Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Iraq War Saved Lives

Not just the lives that would have been lost by Saddam Hussein's continuing war by proxy against the West and potential actual war with N-B-C weaponry. It has saved 40,000 children a year who were destined to die under Hussein's continuing regime.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Unions And The Big Three

A lot of ink - online and literal - has been spilled on the Big Three automakers and their alleged problems. Not that they don't have problems, but the justifications they have made for mammoth federal bailouts increasingly look flimsy. There is the claim that "1 in 10 jobs" are generated by The Big Three, a figure that is wildly exaggerated, and there is also the premise that the Big Three are hemmorhaging money, which isn't necessarily the case. That they have problems is true enough, shown in a look at how they became an oligopoly, though the often-repeated argument about Detriot's lack of fuel efficiency is oversold.

The role of the UAW in the Big Three's problems has been surprisingly undersold by pieces actually exmaining that role. A look at the decline of union power offers a look at how damaging union power has been. The UAW's role shouldn't be undersold because for whatever level of mismanagement has happened with the Big Three (and there's been a substantial level of it, but some of the stories sound less like documentation than sour graping), it is impossible to believe the Big Three would not have turned things around faster with a saner salary and benefits structure than it presently has thank to the UAW.

Energy Frauds Discussed

A good summary of the delusions that drive energy policy debates is presented here, and makes the point that a lot of "energy transitions" have been forecasted over the decades - and either not happened or were far less important than hyped. The fraud of "energy independence" is one of the salient delusions of energy policy debates and The Man On The Way Up-Elect favors a "green jobs" policy that, like everything else in Obama's ideology, doesn't work. And just for good measure, The Man On The Way Up-Elect will also deal with a proposed "cap and trade" system that - you guessed it - can't work.

And the premise behind all of this is global warming, but a gaffe by Dr. James Hansen has badly injured the credibility of temperature records cited to justify the global warming scare.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Credit Munch And GM Bail-Ins

"We're in a credit crunch." Maybe not.

"GM needs a massive bail-out." GM's overseas sales (and those of the other members of the Big Three) indicate they're stronger than they're given credit for.

Now, does this mean those problems we've heard so much about are not there? Probably not, but they do show that we've been lied to by some alarmists to a significant extent.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Economic Good And Bad News

The bad news - if you still think unions do anyone any good, the trouble in the US auto industry should make people think again.

There is, though, good news, seen in dropping electricity prices.