Book Of Norm

One of the main arguments being put forward right now is that the government debt crises is "artificial" - there is no specific reason why there has to be a August 2nd deadline (that one's Obama's) and that congress can't just punt and raise the debt limit. That one is being blamed mostly on the Tea Party and Republicans.  The claim is that there is basically no real crises, just something we made up to make a political issue out of it all. In fact, an idiotic professor has put forward an idea about how another idiotic professor could sidestep Congress by issuing the Treasury two trillion dollar coins, or a two trillion option on government real estate . The man, a con law professor at Yale, is clearly exactly the kind of academic moron you would never want running the country... yeah.....  The reality is that there is a crises. Yes, this specific limit is arbitrary, but so would any other limit be. Do you wait to hit $20 Trillion? $50 trillion (it wont take t...

So, no much to glean from this other than Microsoft seems to be doing pretty well actually given the tiny number of phones which have actually been released (and how the bitter bitter taste of WinMo 6.5 still lingers). Also, sadly Palm is down to 2% - and not much hope of a big increase soon if they are only going to release one slightly larger phone (albeit one which I really want, and am bitterly disappointed is not coming to Sprint).

I hate big government. I love aircraft carriers.  No Cylons in sight These two at first seem to be rather contradictory: small government, big military. However, I don't yet have to hand over my hat to Aristotle (at least on this anyway). I believe that long term military security is one of the fundamental purposes of a government, but that it can be done better. The use of military force against a nation, or against a nation's interests, leads inevitable to the infringement of the rights of the citizens of that nation. And the protection of rights is why we have a government in the first place: protect us against each other, protect those who cannot protect themselves (no Obama, that is not "everyone but me"), and protect citizens from non-citizens.  Any nation which is incapable of defending itself or its legitimate interests is violating the basic contract with its citizens. There are some nations which simply cheat, relying on other nations to protect them a...

I am not sure why the News of The World story is being regarded as such a scandal. I mean, the paper was a rag to start with. The fact that a rag tabloid broke the law? Not really shocking. The News of the World in the UK is pretty much equivalent to The National Enquirer over here. Maybe a little better, with fewer alien baby stories, but The News of the World getting sued for liable is about as regular as Berlusconi facing sexual abuse allegations, and about as surprising. So what did they do? Well, they hacked into phones - which is really not all that hard, and they paid off cops for information. Both of these are illegal, underhanded, sleazy violations of rights. But they are not surprising, at least not to me. I have no more faith in the integrity of journalists than I have in the integrity of used car salesman. Actually, more used car salesman probably have some integrity than journalists. I used to work in securities lending - short selling. I worked there in the bad ...

I have long held, as have many others, that the premise of the left is generally that people are idiots and incapable of fending for themselves. This has certainly been the approach the current administration has taken, with massive new regulation and spending programs aimed at limiting choice, "leveling the playing field" and "protecting consumers from themselves." Essentially, Obama et al believe that the vast majority of Americans are idiots. The latest assault on choice is a proposed 56mpg CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) standard by 2025. Which is ridiculous considering there are no gasoline powered cars on the market today which get 56mpg average, not even hybrids. CAFE means that of all the cars an automaker sells, they have to hit a certain average fuel economy. Essentially, the only way to get to 56mpg in 14 years is a massive switch from gasoline to electric, which Obama would of course love because he believes oil companies are pure evil, and...

The last time Jag raced in LeMans was 1991. The year before that, they won it with their beautiful "Silk Cut" LMP1, which then played a big part in the creation of the XJ220, one of the most gorgeous cars ever made. Tata Motors has put up the money to push back into LeMans racing, where Audi and Peugeot have been dueling for top honors after a few years of Audi winning every year. Interestingly, it seems that many more car makers are going to be pushing into LeMans racing to make a name for themselves, as F1 no longer offers the opportunities or value for money they once did.

This is pulled from the WSJ. Again, all I have to say is that if you look at the UK post-WWII, very similar things happened, with long term results which were pretty freaking bad. Now, the UK has learned something from its old ways, and is actually trying to keep taxes down and instead--shockingly--cut spending. However, in the US we are still stuck in the obstinate belief that because we have been the global superpower for the past 70 years (and especially the last 20) that nothing bad can happen, no matter the macro-economic policies. So here we are, looking at a possible 70% marginal tax rate. And not just for "the rich" as the Democrats keep saying, unless you consider $60k/yr rich - which is ridiculous. By  MICHAEL J. BOSKIN President Obama has been using the debt-ceiling debate and bipartisan calls for deficit reduction to demand higher taxes. With unemployment stuck at 9.2% and a vigorous economic "recovery" appearing more and more elusive, his timin...