Business, Economics, Political Commentary

Cash, Or Credit?

9 Comments

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.

Humor, Political Commentary

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.

Technology and Society

A Nanotech Pioneer

4 Comments

…is recognized. Alan Boyle has an interview. I found this interesting:

It turns out that nanomaterials can play a huge role in many areas of therapeutics. One example is HDL [high-density lipoprotein], the “good” kind of cholesterol. That’s a nanostructure. We have statins that allow you to lower the levels of LDL [low-density lipoprotein, which is “bad” cholesterol]. To be healthy, what you really like is a good HDL-to-LDL ratio, so you’d like to learn how to raise HDL levels.

We’ve learned how to build nanostructures based on gold particles that mimic the properties of natural HDL, and we think that will lead to a whole new class of therapeutics that will be the complement to statins. If you think about what that can do for cardiovascular disease, the impact could be enormous. And it’s not just cardiovascular disease. HDL is implicated in a lot of different diseases, as a positive thing to battle inflammation. Being able to raise effective HDL levels could be quite important. We’re now testing particles that mimic the properties, the size and structure of HDL, and the ability to bind cholesterol and transport it. So we’re really excited that this might lead to a whole new class of therapeutics designed to raise HDL levels and have an impact on cardiovascular disease as well as a wide range of diseases that involve inflammation.

I think that the down side of statins is significantly underplayed. They seem to cause muscle degeneration, and I suspect that they do this to everyone who takes them, to some degree, even if not everyone has overt symptoms. And hey, I learned in science class that the heart is a muscle. My cardiologist wants to put me on them, but I’m resisting (I have no symptoms of cardiac problems, other than high LDL, and high blood pressure, which I’ve had all my life along with a fast pulse). She prescribed Crestor, which I went to the Pfizer site to look up, and it said that while it reduced cholesterol, it didn’t reduce heart risk — for that, you had to go to Lipitor.

Anyway, I wonder if the artificial HDL being described here could allow you to improve the ratio by boosting the numerator, and ignoring the denominator, eliminating the need for statins? I guess only clinical trials will tell, if they get to that point. Anyway, I hope that Obamacare won’t end up cutting off funding for this kind of research.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary

Forget Church And State

15 Comments

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.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

The Cost Of Cap And Trade

71 Comments

Bob Zubrin:

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.

Popular Culture, Space

It’s It

15 Comments

Really. It’s It. A schlocky space movie review (the movie, not the review). You should always start your day with Lileks.

[Afternoon update]

I have to say (via Lileks’ commenters) that this is the kind of space future that I was really looking forward to back in the seventies. (Wow. Is there some kind of anti-gravity device holding those things on?)

What? Of course I’m talking about the interplanetary robot dogs. What else would I be talking about?

[Bumped]

[Evening update]

OK, someone points out in comments that there is a spaghetti strap going on there.

Looking closer, I see it now. I guess I was distracted by the…errrmmm…robot dogs…from seeing that strap.

Yeah, that’s it. I mean, they look great, don’t they?

The robot dogs, I mean.

I’d love to be able to play with a pair like that.

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Let’s Put The Government In Charge Of Health Care

5 Comments

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.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!