Gore Effect Reaches Space

The Gore Effect, heretofore observed only on the surface of the earth has reached space. A NASA satellite designed to monitor global carbon dioxide crashed into the Antarctic Ocean when launched today.

Nasa scientists were left red-faced today after a £190 million rocket carrying a global warming satellite crashed into the ocean near Antarctica.
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory was the agency’s first attempt to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide from space and was designed make climate change models more accurate.
But minutes after the launch at 9.55am GMT, the rocket failed to separate properly and plunged back to the Earth.

NASA, like our government, has turned inward rather than outward.

O-Bingo!

I wish I’d thought of this. For tonight’s much ballyhooed Obama speech, Americans for Tax Reform has come up with handy-dandy O-Bingo cards, so you can play along at home. They have a handy key to what the words mean:

“Since the Great Depression” – The economic one, not the feeling you’ve had since he signed the “stimulus” bill.

“Save or create” jobs – Obama’s new metric whereby he can claim credit for the outcome no matter what happens (how exactly does one determine the number of “saved” jobs?)

“Crisis” – Excuse to hike taxes and grow the government per Rahm Emanuel’s theory: “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

“Stimulus” – The 1,000 page Pelosi-Reid-Obama pork bill rushed through in the dead of night with no transparency and that not a single member of Congress who voted for it actually read.

“Hope” – The optimistic expectation, against all evidence that this government will be the first in the history of time to succeed in spending its way out of economic problems.

“Change” – Take-home pay of future generations due to massive spending increases and government expansion.

There are, of course, more definitions at the link, along with multiple versions of the cards so you can play with family or friends. Personally, I suspect that the speech will consist (other than the buzz words and phrases that will surely get shouts of “O-Bingo!”, if you’re playing at home) of several things:

Bragging, job-destroying tax increases, Federal spending sprees, self back-patting, onerous regulations, tax increases, more government spending, self-congratulations, expensive regulations that cripple job creation, tax increases, extra-special spending, self-praise, tax increases and a few extra tax increases and draconian regulations leading to further job loss, Congressional waste and tax increases for good measure. Ending on some praise for his leadership and a final tax increase.

O-Bingo!

Bailouts As Reality Shows

The Wall Street Journal is not impressed with the Obama administration’s efforts to stabilize the economy thus far. In fact, they liken it to a bad “reality” show:

The current fear stems in particular from the uncertainty of the government’s intentions toward some of the largest banks that are thought to be too big to fail. The Treasury has promised what it calls “stress tests,” which are reasonable in theory and should have been going on for many months at regulated institutions. But the Obama Treasury has announced them as if they are a new cable TV reality show — Survivor: Manhattan.

Which institutions will be sent off the island this week? Will any of them end up like AIG, wasting away in federal hands? How many of the survivors will be forced to take “mandatory” preferred shares that could convert to common and dilute shareholders, as yesterday’s statement put it? And if they do, what new tortures will Barney Frank and Chris Dodd force them to endure? This is no way to restore financial confidence, much less begin an economic recovery.

The bank insolvency problem needs a disciplined approach, not a bailout of the day announcement. Yet that is what we are getting. As a result, the stock market is tanking, down to 1997 levels as of yesterday. The talk of nationalization of the banks neglects the fact that such a move will hurt little people, not rich plutocrats. Pension funds and 401k funds that hold bank stocks will get creamed by such a move.

Like all reality shows, “Survivor: Manhattan” sucks.