Mark Steyn on Joe the Plumber

Mark Steyn has a column up at National Review Online entitled "Joe the Plumber vs. Joe the Hair-Plugger", which is both very serious and very funny (but you expect that with Steyn, don't you?) at the same time.

"Supposedly, under the Obama tax plan, 95 per cent of the American people will get a tax cut. You’d think that at this point the natural skepticism of any sentient being other than six-week-old puppies might kick in, but apparently not. If you’re wondering why Obama didn’t simply announce that under his plan 112 per cent of the American people will get a tax cut, well, they ran it past the focus groups who said that that was all very generous but they’d really like it if he could find a way to stick it to Dick Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove and whatnot. So 95 per cent it is..........

.........Anyway, our Fact Check Unit ran the numbers on the Obama tax-cut plan and the number is correct: “95.” It’s the words “per cent” immediately following that are wrong: that’s a typing error accidentally left in from the first draft. It should read: Under the Obama plan, 95 of the American people will get a tax cut."

0bama's mathematically impossible tax plan should worry everyone. When 45% of the populace pay no taxes, it is not possible to give 95% a tax cut. So how does 0bama propose to pull this off? Refundable tax credits is the Doublespeak du jour mechanism he is proposing. This is just another word for welfare. You can't "refund" anything to someone who never paid anything in the first place. If they're getting a check from the Treasury, that money had to be confiscated from someone else. That someone else is probably a business owner who now won't have that money available to invest in growing his business and giving someone else the opportunity to earn some of that money. When 70% of the existing jobs in this country are provided by small businesses and 80% of the new ones, taking this money out of the productive economy and redistributing it to people who had no hand in producing it is not only insane but fundamentally wrong. Increasing tax rates will also act to decrease GDP which will decrease tax revenues. The next time you hear some smug nit-wit going on about how it's stupid to reduce tax rates when you are running a deficit, point them to that (and pray their math and reading comprehension skills are on a par with a 9th grader's).

More On Why Government Efforts to "Help" the Markets Aren't Working as Intended

A couple of days ago I posted on the $700 billion bail-out package and in a later update noted how when the government had failed to pass it the first time, the DJIA went up by 485 points. I really do think that government inaction might be the best course, for the reasons laid out in the WSJ article I linked to. Brian Micklethwait at Samizdata seems to be thinking along similar lines and also makes a pretty good case for why government actions are exacerbating rather than helping the problems due to a "crowding out" effect. No sane investor is going to want to get back into the market until the 800 pound gorilla on crack that is our government stops trying to "help".

"My take on this is that there is a crowding out effect going on here, big time. I trust we are all familiar with this idea. It says that big government plans of any kind not only do harm because the government plans fail and all the wealth it wastes on them is wasted, but, and arguably even worse, because people with better plans in the same line of business are frightened into inactivity.........

...............Well, now, exactly the same thing seems to be happening in the banking industry. Were I one of the immensely rich and immensely sensible banking people who had (a) seen this crash coming and cashed out at roughly the right time, and who now (b) has plans to gobble up failed banks and reorganise them along more sensible lines, I would now, despite all my hopes of profitable new business, be sitting on my hands, waiting for all the government plans to do their immense damage before I went wading in and god [sic] chewed up too. Only when these government plans had become an obvious failure, and the politicians had just totally given up, would I be ready to move in a[nd] sort things out. Only when the politicians lapse into inactivity, which for a brief shining moment looked as if it might happen straight away, does economic optimism, among the people willing to back their optimism with money, reassert itself."

Read the whole thing.

Why Didn't Passage of the $700 Billion Bailout Stabilize The Financial Markets?

Manuel Hinds, writing in the Wall Street Journal may just have the right answer, illustrating his point with a poker analogy. Read the whole thing of course but here's the meat of the article.

"What we are witnessing is what economists call a rise in the liquidity preference, which was the main factor leading to the Great Depression. By a rise in the liquidity preference we mean that investors aim to increase the share of liquid instruments in their total assets. For the banks it means they want to liquidate loans and transfer the proceeds to very liquid instruments, such as Treasury Bills.

This migration depresses the economy by reducing credit. In these circumstances, the solution is not to keep on throwing money at the banks, which are inclined to hoard it not lend it. Rather, what is needed is stopping the skyrocketing increase in their liquidity
preference and then lowering it. Doing that requires writing off the losses now lodged in the financial system as soon as possible.

A simple analogy will help illustrate this point. Imagine that you are playing poker with 10 people and that you learn that a minority of them is broke and would not pay you if
they lose. You don't know, however, who the ones are who won't pay. In this environment, the risk of losing would be too high even if you know that most of the players are perfectly sound financially and would pay up if they lose.

In this environment, any rational card player would stop making bets until the true solvency position of each player is revealed and the bankrupt ones are expelled from the game. Having insolvent players sitting at the table spoils the game.

This is what is happening in the banking system -- only worse, because in poker you would only fail to collect the pot if you played with an insolvent player, while in the banking system you would lose your bets if you lend to an insolvent bank. Liquidity preference will not subside until the losses are made explicit, written off and absorbed."

This sounds about right to me. I've quipped to more than one person in the last few days that it seems like every time the government tries to "do something" the market swoons again and maybe they should just stop. I may have been coincidentally closer to the mark than I thought.

Update: The day afer the first bailout bill was rejected by the House, i.e., the government failed to "do something," the dow rallied by 485 points. Yes, it dropped the day of the vote but could that be more due to the expectation of passage by some who expected the companies they invested in to benefit from the bailout and that was priced into the stocks? When the expectation didn't materialize, the market fell.

Barack Obama's Questionable Associations

I've been aware of the ties between Barack Obama and William Ayers for some time but apparently not many other people are because they get their news from the MSM, which is not doing its job and probing both candidates in depth. In fact, they have very assiduously avoided pursuing any story that has the potential to reflect badly on Obama. This McCain campaign video will give you the background.


The voice-over refers to several bombings carried out by Ayers' organization, the Weather Underground. One of those was a judge's house. The story of that incident, as told by the judge's son is here. After first trying to minimize his relationship with William Ayers as "some guy who lives in my neighborhood," Obama is now trying to justify it on the basis that he was only 8 years old when Ayers and his terrorist group were carrying out their attacks. John Murtagh, the judges son, was only 9 when the Weathermen tried to murder his entire family.

The issue with the Obama/Ayers relationship isn't, as some are trying to paint it, implying guilt by association but the fact that Obama is hanging out with someone who is proud of his terrorist acts, has never paid any meaningful price for them and has stated that he wouldn't rule out doing it again. Like it or not, we are all judged by the company we keep and Obama keeps company with some very bad people.

Update: A deleted scene from the movie "Indoctrinate U" tells more of the Ayers/Weathermen story.

Barack Obama's Socialist Roots

Still don't think Obama is a hard left socialist? Read this.

Bill Whittle on What Makes a Right

There's a new video at PJTV featuring Bill Whittle's commentary on what rights are.

"We the People" Have Lost Control of Washington

As Tom Blumer says over at Pajamas Media, "the bailout saga proves the elites don't care what we think." I certainly agree with the sentinment shared by many that it's time the entire Congress was replaced. They barely even pretend to listen to the voters anymore. Back to Tom Blumer:

"In mid-September, when it became clear to Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and George Bush that extraordinary measures were needed to address the mess that had built up in the financial markets during the past decade or so, their first instincts should have been to say:

• “We need to have a complete plan to deal with this.”
• “We need to make a case to Congress and the American people that our plan will work.”
  

They did neither of these things; nor did they even seem to consider whether what they wanted was even constitutional."

Does anybody out there know whether we can sue to block implementation of this bailout plan on Constitutional grounds before it gets any worse (and it will get worse if we don't start screaming even louder about it)?

(via Instapundit)

The Bailout and "The Blob"

Pajamas TV has this interesting little video perspective, presented by Bill Whittle, on the just-passed bailout bill and its growth metastasization from 3 pages to over 400 in the course of just two short weeks.

Hey, Congress. If you really want to help, don't help! And certainly don't help your self to all the goodies.

A Chronology of the Mortgage Meltdown

(via Samizdata) Reason Online has an excellent primer on the roots of the mortgage crisis that got us to where we are today. This is the take-away I think is important:

Let's be clear: This is a Wall Street crisis, not a national economic crisis. The overall economy, while a bit weak, is still growing. Some politicians are comparing the current environment to the Great Depression. But in 1932, when the federal government last moved to bail out the banking sector, economic output had fallen 45 percent and unemployment was a staggering 24 percent. Today, economic output is actually up and unemployment is a historically modest 6.1 percent.

More on Fannie/Freddie and Graft

(via Instapundit) This is an excellent question:

"And this is why Congress is half the approval rating of President Bush (lower than third-hand used car salesmen, or lawyers). This is why I'm glad that "quick is not good" is carrying the day. Here we are, at the so called "worst financial flop since the Depression" and the long term politicians are STILL being politicians instead of leaders.

So tell me again: why should I trust my government that is out to bury me? And why do we need (or want) professional politicians?"

Ouch Indeed. Democrats Lying to Avoid Proper Oversight of Fannie/Freddie

Via Vodkapundit, More video on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac showing Democrat lawmakers trying to claim there are no problems. Not a pretty picture at all for the dems.



Spread the word.

A Must Read (or two) at Scrappleface

"Bush: Congress Must Act to Save Stupid People".

Oh what the heck. This one is good too:

“Obama hit the right notes for these people,” the pollster said. “The way he cocks his head to the side as if perplexed, his frequent interjection of non-verbal sounds, and his ability to speak for long stretches without definitively declaring what he believes…all of this appeals to the uncommitted.”

Video - Burning Down The House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis?

Watch this. It's almost 10 minutes long but worth the time.


Update: Related Video here. Ouch Indeed.

Toyota Prissy Prius Extended Test Drive

I was traveling on business this week and when I arrived to collect my rental car what should I find waiting for me but a Toyota Prius. Now I've had my doubts about these vehicles, including whether they really are so good for the environment, so I welcomed the chance to get some first-hand experience with one.

First, I stowed my small roll-on and computer backpack in the trunk. This isn't a separate compartment from the rest of the car, just a space with a retractable cover. I found that this small amount of luggage took up most of the available space there. It isn't very long from front to back and as far as height goes, there is maybe a foot with the cargo cover in place. It would be difficult to get a couple of larger bags in and still hide them from prying eyes.

After stowing my bags, I got in and found the "key," which is really just the remote fob that fits into a slot on the dash. To actually turn the engine(s) on, you push a "Power" button on top of the dash. I pushed once and the central information screen came on. I had to push a second time to get the instrument display to come up. I then proceeded to put my foot on the brake and release the parking brake, then attempted to shift into reverse. Nothing. It shifted to neutral and wouldn't do anything else. I put it back in park by pushing the Park button then tried again. Still no go. I pushed the power button again and the car turned off so I pushed it once more to re-activate the displays and then, quite by accident, discovered that if I pushed it twice more in rapid succession, I could shift into reverse. This whole operation took me close to ten minutes (Note to self: If you ever take it into your head to rob a a bank or something, do not use one of these as a getaway car.).

Finally mobile, I drove on out of the garage. The car's acceleration is actually quite good, all that torque from the electric motor I suppose, and steering is pleasant and predictable. Over the course of four days I did a mix of freeway and local street driving, most of it the latter. The car was pleasant to drive and once I figured out the quirkiness of starting up, mostly like any other car.

The moment of truth for the Prius came when I topped off the fuel prior to returning the car. The big selling point of the Prius is its fuel efficiency when compared to a car with a conventional power plant. So, how did it do? I drove 120 miles from the time I picked up the car to the time I refueled it. I put 3.47 gallons in the tank. That works out to 34.58 miles per gallon. My conventionally powered Honda Civic gets 33 and cost roughly $5,000 less than a Prius. It also has a larger trunk. The cabin may be slightly smaller, but not really noticeably so to me. With this kind of price difference, the fuel efficiency would have to be a great deal better than what I experienced to justify the cost differential over a conventionally powered car because it will take an awful lot of high-priced gas not used to make up $5,000. The Civic also starts and is ready to go as soon as I turn the key and put it in gear. The Prius was fun for a few days but I don't think I'll be buying one for myself.

Bill Whittle Looks Like He's Becoming a Regular at NRO

Here's his latest column, "The Undefended City" . If you've never read Bill Whittle, you're really missing some incredibly inspireing , and very clear-headed writing. You can find all of his essays at his website, linked over at the right in my sidebar. He has also published them all in a book titled Silent America: Essays from a Democracy at War. From the article:

"It is the small-town virtues of self-reliance, hard work, personal responsibility, and common-sense ingenuity — and not those of the preening cosmopolitans that gape at them in mixed contempt and bafflement — that have made us the inheritors of the most magnificent, noble, decent and free society ever to appear on this earth. This Western Civilization… this American City… has earned the right to greet each sunrise with a blast of silver trumpets that can bring down mountains.

And what, really, is a Legion of Narcissists and a Confederacy of Despair against that?"

Read the whole thing.