Executive Power

The Economist is perhaps the most respected and objective publication in the world. People should pay attention to their comments. In the following story, the Economist appears to come to a conclusion that many of us have also come to: that Obama gives the impression that he is more concerned about outcomes rather than process and this impression will cause harm in the future.
Yes, many of us like the concept of a "benevolent dictator" or "philosopher king" who truly has the welfare of his people as his primary concern but we also recognize that this model is unworkable. Maybe one ruler will be a great leader but without safeguards the next ruler may be corrupt. Due Process and the Rule of Law must remain strong. There must be transparency. Efficiency is not the overarching goal in a democracy.
It is truly scary that some of Obama's supporters are in favor of more executive privilege to achieve desired results. Presumably these supporters were not in favor of executive privilege when exerted by GW Bush.
We do not want Vladimir Obama.

http://www.economist.com/node/16377269?story_id=16377269&source=features_box_main

Obama and Enemies, Foreign and Domestic

Every President developes a National Security Strategy and Obama recently came up with his. Some have described his policy as "Bush Lite" for while he wants to pull back from unilateral actions and pre-emptives strikes he does not disavow such actions. He just says that he will only undertake such actions as a "last resort" which, I would think, Bush actually thinks that he did as well.

But the scariest part of the "Obama Doctrine" is that for the first time,his National Security Strategy warns about "the security threat posed by “individuals radicalised at home”. Sounds like a return to the days of the House Committee on Un-American Activities and McCarthism. The only change will be who will feel the wrath of the federal government.

http://www.economist.com/world/united-states/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16243791&fsrc=rss

Public Pensions

The NY Times recently ran a story on public pensions in the city. 13 police officers retired at age 40 with annual pensions of $100,000 and up. And 9 additional officers were in the 30s when they retired with $100,000 annual pensions. And these pensions will go up annually, with inflation. (Curious if they will go down in the event of deflation.)

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/When-a-public-pension-is-a-trust-fund-94698759.html

Meanwhile, stiking teachers are complaining about proposed cuts in pay in California. These teachers are making an average of $100,000 per year. We have reports that public pension endowments are underfunded to the tune of $3 trillion.

There is a significant problem here. We are heading to a cliff, like Greece.

http://keithhennessey.com/2010/05/26/underfund-pensions/

Obama and His Role

Obama recently explained his role as President:

"My job right now is just to make sure that everybody in the Gulf understands this is what I wake up to in the morning and this is what I go to bed at night thinking about: the spill."

Think about that. This is amazing. He thinks that when he gets people
"to think about him and how much he's thinking about what he thinks they think he should be thinking about, his job is done", according to a Wall Street Journal article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704596504575272542364164212.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLETopOpinion

In the book, Atlas Shrugged, a government official is infuriated that a train is stopped in a tunnel by a problem. Rather than try to understand the problem and help work toward a solution, he DEMANDS that the train continue on its way, ignoring the problem. And the train is destroyed along with everyone on it, as well as the tunnel.
" 'God damn these railroad people!' said Kip Chalmers. 'They're doing it on purpose. They want to ruin my campaign. I can't miss that rally! For Christ's sake, Lester, do something!' "

The scene is reminiscent to Obama's response to BP's oil leak. The problem is that it is extremely difficult to stop the leak and Obama believes that simply issuing orders is all that he needs to do. Obama is the one who approved this well. Obama is the one who wanted to expand off shore drilling around Florida. Complain all you want about deregulation and Palin's "drill baby drill" to obfuscate the issue.

US heading to calamity like Greece

The Governor of the Bank of England sees similarities between the fiscal situation in Greece and the US.

The problem with Greece is that the government can no longer afford the generous benefit packages that it's citizens get and now must borrow heavily as well as make significant cuts in the benefits.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/finance/edmundconway/100005657/us-faces-same-problems-as-greece-says-bank-of-england/

Race Relations

Harvard professor Henry Gates, of the famous "Beer Summit", with President Obama and the Cambridge police officer who arrested him, has an interesting book out. In it, he writes that 90% of all slaves brought to the US were captured by other Africans and sold to European traders for export to the US. It is about time that the role that Africans played in the slave trade is discussed rationally.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/henry-gates-deflates-the-reparations-balloon/

On an unrelated note, it appears that people who study racial or ethnic studies have a lower respect for members of other racial or ethnic groups. Who knew? People who study discriminatory histories tend to discriminate.

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2010/05/a_down_side_of_racial_awarenes.html

Freddie Mac Needs another $8 billion

The government has bailed out Freddie Mac with $61 billion. This corporation is supposed to be self sufficient. $10 billion in loses over the first 3 months of 2010. What is going on here?

And, perhaps more to the point, why am I reading about this in a BBC report. Where is the mass media coverage? Like the questions about General (or Government) Motors paying off the government loans 5 years early, with interest. Is this true? Or did GM just borrow from another government account to pay off the other government account? Or did the US government just buy equity in GM to give them the money to pay off the loan. Rumors are that the US owns 61% of this losing company, which puts it in the same mess as Freddie Mac.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/10099793.stm