On...Great Slogans

Shock and Awe Statism

Coined by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and reiterated in George Will's Sunday column, Shock and Awe Statism is a great phrase and hopefully has some legs.

Check out Will's column HERE. It is very interesting regarding the status of former GM CEO Rick Wagoner as well as the Indiana teachers and police pension funds. Looks like those two groups were part of the "speculators" Obama smeared.

Also The Economist lays out the pitfalls that could be lying in wait as the POTUS gets a little too zealous in his robust statism.

On...GM, The Future, and Michigan's Great Depression

I would say this article [Big Three Confront Rough Road] on the future of the Auto Industry by the Detroit News is a must read, especially for those who live in Michigan. The authors ask a lot of important questions that I hope the folks in DC are asking themselves and trying to get the answers to. Unfortunately, I think they are ignoring too many of them.

Addition:

Richard A. Posner in Atlantic Monthly has another fine blog piece on GM and Government Take Over. You can find it HERE

From...Why Government Can't Run a Business

I've linked a new editorial from John Steele Gordon, a very keen economic historian who've I featured here before. He gives a very tight rundown on why Government and Business operations always fail in the long run. I would love to revisit this piece say ten or twenty years from now and see how GM or Chrysler are doing. It is amazing how people are so afraid of things doing what they are designed to do (The Market that is). His point about politicians & headlines is very strong. "We must do something!" "They want to do nothing!" "How dare they!"

WHY GOVERNMENT CAN'T RUN A BUSINESS

On..David Brooks

Welcome Back (Hopefully to stay)

I've enjoyed David Brooks for sometime. His book Bobos in Paradise is a minor classic, but the last few years he has become the most staunch and mythical centrist on the planet. I've had a number of conversations about him with colleagues and he has almost become a joke on how middle of the road-utopian he has tried to be. I don't know if occurred when he was hired by the New York Times to be their token "conservative" or it's simply his good guy genes. Occasionally he has a good article but he's been so centrist it's sucked the life out of his writing. He had been the post-boy for post-partisanship. I don't know how such a smart guy can belief in such magical nonsense. Obama and Rove-clone Gibbs are already using bi-partisanship as a weapon against the Right. [Isn't Gibbs just odious? He makes me physically sick.]

Well, maybe Brooks is having the avalon-snakeskin removed from his eyes. He really nails this whole GM-Obama-Big Government mess on the head in his article today.

I encourage everyone to read it. It goes nicely with the Detroit News' latest editorial.

BROOKS: CAR DEALER-IN-CHIEF

DETROIT NEWS: DeFacto Take Over

On...The Real Car Czar

Expansion of Presidential Powers: It is only beginning

We are starting to see the power the White House will wield. Be warned any person coming hat in hand to 1600 PA Ave. You leave without your hat.

GM is only the beginning. I think the people of Michigan are starting to long for W when it comes to the auto industry. Now that's scary stuff.

What and the hell does Obama know about a car-company? This is the typical elitist attitude. They know everything about everything and their Smart Team can pull purple rabbits out of hardhats all friggin' day. Making rash decisions are going to bite you. The White House now owns General Motors. If not in reality then in public perception. If GM fails now Obama will bear most of the onus in the public's eyes. He's responsible. Since when should the POTUS be worrying about a CAR COMPANY! in a 14 Trillion dollar economy. I just don't know about this. He can act all calm and high-almighty but he's in the whirlwind now. Way to deflect the AIG boondoggle by pushing Detroit off the Ambassador Bridge.

The DETROIT NEWS editorial on Wagoner's Ousting is very good and raises a bunch of questions.

MI Governor Granholm calls Wagoner a "Sacrificial Lamb." How true.

Does anyone else smell the return of Jimmy Carter? I really hope not.