Cab Thoughts 5/12/12

A picture of a political meeting in New York showed the Enlightened Ones, our moral leaders, all huddling to plan the election run, each with a passel of armed, intimidating bodyguards to protect them from harm. This in a city where the average guy is not allowed to be armed to protect himself... I know, I know; they are more important.

So Romney, an aspiring moral leader, apologizes for high school behavior. That is a really big rats nest to open for politicians. Thank heavens for the diligent reporting work that raised this titanic info. I'm sure the "how well he ate his vegetables" report is coming soon. After that, can we get to the behavior of the last five years, his opinion on lobbying, on  stimulus vs. deficit spending, then focus on that for a while?

14 of 17 physicians in front of a disciplinary board in Ohio for prescribing medications which caused patients problems said their knowledge of the drugs came entirely from TV ads.

Last night the Pirates had a man on third with no outs, the next inning  the bases loaded with no outs and did not score one run. The Pirates’ total of 83 runs isn’t just last in the majors. It’s the lowest  of any team in professional baseball. Yes, all 150 of them, from the Savannah Sand Gnats to the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Only the Triple-A Rochester Red Wings are even close, with 91 runs.

The price of natural gas in Japan is more than 6 times the price in the U.S.. Japan's energy sources have changed since the  Fukushima disaster; without nuclear power they are turning to natural gas. The U.S. importing facilities for gas have been turned around to export. We better raise our demand to keep this resource domestic.

Presidential polling, Obama vs. Romney, is less interesting without the inevitable third party component that elected Clinton. (Perot got 19% of the vote, all from Bush. The vote went Clinton 43.0, Bush 37.5, Perot 18.9.  Most people think Nader's small vote in Florida cost Gore the election.) There likely will be two conservative third parties at least, Governor Johnson of the Libertarian Party, former Congressman Virgil Goode who will run in Virginia. Both of these candidates will take votes from Romney. Romney cannot win without addressing these constituencies.

Monday Toyota announced that its RAV4-EV will sell for $49,800, as compared to $22,650 for the gasoline powered version.
Is a $27,150 option on a $22,650 car a bit steep?

Of those arrested in the  Occupier Movement in New York, ninety-five percent of them lived in homes valued at more than $500,000. Those who rented paid a median rent of $1,850 per month. Probably a 1% suicide pact.

In 1900, according to the Tax Foundation, government — state, local, federal — took 6 percent of the people's income. Today, when one puts a price on government-imposed regulation, the amount taken by government is over 40 percent. That "price of regulation" is a bit of a soft number but without a doubt there has been a huge change in the last 100 years as to what the respective positions in society, individual and government, are.

One of the concerns of the founders of the nation was the possibility the presidency would become hereditary. These men feared power, especially unearned and dependent upon popularity. This is what Washington said in a draft (deleted) on his first Inauguration: "I have no child for whom I could wish to make a provision-no family to build in greatness upon my Country's ruins." Yikes!

Apparently Ireland and Spain both have no law to protect entrepreneurs from claims, like limited partnerships. So a guy starting a company is responsible for loans forever. The rest of his life. No wonder investment in these nations is so low.

Golden Oldie: http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2009/09/fundamentalist.html