YouTube Gems - Bottle Kids Are Back

I'm hopping mad right now about 'stuff' like global warming legislation, cap and trade, the fool that is Robert Gibbs, and the redirection of TARP loan repayments into bottomless cesspools instead of paying down the debt. Alas, I promised my fan that I would dramatically cut back on my politically-inspired ranting. Deep breath... Deep breath...
Remember those kids that played the theme from Tetris on glass bottles? Well, Madison and Brooklyn have been waiting a long time to share this one with you: Carol of the Bottles. Kids, you CAN try this at home.


Oh yeah, I'm also irate about the healthcare debate. And the White House's apparent inability to understand in the most basic terms how the economy works. That is all.

Want to chime in? Leave a comment to further the discussion.

From the Desk of Captain Obvious - Volume Four

• Despite lying to federal investigators working the Blagovich case about his role in the rampant Chicago political corruption, "Senator" Burris will not face perjury charges. I'm sorry, apparently I do not understand the definition of "perjury".
• In utter defiance of the lightweight UN Security Council and as the world pulls up a chair along the parade route, North Korea is exporting illegal arms to Myanmar. Way to stand your ground and let the commies know you mean business!
• Nostraduchezneous, I am! I blogged previously about bonuses being paid at TARP recipients' firms. In short, bonuses reward results. The government has turned 'bonus' into a four-letter word. At least one company, Citibank, has taken the obvious path: cut bonuses but raise salaries. Chalk it up as yet another well-intentioned idea from our government that has exploded on the launch pad due to failure to consider consequences.
• Speaking of unintended consequences - certain aspects of environmentalism are proving themselves to cause more damage to the environment than they prevent. Remember ethanol? - the corn-based wonderful wonderfuel that drove up global food prices, causes excessive engine wear and poor fuel efficiency?
• The race war has now gone intergalactic as critics claim two new Transformer robots are making fun of "jive". I'm sure this has everything to do with hurt feelings and is not at all related to the several hundred million dollars in revenue that DreamWorks SKG is expected to earn from the film. And here's a tip: if you don't want to risk being stereotyped for speaking jive, simply don't speak jive. It is not "the way" certain people talk. It is learned and embraced. There are plenty of public figures that buck the trend and prove these particular speech patterns are not a product of genetics. 
• President Obama wants the rich to carry more of the tax burden. If we scale everything down to 100 people paying $100 in total taxes, 1 person pays $28, 19 people pay another $42, 20 people contribute just $0.80 (total!), and the remaining 60 people pay the balance ($29.20). Aren't the wealthy doing enough already?
  

All the King's Horses

This is what I was saying about how lots of people get hurt by TARP junk. In fact, I'm not sure that any of these "bailouts" have really helped anyone.

In a simplified case-in-point:

• The government gives or force-feeds funds to an industry or organization.
  
• The government then claims it can dictate how the recipients spend any and all monies (not just the bailout money). The taxpayers are irate at the recipients of the money, not at the government for its carefree spending.
  
• The recipients cancel plans for any spending that might cause negative PR. Sponsorships of golf tournaments, naming rights for buildings, business travel, capital investments (new equipment/buildings), etc.
• Lo and behold, those would-be suppliers/providers are now suffering and in need of bailout money themselves.

Vegas is suffering. Hawaii is suffering. Durable goods are suffering.

Guess what, Mr. Obama. Your intervention in the marketplace has been a complete failure. You wanted to put more money into the economy, but now everyone is afraid to spend money because you own them (see AIG's attempt to compensate its employees according to their contracts). Workers are being laid off as a result (companies/people not spending money = lower demand = layoffs). Those workers, now, instead of helping the economy produce, are now drawing unemployment ($$$) and (WOW) universal health care ($$$) sounds good to them. Tax collections from displaced workers are also reduced proportionally. Then, of course, you have the omnipresent gloom cloud hanging over the entire country as they realize that it will be mathematically impossible to ever repay any of this money. Mr. Obama, it would appear that your plan is to devalue the dollar so much that our debts become practically worthless to the debtors. Your budget is over $3 trillion for just one year! That's not your money, fool. 

Would it not have been better to have allowed AIG to simply file bankruptcy? We survived Global Crossing. We survived Enron. We survived Long-Term Capital Management and Tyco. And we would have weathered this storm as well. I mean, that's the entire point behind things like FDIC insurance, bankruptcy court and a competitive marketplace.

Here's hoping the next president can just call for a 'do-over' and erase the countless mistakes of Obamadom without any ill effects.