Tuesday, September 30, 2008

More Economics

At ths risk of causing those few who read my Blog to fall over dead from bordom I here post a few more articles I think make extremely valid points about the economy in general and this current mess in particular. As anyone who knows me for more then a few days realizes I actually find this economics stuff, as well as political stuff, fun and enjoyable. That's right, I even listen to www.econtalk.org and its podcast. Find it most entertaining.

I believe that in this world the concept of economics has a profound impact on how we live our lives, and subsequently on what we do with them. Thus one's position on free trade, open free markets, and the moral implications of profits will have an impact through them on the world around them. Misinformation, or worse disinformation, on this important subject will harm not only this individual, but the entire world. Thus I believe my interest in this area is somewhat justified.

An Open Letter to Congress:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5292

Penny wise Congress:
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5291

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were free market institutions they could not have gotten away with their risky financial practices because no one would havebought their securities without the implicit assumption that the politicians would bail them out.
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5290

Better we shouldtake our short-term pain straight up and clean out the mistakes of our binge and then get back to the business of free markets without creating an uncheckedExecutive branch monstrosity trying to "save" those who profited most from the binge and harming innocent taxpayers in the process.
http://myslu.stlawu.edu/~shorwitz/open_letter.htm

I follow with the iced coffee...

Monday, September 29, 2008

Government and the Environment

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5272

A good article on the issues we face when we attempt to speed ahead of technology and attempt to force the free market to conform to government.

I follow with the iced coffee...

Outstanding article on the bail out

http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=29771494

An outstanding article I got from http://www.clubforgrowth.org/. Sums up perfectly my thoughts for fixing the issues we face in our economy.

The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with a most unnecessaryattention,but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowherebe sodangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it. -Adam Smith

I follow with the iced coffee...

Thursday, September 25, 2008

A Modern Grasshopper and the Ant story

As we go through this economic crisus I grow more and more concerned about the ways we are discussing getting out of this mess. The below story illustrates well my concerns. As a mortgage holder myself who pays regularly although it hurts the wallet quite a bit these days I find the idea of haulting foreclosures and other means of eliminating the moral hazard involved in free markets to be frustrating and near sighted.

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NGIwMzY1NzkzMjQ3ZWI2MjM3YTkzZWNjODM5NTkzNzc=

The statesman who should attempt to direct private people in what manner they ought to employ their capitals would not only load himself with a most unnecessaryattention, but assume an authority which could safely be trusted, not only to no single person, but to no council or senate whatever, and which would nowherebe so dangerous as in the hands of a man who had folly and presumption enough to fancy himself fit to exercise it. -Adam Smith

I follow with the iced coffee...

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Walking in a Rain Storm and Giving a Cricket a Heart Attack

So I went to a Campus Crusade for Christ meeting tonight. Met some good folks and am going to an event Sunday night to start a new prayer room on campus. Walking to the Univeristy Center was fine, dodged the rain and thought the weather gods were on my side. Ha, ha. Unfortunately I didn't consider their supreme sense of irony.
As I walked back I thought I was on the right course, but it was pouring rain and due to a sip up I ended up being mixed up when I was on the right course all along. I was able to make it back (thank you CCB), and it was a learning experience.
When I got home I discovered that my lodger, a cricket who has been chirping at all hours on the night keeping me awake, was still making his abode with me. His lack of death was not due to any lack of effort on my part. At one point at 3am I actually considered burning down the place to slay my arch foe. Fortunately I didn't, so when I walked into my office, soaking wet from the rain, and found yon chripomatic still going I let out a war cry to let him (and half the apartment building) know that death was ni for him. He has been silent ever sicne which leads me to believe that perhaps I gave him a heart attack.
Who said life isn't fun? Walking in the rain and slaying crickets by heart attack... Well at least there's cold coffee in the fridge.

"When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt," Bush reportedly told a group of senators.

Good idea O'Lord.

I follow with the iced coffee...

Thoughts on Blindness

"When I go into a community to speak to a group and someone says to me, Oh I know exactly what you mean; I know what blind people can do, because I know a blind person, I often cringe. I say to myself, And what kind of blind person do you know?
This gives emphasis (if, indeed, emphasis is needed) to the constantly observed truth that all blind people are judged by one. If a person has known a blind man who is especially gifted as a musician, he is likely to believe that all of the blind are good at music. Many of us are living examples of the fallacy of that misconception." -- Dr. Kenneth Jernigan
“Let me be very clear about this. I have no wish to minimize the character and extent of blindness as a disability. It is for all of us a constant nuisance and a serious inconvenience. To overcome it requires effort and patience and initiative and guts. It is not compensated for, despite the fairy tales to the contrary, by the spontaneous emergence of a miraculous sixth sense or any other magical powers. It means nothing more or less than the loss of one of the five senses and a corresponding greater reliance upon the four that remain as well as upon the brain, the heart, and the spirit.” – “The Cross of Blindness” by Dr. Jacobus tenBroek

The Courtesy Rules of Blindness:http://www.blind.net/g0000001.htm
www.braille.org
www.freedomscientific.com
www.humanware.com

I follow with the iced coffee...

Amusing

McCainiacs Running Wild!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=565qnfe0qTE
http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=3994
http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=2603
For those who know my love for iced coffee the above article will show you unbelieving infidels that I was right all along when I called my coffee drinking 'holy'. *grin*
Desiring that blessed beverage even now...
http://minievil.eviloverlord.com/index.html