Calculated Risk continues to be the first place OldSouth checks over his morning coffee.
Balanced news about what's really going on, delivered with wry humor.
'Bank Failure Friday' has developed a bit of a cult following, even. By the way, we're up to 69 FDIC takeovers this year, mainly of small fry, and CR tells us we're just on the front end. Banks are dropping at the rate of about 5 per week now.
Late last night, CR posted a bit of humor for us all to enjoy.
It addresses the cultural basis of our economic quandry, and makes us laugh at the same time.
Yes, that is Steve Martin performing in the sketch...
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Cash for Clunkers--Part Deux
Ahh, Congress to the rescue. Pulling out the old credit card so's the voters can keep on claiming their 'free money' at the auto dealership. Warms the heart, unless you meditate on the fact that this money has been borrowed from our children and grandchildren. But, just don't think about it, and it'll all be ok.
It's the culture of the outstretched hand, each hand reaching for the mythical something for nothing.
OldSouth meditated about his clunker, which he drove to the golf course today:
Lessee--I'm supposed to be encouraged to drive my perfectly fine 2001 pickup, long ago paid for, with a great engine and trannie, to a new car dealer and claim my 'cash' for my 'clunker'.
They apply some free money from Uncle Sam to the purchase of a new vehicle, which will have to be a pickup, 'cuz I need a pickup. Let's say I bring another 5500 in cash to the table, for good measure.
That's 10k toward the purchase of my new pickup.
I have to take on about 20k in debt to complete the deal, to get as good a truck as the one I have.
My credit rating goes down as a result, and 20k in debt appears on my financial statement.
I pay state taxes of several thousand on the purchase.
My insurance payments at least double, even with my perfect driving record.
I pay interest on the loan, while the 'asset' behind the loan begins its cliff dive. I wouldn't be able to sell or trade this truck for 20k within six months, but I am legally obligated for the full balance of the loan.
What's that smell? Oh, it's my calculator in my briefcase, emitting smoke and sparks.
Or, I could spend about 3 to 5k, and get the old pickup repainted, keep my insurance payments(which actually are declining a bit every year), forget about paying the state a bunch of sales tax, and keep driving my truck for five more years--trash to the landfill, mulch to the garden, clubs to the golf course.
Gosh, what should I do???
It's the culture of the outstretched hand, each hand reaching for the mythical something for nothing.
OldSouth meditated about his clunker, which he drove to the golf course today:
Lessee--I'm supposed to be encouraged to drive my perfectly fine 2001 pickup, long ago paid for, with a great engine and trannie, to a new car dealer and claim my 'cash' for my 'clunker'.
They apply some free money from Uncle Sam to the purchase of a new vehicle, which will have to be a pickup, 'cuz I need a pickup. Let's say I bring another 5500 in cash to the table, for good measure.
That's 10k toward the purchase of my new pickup.
I have to take on about 20k in debt to complete the deal, to get as good a truck as the one I have.
My credit rating goes down as a result, and 20k in debt appears on my financial statement.
I pay state taxes of several thousand on the purchase.
My insurance payments at least double, even with my perfect driving record.
I pay interest on the loan, while the 'asset' behind the loan begins its cliff dive. I wouldn't be able to sell or trade this truck for 20k within six months, but I am legally obligated for the full balance of the loan.
What's that smell? Oh, it's my calculator in my briefcase, emitting smoke and sparks.
Or, I could spend about 3 to 5k, and get the old pickup repainted, keep my insurance payments(which actually are declining a bit every year), forget about paying the state a bunch of sales tax, and keep driving my truck for five more years--trash to the landfill, mulch to the garden, clubs to the golf course.
Gosh, what should I do???
Friday, July 31, 2009
Cash for Clunkers--And These People Want To Run The Nation's Health Care!!
The Obama Administration is a ship of fools adrift in a sea of nonsense.
How many hundreds of TV ads, both national and local, have been run by the car companies and dealers touting the 'Cash for Clunkers' program? How much money was spent?
One day into the program, 221 million of the 1 billion has been spent, and chaos reigns at dealerships across the country. And the program is now suspended!
These are the same people who demand to run our health care system, set our energy policy, run the banking system, defend our borders, confront the Iranians as they develop nuclear weapons.
They also borrowed over $200 billion dollars in our name last week alone.
How many hundreds of TV ads, both national and local, have been run by the car companies and dealers touting the 'Cash for Clunkers' program? How much money was spent?
One day into the program, 221 million of the 1 billion has been spent, and chaos reigns at dealerships across the country. And the program is now suspended!
These are the same people who demand to run our health care system, set our energy policy, run the banking system, defend our borders, confront the Iranians as they develop nuclear weapons.
They also borrowed over $200 billion dollars in our name last week alone.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Green Shoots On The West Bank, Of All Places!
This story courtesy of Marketplace, American Public Media radio business magazine.
With order restored on the West Bank, lo and behold, businesses open, and life improves for one and all.
OldSouth finds it ironic, that after the lionization of people such as Arafat by NPR and the liberal press, here we have a story that confirms one central fact:
When the zealots, murderers and gangsters are removed from any culture, businesses form, living standards improve, and sooner or later a lot of people understand that mayhem is bad for business.
But first, the people who create mayhem must be confronted. I submit if we spend not one moment more glamorizing the jihadists, and support those who confront them, we'll see a lot more retail advertising, and many fewer posters glamorizing suicide bombers
What if it became so peaceful, and everybody was so busy making money, that the Israelis would be motivated to open the border for one and all?
So, the GreenShoot nomination goes to: Ziad Turabi, the son of a Mercedes dealer and a graduate of an interior- design program at a Palestinian university. He and two friends took a risk unprecedented in Jenin. They invested $5 million in a landmark new commercial venture here -- the Hirbawi Home Center, a palatial furnishings outlet that stretches over five floors.
With order restored on the West Bank, lo and behold, businesses open, and life improves for one and all.
OldSouth finds it ironic, that after the lionization of people such as Arafat by NPR and the liberal press, here we have a story that confirms one central fact:
When the zealots, murderers and gangsters are removed from any culture, businesses form, living standards improve, and sooner or later a lot of people understand that mayhem is bad for business.
But first, the people who create mayhem must be confronted. I submit if we spend not one moment more glamorizing the jihadists, and support those who confront them, we'll see a lot more retail advertising, and many fewer posters glamorizing suicide bombers
What if it became so peaceful, and everybody was so busy making money, that the Israelis would be motivated to open the border for one and all?
So, the GreenShoot nomination goes to: Ziad Turabi, the son of a Mercedes dealer and a graduate of an interior- design program at a Palestinian university. He and two friends took a risk unprecedented in Jenin. They invested $5 million in a landmark new commercial venture here -- the Hirbawi Home Center, a palatial furnishings outlet that stretches over five floors.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Boys Will Be Boys--But Should They Run Banks?
Robert Peston lends his usual wry wit to the ongoing debate about how best to go forward from the smoldering ruins created by the latest financial bubble.
He observes that all of the geniuses that created the mess are men, and wonders out loud if that is part of the problem.
He may have a point.
Take Kuhlifornia, for instance--please, take it!
But there is a glimmer of hope, in that Meg Whitman, who led eBay to such success during her tenure, is considering a run for the governorship.
Peston observes: ...in my experience - men are more prone than women to simply run like a train at the goal, and never mind who's flattened along the way.
I'm not certain the issue is gender so much as it is about approach to the education of boys.
Yet one more argument against the obsession with football(US) or rugby(UK) at school.
If, instead, these boys were handed an orchestral instrument, a set of golf clubs, and a schedule that began with singing in choir every morning, they might learn:
1. That the process of learning a skill well requires humility, patience, and the willingness to be taught, and
2. That real success often involves cooperative effort in pursuit of a objective and higher common goal--i.e., a moving performance of a Tallis motet.
What if our future titans of business were trained in this fashion?
(I've seen it happen, and the results are impressive. But those boys tend not to end up in banking, because they weren't on the football team. It's a chicken and egg sort of quandry.)
Add in daily swimming or cross-country running for physical exercise; and make the boys carry their own clubs on the course(and caddy for the grown-ups), and they'll get plenty of exercise.
And they won't need knee surgery in their early 40's...
So, young mothers, when that invitation to 'try out' for PeeWee League football arrives in Junior's school bag: Shred it, and find the nearest children's choir program immediately.
You'll thank me later...
He observes that all of the geniuses that created the mess are men, and wonders out loud if that is part of the problem.
He may have a point.
Take Kuhlifornia, for instance--please, take it!
But there is a glimmer of hope, in that Meg Whitman, who led eBay to such success during her tenure, is considering a run for the governorship.
Peston observes: ...in my experience - men are more prone than women to simply run like a train at the goal, and never mind who's flattened along the way.
I'm not certain the issue is gender so much as it is about approach to the education of boys.
Yet one more argument against the obsession with football(US) or rugby(UK) at school.
If, instead, these boys were handed an orchestral instrument, a set of golf clubs, and a schedule that began with singing in choir every morning, they might learn:
1. That the process of learning a skill well requires humility, patience, and the willingness to be taught, and
2. That real success often involves cooperative effort in pursuit of a objective and higher common goal--i.e., a moving performance of a Tallis motet.
What if our future titans of business were trained in this fashion?
(I've seen it happen, and the results are impressive. But those boys tend not to end up in banking, because they weren't on the football team. It's a chicken and egg sort of quandry.)
Add in daily swimming or cross-country running for physical exercise; and make the boys carry their own clubs on the course(and caddy for the grown-ups), and they'll get plenty of exercise.
And they won't need knee surgery in their early 40's...
So, young mothers, when that invitation to 'try out' for PeeWee League football arrives in Junior's school bag: Shred it, and find the nearest children's choir program immediately.
You'll thank me later...
Just Too Funny Not To Share
This from Barry Ritholz at The Big Picture, usually a place of restrained economic analysis.
William Shatner lends a cameo performance to the Conan O'Brien show, reading a portion of Sarah Palin's farewell speech as governor of Alaska.
It's at least as funny as the old Steve Allen routines, when he performed dramatic recitations of 1960's pop songs.
There's a lesson here: If you want to be taken seriously as a public person, show up with your remarks prepared and rehearsed. Otherwise, the public gets to see how your brain works unedited...
Gov. Palin earned this skewering.
William Shatner lends a cameo performance to the Conan O'Brien show, reading a portion of Sarah Palin's farewell speech as governor of Alaska.
It's at least as funny as the old Steve Allen routines, when he performed dramatic recitations of 1960's pop songs.
There's a lesson here: If you want to be taken seriously as a public person, show up with your remarks prepared and rehearsed. Otherwise, the public gets to see how your brain works unedited...
Gov. Palin earned this skewering.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Green Shoots Awards, First Nominees
It's so easy to whine--OldSouth has certainly done his share!
It's more productive to look this decayed culture in the eye and say, 'One way or another, by God, I intend to push back!'
So, OldSouth has decided to announce his annual Green Shoots awards, honoring those who push back by being themselves.
Today's two candidates:
Cranmer is always worth reading, and the article linked here is an especially insightful about the value of education, and how it might best be made available to more.
Imprimis is a semi-monthly publication mailed to more than 1,700,000 readers by free subscription.
It publishes from Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in southern Michigan that in itself wins OldSouth's 'GreenShoots' award.
Its graduating class of 2008 (258 students) reports a 96% placement rate in either employment or grad school.
That's 2008.
In Michigan.
And the next obvious question is:
Why hasn't a task force of educationists undertaken a pilgrimage to Hillsdale in hopes of learning how to emulate that sort of success? Fly to Cleveland, rent a car, and follow the faculty around for a month. How hard can it be?
As you read Imprimis, the reason becomes clear:
Hillsdale will not subscribe to any portion of liberal-think, and they don't care who objects.
OldSouth looks forward to every edition that arrives in his mailbox, the old-fashioned way, so he can read it, handle it, re-read it, and keep it on his coffee table.
You can subscribe by calling 800-437-2268.
*****
The floor is open for nominations. OldSouth will name a winner at year's end, and think of some creative way to honor the top three contenders.
Push back.
It's more productive to look this decayed culture in the eye and say, 'One way or another, by God, I intend to push back!'
So, OldSouth has decided to announce his annual Green Shoots awards, honoring those who push back by being themselves.
Today's two candidates:
Cranmer is always worth reading, and the article linked here is an especially insightful about the value of education, and how it might best be made available to more.
Imprimis is a semi-monthly publication mailed to more than 1,700,000 readers by free subscription.
It publishes from Hillsdale College, a small liberal arts college in southern Michigan that in itself wins OldSouth's 'GreenShoots' award.
Its graduating class of 2008 (258 students) reports a 96% placement rate in either employment or grad school.
That's 2008.
In Michigan.
And the next obvious question is:
Why hasn't a task force of educationists undertaken a pilgrimage to Hillsdale in hopes of learning how to emulate that sort of success? Fly to Cleveland, rent a car, and follow the faculty around for a month. How hard can it be?
As you read Imprimis, the reason becomes clear:
Hillsdale will not subscribe to any portion of liberal-think, and they don't care who objects.
OldSouth looks forward to every edition that arrives in his mailbox, the old-fashioned way, so he can read it, handle it, re-read it, and keep it on his coffee table.
You can subscribe by calling 800-437-2268.
*****
The floor is open for nominations. OldSouth will name a winner at year's end, and think of some creative way to honor the top three contenders.
Push back.
Monday, July 27, 2009
ObamaCare At A Glance
This tidbit from Roll Call lets us know much about the current administration, and its Congressional allies.
They've created a Rube Goldberg contraption, called it 'health care reform', although very few have ever read the document.
Some Republicans did, however, and assembled a picture of how it actually will (or won't) function, as assemble by the Democrats in their various committees.
It's frightening, and the Democrats are the ones most frightened, because they know the picture cuts through all the verbiage. They are moving Heaven and Earth to make certain it doesn't get distributed to constituents.
So, in the meantime, here it is.
Pass it along. By the time the Dems think they have it censored, it can be on every computer desktop in the world.
Yes, health care in America must be addressed.
No, the Constitution and its guarantees of freedom of speech cannot be shredded in the process.
Let Me Tell You A Story...
Thus begins the opening of a delightful TV series in the US, Burn Notice.
The protagonist, a spy, finds himself 'burned', made a non-person, and dumped in Miami, where his mother, brother and two friends reside. He has to survive by his wits as he makes his way back to a semblance of a respectable life. Along the way, he does a lot of good for a number of people who need his particular gifts employed in their service--thus the plots of the individual episodes.
There is a certain black humor approach taken, as our protagonist narrates his way through each of the episodes, which at points are truly hilarious. Sooner or later, any viewer who has spent any time in this 'vale of tears' ends up saying, 'You know, I know these people!
It's a wonderfully written and executed piece of entertainment, the kind that lends insight to our lives. Hard to say that about much of anything on TV for the past thirty years or so.
It's also a bit of a 'canary in the coal mine' for the culture: The dark humor resonates with so many people now, as what they see on the tube corresponds with what they experience.
Here's hoping for the day when we won't need this sort of hero to narrate our lives.
The protagonist, a spy, finds himself 'burned', made a non-person, and dumped in Miami, where his mother, brother and two friends reside. He has to survive by his wits as he makes his way back to a semblance of a respectable life. Along the way, he does a lot of good for a number of people who need his particular gifts employed in their service--thus the plots of the individual episodes.
There is a certain black humor approach taken, as our protagonist narrates his way through each of the episodes, which at points are truly hilarious. Sooner or later, any viewer who has spent any time in this 'vale of tears' ends up saying, 'You know, I know these people!
It's a wonderfully written and executed piece of entertainment, the kind that lends insight to our lives. Hard to say that about much of anything on TV for the past thirty years or so.
It's also a bit of a 'canary in the coal mine' for the culture: The dark humor resonates with so many people now, as what they see on the tube corresponds with what they experience.
Here's hoping for the day when we won't need this sort of hero to narrate our lives.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
The Latest Visit to WalMart
No great insights to offer, except that the local WalMart superstore is in process of remodel. Confusion seems to reign, and the inventory seems to be reduced by about half.
The aisles are more spread one from the other, and space has been re-alloted towards groceries, with jewelry and electronics dramatically shrunk.
I asked an employee if I were perceiving things correctly, and she simply smiled, and made the gesture of turning the lock on her lips, saying only 'My lips are sealed.'
Most interesting...
The aisles are more spread one from the other, and space has been re-alloted towards groceries, with jewelry and electronics dramatically shrunk.
I asked an employee if I were perceiving things correctly, and she simply smiled, and made the gesture of turning the lock on her lips, saying only 'My lips are sealed.'
Most interesting...
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