Monthly Archives: January 2009

This nation deserves to be bankrupt

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From the LA Times….

Barring a reprieve, regulations set to take effect next month could force thousands of clothing retailers and thrift stores to throw away trunkloads of children’s clothing.

The law, aimed at keeping lead-filled merchandise away from children, mandates that all products sold for those age 12 and younger — including clothing — be tested for lead and phthalates, which are chemicals used to make plastics more pliable. Those that haven’t been tested will be considered hazardous, regardless of whether they actually contain lead.

“They’ll all have to go to the landfill,” said Adele Meyer, executive director of the National Assn. of Resale and Thrift Shops.

(H/T Rod Dreher

Erin Manning makes a good point in the comment section of Rod Dreher’s post saying….

So while only toys and child care articles might (though it’s not clear) be subject to the phthalates ban, *all* consumer products “designed or intended primarily for children 12 years of age or younger” are supposed to be subject to the mandatory third-party testing. The law is written so vaguely that some used bookstores which carry children’s books, as well as some small homeschool curricula providers, are wondering if they are also supposed to test their products before selling them–in which case, they’ll have to stop carrying materials for children under 12 or go out of business altogether.

Anything for the children, no matter what it costs. This country is insane.

Too Honest

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From The Nation…..

Other sources however told TheNation that Durrani was sacked for his controversial statements to Indian media about the identity of Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone suspect of 26/11 Mumbai attacks. His disclosures created a lot of confusion about Pakistan’s stance on Mumbai incident.

Sources further said that more heads could roll in the days to come as consequence of these developments that had forced Islamabad to confirm on Wednesday that Ajmal Amir Kasab was a Pakistani national, a confession dealing severe blow to the image and credibility of the PPP-led coalition government.

What do you mean by "even if"?

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From the Boston Globe….

US Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, said Friday that he wants jumbo limits to be raised again – to the previous level, if not higher.

Frank, chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services, pledged to include a provision for this in the economic stimulus bill Congress is expected to take up with President-elect Barack Obama. He also wants to change the way the loan limits are calculated to reflect real market conditions.

“Even if you accept the principal we shouldn’t be financing luxury housing; what’s a luxury house in Nebraska is an average house in Quincy,” Frank said. “I’m lobbying hard to get at least last year’s level to be put back where it was.”

Is he seriously arguing that the government should be financing luxury housing?

We will be in touch shortly

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From Sippican Cottage…

I needed a job, bad, in LA in 1979/1980. I moved there with next to no money and no plan. I was only old enough to drink because they hadn’t changed the law yet. I’d had a dozen jobs or more already. No one was hiring nobody for nothing nohow. If I see another person compare today’s economy to the Depression I’m going to show them a picture of 1979. When a mortgage on a house reaches 17%, unemployment is right around 30% in the construction industry, and inflation looks like it’s going to touch 20, you get back to me. Car companies did more than just talk about going bankrupt back then.

Point taken. Things can get a lot worse. But then, nobody was talking cheerfully about running a trillion dollar deficits for years to come back in the 79/80 either.

You can cry all you want, it will not do you any good

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From the Telegraph…

Russia has halted all gas supplies to European countries including Turkey and Greece.

As best as can tell, this is a bit of stretch on the Telegraph’s part. Some gas still seems to be coming through. But some countries are facing serious problems. From Spiegel….

Earlier on Tuesday, Bulgaria’s Economy Ministry announced that all Russian gas supplies via Ukraine to Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Macedonia had been halted on Tuesday morning as a result of the dispute between Moscow and Kiev. “We are in a crisis situation,” the ministry said in a statement. Bulgaria relies almost entirely on Russian gas for its needs and has no access to alternative pipeline routes and with temperatures in the country dropping to minus 15 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight, the government is asking businesses and households to use other fuels.

The EU is in its normal crisis response mode. In other words, they are crying like babies. From later on in the same Spiegel article….

On Tuesday the European Union called the sudden cutoff of gas supplies “completely unacceptable.” In a strongly worded statement, Brussels complained that gas had been cut “without prior warning and in clear contradiction with the reassurances given by the highest Russian and Ukrainian authorities.”

I guess the much vaunted soft power that the EU supposedly had is not doing it much good. Maybe they should try paying tribute.

Edit: Does it count as tribute if you pay it in the name of another country?

Trillion Dollar Deficits For Years To Come

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From Naked Capitalism…

Paul Krugman has analyzed the stimulus plan as it now stands, using accepted techniques (various multipliers for various types of spending) and finds it falls well short of its objectives. Given the determination of the Obama crowd to jolt the economy into some semblance of life, this strongly suggests that towards the end of the year, more stimulus measures will be on the table, with large dollar figures attached to them.

The post also contains a link to a Bloomberg article with this quote….

A “trillion dollar deficit will be here before we even start the next budget,” Obama said after meeting in Washington with his economic advisers, including Peter Orszag, who has been designated as director of the Office of Management and Budget. “Potentially we’ve got trillion-dollar deficits for years to come, even with the economic recovery we are working on.”

Who would have ever thought that it would be possible to talk about trillion dollar deficits as if they were no big deal?

You can't be accused of playing a double game if your honest

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Pakistan has a new director for its intelligence agency. He is supposed to put a new face agency and convince everyone that Pakistan is not supporting terrorists. But listen to what he has to say. From Spiegel….

Pasha is apparently adept at overcoming old divisions. However, it is worth listening closely when the general explains why he too is unwilling to apprehend the Taliban leadership, even though many claim that Taliban leader Mullah Omar, for example, is in Quetta, a city where Pasha lived until a few years ago. “Shouldn’t they be allowed to think and say what they please? They believe that jihad is their obligation. Isn’t that freedom of opinion?” he asks, defending extremist rabble-rousers, who are sending more and more Koran school students to Afghanistan to fight in the war there.

Such words from Pasha arouse the old suspicion that the ISI is playing a double game.

I don’t think you can accuse this dude of playing a double game. He flat out told you what his views were.

Edit: Wretchard has a good point…..

The US already knows the Pakistani government — if such an entity can be collectively referred to — was guilty of the Mumbai attacks. But since the “international community” can’t nerve itself to use force and Pakistan possesses nuclear weapons, the plan is to support the international community’s Pakistani guys fight al-Qaeda’s Pakistani guys. Because only Pakistanis are actually going to be allowed to act directly in this situation.

But they need help. To strengthen their political hand the US has conveniently slipped signals intelligence into the hands of the Indians, because although the al-Qaeda Pakistani guys know they have nothing to fear from the US, for reasons we must pass over here, they may still have something to fear from India next door. And that fear may give the international community’s Pakistani guys the edge in what comes next.

But what comes next?