Campaign Promises Meet Hard Reality

President Obama said during the election that he was going to break the partisan gridlock in Washington. With this in mind, the current fight over the bailout (bringing government spending to $1600 billion so far) will prove to be difficult. Not a single Republican voted for the stimulus bill in the House, and the Democrats have a huge fight in the Senate. If they try to ram-rod it through Congress (which they probably can do), the partisan flares and recoil will be intense.

I have had little time to study politics (I'm busy with Aquinas right now), but what I do know is that the current bill is the collaboration of every Democrat on Capitol Hill's spending fantasy. Pork? You haven't seen pork till you've seen this bill.

I disagreed with bailing out the banks, Wall Street, and the Big Three in Michigan, and I oppose a bill of this kind. For this kind of money, every family who makes under $100k/year could get $25,000. It wouldn't be much better than the current mess, but would be an improvement. If we're going to have socialism, why not a socialism that benefits us, instead of saving businesses who cannot make a profit? Let the market work and reallocate the resources these corporations mismanaged. Corporate welfare truly boggles my mind. If a company is successful it won't need help, and if it isn't successful, it shouldn't get help.

On a happier note, it's interesting that Richard Maybury predicted this sort of inflation and stimulus package. As I mentioned earlier, such a measure dates back for 30 years, when the government realized it could inflate and ease recessions. The Carter and Reagan recessions were thus ended. I bet President Obama will do the same thing, allow the Fed to print and print and print.

Alas, for Maybury and his "Early Warning Report" (a market analysis/geopolitics newsletter) readers are doing quite well. Makes me wish I had the capital to invest sneakily and take advantage of the current crisis, but all I got right now is Aquinas.

Oh, what is the name of that book???

For the life of me I can't remember the name of this book. It is a children's book in the company of Go, Dog, Go. It features a large white not-doggy creature with spots, and he shows off all the things he can do... now I can put them on a wall, and I can make them very tall. Now look! all of my spots are blue! and I can put my spots on YOU! at the end, the children convince him that the Circus is the Place for You. As I write this, the title begins to take shape in my mind. Is that it? Quick, help!

OpenOffice

I stumbled across a program today called OpenOffice. It's free at www.openoffice.org. It basically does everything that Microsoft Office would let you do: lets you create text documents, spread sheets, presentations, etc., and it lets you save in compatable file formats. I haven't messed with it that much because I have Microsoft Office on my computer already, but this might be really useful if you don't have it.

blog

I set up a blog for pics/other stuff concerning Caedmon. Emails seemed to work ok, but recently I've had trouble w/ my mailing lists. Anyway, I'm trying something new, putting all of that in a blog. Here's the link:

http://caedmon.wordpress.com

SIUC!

HIP HIP HOORAY! I just got an email from the History department director, and not only did I get in, but they want to give me a fellowship! Three years' full tuition and 19,500 annual stipend! Way better than I was hoping from any of the three schools I've applied to! I'll wait and see what U of I and NIU say, but I don't think they'll top the fellowship. I'll keep you all posted--just wanted to let everyone know....and brag and celebrate!


~Nate

snow

I'm sure Caedmon will love being in Illinois next year where snowfall accumulations in excess of an inch are expected rather than celebrated. Until then, here are some pictures of Caedmon enjoying our latest dusting.

And now I must go tend to my jaeger schnitzel. Did you guys try yours yet?