Posted By seanryan on October 15, 2009
I find myself in uncomfortable territory on the issue of Rush Limbaugh’s now-terminated bid to become part owner of the St. Louis Rams.
First off, Rush Limbaugh, at least in his professional persona, is not really my kind of guy. Talk radio, cable news networks, and the non-fiction best seller lists seem dominated by what are, in effect, political performance artists. People like Limbaugh and Coulter on my side of the fence – and there as many if not more on the other side – have built lucrative careers as political versions of Howard Stern, saying outrageous things to the acclaim (and buying power) of the seemingly growing ranks of hyper-partisans who don’t want an open exchange of ideas so much as merely to have their biases validated.
He’s surely a smart guy and likely sees his business model for what it is, but it’s not my bag. (more…)
Popularity: 15% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on October 14, 2009
Private citizens bust crooked cops in Odessa, Texas.
Prohibition is Miracle-Gro for corruption, whether the object is alcohol, narcotics, or incandescent light bulbs.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
1 Comment »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on October 9, 2009
U.S. President Barack Obama completed the first ever sweep of the Nobel Prizes, adding the Nobel awards for outstanding contributions in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, economics and medicine to his recent Nobel Peace Prize.
In only his first year as President, Obama has also won Oscar, Peabody, and Daytime Emmy awards, in addition to the Westminster Kennel Club’s Best-In-Show, and Motor Trend’s Car-of-the-Year.
Popularity: 13% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on October 6, 2009
It has been lamented that America is harmless as an enemy and treacherous as a friend.
There is certainly ample evidence in the post-WWII era to support the thesis – particularly the latter component, from the Hmong and South Vietnamese in the 1970s to the Kurds in the 1990s. And that leaves aside Taiwan, pro-democracy factions in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and other situations where we betrayed allies but at least did not literally abandon them in their foxholes amid a shooting war. (more…)
Popularity: 13% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on October 2, 2009
Sarah Palin’s book, Going Rogue, didn’t take long to hit #1 on Amazon.com. In honor of Governor Palin, I’ve given the amazon link pride of place on the top right of this blog. Here in Manhattan, saying something nice about Sarah Palin is a serious faux pas. People look at you as though you’ve just tracked dog poop across the floor, and get angry quickly. But she certainly seems to make the right people angry, so I’ll go ahead with it.
I guess the thing I admire most about Sarah Palin is that she is not a career politician, or the sort of person who aspired since grammar school to elective office. I think our government, and our society, would be much healthier if there were fewer careerists and more citizen-officials of all political persuasions in office. There’s a lot to be said for having to live under the laws one enacts, which members of Congress seem not to. There is even more to be said for having a non-political life to go back to in those moments when principle conflicts with political expediency. (more…)
Popularity: 16% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on September 30, 2009
from 5 to 7 am to discuss the just-announced retirement of Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis.
Preview: While I suspect the common response will be to celebrate Lewis’ departure, and in light of the Merrill disclosure debacle it is probably merited, Bank of America became a much better bank under Lewis, it is taken far more seriously by competitors than it was under Hugh McColl, and for this Lewis deserves credit.
Popularity: 20% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on September 28, 2009
My politics have more than once been described as “slightly to the right of Attila the Hun,” though I would peg myself as more of a libertarian-conservative in the mold of Barry Goldwater. Either way, on matters economic I am usually on the side of free markets.
Recently, I’ve been noticing people on my side of the fence making a poor argument in defense of the great cause of free markets and free people. I spend plenty of time criticizing people with whom I disagree, but now I’d like to offer some constructive criticism to Karl Rove and other conservatives who have made the mistake of using profit margins as the measure of a company’s profitability. It is incorrect, misleading at best and risks undermining the credibility of the case for free markets. (more…)
Popularity: 20% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on September 23, 2009
Wall Street really is infested with greedy parasites. At least it was on Setember 22, when new AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka led a small rally of parasitic fellow-travelers who shared his view that union members – whose compensation by definition is more than their market value – have some basis for grievance with people who actually work on Wall Street – whose compensation is set by the market and therefore never exceeds its expected value.
Trumka repeatedly bashed “speculation,” which of course is a phenomenon known to the non-economically illiterate as “price discovery.”
According to Democratic party organ The New York Times, Trumka threatened that the AFL-CIO “would use its considerable lobbying clout to advance President Obama’s proposals for financial regulation.” I grant that this is no idle threat in an age when the POTUS has willingly embraced his role as the labor movement’s Fluffer-in-Chief. (more…)
Popularity: 22% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on September 22, 2009
The WSJ reports that JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America are taking steps to lessen the costs of overdraft protection for their customers.
Both banks publicly insist their actions are a function of the economic environment rather than the political one, which I suppose they feel they must, but the rality is that these are PR baby steps that likely come too late to stave off much more significant government constraints on overdraft programs.
Bank of America is waiving fees on overdrafts of under $10, and JP Morgan Chase is waiving them on overdrafts of $5 or less. These moves will benefit some consumers, but it is transparently clear that the real motivation behind the changes is to stave off media reports of $35 overdraft fees being applied to customers buying a pack of gum or can of soda.
In fairness, these two banks have some of the more responsible overdraft policies in the industry, and so stand to attract attention on this issue and be unfairly tarred with the same brush as banks that treat overdraft as a way to hustle customers rather than serve them. Any outrage is better directed at other institutions.
Still, these moves are too little and too late to stave off more dramatic government action, which may well spell the end of the “free checking” business model that became so widespread in the past decade.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags:
Posted By seanryan on September 21, 2009
The Washington Post has an article on bank overdraft fees today that I think shows some limits to be inevitable at this point.
In addition to Rep. Maloney’s longstanding support in the House for action on overdraft fees (supported by Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank), the article highlights that in the Senate, Chris Dodd will be introducing a companion bill with the support of Chuck Schumer.
Notably, Barney Frank stated that while new rules would be up to the proposed Consumer Proection Agency if the legislation creating it passes, he will push through overdraft-specific legislation if the larger effort fails.
Banks have been their own worst enemies on his issue. (more…)
Popularity: 27% [?]
Category: Uncategorized |
No Comments »
Tags: