Michelle Puts Her Bling On

I did watch the Oscars, and I, perhaps like you, was stunned to see that the White House chose to crash the party.  Michelle may have thought that she was "just another pretty face," but I certainly didn't find it appropriate behavior.

So it is with great pleasure that I grant the wish of David J. Theroux of The Independent Institute, by linking to his wife's commentary on the subject.

Michelle Obama At Work

Most of our politicians are the same, whether on the right or the left.  They carefully craft their theater.  The Obamas are no exception.

I hope her husband was curled up in a conference room somewhere with Boehner and others discussing ways to avoid the upcoming "Sequester."  (Not.)

Or maybe he was playing games, like this fellow?


[Thanks to Wikipedia for the image of James Albert Wales's great cartoon, published in Puck's magazine in 1880.]

Our Presidents at Work

If you'd like to see just how ridiculous politics can get, please take a look at these:

First, is the list of 23 "executive actions" [by the way, what are these?] Obama has just put in place to solve the gun problem. These are all for prime time, people, all for political show. There's not one truly actionable and effective thing proposed in his list.


[Thanks to Wikipedia for the image.]

Our second example is from France. President Hollande has decided to deal personally with a recent kerfuffle initiated by Brigitte Bardot. She threatened to take off for Russia, a la Depardieu, if the Lyon zoo went ahead with its plans to euthanize two tubercular elephants.

Well, Monsieur Hollande hopped right up on his horse and carried a letter to Mademoiselle Bardot. The operational phrases are, in translation:

"I have asked the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Stephane Le Foll, to look into the diagnosis regarding the sanitary status of the animals and into the available treatments should they be suffering from tuberculosis, on the basis of information that your Foundation will communicate to him....

"[Written in his own hand] I am paying close attention to this matter and I will keep your Foundation informed."

Good grief. The silliness speaks for itself.

Seeing the Humor in Obama's Bold New Economic Recovery Plan

Couldn't resist this one after reading about Obama's bold new economic plan.


[Click on the photo for a larger version.]

The Ghost of Times Past. The New Deal all over again. I guess we never learn.

In other news today, I read some interesting figures in an article by Martin D. Weiss, Ph.D. Although I'm not sure I can agree with his advice (he says we should all sell everything and buy Treasuries, keeping the faith that the dollar will maintain its credibility through this crisis), he points out this:

"By mid-year 2008, there were $52 trillion in interest-bearing debts in the United States, including mortgage loans, credit cards, corporate debt, municipal debt and federal debt; the federal government needed about $50 trillion for Social Security, Medicare and other commitments kicking in at a quickening pace; and U.S. commercial banks held another $182.1 trillion in side bets called “derivatives.” Grand total in the U.S. alone: $282 trillion. The numbers are not directly comparable, but just to give you a sense of the magnitude of the problem, that’s 402 times more than the $700 billion bailout package."

These are some pretty astounding figures.

(There's another fellow, Michael Hodges, who gives some great charts and data and whose horn I have been tooting for years now. See his wonderfully informative website.)

The rest of Weiss's article makes a lot of sense and even seems to point to the fact that the dollar is in great danger. But then he gives his recommendations to remain in dollar-denominated instruments.

If there is danger of a flight from the dollar and other paper currencies, as he warns Congress, isn't gold the only thing left?

For more about his warning, read the white paper he submitted to Congress on 9/25/08 (corrected 10/1/08) and other papers he links to therein.