Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (051506)

Free Links:

• “S.O.B.er” Black Swamp Conservative has an important piece on the “controversy” over media access to the names of concealed-carry permit holders. Second Amendment-despising reporters are using existing law to publish the names of all permit holders, which in essence busts the “concealed” nature of the permit, violates the privacy of holders, and tells criminals by process of elimination where to go to commit their crimes, i.e., somewhere else. This makes everyone less safe. Ohio law must be changed to restrict access to those with narrow, need-to-know reasons.
• “S.O.B.er” Steve has a great post on how some predictions over the years have panned out. It ought to cause a bit more humility on the part of the predictors and more reluctance on the part of the people to trust in the government to plan our future.
• This is a good morning for S.O.B. linkovers — Porkopolis has a special bulletin about the president announcing “a comprehensive plan to detect, deter and defend against attacks on our critical infrastructures — our power systems, water supplies, police, fire and medical services, air traffic control, financial services, telephone systems and computer networks…” I am very glad the president made that announcement — President Clinton, that is, in 1998.
• Trade Gap Narrows in March (HT from a Weapons of Mass Discussion e-mail) — The really good news here is that it narrowed largely because of an increase in our exports.
• The two major bankrupt airlines are not getting any healthier in bankruptcy — Delta lost $2.1 billion in its most recent quarter, though it say “only” $356 million after bankruptcy- and reorganization-related items. This is on the heels of NWA’s analogous losses of $1.1 billion and “only” $129 million, respectively.
• Overplayed story of last week — The early-May drop in consumer sentiment as reported by the University of Michigan, which was really a self-fulfilling prophecy. The press has virtually ignored the good economic news of the past couple of months in favor of hyping and griping about gas prices. The consumer sentiment plunge shows that if you have enough negative reporting, it gets results.
• Underplayed story of last week — Small business optimism as reported by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) rebounded (bold is mine): “More owners reported plans to increase employment and capital outlays in April, and expected higher sales and better economic conditions in the months ahead — with the number of owners expecting improvements in the economy eclipsed by those saying ‘it can’t get better than it is now,’ according to the NFIB.”