I have a new piece up at Hudson New York called "The Money Myth."  It's here.

I also have a new piece up at Power Line, on the death of major newspapers.  It's here.

THURSDAY,  MARCH 12,  2009

BULLETIN - AT 7:23 P.M. ET:  Although it took an electron microscope to find it, some spine involving a foreign matter was detected today at the White House.  From Fox News:

The White House is taking offense at U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's comment that the United States is a "deadbeat" donor to the world body.

Press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that Ban's word choice was "unfortunate," given that the U.S. is the largest contributor to the United Nations. The U.S. pays 22 percent of the organization's nearly $5 billion operating budget but is perennially late paying its dues.

Ban made the "'deadbeat" comment Wednesday during a private meeting with lawmakers at the Capitol.

COMMENT:  Good for Gibbs, at least in this case.  The secretaries-general of the UN always get captured by the organization's secretariat and become mouthpieces for the America-doesn't-do-enough crowd.  The UN ought to be happy we're still members of the club, and haven't asked its "diplomats" to leave New York by slow freighter.

March 12, 2009   Permalink

TROUBLED WATERS - AT 7:05 P.M. ET:  From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Top banking regulators were taken aback late last year when a California congresswoman helped set up a meeting in which the chief executive of a bank with financial ties to her family asked them for up to $50 million in special bailout funds, Treasury officials said.

Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, requested the September meeting on behalf of executives at OneUnited, one of the nation’s largest black-owned banks. Ms. Water’s husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bank’s board of directors until early last year and has owned at least $250,000 in stock in the institution.

COMMENT:  Why am I not surprised?  Maxine Waters is one of those pseudo-leftist congressional frauds who constantly reminds us that she represents "my people."  I suspect that "my people" usually means her immediate family.

There's not much chance this will end her career.  She'll just tell "my people" that those coming after her are bigots, and the votes will pour in.  It's so sad when voters are so manipulated.

March 12, 2009   Permalink 

DOW WOW - AT 6:38 P.M. ET:  The Dow soared 240 points, to 7170, continuing Tuesday's rally.  This is a bear-market rally.  Let's see how long it continues.

THIS IS WHAT WE NOW CALL OPTIMISM - AT 2:01 P.M. ET: 

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- General Electric Co. shares and bonds rallied after Standard & Poor’s lowered its debt ratings one level and raised the outlook to “stable,” comforting investors who feared a sharper cut as profit falls at GE’s finance arm in a global recession.

The switch to AA+, from AAA and with a “negative” outlook, affects long-term debt, S&P analysts said in a statement today.

GE, which held the top rating since 1956, said in a statement doesn’t foresee “any significant operational or funding impacts.” The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company’s shares rose 87 cents to $9.36 at 11:55 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

COMMENT:  The market rallies because GE's debt rating wasn't cut as much as had been feared.  This counts for good news and a reason for "investors" to get back in.  The language of Wall Street is very far from the language of Main street.

March 12, 2009  Permalink

GM DOESN'T NEED MORE CASH...NOW - AT 1:47 P.M. ET:  From AP:

DETROIT — General Motors Corp. says its restructuring plan is starting to take hold, improving the automaker's fortunes at least to the point that it won't need a $2 billion government loan installment that it had requested for March.

Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said Thursday that GM formally told the Obama administration's autos task force on Wednesday that it wouldn't need the money this month. But in an interview with The Associated Press, Young would not say when the struggling automaker would need more government money or whether it will reduce the size of its loan request.

COMMENT:  The key point here is that GM still has to sell cars - a fact not even mentioned in the story.  It's a car company.  Historically, some of its executives haven't realized that.  It may be able to put off more loan requests, but it can't get back to health unless it builds cars that people want, and unless they buy them.

March 12, 2009   Permalink

DOW UP - AT 1:40 P.M. ET:  The Dow is up 145 points, and has now crossed back above 7000, to 7075.  This appears to be a bear-market rally, which has happened before in recessions, and occurred near the start of the great Depression as well.

AMERICANS TOUGH ON IRAN - AT 8:22 A.M. ET:  Results of a new IBD/Tipp poll show Americans to be tougher on Iran than their government, which means the facts may be getting through:

Americans remain in broad agreement that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons, with 78% taking that stand in the latest IBD/TIPP Poll vs. 77% the last time we posed the question in September 2006. However, unlike in '06, 52% now believe the U.S. should take military action to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons if diplomacy and economic sanctions fail. Two and a half years ago, when we asked if military action should be taken to stop Iran's uranium-enrichment activities, only 39% said yes.

COMMENT:  Fascinating result.  It's especially fascinating when you look at the charts that accompany the story.   As the quote above notes, when respondents were asked whether the U.S. should strike militarily if other means fail to stop the Iranian nuclear program, some 52% said yes.  But only 37% said no.  Remarkably, 48% of Democrats said yes, as opposed to 43% opposed.  The only sub-group saying no, naturally, was liberals. 

Problem is, the president is a liberal, and Congress is run by a liberal leadership.  And that is the message Iran is getting.

March 12, 2009   Permalink 

NO PREZ, NO GLORY - AT 8:17 A.M. ET:  This relates to the story just below.  Andrew Malcolm, of the L.A. Times's great Top of the Ticket blog, has an item this morning headlined:

As Mexico's drug wars rage, Obama lowers U.S. drug czar's job

It turns out the U.S. now has a new drug czar, the guy in charge of the war on drugs.  But announcement of the position wasn't, presumably, important enough for the president:

So when Vice President Who's-Its showed up Wednesday to formally announce the Obama administration's drug czar and make his familiar comment about only being No. 2, the political world got the signal instantly: This job is not important enough for the commander-in-chief to do the announcing.

COMMENT:  And this comes with, as we report below, a drug war escalating on the U.S.-Mexican border.  This administration has a tin ear on foreign policy, as witness the now wrecked appointment of dictator-loving Charles Freeman to be head of the National Intelligence Council.  The president must get a couple of nights of quality sleep, and start to move decisively.

March 12, 2009   Permalink

DOWN MEXICO WAY - AT 7:53 A.M.   From the McClatchy Newspapers:

WASHINGTON — President Obama weighed in Wednesday on the escalating drug war on the U.S.-Mexico border, saying that he was looking at possibly deploying National Guard troops to contain the violence but ruled out any immediate military move.

"We're going to examine whether and if National Guard deployments would make sense and under what circumstances they would make sense," Obama said during an interview with journalists for regional papers, including a McClatchy reporter.

"I don't have a particular tipping point in mind," he said. "I think it's unacceptable if you've got drug gangs crossing our borders and killing U.S. citizens."

COMMENT:  Yeah, I would say that killing U.S. citizens would be unacceptable.  I'll go along with that. 

These quotes from the president show a flaw in this administration - an inability to zero in on a serious problem and propose a rapid, effective response.  It's oh so intellectual, almost too reasonable.  There must, in leadership, be the grand gesture, the memorable phrase.  "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"  What we get from this president, an attractive and bright man, is too much mush.

There's a crisis on our border - not a vague problem to be contemplated.

March 12, 2009   Permalink

IRAN SUSPICIONS - AT 7:17 A.M. ET:  From AP:

Two diplomats say Iran's national car company has made plans to purchase large quantities of carbon fiber, which is under United Nations embargo because it could be used in the country's nuclear program. The automaker's chief executive denied it.

The two diplomats independently told The Associated Press that their countries' intelligence agencies had gathered information that Iran Khodro executives were planning international orders for carbon fiber.

Some would be used for fuel tanks in a new car that runs partly on compressed natural gas, the diplomats said.  But carbon fiber is also a component of advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium.

COMMENT:  Time is on the mullahs' side.  Our government doesn't seem overly alarmed.

March 12, 2009   Permalink

END THE STARVATION! - AT 7:05 A.M. ET: 

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- Wall Street employees’ base salaries may double as bonuses, which can account for the bulk of pay for bankers and traders, shrink, said Alan Johnson, who runs a compensation consulting firm.

Base salaries have ranged from about $80,000 to $300,000, with bonuses often climbing into the millions of dollars, Johnson said. Now, he says employees who received $250,000 in base salary may get an increase to $500,000 or $600,000.

“Regulators are either requiring it or imploring people to do it,” said Johnson, founder of New York-based Johnson Associates. “Their belief is that part of the reason that firms got in trouble was they had an excessive focus on bonuses because salaries were too low to live on.”

COMMENT:  Another image builder for Wall Street.  Yeah, those salaries were too low to live on.  My great fear is that Wall Street will learn nothing from the current crisis, and will simply figure out a way around new rules.  Our free-enterprise system, the greatest engine of economic progress in history, has been given a black eye.  I'm not sure, considering some of the personalities involved, that the eye will soon be healed.

March 12, 2009   Permalink 

WEDNESDAY,  MARCH 11,  2009

HILARIOUS - AT 7:22 P.M. ET:  Look, if you think we're exaggerating when we say some newspapers are in the tank for the left, you really have to read this.  I mean, really.

So, The New York Times has hired a new "conservative" columnist to replace Bill Kristol, who was shown the door several months ago.  Their choice is - the envelope please - Ross Douthat of The Atlantic magazine.  And this is the way The Times's own story describes him:

His writing steers away from partisanship — he frequently criticizes Republicans — or doctrine, showing a concern for income inequality that is usually the terrain of more liberal writers. On abortion, he said in an interview, “I’m sort of a squishy pro-lifer,” interested in finding areas of compromise. He initially favored the war in Iraq, but later opposed it.

That's the new conservative columnist.  He was for the war before he was against it, and all the rest.  The other "conservative" columnist is David Brooks, who supported Barack Obama.

Are you laughing out loud.  I can't stop. 

March 11, 2009   Permalink

THE TRUTH IS TOLD! - AT 7:15 P.M. ET:  Moonbat author Alice Walker is in Gaza, which seems to be attracting a lot of moonbats these days.  Britain's pro-Saddam Hussein sweetie George Galloway just visited.

Walker is generally introduced to us as the Pulitzer-prize-winning author of "The Color Purple."  It's one of those stock journalistic introductions that leaves out the fact that she's absolutely certifiable, and has joined the army of 9-11 "Trufers," spouting conspiracy theories about the U.S. Government being behind the attacks.

Now Walker finally rips bare the truth about why Americans support Israel.  You cannot make this stuff up:

"We were indoctrinated to the song in that film Exodus, you know, 'This land belongs to us, this land is our land,' meaning the Israelis, the Jews, and for so long, we were told that nobody lived here, that it was a land without people, for a people without land," she said.

Now you know.  It was film music.  That's what it was.  It's amazing what an author's insight can show us.  Problem is, she apparently never saw the movie.  It has indigenous Arabs running all through it.  Maybe she saw the edited version, starring Albert Einstein and directed by Joe Lieberman.

And some people still take this nutbag seriously.

March 11, 2009   Permalink

IT'S NOT TOO DARNED HOT - AT 7:02 P.M. ET:  From the Gallup organization: 

PRINCETON, NJ -- Although a majority of Americans believe the seriousness of global warming is either correctly portrayed in the news or underestimated, a record-high 41% now say it is exaggerated. This represents the highest level of public skepticism about mainstream reporting on global warming seen in more than a decade of Gallup polling on the subject.

COMMENT:  This is what happens when people like Al Gore simply ridicule the doubters rather than engage them.  People come to reasonable conclusions as to why the debate is being ducked.  The doubters have done a good job of raising intelligent questions that go unanswered.

March 11, 2009   Permalink

A FUNNY THING HAPPENED TO SOME STOCKS ON THE WAY TO... - AT 4:33 P.M. ET:  From the New Post:

If the US government assumes greater control over US bank Citigroup or automaker General Motors, that might "trigger" their removal from the Dow index, the Dow Jones Indexes said yesterday.

John Prestbo, editor and executive director of the DJ Indexes, which selects the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, said he tracks both companies "every day to see what the status is."

COMMENT:  Just a second.  Wasn't Citigroup the stock that triggered that huge rally yesterday?  And it may be delisted?  Can we get together on this?

March 11, 2009   Permalink

DOW NOT WOW - AT 4:24 P.M. ET:  The Dow closed up only four points, to 6930.  Yesterday's dramatic rally fizzled. 

DOW NOW - AT 11:31 A.M. ET:  The Dow is up 25, to 6951.  There'd been some hope that yesterday's huge rally would be continued, but thus far the results are modest.  "Investors" need more good news, like learning that some major banker didn't sneeze today. 

MORE ON MODERATE TALS - AT 11:29 A.M. ET: 

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's Taliban on Tuesday turned down as illogical U.S. President Barack Obama's bid to reach out to moderate elements of the insurgents, saying the exit of foreign troops was the only solution for ending the war...

..."This does not require any response or reaction for this is illogical," Qari Mohammad Yousuf, a purported spokesman for the insurgent group, told Reuters when asked if its top leader Mullah Mohammad Omar would make any comment about Obama's proposal.

"The Taliban are united, have one leader, one aim, one policy...I do not
know why they are talking about moderate Taliban and what it means?"

COMMENT:  You see, we insulted their culture by using a term they don't understand.  If only we'd sent in Code Pink first, this wouldn't have happened.  We're so insensitive.

March 11, 2009   Permalink

GOOD SPEECH - AT 8:21 A.M. ET:  President Obama spoke about education yesterday, and we must concede that it was a solid speech, with ideas that conservatives could applaud:

President Barack Obama remains in exceptionally strong standing with his own party, and as if to prove it, he gave an unvarnished education speech Tuesday with some tough talk aimed at failing teachers — and the teachers unions held their fire.

Obama proposed spending additional money on effective teachers in up to 150 additional school districts, fulfilling a campaign promise that once earned him boos from members of the National Education Association.

“Good teachers will be rewarded with more money for improved student achievement and asked to accept more responsibilities for lifting up their schools,” the president said in a wide-ranging education speech before a meeting of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington.

COMMENT:  All right, that's the speech.  Now how about some action.  Democrats in Congress, under the thumb of teachers' unions, have just destroyed a Washington, D.C. scholarship program that benefited two friends of the Obama children.  The president declined to intervene.  It's going to take much more than a good speech to convince the nation that this president will defy pressure and work to improve education. 

We watched, in New York City, as the greatest urban school system in the United States was destroyed before our eyes.  Sadly, the destroyers remain entrenched.  We also watched as Dunbar High School in Washington, which produced so many outstanding African-American scholars, was also destroyed, also by entrenched political forces.

We know how to educate youngsters.  We've done it before.  We can do it again.  But it means taking back the schools from bureaucracies that run them for their own good, rather than the good of students.

March 11, 2009  Permalink

REVELATION - AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  From The Politico:

President Barack Obama firmly resists ideological labels, but at the end of a private meeting with a group of moderate Democrats Tuesday afternoon he offered a statement of solidarity.

“I am a New Democrat,” he told the New Democrat Coalition, according to two sources at the White House session.

The group is comprised of centrist Democratic members of the House, who support free trade and a muscular foreign policy but are more moderate than the conservative Blue Dog coalition.

Obama made his comment in discussing his budget priorities and broader goals, also calling himself a “pro-growth Democrat” during the course of conversation.

White House officials stressed that Obama was not making any declarations, but rather pointing out that he was in sync with many of the group's principles.

COMMENT:  So, he's a New Democrat?  This will come as a surprise to those who've reviewed the stimulus package, the budget, the naming of ideologists to handle environmental issues and a foreign policy that punishes our friends and rewards our enemies.  But wait.  This meeting was on Tuesday.  By the end of the week there'll be a new statement.

March 11, 2009   Permalink

AND MORE WARNING - AT 7:52 A.M. ET:  From London's Daily Mail:

A Muslim preacher of hate today ridiculed British soldiers who were abused during a homecoming parade - branding them cowards who have an 'uncanny knack for death by friendly fire.'

Firebrand preacher Anjem Choudary praised the Muslims who had protested at yesterday's parade for the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment in Luton.

And in an inflammatory message posted on an Islamic extremist website, Choudary viciously mocked their comrade who was killed by friendly fire in Iraq.

His words came as police charged a man who allegedly shouted abuse at the Muslim anti-war protesters.

The preacher of hate, who has links with banned Muslim cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, likened the soldiers to Nazis and branded yesterday's homecoming a 'vile parade' of 'brutal murderers.'

COMMENT:  In fairness we should note that some Muslim leaders in Britain denounced these fanatics.  But all it takes is a small number to radicalize others and form deadly plots.  That is our problem.

March 11, 2009   Permalink

ANOTHER GRAND ILLUSION - AT 7:41 A.M. ET:  Vice President Joe Biden has joined President Obama in advocating that we reach out to "moderate" elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan, hoping to neutralize them through the Obama-blessed magic of negotiations.  Others, perhaps a bit closer to the problem, dissent:

"Obama's comment resemble a dream more than reality," Waheed Mozhdah, an official in both the Taliban and the Karzai governments, told Reuters.

"Where are the so-called moderate Taliban? Who are the moderate Taliban?" asked Mozhdah, who has also written a book on the Taliban.

"'Moderate Taliban' is like 'moderate killer.' Is there such a thing?" asked writer and analyst Qaseem Akhgar.

COMMENT:  It reminds me of the story of U.S. Senator William Borah, who, after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, reportedly said that the whole thing could have been prevented had he had just a few minutes with Adolf Hitler.  There are illusions in every generation.

March 11, 2009   Permalink

THE WARNING - AT 7:17 A.M. ET:  From the Washington Post:

Senior U.S. counterterrorism officials are stepping up warnings that Islamist extremists in Somalia are radicalizing Americans to their cause, citing their recruitment of the first U.S. citizen suicide bomber and their potential role in the disappearance of more than a dozen Somali American youths...

...Since November, the FBI has raced to uncover any ties to foreign extremist networks in the unexpected departures of numerous Somali American teenagers and young men, who family members believe are in Somalia. The investigation is active in Boston; San Diego; Seattle; Columbus, Ohio; and Portland, Maine, a U.S. law enforcement official said...

...intelligence officials said the recruitment of U.S. citizens by terrorist groups is particularly worrisome because their American passports could make it easier for them to reenter the country.

COMMENT:  We have an image in our heads that terrorist threats come primarily from the Middle East.  In fact, Pakistan and Somalia are emerging as major centers of concern.  The fact that young Somali men here could suddenly vanish is chilling.  The war on terror, discredited in some smug circles, is far from over.

March 11, 2009   Permalink