JustThinking.us

The Big Alienation

Uncontrolled borders and Washington's lack of self-control

By: Peggy Noonan

WSJ 5/1/2010

 Click anywhere to link to the entire piece.

Good stuff even by Peggy Noonan's high standards.

Apologies. 

I'll be traveling this weekend and probably won't be posting until Monday, maybe Tuesday.

Evidently the Ponzi posts hit a nerve, as records were set for both incoming phone calls and emails, and tied (at one ... you go Bob Kluck) for posted comments.

And in an unprecedented development every last response was positive (towards me at least, which is mostly all I care about).

A partial exception of course being Terry, who despite having claimed to have loved the post, still felt compelled to call me a lazy bastard.

Thanks to everybody for your support and encouragement.

And as for you Terry ... I'll have you know that my dad did indeed marry my mother within 36 hours of having received the ultimatum.

Below, I've posted a video of Kirsty Maccoll who died tragically in a boating accident, having been run over by a careless Mexican billionaire who is suspected of having payed off a minion to take the rap.  

Seriously.

With the exception of her appearances with the Pogues, Kirsty MacColl always seemed to me a little uncomfortable performing her music.

Still, her bands were always hot, and her catalogue as good as any ever assembled.

One of the better songwriters of the last 20 years, the late Kirsty MacColl in one of her very last performances.

In These Shoes?

While I could have done without the Armageddon reference.

The man makes his point.

"In the midst of economic Armageddon in Michigan there is one part of the economy that is booming ... movie production.

Why?

Because Michigan offers the most generous tax incentives in the nation for movie-makers.

The result?

The liberal progressive hypocrites of the movie business…the same ones who support Obama…the same ones who call tax cuts for the rich “greedy”… have moved Hollywood to Michigan!

Last year 87 films were made in Michigan- a 900% increase from the year before.

3 major movie studios are opening this year in Michigan. Yes, the tax rebates cost Michigan $40 million…but those same tax cuts produced 7000 new jobs (I'm not entirely sure about this part, when I get a minute I'm gonna check it out) and $325 million in new revenues for the Michigan economy. Now that’s a great economic success story.

Michigan is Exhibit A for proving that allowing taxpayers to keep more of their own money works like magic.

Even amidst the most worst (You know it's real, damn bad when you're the most worst) economy and worst weather in America, it’s enough to convince Hollywood hypocrites to relocate from sunny Southern California to depressing and freezing Michigan!

Can you imagine what a dramatic tax cut would do for the entire American economy?" 

I don't think we have the worst weather.

Worst football team ..... worst city ..... Governor.

I'll admit it.

I didn't read the entire page about Ponzi Schemes at the SEC site.

Feeling quite satisfied with myself, I quit reading where the post ended.

My friend Terry, anal puppy that he is, read every word and came up with the following.

What are some Ponzi scheme �red flags�?

Many Ponzi schemes share common characteristics. Look for these warning signs:

High investment returns with little or no risk. Every investment carries some degree of risk, and investments yielding higher returns typically involve more risk.

Be highly suspicious of any �guaranteed� investment opportunity.

Thanks to Terry for a very nice pickup.

Tall Paul called about Friday's post.

He must have liked it because he had nothing to say about it except,

"Why make the big deal about Michigan grads?"

"I went there ... I'm proud."

"Did you graduate?"

"Yes."

"Really?  I didn't think you were that smart."

"The standards were lower back then.  You didn't have to be that smart.

You just had to be arrogant."

Paul blows right past my pique and says,

"You want to check out Wolverine Historian he does great stuff."

I know!!!

"No really, you'll like it."

I know!!!

Really, the guy does a good job.

Ok, you win.

Here's about 10 minutes of great Michigan running backs behind great Michigan offensive lines, doing their thing.

From Michigan Historian.  Who does a great job ... really!!!

And while I'm at it, MGoBlog is an outstanding site if you care about Michigan athletics.

Among the really good reasons to troll The Heritage Foundation site is that only really, really smart people troll The Heritage Foundation site.

The following quote shows up in the comments of a piece titled "Americans Have Every Reason to Doubt Social Security Solvency"

"The hard fact is that every dime of the $2.5 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue, generated by the 1983 payroll tax hike, has been spent on wars and other government programs.

Every month, for the past 25 years, the total receipts from the payroll tax have been split two ways.

First, benefits for current retirees are paid from the Social Security revenue.

Then, all remaining Social Security revenue, not needed to pay that month’s benefits, are deposited into the general fund and become indistinguishable from other general fund revenue."

Can you say Ponzi Scheme?

Chart of the Day strikes again.

The following chart presents the median single-family home price divided by the price of one ounce of gold.

This results in the home/gold ratio or the cost of the median single-family home in ounces of gold.

For example, it currently takes 153 ounces of gold to buy the median single-family home.

Considerably less that the 601 ounces it took back in 2001.

When priced in gold, the median single-family home is down 75% from its 2001 peak.

Click on the chart to go to Chart of the Day site.

Recommended.

The Gaurdian.co.uk pubishes a story with the title "Western Economies too Weak for Spending Cuts"

Evidently, only the Pigs and Venezuela are growing more slowly than Europe and the U.S.