Depressions build character

Ever notice how those who lived through the "Great Depression" talk about it like it's a badge of honor.  You always hear about how it built character and taught them the value of savings and thrift.

Just saying...

Why is a financial meltdown such a bad idea?

Why is a financial meltdown such a bad idea?

Will people starve?  

Didn't the Great Depression result in the New Deal?

I can't believe we are being asked to spend over a trillion dollars to perpetuate the status quot.

Topsy turvy

Up is down. North is South.  

The Democrats are supporting Bush.  

Republicans don't want Democrats to help Wall Street.  

Oregon St beat USC.  

I am slowly losing my sanity.  

My only crutch is my utter confidence that whatever bill passes will inevitably cause more problems than it solves.  

You can't beat Murphy or the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Obama can be President

Let Obama be President.  Give us back Palin.  Don't talk to me about USC.

Obama can have the Presidency as long as USC makes a come back

Yeah... USC is more important.

Can't take it anymore...

I can't watch anymore Sarah Palin interviews.  It's like McCain turned her into a puppet.

It ain't right.

And to top it all off, USC is losing 21-0.

Set Sarah Free

I'm with K-Lo over at the Corner.

As everyone knows, she's in New York City through tomorrow. I realize she has a busy schedule. I know she has Katie Couric time to carve out. But as John McCain does anything but inspire, how about a total Sarah charm offensive? Drop by and see old friend Larry Kudlow. Give Elisabeth Hasselbeck and the girls a drop-in. Tell Alan Colmes you really missed him last week. Call Rush Limbaugh (you know, the guy who hailed you as a conservative "babe" months ago, finally.

The McCain campaign needs to let go of their death grip on Palin and let her go on a charm offensive.  Let her answer questions from the media.  Let her go on the View.  

If she can't hack by now, then McCain picked the wrong person.  I happen think she will do fine.

Wow... my Mom hates Palin

I have a confession. I come from a family of very liberal Democrats. I swear I don't think a single person in my immediate family has ever voted for a Republican... never ever.

This morning my mom messaged me, saying that she didn't like Palin. My mom doesn't dislike anyone, yet Palin has somehow gotten under her skin. Weird.

Anyways, politics is now an off-limits topic in my family. Hopefully my Mom doesn't read this.

Just in case... I love you Mom.

McCain wants to limit execs to $400,000

McCain wants to limit execs to $400,000

It may be a populist move, but McCain was the first one to put a number to CEO compensation limits.

He can turn this election if he shouts this to every media person and voter in the United States.

Obama... your turn.  Can you top this?

[UPDATE] The main stream media don't seem to be covering this statement.  I wonder if they are delaying it until Obama can come up with a simular plan?  nahhhh.

Irony of the New York Times and New York City

The New York Times has an inordinate amount of influence on national politics considering they are the local newspaper of the crooks on Wall Street that made money off of the backs of main street.

How many factories are there in New York City?  How much food to they produce in New York City?  How much oil do they drill/produce in NYC?

Should we really trust the local newspaper of all these crooks?

Instead of the bailout...

I say screw the bailout.  Let's just pump money into AIG, since we already own it, and take over the credit industry.  So what if the other companies fail, we (the taxpayers) can just buy the assets on the cheap.  We would be one of the only players out there with enough capital to loan directly to the citizens.

Then after everything has shaken out, we just divvy the company up, giving every American a share, and let the free market take over.

I'd also like to see a 85% income/capital gains tax applied retroactively to every single CEO who has had a hand in this crisis.

50/50 vs 100

All else being equal, if we accept that Palin doesn't have any experience or expertise for federal government, then I think she is the perfect candidate for President.

I figure that on any given economic decision, she would have at least a 50/50 shot of getting it right, whereas the politicians currently in Washington running out economic policy have about 100% record of getting it wrong.

Charles Murray cracks me up...

Whether you agree with him or not, you have to admit that Charles Murray is funny as hell.

From his recent New York Times Magazine interview

What do you make of the fact that John McCain was ranked 894 in a class of 899 when he graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy? I like to think that the reason he ranked so low is that he was out drinking beer, as opposed to just unable to learn stuff.

I bet there are a significant number of people who spent their college years studying, who look back on it now and wish they drank more beer and got laid more often.  I don't see any of those other 893 people running for President or married to a millionairess.  

Like I have been saying, we need less experience and more common sense in government.

Palin and experience (less genius, more common sense).

It's ironic that the same people mocking Palin for her inexperience are championing the same experts to get our economy out of the position that they put themselves in.

We need a little less genius and a little more common sense.

Don't get me wrong, if she supports this mess then I am done with her as a VP candidate, but if anyone should be attuned to the Main Street aversion to bailing out Wall Street it should be her.

Unfortunately, I think McCain might muzzle what would be her natural position.

Liberals and Wall Street

Let's be clear.  This financial crisis was created because the liberals (and Bush) liked the idea of the poor being able to buy houses, and Wall Street figured out a way to profit of the idiocity of the whole concept until the whole ponzi scheme went bust.

I think there will be an inevitable push against deregulation, but deregulation wasn't the problem.  The problem was the expectation that the government would be there to bailout the companies, since they were the ones pushing for an "ownership society" anyway.  Well it looks like they were right...

I blame HGTV and their endless run of "house flipping" shows.  In a few years we went from a country where the middle class was happy to have 3 bedrooms to a country where they were putting in granite counters in the ghettos.

Government paychecks for a government bailout

Every single person working for AIG right now should have his paycheck cut to a reasonable government salary.

If we go ahead with this bailout of Wall Street, it should be on the condition that any company we (the government) buy toxic debt from should have to cut salaries by half (at least).

My vote is officially up for grabs again, and goes to the first candidate to take a stand against the bailout of the corrupt and incompetent.

Update

No I didn't burn out... I am on 12 hour shifts for an exercise at work.

Obama still scares me.

I am still voting for Palin.

Seriously, how cool is Todd Palin?

Ask yourself this one question?

When a crisis hits, who would you rather be at the helm?  Obama or McCain?  Obama or Palin?

If you answered Obama for either one of those questions, you are seriously deluded. then I disagree.

Don't even talk about experience.  If you really cared about experience, you would of voted for Hillary, since she had the benefit of President Clinton as an advisor.

UPDATE: ms-teacher made me feel guilty.  There are valid reasons why someone would vote for Obama.

Obama reminds me of my kids...

When I first heard about Obama's "pig in lipstick" comment, I thought... no, he ain't that dumb.  Then I found out that he followed it up with an "old pig" joke.

He knew what he was doing.  He was doing what my kids do.  Insulting someone with an innocent look, and them feigning ignorance.

I am calling Obama a liar.  He knew.  He meant it.  

Kudo's to you Obama... now you get to say "burn".

Have you noticed...

Have you noticed the media smears and non-stories written against Sarah Palin are having a shorter and shorter lifespan.

Now, Obama's "lipstick on a pig" smear is lasting.  A smear only lasts as long as the public want's it to.

Hollis French claimed 5x the per diem of Sarah Palin

Thanks to Governor Palin, the state of Alaska publishes it's "checkbook" online for public viewing.

I decided to go and compare Sarah Palin's "per diem" payments to those of State Senator Hollis French, the democrat leading the "troopergate" investigation.

According to the detailed report of expenses for the dates 1 July 07 to 30 Jun 08, Governor Palin was paid a total of $5,212.91. In the same time period, Hollis French was paid per diem of $25,009.12.

This seems pretty extravagant, especially when you consider that Senator French lives in Anchorage, where I imagine he does much of his work.  Just like Governor Palin.

Now this doesn't include individual payments of less than $1,000, but it's still pretty interesting.

Do you think the Washington Post would be interested... nahhhh of course not.

[UPDATE] - Hollis French collects per diem while in Juneau for legislative sessions, since he doesn't have a residence there.  Still, feel free to go to the links and do your own digging.