That Hope-n-Change magic has definitely worn off.
From Bloomberg, yesterday:
More than 50 percent of Americans say they are worse off now than they were two years ago when President Barack Obama took office, and two-thirds believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, a Bloomberg National Poll shows.
The survey, conducted Dec. 4-7, finds that 51 percent of respondents think their situation has deteriorated, compared with 35 percent who say they’re doing better. The balance isn’t sure. Americans have grown more downbeat about the country’s future in just the last couple of months, the poll shows. The pessimism cuts across political parties and age groups, and is common to both sexes.
In fairness, the article notes Reagan's low poll numbers at the same point of his first term.
But, this is different. Reagan did not go to war on the Constitution and the culture, and the streets did not fill with middle-class people begging for a return to the rule of law. He remained cheerful and decisive, even when the news was grim, and was guided by his love of country, not his loyalty to ideology.
He had also had four successful careers by the time he entered office, in the movies, in public relations, in TV, and as governor of California. He knew something about life, and how to work with people.
This, sadly, is a different day.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The Knives Are Drawn, Blue On Blue: The Democrat Left Rejects The Tax Deal
OldSouth just loves watching the leftists do that circular firing squad thang!
Just in from HuffPost, about thirty minutes ago:
WASHINGTON -- In a meeting on Thursday morning, the House Democratic caucus rejected the president's proposed deal on the Bush tax cuts but did not fully submarine the possibility of its passage, multiple sources tell The Huffington Post.
Members, by voice vote, passed a motion to reject the deal as currently written. The motion had been put forward by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.) and was seconded, informally, by Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.).
"It was an indication of disapproval and a rejection of the deal as currently written," said one House Democratic aide.
The vote, which was conducted with something less than a full caucus present, was as much a repudiation of the substance of the deal as the White House's handling of it. According to sources, several members spoke out about the provision that deals with the estate tax, calling it too generous to the wealthy in its current incarnation. But there was also evident frustration with the administration for essentially cutting House Democrats out of the negotiations.
"The White House f---ed up in how they rolled this out and this is a vote sharing that frustration," said one aide. "But it is not a deal killer."
DeFazio added, "They said take it or leave it. We left it."
Hmmmm...OS remembers this was how the following initiatives were handled, in classic Leftie Politburo Take-It-Or-Leave-It fashion.
TARP: Remember how Henry Paulson demanded Congress give him dictatorial powers? When that failed, the whole stinking package was passed by the House (outside the limits of the Constitution) as a Senate bill that came to them. Not a word of protest from the Left. They were proud of what they did.
The Great Stimulus of 2009, in which Obama, Geithner, and Romer all swore that unemployment would be brought below 8%. Take it or leave it. They took it, proudly, and left us with the bill.
The GM and Chrysler bailouts, which turned bankruptcy law on its head. It was a proud moment for the Left.
Let's not forget Obamacare, ya'll, a true bend-the-culture-over-the-table moment if ever there were one. The Left were especially, hot-diggity proud of that one.
So, OS reads of their indignation with a bit of a grin on his grizzled face.
This quote is especially charming:
"The House was not consulted during the negotiations that produced this package, and our support cannot be taken for granted now or in the future," said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
(Thumping sound of old guy falling off his chair, laughing...)
The Lefties suffer from one basic delusion: They truly believe that all the wealth of a nation belongs to its government, and that it is dispensed to the serfs at the pleasure of the rulers. They didn't get the memo that that idea was repudiated in the sixteenth century, with the simultaneous emergence of both the Reformation and Renaissance. They despise the memo from 1792, the US Constitution.
They especially love the idea that they get to tax the labor and earnings of a person the entirety of his life, and if he manages to build wealth anyway, they get to steal it from his descendants.
Saddle up, ya'll. Gonna have to keep throwing these clowns out of office, from local town councils all the way to the White House. They just don't ever read the memos.
Just in from HuffPost, about thirty minutes ago:
WASHINGTON -- In a meeting on Thursday morning, the House Democratic caucus rejected the president's proposed deal on the Bush tax cuts but did not fully submarine the possibility of its passage, multiple sources tell The Huffington Post.
Members, by voice vote, passed a motion to reject the deal as currently written. The motion had been put forward by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and Lloyd Doggett (D-Tex.) and was seconded, informally, by Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.).
"It was an indication of disapproval and a rejection of the deal as currently written," said one House Democratic aide.
The vote, which was conducted with something less than a full caucus present, was as much a repudiation of the substance of the deal as the White House's handling of it. According to sources, several members spoke out about the provision that deals with the estate tax, calling it too generous to the wealthy in its current incarnation. But there was also evident frustration with the administration for essentially cutting House Democrats out of the negotiations.
"The White House f---ed up in how they rolled this out and this is a vote sharing that frustration," said one aide. "But it is not a deal killer."
DeFazio added, "They said take it or leave it. We left it."
Hmmmm...OS remembers this was how the following initiatives were handled, in classic Leftie Politburo Take-It-Or-Leave-It fashion.
TARP: Remember how Henry Paulson demanded Congress give him dictatorial powers? When that failed, the whole stinking package was passed by the House (outside the limits of the Constitution) as a Senate bill that came to them. Not a word of protest from the Left. They were proud of what they did.
The Great Stimulus of 2009, in which Obama, Geithner, and Romer all swore that unemployment would be brought below 8%. Take it or leave it. They took it, proudly, and left us with the bill.
The GM and Chrysler bailouts, which turned bankruptcy law on its head. It was a proud moment for the Left.
Let's not forget Obamacare, ya'll, a true bend-the-culture-over-the-table moment if ever there were one. The Left were especially, hot-diggity proud of that one.
So, OS reads of their indignation with a bit of a grin on his grizzled face.
This quote is especially charming:
"The House was not consulted during the negotiations that produced this package, and our support cannot be taken for granted now or in the future," said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
(Thumping sound of old guy falling off his chair, laughing...)
The Lefties suffer from one basic delusion: They truly believe that all the wealth of a nation belongs to its government, and that it is dispensed to the serfs at the pleasure of the rulers. They didn't get the memo that that idea was repudiated in the sixteenth century, with the simultaneous emergence of both the Reformation and Renaissance. They despise the memo from 1792, the US Constitution.
They especially love the idea that they get to tax the labor and earnings of a person the entirety of his life, and if he manages to build wealth anyway, they get to steal it from his descendants.
Saddle up, ya'll. Gonna have to keep throwing these clowns out of office, from local town councils all the way to the White House. They just don't ever read the memos.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
International Test Results In Reading, Math, Science: Shanghai Wins
OS keeps coming back to the same tired theme: We have major economic challenges as a result of the terrible way we have behaved as a culture for the past several decades.
The results have been published for the Program for International Student Assessment. Fifteen-year-olds around the world were tested for reading, math and sciences.
Here's a summary chart.
You'll have to keep scrolling down to find the United States students. Past Shanghai, Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong (Keep going, bubbah, this'll take a while!), Australia, Canada, etc.
Go browsing this evening to view the condition of Shanghai in 1945, to get a bit of perspective.
Now, what does this mean? By the time a kid is fifteen, his/her work ethic and intellectual curiosity is pretty well set in stone. There are exceptions, and OS has witnessed a blessed few of them, but they are exceptions. That means that the generation of kids now fifteen will struggle to compete with their peers in a global economy for the next fifty years!
Remember Jimmy Carter? OS does! This is the guy, who in payment for the votes of the NEA, established a new Cabinet department: The Department of Education. The message was as follows: Write us checks. Big ones. Bigger ones each subsequent year. If you don't do that, you are anti-educashun, and you obviously hate children.
We'll take it from here, and deliver you a wonderful educashon system, assuming you write us more checks, keep yoh' mouths shut, and don't question the experts, e.g., us. The NEA, Department of Education, and Democrat Party have lived hand-in-glove for over thirty years now. Hundreds of billions, poured down the rat-hole.
This hasn't worked well at all. The results are simply inexcusable.
For a sampling of what the NEA feeds its constituency on a daily basis, go here.
Time to begin the debate in earnest about what to do. It must begin with the admission of failure.
In the meantime, Mom and Dad, if you can--homeschool or private-school. If you can't do that, understand that the public schools have failed, and one way or another, you'll have to see that Junior arrives to adulthood as an educated person.
Best wishes.
The results have been published for the Program for International Student Assessment. Fifteen-year-olds around the world were tested for reading, math and sciences.
Here's a summary chart.
You'll have to keep scrolling down to find the United States students. Past Shanghai, Finland, Singapore, Hong Kong (Keep going, bubbah, this'll take a while!), Australia, Canada, etc.
Go browsing this evening to view the condition of Shanghai in 1945, to get a bit of perspective.
Now, what does this mean? By the time a kid is fifteen, his/her work ethic and intellectual curiosity is pretty well set in stone. There are exceptions, and OS has witnessed a blessed few of them, but they are exceptions. That means that the generation of kids now fifteen will struggle to compete with their peers in a global economy for the next fifty years!
Remember Jimmy Carter? OS does! This is the guy, who in payment for the votes of the NEA, established a new Cabinet department: The Department of Education. The message was as follows: Write us checks. Big ones. Bigger ones each subsequent year. If you don't do that, you are anti-educashun, and you obviously hate children.
We'll take it from here, and deliver you a wonderful educashon system, assuming you write us more checks, keep yoh' mouths shut, and don't question the experts, e.g., us. The NEA, Department of Education, and Democrat Party have lived hand-in-glove for over thirty years now. Hundreds of billions, poured down the rat-hole.
This hasn't worked well at all. The results are simply inexcusable.
For a sampling of what the NEA feeds its constituency on a daily basis, go here.
Time to begin the debate in earnest about what to do. It must begin with the admission of failure.
In the meantime, Mom and Dad, if you can--homeschool or private-school. If you can't do that, understand that the public schools have failed, and one way or another, you'll have to see that Junior arrives to adulthood as an educated person.
Best wishes.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
The Weekend Roundup From The US Southern Border
More mayhem, with a new twist--Japanese organized crime presence reported as well.
But all is well--the DOJ lawsuit against Arizona proceeds apace. And the Senate Democrats want to ban border patrol from our national forest areas that border the Mexican border.
Wonder why, wonder why, wonder why they'd want an open route for the smugglers? It makes no sense, unless there's bunch-o-money-honey on the table. Or the prospect of a supply of illegal voters, or maybe they want to repeal the 1848 Treaty of Hidalgo, or...make up your own reasons. OS can't supply one that makes sense.
But all is well--the DOJ lawsuit against Arizona proceeds apace. And the Senate Democrats want to ban border patrol from our national forest areas that border the Mexican border.
Wonder why, wonder why, wonder why they'd want an open route for the smugglers? It makes no sense, unless there's bunch-o-money-honey on the table. Or the prospect of a supply of illegal voters, or maybe they want to repeal the 1848 Treaty of Hidalgo, or...make up your own reasons. OS can't supply one that makes sense.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Louisville Orchestra Files For Chapter 11: High Arts In The Age Of The New Normal
OldSouth, to anyone who follows his scribbles, loves his visits to Louisville, Kentucky. It is truly one of the great places of North America, and if the professional planets aligned, he and Mrs. OS would happily relocate there.
So, today's announcement of a Chapter 11 filing by Louisville Orchestra is sad news, a public admission that a once-great organization has cornered itself into a major problem over the years.
OS made a previous mention of its travails, and quotes the questions he posed to both sides.
One question needs to be answered by the musicians first, with one following upon it:
'Articulate why this music is essential to the culture--why is it important that it should be performed in this city? What are you doing, and what would you be willing to do, past showing up to rehearsals and concerts well-prepared, to make certain it lives in the minds and hearts of the people around you, your neighbors?'
To management: 'This orchestra used to be an integral part of life in this city. What was the business model that worked, and how can it be applied now?'
A bankruptcy filing, properly undertaken, is not necessarily a bad thing. It is an admission, before things come totally unwound, that a business is not functioning, and that everyone involved must step back and sort the issues out. Not just the cash-flow issues, 'cuz that's just symptoms. What has to be truly sorted is the entire business model, and the role of the business in the world around it.
We are now in the age of The New Normal. The cultural ground has shifted under our feet in major ways, as has the economic ground. It is going to take a long, long time to dig this country out of a recession caused by at least forty years of wrong-headed excesses. Even then, we are not going to look like we did in the 1950's, sad to say.
So, where (and how) does a business in the business of presenting high-quality orchestra music function in The New Normal? Management cannot assume that a high percentage of the populace of Louisville could answer the question 'How many symphonies did Beethoven compose?', since many respondents might ask 'Who's Beethoven?', or 'Isn't he that dog in the old Disney movie?'. And that's among respondents in the prosperous neighborhoods!
First and foremost, OS preaches, the orchestra must be an organization that teaches, filled with musicians that teach, and vitally integrate themselves into the churches, synagogues, schools and neighborhoods of the city. Families of motivated music students buy tickets and write donation checks. They are core audience. Management must find ways to encourage that process along as well. Without core audience, nothing else matters.
Concerts need to take place in the neighborhood venues, (churches, schools, union halls, fraternal lodges, ball parks etc.) because driving downtown at night and attempting to park is a pain. And, as nice as downtown is, it's still downtown at night in a major city. Stuff happens there, and people who don't go there at night don't run the risk of any of it happening to them that evening.
Look at models that work--the minor league baseball team seems to be thriving? Why?
People go downtown for that. What are they doing right? OS has booked group outings there, and the experience was first-rate.
On and on it goes.
And, the good news is: Nashville Symphony went through Chapter 11 in the late 80's. It was messy, but eventually, and with the leadership and generosity of a major patron, they turned it around, moved into a fabulous new hall, and have a core audience.
And a future.
Louisville Orchestra can as well, if they're willing to go through the messy part, ask the right questions, and plan for a new life in The New Normal.
Good luck to them.
So, today's announcement of a Chapter 11 filing by Louisville Orchestra is sad news, a public admission that a once-great organization has cornered itself into a major problem over the years.
OS made a previous mention of its travails, and quotes the questions he posed to both sides.
One question needs to be answered by the musicians first, with one following upon it:
'Articulate why this music is essential to the culture--why is it important that it should be performed in this city? What are you doing, and what would you be willing to do, past showing up to rehearsals and concerts well-prepared, to make certain it lives in the minds and hearts of the people around you, your neighbors?'
To management: 'This orchestra used to be an integral part of life in this city. What was the business model that worked, and how can it be applied now?'
A bankruptcy filing, properly undertaken, is not necessarily a bad thing. It is an admission, before things come totally unwound, that a business is not functioning, and that everyone involved must step back and sort the issues out. Not just the cash-flow issues, 'cuz that's just symptoms. What has to be truly sorted is the entire business model, and the role of the business in the world around it.
We are now in the age of The New Normal. The cultural ground has shifted under our feet in major ways, as has the economic ground. It is going to take a long, long time to dig this country out of a recession caused by at least forty years of wrong-headed excesses. Even then, we are not going to look like we did in the 1950's, sad to say.
So, where (and how) does a business in the business of presenting high-quality orchestra music function in The New Normal? Management cannot assume that a high percentage of the populace of Louisville could answer the question 'How many symphonies did Beethoven compose?', since many respondents might ask 'Who's Beethoven?', or 'Isn't he that dog in the old Disney movie?'. And that's among respondents in the prosperous neighborhoods!
First and foremost, OS preaches, the orchestra must be an organization that teaches, filled with musicians that teach, and vitally integrate themselves into the churches, synagogues, schools and neighborhoods of the city. Families of motivated music students buy tickets and write donation checks. They are core audience. Management must find ways to encourage that process along as well. Without core audience, nothing else matters.
Concerts need to take place in the neighborhood venues, (churches, schools, union halls, fraternal lodges, ball parks etc.) because driving downtown at night and attempting to park is a pain. And, as nice as downtown is, it's still downtown at night in a major city. Stuff happens there, and people who don't go there at night don't run the risk of any of it happening to them that evening.
Look at models that work--the minor league baseball team seems to be thriving? Why?
People go downtown for that. What are they doing right? OS has booked group outings there, and the experience was first-rate.
On and on it goes.
And, the good news is: Nashville Symphony went through Chapter 11 in the late 80's. It was messy, but eventually, and with the leadership and generosity of a major patron, they turned it around, moved into a fabulous new hall, and have a core audience.
And a future.
Louisville Orchestra can as well, if they're willing to go through the messy part, ask the right questions, and plan for a new life in The New Normal.
Good luck to them.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
David Stockman on CNBC 3 December 2010
This interview by David Stockman, Reagan's budget director from the 1980's, is worth spending a few minutes to view. This took place on CNBC, which OS never bothers to watch, because, well, they feature clowns like Cramer. Friday, however, he was surfing, and lo and behold, there was Mr. Stockman!
(OS stayed with the channel for a couple of more hours, which was devoted to the talking heads screaming at each other about whether to go short or long on Netflix. One of the guest heads has a huge short position, is about to take a huge bath, and was desperately trying to trash the company, attempting to herd the shareholders to hit that 'Sell' button before he begins to bleed profusely. Just another day on Tout-TV.)
The interview is beginning to show up on the blogs of sober writers, so OS thinks it may be good to make it available.
Stockman was reviled by the Dems in the 1980's, who predicted disaster if his ideas were to be implemented. They hated and reviled him even more, because many of those ideas were implemented, and worked. And because he worked for Reagan. Let no good deed go unpunished, ya'll.
So, it's interesting to see him resurface, now gray-headed, but still his calm, thoughtful self. He's saying, like so many others, that we are in for a rough ride, unless we make some tough decisions as a society.
(OS stayed with the channel for a couple of more hours, which was devoted to the talking heads screaming at each other about whether to go short or long on Netflix. One of the guest heads has a huge short position, is about to take a huge bath, and was desperately trying to trash the company, attempting to herd the shareholders to hit that 'Sell' button before he begins to bleed profusely. Just another day on Tout-TV.)
The interview is beginning to show up on the blogs of sober writers, so OS thinks it may be good to make it available.
Stockman was reviled by the Dems in the 1980's, who predicted disaster if his ideas were to be implemented. They hated and reviled him even more, because many of those ideas were implemented, and worked. And because he worked for Reagan. Let no good deed go unpunished, ya'll.
So, it's interesting to see him resurface, now gray-headed, but still his calm, thoughtful self. He's saying, like so many others, that we are in for a rough ride, unless we make some tough decisions as a society.
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