Cecilia Gonzalez and the late Osvaldo Zotto dancing Desde el alma, 1997
and an undated version,
Archives for February 2010
Mark Steyn on responsibility
Mark Steyn on When Responsibility Doesn’t Pay
Think of Greece as California: Every year an irresponsible and corrupt bureaucracy awards itself higher pay and better benefits paid for by an ever-shrinking wealth-generating class. And think of Germany as one of the less profligate, still-just-about-functioning corners of America such as my own state of New Hampshire: Responsibility doesn’t pay. You’ll wind up bailing out anyway. The problem is there are never enough of “the rich” to fund the entitlement state, because in the end it disincentivizes everything from wealth creation to self-reliance to the basic survival instinct, as represented by the fertility rate. In Greece, they’ve run out Greeks, so they’ll stick it to the Germans, like French farmers do. In Germany, the Germans have only been able to afford to subsidize French farming because they stick their defense tab to the Americans. And in America, Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are saying we need to paddle faster to catch up with the Greeks and Germans. What could go wrong?
Obamateurism of the weekend?
Ed‘s running a poll for the Obamateurism of the week, but I would like to nominate this one for Obamateurism of the weekend:
Well, if that’s the case, I agree with Jim Hoft:
So, quit pushing that non-existent global warming junk science crap. Thank you.
However, Smitty makes a good point,
So, which gentleman [Al Gore or Barack Obama] is correct? Trick question! Neither! While seemingly opposite, they are both on the same side. They both represent the abdication of liberty in favor of small groups of people who are adept at portraying themselves smarter and more competent, to the detriment of society.
The beauty of being a Progressive is that all roads lead to state power, irrespective of superficial and occasionally dramatic contradiction.
Caleb Howe has lots more on the unsettled science.
PU professor loves Glenn Beck VIDEO
Via Another Black Conservative, it’s a real love fest from the new Princeton University faculty hire:
Van Jones to Glenn Beck: ‘I Love You, Brother’
“I see you, and I love you, brother,” Mr. Jones said. “I love you and you cannot do anything about it. I love you and you cannot do anything about it. Let’s be one country. Let’s be one country. Let’s get the job done.”
Glenn Beck loves him back, too:
My only question is, Does that mean they’re both smart?
Soros up and at it, again…
Soros betting on Euro collapse
Let me count the ways George Soros, hedge fund billionaire, has become enriched through his trading "strategies".
Years ago, he broke the Bank of England by wagering against the British pound, pressuring it in such a way that England had to devalue their currency – his first billion-dollar payday. Various ploys over the years enriched him further. Then he made billions by wagering that the housing and mortgage markets would collapse in America – a multi-billion dollar payoff again.
Now he is up to his old tricks again: working with other hedge funds to force the European currency to crack
The other day I was saying that maybe I could recycle headlines from prior decades; add this one to the list.
UPDATE
More at the Daily Mail, via Larwyn,
Man who broke the Bank of England, George Soros, ‘at centre of hedge funds plot to cash in on fall of the euro’
Mr Soros, who made more than $1billion by currency speculation when the pound was ejected from the Exchange Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in 1992, believes the structure of the euro is ‘patently flawed’.
He said: ‘Makeshift assistance should be enough for Greece, but that leaves Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland.
‘Together they constitute too large a portion of euroland to be helped in this way.’
He believes that unless the European Commission is given sweeping powers over taxation and spending, the single currency will always be vulnerable to financial turbulence in individual states.
Click on the photo for another interesting story (from last year) on Soros.
Globally warmed…UPDATED
It’s not easy being green
As we know, President Obama has spent much time praising Spain as being a reference for the establishment of government aid to renewable energy. A role model, Spain?
This study, from the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Spain shows that the reality is quite different. After examining Spain’s experience with an aggressive wind-power program, the researchers concluded, among other things, the cost of creating a green job in Spain was 571,000 Euros each (so roughly $800,000), and for each green job created, two private jobs were lost.
The study also makes predictions in case the president pursues his green-job policy.
Therefore, while it is not possible to directly translate Spain’s experience with exactitude to claim that the U.S. could lose at least 6.6 million to 11 million jobs, as a direct consequence were it to actually create 3 to 5 million “green jobs” as promised (in addition to the jobs lost due to the opportunity cost of private capital employed in renewable energy), the study clearly reveals a tendency that means the U.S. should expect such an outcome.
And the US continues to be the only country in the world that prevents itself from developing its own oil and natural gas resources.
8.8 Earthquake Strikes Chile, and a personal request UPDATED WITH LIVE VIDEO
8.8-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Chile
A massive 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile early Saturday, shaking the capital of Santiago for 90 seconds and sending tsunami warnings from Chile to Ecuador.
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It struck at 3:34 a.m. local time and was centered about 200 miles southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. The epicenter was some 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live.
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Phone lines were down in Concepcion as of 7:30 a.m. and no reports were coming out of that area. The quake in Chile was 1,000 times more powerful than the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that caused widespread damage in Haiti on Jan 12, killing at least 230,000, earthquake experts reported on CNN International.
Any of my friends with contacts in Chile reading this post, please ask my cousin Ana to contact me via internet or phone when possible. I’m leaving my Skype and Gmail chat open all day.
Thank you.
UPDATE
Three minutes after I posted this request on Facebook and the blog, I’m happy to report that I just heard from my cousin. She’s well.
Post edited after the good news.
Ed has video,
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
UPDATE 2
CBS News is streaming Live coverage from Chile.
Here’s the Ustream live feed from TV de Chile (in Spanish),
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