“Sleeping around, to continue our metaphor, can actually be useful for large derivatives dealers because it assures them government aid if trouble hits. In other words, only companies having problems that can infect the entire neighborhood – I won’t mention names – are certain to become a concern of the state (an outcome, I’m sad to say, that is proper). From this irritating reality comes The First Law of Corporate Survival for ambitious CEOs who pile on leverage and run large and unfathomable derivatives books: Modest incompetence simply won’t do; it’s mindboggling screw-ups that are required.”
From IowaHawk
The US State Department agent asked to see my passport, and the concierge explained that I was a Somali refugee. So she looks at her computer screen and says, “um, I’m afraid there’s a problem, this passenger’s name is on a watch list.” Oh, great. Looks like my dad is playing Mr. Buzzkill again, just because I took that semester off from Oxford to go backpacking in Yemen. So I showed her my official State Department visa.
So I’m like, “honey, do I look like I’m a US military veteran?”
“No.”
“Do I look like I’m some sort of right wing anti-tax teabagger?”
“No.”
“Do I look like anybody else on the DHS terrorism danger list?”
“No, but…”
“Then I suggest that unless you want a nasty anti-discrimination lawsuit on your hands, you’d best give me an aisle seat. With extended legroom.”
From the GPPF:
Before it became a bad word, boondoggle was an innocent, humble craft. But that all changed on April 3, 1935: At a hearing in New York City on how New Deal relief money was being spent, a Brooklyn crafts teacher reluctantly testified that he was paid to show the jobless how to make “boon doggles,” a braided ring used to hold a neckerchief, particularly in scouting. The outcry was swift and a new, more sinister meaning was born – the word came to signify government make-work, later referring to wasteful government projects in general. Source: Cato Institute
Of course, banking wreckage is good political fodder for the guy responsible for increasing the Senate Democrat’s margin of majority. FromBloomberg.com:
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will run a successor institution, IndyMac Federal Bank FSB, starting next week, the Office of Thrift Supervision said in an e-mail yesterday. The regulator blamed U.S. Senator Charles Schumer for creating a “liquidity crisis” after a letter on June 26, in which he expressed concern that the bank may fail.
Here is your stupid government regulation of the day:
Mayor Dave Heilmann said the Illinois Department of Transportation determined the signs violated the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. He said had Oak Lawn not removed the signs, the city could have lost federally funded projects.
The public safety campaign to cut down on speeding through stop signs began in September 2007. Slogans such as “right there pilgrim,” “and smell the roses,” “do not pass go” and “means that you arent moving” were placed near or under 50 stop signs.
At the time, Heilmann said he thought the remarks would get motorists to pause, if for nothing else, to read the phrases.
Baby tax needed to save planet, claims expert:
A WEST Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus “baby levy” at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child.
I like this idea. Instead of taking money out of a tax payer’s wallet to support dead-beats who have kids, we’d slap them with a fine/tax instead. Get rid of the assinine incentives created by LBJ’s “Great Society” for poor people to have more kids they can’t support so they get more money from the government.
I can’t tell if this guy is seriously proposing this as a public policy solution, or presenting a horrific plan in an effort to show that a complete gun ban would be undesirable. Either way, I’ll be watching from Costa Rica.
The disarmament process would begin after the initial three-month amnesty. Special squads of police would be formed and trained to carry out the work. Then, on a random basis to permit no advance warning, city blocks and stretches of suburban and rural areas would be cordoned off and searches carried out in every business, dwelling, and empty building. All firearms would be seized. The owners of weapons found in the searches would be prosecuted: $1,000 and one year in prison for each firearm. (toledoblade.com — The disarming of America)
