The working title for your next essay is:
Why Global Warming is a Hoax
You want to do one book a year, so you have to work steadily!
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Some Thoughts on Your Next Book
John Rich Lyrics - Shuttin' Detroit Down
“I see all these big shots whining on my evening news,
About how they’re losing billions and it’s up to me and you
To come running to the rescue.”
Yes, but let’s not forget, the taxpayers offered big bailouts before any big shots requested them.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Limited Vision
That's enough for now, then,
Stop pushing your perennial pen.
Climb those blasted stairs, my friend,
Sleep’s the eternal cure for men.
Before you close your eyes for everlasting rest,
Ask your master for peace and freedom, lest
When he comes to take you home,
He finds you guilt-ridden, lying prone.
But what, I ask, what if I don’t finish
The work you want me to accomplish?
What’s the joy in that, to go up there
With so little to show, portfolio bare?
“Who are you to say, you haven’t done what I asked?
How can you know the full compass of your life’s meaning?
Do you insist that every accomplishment draw its own picture
In your mind? Do you discredit all the invisible deeds
That don’t feed your ego and lift your self-esteem?”
I won’t try to answer you, Mr. G.
Except to say that I agree.
Take me home, early or late.
By your grace, I’ll watch and wait.
Let me pray, though, one brief hope,
That you reveal, when you’re with me,
What my life meant, beyond its scope.
What did I accomplish, when I couldn’t see?
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Why Rush is Wrong | David Frum
Why Rush is Wrong | Newsweek National News | Newsweek.com:
"In the days since I stumbled into this controversy, I've received a great deal of e-mail. (Most of it on days when Levin or Hannity or Hugh Hewitt or Limbaugh himself has had something especially disobliging to say about me.) Most of these e-mails say some version of the same thing: if you don't agree with Rush, quit calling yourself a conservative and get out of the Republican Party. There's the perfect culmination of the outlook Rush Limbaugh has taught his fans and followers: we want to transform the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan into a party of unanimous dittoheads—and we don't care how much the party has to shrink to do it. That's not the language of politics. It's the language of a cult."
"In the days since I stumbled into this controversy, I've received a great deal of e-mail. (Most of it on days when Levin or Hannity or Hugh Hewitt or Limbaugh himself has had something especially disobliging to say about me.) Most of these e-mails say some version of the same thing: if you don't agree with Rush, quit calling yourself a conservative and get out of the Republican Party. There's the perfect culmination of the outlook Rush Limbaugh has taught his fans and followers: we want to transform the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan into a party of unanimous dittoheads—and we don't care how much the party has to shrink to do it. That's not the language of politics. It's the language of a cult."
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Treasury's Efforts to Deal with the Financial Crisis
Treasury Begins to Release Details of Loan Plan
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/business/economy/05loan.html
Note the second word of the headline, begins.
Here’s the difficulty. For months, Treasury has made plans secretly, without public debate. The reason: if we let details out in advance, it could roil the panicked markets even more than they already are. How do the markets, as they’re called, react? They say, we don’t trust what you’re doing back there, because you did it in secret. Moreover, we’re skeptical about supporting it, because we had no input.
If you don’t trust your would be rescuer, you’re not going to have much cooperation between the government and the banking system. What is the result? Treasury pumps hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking system to get loans flowing again, but the financial system remains shut down. Trust has disappeared, and Treasury is not setting a good example by making plans in secret. If the main problem in the financial system is lack of confidence or trust among its parts, you need an open rescue process to make it work again.
No one makes a loan without knowing the net worth of the borrower. Banks won’t lend each other money because they don’t know the value of each other’s assets. They do not trust that borrowers can pay back loans. That’s why the financial system shut down. Forcing banks to accept bailout money doesn’t solve the problem of valuing assets. Banks won’t loan money again until doubts about solvency are resolved. No one has yet figured out a way to value banks’ assets accurately, fairly, and in a way that won’t cause political trouble in the short term.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/05/business/economy/05loan.html
Note the second word of the headline, begins.
Here’s the difficulty. For months, Treasury has made plans secretly, without public debate. The reason: if we let details out in advance, it could roil the panicked markets even more than they already are. How do the markets, as they’re called, react? They say, we don’t trust what you’re doing back there, because you did it in secret. Moreover, we’re skeptical about supporting it, because we had no input.
If you don’t trust your would be rescuer, you’re not going to have much cooperation between the government and the banking system. What is the result? Treasury pumps hundreds of billions of dollars into the banking system to get loans flowing again, but the financial system remains shut down. Trust has disappeared, and Treasury is not setting a good example by making plans in secret. If the main problem in the financial system is lack of confidence or trust among its parts, you need an open rescue process to make it work again.
No one makes a loan without knowing the net worth of the borrower. Banks won’t lend each other money because they don’t know the value of each other’s assets. They do not trust that borrowers can pay back loans. That’s why the financial system shut down. Forcing banks to accept bailout money doesn’t solve the problem of valuing assets. Banks won’t loan money again until doubts about solvency are resolved. No one has yet figured out a way to value banks’ assets accurately, fairly, and in a way that won’t cause political trouble in the short term.
