Dow & Gold At Highs?

Ok, I'm confused. The Dow cracked 10,000 yesterday for the first time in a year, while gold finished today at $1,050/oz, which is just off an all-time high. This doesn't make a lot of sense, with gold so often being strongest when stock markets are at their weakest.

My biggest market fear is that inflation is inevitable, thanks to the rampant printing of valueless money wrought by the stimulus, so in that sense, the gold price makes perfect sense. But the stock market? Why is it so high?

I'm going to have to do my homework on this.

Reason on Whole Foods

Interesting to hear some Whole Foods employees speak, alongside Whole Foods protesters.

Yet Even Still More Smoking Ban for Marion County

It seems like there is endless restlessness by those who wish to use the power of government to force businesses to involuntarily adopt no-smoke policies. From WTHR 13's report:

A City-County Council committee approved a tighter ban in a 4-2 vote. The measure is designed to further reduce health effects of secondhand smoke especially on non-smoking workers at bars and clubs.

...

City Councilor Christine Scales questioned the wisdom of expanding the current restrictions. "Why a total ban? We're talking about serious liberty interests at stake here. Smoking is legal," she said.

I happen to like no-smoke establishments. I choose to patronize them. However, I get hung up on the phrase "the pursuit of happiness". People define that in different ways. For me, playing hockey is one avenue to happiness. For others, it's smoking a cigarette in a bar. I no more want a group of busybodies to outlaw my ability to play hockey on the basis of safety and eliminating risky behavior than smokers or bar owners want this ban. It's the third parties, those who don't even participate in the ownership or behavior, who are driving this law. That makes their efforts very suspect to me. I don't trust little dictators.

The ends of the no-smoke policy is nice, but the means are very important to me. There are the parallels I think of:

I like having a fully staffed military, but I oppose conscription.
I like having top notch health care, but don't think you should be taxed to make it so.

We want the ends. For the means, it is so unnecessary to resort to force, yet it is our nation's first resort anymore. We become less American daily.

So, Who Will Pay?

With the health care debate, the proponents seem to be stuck on a nuance-free, black & white answer: The Rich(tm). After all, they can afford it.

Alas, the reality is that it isn't just the rich. Turns out it could be people working manufacturing jobs, right here in Indiana. From an Indy Star report:

Zimmer Holdings, Biomet and DePuy Orthopaedics are based in Warsaw, along with several smaller companies and suppliers. Together, they generate nearly a third of the estimated $32 billion in global orthopedic device sales.

But the industry, succeeding even as some other U.S. manufacturing sectors are slumping, faces challenges:

A proposal that passed the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday would place as much as $40 billion in new taxes on the medical device industry in the next decade.

As always, the devil's in the details, although, there's devil aplenty in the main argument, as far as I'm concerned. Anyhow, is this what the proponents want? To do something that would stifle the creation of good paying manufacturing jobs?

Also, it may meet the definition of Obama's campaign promise that taxes won't be raised on 95% of individuals, but taxes on corporations end up being taxes on the employees and customers of those corporations. Again, lack of nuance. Black & white. Ham fisted simpleton explanations.

Limbaugh To Own The Rams?

I was amused to see that one former painkiller addict wouldn't support the other. From the AP:

Rush Limbaugh's bid to buy the St. Louis Rams ran into opposition within the NFL on Tuesday. Colts owner Jim Irsay vowed to vote against him

I get the feeling that Indy's conservative football fans must have some large cognitive dissonance buzzing their brains right about now. The Colts are 5-0 and playing some of their best football ever, but the team is the city's welfare queen poster child, with Irsay a billionaire in no small part due to transfers of wealth from the populace to him. Then, the iconic Limbaugh gets a slap in the face from Irsay.

The Left boycotted Whole Foods when its' CEO said things it found insulting. Any chance the right will boycott the Colts?

Before any Limbaugh supporters call it un-American for Irsay to take this stance, just remember that the NFL and its' franchises are a different kind of property than, say, a common piece of real estate. The other owners do have a vote on whether or not to accept any prospective owner or ownership group, and they can discriminate against any prospective buyer, for any reason, no matter how illiberal that might seem.

Rewarding Saturday

I was very happy to deliver a talk to potential Libertarian Party candidates this Saturday, on the subject of beginning the race. Mainly, as the most recent candidate for Secretary of State, my top secondary objective, apart from winning, was to establish four more years of automatic ballot access for LP candidates. These were some of the folks who will take advantage of that ballot access.

Most of what I do in politics has no immediate return. This event was rare in that there was the immediate gratification of meeting and informing these good people, and, in helping to justify that campaign- both at once.

Now, folks: file those papers!!!

Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize?

They must just give that thing away to anyone. To give the Peace Prize to the president who has not ended the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but extended them? The Prize has no value any longer, and what a horrible message: Words matter, actions don't.

Saturn Rings The Bowl

GM announced today that Saturn is being closed down. From an AP report:

General Motors Co. said today that it would shut down its Saturn brand after an agreement with Penske Automotive Group Inc. to acquire it fell apart.

Penske, citing concerns of whether it could continue to supply vehicles after a manufacturing contract with GM ran out, ended talks with GM Wednesday to acquire the brand.

I don't get it. Wasn't the whole point of the GM bailout by the federal government that the plants would stay open? Basically, a big make-work project? This has to be a real kick in the ass to those who worked at Saturn.

I have no love for Saturn. I owned a 1997 SL2 that I actually really did love, being that it was the first car I ever bought new. It was totally reliable until 2006, when I took it to the Saturn of Fishers for an oil change. A mere 600 miles later, the engine blew. The dealer, Saturn of Fishers, wouldn't stand behind it. Nor would Saturn itself. So, I had the damned thing crushed into a cube. Then I bought a Toyota, swearing I would never buy another Saturn or GM product again so long as I lived.

GM CEO Fritz Henderson said in statement that Saturn and its dealership network will be phased out. Locally, Saturn dealers are in Indianapolis, Fishers and Greenwood.

I don't usually delight in schadenfreude, but in this case, I must confess I did snicker as I drove down 126th Street, past the entrance to the Saturn of Fishers. Good riddance. The market has spoken. Recessions are so very good for weeding out the bad.

I know I was just one customer, just one grain of sand on the beach, but maybe, just maybe, had Saturn treated me a little better, they might have survived. For, if they treated me with such contempt, I'm sure they treated just about everyone else who found themselves at a pivotal moment of showing customer loyalty, or not, like shit.

Souder Begs Of Me?

I was fairly surprised to get a beg letter from Congressman Mark Souder, a Republican representing Indiana's District #3, covering the northeast corner of the state. Surprised, because I live in District #5, in the central part of the state.

The gist of the beg is that Souder is under attack by 'liberals', and that he is a good 'conservative'.

These terms are relative, of course. I consider myself a conservative in that I am to conserve the traditions of the Founders. This is not how most people portray conservatism today, although Souder's letter does site the Founders, so I'll hold him to it.

Souder describes himself as not a 'big spender'. Yet he votes consistently to fund Amtrak, voted to subsidize private health insurance, and votes in favor of farm subsidies- all hallmarks of big spending as far as I can tell. Source.

Mainly, I just don't trust a Republican who voted with George Bush on so many government growing budget items who then turns around and slams the Obama Administration for doing exactly the same things, only at a greater degree. I don't care to shade bad policy in terms of very bad and extremely bad. Bad is bad.

I'd be much happier to see Mark Souder replaced with a Libertarian- a conservative who meets my definitions of the word, conserving the actual principles of the Founders.

Feast / Famine

I haven't posted in several weeks, because the work was overwhelming. A great problem to have, as now illustrated by having almost none.

With some down time, I've decided to go forward with one of the many projects I've put to the back burner for years- selling my record collection.

I think I'm going to start selling piecemeal, beginning with the 7" records. I doubt I'll start anywhere in particular, just start pulling them out of the boxes and listing them on eBay. I think I have around 2,000 or so. Best case scenario is that I end up with about 10-15, those with sentimental value, where the artist thanked me on the sleeve, or like the My Dad Is Dead "Shine" 7", numbered "0001/1500", which I invested in. I'm keeping that one!

If you want something, looking for a particular 7" record from some '77 punk band, or early 90s noise rocker, drop me a line. Just know that I'm selling, and looking to supplement my dwindling income with this. No stimulus checks coming my way, after all. I'm not too big to fail.

I'll post the eBay links when the time comes.

A Useful Way To Think About Health Care Solutions

I was very taken by Harvard economist Greg Mankiw's blog post about institutions and trust. He and I are of a like mind.

In sum, Mankiw asks, If you are more apt to trust government as an institution than free market competitors, AND you don't trust government run by Republicans, why would you put something as important as health care in the hands of the federal government, when historically Republicans run the government about half of the time?

Quotes, from Mankiw's post:

I tend to distrust power unchecked by competition. This makes me particularly suspicious of federal policies that take a strong role in directing private decisions. I am much more willing to have state and local governments exercise power in a variety of ways than for the federal government to undertake similar actions.

...

This philosophical inclination most likely influences my views of the healthcare debate. The more power a centralized government authority asserts, the more worried I am that the power will be misused either purposefully or, more likely, because of some well-intentioned but mistaken social theory. I prefer reforms that set up rules of the game but end up with power over key decisions as decentralized as possible.

I would add that even if the power is given to a well-intentioned and correct social theory, it will become distant, static, and inefficient as a bureaucracy develops and becomes entrenched. Certainly, this is a large complaint about the insurance giants, and they have nothing on the federal government in that department.

We Want To Give Power?

Why am I so opposed to government run health care? Because I'm hard pressed to think of anything important that government does well. For reference, consider our economy.

Yes, the Federal Reserve is a private bank, but it is given power to control our currency by our federal government. Ben Bernanke is the 'Czar' of the Fed. He was wrong about housing, wrong about the poosibility of recession, wrong about the strength of economic fundamentals.



Video courtesy Lew Rockwell. Great article.

This is typical. 'Stimulus' packages don't work, so our federal government does stimulus packages. Inept people run the show. Socialized medicine doesn't work, so of course we are headed that way, and no doubt, some inept clown with be the 'Czar' of health care.

If I had a surgery I was putting off, I'd get it done pronto.

(h/t: Wayne Kirk)

Indy Star Rushes to Irrelevance

Is it just me, or did anyone else notice that trying to view the Indianapolis Star online now requires a password? Go ahead- give it a whirl: http://www.indystar.com/

The management seems hell-bent on making sure nobody reads. If I can't look for free at the Indy Star, no problem, I'll look at other free sites for news. There are plenty of them. The Star doesn't generate enough original content to make it worth my while to subscribe, and besides, they treated my campaign poorly, so I won't subscribe on principle.

I can think of just one or two subscription news websites that make any money. The Star's management has to know this. Maybe they just want to fold at this point.

Enjoy your accelerated trip to oblivion, Indy Star!

Update: Followed up on Todd's comment and found the Star fully accessible once again.

Obama Explains Shrinking American Job Base, Inadvertently

Freudian slip! From a NY Times report:

One evil he came here to fight is the pernicious mix of greed, famine and war that has kept Africa down. He delivered a blunt message that from his predecessors might not have been received the same way. Instead, it was cast by aides as hard truths from a loving cousin.

“No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves, or police can be bought off by drug traffickers,” he said. “No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the port authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.” (emphasis mine).

Physician, heal thyself! Obama's Administration oversees an IRS that punishes American businesses just as he advises against. Does he comprehend anything that crosses his teleprompter?

RIP Billy Mays

Now, here is a celebrity I'll miss. From CNN's report:

The 50-year-old known for his shouting OxiClean ads was pronounced dead at 7:45 a.m. The Hillsborough County medical examiner will perform an autopsy, Tampa police Lt. Brian Dugan said.

Mays was on the US Airways flight from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Tampa on Saturday that had a hard landing at Tampa International Airport when the plane's front tire blew out. There were no reported injuries on Flight 1241, US Airways told CNN.

According to a local Tampa TV station, Mays said: "All of a sudden as we hit you know it was just the hardest hit, all the things from the ceiling started dropping. It hit me on the head, but I got a hard head."

While always amused by Mays' delivery, I first got some greater insight into the man as one who was at once deadly serious about his business, and yet able to laugh at himself and enjoy the absurdity of it, thanks to Sex Pistol Steve Jones' old radio show, Jonesy's Jukebox. Ever since that show, I absolutely loved hearing Mays' pitches. This is a great bit of fun:

Pathetic

(Charlevoix, MI)- So, we arrived in Charlevoix for Ame's first marathon, and after a long drive dinner was beckoning. TVs were on in the place, and it was all Michael Jackson.

I could care less.

Really- We have a vote on cap & trade coming up, North Korea throwing nuclear rocks at the knees of the United States, Iran is coming unravelled, unemployment is rising and nearing double digits, the US is still in Iraq and Afghanistan... and people are riveted to coverage, 98% Michael Jackson, 2% Farrah Fawcett.

Bread & circuses. We are a very pathetic, very distracted nation and society. Watch this hideous cap & trade be passed while people watch 'news' reports about the pedophile.

Update: I just got a call from Ron Paul's Campaign For Liberty, urging me to contact my Congressman about cap & trade. Thank goodness he's not distracted. I had already contacted Dan Burton's office. I hope you contact your House Rep also.

Craig Coxe Interview Posted

I was happy to see my lengthy interview with ex-NHL player Craig Coxe posted at last on HockeyFights.com. 

The main thing that delayed the posting was the ambition of it. There is so much that could be done with it, because the interview was videotaped by Steve Wainstead. The video of Coxe sharing his stories really brings life to the mere dialogue. More than that, the ability to run Coxe's voice over clips of his fights is an incredible opportunity... but a lot of work. So, at least for now, the transcribed interview is posted. Check it out via this link.

For a look at what is possible for this interview, take a look at this snip from it, where Coxe talks about his scraps with Bennett Wolf, in the AHL:

Now, look at a clip of the scraps themselves:

It would be awesome to edit the clips such that you are watching the fight, and hearing Coxe speak about it.

A lot of potential there. Coxe talked about scraps with Joe Kocur, Dave Brown, John Kordic, Troy Crowder, and Ken Baumgartner, plus the Madison Square Garden incident. For now, I'm extremely pleased to see the interview itself have the light of day. Coxe was a magnificent interview subject.

How Did This Happen?

I received a copy of the property tax statement from the Hamilton County Treasurer, and found that my property taxes went down by about 12% from last year.

This is remarkable, because they went down 10% the year before. I am astonished. So, why?

One large item: A "Supplemental Deduction" item added to my table of deductions, roughly equal to my Homestead Deduction.

It's still quite a soup sandwich. The "State property tax relief" item went down by 90%, meaning, I liked that one a whole lot more last year... but it's hard not to like this "Supplemental Deduction". Here's an interesting breakdown on the distibution on my property tax money, by taxing authority, by percentage change:

State: -100%
County: -15.73%
Township: +98.26%
School District: -54.06%
Corporation: -12.76%
Library: -18.31%
TIF: -22.5%

I guess that's a plug for eliminating Township Government. Everybody else seems to get that the economy is down, and therefore so should the spending be down.

Next year, the property tax caps will kick in for residential property at 1%. As my net liability was under 1% this year, I'm pretty happy with the progress there. It still isn't the elimination of property taxes, but it is movement in the right direction.

Now, I'll be interested to learn how others are affected. I still expect Marion County, and others, to feel it moving in the wrong direction.

Light Rail Crash in DC Area

No mode of transportation is without risk. Rail commutes are often touted as a safe alternative to auto commutes. I'd like to see comparisons on injuries and fatalities per passenger mile. I know this: When the train wrecks, many people are injured at once, with fatalities. From a USA Today report:

One Metro transit train smashed into the rear of another at the height of the capital city's Monday evening rush hour, killing at least six people and injuring scores of others as the front end of the trailing train jackknifed violently into the air and fell atop the first.

Cars of both trains were ripped open and smashed together in the worst accident in the Metrorail system's 33-year history. District of Columbia fire spokesman Alan Etter said crews had to cut some people out of what he described as a "mass casualty event." Rescue workers propped steel ladders up to the upper train cars to help survivors scramble to safety. Seats from the smashed cars spilled out onto the track.

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said six were confirmed dead. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin said rescue workers treated 76 people at the scene and sent some of them to local hospitals, six with critical injuries. A search for further victims continued into the night.

Horrific stuff. Inexplicable quote:

"I don't know the reason for this accident," Metro's Catoe said. "I would still say the system is safe, but we've had an incident."

Yeah. Ok. Nothing to see here. I get it. What a load. If 6 people are killed when a train has crashed violently, and you cannot explain it, the system is decidedly unsafe, and dangerous. When you can explain the cause, and have it fixed, then the system is safer. Not safe, but more safe, since no mode of transportation is safe. All entail risk.

I know I don't want this in Fishers, sound economics aside.

No Doubt About ABC's Bias

For years, many have asserted that the media is biased to the left, and many others have countered that it isn't, or that corporations own the media, so it is biased to the right. Then there's Fox News.

Say what you will for the rest of the media, but ABC has removed all doubt. From the Drudge Report:

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda: ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The Director of Communications at the White House Office of Health Reform is Linda Douglass, who worked as a reporter for ABC News from 1998-2006.

Ok, my friends on the left. Not even Fox News does this. Can we at last say that ABC is liberally biased? I can't see how one could say otherwise.

Now, for my friends on the right who are about to have an aneurism, take a breath. You believe in private property, so remember that ABC has every right in the world to take whatever bias it wants, to air whatever it wants, to not air at its' whim, and to refuse any advertising, for any or no reason at all. You don't have to watch, and you certainly never have to listen to anyone who defends ABC as non-biased ever again.

I read the statement from the Republican Party, and concluded they are missing something. Again, from Drudge:

The President has stated time and time again that he wants a bipartisan debate. Therefore, the Republican Party should be included in this primetime event, or the DNC should pay for your airtime.

ABC is a private company. The notion of the 'public airwaves' is crap. That Republicans don't get it is telling. Besides, cutting the Republicans out of the debate hardly means it can't be bi-partisan. It's time for the Libertarians to steal the show.