Villainry

While we're out hunting for witches, Mark Thoma tries to pin down who the real villain(s) is/are.

Note to self: Experiment titled, "Working from Home - Does it result in less blogging?", completed. Results = positive.

Appealing to Emotion

By Common Consent suggests we shouldn't ignore emotion in debates.

I understand the argument intellectually, but intellectually fail to see how emotion can be used as evidence for an argument.

Trickle Up

Robert Reich discusses whether Obamanomics is conservative or revolutionary.

"Turd Mining"

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

Geopolitics

Stratfor reviews the President's foreign policy actions of the past seven weeks.

I don't even want to think about his project plan.

Timing

From our friends at XKCD.com:

Pakistan - Not Good

Juan Cole provides an executive summary regarding the current situation in Pakistan. When an ex-prime minister (Sharif) is calling for revolution in a nuclear armed state at a time when relations with its arch-enemy (India) are just about as bad as they can be, it's time to pay attention.

The New Yorker reports on the back channel Pakistan-India peace deal that almost was and the potential results of a conflict betweeen these two countries.

LionO

This was my second time running the Ragnar Del Sol Relay (12 runners - 202 miles). 7 of the 12 runners were members of my family. It would have been 8, but one of my brothers is going to China and couldn't make it (or so he says).

I had no idea how I was going to do. You see, I haven't been formally training. I've been running (a lot) and biking (a little), but I haven't had a training plan other than "Run Forrest, Run". I was also a little nervous because of the Saturday forecast (upper 80s). I don't function well in the heat. My engine is air, not liquid, cooled. If the air temperature isn't below 60, I'm usually screwed.

This year I was runner #9. My first leg was 6 miles, of which four miles was uphill. I hammered out 6:50s pretty easy. My second leg was 5 miles, four of which were downhill. 6:20s. My last leg was 8 miles and was at 5pm Saturday. No sleep. Very tired. Not a lot of runners around to keep me motivated. On the Beeline Highway. 6:30s. Fortunately my air cooled engine was helped by my outstanding teammates running back and forth across the highway dumping water on me.

I feel strong people. I'm going to CRUSH 3 hours this year. I predict 2:56 at St. George. I have a plan. Now I just need to get in to the race.

The Spring Garden

Everything but the brussel sprouts (may they be sweet and crunchy) has been harvested. The spinach took an unusally long time to grow and the rabbits in the neighborhood have gotten to my plants a few times, but once harvested, it was delicious, especially in Liz's spinach/sausage lasagna (oh, my!).

Time to get ready for my spring planting. I purchased the following at Burpee's:

- Spanish peppers (hot)

- Anaheim peppers

- Sweet bell peppers

- Golden zucchini

- Beefsteak tomatoes

- Early season tomatoes

I'm looking forward to six months of tomatoes. There's more than one way to skin a mini(for now)-Depression.

"I Hunger"

If you played Sinistar as a youngster at Circle K, 7-Eleven, or Alpha Beta and heard the Sinistar yell, "I LIVE. I HUNGER. ROOOAAAAWWWRRR!", before you had collected enough crystals, then you will be familiar with the dull panic that I just experienced when the woman at the juice bar told me she was out of peanut butter.

JSR

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Title Fight

The case for and against bank nationalization from the RGE Monitor.

I'm leaning towards the for column.

No Grover

We're not going to pay for the stimulus with higher taxes. We're going to pay for it by increasing the money supply and inflating the debt away. What's an extra $3000 per person when we're all going to have 25% more dollars and a loaf of bread is $10?

Oh wait, haven't I said before that inflation is a tax. Please erase that from your memory.

New World Order

Fabius Maximus summarizes what I have been thinking, and sharing with a few, for the past month or so. Everthing that we know is going to change. Fiat/credit monetary system, consumer driven economy, America and its role as the hegemon in a unipolar world. Everything.

Cheers.

Everything You Need To Know

About government stimulus programs from our friends at the RGE Monitor.

Very well referenced and you gotta love the CBO.

~$500B or $.5T

I know you all know that $500B is half a trillion. I simply enjoy using a T after dollar signs is all.

So the President's 10-year budget is going to cut the deficit by more than half by 2013. And yet it will still be half a trillion $s!!.

Increasing taxes on those who make more than $250K a year and winding down the war in Iraq contribute the most to reducing the deficit. Let's hope the Afghanistan mission does not devolve into a destroy the Taliban mission.

2 Weeks

Prediction: The U.S. government is going to take over Bank of America and Citi within two weeks.

Nerves

Tax Changes

The Tax Policy Center breaks down how much each of our taxes are going down.

To find out which quintile you are in, click here.

Tax cuts and increasing the deficit. Sounds familiar.

Morality

I've argued for many years that the oft-heard phrase, "Everything happens for a reason" and its corollary that God's purposes are served by all things is a load of crap. I've said that sometimes suffering is just suffering without reason because we live in a fallen world.

After reading this post over at By Common Consent, I thought for the first time in more than a decade that I might be wrong about the purpose of suffering.

Divergence

Tim Duy compares the unemployment rates of the past two recessions based upon educational level. I find it difficult to imagine growth being entirely driven by government spending over the next decade (or two). This is not your father's recession.

And hysteresis? That's more than a little terrifying.

It's Ok

Go ahead and save. The NY Times makes the case for households saving and letting the government spend.

Sharing

I've removed my links to my favorite sites and replaced it with a widget from my reader. Articles that I like, but don't have time to comment on will appear there.

Different Voodoo

Robert Barro goes after the notion that a $1 spent by the government yields $1.50 worth of output. His conclusion is very Corporate Finance 101.

It's all about the basics.

Two-Faced

Does borrowing money to fund a recovery make the recovery less likely?

As you can tell by now, I am of two minds regarding the stimulus. I have serious reservations about the excessive use of debt (if only our debt to GDP ratio had been closer to 40% instead of +65% at the beginning of this crisis - thank you George!). I am also concerned about the U6 number of 15% (true unemployment - forget the ~7% number being thrown around). I don't know what the best answer is short term and I definitely don't know what the best answer is long term.

The problem is that I don't think anyone else knows either.

Nationalization

An interview with Professor Roubini:

"It is clear that the Anglo-Saxon model of supervision and regulation of the financial system has failed.

It relied on self-regulation that, in effect, meant no regulation; on market discipline that does not exist when there is euphoria and irrational exuberance; on internal risk management models that fail because – as a former chief executive of Citi put it – when the music is playing you gotta stand up and dance."

Post-Keynesians

Yves Smith and Steve Keen go after Marx's "Cavaliers of Credit". Warning: This is extremely long, but necessary if you want to truly understand what is going on.

"A sound model of how money and debt are created makes it obvious that we should never have fallen for the insane notion that the financial system should be self-regulating. All that did was give the Cavaliers a licence to run amok".

Credit money, then fiat money?? We don't operate under a fractional reserve system?? Someone needs to reprint all of those macro textbooks.

I suffered physical pain when Keen stated that the only way to inflate the economy (to get it kick started again) was to increase the money supply (i.e., M0) by 25x. No wonder everyone at the Fed and the Treasury is so scared. They know what they need to do, but pulling the trigger is gonna take a much bigger set than they or I have.

"With all due respect ..."

Cato coordinates a response to the President's claim that we are all Keynesians now.

Barro vs. Krugman

"This is probably the worst bill that has been put forward since the 1930s."

Despite Krugman's shrinking, but still extremely large, platform that is the NY Times, Barro is still beating him in the one place that matters, The Economist Rankings.

The Mormon Trump Card

I swear that I don't regularly read the BYU News. Scouts honor. I simply followed a link with a clever title. Let's see if you can resist The Mormon Trump Card link.

My summary of the article: Context is important.

Forebearance

"Dear God, let's just kiss the US economy goodbye."

Yves Smith, over at Naked Capitalism, is foaming at the mouth over the latest bank bailout plan being bandied about at the White House.

For all of the brainpower on his economic team, you'd think that President Obama could come up with something better than more of the same kowtowing to the banks. Due diligence would be a nice start.

Four

To paraphrase Niccolo yet again, there are three kinds of people in this world.

• Geniuses
• Those who appreciate genius
• Those who fail to comprehend and appreciate genius

Four years ago today I began this blog with the initial hope of escaping the pit that is Category 3 and quickly decided that I was better off not having such high aspirations and quickly switched gears to something that I did know a bit about (i.e., running).

So dear readers, let's hope that the next four years of little analysis and lots of linking bears more fruit than the past four.

Lapse of Serenity

I typically don't link to friends' blogs/sites. Not because I don't love them, but because the only traffic our sites see is the four or five of us who already read each other and posting a link to a post would be redundant in the worst way.

However, for this post over at Delicious Animals, I must make an exception.

I first met Mr. Delicious Animals when an old friend from the Japan Osaka Mission days (who happens to be Mrs. Delicious Animals) found out that I lived in Brooklyn (her family lived in Westchester) from the Osaka Mission site and reached out to me. Shortly thereafter, we moved to Westchester and ended up in the same ward with the Delicious Animals Family. The short of it is that I know Mr. Delicious Animals pretty well. I won't go into his curriculum vitae, but suffice it to say that the man is probably President of the East Coast Chapter of MENSA (if he would even deign to show up).

So read his educational and brief rant and ignore the bloviating of the talking heads for a day or two.

More Boredom

Or maybe not. Times and Seasons has another winner. An economist's thought experiment on the expected value of a fetus.

Mormon Debt

Very interesting and brief post on Times and Seasons on the political use of debt and the LDS Church.

The Welfare State

A great article on the proposed stimulus package over at The Corner on NRO. Although the CBO has revised its original analysis, it's interesting to note that the majority of the spending portion of the bill doesn't occur until FY10 and FY11. Our politicians must be expecting an extremely long recession.

The really interesting thing is that conservatives have finally woken up to the fact that they are conservatives and have started worrying about deficit spending, the debt, and a European style social safety net. After Bush's record of record spending with nary a peep from the right, one might even say it's cynically refreshing.

Afghanistan and al Qaeda

Stratfor looks at the U.S.'s involvement in Afghanistan and its strategic objectives regarding both the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Money quote: "There is no conceivable force the United States can deploy to pacify Afghanistan."

Slow Your Roll

I was more than a little surprised to see this article regarding the coherence of President Obama's stimulus plan in that bastion of conservatism, The Weekly Standard.

I will admit that I am easily swayed by lofty arguments, so reading the above article helped alleviate some of the leftover anxiety from last week's op-ed by Robert J. Barro decrying Keynesian economics in the WSJ. I now know what taking a tranquilizer feels like.

The "Obameter"

The St. Petersburg Times has put together "The Obameter" to track the ~500 promises that President Obama made on the campaign trail. It's only fitting that our Tampa resident grizzley bear's home newspaper is putting this together. I haven't yet gone through each of the 500, but I'm guessing that I'm only going to want the President to keep about 2/3 of his promises.

You can browse the President's promises by subject here.

79%

The Economist takes a look at those on the far left that President Obama has (in two days) pissed off.

Cheese

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Glad to see that The Daily Show isn't going to go all soft on us.

Tagai ni

Elder Ballard said. "We need to exercise our prayers and help him accomplish the great objectives that he has set."

A & R

Stratfor summarizes President Obama's two unavoidable foreign policy crises. No Israel, no nuclear armed India/Pakistan, and no Iraq.

That's a lot of balls to juggle. Here's to our new President's negotiation skills!

44

Rarely am I at a loss for words. Today was one of those days. It's amazing that a country that 150 years ago enslaved African-Americans and until 45 years ago denied African-Americans their civil rights has just transferred the highest office in the land and the most important leadership position in the world to an African-American. I'm moved.

9 Pages

Just for Liz.

The New Yorker somewhat favorably profiles Congressman Barney Frank.

I'm no fan of O'Reilly, but this is classic:

"Partisanship, Politicisation and Incompetence"

The Economist unleashes its assessment of W.'s legacy. No need for me to editorialize further.

Break Time

2800 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles.

So I've started two new activities recently. The first is a Bi-Monthly Hike. The first hike was on January 2nd and myself, one of my brothers, one of my brothers-in-law, my future brother-in-law, and one of my sisters hiked up Siphon Draw to the top of FlatIron (not my picture - I forgot my camera).

Um, 3 miles one way, piece of cake, right? I was actually a little disappointed that we weren't going to break into double digit mileage and thought ahead of time, "Well, you can always run another two or three miles when you get home." Well, six hours and after one mile of rock climbing up and one mile of rock climbing down later, I came to the conclusion that maybe mileage isn't everything. I was sore for almost a week.

At the suggestion of my brother-in-law, we will be hiking to the top of Picacho Peak in March.

Future 2009 hikes include Mt. Humphreys, Reavis Ranch, Four Peaks, and Brins Mesa.

The second new activity is cycling. Not necessarily brand new, but new within the past two years. I bought my tri-bike almost three years ago, rode it for a year, then decided that I didn't like riding it as much as what I could be doing instead (i.e., running). Well one of my brothers decided to drag me back into cycling. So we compromised. On Saturdays, we now run 10+ miles and then bike 20+ miles. It's been a lot of fun. He tells me that cycling first, then running would be a different story, but for now, I don't believe him.

Before I forget dear readers, I thought you'd like to know that Liz likes it when I spend at least half of the day walking around the house in my cycling tights. I try and try to go get cleaned up, but she keeps making me food or asking me to stand on chairs and get things down or move this or move that. Gotta please the pregnant one!

And now back to our regularly scheduled news of war, famine, pestilence, and economic hardship (in that company, economic hardship sounds downright pleasant).

Not So Popular

Stratfor takes a look at Hamas and the Arab states.

Cassandra?

Improbable probables aside, the RGE Monitor posts its 2009 economic outlook (summary: It's not pretty).

Can't wait for the 2010 version (summary: hyperinflation on the horizon).

Because the Girls Would Sing

Why read/listen to the summaries when you can read the real deal? The December Fed Open Market Committee meeting minutes.

I think that Weird Al needs to remake "Rock Me Amadeus".

"Unemployment, unemployment. Unemployment. Oooh, rock me unemployment!"

Can I Get One of These on eBay?

Stratfor provides a brief analysis on the Israeli ground attack in Gaza (this is the free version).

Gas Wars

Not a summit. Anything but a summit!

The EU is getting a little testy (meaning they missed their morning croissant) over Russia's cutting off the natural gas pipeline.

How Many States

is it going to take?

John Bolton proposes a three-state solution in The Washington Post.

(I always have trouble deciding whether John Bolton's moustache or hair is more awesome. Today, I go with the moustache.)

Roubini

The Financial Times profiles my favorite economist. I will admit that that is the first time that I have ever seen the words playboy and economist within seven city blocks of each other.

Oh and 2009 = "Worst year". Happy New Year!

Calculus

David Aaronovitch asks a very important question. Is Israel doing exactly what Hamas wants it to do? What is the move after the move after the move?

Welcome to Israel

In the wake of the latest Israeli action in Gaza against Hamas, CFR has posted an interactive guide to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

It will be interesting to see how Obama approaches Israel and the Palestinians. 11th hour efforts like Bush and Clinton or something more meaningful?

Flossy

From The New Yorker's archives, Mark Twain explores the mindset of the middle class gangsta.

Feats of Strength

Stratfor discusses Pakistan's asymmetric warfare tactics and The WSJ reports on Pakistan's troop movement to the Indian border.

Happy Holidays!

Legacy

More on Bush's legacy in The Boston Globe.

And from The Weekly Standard. Lincoln. Bush. REALLY?

Snobbery

It's thinking like this that will destroy the GOP for a generation (if it hasn't happened already).

Palin. Thatcher. Really? Now that's Kool-Aid.

Deep Throat

Stratfor takes a look at Mark Felt (aka Deep Throat) and how understanding who a source is affects our understanding of the story. A must read for anyone interested in Watergate and puppetry.

43

There is no way that President George W. Bush can be considered anything other than one of the three worst presidents in U.S. history (along with James Buchanan - uh, The Civil War and Warren G. Harding - Teapot Dome).

What a complete putz.

Malfeasance

In the NY Times, Thomas Friedman comments on U.S. and Chinese corruption in the wake of the Madoff scandal.

Be Forewarned

The Chinese Navy is sending warships to battle the Somali pirates. I can't wait for the YouTube.

But it is AAA Rated!

Not enough talk about the culpability of the rating agencies (SROs) in this mess. The RGE Monitor discusses the FER's recommendations for SRO reform.

Gokouun o Inorimasu

It's funny that in Japanese wishing someone good luck consists of praying for them. So even though my links are mostly downers (and this one from the WSJ about Japan's experience with Keynesian stimuli is no exception), I'm still on a running high from this morning's 7 miles on a treadmill, which is strange considering I hate the treadmill, and this didn't depress me as much as it should have. I think the fact that I was cozy inside instead of freezing in the 19 degree weather outside had something to do with it.

Sometimes I really love the WSJ. In the face of capitalism's failure, they press on. Ganbarimashou!

Burrata

Mozzarella stuffed with cream-soaked mozzarella? Oh my!

Preying On Crisis

The New Yorker profiles Naomi Klein, The New Left, and the failure of Milton Friedman's Chicago School of Economics (i.e., laissez-faire capitalism).

Sign Me Up

Who doesn't love negative yields?

Dinner Time

Finally, a well-deserved bailout. Denying access to the King of Cheeses would spell certain global chaos. If Blue Stilton, Point Reyes Blue, Ballerina (local to WA - no link), or Winey Goat (second one down) are having trouble, then please bail them out as well.

Investing In Infrastructure

Where do I sign up for my piece of the $1T deficit (to be paid back by myself at a later date of course with interest)? I've got a slew of ideas.

1. Skeet shooting park in the huge dirt lot across the street
2. Widen Gilbert road to 12 lanes
3. Build a freeway underpass underneath downtown Gilbert
4. Olympic size swimming and diving pool (salt, not chlorine) across the street
5. Free heliport and helicopters .... hmmmm ... 1 mile north of my house
6. Lifetime national hunting and fishing licenses for myself and all of my family and friends
7. Lots of desalination plants for Southern California (I'm sick of them stealing water from the Colorado)
8. Freeway system that is vertical (like in Minority Report), as well as forcing The Big Three to build cars that can use the vertical freeway system
9. Personal nuclear reactors (think Mr. Fusion)
10. A moon base and transportation to it for all Americans that pass the travelling to a moon base test (I should be paid $1B to create the test)

I know I didn't ask for anything completely outrageous. I'm simply trying to be reasonable here.

Nationalization

The New York Times discusses the nationalization of The Big Three (not the biggest three).

Five years from now when the government owns most financial institutions and the largest manufacturing sector in the U.S., will we say, "Well done."? Ten years? Fifty years?

Brinksmanship

Stratfor takes a look at the escalating India-Pakistan crisis and how the current crisis could affect the two countries, as well as Afghanistan, Iran, Russia, and the U.S. Pretty grim stuff. Let's hope for a troop build-up along the border and a couple of artillery duels.

Repeatability

Stratfor looks at the similarities between the Mumbai attacks and the New York Landmarks Plot that was broken up.

Ok, so on my list of things to do to ensure survival:

- Hoard food. Check.
- Don't spend money (except on food and ammo). Check.
- Get a vicious attack dog that can survive by hunting and killing its own food (small animals or criminals). Still searching.
- Buy a diesel powered generator and build an underground storage tank. Still digging.

And new this week:

- Don't visit well known public places. Check.

The Big 3 Lose Again

Reposted in its entirety, as Craiglist took down the ad. Very disappointing Mr. Craigslist.

"OK, let me start off by saying this Xterra is only available for purchase by the manliest of men (or women). My friend, if it was possible for a vehicle to sprout chest hair and a five o'clock shadow, this Nissan would look like Tom Selleck. It is just that manly.

It was never intended to drive to the mall so you can pick up that adorable shirt at Abercrombie & Fitch that you had your eye on. It wasn't meant to transport you to yoga class or Linens & Things. No, that's what your Prius is for. If that's the kind of car you're looking for, then just do us all a favor and stop reading right now. I mean it. Just stop.

This car was engineered by 3rd degree ninja super-warriors in the highest mountains of Japan to serve the needs of the man that cheats death on a daily basis. They didn't even consider superfluous nancy boy amenities like navigation systems (real men don't get lost), heated leather seats (a real man doesn't let anything warm his butt), or On Star (real men don't even know what the hell On Star is).

No, this brute comes with the things us testosterone-fueled super action junkies need. It has a 265 HP engine to outrun the cops. It's got special blood/gore resistant upholstery. It even has a first-aid kit in the back. You know what the first aid kit has in it? A pint of whiskey, a stitch-your-own-wound kit and a hunk of leather to bite down on when you're operating on yourself. The Xterra also has an automatic transmission so if you're being chased by Libyan terrorists, you'll still be able to shoot your machine gun out the window and drive at the same time. It's saved my bacon more than once.

It has room for you and the four hotties you picked up on the way to the gym to blast your pecs and hammer your glutes. There's a tow hitch to pull your 50 caliber anti-Taliban, self cooling machine gun. I also just put in a new windshield to replace the one that got shot out by The Man.

My price on this bad boy is an incredibly low $12,900, but I'll entertain reasonable offers. And by reasonable, I mean don't walk up and tell me you'll give me $5,000 for it. That's liable to earn you a Burmese-roundhouse-sphincter-kick with a follow up three fingered eye-jab. Would it hurt? Hell yeah. Let's just say you won't be the prettiest guy at the Coldplay concert anymore.

There's only 69,000 miles on this four-wheeled hellcat from Planet Kickass. Trust me, it will outlive you and the offspring that will carry your name. It will live on as a monument to your machismo.

Now, go look in the mirror and tell me what you see. If it's a rugged, no holds barred, super brute he-man macho Chuck Norris stunt double, then contact me. I might be out hang-gliding or BASE jumping or just chilling with my ladies, but I'll get back to you. And when I do, we'll talk about a price over a nice glass of Schmidt while we listen to Johnny Cash.

To sweeten the deal a little, I'm throwing in this pair of MC Hammer pants for the man with rippling quads that can't fit into regular pants. Yeah, you heard me. FREE MC Hammer pants.

Rock on."

Ch. 11

The WSJ reports on the latest bailout request from the Big Three.

Let them file Chapter 11 and have the government guarantee DIP financing while they restructure and are protected from their creditors. The "people won't buy cars from a bankrupt auto maker" argument is bunk.

Mumbai = Sarajevo?

I hope that India shows restraint. The last thing the world needs is for two nuclear armed nations to go to war.

Ostrich Time

I'm about to stop reading the news and just start stockpiling food, ammo, and Dairy Queen coupons.

The Financial Times looks at the recession news. But listen to Big Ben (not Roethlisberger) and just don't worry. Everything is a-ok.

Mumbai

Stratfor looks at the strategic motivations and potential geopolitical consequences of last week's attacks.

Active

The Financial Times previews the nationalization of the banks.

Mi Amigo's 10K Turkey Trot

As we have been doing for time immemorial, the Fullers ran the Thanksgiving Day 10K Turkey Trot. I haven't run this particular race for about 20 years so it was nice to once again run with a grown man dressed as a turkey (for the record, I beat him).

This year we had several new Fuller participants (Nick, Lisa, Rachael, and Maverick). The weather was perfect and the course fast (although a little too much headwind the last two miles).

So on to the race. I haven't run a 10K since high school. I haven't run fast in over a year. Let's just say that expectations were low, meaning I was hoping to come in under 45 minutes.

When the race first started, I was pretty tight. However, due to my desire to get out of the crowd and into some open space, I ran the first mile in 6:15. And I felt like I wanted to vomit in my ...

Actually, I didn't feel like vomiting. I felt like slowing down because my lungs and legs were asking me what I thought I was doing. I told them to shut up and that I only had another five.2 miles to go. I then settled into a nice pace that fluctuated by 20 seconds or so around 6:50 depending on whether I was going up the hill or running into a headwind. The last mile I felt ok and finished in 42:34 (6:52 pace).

Three minutes slower than my best, but I'll take it. I'm always thinking I'm losing speed. I don't think it's happening yet. Next year 2:59 is going to happen.

Perspective

Bigger than all of these combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

Bloomberg says it is more like $8T. I will now vomit in my mouth. We are getting so hosed.

Cal-i-for-ni-a

The Economist takes a look at what is becoming of The Governator's environmental plans in the face of a recession that has hit California particularly hard.

The Right Flank

Stratfor reviews Obama's moves thus far and concludes that it looks like Obama is going to govern from the center and that politically he needs to strengthen the right side of his coalition.

Enough Ink?

Christopher Wood in The WSJ says (with a much larger megaphone) what I've been saying from the beginning. Inflation, deflation, print, print, print, print, print, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, Zimbabwe.

See-Saw

So now that we understand that the government has no clue what to do, what do we think they are going to do next?

A week after telling us they were no longer going to be buyin up toxic assets, but instead would only be providing capital injections, the government has now decided to do both with Citi.

I think I'm going to start taking bets on what the government will do next.

Buy Citi: 4:1
Buy my house: 28:1
Buy my neighbor's house: 17:1
Buy GM: 6:1
Buy the state of California: 12:1

Any others?

My People

I gave a talk in sacrament meeting a month or so ago. I used a running metaphor and talked about how I inherited my desire and ability to run fast from my Mexican ancestors (my dad is an original marathoner). This unexpectedly drew a lot of laughs.

Being in Arizona again after almost a decade has caused me to remember how different it is living in a border state, especially with the immigration issue being such a hot button topic the past couple of years.

CFR takes a look at the increasing drug violence in Mexico.

Georgia Part II

Stratfor reports that up to 100,000 Russian passports to Ukrainians within the past two months in a country where dual citizenship is illegal.

Distractions are nice.

Citi

The potential sale of Citigroup was more than a mild shock.

Is nothing safe?

The Periphery

Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Iran, Russia, terrorism, global warming, PIRATES just aren't getting me fired up like they used to. Something about the threat of even higher unemployment has me focused (like a laser beam) on only the economy. I continue to read other topics, but mainly to distract me from the absolute horror of our economic situation.

Interregnum

Paul Krugman is worried about economic policy going on vacation during the transition of power.

The Wilderness

Editorials about the collapse of the Republican coalition are all beginning to sound alike, but they aren't getting old yet.

I say that as a Republican (for now) hoping.

Super Obama World

I didn't play this more than once. I promise.

Dow 6000

I told one of my brothers about two months ago to expect to see Dow 7500. I was too optimistic.

To cheer you up, I've brought you interactive joy (about a depressing topic, but it's INTERACTIVE!).

Unsolicited

I love unsolicited advice. I'm sure President-elect Obama does as well (from The Financial Times - how to fix the economy (what else)).

Mitt

Says to let the Big Three go into bankruptcy. No details on how the restructuring should be paid for, but hey, I'm sure he has an idea or two up there in that giant noggin of his.

Commodities

The RGE Monitor reviews the 50% drop in commodity prices over the past six months.

Obamarama

The Chief Moonbat is pissed. "Elections have consequences." Post-partisanship be damned.

I'm viewing this development in a positive light.

Argh!

I've been following the piracy story for a couple of years now for two reasons. One, I read an outstanding article in The Atlantic in 2003, titled "Anarchy at Sea" and two, once when I was reading CNN, I saw a story on Somali pirates and told Liz. She proceeded to imitate Captain Barbossa and the rest is history. I now regularly read about modern day pirates.

Chatham House recently came out with a new report on "Piracy in Somalia". Worth reading if you'd like a break from the doom and gloom present day life and want to read about how shipping $100M of oil ain't what it used to be.

A Knife's Edge

Stratfor comments on why the meeting of the G20 did NOT bring about a complete restructuring of the global financial system a la Bretton Woods.