Month: December 2008

Hong Kong On The Potomac

Yglesias wants DC statehood. Massie counter-proposes:

[W]hat about a grand bargain? In return for not having a vote in Congress, how about abolishing the federal income tax for DC residents? I suspect there are many who’d be all in favour of that. And of course such a move would do more to repopulate the city – complete with the kind of urban density Matt’s in favour of – and regenerate its schools and so on than just about anything else…

Of course, I’m with Massie. We could become Hong Kong on the Potomac.

On The Streets With A 401 (k)

If you’re like me, you’re putting your monthly retirement account statement directly into the trash without opening it. But it could be worse. An Economist writer who taught financial literacy to homeless single mothers noticed something wild:

One thing that shocked me was how many women had 401(k) plans. You can withdraw some of these funds if you experience severe financial hardship or take out loans, but nearly all of the women did not want to touch their accounts. All the women have substantial credit card debt and are living in a homeless shelter, yet many have an asset they can’t access for another thirty years. This struck me as rather perverse. Should the poor really have such illiquid assets when they’re prone to these kinds of income shocks?

The Friendship Of Blogging

A reader writes:

The idea of ‘friendship’ through this thing we call a blog really didn’t resonate with me until Monday.  When Tanta at Calculated Risk passed away, it was so much more than just knowing of someone passing; it was indeed like losing a friend, and the feeling surprised me.  I didn’t even know what she looked like, and yet I felt a bound with her through her interactive writing.

Rick Warren Backs Assassination Of Foreign Leaders

He gives a religious blessing to murder:

Last night, on Fox News, Sean Hannity insisted that United States needs to "take out" Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Warren said he agreed. Hannity asked, "Am I advocating something dark, evil or something righteous?" Warren responded, "Well, actually, the Bible says that evil cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped…. In fact, that is the legitimate role of government. The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers. Not good-doers. Evildoers."

Some insist that Warren is a centrist, moderate type. He is, in fact, a very hard-core Christianist integrated firmly into the GOP. As such, he sees government as a divine institution authorized to punish evil and promote good – as fundamentalist Christians view those things.

Clarifying The Clarification

Feinstein releases another statement:

I strongly believe there should be a single, clear standard for interrogation across the federal government, and that this standard should comply with the Geneva Convention, the United Nations Convention Against Torture, and U.S. law. I plan to introduce legislation in January that would close Guantanamo, make the Army Field Manual the single standard for interrogations, prohibit contractors from being used to carry out interrogations and provide the International Committee of the Red Cross with access to detainees. If the incoming administration decides to propose an alternative to this legislation, I am willing to hear its views. But I believe we must put an end to coercive interrogations by the CIA.

And Ackerman analyzes it.

Roughly Accurate

Jack Shafer:

Should reporters publish only when they’ve nailed the story six ways to Sunday? Not to endorse journalistic malpractice, but as long as they don’t intend to deceive and believe what they publish, I’d rather read their imperfect reports from the scene of breaking news than wait for a book on the subject …

Isn’t that what blogs are for?

“A Political Document”

Manzi works through GM’s restructuring plan:

The point of this document was supposed to be the presentation of the plan to achieve these operational improvements. But there’s no there there. I guess somebody who’s never read a real business plan might mistake this document for one, but it’s a joke.

Joseph Romm assesses bailout plans submitted by Ford and GM. Yglesias adds his two cents. I’m beginning to hope that the Big 3 go under. Any sign that the tax payer is prepared to rescue these losers means we have all but given up on the market economy in favor of government command and control. Whatever the way out of this crisis, returning to the 1970s is not part of it.

The Magazine That Buckley Built

Derb responds to my calling National Review a "“central pillar of theoconservatism:”

A magazine lives by its personality. The personality of National Review remains, to the best of my perception, as Bill Buckley established it:  a broad-minded and literate conservative magazine with a strong line on national defense and a Catholic coloration. It was never, and so far as I can see still is not, the vehicle for an ideology, certainly not a religious ideology. Among the earliest contributors there was at least one atheist (Max Eastman) and one Jewish agnostic (Frank Chodorov).