The Wall St Journal finally catches on.

Canada has a much more sane banking scene than the US does. The Wall St Journal had a favorable op ed today. I blogged about it here, some weeks ago. Key point, home ownership in Canada is as good as in the US, with a whole bunch fewer mortgages in default, and a lot less loss of home value.

The end of the World as we know it.

Wired has a long article on a new strain of wheat rust. Should it keep spreading it could wipe out the world's wheat crop. No more bread.

The Nanny State moves on

According to the Boston Globe, a Malden man just won $1.5 million against Ryobi after he ran his fingers thru a Ryobi table saw. Grounds? The Ryobi table saw did not have an electronic safety device that would stop the blade as soon as it encountered flesh. This from a US district court in Boston.
Such a table saw does exist, trade named "Saw Stop" and according to the various hobby magazines, it actually does work. It's expensive, and rare. I have never seen such a saw, even in stores. It is pretty new, probably had just come on the market at the time the Malden man got clumsy.
As things stand, after this amazing bit of judge made law, all makers of power tools are liable for every accident that happens.
Unless overturned on appeal, this decision will raise the price of power tools by a factor of two. I'm glad I already have all the power tools I'm likely to need.
I'm so glad I live in a representative democracy where laws are made by the legislature.

Why "deem and pass"?

The Democrats are talking about, close to, about to, who knows, pass Obamacare by a parliamentary trick. Rather than voting on the senate bill, which many Democrats are queasy about, they want to pass the fix up Obamacare bill with a paragraph at the end that says "We deem the senate bill as passed".
Does anyone think the voters will be less outraged by "deem and pass" than by a vote on the senate bill?
Nobody in the country really thinks this is kosher, although Democrats are ready to do what ever it takes. A court challenge to the "passed" Obamacare is a sure bet if they go with the "deem & pass" trick. Was it me, I'd rather pass the thing the old fashioned way, queasy stomachs or no, to avoid the endless headlines about the court challenge. The court won't act before November, keeping the Obamacare issue before the voters thru the election. That ought to guarantee Republican control of Congress.
There comes a time to wrap it up. Obamacare is at that point. If Nancy doesn't have the votes to pass the senate bill she ought to give it up.

Kucinich "Health Care is a right, not a privilege"

Not sure where they find Congressmen out there in Illinois. Dennis is plain wrong. Health care is not a right and not a privilege. It's a service that must be paid for by someone. Mostly in the US health care is paid for by the company you work for.
TV snippet on Kucinich has him deciding to vote for Obamacare. Apparently he voted against it last time because the house version of Obamacare wasn't generous enough for his tastes. Obama or someone was able to get Kucincich unstuck from stupid by pointing out that the senate bill is the only game in town.

ERic Holder dodges a question on TV

They asked Eric Holder what kind of trial he would give Osama Bin Ladin when we catch him. Holder evaded by saying we would never take Osama alive. Perhaps. But all we need is intelligence and security to catch bin Ladin. With air-to-air refueling, the helicopters can take a company of infantry nearly anywhere in the world. That's enough men in surround any clandestine HQ and throw tear gas inside. Osama is no longer a young man. Young, strong, and in shape US infantrymen should have no trouble wrassling him to the ground and cuffing him.

Chris Dodd thinks we need consumer protection

Well, we do, but the protection we need is protection against losing our jobs rather than protection for credit card fees. Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, recipient of sweetheart mortages, and a man who bears great responsibility for Great Depression 2.0, was on the radio this morning pushing a "consumer protection agency". He spoke as if this was the holy grail and we would all get to heaven as soon as it was passed.
I disagree. We truly need regulation of the banking practices that caused Great Depression 2.0 and threw enormous numbers of us out of work. These practices are the buying and selling of mortgages, creation and sale of "securities" backed by nothing, credit default swaps, and calling worthless paper "capital". Plus a horde of accounting industry scams. These practices brought down the economy. Not credit card fees and balloon note mortgages.
Dodd must be hoping we voters will forgive his many sins if he beats up on credit card and home mortgage issuers.
I want someone to beat up on the Wall St gamblers who wrecked the economy.