Quote of the Day

Geithner's Cash For Trash, Why no honest write-downs for bad debt?, Forbes.com, Susan Lee.

He came. He spoke. The market tanked. He went. The market tanked some more. Such is the power of Treasury Secretary Geithner.

To summarize:

1. We need to ignore Sec. Geithner's tax violations because he is uniquely qualified to manage the economy,
2. The One™, in his Monday press conference, announces that the saintly Geithner will detail the administration's solution for the banking/credit crisis,
3. The details are: we need to spend an additional $1-2 Trillion, amount otherwise undetermined, in unspecified ways.

There is a perverse curiosity in watching a train wreck, which you know is going to occur, as it unfolds before your eyes. As the liberals continue to believe the primitive logical fallacy of "word power", i.e. that simply saying the proper words with good intentions will magically transform reality, their incoherent policies would be comic if the inevitable outcome were not so tragic. But, of course, we were assured that such a magical transformation would occur with the inauguration of The One™.

Quote of the Day

A rocky first few weeks, Camille Paglia.

Speaking of talk radio (which I listen to constantly), I remain incredulous that any Democrat who professes liberal values would give a moment's thought to supporting a return of the Fairness Doctrine to muzzle conservative shows. (My latest manifesto on this subject appeared in my last column.) The failure of liberals to master the vibrant medium of talk radio remains puzzling. To reach the radio audience (whether the topic is sports, politics or car repair), a host must have populist instincts and use the robust common voice. Too many Democrats have become arrogant elitists, speaking down in snide, condescending tones toward tradition-minded middle Americans whom they stereotype as rubes and buffoons. But the bottom line is that government surveillance of the ideological content of talk radio is a shocking first step toward totalitarianism.

Camille's puzzlement is immediately answered by her own assessment of Dhimmicrat arrogant elitism.

Quote of the Day

Why Obama’s new Tarp will fail to rescue the banks, Martin Wolf, Financial Times, February 10 2009.

The correct advice remains the one the US gave the Japanese and others during the 1990s: admit reality, restructure banks and, above all, slay zombie institutions at once. It is an important, but secondary, question whether the right answer is to create new “good banks”, leaving old bad banks to perish, as my colleague, Willem Buiter, recommends, or new “bad banks”, leaving cleansed old banks to survive. I also am inclined to the former, because the culture of the old banks seems so toxic.
    By asking the wrong question, Mr Obama is taking a huge gamble. He should have resolved to cleanse these Augean banking stables. He needs to rethink, if it is not already too late.

Quote of the Day

An interview with Robert Barro, The Atlantic, Conor Clarke, Feb 5 2009.

This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s. I don't know what to say. I mean it's wasting a tremendous amount of money. It has some simplistic theory that I don't think will work, so I don't think the expenditure stuff is going to have the intended effect. I don't think it will expand the economy. And the tax cutting isn't really geared toward incentives. It's not really geared to lowering tax rates; it's more along the lines of throwing money at people. On both sides I think it's garbage.