CRONY BAILOUTS: Bob Casey To Put Taxpayers On Hook For Teamsters Pension Mismanagement. “Sen. Robert Casey (D., Pa.) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D., N.D.) are pushing legislation that would commit taxpayers’ dollars to bailing out the Teamsters’ retirement pension fund. The financial crisis and the Great Recession may have upset your retirement plans, but that’s not reason that politically connected union thugs have to share the pain.”

But wait, there’s more: “As galling as it would be to bail out the Teamsters and their other private-sector union buddies — whose meatheaded management of their pensions has left them with as much as $165 billion in unfunded obligations, according to Moody’s — things would immediately get much, much worse if that precedent were used to justify a bailout of the public-sector unions, whose unfunded pension liabilities run into the trillions. (President Obama’s home state of Illinois is leading the way down the toilet when it comes to state-employee retirements. California’s pension shortfall, Vernuccio notes, is larger than the GDP of Saudi Arabia.) Casey-Pomeroy wouldn’t authorize public-sector bailouts, but it would establish an all too easily expandable template. Second, Casey-Pomeroy almost certainly would lead to a broader union bailout.”

UPDATE: Reader Joseph Dorsett writes: “I mishandled my IRA and it’s now not worth what I need to retire. Will Senator Casey help me?”

THE WAR AGAINST FUN just got funnier! “I just learned that Right Wing News is the first sponsor of HomoCon 2010.”

WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: Pakistan’s Failed National Strategy.

GREG GUTFELD: “Bar Update: The new name is Dialog. Yes, I am building Dialog.”

MICKEY KAUS on the FDA’s sudden sensitivity to treatment costs. “Do you think people on Medicare will stand for that sort of thing? I don’t–which is why Peter Orszag’s (and Ezra Klein’s!) predictions of trillions saved thanks to the health care bill’s anti-democratic cost controls have always seemed bogus.”

FROM DEREK LOWE, some gloomy thoughts on cancer cures.

TALKING ABOUT PAUL KRUGMAN talking about Social Security. Years ago, I heard John Langbein of Yale say that if Social Security were in the private sector, everyone involved would be locked up. It may still happen. . . .

AT AMAZON, markdowns on coffeemakers.

GREEN SHOOTS? Gordon Smith says the money is starting to flow. “We have been talking about ‘frozen’ capital markets for so long, it may be hard to remember a time when money flowed freely, but that time may not be far way.” Hmm. Well, let’s hope.

UPDATE: Brown Shoots: Residential construction drops 3.1% in July. Plus this commentary: “Once again, the core of the economic malaise is unemployment. The scarcity of jobs hits all segments of a consumer-driven economy, and as long as the US government keeps sucking up capital to expand regulation, businesses will hoard cash instead of investing in expansion and job-creating activities. The year of stimulus has passed without healing the economy at all, and instead we’re looking at a Cash for Clunkers hangover, only applied to the entire economy — with taxpayers on the hook for the tab.”

IN THE FUTURE, EVERYONE WILL BE UNAMERICAN FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES: “Am I to understand that criticizing American-made products now qualifies as un-American? I.e. griping about the antenna issues on the new iPhone is … an act of disloyalty? Or are we limiting this critique to government-owned companies whose products may be both prohibitively expensive and hugely inefficient in terms of marginal gas mileage achieved, but who at least provide makework for American labor?”

UNION MEMBER FIRED for attempting to unionize union’s employees. Yeah, I linked this story earlier, but it’s too good not to repeat.

AIRBRUSHING: Post About Coffee Party Decline Removed From Its Website. Funny how often these people’s first instinct is Stalinist . . . .

DROPPING THE BALL? “The Federal Reserve is downplaying the real risk of a double-dip economic recession and of the associated threat of Japanese-style deflation.”

UPDATE: A Wall Street reader emails: “Deconstructing the Fed’s communications is a Talmudic exercise. In the current environment of endless crisis, what they feel compelled to deny is what they most fear. All those years in Hebrew school have served me
well….”

MATT WELCH: Is Xenophobia Helpful in Assimilating Immigrants? Multiculturalism certainly isn’t.

POLITICO:

Q: Will Barack Obama be a one-term president?

A: Yes, he might last that long.

Plus this: “Honest to goodness, the man just does not get it. He might be forced to pull a Palin and resign before his first term is over. He could go off and write his memoirs and build his presidential library. (Both would be half-size, of course.) I am not saying Obama is not smart; he is as smart as a whip. I am just saying he does not understand what savvy first-term presidents need to understand.” I’m actually still waiting for the evidence of that whole smart-as-a-whip thing.

UPDATE: Reader Troy Lovell writes: “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I have been wondering for quite a while about that. The only evidence for Obama being smart is that everybody says so. But don’t smart people usually reveal themselves by knowing lots of stuff or making smart decisions? Obama has kept his ‘brilliance’ well-hidden. Since I was the only one who seemed to think so, I figured it must mean that I am secretly racist or something.” It’s a lot easier to look smart when you’re a candidate with the press on your side, than when you’re a President who has to actually do things. . . .

Meanwhile, Obama can’t seem to catch a break: LA OUTRAGED After Obama Fundraiser Shuts Down Traffic For Hours.

MORE: Reader Ralph Hyatt emails:

In addition to no evidence for Obama brilliance, he also is a lousy politician. Seriously, he repeatedly manages to anger both his base and moderate independents on the same issue. This mosque debacle isn’t his first unforced error. What kind of brilliant politician does that? He is a product of machine politics who obtained his offices through patronage, not electioneering. Anyone not blinded by his “charisma” could see that.

It’s the Peter Principle on steroids, I think.

MORE STILL: CNN: Former Obama Campaign Adviser – From Articulate To “Incoherent Presidency.” This is what all the pundits have been thinking for a while. It’s finally coming out. Some — like Simon above — are still deploying a thin smokescreen of irony, but others are beyond even that figleaf.

THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING: Bell, CA City Council Meeting Taken Over By “Angry Citizen Commentary.”

COMPENSATION: How Should Years Of Wrongful Imprisonment Be Valued? I don’t know, but there should be a place at the courthouse where they post the names and photos of the prosecutors involved. . . .

DECONSTRUCTING THE NEWS:

“A few people lined the streets”? How do a few people line streets? Or even one street? Instead of saying something ridiculously nonsensical, why not admit it? When Obama came to Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, basically nobody gave a damn.

Hell, these days he’s lucky to get that kind of reaction. . . .

Plus, from the comments:

Anyway, there weren’t any more than a few people lining the streets. In fact, most people were just going about their business shopping in all the stores. The one thing that I did find interesting was that there was a group of maybe 10 black women nearby. When the motorcade went by, they cheered raucously. It was a sweet moment, and it made me realize how important and fundamentally awesome it must feel to African-Americans that a black man has reached the pinnacle of American politics. No matter how much of a train wreck Obama’s presidency is, that is indeed a satisfying milestone.

Yes, but it’s old news now. And an amusing suggestion: “‘Welcome President Bush’ would be a good sign to carry.” Heh. Or Hoover, whatever.

BYRON YORK: Dems feel the heat from Obama’s stand on mosque.

PAUL HSIEH: Transparency For Me, But Not For Thee. “Americans must demand government transparency as a corollary to the broader principle that a properly limited government should be our servant, not our master—as the Founders intended.” The Framers may have intended it, but most of our elected officials are doing their best to avoid it.

EDMUND ANDREWS ON THE FANNIE AND FREDDIE DEBACLE: What’s Obama’s Exit Strategy?

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE: Stripping Pays Better Than My Goldman-backed Art Degree.

COVERING THE IMPORTANT NEWS: Millionaire Matchmaker Host Dumps Rich, Douchey Fiancé.

IN THE NAME OF, UH, WOMEN!

POLITICS: Responding to opponent’s demand, Harry Reid breaks with Obama over ground zero mosque.