ninme

Finally had a moment to watch this election night video Brett McS left in my comments the other day:

Wayne Swan (“The Hapless”) is Federal Treasurer, which is the equivalent of the US Treasury Secretary (but with somewhat more policy setting power, relatively speaking). Michael Kroger is (or was last time I looked) president [...]

Categories: Politics

We’ve been watching Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It’s a good movie, generally. I’ll make no comment on the bohemian morality here. But the pacing and music and light is lovely (and apparently Woody Allen is good for a baby’s frayed nerves, too).

It’s funny though. Everyone in the film is idle. The Americans because they’re rich, staying [...]

Categories: Entertainment

I suppose this is just a consequence of the huge population in that state, but good lord, it blows New York away:

It’s like end times over there.

From The Corner: Job Creation in the States

Categories: Politics

Interesting…

The Daily Beast – The Elite Turn Against Obama

In a way, the folks attending this cerebral conclave pairing the Aspen Institute think tank with the Atlantic Monthly magazine might even be seen as President Obama’s natural base. Apparently not so much. … “We are, without question, in [...]

Categories: Politics

My parents were up today and my dad was talking about this story which, naturally, I hadn’t heard of. Congress raised the minimum wage again and this time, in their wise benevolence, didn’t give American Samoa an exemption:

When Democrats in Congress increased the minimum wage in 2007, the U.S. territory of 65,000 in [...]

Categories: People and Current Events

It’s Gerry!

Spectator – Germany’s eurozone dilemma: should they stay or should they go? By Gerard Baker

As the euro continues to dance on the brink of calamity, the people responsible for the deepening debacle have finally come up with a scheme that will save it once and for all. It’s a cunning plan that [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

We finished our Niall Ferguson documentary on a financial history of the world. I love this show but of my lord I didn’t get so much of it.

Not to ruin the ending though, but basically the US is screwed, it’ll end up in hyperinflation like Argentina or else in a world war with China, or [...]

Categories: Business & Media

Today’s Steyn:

Macleans – Mark Steyn: We’re too broke to be this stupid Beleaguered taxpayers may finally put a stop to the sheer waste of government spending

Read the whole thing. Best line:

You know how it is when you’re at the mall and someone rattles a collection box under your nose and you’re not sure where [...]

Categories: Politics

Liberals should like this argument tho. It’s all about interconnectedness:

PJM – VDH: The New Old German Problem

[W]hat will happen with Germany, when it is lectured by the French, insulted by its debtor dependencies in southern Europe, and starting to become angry that only its own work ethic and productivity—not some grandiose platitudes about [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

City Journal – Theodore Dalrymple: Know Thyself Rather than pointing fingers, Greek citizens should look in the mirror.

[Greek Politicians'] real crime was not stealing, but offering a substantial proportion of the Greek population a standard of living that was economically unjustified, maintained for a time by borrowing, and in the long run unsustainable, in [...]

Categories: Politics

NRO – Mark Steyn: What Arizona Must Live With Gordon Brown called Gillian Duffy a “bigot,” then got into his limo and drove away. Remind you of anybody?

I’m skipping some rather good lines, here. It was a struggle, but I overcame.

Gillian Duffy lives in the world Gordon Brown has created. He, on the other [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

A hilarious bit from a Mark Steyn article I barely didn’t link to the other day:

In 1993, government spending averaged 52.2 percent in Europe, and 70.9 percent in Sweden. The Swedes have reduced government spending (as a fraction of GDP) by almost a third in the last 15 years. Their corporate tax rates [...]

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

From Cato:

State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill, an independent candidate for governor, today offered a wide-ranging and scathing criticism of the state’s universal health care law, saying it is bankrupting Massachusetts and will do the same nationally, if a similar plan is passed in Congress. “If President Obama and the Democrats [...]

Categories: Politics

An infographic:

North Korea: The Craziest Country In the World

Categories: Geography and Foreign Affairs

SO MUCH but so little energy…

On Unions and how to deal with them:

Corner – State of the Nation, by John Derbyshire

This headline brightened up my breakfast: Unionized Rhode Island Teachers Refuse To Work 25 Minutes More Per Day, So Town Fires All Of Them [...]

Categories: People and Current Events