Lots of Monkey Doodles

[Nuts]

… bring 'em back alive:

  • Jesse Walker examines the strained attempt of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to link the murdering Tucson lunatic to "right-wing" and "antigovernment" wackos. Such efforts continue to be driven by lefty wishful thinking. My guess is we'll get another dose of it when the SPLC's Morris Dees speaks at the University Near Here a couple weeks from now. My further guess is that nobody like Jesse Walker will be provided a comparable forum at UNH to debunk.

  • Corporate Welfare Present: Kevin Williamson looks at the recent appointment of GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt to head of the "President’s Council on Jobs and Competitivenes."

    GE, you will not be surprised to know, spent $32 million on lobbying in the last year and is a big political donor.  Like its colleagues in most Big Business sectors, it heavily favors Democrats: It was a large contributor to Barack Obama’s senatorial and presidential campaigns, and the single largest recipient of GE money in 2009–10 was, you will not be surprised to learn, one Barack Obama.

    Kevin notes that some are disappointed. But:

    In truth, I can’t think of a more appropriate adviser for an overreaching, arrogant, big-government administration than the head of GE, an overreaching, arrogant, big-government corporation. If we can have a tax cheat overseeing the IRS, why can’t we have a corporate-welfare case telling us how to get productive?

    "Indeed."

  • Corporate Welfare Future: the New York Times relates how large banks are angling for a position at the trough previously hogged by Fannie and Freddie:

    As the Obama administration prepares a report on the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, some of the nation’s largest banks are offering a few suggestions.

    Wells Fargo and some other large banks would like private companies, perhaps even themselves, to become the new housing finance giants helping to bundle individual mortgages into securities — that would be stamped with a government guarantee.

    "Government guarantee" is a euphemism. It means that the private companies will reap any profits while taxpayers assume the risk of bets gone bad. What could go wrong?

  • In other nut news, someone is swiping pecans in Roswell, NM. Some blame economics:

    John Wilson, owner of The Nut House, said pecan thefts have been increasing for the past few years. He said current prices for farmed nuts are running between $3.75 and $4 per pound this year. For street or yard pecans, prices are $1 to $1.75 per pound.

    … but cm'on. It's Roswell. Clearly, it's an alien plot.


Last Modified 2012-09-29 6:34 AM EDT