Unto The Breach! » Politics

Signs of the Coming TaxApocalypse

Tom — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:26:36 +0000

Long Or Short Capital is typically a wonderfully satirical Wall Street blog (albeit with a total crap comment system). In today’s post about the the Obama Adminstration and the Chrysler bankruptcy, however, I found no humor whatsoever. A line had been crossed, and there was no parody of truth; there was only clear and cogent truth.

The brief article (and its references) cite:
- An anecdotal example of a company leaving the US for a more stable economic, political, and regulatory environment;
- Obama’s attempted strong-arming of legitimate debtholders to Chrysler to forego their claim, while irrationally awarding 55% of Chrysler to the UAW;
- Obama’s denial of a bona fide offer by the creditors that would have kept the company from being nationalized, in favor of an inferior (to stakeholders) result wherein the government owns 50%.

I understand that “it’s politics, stupid!”, but the modern capability for demagoguery to destroy our country’s ability to create economic value is just astounding.

Be sure to read the underlying articles; I doubt they’ll make you laugh, but I’ll bet they make you cry.
- Signs of the Coming TaxApocalypse
- Chrysler Goes to Court
- Time for Chrysler’s bondholders to man up and move on

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You are being lied to about Pirates

Tom — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:00:00 +0000

Intellectually, people are, fundamentally, herd animals. In other words, individuals often assume group wisdom rather assessing facts and reality themselves.

We all know that bicycle helmets are a good safety measure and that wearing seatbelts saves lives, because we just know it.

Perhaps as busy people we just ration our attention, and only take the time to deeply inspect things are especially important to us, and for the rest of the things, just allow group think to be deep enough understanding.

But sometimes, as with the thinking about bicycle helmets and seatbelts, conventional wisdom is wrong.

Moving on to the subject of the post: We all hate those damned Somali pirates, don’t we? They’re the scourge of the earth, aren’t they?

Here’s a lone voice out of way left field that screams out that herd think isn’t always accurate.

Give Mr. Hari a Free Thinker Award!

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Here it comes…be very afraid!

Tom — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:36:26 +0000

Most economists, with the exception of the ancient-school Paul Krugman, think that broad-scale government bail-outs in these times of troubles are big mistakes.

The problem is, most Americans are not economists. Furthermore, they don’t know any economists, and don’t read or understand any economics.

Hence politics, rather than economics, will rule the day. Now that we have a democratic president, democratic congress, and a popular mood that is screaming for the government to bail out everything that’s seen a drop of rain, I think that there will be quite an increase in government programs over the next few years.

The first of this is happening less than a week after the election. Nancy Pelosi, formerly a slobbering-but-caged rabid dog, now will get a pretty long leash. What does she do first? Pelosi wants the government to subsidize Detroit. I understand the pain that Detroit is going through, but the cold facts are that the word’s auto industry has too much capacity, and the high-cost producers are the ones that will (and should) go out of business first in order to reduce the excess capacity. Government subsidies, of course, don’t change this; they just prolong the agony at great (and wasted) expense to the taxpayer.

It gets worse. Not only will the taxpayers likely subsidize Detroit, but also, in the near future, don’t be surprised to hear claims of “unfair competition” from Detroit and Washington about lower-cost overseas producers, and the subsequent (re-)creation of import duties on cars. Import duties of course don’t change the fact that there’s too much supply, they simply hurt American consumers.

In the near future, even whilst economists wince, the politicians will smile (POTUS included).

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The Poor aren't Poor Because the Rich are Rich

Tom — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:08:58 +0000

All this talk of wealth re-distribution is scaring the crap out of me. Unlike the old days, when people used to admire successful businesspeople, nowadays there are resentments and feelings of injustice toward “too much success”.

Paul Samuelson, a Nobel-prize winning economist, writes about why the people’s anger towards investment bankers and CEO’s, and the politicians’ ubiquitous promises to regulate CEOs’ pay, are really misguided, and why they are actually harmful, in this wonderful article.

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Juan Enriquez on World Economic Malaise

Tom — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 20:28:32 +0000

A great summary of the world’s malaise, and a compelling argument about why the government’s (and populace’s) knee jerk reactions are all wrong.

Hat tip to Paul Kedrosky for the find.

Juan Enriquez (2008) Pop!Tech Pop!Cast from PopTech on Vimeo.

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Noonan on Palin

Tom — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:57:01 +0000

I’m a longtime Peggy Noonan fan. She is perceptive and incisive. Today, in the WSJ, she writes about Sarah Palin:

“…we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office….

…it’s unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn’t think aloud. She just . . . says things…

…She does not speak seriously but attempts to excite sensation—”palling around with terrorists.”…

…She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than the Republican ticket has made. In the past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn’t, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn’t seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts…

…In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics.”

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Why George Bush Sucks

Tom — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:21:44 +0000

It’s NOT because he lied, because he didn’t.

It is because:

- Mr. Bush has presided over the fastest growth in federal spending since the great Society in the 1960s.

- Mr. Bush put the Republican seal of approval on the biggest intrusion of federal power into the classroom in history (No Child Left Behind)

- Mr. Bush and the Republican party passed the most expensive public works program ever (the 2005 highway bill)

- Mr. Bush created the largest new entitlement program since the creation of Medicare and Medicaid (the prescription-drug benefit)

- Mr. Bush rode roughshod over states’ rights on issues such as assisted suicide

- Mr. Bush has expanded the federal government’s power to eavesdrop on its citizens

- Mr. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security – which is more 1984ish (even the name is doublespeak) than anything else one could possibly dream up

- Mr. Bush protected the steel industry (a special interest – buying popularity) at great costs to US consumers of steel (import tariffs)

- Mr. Bush’s supreme court nominees have pushed the court far to the right

To paraphrase one of the most heinous people on the planet: “Dude, where’s my party?”

(much of this is borrowed from The Economist, May 31, 2008, page 38)

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Andreesen Gets Integrity

Tom — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 00:02:38 +0000

Marc Andreessen’s blog is well known amongst the high-tech entrepreneurial community to be well-written, insightful, and expert.

However, his occasional political posts have been, to put it mildly, sophomoric. (Perhaps they are almost as juvenile as mine).

However, his post this morning does a fantastic job of illustrating why Obama is such a great candidate to lead our country. This has nothing to do with the man’s political persuasion; it is just that Obama is (like McCain) a person of great character and integrity, and that these qualities coexist harmoniously with tremendous political and leadership skills.

And we all know how rare this combination is.

(Self-serving egotists clearly are not worthy of being mentioned here.)

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This Election: More on Integrity and Moral Courage

Tom — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:42:38 +0000

Lawrence Lessig has a beautiful piece on the contrasts between Clinton and Obama. It is so well done that not only are the points compelling, but the delivery of the message is compelling in and of itself.

A short summary of the presentation might be that Obama has courage, moral fortitude, and leadership, while Clinton has none. But I urge you to watch the video – it’s awesome.

By the way, I think McCain compares with Obama on these character traits. If we were to have an election contest between Obama and McCain, we would, for the first time in memory, have an election between two worthy individuals.

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A Brief History of the Foreign Policy of Modern US Presidents

Tom — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 23:36:32 +0000

This morning I stumbled into an amazing blog post. If you’re an enthusiastic student of history, like I am, take the 5 minutes to read about the ending of the cold war, and the roles of Carter, Reagan, and Clinton.

Carter, while arguably the greatest man of the the three, was likely the worst president. Clinton presided over a booming domestic economy, but was entirely absent in foreign policy (perhaps causing his popularity) . Reagan, while ridiculed by most Europeans as a hawkish warmonger, actually played a major role in ending the cold war and liberating eastern Europe with minimal casualties to the West.

I’ve just finished reading Charlie Wilson’s War and this too is an integral component of this story and is a highly recommended read.

Current history is fascinating. Are we transitioning from Cold War to American hegemony to a “Post-Edwardian” US role in the world all in the space of a few decades?

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