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Friday Follies
Dec. 19th, 2008 10:15 amThe good thing about living five minutes from work is that even if your commute time doubles it's not that bad. The bad thing about living five minutes from work is that bad weather is not an excuse for not coming in.
Today's news brings several items of interest, so consider this post a link-fest.
Auto bailout
I see that President Bush decided to lend the Big Three some cash. In approving the loan, Bush said something that should be obvious to anybody not living in a cave, to wit: "In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action."
Ya think so? What does it say for the Republican party that the only person willing to admit the obvious is an unpopular, outgoing President? I think part of the problem facing the Republicans, and this by the way is not unique to them or now, is that as a party looses power, it becomes more extreme.
What happens is this - the first people voted out of office are folks in swing districts. By definition, they are the most vulnerable to changes in mood of the electorate. They also tend to be the voice of moderation of the party, because they have to go sell decisions back home. When they are gone, the moderating influence is removed.
Fixing Our Economy
Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but Joseph Stiglitz, writing in Vanity Fair, seems to have done a good job of diagnosing how we got into our current economic mess. It's a lengthy read, but well worth your time.
Global Warming
Hard as it is to believe when one is up to one's butt in snow, but apparently global warming continues. NASA says that polar ice is continuing to melt. Now, I tend to agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jeff_duntemann in that running an open-ended experiment in increasing CO2 in the atmosphere is a bad idea.
I also agree with Jeff that a long-term solution will have to involve nuclear power. Having said that, the first rule of messes is "don't make it bigger." Thus, conservation has a role to play.
Today's news brings several items of interest, so consider this post a link-fest.
Auto bailout
I see that President Bush decided to lend the Big Three some cash. In approving the loan, Bush said something that should be obvious to anybody not living in a cave, to wit: "In the midst of a financial crisis and a recession, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible course of action."
Ya think so? What does it say for the Republican party that the only person willing to admit the obvious is an unpopular, outgoing President? I think part of the problem facing the Republicans, and this by the way is not unique to them or now, is that as a party looses power, it becomes more extreme.
What happens is this - the first people voted out of office are folks in swing districts. By definition, they are the most vulnerable to changes in mood of the electorate. They also tend to be the voice of moderation of the party, because they have to go sell decisions back home. When they are gone, the moderating influence is removed.
Fixing Our Economy
Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but Joseph Stiglitz, writing in Vanity Fair, seems to have done a good job of diagnosing how we got into our current economic mess. It's a lengthy read, but well worth your time.
Global Warming
Hard as it is to believe when one is up to one's butt in snow, but apparently global warming continues. NASA says that polar ice is continuing to melt. Now, I tend to agree with
jeff_duntemann in that running an open-ended experiment in increasing CO2 in the atmosphere is a bad idea. I also agree with Jeff that a long-term solution will have to involve nuclear power. Having said that, the first rule of messes is "don't make it bigger." Thus, conservation has a role to play.
