Like Chalk on the Highway

Is it just me or does the dizzying array of passwords and entry points into cyber space just completely undermine the intentional aspect of creating some record of one's brief existence on this spinning fragment of rock and organic matter? This blog, that blog, this email account, that Twitter account, multiple identities, multiple web sites, a Facebook friend, a Pay'Pal', a tweet....good lord, I feel like I am running full tilt on a boat on a huge lake skipping a bag of indescript stones into the water with some hope that when they fall to the bottom, some crawfish or catfish or wayward diver will wander upon it and say "bbbrrblll, hmmm". Or perhaps a terrestrial metaphor is more suitable...it is as if my digitial etchings are like a bag of chalk hanging like a sack of potatoes behind my Hyundai Santa Fe scraping the pavement at various intervals: haphazard in their location, evanescent markings barely visible in contrast to the consistent yellow striping that sometimes appears to be the only real signpost of consequence. You stay on your side, I'll stay on mine, and never the twain shall meet. I suppose there can be a way to use all this technology to better depict the songlines of our respective journeys; as yet, I haven't found it.

Further along the road to serfdom

I was asked today, what I thought of Bobby Jindal's response to the recent Presidential Address to Congress and all the other bloodsuckers in Washington. Yes, what little we heard, he sounded like a wimp. And he kind of is a wimp. A double whammy: a wonk and a wimp. We need, and I almost hate to say this, but Newt Gingrich. I think a Newt Gingrich/Steve Forbes ticket would send all these damn bureaucrat, bleeding heart liberals and redistributionists packing - too bad the damage will have been done, perhaps irrevocably. The banks are dead, the auto industry is dead, manufacturing is at its knees and the government is thriving. Why do business enterprises continue to acquiesce to being the tax collection agents for this mafia? You think any of this makes sense?? And still we are fighting the zionist cause with those US tax dollars - which look more and more like tribute money to King Obama every day. The Oracle of Delphi (Automotive) is a harbinger for GM/Ford/Cerebrus and the UAW. Just watch the UAW's "plight" as the big three resort to bankruptcy (its a matter of time now), and the Court's ruling to allow Delphi to unilaterally abandon health care for retirees serves up another "victory" for the big government politburo/Clintonistas - this one on a silver platter as the government "rescues" big labor's retirees by offering them and much of the rest of America the first installment of universal health coverage. I wish I couldn't see all this coming, but the narrative is just too well scripted. Meantime, the folks who have built enterprises and managed through all the risk have long since had their health care coverage stripped (2006 Chrysler bags salaried retiree health care; GM has done same; Ford working out a deal), these are the folks who have been taxed into submission, are still paying their mortgages and will face the likely prospect of marginal rates in the 75% range again to pay for all this. This doesn't even begin to address the inter-generational penalty being slapped on kids who are ethereally self-absorbed in the digital domain, playing mind-numbing DSes and watching little blips on handhelds as the trillions of borrowed dollars mount. Jindal is timid little whisper in a faint corner of America that has yet to regain credibility with the US. When Jindal mentioned the word "Katrina" - even though he was making a good point - i.e. the government is not the answer, even more boldly, he essentially said, be skeptical of the government's promise - he conjured up the notion that we Louisianians are "asking for it" by living at or below sea level, that our government is more dishonest and inneffectual than the norm, and that we've already had our bailout. Jindal had one chance to break out of that mold and he is now doomed to be a victim and a wimp who is not capable of leading the nation. Sarah Palin should stick to Alaska politics. WHO WILL LEAD the cause of common sense?....ARGHHH!! It is SO frustrating.

Market Mayhem

Do you have espn?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus17-2008sep17,0,2186787.column?track=ntothtml

Sadly, I simply have my eyes open. I still think that the real rook job isthe pseudo-governmental Federal Reserve and now these ridiculous bailouts. They are proving daily that this intervening step between the Treasury and the commercial lenders is nothing but a glorified ponzi scheme that is subject to abuse. And when they really screw up, oftentimes because of too much government meddling (e.g. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, S & LIndustry), they are deemed "too big to fail" a ridiculous euphemism for "do over at taxpayer expense". The article cited above is a pretty brave statement among a mostly complicit bunch. Consolidation of airlines, telecom, oil companies,and even the auto industry seems defensible given that these industries are so heavily dependent upon huge capital investments and vertically integrated processes and distribution channels. If you look at the cost of airfare today versus 1980, or even oil and gasoline today versus 1980, or your phone bill, etc. the consumer has benefited greatly. Computers cost a fraction of what they once did in real dollar terms. Banking on the other hand has gotten SO much more expensive and it is such a huge skim (with fees out the wazoo) - banks surely don't need to be so big for purposes of efficiency. Likewise, the mortgage business. Investment houses. Hedge fund manager salaries. Was reading recently that whereas corporations carefully scrutinize legal expenses, investment firms such as Merrill, Goldman, Lehman, etc. let the firms bill at full tilt. The big NYC firms (except those with robust bankruptcy practices) will be a casualty of this mess, which I don't mind seeing one bit. I mean, if you wanted to, you could start up a bank in two weeks if you got all the paper approvals and some investors. Chase, Citibank and now BofA do not achieve any economy of scale in continuing to grow and in being an intermediary for the Treasury/Fed; instead they just gain more influence and monopoly control of the flow of capital. And when they make bad investments, they simply beg for their rich (but hugely overextended) Uncle Sam to open up the discount window with some monopoly money created out of thin air that they will simply sell to a high-bidder and pocket the difference - usually doleing out a princely sum to a fraction of a percent of the people involved (i.e. CEO, CFO, Controller,etc.). The proof is in the pudding because in this arena there have been no appreciable benefits to consumers - in fact the consumer / investor is now being harmed. Same with insurance, lots and lots of interference and consolidations and the product is now more scarce, more expensive and less responsive to the customer. Now AIG will be owned by the U.S. Government and before this intervention, the federal government barely even regulated insurers - that's always been the province of state governments. Hank Greenburg is a whining crybaby. I hope all his wealth shrivels into a little raisin. But back to Chomsky's observations in Manufacturing Consent...In my opinion, the FCC has been asleep at the wheel and has allowed way too much consolidation of the media sector. As far as the interface between all these "candidates" and the voters, there are three strategies working in sequence: make your guy or gal look like a pop culture icon or borrow the support of hollywood darlings at any available opportunity; co-opt the media and control the dialogue so as not to actually engage in policymaking or real debate; and finally, let the real economy operate outside the fray of the media circus having your candidate feign sympathy and act like he or she can affect this dynamic. To me, it underscores the fact that Obama/Biden/Clinton/Reich/Bush/Rice/McCain/Shumer/Pelosi etc. etc. are simply pawns who pretend to be in charge. Its a joke. The architects/gatekeepers of this system (Soros, Cheney, elder Bush, et al) keep all this in play and maybe need to leverage this strength to pay off Sunnis not to kill Shiites, or pay Iran not to develop nukes, or pay Boeing and Lockheed and Northrup to build 1.3 billion dollar aircraft. Those folks undoubtedly look down their nose at people who actually think that the elections make a difference from a representative governmental standpoint. Ok, they make a difference in that its either George Soros as the Chairman of the Board of Directors, or its Dick Cheney. That's what our vote means. That government is best which governs least. We should kick these free riders to the curb and just maintain a road crew in each jurisdiction and a school of last resort that would compete with a largely private school system funded, in part, by regional employers, churches, mosques and synagogues; a federal army with 2 year mandatory conscription for males (including immigrants with or without credentials) and don't get bent out of shape ladies - you could still volunteer if you choose. Policing could be done locally and fire protection should be supplied by a cooperative of industries, homeowners' associations or by their insurers, if they deem it worthwhile. Likely, they wouldn't. Cats would need to find their own way out of trees.

A good night's rest

I have always felt that conventional wisdom on catching a good night's sleep 2 nights before some major event was unfounded. Nevertheless, tonight I am riding the wave of conventional wisdom. In two days, I begin a stretch of 9 exams to pass the Louisiana Bar exam. Code I, II and III on Day One.