President Carter: I voted for your sorry derrierre <i>once</i>, because you were a Nuclear Engineer in the US Navy, and I thought you might promote clean, non-carbon, non-polluting nuclear energy; but you did NOT. Not a single nuclear power plant has been started since you took brief office.

On Race, YOU might want to make it an issue (as a subsidized peanut-farmer from Georgia), but even your President has declined to sign on.

Perhaps you remain in the thralls of what was once considered the “Cracker” mentality. I can understand: Georgia Democrats spent DECADES supporting “Jim Crow” laws.

I am sure that many Democrats who have devoted their lives to pandering to a Black costitiuency are overwhelmed by the fact that America (only ~12% Black) elected a Black Pesident by a majority of the WHOLE POPULATION.

You are STUPID to claim “racism” … the numbers don’t support you; neither does your President.  Nor the <i>last</i> Presidents from Illinois: Lincoln and Grant (both Republicans).

GM has announced a 230 mpg hybrid that can plug into your house. Nice thing … same socket as your electric mower or chainsaw. (The first is silly; I own the second, and it is handy.)

But the Bill provides all sorts of “assistance” to build out electric charging stations that are NOT your home, and provides even MORE subsidies to car makers:

(c) APPLICATIONS.—Any State, Indian tribe, or local government (or group of State, Indian tribe, or local governments) may apply to the Secretary of Energy for financial assistance in furthering the regional deployment and integration into the electricity grid of plug-in electric drive vehicles.
…
The Secretary of Energy shall establish a program to provide financial assistance to automobile manufacturers to facilitate the manufacture of plug-in electric drive vehicles
…
(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this section.

OH! I forgot part:

…include, to the extent feasible, the ability for each plug-in electric drive vehicle to be identified individually and to be associated with its owner’s electric utility account, regardless of the location that the vehicle is plugged in, for purposes of appropriate billing for any electricity required to charge the vehicle’s batteries as well as any crediting for electricity provided to the electric utility from the vehicle’s batteries

So, “Cap and Trade” will subsidize just about anybody (in Government) to install electrical outlets, will FURTHER subsidize the auto industry, and will track each and every electric vehicle, its owner(s), and their UTILITY ACCOUNTS … so your utility company can bill you where ever you are!

My apologies: the above were in the next 30 pages of the bill, after the first 100. So I’m falling behind.

PS to my earlier note … If the Government wants us to pump CO2 into the ground, why do they specifically PROHIBIT any credit for doing it to recover oil? Unless there is a potential seltzer bottle lobby, oil recovery is the ONLY commercial use for millions of tonnes of CO2.

To bad nobody in Congress read it: if you think they did, just ask your CongressCritter what “pyrolization” means (the word appears several times in the first twenty pages).

When you read the Bill, remember that you are charged by the KiloWatt Hour but I have a simple Texas household that used 1.738 MegaWatt Hours in May and June. Maybe it’s the computers, but I suspect it was the air conditioners. And it only reached 101F this week!

I will do my best to analyze and explain further in future posts, but I thought I’d get some stuff out there early:

The Carbon Storage Research Corporation (established in the Bill) will only cost me 75 cents/month. It looks trivial in the bill: just 0.00043 per KiloWatt Hour. Elsewhere, the Bill talks in MegaWatts.

Coal costs anywhere from $20 to $50 per ton these days, but the Bill would value “pump CO2 into the ground” credits at anywhere from $50 to $90 per ton (of gas, not coal).

The only people that currently pump CO2 into the ground are the oil companies: their contribution is specifically prohibited from any credits in the bill

VERY roughly, one ton of coal produces three and a half tons of CO2 when burned. A typical electric plant burns 50 tons of coal an hour, easy.

Somewhere along the line, electricity costs won’t just go up a little, they may triple!

No mention in the first 100 pages of nuclear energy; over 70% of the citizens of Illinois won’t be affected … neither will ANY of the residents of Chicago (Exelon powers Chicago with Nukes).

I hope to do analyses of gasoline (how much CO2 you pump out driving) and coal-fired electricity generation (where do you think the electricity for your Volt comes from?).

Here are some starting talking points for your Senators.

Much political hay will be made of this, but it is mostly chaff. We are supposed to like free elections, but Pakistan replaced a friend with a conflicted Pakistani (once on trial for corruption), the Palestinians elected Hamas by an overwhelming majority (they don’t like Israel, but provide services to their people and are not as corrupt as Fatah), Hezbollah retained a third of Lebanon’s seats, but kinda lost to “pro-western” factions.

Meanwhile, Billy Daley couldn’t steal enough votes to overturned an American election in 2000, but Al Franken is on his way to winning a Minnesota Senate seat eight or nine months after the election was held. In the past eight or nine years, several other American elections (WA Governor, SD Senator, for example) have been won by less than 1,000 votes.

All of our challenges to elections in other countries are pretty worthless in light of our own recent history. And our own Parties might take note: when the election is 50:50, The People are not confused; we just don’t think ANY of the candidates are worth more than a coin flip.

To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offenses against the law of nations;
To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

Have our elected Representative or Senators said anything on this topic? The law is clear …

Whoever, on the high seas, commits the crime of piracy as defined by the law of nations, and is afterwards brought into or found in the United States, shall be imprisoned for life.

–US Code, Title 18, Chapter 81, Section 1651

There is no parole for the 18-year-old who attacked an American ship. And no life remaining for his compatriots that raised arms against America.

I spoke with a foreign businessman with some interests in shipping … his comments are well worth the read:

I think your navy should have rescued the captain and said absolutely nothing. Instead they gave many details. It would have been much wiser to have said nothing. That way the pirates would have had to deal with the unknown. They would be constantly forced to wonder what happened. The unknown would have been an effective weapon against them. But instead your navy and members of the crew actually had a press conference to describe in detail what action they took.

I think your country was just totally stupid concerning members of Al-Qaeda. A good example is the one who claims he was responsible for conceiving the destruction of the world trade center complex. Sheik Mohammed. When he was captured absolutely nothing should have been released to the press.

By not announcing his capture and secretly transporting him out of Pakistan to a prison somewhere, all other terrorists of that organization would have had to deal with the unknown. He should have just disappeared and that would have made a huge psychological strike against the others. Instead your military announced that you and Pakistan’s military had captured him. Thereby he became a hero to others.

I have doubts that your country and particularly your government and people understand what an incredible and real threat Muslim terror groups pose to the stability of the world. Our people and our nations must decide if we believe our civilization deserves to survive. Are we willing to do what is necessary to see that it does?

“The question remains, as it does with all detainees held at Guantanamo: does their release make America safer?” Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell asked in response to media reports.

We coddle our captures … but we seem neither able to detain nor try them. Forgetting “political asylum” and other excuses … why not return the detainees to their countries of origin? They would no longer be our problem, and would let the rest of the world decide. If that seems unkind, consider an alternative: it would be purely accidental if a C-130’s back door opened during a flight over the Atlantic.

As to detainees, when will Congress “make rules concerning captures on land” … or admit that they already have?

Our Press and our Congress are so likely to use information for a moment’s news bite that even the Brits hesitate to tell us what they know. I rather like “full disclosure,” but selective reporting and political ploys are unconscionable. Do we believe our civilization deserves to survive?

__AP, Sunday, April 26

So … the US has twenty cases, all of which have recovered (and the number will go up, with observation); only ONE required hospitalization. Out of 200+ million! And TWO treatments are effective against the virus, not to mention normal human resilience.

Quarantine has been mentioned, and that is not a bad thing … too bad that it was politically incorrect to impose such on AIDS victims … we could have saved a half million lives or so.

It is tragic that Mexico’s national health care system couldn’t save 103 lives (at last count), but nobody is commenting on the health or wealth of the victims, prior to the outbreak.

I watched the half-hour+ broadcast from the White House … I suppose it is purely coincidental that it moved interrogations and financial crises from the headlines for a while … not to mention blow-ups in Iraq, and events in North Korea.

Pigs can fly, and anything that distracts The Public from real news is probably political.

In reasonable times, this is a reasonable accounting practice. But when the market disappears, prices are even more imaginary than the complex formulae that investment bankers use to calculate them.

Some mortgage-based “toxic assets” recently traded at 22 cents on the dollar … the only price that greedy private buyers were willing to offer … although our Government (bought and paid for by the lenders) has suggested picking them up at 80 or even 100 cents on the dollar … after letting “mark-to-market” rules that they made cause the recent collapse.

From Bloomberg:

“What disturbs me most about the FASB [Financial Accounting Standards Board] action is they appear to be bowing to outrageous threats from members of Congress who are beholden to corporate supporters,” said Levitt, now a senior adviser at buyout firm Carlyle Group and a board member at Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News.

I’ve little idea how to calculate “derivative” values, but the underlying mortgages should be straightforward to value: just set the mortgaged property values at 70% of whatever the local taxing authorities set them at last year, while the poop was just getting pushed into the fan. When there is no market amongst traders, and the formulae have failed, basic real estate assessments should be used.

Unless you want to use this:

C_\rho(u,v) = \Phi_{\rho} \left(\Phi^{-1}(u), \Phi^{-1}(v) \right)

where u and v \in [0,1] and ? denotes the standard normal cumulative distribution function.

Differentiating C yields the copula density function:

c_\rho(u,v) = \frac{\phi_{X,Y, \rho} (\Phi^{-1}(u), \Phi^{-1}(v) )} {\phi(\Phi^{-1}(u)) \phi(\Phi^{-1}(v))}

where

\phi_{X,Y, \rho}(x,y) = \frac{1}{2 \pi\sqrt{1-\rho^2}} \exp \left (- \frac{1}{2(1-\rho^2)} \left [{x^2+y^2} -2\rho xy \right ] \right )

Meanwhile, plenty of other GM workers are losing their jobs, courtesy of not-quite-a-bankruptcy and government intervention.

On the open market, one could buy all of GM for $2.21 Billion. But our government is no cheapskate:

GM has already received $13.4 billion in government loans and Chrysler has survived on $4 billion in federal aid. … In progress reports filed with the government in February, GM asked for $16.6 billion more and Chrysler wanted $5 billion more.

Chrysler is owned by Cerburus Capital Management … the gummint is not helping Chrysler, it is bailing out yet another investment firm! But I guess that’s ok; it’s a “bridge loan” until they sell out to Fiat.

ANYway … Wagoner has been in charge of GM during big profits and record losses. Congress needs sacrificial lambs so that the public will ignore the part they had in all these failures (e.g., Sheila Jackson-Lee, highest paid Congressperson by Enron; Chris Dodd, highest paid Congressperson by AIG), particularly in supporting GM’s unions all these years.

But I would be very wary of whatever political hacks get appointed to take over GM or serve on the Boards of Directors of our troubled companies. If the gummint can fire a CEO, they can fire you!

And how, exactly, are states supposed to track and report all this spending when there’s no money in the law for tracking or auditing?

Gee … I thought State Treasurers or Comptrollers and Federal Contract Administrators, COTRs, and Agency heads were already charged with tracking responsibilities.

As a Federal contractor (from time to time) I never reported to anyone below a GS13 (or Navy Captain’s) pay scale … in 2008, those folks were paid at least $77,000/year to make sure folks like me got projects done. I occasionally did projects for States, including one who’s Governor was named Clinton at the time; they watched me like a hawk, recouped the project’s cost in a few months, and have made about $1 million/month off it ever since.

I filed progress reports generally every two weeks … sometimes once a week … and billed State or Federal agencies at least once a month. The data is there.

I understand why politicians, States, and Federal Agencies don’t really want to report on how $100s of billions are spent … but they already have managers and auditors on the public payroll that have allegedly been doing this for years. As they spend a $trillion on “stimulus” and “discretionary spending,” and “earmarks,” they can danged well report it to the taxpayers.

As we peer into society’s future, we — you and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering, for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without risking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come, not to become the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.

__Dwight Eisenhower, 1961

I had to revisit this Republican President’s words for some other reason, but the guy did manage the winning of WWII in Europe … he has some “street creds.”

I’d like to think that Reagan and our two Bushes had something to say, but this 1961 speech says it all.

Read this, too … there are a few odd bits in each speech (delivered in historical context), but any commentator would be well-served to read both, in their entirety.

In contemplating the causes, which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by Geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavour to excite a belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.

George Washington, ~1796

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Saying Bernard Madoff enjoys a “gilded penthouse incarceration,” civil rights activist Al Sharpton led a rally outside the accused swindler’s Manhattan home on Saturday urging equal justice for the rich and poor.

The Seattle times says:

Sharpton’s own debts include $365,558 owed in New York City income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax, according to a lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last spring. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state an additional $175,962 in delinquent taxes.
…
Tax headaches are not new for Sharpton. The minister has been assailed throughout his career for running up big tax debts and failing to abide by rules governing his charities and election committees. He is perpetually being sued for failing to pay his bills.

CNN reported:

Sharpton’s reputation would seem to work against any challenger for the presidency, said CNN political analyst William Schneider. “He’s seen as divisive, contentious, confrontational,” Schneider said, “all the things the Democrats don’t really need.”

Ayup … Democrats like Tom Daschle and Nancy Killefer don’t pay taxes!

Charlie Rangel likes the idea of getting the rich to pay taxes, although his “solution” is cloaked in obfuscation::

A leading House Democrat has unveiled a long-awaited tax reform package, including a “fix” for the Alternative Minimum Tax that would cost $800 billion over the next 10 years.

To pay for it, Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D) proposes that married couples earning more than $200,000 pay a “replacement tax” of 4%, and 4.6% on income in excess of $500,000. Rangel says that the AMT is now affecting 23 million taxpayers.

Meanwhile, Rangel is not so good with his own taxes:

First there is the Washington Post’s revelation that Rangel inappropriately claimed a tax break on his D.C. townhouse by claiming it was his primary residence. The five-year charade only netted the congressman from Harlem about $1,500, which is relatively small potatoes. But it nicely dovetails with two other Rangel escapades of late: That he failed to pay taxes on $75,000 in rental income from his luxury beach villa in the Caribbean because he—ahem—didn’t know it was income; and that he scored several rent-stabilized apartments in New York, each of which he must claim as his primary residence. Taken all together, it looks like the top tax-writer in Congress is a tax cheat.

There may be a few Republicans in the same boat (I would welcome proof otherwise): frankly, our politicians (ALL of them!) are a sorry lot. But for a new administration that bases its credibility on “change” and “honesty” … this is not a good start.

To the Democrats: please remember all the kind words Mr Daschle had for you as Minority and Majority leader. Do you really want to appoint another tax cheat to office?

Apparently, Geithner was the only guy good enough to do the job of Treasury Secretary, even though he couldn’t follow the IRS rules for which he will be responsible. Ethics aside, I don’t see any critical qualifications that Tom Daschle might have in Social Security or health care.

Mr Daschle served on the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, as well as Veterans Affairs, Indian Affairs, Finance and Ethics Committees. I cannot see where this qualifies him to head up the Department of Health and Human Services.

But he has received a few $bucks from health care firms in the past two years. He’s a Trustee at the Mayo Clinic, and has received over $200,000 in speaking fees to health industry associations.

President Obama abhors lobbyists, but:

Linda Hall Daschle [Tom's wife] … is a registered lobbyist with the Washington firm of Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz … At her current firm, she counts American Airlines, Boeing, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, Lockheed Martin and L3 Communications among her clients …

In his own words, Tom Daschle said in 1998:

Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter.

Democrats, Republicans … please take a pass on this nomination.

Holder’s chief supporter, Sen. Patrick Leahy, said the confirmation was a fulfillment of civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s dream that everyone would be judged by the content of their character.

I’m glad he’s the first Black AG, but what’s the big deal? The Democrats were only too happy to oust the first Hispanic AG, and applauded the selection of the White guy Holder Replaces:

… Mukasey has received praise (from the former head of People for the American Way, Ralph Neas, and Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat …

I don’t remember Democrats “judging by the quality of their character” when Justice Thomas was nominated, nor when Secretary of State Rice was nominated. I think they gave General Colin Powell a pass, but the NAACP equated Rice and Powell to “tokens” and Nazis.

History is forgotten:

With little fanfare and not much credit, President Bush has appointed a more diverse set of top advisers than any president in history. __ USA Today, 12/9/2004

The Democrats are in a furor, trying to block one of their own, a guy who has pretty impeccable credentials (he was the first Black person elected to statewide office in Illinois) and appears honest (he’s never been charged with anything, served as Comptroller [Treasurer] AND Attorney General). This is the time for Republicans to sit back and laugh.

Despite media to the contrary, the Democrats can’t refuse to seat a Senator: it takes two thirds (67 votes) of the entire Senate, not just a 56-60 majority party vote to eject a legitimate Senator or Senator-Elect. Remember, Obama resigned his Senate seat. Joe Biden has yet to resign. The Minnesota Senate seat of Norm Coleman (R) is still up-for-grabs.

Republicans don’t have a horse in this race. Whether that requires a vote of “present/abstain” or “NO” to a resolution to unseat Burris, our (R) Senators need to step back and enjoy the fray.

US Constitution:

Amendment XVII (17):

When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate, the executive authority [that means the Governor] of such state shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any state may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.

[Note: the Illinois legislature declined to strip Blagojevich of his power of appointment.]

Article I, Section 3:

Each House may determine the rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member.

Illinois Constitution:

Article II, Section 9:

(a) The Governor shall nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a majority of the members elected concurring by record vote, shall appoint all officers whose election or appointment is not otherwise provided for. Any nomination not acted upon by the Senate within 60 session days after the receipt thereof shall be deemed to have received the advice and consent of the Senate. The General Assembly shall have no power to elect or appoint officers of the Executive Branch.
(b) If, during a recess of the Senate, there is a vacancy in an office filled by appointment by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, the Governor shall make a temporary appointment until the next meeting of the Senate, when he shall make a nomination to fill such office.
(c) No person rejected by the Senate for an office shall, except at the Senate’s request, be nominated again for that office at the same session or be appointed to that office during a recess of that Senate.

There is nothing in the Illinois Constitution that requires the State’s Secretary of State to sign off on an appointment; the State Senate might be able to reverse the appointment, but they would have to go on record opposing a respected Black politician who served in two elected state-wide offices. If the State Senate kicks Burris out, he won’t be eligible to run for the seat in an election or subsequent appointment. Illinois politicians aren’t stupid; they won’t oppose Burris, no matter how much money Candidate 5 (Jesse Jackson Jr.) throws at them.

The Democrats in the US Senate may be drooling over how many contributions they can extract to not oppose an Illinois Senator-elect. But, if our Republicans can stand solid in staying above the fray, doing nothing is a win!

Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois says the state’s legislature should order a special election to fill President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat rather than allow Gov. Rod Blagojevich [Democrat] to pick a new senator.
…
“No appointment by this governor, under these circumstances, could produce a credible replacement.”__AP

Last week, it was a foregone conclusion that Obama’s Senate seat would be filled by a Democrat. But the bidding was allegedly stopped at $10 million. The last reported bid was $500,000:

According to the affidavit, Blagojevich told an adviser last week that he might get some money “upfront, maybe” from one of the candidates hoping to replace Obama. That person was identified only as “Candidate 5.” In an earlier recorded conversation, prosecutors say, Blagojevich said he had been approached by an associate of Candidate 5 with an offer of $500,000 in exchange for the Senate seat. __ International Herald Tribune

RedState has been ignoring the situation, but it might be time to put forth a Republican candidate or two. Without a Presidential vote, Illinois is pretty much 50:50 … Chicago is Democrat, Downstate is Republican.

Not that we haven’t had any indicted Republicans in the State: Governor Ryan went down in flames.

If an honest Republican can be found (c’mon, guys … it’s Illinois), a Centrist might be able to win. I know that that is anethema to many on this board, but one has to ask oneself: “Do I want an idealist, or a vote?”

But <a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/08/september-11-confessions”>a few prisoners recently confessed.</a> No more trials for them. What about sentencing?

It would be only fair to kick the bucket even further down the road, and ask respected Muslim scholars or Qazi (judges) to suggest sentencing and avoid claims of martyrdom. After all, <a href=”http://islam.about.com/blvictims.htm”> these guys killed Muslims, too.</a> Let them confess four times, as prescribed by law, and let them publically receive the quisas [retribution] they so richly deserve. Unless, of course, all their victims’ families forgive them.

Military executions generally have included hanging or firing squad. It may not be too late to add beheading to the list.

BMW, Toyota, and Honda seem to be doing ok … they have plants in America, courtesy of cheap exchange rates a few years ago (and now, again). They make reasonably good decisions, and don’t have decades of union agreements to foil them … they are hurting, but not as much as the “Big Three.” They directly employ about half of the Americans Detroit has on their payroll, most under non-union contracts.

Most of the arguments for another bailout are specious … they don’t hold water, and this is the last chance at the well.

“We made a profit on Chrysler” … sure we did, twenty years ago … and the Company tried desperately to breach the covenants that gave our Government a lot of stock and options while Iacocca took $1 a year in salary. Sure, Chrysler paid off their bailout … but they basically invented the minivan, and then sold out to Mercedes-Benz.

“It’s a National Security issue” … c’mon, folks … GM made the Sherman Tank (WWII), and Chrysler manufactured the M-1 in its early years. But Detroit no longer makes snazzy new tanks Even if they could, by the time anybody ramped up production, a tank war would be over. Desert Storm (1991) provided six months for America to build up 600,000 troops on the ground, with plenty of completed tanks to support them … today, we haven’t even 500,000 troops in the Active Army. The first Iraq War lasted 100 hours. Despite media reports to the contrary, the second Iraq war (against an Army) lasted only 26 days. The last time our government simulated a Soviet (the old Russians) attack with tanks on Europe, the war was over in days (note: the simulation required tactical nuclear weapons). In any future war, there will not be enough time for any US industry to convert to the “war effort” ancient Congressmen might remember. Get over it: we had years to get around to entering either World War; today doesn’t give us time to build even a single “ninety-day wonder.”

“Jobs will be lost” … ayup, they will … poop happens. There are a lot of Lehman Brothers traders that are well-qualified to measure the torque on a water-pump bolt. Take a hint from the Auto companies themselves: they “spun off” their parts subsidiaries.

“Nobody will buy a car from a bankrupt company” … My cousin was recently offered his great-grandfather’s 1935 Marmon (the company won the Indi 500 for several years running) for over $40,000; recent sales of similar cars were priced less than $30,000. I own a Packard piano (made in West Bend, IN) from the late 1800’s … that company later entered the automobile business and was associated with Studebaker and Chrysler. I flew Delta through bankruptcy, and American on the verge of it. Technically speaking, a bankrupt company can avoid old debts but is responsible for every debt the day after declaring. Is anyone foolish enough to think that GM, Ford, or Chrysler might stop making cars? They might. But there are thousands of companies that will continue making spare parts for them, for the next hundred years. And they will need workers.

*

Anybody that thinks a Chicago politician and the Senator in whose State every one of the “evil corporations” is incorporated will do any good for the economy is clueless.

We should be thankful that the military that is accused of all sorts of horrible acts is the same military that trained and put forward “courageous lawyers” to defend the perpetrators of even more horrendous acts.

As to women in politics, Keillor has a point: ie, Moms need to stay at home, wash the dishes, raise the kids. They should have nothing to do with politics, because it’s a subject just too complex for their poor little minds. Just because a hockey mom beat the incumbent Governor 51-19% in the Republican primaries and beat a former 2-term Democrat Governor 48-40% in the real election doesn’t mean she knows anything. (Can you spell satire?)

Obama-Biden have more experience in the Senate than McCain-Palin. After all, Senator Biden presided over the recessions of 1973-1975, AND 1980-1982, before sharing two more with John McCain. And Obama got to vote on things like extending credit to people who couldn’t afford homes or ignoring the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were under-capitalized. Meanwhile, Sarah Palin increased dividends to citizens of the state from $1,106.96 in 2006 to $1,654 in 2007 (Permanent Fund Division Reports) and $3,269 in 2008 (Permanent Fund Division Website). Incidentally, while the 2006 report features Govenor Murkowski’s cover letter, no reports since have been prefaced by Governor Palin. Women just don’t know nuthin’ about finance, let alone their constituents. Won’t even take credit.

Ayup. Garrison Keillor says it all. You cannot “overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself.” Not in Somalia (Aidid, October, 1993), Haiti (Aristide, October 1994), or Yugoslavia/Serbia/Kosovo (Miloševi?,Spring 1999). It is especially inconvenient when you ask for neither Congressional nor UN approval for such regime change. What’s best is to get Congressional approval for The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, because [Iraq] “… has persisted in a pattern of deception and concealment regarding the history of its weapons of mass destruction programs,” and “It should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime.” Passed by unanimous consent of the Senate October 7 1998, including Biden.

So … of all four people that might become President (by election or succession), which one has neither sent troops to war nor help create the current financial state? Which one was “We, The People” most recently? Biden (county council, 1970)? McCain (Congressional Representative, 1982)? Obama (Illinois Senate, 1996)? or Palin (city council, 1992 … mayor 1996)?

From Alan Greenspan’s 2004 testimony to Congress:

GSEs–the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), and the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs)–collectively dominate the financing of residential housing in the United States. Indeed, these entities have grown to be among the largest financial institutions in the United States, and they now stand behind more than $4 trillion of mortgages–or more than three-quarters of the single-family mortgages in the United States–either by holding the mortgage-related assets directly or assuming their credit risk.
…
The Federal Reserve is concerned about the growth and the scale of the GSEs’ mortgage portfolios, which concentrate interest rate and prepayment risks at these two institutions.

Today, America owns Fannie and Freddie, as well as AIG and a good portion of the financial markets. The Bailout would give We, The People, ownership of most of the rest of our mortgages. And, unlike the banks that have fallen, we might make money on them.

But this is not good enough for our Congress-critters:

“Conservatives” say they want the “free market” to buy up the bad mortgages … buyers with money might include China, the Emirates, or even Japan (Mitsubishi just bought 21% of Morgan Stanley). Conservatives would even provide insurance, so buyers won’t take losses. Just The Publick!

“Liberals” would like to set aside 20% of the potential $billions in profits to be made from the bailout for outfits like ACORN, already under investigation for voter fraud.

The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 makes insurance optional and ACORN out of the question. So Democrats and Republicans voted against it. No money to be made by politicians, no votes to be gained from special interests. And NO responsibility.

This bailout is not great. It may be necessary. Tiny countries like Luxembourg, Belgium, and Holland just put up $US16.4 billion to bail out one of their banks/insurers. Our Congress has not the guts of small-country parliaments.

Bon Voyage Congress and Parties. Maybe you’ll win the next election. With less than forty days and nights to go, you are under Biblical deadlines. If there’s anything left to govern two or four years hence, be proud of yourselves.

Some have proposed that we just guarantee the prices (provide insurance) for the buyers of securities. It is said this would cost less than $700B.

“Insurance” guarantees that taxpayers will lose money on every mortgage backed security (MBS) that defaults. And make little on any that work out.

Bad as it is, the proposed bailout gives Treasury ownership of real assets. Most will at least break even in a few years … many will generate a profit.

Owning something is far better than insuring it.

Even during the worst downturns of the past 50 years, housing prices have never declined more than 30%. While this is terrible for the home-owner or speculator who is showing a $30,000 loss on their $5,000 (or less) downpayment for $100,000 worth of house … and terrible for whoever bought the mortgage … even a forced sale is going to net 70 cents on the dollar.

But there has not been a market for mortgages in the financial world. One recent interview said that bid prices were 20 cents on the dollar, with asked prices at 60 cents on the dollar. Neither represents the real value of a home, even if drastically reduced in price.

If we taxpayers buy up mortgages at even 70 cents on the dollar, we’ll break even over time. And the financial companies (if any are left) will take their losses and go on.

If we simply insure mortgage prices, we stand to lose on any that drop in value and make nothing on any that go up. Taxpayers really will be giving our money to Wall Street.

Insurance is no answer. If we have to bail, lets get some real property in return.