I always sort of a grimly chuckle when I hear a politician on the tube say something like “Our focus is now entirely on creating jobs.” Politicians may be just about the stupidest creatures on our shared Earth, but they do know one thing. When people feel economically insecure, they tend to [...]

Has anyone noticed that no one in commercials can say “dot com” normally?  I suppose I am crazy.  I watch CNBC all day long every day because I am trading from 7:30 to 4.  Well I do not really watch it but I have it on so I hear it.  If you hear alot of [...]

I did not know Bill Seidman, but my impression is that he was one of the good guys and that the world will be a worse place for his absence.  I am saddened that someone of such obviously genuine good will, tolerance and humor has left the scene.  His impish smile was infectious.  He was [...]

I grew up in Minnesota. We did not even have a yard. Our house was on 5 acres of woods that was itself surrounded by 100 or more acres of woods. Yes, my childhood was very much like Christopher Robin growing up in the Hundred Acre Wood. I even had a [...]

UPDATE 05 March 2009: I would add that in light of what seems an unbelievable overextension of their balance sheet by writing hundreds of billions of dollars or more in Credit Default Swap (CDS) contracts they could not even remotely begin to conceive of being able to honor in the event, it would [...]

President Obama has been using the phrase “the tired policies of the past” quite a bit to refer to supply-side conservative economic ideas.  He should be careful.  These words sound like words that could have been uttered by Reagan in 1980 or by Newt Gingrich in 1994.
The tired policies of the past are precisely the [...]

UPDATE:  02/24/2009 – In his semi-annual Humphrey-Hawkins testimony this morning, Fed Chairman “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke weighed in on this issue.  He gave the analogy of your neighbors house on fire because they were smoking in bed.  He said in this case, while you do not condone the bad behavior that led to the fire, you [...]

Why is a guy who made his fortune in lipstick seeking to do in Yahoo!?  I guess he must be offended at how easily Yahoo! slipped out of Microsoft’s grasp?  For my part I am glad Microsoft dropped its bid.  As a guy who used to read RFC’s for fun and to gain a working [...]

As a form of national protest at the high and rising cost of energy and food, everyone in the nation should stay home on Wednesday, June 11th.  This might help get the attention of the idiots in Washington and the ear of fellow citizens who – for whatever strange reason – are not thinking much [...]

I recently read this tidbit about a “legal case” in Saudi Arabia. A Shiite woman who was sexually assaulted by a group of 6 Sunni men was herself sentenced to 90 lashes of the whip for putting herself into the situation and therefore tempting the men (the men were also sentenced to jail terms). What [...]

It is coming to this. The government is trying to change cultural expectations relating to privacy. This story is all over, but I originally saw it on Slashdot here. I was watching Fahrenheit 451 on television last week. In it a government fearful of allowing people to read things not controlled [...]

There is an interview in The Today Show’s web space of all places (not an especially serious news outlet) with the University of Florida student who was tasered by the campus police(?) there for asking silly questions of John Kerry at an event on campus. After reading the interview it is blindingly clear that [...]

You have probably seen video on Drudge of the guy arrested at the University of Florida here and here for asking questions the moderators did not like of John Kerry. These questions were the silly type asked by someone who doesnt have much of a clue. But this is America. People should [...]