Deja Vu All Over Again: Jimmy Carter Redux

Calculated Risk's chart gallery is a great resource for those who wish to cut through the verbiage and understand the challenges we face.

This recent chart is chilling: It is a chronological boom-and-bust display since 1960. (Click on the graph for a better view.)

The really bad stuff began about 1969, when Nixon abandoned reason and hard money at the same time. However, Jimmy Carter, who blessedly served only one term, left us in near-shambles, due to his ineptitude. His departure in 1981 is simultaneous to a deep recession and spike in unemployment. OS remembers those dark days much too well.

The red line is the unemployment rate. The blue is the 'participation rate', e.g. those still active in the workforce, either working or seeking employment. The black line is the percentage of total population in the active workforce.

Compare now to 1981/1982. Pretty ugly, is it not? Those who predicted Obama Term 1 would equal Carter Term 2 were actually pretty cogent.

The official unemployment rate is now 9.8%. The true rate is about double that.

Obama and the Democrat leadership remain unrepentant. Not surprising: So is Jimmy Carter.

The Man Who Writes Your Children's Academic Papers: Chronicle Of Higher Education

HT John Lott.

In the 'I-Just-Can't-Make-This-Stuff-Up' Hall of Fame, OldSouth proudly presents this offering from a gent who has spent the first part of his career creating academic work for student clients, who turn his work in under their own names. Kid's who can't write, research, or think in a linear fashion to save their lives, mysteriously generate the kind of academic work that allows them to graduate from prestigious institutions.
Does no one notice? Or do many just look the other way?

He is understandably cynical, and wicked funny.

It was difficult to cherry-pick the best paragraphs, because the writing is just so good! 

So, here's a sample:

I have become a master of the admissions essay. I have written these for undergraduate, master's, and doctoral programs, some at elite universities. I can explain exactly why you're Brown material, why the Wharton M.B.A. program would benefit from your presence, how certain life experiences have prepared you for the rigors of your chosen course of study. I do not mean to be insensitive, but I can't tell you how many times I've been paid to write about somebody helping a loved one battle cancer. I've written essays that could be adapted into Meryl Streep movies.

I do a lot of work for seminary students. I like seminary students. They seem so blissfully unaware of the inherent contradiction in paying somebody to help them cheat in courses that are largely about walking in the light of God and providing an ethical model for others to follow. I have been commissioned to write many a passionate condemnation of America's moral decay as exemplified by abortion, gay marriage, or the teaching of evolution. All in all, we may presume that clerical authorities see these as a greater threat than the plagiarism committed by the future frocked.

With respect to America's nurses, fear not. Our lives are in capable hands­—just hands that can't write a lick. Nursing students account for one of my company's biggest customer bases. I've written case-management plans, reports on nursing ethics, and essays on why nurse practitioners are lighting the way to the future of medicine. I've even written pharmaceutical-treatment courses, for patients who I hope were hypothetical.

This would be funnier, were it fictional. It isn't. It appears this man exists, and his work is circulating in academia. The scary part to OS is that those JD's become judges, and those MD's treat patients. OS knows of one physician now practicing, who as a coed at a top-twenty school managed to make it through on 'the horizontal plan', trading her favors for passing work product. OS suspects the dean may have been involved in some 'transactional academia' for all four years as well. It would be more humorous, were there not the lives of patients involved.

OS suspects this author is beginning to go public, with his literary agent at his side, with a view to a movie script deal. This is the stuff of movies, after all. Too fantastical not to be true. Lights-camera-action, ya'll.

This essay does begin to answer why OS keeps running into people with advanced degrees from reputable schools who can't seem to put two coherent clauses of English together.

There is a partial solution, called pen-and-paper. Student sits in a room, under the eye of the exam monitor, is handed a paper with relevant questions, and in the course of two hours, must create cogent responses from the content of his mind. The professor grades them, and compares usage of English between papers submitted and live essay completed.

Enough. OS has a deadline. Writing. Under his own name.

An Encore From Clarke And Dawe: End Of Term Exams Review

The European Bailout Trip Through The Twilight Zone

From NPR's Planet Money, this morning.

(If hard-core libs like the NPR folks have figured out the math doesn't work, then it's gotta be problematic.)

December 3, 2010 - STEVE INSKEEP, host:

For a long time, people in the financial industry seemed to be following a don't ask, don't tell policy when it came to financial risks. Ireland is the latest country being forced to change that. Like its other European neighbors, it's been spending a lot of money it doesn't have. And it wound up in the situation that debt-ridden countries fear - unable to borrow, at least not at a reasonable rate.

This week, Europe agreed to lend Ireland the money that nobody else will. Alex Blumberg and Chana Joffe-Walt of our Planet Money team report that the money to bail out Ireland comes from a surprising place.

CHANA JOFFE-WALT: The bailout sounds very serious and very substantial.

Mr. SATYAJIT DAS (Financial risk consultant): The European Financial stability fund. This is a 750 billion euro, so it's pretty close to a trillion dollar facility.

ALEX BLUMBERG: Satyajit Das is an author and financial risk consultant. And he says two things. One, that trillion dollars, it's not all for Ireland. Two, that trillion dollars doesnt actually exist. In fact, the stabilization fund currently has no money in it at all.

JOFFE-WALT: The trillion dollars, its more aspirational - a trillion dollars that could be there, if needed.

BLUMBERG: If needed, the Stabilization Fund could borrow money and then lend that money to Ireland. And maybe in the future, other European countries that are having trouble borrowing, like Portugal and Spain.

JOFFE-WALT: But that's confusing, because if people are scared of loaning money to Ireland, Portugal and Spain, why would they loan money to a fund, whose sole function is to loan money to Ireland, Portugal and Spain?

BLUMBERG: Ah, because the fund is safer, it's backed by 14 different European countries who all guarantee your money back.

JOFFE-WALT: Wait. But don't those European countries include Spain and Portugal?

BLUMBERG: Well, yes. They do.

Mr. DAS: Portugal, who can't borrow is guaranteeing this. So you've got basically, people who are being lent to who can't pay you back, and the guarantors aren't solvent either. So exactly, what are you doing?


Does one get the sinking feeling that we'll be called upon to 'contribute' to this venture? Or that the Chinese and Indians will be ponying up money, and extracting interest in some interesting ways besides cash payments?

OS says it again. The Euro is not a currency. It is a ball and chain, shackled to the feet of every child in Europe.

Clarke and Daw, the Australian comedy team, sum it all up best.

Home Again, Thursday Evening Return From Louisville

Several happy days spent in Louisville, still a favorite town in OS's travels. He met up with friends from around the Midwest, each with a tale to tell, but the specifics will be scrubbed here sufficiently to grant them their deserved privacy.

Things in general don't seem as depressed there as on previous visits, which is welcome news. OS is not one of these guys who wishes to emulate Jonah, who preached
'The End Is Near', was heeded, and his listeners were spared. He then was cheesed off at the Almighty for not raining fire down upon the former infidels anyway, and ended up with some 'Splainin-To-Do-Lucy to his Maker.

When things improve, OS is genuinely happy. Restaurants had diners, even if they weren't jammed. Stores had shoppers, even if the parking lots weren't filled. The airport parking lot was well-filled. And the mood in general seemed more upbeat.

Ford Motor's survival and re-emergence will result in retooling of one of its manufacturing facilities in Louisville early next year, which is most welcome news to a city that lives off its factories.

A much-needed bridge just upriver from Louisville may well be built, funded by tolls imposed on commuter traffic across the other bridges. So, some good things appear to be in the offing.

The friends had interesting tales to share. One lives in a small Midwestern town that is working heroically to maintain good schools, churches, and civic life. He runs a still-surviving small business, but his has always been a two-income household by necessity, with kids to raise and educate. His wife is very qualified in her industry's fields of expertise, but the jobs (or rather the firms that could make use of her gifts) have just simply vanished or operate as shells of their former selves. She is one of the 99-ers, the final unemployment check came this week, and as he talked, I saw some real fear in his eyes. Never had seen that in him in all these years. Certainly not despairing, but fear has crept in, a new experience in his life. OS passed on a second-hand job lead, but it would put the spouse in another city, six hours away from the family. She's willing to do that, if that is what is required. No whining, mind you.

Another friend works with an endowment fund that does significantly good things. She reports that the fund principal was really hammered; and with the subsequent crushing of interest rates by Zimbabwe Ben, there is only half the previous income to work with, and it's becoming tough to do some of the things for which the endowment was established. The New Normal. No despair, but a grim sense of 'We're just going to have to get through this, and keep our chins up.'

OS is helping revise a vita for another friend who got caught in the political undertow at his downsizing firm. A brilliant gent who never expected to have to do this at this point of his career. The New Normal. Again, no despair, but a real sense of loss to contend with as he forges on to his new and unexpected life.

The trip out of town took a while to complete, working around the traffic. OS decided to escape southward on the Preston Highway, through the outer southern 'burbs. It was sobering to drive by the large trailer parks. Things have not been going well, and the folks there, by definition, live on the edge of the economy and culture. What happens if, Heaven forbid, things take another serious downturn? What will The New Normal look like for them? Same experience driving much of the trip home on the old 31-W. The little towns are looking even shabbier than this time last year, and they weren't doing well then.

Not despairing, not fearing, but a bit worried. What are we prepared to do to aid people so much less fortunate if the ReallyBadStuff some predict begins to happen?
The folks in the trailer parks are not a rabble. They are people, with bodies and souls.

When His Lips Move, Assume He's Lying: Obama Reverses His Support Of Offshore Oil Exploration

Nice little country ya got here, Mr. and Mrs. America. Too bad we're gonna have to SHUT YOUR GAS PUMPS, HEAT AND LIGHTS OFF, 'cuz you don't seem to understand we MEAN WHAT WE SAY ABOUT OUR CAP-N-TAX BILL!


Right, Vito? Right, Gino? It would be SHAME if your way of life were to, say, BURN DOWN AROUND YOU! Right, Vito? Right, Gino?

Yeah, Boss, it would be a cryin' shame, Boss...

One year, eleven months and counting until we can show these clowns the door.

Chin-straps on until then.

Sometimes, Only Laughter Will Do: The HP Printer Execution In Iraq

So, a soldier in Iraq has an HP printer he needs for his unit's work.

But, it doesn't work.

So, he calls HP tech support, who demand money for their assistance.

Here is the soldier's completely appropriate response.

OS hasn't checked to see if the suits at HP have begun to spin this bit of video, or how. Hopefully, though, this wonderful minute of pushback against US corporate idiocy will travel the world, say, a couple of hundred times; and cause someone, somewhere, within the upper reaches of HP managment and its board to feel some sight sense of, well, shame.

We may be able to assist by simply leaving HP printers on the shelf of the local retailer for the next month or so. Easy, peasy, and doesn't involve a moment or penny of sacrifice on our our part. Jest sayin'...

Appeals to reason and decency are now completely futile in great swathes of American culture. Only laughter (and sometimes a machine gun) will do...


Printer problem in Iraq - Watch more Funny Videos

Just For Grins: Daniel Radcliffe Sings The Periodic Table

The young man has real theatrical chops, in case there were ever any doubt.

Hope you enjoy.




Here's hoping he avoids the downside of fame and fortune. We really could use another actor the stature of Olivier or Gielgud, who consistently contributes to the culture over the course of decades.

The 271 Million Dollar Revenge Bill The Feds Are Sending New Jersey

Cancel our tunnel to Manhattan will you? Just because you can't afford it?

We'll fix youze guys, but good!

Does anyone breathing think for a moment that New York, California, or Illinois would have received the same treatment at the hands of the Obama Clown Circus?

OS has a suggestion: Let 'em frickin' sue. Force them to litigate it, go into a federal court in New Jersey and justify every last penny of it, and justify why they deserve to claw it back from New Jersey.

Let it go to trial, just in time for the 2012 election cycle. After New Jersey administers a high colonic discovery process upon the Obama Administration, and the scandals break out. It will be delicious.

HopeyChangey needs New Jersey in 2012, which is in the New York media market. He also needs New York.

Let 'em sue, if they are stupid enough to do it. If they look like they may prevail, settle for .20 on the dollar, and they'll go away, just to avoid looking like the schmucks they are.

Nigel Farage: Shades of 1776

Bravo, Mr. Farage.

Could we please lease him to address our Congress? They still haven't seemed to get the message, yet.

Charles Hugh Smith Proposes A Reasonable Path For Ireland: Go Ahead and Default

Well worth the time spent to read. Smith's illustrations are a great explanation of where we are, and how we got here.

Eastern Europe, Hung Out To Dry By Obama And Miz Hilary

Surf, and ye shall find.

The most recent round of WikiLeaks will provide reading material for months to come.

The venality and incompetence already revealed take one's breath away.

This tidbit from Poland:

President Obama cancelled anti-missile shield plans in Poland and the Czech Republic to get Russia support for UN sanctions against Iran, documents made public by Wikileaks reveal.

The whistle blowing web site, publishing diplomatic cables and other documents via The New York Times, the Guardian (UK) and other media outlets, show that George Bush’s anti-missile shield plan to station 10 interceptor rockets in Poland not far from the Kaliningrad (Russia) border and a radar system in the Czech Republic was seen as an obstacle by Washington in getting tougher sanctions against Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

The diplomatic cables show that the US believes that Iran has already received missiles from North Korea which could threaten western Europe.

The released documents show that Russia had intensified its campaign against the anti-missile shield in 2009, with Moscow believing the system would be directed at Poland’s immediate east and not Iran.

In September, President Obama cancelled the anti-missile system.

Well, that worked out well, now didn't it?

Give up a defensive shield against weapons one knows are in place, in exchange for the promise of cooperation from that most trustworthy of regimes, the Russian government of Putin.

What could possibly go wrong?

HT Midwest Conservative Journal

Pastor Peters' Pithy, Profound Thanksgiving Message

OS scribbles.

Pastor Peters writes, ya'll! That's why OS keeps him linked on the right side of his page. He takes Reformation orthodoxy and makes it sing.

This latest offering is one of his best, and OS encourages one and all, from all points of the compass, to take the time to read and digest his thoughts.

He reminds us of the things that truly constitute The Good Life, and ends with a profound few lines about the proper role of earthly government in that scheme of things.

The worst in us is the selfishness that thinks of me before others and before God. What is in our interest is not what defines the Christian life but what is good and right and true, what glorifies God and is true to His grace, and what promotes and extends His gracious reign of love and compassion.

What is the best in us is nothing less than faith that hears and responds, that receives and rejoices in all that God's mercy provides us. What is best in us is nothing less than a grateful heart which overflows with thanksgiving that we get not what we deserve but grace upon grace and mercy new each and every morning. What is best in us is nothing more and nothing less than living in faithfulness to Christ even when this path is unpopular, misunderstood, and causes us to be persecuted for His name's sake.

So what is the role of government except to provide us a free arena in which we have the liberty to live out this peaceful, quiet, godly and dignified life of faith? This is why God has given the sword of His authority to the leaders of the nations – not to bring His kingdom on the earth by human might but to provide the freedom and opportunity for us to live unhindered and unconstrained, the good, the peaceful, the quiet, the godly and the dignified life that Christ has made possible by His dying for sin and His rising to everlasting life. Such a government not only protects the weak and the vulnerable, seeks justice and equity, and encourages virtue, it allows us the freedom to be the people God has called us to be in our baptism. This is the government for which we give thanks tonight and for which we pray daily.

When The Transcendental Invades The Mundane: Handel At The Mall Food Court

Much to say about this, but OS first invites you to watch:



OS, as a kid, once sat in on a lecture by composer Warren Benson, then on faculty at Eastman School of Music. One thing stuck in his young brain that day, when the grizzled old guy declared: 'A well-written piece of music not only works well when performed well, it stands up well under abuse!'

Handel knew how to write music that 'stands up well'. This performance was certainly not abusive, but it was a far cry from what he first heard in Dublin in the late 1740's. It was heartening to see the diners begin to rise to their feet and begin to sing along, which means the piece has not totally departed our cultural memory, despite the best efforts of the joyless secularists who would have us scoff at this and listen to Schönberg instead.

Much of what the man wrote was work-a-day stuff, well-crafted, but not the stuff of inspiration. Every so often, and throughout Messiah, Handel located his true voice, found his eternal mojo.

Mojo + command of craft=immortal creations. The ones that never fail to inspire, stop us in our tracks, bring tears to our eyes.

Menotti did it when he composed 'Ahmal and the Night Visitors' in 1951, for live performance on NBC Television. OS just attended a local church staging of the piece, a far cry from that first performance, and so many professional performances since. The piece moved everyone to their shoes, with tears of joy daubed from many an eye that afternoon.

Ralph Vaughan-Williams, in the final years of his life, achieved it with his Christmas cantata 'Hodie', still neglected by many. OS has watched the most cynical musicians and audiences nearly come unglued when they first hear the setting of Thomas Hardy's poem that opens with

'Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock;
'Now they are all on their knees', an elder said,
as we sat in a flock,
by the embers in hearth-side ease.'

Inspired command of craft. And the transcendental breaks through, even in the most mundane locations, for the least likely people.

OS hopes this Christmas, his readers have at least one of those moments.

A Good Idea For Sunday Morning: The Greenland Solution

Greenland's people saw the writing on the wall in the 1980's:

Mene, mene, tekel, upharsim--or words to that effect...

Being translated: If we hitch our wagon to the clown show in Brussels, they'll screw us.

So, they left. In 1985.

Fast forward twenty-five years. They're solvent and prosperous, and Europe is broke.

They're free, and increasingly, Europe isn't.

Alex Singleton of The Telegraph calmly explains:

If you think that leaving the EU would be catastrophic, take a look at Greenland. By rights its people ought to be poor. Their island is isolated, suffers from freezing weather, has a workforce of only 28,000 and relies on fish for 82 per cent of its exports. But it turns out that since leaving the EU, Greenland has been so freed of EU red tape and of the destruction of the Common Fisheries Policy, that the average income of the islanders today is higher than those living in Britain, Germany and France.

Actually, OS deliberately listed things in the wrong order: They are free, therefore they are solvent and prosperous.

So, why should a grumpy guy from Tennessee be scribbling about this? Well, ya'll, look at the US map. The bluest states of the US, the ones that drank the socialist Kool-Aid the longest and deepest are...insolvent and increasingly impoverished. They are also chaotic and crime-ridden. (New York, Illinois, Kuhlifornia, Michigan top that list.)

The state least affected by the Great Recession is (May I have the envelope, please!) North Dakota, a traditional butt of jokes by our elites. They farm, they allow their oil resources to be developed, they don't tax everything that moves. The government maintains order, maintains the roads, and otherwise leaves people alone.

What a concept.

As the Great Recession deepens (and it will, when the cheap money runs out), and the heavy hand of HopeyChangey is increasingly felt in the land (and it will, cuz that who He is), it may be time for the states of the union to rethink their relationship with Washington. This year's travails in Louisiana, where most of the real damage was done by HopeyChangey, not BP, should be a warning to us all.

They probably can't leave like Greenland did, but they can certainly distance themselves, and set up firewalls.