http://www.bangpath.com thoughts for thinking people Thu, 08 Jul 2010 16:31:41 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We used to take it on faith that an independent Judicial Branch and an independent Fed were important principles forming part of the foundation of trust in American institutions. So it is very disturbing to see the choreographed events taking place this past year in American politics. First ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/07/08/musings-on-the-new-emperor/ Yesterday it was reported that Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior of the United States actually said that he would ask BP to repay the salaries of any workers laid off because of the six month moratorium on deepwater exploratory drilling imposed by the government.  So let me get ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/06/11/secretary-of-the-interior-ken-salazar-should-resign-over-bp-comments/ When the US Employment Situation Report came out Friday, the 41k private payroll print shocked the bulls. An interesting divergence appeared. Normally a weak payroll print in relation to expectations would cause the currency in question, the US Dollar in this case, to weaken substantially. But in ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/06/06/watch-out-below/ I am in the habit of rolling through most stop signs at 4 way stops. I used to come to pretty much a full stop. But then I thought about the following.   The U.S. imported 1.2 Million barrels of oil per day from Saudi Arabia in 2009. ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/05/26/national-security-imperative-do-not-full-stop-at-stop-signs/ 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 ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/05/20/jobs-jobs/ From the pre-harvest low near $5.25 in September 2006 to the monster blow-off high of $16.63 in July 2008, Beans more than tripled in price.   Then in a mere 5 months as the world was crashing in 2008, they lost more than half their value to a low of about ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/03/29/soybeans-wound-up/ After consigning the American experiment to the ash heap of history by arrogantly and brazenly cramming government control of health care down all of our throats against our will, Mr Obama is really feeling his oats.  Reuters reports of El Presidente: President Barack Obama dared Republicans on Thursday to try ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/03/25/el-presidente-believes-his-own-bullsht/ There is no number to convey what I have perceived in the last couple of months but the signal nevertheless seems too strong to ignore.  I take my daughter to Tae Kwon Do near downtown Chicago two or three days a week from further north on the Interstate.  I do ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/02/25/anecdotal-evidence-of-economic-weakness/ In watching the Sunday talking head shows today, I saw some footage of Mitt Romney saying something foolish at the recent CPAC dinner.  He said that the Stimulus Package passed by Democrats in 2009 "added not one net new job to the American economy".  Hmm.  I know what he was ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/02/21/why-republicans-should-fear-thursdays-health-care-summit/ With all the wailing and gnashing of teeth over the Federal Budget our Dear Leader the Obamanator proposed recently, you occasionally hear the solution mentioned but it is rarely discussed and Congress turns it's back (for example by voting unanimously to keep entitlements off the table when considering how not ... http://www.bangpath.com/2010/02/17/why-does-america-ignore-the-obvious-problem-with-entitlements/