Friday, March 12, 2010

An Incendiary Indiscretion



So I think Jessica Simpson is missing an opportunity here...

In case you haven't heard, a few weeks ago in Rolling Stone John Mayer described their relationship as "sexual napalm."

Now I like John Mayer's music a great deal, but apparently he's not heard of that maxim about how gentlemen aren't supposed to kiss and tell. So I think he's got some bad karma heading his way in the future...

Still, Jessica then went on Oprah and said "I don't want people to know how I am in bed." Her right, for sure, but I think she's missing a golden opportunity.

Given that you cannot buy this sort of publicity, I think she should trademark the "Sexual Napalm" phrase, and start a new line of clothing around it. On top of that, should John ever bring it up again, she could send the lawyers after him for misappropriating her trademark. The ultimate vindication, if you will...

So, gentle readers, if you were rumored to be an incredible lover, would you own it, or run away from it?

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Keynes vs. Hayek Rap - AKA It's All About the Debt



The above rap video is one of the best and most entertaining summaries I've ever seen comparing Keynesian economics to Austrian economics. Currently, the U.S. Federal Government is following Keynesian economics - particularly, we are engaged in hefty fiscal spending which is driving up the U.S. Debt outstanding, and the Federal Reserve is engaged in unprecedented monetary stimulus in the form of an extremely low federal funds rate target (e.g. 0 to .25%) PLUS the direct purchase of U.S. Treasuries and Agency Debt.


Despite the above intervention in the economy by the government and Federal Reserve, unemployment remains high, any "so-called" economic recovery is tepid at best, and total liabilities of the U.S. government, including the Public Debt and Medicare, Social Security, etc continue to sky higher to unsustainable and unservicable levels. Plus, the U.S. banking sector remains completely immobilized, seized up by bad loans and commercial real estate that continues to deteriorate. One only needs to look to Japan to question whether or not Keynesian actions have done anything to pull that great industrial nation out of the protracted deflation and anemic growth it has suffered for the past 20 years on the whole.


In essence, it is my Austrian argument that there is simply too much debt (especially as a ratio to U.S. GDP) in the system, and that trying to transfer some of that debt off of the private household/banking balance sheets onto liabilities of the Federal Government will ultimately fail, postponing and deepening as opposed to preventing the inevitable Depression. I would argue that a better approach from the onset would have been to clear the debt out of the system first, forcing massive bankruptcies, nationalizing key "to big to fail" banks/financial institutions while obliterating bank shareholders and giving their bondholders pennies on the dollar. This would have certainly resulted in even higher unemployment and plenty of short term pain for all sorts of individuals and businesses, but it would have wiped out the debt that those same individuals and businesses have no hope of servicing. Then, as the private debt was being cleared out of the system, I would have borrowed 5 to 6 trillion (through U.S. Treasury issuance) for the direct support/aid of families affected by the job losses via housing and food support, created a mini-U.S. focused New Marshall Plan, PLUS backstopped the FDIC so that depositors were made whole despite the widespread banking failures. Then, the nationalized banks and private banks who had strong enough balance sheets to survive the fallout could start lending again and private industry could resume, unchained from its debt shackles.


Anyway, that's my point ... what's yours?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

how do you white a wrong?


fans joined facebook pages to lobby for it, media outlets wrote stories willing for it to happen..and now it has! the amazing, talented and wonderful betty white has confirmed that she will appear on snl this season. the 88-year-old legend gained fame in the roles of sue ann nivens and rose nylund, played password alongside her late husband and has now seen a resurgence in her popularity, thanks in part, to her snickers super bowl ad. her appearance will no doubt set up snl and nbc for a ratings bonanza they haven't seen in years! i am as big of a fan as any of this bawdy and sharp tongued octogenarian, which is why the i find the second half of this snl story so bothersome....

white's appearance will be part of snl's "women of comedy" night...so who, you may ask, will be the other comedy geniuses and legends to grace the stage that night? snl vets tina fey, amy poehler and molly shannon. ....REALLY? molly shannon? amy poehler? (i happen to like tina fey, so while i am unsure she fits either, i am not as outraged by her). to me this is an insult to white and her contribution to entertainment. snl being as self serving as they are, clearly only reached out to their own alums for consideration...but even so, they couldn't have had a recruited a laraine newman, jane curtin or candice bergen? or god forbid reach beyond their own little inbred pool fathered by lorne michales to a carol burnett, lily tomlin, marlo thomas or tracey ullman....or think to reunite white with rue mcclanahan or mary tyler moore?

my point, and i do have one....is that i am so excited to see anything and everything that betty white does, but i am completely and utterly disgusted by snl. what’s your point?

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