Lickety-Split Links (071509, Morning)
Noteworthy Net-Worthies (wherein yours truly bravely attempts to restrain the compulsion to put in his 2 cents):
Bizarre — Fox didn’t show what happened to Obama’s All-Star Game pitch, apparently not even in replay. Strike? Ball? Apparently the film exists, as “Yahoo! Sports had a video showing Fox aired a replay with a conventional center-field shot of Obama’s pitch. Commenters noticed that St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols perched in front of home plate to catch a short pitch.” “Someone else” threw a heart-of-the-plate strike in 2001. Update: Reuters has video with slant-, er, bias-, er, less than perfect commentary.
Astute Blogger — “Car Czar Resigns Over Pay-to-Play Scandal.” Steve Rattner’s successor is Ron Bloom, who is described here as “a Harvard Business-trained banker turned United Steelworkers official.” WaPo put its story on Rattner’s resignation on Page A11.
At the Columbus, GA Ledger-Enquirer — “Soldier Balks at Deploying; Says Obama Isn’t President; Says he shouldn’t have to go to Afghanistan because Obama is not a U.S. citizen.” O,M,G Update — “Orders Revoked for Soldier Challenging Prez.” O,M,G Update 2 — Of all people, far-left lib talker Lynn Samuels, according to Brian at Radio Equalizer, has asserted her belief that Obama is lying in the birth certificate matter.
Reuters — “House (health care) bill to hit millionaires with 5.4 pct surtax.”
Blitz — “All Three Nets To Interview Obama About Healthcare Wednesday.”
“Sotomayor …. Incoherent” and gets a bad review from the AP (HT Instapundit).
A USAT Science Fair blog entry asks, ”Could we be wrong about global warming?” – “In a nutshell, theoretical models cannot explain what we observe in the geological record,” says oceanographer Gerald Dickens, study co-author and professor of Earth Science at Rice University in Houston. “There appears to be something fundamentally wrong with the way temperature and carbon are linked in climate models.”
This is amazing to me. And what’s more it really comes down to taxation without representation because you will be hard pressed to find any of our representatives who have actually read any of this bill let alone the cap and trade bill.
Add to that the news I saw last night that a company like Goldman Sachs earned over 2 billion in profit last year and didn’t pay any tax and I’m left scratching my head.
My plan is to get out of debt asap and get some money into wealth securing assets and commodities because I have a feeling that the worse isn’t over.
You know. The thought suddenly occurs to me that this makes wanting to reach the American dream of wealth and security less appealing. Why try if the government is going to take half of what you earn? Shot for mediocrity. Depend upon big brother. Maybe that’s the desired effect.
Comment by Hal — July 15, 2009 @ 6:04 am
Maybe that’s the desired effect.
It looks moreso with each passing day.
Comment by TBlumer — July 15, 2009 @ 11:15 am
While I’m not rich, I’m the lower middle class, taxing the rich with a 5.4% surcharge means that money is no longer available for investment in the economy. A loss of investment means a loss of job growth since it takes investment to create jobs. My lack of a job is directly attributable to the financial losses of the rich and investors not from a lack of consumer spending.
Herein lies the fallacy of liberal economics, consumer spending while being 70% of the economy is not the driving force of the economy. Investment is the driver of the economy and has since the founding of the Republic been the major source of job creation. One look at the amount foreign investors put into the US economy pretty much tells the story of why the US has always been ahead of the pack when it comes to business.
I got an email a while back which I like to share here which illustrates my point:
Dinner with Obama, a parable:
Once upon a time, I was invited to the White House for a private dinner with the President. I am a respected businessman, with a factory that produces memory chips for computers and portable electronics. There was some talk that my industry was being scrutinized by the administration, but I paid it no mind. I live in a free country. There’s nothing that the government can do to me if I’ve broken no laws. My wealth was earned honestly, and an invitation to dinner with an American President is an honor.
I checked my coat, was greeted by the Chief of Staff, and joined the President in a yellow dining room. We sat across from each other at a table draped in white linen. The Great Seal was embossed on the china. Uniformed staff served our dinner.
The meal was served, and I was startled when my waiter suddenly reached out, plucked a dinner roll off my plate, and began nibbling it as he walked back to the kitchen.
“Sorry about that,” said the President. “Andrew is very hungry.”
“I don’t appreciate…” I began, but as I looked into the calm brown eyes across from me, I felt immediately guilty and petty. It was just a dinner roll. “Of course,” I concluded, and reached for my glass. Before I could, however, another waiter reached forward, took the glass away and swallowed the wine in a single gulp.
“And his brother Eric is very thirsty.” said the President.
I didn’t say anything. The President is testing my compassion, I thought. I will play along. I don’t want to seem unkind.
My plate was whisked away before I had tasted a bite. “Eric’s children are also quite hungry.”
With a lurch, I crashed to the floor. My chair had been pulled out from under me. I stood, brushing myself off angrily, and watched as it was carried from the room. “And their grandmother can’t stand for long.”
I excused myself, smiling outwardly, but inside feeling like a fool.
Obviously I had been invited to the White House to be sport for some game. I reached for my coat, to find that it had been taken. I turned back to the President. “Their grandfather doesn’t like the cold.”
I wanted to shout – that was my coat! But again, I looked at the placid smiling face of my host and decided I was being a poor sport. I spread my hands helplessly and chuckled. Then I felt my hip pocket and realized my wallet was gone. I excused myself and walked to a phone on an elegant side table. I learned shortly that my credit cards had been maxed out, my bank accounts emptied, my retirement and equity portfolios had vanished, and my wife had been thrown out of our home. Apparently, the waiters and their families were moving in.
The President hadn’t moved or spoken as I learned all this, but finally I lowered the phone into its cradle and turned to face him.
“Andrew’s whole family has made bad financial decisions. They haven’t planned for retirement, and they need a house. They recently defaulted on a subprime mortgage. I told them they could have your home. They need it more than you do.”
My hands were shaking. I felt faint. I stumbled back to the table and knelt on the floor. The President cheerfully cut his meat, ate his steak and drank his wine. I lowered my eyes and stared at the small grey circles on the tablecloth that were water drops.
“By the way,” He added, “I have just signed an Executive Order nationalizing your factories. I’m firing you as head of your business. I’ll be operating the firm now for the benefit of all mankind. There’s a whole bunch of Erics and Andrews out there and they can’t come to you for jobs groveling like beggars.”
I looked up. The President dropped his spoon into the empty ramekin which had been his creme brulee. He drained the last drops of his wine. As the table was cleared, he lit a cigarette and leaned back in his chair. He stared at me. I clung to the edge of the table as if were a ledge and I were a man hanging over an abyss. I thought of the years behind me, of the life I had lived. The life I had earned with a lifetime of work, risk and struggle. Why was I punished? How had I allowed it to be taken? What game had I played and lost? I looked across the table and noticed with some surprise that there was no game board between us.
What had I done wrong?
As if answering the unspoken thought, the President suddenly cocked his head, locked his empty eyes to mine, and bared a million teeth, chuckling wryly as he folded his hands.
“You should have stopped me at the dinner roll,” he said.
Comment by dscott — July 15, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
This Week In Petroleum: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip_gasoline.html#demand
Gasoline consumption is down slighty again this week. The EIA corrected their demand chart, mostly so, from last week when it erroneously displayed higher consumption when in fact the tabular values indicated declines. I’m still quibbling with the graph since it still shows a slight increase over last year when in fact the opposite is true. Me thinks they are trying to spoof an economic upturn when it’s otherwise indicated. Remember this is less than last year at this time NOT the previous year!!! 2007-2008 was LESS than 2006-2007 before the price of gasoline shot up above $2.50/gal.
Comment by dscott — July 15, 2009 @ 4:42 pm