Bailout Epidemic Spreads to States

Governors of several states, notably New York and California, have become infected with the virus that destroys the economic centers of the brain.

A group of Democratic governors warned Friday that without as much as $1 trillion in federal assistance, many states will not be able to pay their bills in the next year.

"There are states that are talking as California has of not being able to meet their financial obligations in the coming months," New York Gov. David Paterson (D) said on a conference call with reporters.

Well, they might consider spending less. Both California and New York have been on spending sprees for several years now. (Though, California did reduce the rate for a couple of years.)

"We are not crying wolf. This is one of the worst situations our states have faced,” [Ohio Gov. Ted] Strickland said. "This is a real crisis. These are real problems. And if we don’t get some significant assistance many of those in our states will suffer greatly."

Yeah, so?

Whether the state budgets have been well or poorly managed, it's as irresistible as it is pointless to ask how that becomes the responsibility of the entire country. Why should the Federal Government rush to do anything about it? Yes, that rhetorical question has a depressingly familiar answer these days. But sane people trapped in an insane asylum should never passively accept their fate unquestioningly.

Who Says There Are Two Parties?

Republicans are preparing to sell the citizenry down the river again. In discussions about the proposed economic 'stimulus', Senator McConnell is whining that the Democrats may decide to rob the American people without Republicans being consulted on which pocket.

If they pursue a fair process...and give both sides an opportunity to have input, to have a true bipartisan stamp, he’s likely to get significant support... I don't think that they even seriously can defend doing this without bipartisan consideration.

But wasting still more taxpayer money on immoral and impractical schemes is defensible if Republicans get to tweak some knobs? Why do we even have two parties?

Many would argue that the Republicans can and should return to principles of limited government — protecting individual rights to life, liberty, and property consistent with their Constitutional constraints, and nothing else — and I concur. But you have to ask why one party should have to act as opposition to a party now based on ignoring those rights. Shouldn't both parties be dedicated to that philosophy of government?

True, the Democrats passed the point of no return on that issue 40 years ago. But Republicans have been scarcely better during that same period. Oh, occasionally, when things get far enough out of whack — like $4 per gallon gas as a result of hobbling the oil business within our borders for decades — they will briefly stand up like men and demand change. Then, weeks later they move back to business as usual, me-tooing the Democrats.

Madison would be more than appalled. He would apoplectic.

Gaza, Moral Inversion

I have little to say about the situation in Gaza except to hope that when the Israeli military is done there they continue on to Tehran. I wish them every success in their present endeavor.

But what is especially interesting are the protests. How often do we hear of angry, violent mobs suing for peace? How often do those agitators asking Israel to stop firing urge Hamas to stop firing rockets? Worst of all are those in the mainstream news outlets taking the side of the Palestinians. They are the real jihadists.

The moral inversion of the modern world continues.


Update:

David Harsanyi, as usual, says it better.

Gaza is free. Obviously, the Palestinians cannot be placated with an independent state -- a gift they never had until Israel handed them Gaza with nary a condition. But this is not a 3,000-year-old war steeped in ancient history, despite widespread perceptions. This was a 20th-century battle between Jewish and Arab nationalists. It has turned into a more insidious 21st-century war with Islamic fundamentalism.

Hamas will not be romanced by the idea of "building bridges" with Israel. There are not enough conferences rooms in Oslo or Davos to persuade Hamas even to recognize the existence of a Jewish state.

And Hamas is uninterested in cease-fires, except when it is in need of reloading rocket launchers -- supplied by mullahs of Iran.

Virus Destroys Economic Centers of Brain

Is there a better explanation for the ongoing economic insanity?

The outbreak has reached epidemic proportions, hobbling the thinking powers of those in the steel business as well. Apparently they are equally lacking in economic wisdom and self-respect, two notable symptoms.

Executives add[] their voices to pleas for a huge public investment program — up to $1 trillion over two years — intended to lift demand for steel to build highways, bridges, electric power grids, schools, hospitals, water treatment plants and rapid transit.

“What we are asking,” said Daniel R. DiMicco, chairman and chief executive of the Nucor Corporation, a giant steel maker, "is that our government deal with the worst economic slowdown in our lifetime through a recovery program that has in every provision a ‘buy America’ clause."

That's not quite as bad as asking for a direct bailout. At least the steel companies are willing to provide something for the money. But his wish is first-cousin to a tariff and the manager of a steel business should know better by now. And, that, after "[t]he third quarter was one of the best in U.S. Steel’s history," according to a spokesman for U.S. Steel.

Charles Schwab and Henry Clay Frick, two early titans of the steel business, never asked anything of government except to protect their property from vandalism and to keep the peace. Too many of today's businessmen have no such constraints of conscience nor much understanding of Constitutional constraints on what government should do.

Those at the top of the payscale aren't the only ones infected, either. One recently laid-off 48-year old woman who has worked on the line for years is concerned about her future after being laid off. Given her income it's hard to be too sympathetic, though.

On layoff, she is collecting $20 an hour, which is 80 percent of her base pay of $25.12 an hour. That base pay, rather than rising significantly, is fattened by incentive bonuses tied to amounts of steel produced and to profits. It had been averaging an additional $7 an hour — money now gone until the mill reopens.

Shades of the automakers... Do all these people have the same labor contract negotiators? Would that I could get paid $20 an hour for doing no work, or 80% of my regular income. I'd seriously consider not working. Perhaps that's partly why the company finds it so hard to stay above water during economic downturns.

In the meantime, we don't need to be too anxious about Ms. Loepker. She'll be fairly comfortable, since she "lives by herself in a four-bedroom home she bought in nearby Belleville, three blocks from a married sister." If things get truly tight, maybe she can rent out some rooms. Too bad the steel companies don't have that option.

If the Feds want to do something good for the country, maybe they could throw a little R & D money toward someone who could come up with a vaccine. But then, if it came from them, it might just spread the disease further.

UK Newspapers, Always A Hoot

From the London Times:

Police found elderly woman's body, bound with duct tape, in her London bedroom and are treating death as suspicious.

Suspicious? Ya gotta love the way British newspapers use language. Is there some alternative explanation? Did they think maybe she engaged in some kinky sex and her lover had a mental pause, stepping out for some fish and chips and neglecting to release her?

It's a funny old world, even amid tragedy.

Wall Street Down $6.9 Trillion in 2008

The losses in 2008 were so broad and deep that every sector in the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index took a double-digit hit, and the financial sector lost more than half of its value. The Dow Jones industrial average, an index of 30 blue-chip stocks, and the S&P, a broader index watched by market professionals, were down 34 percent and 38 percent, respectively, their deepest losses since the 1930s. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 41 percent, its worst year since the exchange was created in 1971.

Thank you Washington, for such a stellar devastation of all those greedy Wall Street buggers. A special tip of the hat to all those pretend-capitalists in business and media feverishly looking no farther than two days ahead who egged them on. Most especially, a rousing huzzah to the Progressives of the past 100 years who pushed so hard and so untiringly to make it happen. But the ultimate expression of gratitude must be reserved for those Americans who never bothered to crack a book or care very much about the character of their intellectual and political leaders' ideas, making the disaster inevitable.

So much for the practicality of Pragmatism.

Welcome Back to the 19th Century...

...the bad part.

Many people like myself would welcome a return to the political philosophy of the 19th century. That doesn't mean I'd be pleased at being reduced to its level of technology. Sadly, that is happening in many parts of the country. Thousands have resumed burning coal to heat their homes.

Granted, contemporary devices are somewhat more convenient and cleaner to use than those of 100+ years ago. But, when homeowners and small businesses are forced by higher oil and gas prices to use coal, and when proposals for more nuclear power plants are still met with ill-informed hysteria, this is the inevitable result.

Never mind the more fundamental issue that it's none of the viros' bloody business how you power or heat your home. In the usual collectivist manner they'll argue that what you do affects everyone else. Ignoring entirely the fact of 'downstream laws' and reasonable issues of degree, they insist on trying to control your every choice.

And it should not go unnoticed that, thanks to environmentalism, the environment is now getting even dirtier. Yes, it's ironic that the success of their own campaigns should lead to actual degradation of the environment. Ironic, but not surprising. Viro regulations that restrict nuclear power and raise the cost of oil and natural gas necessarily reduce capital and innovation that would lead to cleaner heat production.

Of course, the truly faithful will respond that people should simply use less, insulate better, blah, blah, blah. Using less heat isn't simply uncomfortable, though, nor is increased insulation necessarily better. Both lead to greater risk of health problems. Less airflow means less fresh air. Colder fingers means less manual dexterity and more accidents, such as dropped steak knives and glasses. And, just to beat that horse once more, it's none of the viros' affair what temperature you prefer.

Well, let us all install solar panels and wind turbines, then. A small extra price to pay for a cleaner environment, no? Great idea. That way we can spend time pointlessly clearing snow off the panels on a cloudy day and dodging flying icicles.

But then, environmentalism was never about making the environment better for you in the here and now. The middle of the roaders, like softcore socialists, want to make it better for some amorphous "everyone" in an ever-receding future. The more radical think we should "leave no footprint." And never mind that rise in lung diseases from indoor coal dust. That will just leave fewer people to mess up the planet.

Happy shoveling.