Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared Al Franken the winner of the state’s hotly contested 2008 U.S. Senate race. It has been eight months since the November elections and both sides have been locked in legal battles while the state has gone without a second Senator. Republican Norm Coleman officially conceded the election and Franken will be sworn in next week. For those keeping track, Norm Coleman has now lost elections to this guy and this guy.
The end to this election saga means that Democrats will now have a 60-seat majority that should theoretically allow them to block filibusters and pass whatever kinds of crazy commie legislation they want. However, a key stumbling block to this new found electoral dominance is the fact that the Democratic caucus is a bunch of weenies.
Democrats will need all the votes they can get to pass the Waxmen-Markey bill, which is the country’s first set of laws trying to stem the tide of climate change. Tom Friedman has a great column today pointing out that, while the bill kind of stinks and it is absurd we couldn’t do better, it is critical that the Senate pass it and pass it quickly. If reading isn’t really your thing, his key points are that the U.S. government needs to do SOMETHING to prove it is serious about climate change and that this bill is better than nothing.
U.S. troops continue to draw down forces in Iraq. Yesterday Iraqi army and police took over security in cities across Iraq. The handover was greeted with public celebrations across Iraq and is hailed as the first step toward the planned U.S. departure from the country in 2011.
China, which was planning to launch the hilariously named “Green Dam Youth Escort” internet filtering software yesterday, has backed off its plan to begin efforts to stop citizens from viewing pronographic and offensive content. You can take away all the human and political rights you want, but don’t mess with people’s porn.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
First up, news we are pretty sure is important but can only loosely explain why: The Federal Reserve cut its target interest rate to historic lows between zero and a quarter percentage points. I am pretty sure that this means that banks can borrow money from the Federal Reserve and pay essentially no interest on it. That, hypothetically, means that banks will lower the rate at which they lend money to households and businesses. However, since no one is investing anyway, it doesn’t appear that this is going to work.
Dana Milibank, a Washington Post columnist, is complaining that we are trading a “sports-obsessed president who doesn’t like tough questions,” for “another sports-obsessed president who doesn’t like tough questions.” His evidence for this is that at Obama’s press conference naming his new Secretary of Education, he avoided the media’s questions about Gov. Blagojevich. Is this the beginning of a trend of stories saying that Obama isn’t open enough with the media? Almost certainly, but keep in mind that he is already having a press conference every few days and demonstrating a refreshing amount of openness in going around the media to talk to the public directly.
Tom Friedman has a great column asking the question, “What is really the difference between Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and the totally legal subprime deals?”
Finally, Time has named Barack Obama person of the year. This reminds me of Jeff and I debating who would be person of the year last year (I thought Obama until Jeff said that would be next year after he had won the election, kudos ). Man, can you believe that “You” was two years ago? How lame was that!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
The Fed is going to buy up $600 billion of debt issued or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae and Federal Home Loan Banks — a move that makes the nation’s central bank a lender to almost every corner of American life. This is one of the first major moves from the Fed to ensure that commercial credit markets remain liquid, meaning that things like mortgages, student loans, car loans and other forms of consumer credit remain available at reasonable prices. The standard disclaimer on all of these bailout measures apply: May not work, maybe have long lasting repercussions, and the Fed now basically owns everything ever.
President-elect Obama has announced his National Security Team. The big news is that he will be keeping Defense Secretary Robert Gates in his current post for the time being. However, some commentators I respect are saying that the real question is going to be who gets to pick the mid and junior level staff.
US consumer spending fell by 1% in October, the largest decline since September 2001. So go buy stuff.
A position that I feel hasn’t gotten enough attention FDA commissioner. What with my desire to not get e coli, the appointment will signal how serious the Obama administration will be about making the FDA an actual regulatory body again.
The Thanksgiving tradition of Op-Eds about Pilgrims is alive and well. Luckily, Tom Friedman has an outstanding Op-Ed about the Citi bailout. Nothing earth-shattering, but some enjoyable vitriol.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Democrat Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, becoming the first African American to win the post and completing a meteoric rise from state senator to the White House. The Illinois Senator rode a message of change and an inspirational exhortation of hope to a victory over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Thought votes are still being counted, Senator Obama currently has 52% of the popular vote and 349 electoral votes. Obama gave his acceptance speech in front of 200,000 people in Chicago’s Grant Park.
This is the biggest news story in the world today, you can take your pick as to which newspaper coverage of the election you want to read. Or, you can do what I did and just go here and cry for a while. All of the coverage focuses on the historic nature of the election, both what it means for race in America and how President-elect Obama (there goes the crying again) is going to face a daunting set of challenges.
What do your favorite writers think?
- Tom Friedman calls this election the true end of the Civil War.
- Matt Yglesias is trying to insist that this is really a victory for a progressive agenda.
- Paul Krugman calls this an end to the Monster Years of American politics.
- Ezra Klein calls it the end of the 9/11 era.
For Senate News and more Crass Political Concerns, see after the jump.
Keep reading
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Wall Street Journal is really starting to get into this banner headline thing, as they splashed yesterday’s massive market gains across all columns. U.S. stocks are looking ready to continue yesterday’s massive gains as investors speculate on a rate cut by the Fed. Yesterday was the second-largest point gain in market history. Thought some are still cautious because the largest point gain in history took place on October 16 of this year and, well, things got ugly after that [By the time I finished this post, the markets had opened and were slightly down as investors wait for the Fed's announcement this afternoon].
The New York Times is trying to get ahead of the next crisis before it even happens. They are reporting that the tightening of credit markets is going to start to trickle down to consumer credit cards. Soon it will be harder to get credit cards and harder to get large lines of credit. Even if you have a card, your bank might be reducing your credit limit or revoking the card if you have bad credit or are deemed too risky. I am sure this will make life tough for a lot of people, but the fact that yesterday I was offered a credit card in the mail, when I bought a soda and when I bought some pants, I think a little tightening in this market might not be the worst thing.
Tom Friedman explains how decreasing oil prices (when did it hit $57 a barrel) will give the US increased leverage when negotiating with Iran and Russia. He points out that a hypothetical President Barack Hussein Obama would flummox the Iranian worldview, further giving the US the upper hand in any negotiations. Of course, a hypothetical President McCain would just invade, which would fit neatly into the Iranian worldview but probably also flummox them somewhat.
Finally, we are all vindicated by our chosen method of wasting time. A study by the British think-tank Demos suggests that attempts to ban employees’ use social networking software like facebook could damage a company in the long run. The study finds that employees are not just using facebook for personal reasons; They are also using it to collaborate, share documents, and develop closer relationships with customers and ex-coworkers so a blanket ban halts productive activity. Let me be the first to thank the good people at Demos and suggest some possible new studies:
- Beers at lunch and increased afternoon creativity.
- Napping in empty conference rooms and increased job satisfaction.
- Employees who spend all their time blogging at 2.0somethings should be given raises.
