Great piece on the meltdown

Johan Norberg nails the causes and the continuation:

If we chop down the jungle of government support, protection and requirements, investors and savers will be left to their own devices. That is tough. But thinking for yourself should be tough, because the intellectual exercise it provides will train skills that have lain dormant. And they are necessary. Just think about the hedge-fund fraudster Bernard Madoff, who may have cheated his established and well-heeled clients out of an unbelievable $50 billion. Despite the phenomenal returns reported by his fund, the big institutional investors stayed away. One of them explained that the fund made a non-serious impression, “because when you get to page two of your 30-page due diligence questionnaire, you’ve already tripped eight alarms and said, ‘I’m out of here.’” Madoff’s con was not rocket science. But how come so many others entrusted Madoff with their fortunes? Like many other victims, the former textile businessman Allan Goldstein said that he trusted Madoff because he trusted the government. “We conducted our affairs in good faith in the belief that the SEC would never allow this sort of scheme to be conducted. …”

H/T New Wineskins

“Fluffy is my baby”

The allegedly proto-libertarian Rep. Thaddeus McCotter is sponsoring legislation to give up to a 3.5 kilobuck annual tax break for owning pets. That’s as much as a child is worth! Nice subtle way to equate critters and humans there. One could justify the child credit on the grounds that the state needs future cannon fodder and taxpayers. Does the state need more pet owners? Especially ones that don’t eat their pets?

Detroiters do what they do best

…suck cheese.

More than cheese, actually; real money from the stimulus fund.

It makes me proud to be an ex-Michigander.

LOL!

“the warranties are backed by President Obama himself!”

–talking head / GM shill, heard on WTAM this AM

So if it’s a lemon, The One will replace it personally?

Well, that’s better than the guy on NPR yesterday who claimed that it was “like treason” not to buy a GM vehicle. “If this be treason, make the most of it!,”  as Patrick Henry said.  I guess it depends whether you owe your allegiance to the Platonic ideal America, or to the Obamanation.