General McChrystal

This post by blogger Andrew Sullivan on torture and General McChrystal is very powerful. At some point, Sullivan may just turn on Obama, and that will not be good.

Health Care Costs Out of Control

David Brooks has a deep sense of pessimism about any real control of health care costs in the coming years, upon which the Obama administration is basing its economic program:

If you read the C.B.O. testimony and talk to enough experts, you come away
with a stark conclusion: There are deep structural forces, both in Medicare and
the private insurance market, that have driven the explosion in health costs. It
is nearly impossible to put together a majority coalition for a bill that
challenges those essential structures. Therefore, the leading proposals on
Capitol Hill do not directly address the structural problems. They are a
collection of worthy but speculative ideas designed to possibly mitigate their
effects.

Debtor Nation

Economist Nouriel Roubini speaks to one of the biggest problems facing our economy in the near future, as a result of our tremendous debt:

THE 19th century was dominated by the British Empire, the 20th century by
the United States. We may now be entering the Asian century, dominated by a
rising China and its currency. While the dollar’s status as the major reserve
currency will not vanish overnight, we can no longer take it for granted. Sooner
than we think, the dollar may be challenged by other currencies, most likely the
Chinese renminbi. This would have serious costs for America, as our ability to
finance our budget and trade deficits cheaply would disappear.

Traditionally, empires that hold the global reserve currency are also net
foreign creditors and net lenders. The British Empire declined — and the pound
lost its status as the main global reserve currency — when Britain became a net
debtor and a net borrower in World War II. Today, the United States is in a
similar position. It is running huge budget and trade deficits, and is relying
on the kindness of restless foreign creditors who are starting to feel uneasy
about accumulating even more dollar assets. The resulting downfall of the dollar
may be only a matter of time.

Those Scandinavians: How Do They Do It?

Here is an intriguing article in the NYT about Norway, a country with a Democratic Socialist economy that is basically debt-free and prosperous in the midst of a world-wide economic crisis.

Congratulations, Sarahbeth

Congratulations to our daughter Sarahbeth on her graduation Sunday from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Subprime Mortgages

If you want to see who was behind the subprime mortgage mess, check out this article from the Center for Public Integrity.

Fighting Climate Change

This chart released by the Congressional Budget Office shows why nothing is more important than the fight against global warming. Nothing.

The Difference Between Autos and Banks

Harold Meyerson compares the sensible handling of the auto companies by the Obama administration with their handling of the banks:

In other words, the Treasury's approach to the auto industry is equitable,
responsible to taxpayers and economically sensible. It is also, in almost every
particular, the diametric opposite of its approach to the banks. In return for
its major loans to floundering auto companies too big and strategic to be
allowed to go under, the Treasury opted for a structured bankruptcy, converting
its loans to shares, ousting top executives, shrinking the companies. In return
for its mega-loans to floundering banks that were also too big and strategic to
fail, the Treasury has not opted for structured bankruptcy, has not converted
its loans into shares, has not forced out top executives, has not moved to make
banks smaller (save in its proposal to limit leverage). Indeed, its bailout of
AIG rewarded bondholders such as Goldman Sachs to the detriment of everyone
else.

The Incredibly Shrinking John Edwards

Maureen Dowd writes a very sad and poignant column about John and Elizabeth Edwards here. (He was my first choice for the Democratic nomination, until I began to sense a certain shrillness and lack of creativity in his campaigning. Then I switched to Obama in the Fall of 2007.) Here's a paragraph:

John Edwards’s political career is over, and he’s being investigated by the
feds about whether he used campaign funds to underwrite his affair. Nobody —
except Rielle — has any interest in hearing from him again. Americans would have
been relieved if the last we heard of him was that cringe-inducing “Nightline”
interview last year, when he made the argument that he was a helpless narcissist
and that he hit on Rielle when Elizabeth’s cancer was in remission.

Proselytizing in Afghanistan

This is a disturbing video about our military in Afghanistan seeking to convert Muslims there to Christianity. One has to ask if this should be the task of our military involvement in other countries.