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This is on my Amazon wish-list. I love the mad, over-the-top style of the late Terry Thomas and from a young age, was delighted by his crazy turns of phrase, his hilarious demeanor and wonderful portrayal of the upper class cad. I must say that every time I am unfortunate enough to see Gordon Brown, The Community Organiser or Sarkozy on the television, it is hard not to shout out in true TT style: “What an absolute shower!” Where did the expression “absolute shower” come from, by the way? February 17th, 2009 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
 One of the best journalists out there, Claudia Rosett, responds to the dimwit assertion in parts of the MSM that “We are all socialists now”. Quite. I would also be happy to see someone write denying that “we” are all Keynesians now, by the way. Who is supposed to be the “we” is never quite explained. It is just assumed by the issuers of such pronouncements that all those in positions of power and influence have signed on to a particular world view. Rosett, as I remember, did great work in helping to expose that sink of corruption and double-dealing that was the Oil For Food Program of the United Nations, yet another reason for shutting down that organisation. February 16th, 2009 | 32 comments - (Comments are closed)
Taking a break from the financial tsunami and idiotic politicians, here are some wonderful infra-red photos. (Via David Thompson). February 16th, 2009 | 4 comments - (Comments are closed)
Did politicians rumble the trade? Did governments, or international forums or symposiums, provide the sharp instrument? Did academic research and expertise expose the dodgy product? Did statutory regulators apply the pin? No, the free market wised up and pricked this bubble. Politicians and finance ministers (if they had had the power) would have tried to keep it inflated. The market puffed itself up, and then, without intervention – despite intervention – the market let itself down. The speed with which this has happened has been awful, but however inconvenient for many or catastrophic for a few, correction is not a failure of the market, but a success. February 15th, 2009 | 27 comments - (Comments are closed)
Pure genius this is…
Voters want to see fewer foreclosures and more bank lending to ordinary consumers. No doubt they do. I assume they also want more sex, better cars, more holidays and yet another Rocky movie to be made. Or maybe a Caddyshack remake. So the political and financial elites decided that if more and more people could be made home owners, that would benefit both sections of said elite, or as I like to call them collectively, the Political Looter Class… tax money and government guarantees (which are not cost free) and, when necessary, actual threats to financial institutions that were reluctant to loan money to people who might well not ever pay it back, pushed the number of homeowners ever higher as ever more money was borrowed by John Q. Public and invested in mortgages. The political looter class was happy and so were the millions upon millions of people who voted for them again and again and again. And of course why should everyone not be happy? A loan is a bank asset, right? And banks with more assets can lend more money, and that means even more people, voting people, can buy houses. Well yes loans are a bank’s ‘assets’… but only if there is a realistic chance of that loan ever being paid off, otherwise it is in fact a liability (or more accurately, a loss, although through the mystical political arts it does not actually get called that as often as it logically should when the ‘loss’ is incurred by a member of a voting block the likes of Barney Frank, or for that matter, George Bush, wish to pander to). I only state this obvious fact because it does not seem obvious to the political section of the looter class. It was of course always obvious to the financial sector of the looter class, which is why all those ‘assets’ (which were actually liabilities) were wrapped up in complex financial packages and splendidly ‘securitized’ with the open connivance, indeed encouragement, of the political elite… and whilst there is absolutely nothing wrong with securitization per se, it ain’t quite so splendid when it is being used to spread what we now call ‘toxic debt’ throughout the entire financial system, making it enormously harder and often impossible to assess loan risk. But to the entire political looter class, and I mean not just the elite elements but also including the millions and millions of people who took loans they could not repay and voted for the people whose regulations provided the perverse incentives for banks to loan money to them, the important things was to… keep lending. And this, boys and girls, is what we call a Credit Bubble. And why do we call it a bubble? Because when loans are given out at a rate greater than actual economic growth can support, the amount of loans (assets) that go bad increases because the increased lending was not supported by an increased ability to pay the loans back… and when that fact becomes clear, people with money suddenly stop lending… the ‘bubble’ bursts. And when the state decides to fix that by motivating more people to borrow by reducing interest rates to almost zero, that of course makes no damn difference at all because lenders, not borrowers, are the ones suddenly back in touch with reality. And just because the government (i.e. central bank) says “the price of loans is 0.1%”, that actually does not mean jack shit, because the genuine price of loans has to include the premiums needed to cover bad debts. Moreover if it cannot be determined how risky it may be to lend due to the poisonous spread of toxic debt, it is safer to just hold onto the money rather that flush it down the toxic debt toilet. And how are the political looter class trying to remedy this situation? Well they are trying to re-inflate the bubble with the extra added spice of making the secured assets (property) even harder to repossess (in effect un-securing questionable loans either by fiat or with money plucked from the government’s magic money tree). Pure genius. And the next news item just around the corner? Think about US Treasuries… or ‘Junk Bonds’ as they will soon be known. ‘Screwed’ does not even begin to describe it. February 14th, 2009 | 39 comments - (Comments are closed)
I just picked this out as a potential SQOTD:
However, follow that last link and you will learn that the Conservative Party, in the person of Chris Grayling, may be retreating, a bit, from its former public position of craven retreat, so the Conservative bit of this story is not over yet. Yes, ban Wilders, says Grayling, but ban lots of others also. The Conservatives may well split on this, and I for one do not give a damn. Two further quick thoughts: First, I find all this elaborate condemnation of Geert Wilders by the Right-On tendency rather nauseating. We abominate what he says, but free speech is sacred and therefore he should be allowed in rather than being given the oxygen of publicity, but if he has broken the law then, blah blah blah, he should not be allowed in. This seemed to be the default position on Question Time last night, which I semi-watched. Usually there is only one but in these kind of weasel statements, but in this case there have often been two buts, with the second but being the but that craps all over everything before it, including whatever less ignoble turds emerged from the first but. But according to Guido, Wilders has not broken the law. And what Wilders says is that Islam is a huge problem because it preaches violence to those who do not submit to it. Which it does. Read the Koran, like this guy did. It is a vile piece of writing. People who grumble and splutter about statements like that are either Muslims or cowards or both. They just do not want to have to think about it because if this is true, which it is, it is all just too depressing. Second: democracy. What we are witnessing here is democracy, not some perversion of it. If enough voters threaten violence, then the state will cave in, and nothing like fifty percent is required. Half a percent threatening to dig up pavements or set fire to things is more than enough, provided another five or ten percent, sprinkled around all those marginal or potentially marginal constituencies, are willing to back, defend, not condemn, such threats with their votes. Votes, in other words, are violence. I fondly remember an ancient black and white movie telling of how, towards the beginning of the nineteenth century, the plebs of Britain got votes. A key moment was when a brick came crashing through the window of a room where some political toffs were discussing it all. Either we get this organised, they told each other, in other words either we have more democracy, or the bricks will keep on coming. I am still for democracy, for the usual Churchill reason of it being better than the alternatives, but it is messy. Personally, I am grateful to Geert Wilders, and even a little bit grateful to whichever coven of scumbag politicians it was who banned him from coming here. Some life has consequently been breathed into an argument which, while being just as important as ever, looked like it was becoming, what with all these Credit Crunch dramas, a bit passé. February 13th, 2009 | 37 comments - (Comments are closed)
A good friend of mine and fellow blogger, Andrew Ian Dodge, who is also an occasional commenter here, writes about his father, who died this week after an illness. Rest in peace. February 13th, 2009 | 2 comments - (Comments are closed)
In the current crisis, there is a lot of wisdom in the idea that the best thing for politicians and their appointed central bankers right now is to do absolutely nothing. Nada, zip, the square root of zero. To do nothing would be the gutsiest option of all. Of course, Mr “Hope and Change” Obama is unlikely to show that sort of courage, nor will Gordon Brown or, heaven help us, David Cameron. I actually have a theory, that the amount of time that a politician talks about courage, audacity, vision, etc, is inversely related to the actual possession of those qualities. Not even Mrs Thatcher went on about her courage all the time: the most we ever got was the “resolute approach”. And she delivered by taking genuinely brave stands on issues in the teeth of furious opposition from the chattering classes and the media establishments of the time. And in terms of telling folk what they did not want to hear and sticking to a tough policy, politicians such as former UK finance minister Geoffrey Howe in the early 1980s, wiped the floor with today’s lot. February 13th, 2009 | 11 comments - (Comments are closed)
It is the bicentennial of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. I came across this powerfully argued article stating what a great man he was. I strongly recommend it, particularly as it wrestles directly with the accusation, made by some writers in the libertarian camp, that Lincoln was some sort of demon. The author, David Mayer, argues that with some exceptions, the accusations made against Lincoln were and are unjustified. Update: Well that was a bracing set of mostly hostile responses about Lincoln! A question that I would put to those who claim that the secessionists were justified and Lincoln was a monster is why are some libertarians so willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a group of men who kept slaves and defended the practice? Several commenters argue that slavery was never what the civil war was about, but that is a bit like saying that the English Civil War was never about religion. Plainly it was a factor. Not necessarily as big as the Unionist defenders always claimed, but a factor nonetheless. February 12th, 2009 | 37 comments - (Comments are closed)
The buyers will take possession of this seat April 7, 2009 at 8:00pm and retain custody for 10 years. Rent seekers and power crazed collectivists from the ruling class, your bids are recorded here. Small government conservatives and people who believe in personal rights and responsibilities, your bids are recorded here. Aaaannnnd, (suspenseful pause) as of February 2nd, 2009 the totals are: Rent seeking collectivists and associated members of the ruling class – $1,068,551 I often hear people on this blog and elsewhere say “the voters are idiots, we get what we deserve.” Leaving aside the grating sound of “we”, when the small government conservative is outbid by a 20 to 1 margin, there is no way the message of small government and liberty can be heard. Incidentally, over $20,000 of his $54,000 came from his own pocket. And while your at it, compare Abrahamson’s and Koschnick’s statements of financial interest. I thought the small government conservatives were supposed to be the rich ones. February 12th, 2009 | 12 comments - (Comments are closed)
This is not the first time that the Home Office has used its discretionary powers to bar someone from entering the UK, nor surely will it be the last, but I cannot recall in my adult lifetime such powers ever being used against an elected, serving politician from a friendly, democratic country. And a member of the EU to boot!
Under normal circumstances, I would devote the rest of this article to speculation about the reasons behind this extraordinary decision. But, in this case, that would be redundant. We all know why. February 11th, 2009 | 76 comments - (Comments are closed)
“We are ruled by people who have achieved the remarkable distinction of being both dull and frivolous.” Theodore Dalrymple. The problem is the idea that we need “rulers” at all. February 10th, 2009 | 74 comments - (Comments are closed)
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