FINALLY: What America has been waiting for: A rap video on the debt ceiling.
Archive for 2011
July 26, 2011
ROGER KIMBALL: Speaking Of “Shared Sacrifice.”
So the President wants “millionaires and billionaires” to “share in the sacrifice everyone else has to make.” Right. A couple of points: by “millionaires and billionaires” he means middle-class folks with a family income of $250,000 or above. By “sacrifice everyone else has to make” he means everyone except the 43.4 percent of tax filers who pay no federal income tax — many of whom, in fact, get a check from the government, i.e., from the other 50-odd percent who do pay federal income tax.(Remember this: the government has no money of its own: what money it disperses it gets from individuals and businesses.)
A “sacrifice everyone else has to make.” That sounds nice. What do you suppose it means? And what sacrifice do you suppose the President himself is making? Here’s an idea: Why doesn’t he figure out how much it actually costs to run the White House and then indulge in a little shared sacrifice by cutting (say) 20 percent. And why doesn’t he order his cabinet to make similar “shared sacrifices” in their own departments?
I know, I know: don’t hold your breath on that. But let’s think a bit more about the President’s speech yesterday.
Read the whole thing.
ATF GUNRUNNING UPDATE: Did The Feds Skip Background Checks on Fast-And-Furious Gun Buyers.
WELL, THE OLD CARS LAST A LOT LONGER THAN THEY USED TO, AND THEY’RE BETTER THAN THEY USED TO BE: Question: How much pent-up demand is there for new cars? I know I’ve been halfheartedly thinking about a new car for a couple of years, but although the old one is well over 100,000 miles and approaching the seven-year mark, it’s still a good car. So I guess my demand is pretty thoroughly pent-up, still . . . .
BELLADONNA ROGERS: Conservatives And Gay Marriage: A Guide For The Perplexed.
YES. NEXT QUESTION? Question of the Day: Are “Gun-Free Zones” Really “Target-Rich Environments”?
WELL, MAYBE THIS ELECTRIC CAR WILL BE CHEAP: GM Green-lights EN-V Electric Commuter … Pod … Thing. “GM’s upright, Segway-like EN-V electric vehicle has been given the green light for production, with high hopes to see the EN-V become a key part of major cities and car-sharing programs by 2020. . . . The EN-V’s final design has yet to be revealed, but expect the “car” to play a big role in keeping GM’s truck-heavy product portfolio as America’s CAFE requirements get tougher heading into 2025.”
ELECTRIC CARS GETTING more expensive, not cheaper.
HE’S REALLY JUST A SHADOW OF THE MAN THAT WE ONCE KNEW: “NBC News has confirmed that Democratic Rep. David Wu of Oregon is resigning in the aftermath of allegations that he had a sexual encounter with an 18-year-old woman.”
MY FRIEND ROB MERGES HAS A NEW BOOK OUT FROM HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS, Justifying Intellectual Property. I haven’t read it yet (my copy is on the way) but his work is always first-rate.
HOW WOULD YOU CUT THE DEFICIT? Instapundit readers can make suggestions here. Make your own cuts.
IN THE MAIL: Playing with Fire: Pakistan at War with Itself.
POWER LINE PRIZE: Baby Talk On The Deficit.
WALTER RUSSELL MEAD: From Norway To Hell. “There are some trying to draw some political conclusion about left and right from the massacre; I would like to go deeper. This tragedy doesn’t just speak to the state of cultural politics in our time, or remind us (as it surely does) that evil has a home in every human culture and human heart; it challenges some of our deepest beliefs about where the world is headed.”
RICHARD EPSTEIN: Raise Taxes On The Poor? “Yes. A flat tax could help solve the debt crisis. . . . Distressingly, neither the president nor the Democrats offer any rigorous account of the optimal level of tax progressivity. Rather, the president seems to think that no matter how high the current marginal tax rates, the correct social policy is to move them upward.”
TV JOURNALISM STANDARDS: When Your Paid Consultant Appears On TV As “Former Governor.” “The fault here obviously lies with the media types running these guys’ columns or giving them airtime without full disclosure. But it’s also another sad way in which ‘public service’ can be so lucrative when put to work for special interests.”
Another argument for my 50% surtax on post-government earnings!
ANOTHER CAPTIVATING INSTA-POLL, with some new names that I had overlooked before added. Vote, and discuss in the comments!
UPDATE: Okay, go here to vote, as this embed seemed to be slowing down page loads.
MEGAN MCARDLE: Say, maybe those Chinese bullet trains aren’t all they’re cracked up to be.
With all the other horrible events of the weekend, China’s high speed rail crash sort of faded into the background. But the toll is horrific: 43 dead, and hundreds more injured after one high speed train ran into another. Critics are now arguing that this is the result of cut corners in the construction process . . . .
China’s decision to build a $400 billion, 16,000 km high speed rail network in the space of a few years was initially greeted with awe at their commitment to winning the future, and laments from the usual suspects that America could never do something this fantabulous. Then the network was forced to slow the average speed of its bullet trains down due to safety concerns; lower-than-projected ridership caused big deficits; and the head of the rail ministry was removed in a tawdry corruption scandal.
But they’re winning the future.
AT AMAZON, markdowns on DVDs and Blu-Ray.
A TALE OF TWO SHALE STATES: Pennsylvania’s Gain vs. New York’s Lost Opportunity. You wonder if some people in New York want to just quit.
NICK GILLESPIE AND MATT WELCH: Old Media Must Make Way For New Media Landscape.
MICHAEL BARONE: Exiting the sinking ship? Ark. Dem. US Rep. Mike Ross won’t run again. “Ross was reelected by a solid 58%-40% margin in 2010, one of the few Blue Dogs to do so well, and although redistricting reportedly made his district a little less Democratic he obviously hs the capacity to run ahead of his party. But Arkansas, the most Democratic Southern state in the years when Bill Clinton was running, voted 59%-39% for John McCain and against Barack Obama, and no one thinks that opinion has moved in Obama’s direction since. Ross’s retirement will make it just a bit harder for Democrats to regain their House majority. Republicans are in excellent shape to pick up and hold this seat.”
UPDATE: In Ohio, a Tea Party Rally In Support of John Boehner. “Andrew Pappas, president of the Anderson Township Tea Party chapter, said the rally was to let Boehner know fiscal conservatives locally and across the region are backing him fully during the high stakes negotiations.”