On NPR today, I heard two examples of frantic backtracking on the Gaza atrocity. Condolezza Rice, in her best hurt little girl voice pleading for Israel to offer humanitarian aid to the “civilians” in the massive Israeli concentration camp, and a movement among Israelis to reverse the awful policy. Another author, Amos Oz, says that the only solution to the problem is the “two-state solution” (forgive me if this formulation draws uncomfortable parallels.)
This sudden sea change is an example of the truism that no matter how corrupt, undemocratic, or awful a government, it still rests upon the consent of the governed. It signifies an uncanny awareness that as a result of this unrighteous action, the very legitimacy of the Jewish state in Palestine has come under serious, widespread question and attack, and the elites there and in the US are in a fearful panic over what this might mean.
GOOD.
I’ve been directing people toward Peter Schiff’s criticism of US monetary policy for a long time and many people have poo-pooed me for listening to a Chicken Little such as Schiff. Well, if you won’t believe me or Peter, maybe you’ll listen to a hot blonde.
Seems that Obama’s Dream Team is coming apart at the seams even before his innauguration. Governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson is backing out of the Commerce slot due to the heat he is catching in his home state. But what could that possibly have to do with the duties of Commerce Secretary as stated in the US Code?
The Secretary of Commerce shall have charge of the forecasting of weather, the issue of storm warnings, the display of weather and flood signals for the benefit of agriculture, commerce, and navigation, the gauging and reporting of rivers, the maintenance and operation of seacoast telegraph lines and the collection and transmission of marine intelligence for the benefit of commerce and navigation, the reporting of temperature and rain-fall conditions for the cotton interests, the display of frost and cold-wave signals, the distribution of meteorological information in the interests of agriculture and commerce, and the taking of such meteorological observations as may be necessary to establish and record the climatic conditions of the United States, or as are essential for the proper execution of the foregoing duties.
Snore. I can do that on my iPhone at any time day or night so my two cents says that we no longer need a Commerce Czar. Meanwhile, back to poor Bill. Is there a concern that he will use his vast power and budget to pick winners and losers? Not any worse than any of the past position holders such as Don Evans under Bush II.
At the direction of the President, Secretary Evans launched a government-wide Manufacturing Initiative. This is a major effort based on some 50 recommendations by industry to make manufacturers more competitive in world markets. Many of the recommendations are being put into effect, including: a new President’s Manufacturing Council; a new Commerce assistant secretary for manufacturing; a get-tough Unfair Trade Practices Task Force; a tax simplification study by the Treasury Department; and a comprehensive regulatory review by the President’s Office of Management and Budget.
Maintaining U.S. leadership in high-tech industries also is a focal point for Secretary Evans. He directed efforts to redefine government’s role in research in order to spur the development of more cutting-edge technologies; to promote the expansion of E-commerce and telecommunications with as little government intervention as possible; and to improve the Department’s economic data collection and distribution capabilities.
I’m watching some great Peter Schiff bits from CNN, CNBS, Bloomberg, etc and they all seem to be 5 or 6 little heads on a screen ganging up on Pete’s little head in the corner. Every one to a person is trying to convince us that the only solution to a “catastrophic” hit to the economy is an “orderly” march toward Soviet-style statism. Sickening.
Spoiler Alert: The Soviet union was a dismal failure from start to finish.
The Economic Collapse, Mythbusters Version
We love Discovery Channel’s “Mythbusters“. These guys are given salaries, staff, resources, and a weekly TV show to do the kind of stuff we used to get in trouble for doing when we were kids. It’s BOSS.
A while back they did a unique stunt in a bid to create an internet viral video like these goofballs did with candy and 2-liter bottles of soda. They bubbled methane gas into a bucket of soapy water to create a towering column of foam, which they then ignited, causing a spectacular fireball.
This, to our minds, is a GREAT illustration of the Financial Meltdown. The bucket is the American economy. The soapy water is the (actual) money supply. In 2001, Alan Greenspan (Jamie Hyneman, in the walrus moustache and beret) began pumping money(here, methane) into an economy that, already in recession was also reeling from the collapse of the dotcom bubble, the tech bubble, and the related NASDAQ bubble. Oh and this collapse too.
Obligingly, the economy foamed up, up, up. For reasons best known to bankers and policymakers, most of the money-methane went first into the housing market, then later began to spill out into the finacial services markets, then finally began to leak into consumer goods other than housing, notably gasoline (here the model strays from reality, it leaks not).
Greenspan kept this up right until the end of his last term, in January 2006, when Ben Bernanke was appointed to replace him. Bernanke (here Adam Savage) apparently took one look at what was happening, took out his lighter (monetary policy) and ignited the column of suds (stopped inflating), which, after a delay (2 years) caused a spectacular, flaming collapse, with accompanying disappearance and extinguishment of nearly all of the money.
Now, of course, it is time to play the video again, this time with with Bernanke pumping in money and probably lighting it too, in short order, just like Friedrich Von Hayek explained to the dunces on Meet The Press many years ago.
(OK it gets a little fuzzy here, just watch the video;)
Mythbusters Methane Foam