Archive for Politics

Comparing JP Morgan’s Trading Loss to the Daily Federal Deficit

SCI | 05/28/2012 | 0 Comment(s) |

Morgan’s Loss Pales by Comparison

We would like to write in depth about JP Morgan’s recent trading loss, but given the criticism and demonization (dimonization?) by our chattering politicians, for now we’ll make a small point that too few folks are considering.

The $2 – $5 billion that JP Morgan lost (and is losing) this spring is a heck of a lot of money. (We wish that we had a small fraction of any number in that range.) Moreover, it seems the loss was avoidable but arose unintentionally through the usual combination … Read the rest

We Wish bin Laden were Alive, and…

SCI | 05/04/2011 | 0 Comment(s) |

Being Harshly Interrogated!

We’re not going soft on terrorists, but we do wish that Osama bin Laden had not been killed on Sunday, and, instead, had been captured, and, as we’ll explain, reported as dead.

On Tuesday, we heard the President’s Spokesman Jay Carney announce that bin Laden was unarmed when he was shot. That seemed strange and seemed like a strange detail to release, and we wondered why a highly-trained Seal would kill someone whom he could capture (or tranquilize). One of the White House reporters asked a similar … Read the rest

One Vote

SCI | 10/21/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

We were wondering when they would start running this particular campaign ad, and we saw it for the first time tonight. Who know? Perhaps it was on before, and we didn’t see it, but if it were our campaign, we would have waited until now–towards the end of October–to run it as often as we could.

We’re writing about the latest ad from the Keith Rothfus campaign. Mr. Rothfus the Republican running against Democrat Jason Almire, our U.S. Congressman, to represent Pennsylvania’s fourth district.

In April, we conjectured that Mr. … Read the rest

Obama: Creating More Conservatives than Jobs

SCI | 09/20/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

Other than to reverse harmful and overbearing policies, we don’t think that U.S. Presidents can do much to create jobs. In fact, we think that when they are compelled to act “to grow the economy,” they’re much better at destroying wealth and employment, especially when they favor wealth-distribution schemes. (So, we much prefer a conservative that follows the Hippocratic Oath, of “first, do no harm.”)

That being said, we’ll use the language of the White House. We do think that it is quite ironic that in his first 19 months … Read the rest

Leave Shirley Sherrod Alone.

SCI | 07/21/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

We have deep sympathy for Shirley Sherrod, and the Kafkaesque predicament in which she finds herself.

The former regional USDA official was forced to resign from the Department of Agriculture for seemingly racist comments that were clearly taken out-of-context and very much contradict the point of her anecdote.

The story she related was a confessional of her journey–of how she grew to treat fairly someone of a different race–of how she overcame her prejudices. In addition, she was describing events that happened in 1986, which is nearly one quarter of … Read the rest

High Unemployment: It’s Bush’s Fault!

SCI | 07/07/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

Illegal Immigration and High Unemployment Rates

As is our style, the post title is tongue-in-cheek but true, too.

Like almost every other reasonable person, we’re sick of hearing how every problem that the Obama administration can’t manage is former President Bush’s fault.

Some problems certainly were of President Bush’s making. For example, his administration’s panicked response to the rapid deterioration in the creditworthiness of certain financial firms in the fall of 2008 exacerbated the crisis-in-confidence and deepened the recession. However, other tragedies, like the Gulf Oil leak and the Obama administration’s … Read the rest

Where Have the Grownups Gone? We Ask, again.

SCI | 06/05/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

They Play Games while the Gulf Crisis Worsens?

We had planned to write separately about (1) Armando Galarraga’s imperfect perfect game and (2) about the federal government’s very lame response to the massive oil leak and spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

However, after reading Peggy Noonan’s column this morning, it seems best to combine the two seemingly disparate topics into one post. Ms. Noonan doesn’t make the connection that we do, which is the juxtaposition between those who play children’s games for a living acting who act like adults and … Read the rest

Financial-overhaul, Bank Ratings & Scenario Analysis

SCI | 05/24/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

Have Banks or Regulators Required Such Analyses?

There’s an interesting article in today’s edition of The Wall Street Journal with the title, Overhaul Puts Bank Ratings at Risk.

The article explains how the version of the financial industry regulation bill that was passed by the Senate significantly weakens implicit government support for banks that were or may still be presumed to be “too-big-to-fail.” If that version of the bill becomes law “TBTF” will have been transformed to “NTBTF,” depending upon the whims and fears of the regime in charge … Read the rest

Arizona and What To Do with Illegal Immigrants

SCI | 04/28/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

With the recent passage of a new, strong, immigration law in Arizona, the media are abuzz, again, with news and discussions about illegal immigration and illegal immigrants. So, it seems worthwhile to remind readers our proposal to eliminate illegal immigrants.

We are support the protection of the nation’s borders to eliminate illegal immigration and find it ridiculous that the nation does little to protect them. We also support the substantial expansion of legal immigration for all classes of folks, not just professionals. Peasants, like our ancestors, deserve a chance, too.… Read the rest

Mark Critz and Jason Altmire

SCI | 04/26/2010 | 0 Comment(s) |

We don’t usually write about Congressional candidates outside of our own district, but we saw a campaign ad on Saturday, in which the hoarse and near voiceless Mark Critz claimed that Republican attempts to portray him as a liberal and link him to Nancy Pelosi were untrue.

Who is Mark Critz? He is the Democratic candidate in the special election to replace the late John Murtha in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. (Checkout this fine example of gerrymandering at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pa12_109.gif.)

Why would the Republican National Committee attempt to link him … Read the rest