obsession with economic nationalism is turning to farce - the ships won't just be too expensive, they will be much delayed if they can be built at all...

LPG order on ice

Brazilian shipyard Promar Ceara won't be built in the state that bears it name and that could mean costly delays for Transpetro's eight-unit LPG newbuilding programme.

Machado (left) recently met with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva t(right) o discuss the situation. The Rio de Janeiro-based shipowner says the "virtual shipyard" won't be breaking ground in Ceara because "it was not able to find a proper place in the right time". In another staggering blow to government inspired facility, Promar Ceara says it can't build the ships for $536m, the deal it struck with Transpetro earlier this year.

But Petrobras' shipping arm isn't giving up on the yard or its backers. As TradeWinds has reported, Promar Ceara is led by some of the same players that were behind Brazil's Atlantico Sul Shipyard. PJMR is on the fringe of forging an alliance with South Korea's STX Shipbuilding & Offshore, that would see the shipbuilding giant provide technology and a $100m investment in the greenfield yard. A spokesman for Transpetro says Promar Ceara has until 30 June to find a new home, but the source would not elaborate on what will happen if that deadline isn't met.

Just buy the damn ships from someone else!

Prediction Update

Between this and the Rahm Emanuel rumors I am chalk one up in the W column for my list of 2010 predictions. I'm 3 for 8, although the three scores were the easy ones. The outstanding five are trickier. If they start going my way, major style points for me.

Clueless Liberal Media Editorializing of the Day

From Al Hunt's incorrigibly biased minions at Bloomberg News:
"A year after criticizing U.S. fiscal policy as “irresponsible,” China’s leaders are showing increasing confidence in President Barack Obama’s leadership of the American economy.

China boosted holdings of Treasury notes and bonds by 2.6 percent to $900.2 billion in March and April, after reducing its stake by 6.5 percent from November through February, the longest consecutive monthly declines in a decade, U.S. data released June 15 showed."

This is egregiously wrong. The Chinese have either no opinion of Obama's handling of the US economy or have a negative one (still). A small blip up in US government debt holdings over one month is less than meaningless and in no way, shape, or form indicates Chinese confidence in Obama's leadership. Chinese holdings of US debt are driven by short term economic and political imperatives and their short term movements indicate nothing other than those imperatives. The Bloomberg writer here is simply projecting their own wishful thinking onto the recent data. This level of cluelessness and bias is journalistic malpractice.

Obama Is Living Up to Potential, It Is Us We Need to Worry About

Dear Leader's latest polling numbers. I have said it before and I am going to keep saying it. This is not the story, the story is that we expected anything other than this. When you elect a man wholly unqualified - dangerously unqualified - to the highest office in the land, this is what you get. We should not be examining Obama for this state of affairs, he is an inexperienced mediocrity being mediocre and showing inexperience - no surprise there. We should be examining ourselves.

Morning Miscellany

Wow. Maybe the lawyers defending this suit don't talk to the higher ups, but it appears the Obama administration is not walking back this disastrous drilling moratorium, as I had suspected. This is terrible economic policy, as noted by me (and a panel of experts), but it is also bad politics. Obama pleases a fringe slice of his base while putting thousands out of work when his administration and his party need every last job that they can find going into midterm elections and beyond. Secondarily, the last thing he needs is higher oil prices. He is playing with the white hot type of political fire here, unemployment and gas prices, and on present course he's gonna get badly burned.

Jim Chanos is shorting Ford because the UAW is both inside Ford and in the Board Room at GM and Chrysler. Where did I hear before that this might be a problem?

Doug Schoen and Pat Caddell, Democrats both, take to the pages of the WSJ to analyze the anti-incumbent political landscape and their opening line is this: "The most important story from last week's primary elections is that, for the first time in recent memory, inexperience has become a badge of honor, as opposed to an impediment to winning office." I have never heard such a piece of news that makes me more optimistic about the health of our nation as this!!

Put aside for a minute our thuggish, mafia-like Presidential administration (not to say that it is not a BIG issue, but put it aside anyway), I am beginning to see the potential brilliance in BP's acquiescence to the $20 billion escrow account. They may owe more eventually, but it'll be years before the final number is known. In the meantime the $20 billion is teed up, and when there is an outcry over how it is dispensed (and there will be inevitably, but especially when you throw the government's famed efficiency at it), BP can safely (and happily) say "Hey man, talk to the government, they are in charge." BP has thus bought immunity from voluminous bad press and outrageous outrage for years to come over who gets money, how much money and when they get it. Once again the government is brimming with the false bravado of having won a battle when the war is looking quite bleak for them.

You've heard of the "Five Biggest Lies", the first of which is "the check is in the mail"? Well, we have a sixth. Coming from the Obama administration, it is "We're open to good ideas from all sources, and will be working with Senators on a comprehensive proposal." This is utter bullsit that no one believes this any more, if they were stupid enough to believe it ever.

The jobs numbers out today let the rightosphere (and libertarianoshere) continue to indulge in their favorite running joke..."Unexpectedly!" For those who don't get the joke, the media keeps pointing to negative news about jobs and the economy as if it all was somehow inexplicable, anomalously incongruent with Obama's genius, wizardry, and deep understanding of our economy. But there are those of us who actually know what the disastrous policies coming out of Washington DC are doing and will do to our economy...and the bad news is far from "Unexpected." Case in point, I said the gratuitous attack on the credit card industry would reduce consumer credit, limiting consumer spending. Check. Today's shocking cause and effect item...the free checking account is disappearing, because of new regulatory costs imposed on banks. Go figure. Will the MSM be using this "Unexpectedly" meme when they all go the way of the dodo like Newsweek? I can just see the headline now "New York Times Unexpectedly Goes into Chapter 11?"

Finally, in honor of the circus being conducted in Washington DC today with politicians berating BP, we have another gem from Ramirez.

Where Did Mitch Daniels Get That Idea?

Latest Donny B. pronouncement to get incorporated into our national discourse: Mitch Daniels's idea of a social issues truce. Sounds alot like what I was saying here.

A Chris Christie Tearjerker

Contrast this Chris Christie speech at a Town Hall with Obama's vapid, weasel words from the Oval Office last night. Right around 4:30, Christie kicks it in fifth gear - as a Jerseyan now living abroad (in NY), it almost brings a tear to my eye. This guy is good, waayyyyy good.

Lincoln on Obama...??

"While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in the short span of four years."

When Lincoln spoke these words, I'm sure that "government"and "nation" were fairly interchangeable in meaning. Nowadays that is perhaps not the case. What advances or injures the government does not necessarily advance or injure the nation. I get Lincoln's point, that a virtuous and vigilant citizenry must keep a wary eye on those charged with its governance, I just wish he had said "nation" because we are not in the 1860s any more, our government is the biggest threat to our nation today. Anyway, that is spliting hairs, the real issue is that virtue and vigilance of which he speaks...do we still have it? Do we??

Iran Finds Staggeringly Large Amount of Oil??

Iran: 30 Billion Barrels Oilfield Discovered
June 15, 2010
Iran discovered 30 billion barrels of oil in a southwestern oilfield that borders Iraq, according to the Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper, Reuters reported June 15. An Iranian company along with a Chinese company are preparing the ground for exploration of oil in the Arvand-Kenar field that has 30 billion barrels of oil in place, the daily quoted Latif Hayayi Ahvazi, governor of Arvand-Kenar town, as saying.

Thirty billion would only make this perhaps one of the top 5 oil fields in the world. Are they bluffing? Who knows. If not, the Chinese will help them to no end subvert any international pressure to get nukes so long as they get their mits on a good chunk of the oil. (Shit, BP might want to help the Iranians after we scalp, draw and quarter them over here.) The non-proliferation crowd just lost pretty much all of its leverage if this is accurate. This makes Obama's monstrous Iranian blunder all the more horrible. Plus I think it ensures that Israel bombs the nuclear research facilities this year.

Obama's Blunders Aren't Acceptable Anymore

Bret Stephans reviews probably Obama's biggest blunder to date on the world stage, helping the Iranian regime by depriving the Iranian democracy movement of any oxygen. While the op-ed side dissects a gigantic blunder in the making. First we illegally reamed Chysler and GM bondholders, now we are going to illegally ream a foreign corporation. The WSJ is right, we're almost at the point where we are no better than your typical thugocracy like Venezuela or Russia. Why would global investors or companies want to do business in the US after these shameful episodes? The question answers itself and the consequences are economic stagnation. Obama's fundamental view of the world, if he has one, is flawed and the gameplan he following based on that flawed view will haunt us for years, possibly decades.

News From Europe

Greece is on the junk heap and the EU's host country just elected a bunch of separatists - no not separatists from the EU, separatists from their own country.

BP Claims the Silver Medal

Hey guess what? The BP/Deepwater Horizon disaster isn't even the biggest oil spill to foul the GOM. The Ixtoc spill in 1979 was worse. And you know what? The world went on, we lived through it, and we got even safer, albeit, sadly, not perfect. Exit question: if the next big oil spill comes at the hands of a government entity, like PEMEX, rather than a private company, will the media even care?

Afghanistan Has Tons of Precious Metals

When we bug out of Afghanistan (and we will under Obama) you can bet the Chinese will be in there faster than you can say "mining joint ventures." Karzai & Co. are already probably picking out retirement homes in Europe close to where their money will be in Swiss bank accounts.

Just Education?

I've been saying eliminate the Department of Education for a while now.

Robert Green Glad He's Not Colombian

Poor Rob Green, the commentators have been merciless, but it's probably better than the alternative - in South America they kill players for that kinda stuff.

Democrats Bringing On Modern Great Depression

How many times have I said we are making the same mistakes of the Great Depression, the same policy mistakes - protectionism, raising taxes on nearly every type of business activity, regulating massive swaths of the economy??? How many times. Well now the similarities are getting just downright eerie as well as scary. It is as if the Democrats are reading the history of the Great Depression and doing every single thing that deepened the Great Depression again, on purpose. Today's Democrats have resurrected FDR's undistributed profits tax that was one of the primary causes of the second dip post 1936 that made what was then a short recession into the Great Depression. The second was the FDR's National Recovery Act, which today comes in the form of ObamaCare, Financial Reform, and Cap and Trade. If we get our new, modern version of the undistributed profits tax and financial reform, I say Great Depression II (2007-2014) is a done deal. A done deal. Don't say you weren't warned.

Not An Addiction. Amen Brother!

Jeff Jacoby is brilliant, and sounds alot like this guy to boot.

Sensibly Averting the "Policy Reaction Disaster"

I highlighted Obama really bad calculus with this drilling moratorium a few days ago. Today, the WSJ gets down into the weeds on just how bad a decision this could potentially be. Fortunately, it is fairly obvious blunder that even the Obama people can see and Ken Salazar is already walking this one back. The motive for the walk back could be rational and policy-driven or it could be politically driven - the impact of a lasting moratorium would have been a disaster for the economy and for Obama. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and chalk this up to good decsion-making.

UPDATE: A little extra color: the oil that we don't produce has to come from somewhere. Right now the only folks with any spare capacity to speak of are the Saudis, and they just don't turn on the spigots. You have to pay them some mind. Obama doesn't want that, nor should he.

In Light of Recent Findings

Based on recent findings, I am refining my working definition of a liberal (a modern American liberal, that is): "Someone who lacks an understanding of basic economics and who wants to tell me how to live my life."

Prediction...

Seeing as how I love making predictions...here goes an easy one:

A Stephen Strasburg lookalike bangs like 80 chicks in Dewey Beach this summer...

From the "What a Difference a Year Makes" File

Exactly one year ago the Swiss were caving to Obama, trashing their long-standing leadership in offering financial privacy. Today it seems that the Swiss might be up for a little game of brinksmanship with the Obama administration after all. What happened? A little glitch in the Swiss parliament, someone didn't get the right memo? Or the specter of Obama not looking so ominous these days and the Swiss would like to rethink who writes their banking laws, them or Obama? Or other?

Emerging Consensus: Broke Is Broke

Whether through self-liberation or otherwise, the Keynesian endpoint is nigh. So says the high powered brains at PIMCO.

Or in other words, "when you are broke, you are broke." Seems to be an emerging consensus.

Get Me the Philosophy Dept. on the Blower!

Can a Lightworker be an Ass-Kicker?

Hungary Gets It...Invites Growth

Hungary: PM Proposes Tax Changes
June 8, 2010
A tax overhaul was introduced to the Hungarian parliament by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest on June 8, Hungary’s Portfolio reported. Orban said the plan would simplify taxes and “create a new economic system.” The plan includes a flat personal income tax for families, a reduced corporate tax rate from 19 percent to 10 percent for companies making less than 500 million forint (about $2.1 million) annually and a single-bracket personal income tax rate of 16 percent, all of which will go into effect during the next two years. Hungarian State Secretary Mihaly Varga said Hungary will meet with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union in August about the proposed changes, but the government wants the IMF to know of its plans now, Reuters reported June 8.


Sadly the doofuses at the IMF just might squelch such a sensible plan.

A Titanic Joke

Modern society offers up a seemingly endless supply of bad jokes, but probably the biggest howler of late is the notion that film director James Cameron can somehow help BP with the oil spill. This guy is nowhere near being anywhere near able to help - his knowledge is akin to a pimple on the butt of a gnat that is on butt of the elephant that is this problem. Such are the ridiculous notions that emanate out of a society that places too much value on our moviemakers, who ultimately only tell stories and take pretty pictures, thus investing them in the public's consciousness with having expertise that they surely do not.

Time for More Chris Christie!

Did I say Chris Christie was good? I was wrong. Chris Christie is so damn good.

This guy needs a cool nickname. The Jersey Jolter? The Round Mound of the Garden State's Rebound?

Just had a thought...Does it occur to Republicans across the land, watching Christie at work in NJ, that maybe we've spent too much of our time fighting stupid battles over abortion and other silly things, while union thugs have taken over our schools and our governments have racked up the mountains of debt that will soon put us in bankruptcy? Eye off the ball for a few decades, maybe?

Lackluster Jobs Number Totally Predictable

I've been telling you all about this for some time now...businesses are not hiring. US companies are hiding in the bunker scared shitless over what Obama and the Pelosicrats have done and can still do to them. And where there is some business to do and money to make, they are hiring temp workers or paying overtime, not taking on full time employees out of a combination of that fear and also a little disgust frankly.

Obama's Moratorium: A Bad Trade

The President doesn't understand the concept of sunk costs. The BP spill is awful, but it is reality and all costs associated with it are sunk. That doesn't change two other realities, 1) the probability of another spill similar to this one from other drilling activity in the GoM remains small, and 2) a moratorium on further drilling activity will have a deep negative impact on the economy in the area and nationally. The President's drilling moratorium trades reducing a small probability of another spill for certain devastating economic damage and job losses. Not a good trade for our putative analytical genius of a President.

He also doesn't understand the concept of 10 & 4. 10 & 4 and he is cooked. We're at 10 and headed to 4.

Don't Sell That TBT

TBT is insurance against our government's fiscal meltdown. It has taken a beating as the Euros are ahead of us in line and the world actually sees us as relatively safe. But don't sell yet...

Yet Again

People seem to think the story is either 1) Obama is struggling, or 2) the press is actually reporting it. That is not the BIG story. The BIG story is that we ever thought Obama wouldn't necessarily fail...but I'm repeating myself.

Minimum Wage Blindness

Mark Perry notes that not once in a long article bemoaning the horrible prospects for summer employment for teenagers does the New York Times mention the increase in the minimum wage. He is right to point this out, but such blindness is hardly surprising coming from the New York Times. I would be more concerned if, say, one of the Wall Street Journal's columnists made such a stultifying omission...oh wait...