MAZDA OFFERS 40 MPG without hybrids. I still wish they weren’t cancelling the rotary, though.
Archive for 2011
October 25, 2011
ANYTHING YOU CAN DO, I CAN DO META: “May God bless their little souls. The poor dears really are trying. The New York Times editorial page has now corrected its correction. This is getting meta.”
LAW AND ECONOMICS AND THE FUTURE OF LAW TEACHING: “I think the key challenge and imperative for law and econ scholars in law schools will be to relate what they do to the market for their output — i.e., jobs for their students.”
INSTA-POLL: A reader emails:
I saw this headline on Drudge…
KILL BOUNCE: OBAMA MOVES UP TO 44% AT GALLUP…
…and I was reminded of the line from Margaret Thatcher so often quoted over the past couple years.
To paraphrase:
‘The problem with this is that eventually you run out of other countries’ dictators to kill.’
Well, there are a few left. But who should be next?
Yeah, the Putin thing was just to see if you were paying attention. Click through to discuss other candidates in the poll-comments.
DIRTY TRICKS?: Roll Call: Richmond Campaign Paid Surveillance Firm. “Just days after Democrat Cedric Richmond unseated GOP Rep. Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao in his 2010 bid for re-election in Louisiana’s 2nd district, Richmond’s campaign received a bill from an investigations firm that specializes in covert video surveillance, court records searches and serving subpoenas.”
RALPH BENKO: Democracy, Denied; Republic, Lost. “Does this government represent you? 78% of us say that America is on the wrong track. Only 15%, near an historic low, feel America is headed in the right direction. This implies that a supermajority says that their intention, their well being, and their very dignity are being violated. . . . Complaints about the unresponsiveness to popular will have been emerging with greater and greater clarity and force from the populace. They were called “uprisings” by progressive journalist David Sirota, and the “Middle America Rebellion” by conservative journalist Mark Tapscott. Citizen actions by disaffected people are crescendoing from their first (and still most effective) manifestation, MoveOn.org, to the Tea Parties, to — worldwide — the still nascent Occupy movement. These outpourings might not agree on the solution, but all agree on the problem. The permanent government isn’t listening to the citizens.”
AT AMAZON, new releases in Mysteries & Thrillers.
SHOCKER: Gallup: Gov’t Regulations at Top of Small-Business Owners’ Problem List.
People talk about taxes as a drag on the economy, but regulations are worse.
CAMERON BLOCKS A REFERENDUM ON THE E.U. but 66 percent of Britons back a referendum on European Union membership.
Plus this: “Back in 1975 people voted to join a common market. Since then it has developed without ever having had another referendum on what is now the European Union with its own national anthem, its own flag and its own parliament. European rules and regulations intrude into ever more areas of British life.” The E.U. was always a project of elites, who want to reestablish a modern version of the transnational aristocracy that Europe had prior to World War I. They weren’t big on popular votes when they seemed to have things under control; they surely don’t want one now.
LOBBYING: Bank executives plead case to administration officials over Volcker rule. “Top executives with major banks met regularly with federal agency officials who were writing a draft rule meant to curtail risky Wall Street trading — known popularly as the Volcker rule, named for the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker — federal agency meeting records show. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler were among the agency leaders who met with CEOs from companies including Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase since June 2010.”
SPENGLER: Bombing Iran a ‘Bad Idea’? Probably. But It’s the ONLY Idea. Can’t we just rub out some mullahs with Predators? That seems to be our approach lately.
UH OH: Fears of another US credit downgrade are growing on Wall Street. Well, it’s not as if we’re seeing signs of increased fiscal responsibility.
AND WHAT IS THE SOURCE OF THIS “ENTITLEMENT,” EXACTLY?
Jack Daniel’s and Lynchburg have been inseparable since a young man named Jack Daniel came there more than a century ago to learn the art of distilling corn mash into whiskey. He set up shop on the northeastern end of town and the company has never looked to go anywhere else. It produces 23 million gallons of amber gold – about a billion dollars worth, every year.
But the company’s deep pockets make it a prime target for a local government that is strapped for revenue – and now a private citizen wants to slap the storied whiskey producer with a $10 tax on each and every barrel the distillery fills.
“We are entitled to more money from the only industry in the county – Jack Daniel’s distillery,” said Charles Rogers, a 75-year-old retiree and self-described “concerned citizen” of Moore County – home to Lynchburg and Jack Daniel’s.
Well, I guess if you want money, and someone else has money, that’s all the “entitlement” you need, these days.
UPDATE: A couple of readers email that they’re intrigued at the idea of “occupying” the Jack Daniel’s distillery. Stop — that way lies madness! Or at least a really nasty hangover.
MICKEY KAUS: Yglesias Blows Graphs, Part II.
SHOCKER: Believe It Or Not, Wall Street Doesn’t Dominate The Top 1 Percent. “It turns out the finance sector only makes up 14% of the top 1% of American earners, says this CNN Money report. Executives in other industries make up more than 30% of America’s richest cohort. Medical professionals compose close to 16% and lawyers are 8% of the top 1%. Meanwhile, no one is immune to the weak economy. The threshold to make it into the 1% club was over $424,00 in 2007. Today, it’s $343,927.” Creeping perilously close to the Obama Administration’s original you’re rich if you make over $250K schtick, which they had to change because it included too many core Democratic constituencies.
WHERE THE JOBS ARE: Moving from Silicon Valley to Washington, DC. I’m pretty sure this is bad for the country.
MICHAEL LEDEEN: A Pattern Of Appeasement And Retreat.
WORKPLACE GENDER DYNAMICS: 142 legal secretaries surveyed and not one preferred working with a woman partner.
GRAY LADY UP: Jill Abramson’s Reign Begins at the Times.