In the words of Bud Light’s new terrible advertising campaign: Here we go.
The big buzz lately has been surrounding the proposed construction of a mosque just a couple blocks away from 9/11’s Ground Zero. People are raging about it. Symbolically, it is a slap in the face to all of the many victims of the horrific terrorist attack we Americans suffered.
But we don’t live in a nation of symbolism, we live in a nation of laws. And freedom of religion is a central law upon which our republic is predicated.
I think it sucks. I think it’s a massively ill-conceived idea. I think if this construction actually goes through some drunk redneck is going to Molotov cocktail the place. I think it will be the site of end¬less protests. I think talking heads and politicians will ride this controversy as far as they can. But I also think that, barring any legal problems of constructing the mosque, that I have absolutely no right to tell someone of a different ideology where they can or can’t practice their beliefs in this country. It’s just not what we do.
My contact info is at the bottom of this message if you’d like to scream at me. I welcome feedback.
Our economy continues to bump along as our elected officials navigate these completely uncharted waters. Remaining at the epicenter of the action is the home finance secondary market, the lynchpin for a sustainable housing recovery. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is having talks with all the powers that be about the state of mortgage finance and has promised to have a “comprehensive” plan ready by January.
I imagine he’ll also have cancer cured by March, leaving him plenty of time to end world hunger by late May. World peace and the ability to time travel shouldn’t be more than a few months behind that.
China just passed Japan as the world’s second largest economy. No one was surprised.
Reports allege that the North Korean government tortured their soccer players (no, I will not call it futbol) and sentenced their head coach to hard labor after their early exit from the World Cup. And I thought people who played fantasy football took sports too seriously…
U.S. Treasury bond yields are ridiculously low. I know a lot of you aren’t thrillingly concerned about that, but it stands as one of the most glaring examples of how freaked out the investing community still is. I don’t mean to bring this up as a catalyst for pessimism, but it does give reason for pause.
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
It's a great day to be gay! Hooray!
Well, California has gone and kicked up a big cloud of political crap again. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker recently overturned Cali’s ban on gay marriage declaring it unconstitutional. Of course, those in support of the ban have already rallied their lawyers and put sharpies to large pieces of posterboard, vowing to go to the appeals court and, well, appeal.
I gotta say, I liked it better when California was just on fire. Now they’ll really be flaming. BOO-YAH. Not that this has anything to do with the economy (except the fact that members of the GLBT community tend to have a higher net worth and higher income than their straight counterparts), I just thought it’d be fun to address. Get all of your angry feedback from both sides of the fence.
Another fun political war being waged is over extension of the Bush tax cuts that are geared towards the higher wage-earners in the country and are set to expire at the end of this year. It’s taken from a page of the trickle-down economics theory that if we reward the top tier of income earners (which tends to encompass the business owners out there) then everyone will benefit and jobs will be created. Results of this theory are somewhat mixed. My guess: more political gridlock and the expiration will just kinda happen all by itself.
So I guess you people are just gonna have to encrust the rims on your Rolls Royce with Cubic Zirco¬nias instead of diamonds. Tough, I know. Not quite as blingin’.
BP has finally excommunicated their old CEO Tony Hayward (why couldn’t we just guillotine him like the good old days?) and has opted to replace him with (drumroll please)… an AMERICAN. Hell yeah. Proving once again that if you can’t beat them, infiltrate their executive seats and rule them with an iron fist. It’s our way of getting back at them for the imperialistic rule of our 13 original colonies.
Well, this and the Revolutionary War. But mainly this.
The major stock indexes enjoyed July 2010 as their best month in over a year. Aaaaaaand none of the hedge funds made as much money as the general market, meaning those of you that paid fees to someone to watch your cash for you would have been better investing it equally across the market all by yourself. I mean, the dartboard approach would have at least been on par. Seriously, these guys are well-compensated idiots. Blows my mind.
I gotta say, I liked it better when California was just on fire. Now they’ll really be flaming. BOO-YAH. Not that this has anything to do with the economy (except the fact that members of the GLBT community tend to have a higher net worth and higher income than their straight counterparts), I just thought it’d be fun to address. Get all of your angry feedback from both sides of the fence.
Another fun political war being waged is over extension of the Bush tax cuts that are geared towards the higher wage-earners in the country and are set to expire at the end of this year. It’s taken from a page of the trickle-down economics theory that if we reward the top tier of income earners (which tends to encompass the business owners out there) then everyone will benefit and jobs will be created. Results of this theory are somewhat mixed. My guess: more political gridlock and the expiration will just kinda happen all by itself.
So I guess you people are just gonna have to encrust the rims on your Rolls Royce with Cubic Zirco¬nias instead of diamonds. Tough, I know. Not quite as blingin’.
BP has finally excommunicated their old CEO Tony Hayward (why couldn’t we just guillotine him like the good old days?) and has opted to replace him with (drumroll please)… an AMERICAN. Hell yeah. Proving once again that if you can’t beat them, infiltrate their executive seats and rule them with an iron fist. It’s our way of getting back at them for the imperialistic rule of our 13 original colonies.
Well, this and the Revolutionary War. But mainly this.
The major stock indexes enjoyed July 2010 as their best month in over a year. Aaaaaaand none of the hedge funds made as much money as the general market, meaning those of you that paid fees to someone to watch your cash for you would have been better investing it equally across the market all by yourself. I mean, the dartboard approach would have at least been on par. Seriously, these guys are well-compensated idiots. Blows my mind.
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