GM Bailout Just Money Down the Drain?

So, some federal legislators are balking at the auto industry bailout-far more than the financial bailout. They're saying it won't fix the system.

If so, why did so many of them think the financial bailout would work? Shoot, I remember reading in the NYT a few weeks ago that most banks were taking the money and rather than using it as intended to unthaw the credit market, just sitting on it.

Worse comes to worse, this money, even if it doesn't "save" the big 3 would at least be spent, providing middle class wages for tens of thousands of people in a time of tremendous doubt.

To me, that makes the auto bailout sound even better than money in a bank.

If Citibank is too big to fail....

Doesn't that just mean it's too big?

I hope Obama, when he gets in forces these banks to split up as one of the conditions for a government bailout.

It seems like the status quo has too many eggs in too few baskets.

NYT Article
Paul Krugman Blog Post

Fox Newz says Palin didn't know Africa was a Continent

Wow.


But check this one out, same data but on Bill O'Reilly's show:

He thinks someone we can teach basic civics to is still qualified to be VP. Maybe VP of their high school class, but VP of America? Come on. Hell, she most likely spells it Amerika.

Election Day: Under Pressure

Queen |MTV Music

JRuby-based war files. They're great, and it allows me to get away from memcache-backed sessions(and use java based, non-crappy sessions), but now in development I'm back to a java like development workstyle:code....war...wait.....deploy....wait....test.....code.

And, of course, fairly regular application server restarts.

Al the Shoe Salesman

Obama has a tax calculator on his web site, and they got Ed O'Neil, aka Al Bundy, to fill it out "in character".....funny, informative and not at all negative.




Makes you wonder why McCain can't do something like this. Oh yeah, because he....can't.

Can America Afford the Illusion of Exceptionalism?

As always, the election season gives us an opportunity to learn about how our fellow citizens think about our country, our path forward, the road behind, and the nature of country.

I bleed Democrat...but I can understand the Republican ideals of limited government. Granted, I believe it's not 100% optimal for growth, but at least it has it's own internal logic.

But I don't think I'll ever understand the belief in American Exceptionalism. This belief that we're God's new chosen people. Why, intrinsically America is the best place short of Heaven.

It seems that it's the single element that has most driven the Bush administration. It's the reason we're in Iraq. It gives us a Not-Invented-Here mentality that is the reason we don't have better health care system, better educational system, and a better environment. It holds back our view or the world, which is no longer(if it ever even was) the cesspool of incompetence some seem to intrinsically think it is. Ultimately, it's an unproven, romantic ideal that, after George Bush, we can no longer afford.


And this means I can never be a Republican.

It's a Great Time to Invest!

Princeton Economists on the Bank Hoo-ah

Wanna watch the first Obama/McCain debate?

The NYT has a page up, with the full video as well as footnotes on what the candidates are saying.

Watch it here.

Just Like 9/11, No One Saw it Coming...

Oh, maybe they did.

Say, have you seen that barrel of tar I had sitting around here?

Robert Reich

I've linked to his blog before, but Robert Reich, the Clinton Secretary of Labor, has posted some interesting thoughts about our wall street bailout on his blog.

http://robertreich.blogspot.com/

Dog Days

A fantastic video from the NYT:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/?fr_story=dd8d41770945c6b1d0b7f3d7efae02b4197beecd

RNC 2008: Democracy Immobilized, Republican Inaction?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0UUsdCx3Qg