Financial crisis already solved!

Quote of the day – brought to you by the Financial Times

How then would Adam Smith fix the present mess? Sorry, but it is fixed already. The answer to a decline in the value of speculative assets is to pay less for them. Job done.

Maybe his concepts were written 200 years ago but they still hold up and explain how we got to where we are today. And the only way to get out of this is to allow a little hurt to be spread around. Meaning that somebody holding the current assets has to sell them for less than they paid for them. Ouch? Yes, but that’s the risk and the reality.

Somebody has to pay and I’d rather it be the ones who took the risk than it be me. I’ll pay for my own risks. You pay for yours.

Just do it already!!! aka “House votes to delay digital TV transition”

 

How long has then been delayed? Years. How many times has it been delayed? Several.

MSNBC actually has a really good take on this

With a nation in economic turmoil, it seems the last thing on the to-do list of legislators should have been the transition to digital television

Absolutely! Only 6% of US households have only analog televisions that are not ready to receive digital signals. How close to they think they are going to get by postponing another few months and spending more money that we can’t afford.

Cut it off. Everyone has already had years to deal with this. The people who suddenly realize it when the signal goes to static will get properly educated when they go down to the local electronics store to buy a new converter or TV.

British official calls for fewer babies

Maybe Nancy Pilosi should get together with Jonathan Porritt (chairman of Britain's Sustainable Development Commission). He has just decided that maybe China’s birth policies weren’t so bad after all. 

A top British official says couples who have more than two children create an unbearable burden on the environment.

…

I think we will work our way towards a position that says having more than two children is irresponsible

Together I’m sure they could come up with a policy that will save the world both money and trees and babies all at the same time!

I also like that there is a solid figure on how much humans cost. An “amount of carbon equivalent to 20 acres of old-growth woodland.” Once we decide how much we are each worth then we can start to decide who gets to stay and who doesn’t.

This is especially important to note in the midst of all the backlash against Angela Suleman, the woman who gave birth to octuplets recently. Yes, maybe she shouldn’t have gone for invitro with 6 children already. Maybe the doctor should have denied her treatment as well. But, where do you draw the line - legally? How many kids are you willing to put down on paper is “the limit”? Or is it OK to just make it much more expensive and less successful by only allowing 1 egg at a time? Its personal and its not the government’s job.

A Middle Class Task Force?

A recent executive order from the new Obama administration has created a new Middle Class Task Force which will be headed by VP Joe Biden and is

a major initiative targeted at raising the living standards of middle-class, working families in America

Its goals are as follows

• Expanding education and lifelong training opportunities
• Improving work and family balance
• Restoring labor standards, including workplace safety
• Helping to protect middle-class and working-family incomes
• Protecting retirement security

All of that sounds great – especially if you are in the middle class. Yippee! What they haven’t done, and I expect they won’t, is to actually define middle class.

This is a common political ploy and a pet peeve of mine. So who are these people? Can you define it by annual income? Not really. Is it a lifestyle? Is it me? or you? Is it Joe the Plummer? If I have a white collar office job can I not be a middle class paper pusher?

There are a lot of people who don’t consider themselves “rich” but will not be considered middle-class depending on the definition and therefore will not be considered by the program.

Mr. Biden, Please tell us who you are going to help. Specifically. I think a lot of people might be surprised.

And while you’re at it, explain why the focus is really on green jobs? Is installing solar panels for a living my only hope for a middle class family income with good work and family balance?

Nancy Pelosi: Birth Control Will Stimulate the Economy

Contraception … will reduce cost for the states and the federal government

Translation: “These entitlement programs cost too much! We better get rid of the people who use them!”

Reduce some costs in at least a years time? Why not just euthanize everyone under 3 now? It always makes me wonder – “Does she really believe this?” Or put another way “Is she lying or just an idiot?”

Lets see, lowering the population growth of a specific group of people in order to further a political policy. Sounds like eugenics to me!

I think the Chinese had a similar population control idea back in the 70s. That worked out great.

Funniest thing is, most of the planned parenthood customers are likely to be Democrats. If she is successful, she has an 18 year lag to wait for the polls to shift!

Government run health care

What is the single biggest problem with the government providing your health care? It means they start making the decisions. Its only fair. If they are footing the bill and you are behaving badly that adversely  impacts their costs, then shouldn’t they have a right to stop you? I mean they are paying for it, right?

That is what happens. And its not a theory, its being put into practice. Some examples:

Fat children ‘should be taken from parents’ to curb obesity epidemic

New Zealand bans British man’s “Fat Wife” from entering the country

Whoever pays for it is the one who cares and the one who is responsible for it. Its not a far stretch from the above items to rationing McDonalds intake among the populace. Should I have to help my neighbor pay for a triple bypass if he eats like a garbage and doesn’t exercise? No. We’ll just make him eat right and exercise, right?

When Not-The Man becomes The Man

A friend pointed out an interesting article at The Root entitled When The Man is One of Us regarding the current changes happening in the black community in response to Barack Obama's success.

It does bring up a very interesting point. What happens when one group, whose primary political focus has long been fighting for an equal seat at the table, suddenly finds that they are at the head of the table?

not-quite-non-sequitur: Yesterday I saw a piece of wisdom on the TV show Las Vegas which seems somewhat relevant. The happiest dog in the pack is the beta dog because he doesn't have the responsibility of the alpha dog but relishes in the benefits of being near the alpha dog.

In The Root's story, when you spend decades blaming and fighting the establishment for your ills, what happens when you become the establishment? According to Jack White you start doing some self reflection (as some derided black figures like Bill Cosby have been arguing in favor of for a while). Mr. White says they have always been doing it privately but now have to take it public since the only one to complain about publicly is themselves.

[updated - and updated the article link]

Not-The Man has become The Man. Cant wait to see if anything changes.