Too much, too late. And why did everyone ignore the CBO, which said that the recession will be over later this year if we did nothing?
Category Archives: Political Commentary
Stimulating SpaceX?
SpaceX is lobbying for COTS D funding to be included in the stimulus. It would be nice to see something worthwhile included in it, but it’s not enough to make it worth it to me. I’d rather have no stimulus and no COTS D.
Iowahawk On A Roll
He has the scoop on the Imaginary-American march on Washington, and the discovery of the largest number in the universe.
Goodie
Iran will have enough fuel for several Hiroshima-level bombs by the end of the year.
I should note that their ability to put a satellite into space isn’t quite as concerning to me as it has been portrayed by some in the news. Though we had ICBMs before we had launch vehicles, it doesn’t follow that having a launch vehicle implies ICBM capability. It’s actually a lot easier, from a guidance standpoint, to put an object into orbit than it is to hit a target precisely. Also, warhead and entry vehicle technology is a completely different beast than a launcher, so simply having throw capability doesn’t mean that you have all of the pieces in place. In addition, it’s one thing to build a bomb — it’s another to make it small enough to be able to loft it around the world.
Of course, none of this is of much consolation to Israel, because it’s a lot closer, and I would imagine that the Iranians are indifferent to how precisely they can kill hundreds of thousands of Jews.
The Party Of Death
“Reason” is concerned, legitimately I think, about potential opposition in our new ruling class to anti-aging research and treatment:
All rapid legislation turns into a wish-list for those closest to power: the faster it is enacted, the greater the scale of corruption, and the more you can be sure that your interests are being directly harmed. The legislation discussed above is a good example of the way in which the politics of central control turn what would be a golden opportunity for a free market in healthcare into the modern equivalent of putting the old people out into the snow.
I wish we’d had better choices last November.
Getting Ready For The Immediate Future
I would suggest that anyone who wants to understand the path we’re on should read this classic book
[Wednesday morning update]
Jonah Goldberg has some thoughts on “liberaltarianism,” and why it was always a pipe dream to think that the Democrats could pick up true libertarians. As Hayek makes clear, if we don’t defend the free market, the other freedoms will vanish as well.
[Update mid morning]
John Hood has further comments:
Cato’s own political analysis suggests that small-l libertarian voters were overwhelmingly Republican (like three-quarters) until 2006, when they became just a majority-Republican bloc. This seems primarily to be a consequence of disaffection with GOP spending profligacy, along with various other boneheaded policies and at least the conduct, if not the instigation, of the Iraq campaign. Republicans suffered when they lost these votes, some of which went to Dems and some of which simply went poof.
But that’s not the same as suggesting that there is at least as much of a natural affinity between libertarians and modern-day liberals as there is between libertarians and modern-day conservatives, if not more. This statement just isn’t true. The principles of liberty and virtue are certainly in tension within the broadly construed Right, but the principles of liberty and egalitarianism would be perpetually at war within a reconstructed Left. The current struggle against bailout/stimulus mania has been a clarifying moment, it seems to me. In the social-democrat future that the American Left wants, the private sphere must give way as costs are socialized and power is centralized. Virtually everything becomes the government’s business—including what you eat, drink, or smoke, not just where you bank.
Finally, Democratic flirtations with liberaltarianism were always about dividing their opponents and seizing power in Washington, not evidence of self-reflection about first principles or proof of interest in innovative applications. Don’t be so gullible, McFly.
I always thought it absurd for (example) Kos to claim he was a libertarian. And even more so for that moron Bill Maher.
Dangerous For Your Health?
Yet another time bomb in the “stimulus” package, that won’t be debated:
One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and “guide” your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, “Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis.” According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and “learn to operate less like solo practitioners.”
The last entity that I want monitoring my health care is the federal government.
This bill is apparently chock-a-block with stuff like this, each and every one of which should be discussed, debated and if passed, passed on its own merits with its own bill, and has nothing to do with stimulus. This is quite possibly the worst piece of legislation in the nation’s history, and it’s being rushed through with almost no debate, discussion, or even knowledge of its contents by those voting for it. The Founders would weep.
If they vote for the conference product, I hope that Collins, Snowe and Specter all lose their next races, even if they’re replaced by Dems. At least they’ll be honest Dems.
[Early evening update]
(Democrat) Mickey Kaus explains how this bill will roll back, if not completely undo, welfare reform.
A Road To Victory
…in Afghanistan? Let’s hope that the new administration is reading this. Let’s hope even more that they want to win that war, and not just “end” it.
Avoiding Hoover
Jim Manzi has a good post on the real implications of this disaster wending its way all too quickly down Pennsylvania Avenue.
What I find most appalling about it are the perverse incentives and moral hazards that it sets up. Buy more house than you can afford? No problem, the taxpayers will prop you up and keep you in it. Spending more than revenue in your state capital? Don’t sweat it, we’ll just steal money from other states so you can keep it up.
It is punishing the prudent and rewarding the irresponsible. And when you set up a system like that, you’ll get a lot less of the former and a lot more of the latter behavior. At some point, Atlas will shrug. I don’t know how far off we are from it, though.
[Update a few minutes later]
Welcome to the Great American Handout.
What Could Go Wrong?
The Orion spacecraft will have to be operated with remotes, due to the vibration environment. In addition to the introduction of a new comm failure mode (will it be IR, Bluetooth, what?) there’s the other problem noted in comments over there: “Time to deorbit. What did you do with the remote?” And all (as another commenter notes) because NASA thought it would be a dandy idea to have a huge solid first stage.
I wonder if they would even be considering this if it weren’t for the vibration problem?