Category Archives: Business

What Kind Of Negotiator Is Barack Obama?

I’d say door number three:

President Obama has not negotiated a single win-win middle ground legislative compromise with the other political party. I fear he may not know how to do so or be unwilling to do so because he sees all his dealings with Congressional Republicans as pure zero-sum.

The scary part about model 3 is that the President might unwittingly kill an agreement, further inflame a nasty partisan blame game, and trigger a recession even though in this model that’s not the outcome he wants. In model 3 a different negotiator (say, Mr. Bowles) could find a middle ground that could pass both the House and Senate, but President Obama cannot or will not. Some combination of legislative inexperience, a distaste for interacting with Congress, and a naturally combative rather than cooperative temperament may hobble the President’s ability to close deals with those who have different policy priorities. And if model 3 is correct, in the next few weeks it could all go sideways because we have a President who doesn’t know how to or isn’t willing to negotiate.

We’ll find out in a couple weeks.

Space Property Rights

My latest piece at The New Atlantis is up.

It’s very similar to my paper for CEI, but I have a new twist at the end:

…it is worth noting that, while the OST arguably does not prevent the recognition of property claims per se, it may prove to be a hindrance to any kind at all of large-scale space activity, not just settlement. In that regard, this is the most troublesome sentence in the entire treaty: “The activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty.”

Consider the implications of the words “continuing supervision,” if taken literally. It could be argued that satisfaction of this requirement would demand that any person operating off the planet would be required to have a government minder with him at all times. Prior approval — for example, a launch license — might not be sufficient, because supervision could be argued to imply not just observation, but physical control. This wording in the treaty could imply that even the remote monitoring of private activity in space, which itself would be a significant hindrance for space settlement, would be insufficient.

With new affordable spaceflight technologies on the horizon, extensive private activity in space will be a serious possibility in the near future. If we wish to see humanity flourish in space, we have to recognize that the Outer Space Treaty is a relic of a different era. Fresh interpretations may not suffice: we may soon have to renegotiate and amend the treaty — or even completely scrap it and start from scratch — if we want not just to protect space as a mere scientific preserve but to open it for settlement as a grand new frontier.

So we have to be prepared to fight.

The President’s Latest Lies

…about right to work.

And is he going to denounce the threats of violence? Don’t hold your breath. It’s all part of that new civility we’re always hearing about but somehow never actually see.

[Update a while later]

It’s the same old story:

…we have actual Democratic elected officials threatening acts of political violence, and we have actual Democratic activists carrying out those acts of political violence. Mr. Sullivan? Mr. Rich? Mr. Obama?

As I said, don’t hold your breath.

[Update a while later]

The thuggery begins.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Raising money for a reward for info leading to the arrest of the thug. It shouldn’t be hard. He’s easily identifiable. They’ve already raised more than a couple thousand, with a grand from Instapundit.

Also, as Dana warns, please don’t speculate about his identity in comments.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here‘s a report on the tent destruction:

Fladeboe said the tent, for which AFP-Michigan had received a permit a week earlier, held between 30 and 40 people before protesters began stabbing at its straps with knives. He said that at first, protesters were targeting random straps to avoid being caught — then, finally, they focused on one corner of the tent in an effort to pull it down. Fladeboe said that even once several of the straps were cut, the local police on the scene did little to help the volunteers re-secure them.

Eventually, protesters were able to snap one of the tent stakes in half and pull it from beneath the tent, causing it to collapse. Fladeboe said that despite reports that the tent had been cleared of people before it went down, there were about a dozen people still trapped inside after it had fully collapsed. “You could see people inside of it trying to get up, and you could see the tent moving,” he said — a problem exacerbated by the fact that protesters began “stomping” on top of the collapsed canvas while volunteers tried to help those trapped inside.

And those inside reportedly included women, children and elderly. If there were children, it was probably an inadvisable place to bring them, given all the credible threats, but I guess they thought they’d be safe inside.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here‘s video of the tent.

[Late evening update]

“There are people under there, oh my God.” Language warning.