Only an academic could come up with the idiotic notion that it’s Walmart’s fault. It is fascist, corporatist federal policies. And not just SOX, but a lot of general business regulation that makes the paperwork and legal liabilities too daunting for a small business.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
Cash, Or Credit?
Who gets cash and who gets IOUs in California. I’m shocked, shocked. I’m glad the state doesn’t owe me any money. I wonder how much the IOUs will be discounted for people who need the liquidity now?
[Update a few minutes later]
If they’re going to do this, instead of making some people more equal than others, wouldn’t the fair thing be to issue everyone a mix of cash and IOU in proportion to the amount that they’re short?
[Late morning update]
B of A says that it will accept the IOUs as warrants:
“To support our customers, while giving the state legislature additional time to pass a budget, we will accept California state-registered warrants — or IOUs — from existing customers and clients,” Charlotte-based BofA (NYSE:BAC) says in a written statement.
OK, so what are these things? What happens if the legislature doesn’t get its act together (and based on history, that’s the way to bet). Do they have an associated interest rate, or maturity date? What would a secondary market in them look like, and how would they be discounted? Suppose California just reneges on redeeming them? Does B of A (and Wells Fargo, and whoever else follows suit) then get made whole by TARP, thus bailing out the state of California via the US taxpayer through the back door (in more ways than one)?
What a mess.
Virgin-Americans, United
The Democrats have really awakened a sleeping giant (so to speak) with the energy bill:
In order to secure the votes of wavering Democrats, House leaders Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman inserted several last minute amendments to the legislation, including provisions for national oxygen rationing, witch burnings, dousings, and phrenology research. But the one that has seemingly stoked a grassroots backlash is the controversial Sexually Inexperienced Citizen Environmental Volunteer Amendment. The wording of the amendment calls for all American virgins over the age of 21 to register with the Selective Sacrifice Board, for possible use as victims in nationally televised vivisections intended to “supplicate the Earth-Spirits.”
Reaction, in some quarters, was swift and harsh. Robert ‘Shadowfyre’ Jardocki of the Wizard and Warlocks Guild called it “an affront to all Virtual America, from Second Life to World of Warcraft,” and vowed his group would cast the “most powerful lobbying spell the country has ever seen.” Denise ‘Lady Gwynnethynn’ Kelly of the American Society of Renaissance Faire Royalty decried it as “a unconstitutional attack on our members and their ladies in-waiting.” The National Association of Space Fantasists made an impassioned “call to light sabers,” while the Brotherhood of Sports Bar Regulars vowed a “million replica jersey march” on Washington to stop its passage. Other groups uniting to oppose the bill include MENSA, the Society for the Identification of Motion Picture Continuity Problems, and the American Association of Anonymous Comment Thread Trolls.
“Congress and the Administration really stirred up a hornet’s nest of virgins with this bill,” said longtime Washington-watcher Michael Barone. “The response really caught them flat-footed. I don’t think they realized just how adept the virgin community is at computers, and how much time they have between ComiCons or SpaceCons or whatever-cons. Instead of calling into sports radio shows, now they’re calling the capitol switchboard.”
Who knows how many other easter eggs like this are in the bill? No one knows, because we’re not allowed to read it.
Forget Church And State
Let’s have separation of the economy and state:
The government has no Constitutional, moral, or economic basis for controlling the economy. We seek to revoke its power to manipulate interest rates, debase the currency, manage the practice of medicine, restrict practical sources of energy, or rob Peter to pay for Paul’s house, financial institution, or automaker.
We identify government control of the economy as the cause of our current financial crisis, and argue that removing this cancer is the only solution.
Some will say that separation of economy and state is too radical a goal. To be sure, this goal will take time—and a roadmap—to reach. But it is the only valid destination. Where liberty is concerned, “moderation” is suicide. Patrick Henry did not say “Give me a small rollback in government or give me death.” He said: give me liberty. So should we.
Unfortunately, too many people don’t seem to want to be free, or responsible for their own lives.
A Question For The WH Press Corps
I’d like to see someone (Tapper?) ask the president why he thinks he’s a better expert on the Honduran constitution than the Honduran Supreme Court.
More Hope And Change In Michigan
Paved roads are reverting to gravel.
I guess this is the kind of “progress” that results from “progressive” polices like the ones the Democrats have delivered in the Great Lakes State.
The Cost Of Cap And Trade
Burning one ton of coal produces about three tons of CO2. So a tax of $15 per ton of CO2 emitted is equivalent to a tax of $45/ton on coal. The price of Eastern anthracite coal runs in the neighborhood of $45/ton, so under the proposed system, such coal would be taxed at a rate of about 100 percent. The price of Western bituminous coal is currently about $12/ton. This coal would therefore be taxed at a rate of almost 400 percent. Coal provides half of America’s electricity, so such extraordinary imposts could easily double the electric bills paid by consumers and businesses across half the nation. In addition, many businesses, such as the metals and chemical industries, use a great deal of coal directly. By doubling or potentially even quadrupling the cost of their most basic feedstock, the cap-and-trade system’s indulgence fees could make many such businesses uncompetitive and ultimately throw millions of working men and women onto the unemployment lines.
It’s OK. Even if they have paychecks, they won’t be able to afford to eat any more, anyway, after the price of food skyrockets. And it will solve that pesky population problem in the third world.
Lionesses
An interesting story on American women soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Let’s Put The Government In Charge Of Health Care
Charles Murray (who by the way co-wrote one of the best histories of Apollo
You want to know what a Medicare identification card is like? It is a little larger than the standard size for credit cards and driver’s licenses. (Of course. Couldn’t have the federal government make a card that will fit in a stack with all the other cards you use.) It has no magnetic strip. It is plain vanilla text and fonts—no security features whatsoever. It could be counterfeited by a sixth-grader with a scanner. It is made out of flimsy paper that would barely qualify for a really cheap business card. This, for Medicare benefits, for Pete’s sake. It’s pathetic.
Actually, it is shoddy and incompetent, as are so many things that the federal government does.
Let’s hope they’ll stick to making little cars.
I’d Be Ashamed To Be From Minnesota
Caligula sent a horse to the Senate. Minnesota is just sending part of the horse.
Unfortunately, it will fit right in.