No. He'll be an engineer.

Hope and (pocket) change

· 11/05/2008 05:53 PM by Steve Gigl

Yeah, I’m feeling a little snarky for a lot of reasons, only one of which is political.

But it doesn’t matter much how I feel… how does the business world feel about our President-elect? Let’s check today’s industry news:

1. AMD lays off 500 people worldwide
2. IBM’s chip unit cuts temp workers
3. Anadigics cuts 15 percent of workforce
4. Intersil to cut 9 percent of workforce

Oh.

OK, what about stocks?

The blue- chip index ended at 9,139.27, off 486.01 points, or 5.1%.

Unfair? Yeah. But not nearly as unfair as pinning the subprime mortgage crisis on Republicans, who were the only ones sounding warnings about them several years ago.

UPDATE: Forgot one: Cadence cuts 625 jobs

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Quote of the day

· 10/30/2008 10:14 PM by Steve Gigl

Via Rand Simberg, by John Hood:

Government is not charity. It is not persuasion, or cooperation, or sharing. Government is a fist, a shove, a gun.

[Surprise surprise, the next sentence is: “Obama either doesn’t understand this, or doesn’t want voters to understand it.”]

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Schrodinger's Racism

· 09/23/2008 08:29 PM by Steve Gigl

From what I can tell via the media, if Barack Obama wins, it will be because we are finally moving into a post-racial era. And if he loses, it will be because we are all a bunch of racists.

Apparently America is sitting in the box, waiting to observe itself.

(Link via Rand Simberg)

Category: Politics
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It looks kinda like a nail, right?

· 09/16/2008 09:33 PM by Steve Gigl

Because all McCain and Obama see are hammers.

See, this is why us right-of-center types didn’t necessarily want McCain to be the nominee. Not that he’s a bad guy, or that he wouldn’t be an outstanding president on some fronts. But he’s a bit dim about the economy:

McCain blames Wall Street’s ‘unbridled greed’ for economic woes

Well duh, but then he talks about establishing a commission and creating “comprehensive regulations.” Goodie.

Then again, look at the alternative:

Obama accused McCain of being an opponent of government regulation who turned a blind eye to market recklessness…

Both of them think more regulation will fix things. Yeesh.

Note: all regulations do is make money for lawyers and accountants (and legislators and lobbyists). Nothing more.

In fact, I heard an economist claim this morning that the regulations put in place after the Enron mess—including a requirement to write off paper losses every quarter even when the securities hadn’t been sold yet—caused, among other things, Lehman Brothers’ situation to look worse than it was, requiring them to abandon their recovery plans and file for bankruptcy. No idea if this is true (King?), but I definitely believe in the power of unintended consequences.

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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And the dead shall rise... and vote Democrat

· 09/16/2008 01:38 PM by Steve Gigl

I remember a book about this,. No, not that one ... something about “If it’s not close, they can’t cheat” or something, right?*...

(via Steve H.)

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Hope and (pocket) change

· 11/05/2008 05:53 PM by Steve Gigl

Yeah, I’m feeling a little snarky for a lot of reasons, only one of which is political.

But it doesn’t matter much how I feel… how does the business world feel about our President-elect? Let’s check today’s industry news:

1. AMD lays off 500 people worldwide
2. IBM’s chip unit cuts temp workers
3. Anadigics cuts 15 percent of workforce
4. Intersil to cut 9 percent of workforce

Oh.

OK, what about stocks?

The blue- chip index ended at 9,139.27, off 486.01 points, or 5.1%.

Unfair? Yeah. But not nearly as unfair as pinning the subprime mortgage crisis on Republicans, who were the only ones sounding warnings about them several years ago.

UPDATE: Forgot one: Cadence cuts 625 jobs

Category: Politics
Scope: National

Rantback

Quote of the day

· 10/30/2008 10:14 PM by Steve Gigl

Via Rand Simberg, by John Hood:

Government is not charity. It is not persuasion, or cooperation, or sharing. Government is a fist, a shove, a gun.

[Surprise surprise, the next sentence is: “Obama either doesn’t understand this, or doesn’t want voters to understand it.”]

Category: Politics
Scope: National

Rantback

Schrodinger's Racism

· 09/23/2008 08:29 PM by Steve Gigl

From what I can tell via the media, if Barack Obama wins, it will be because we are finally moving into a post-racial era. And if he loses, it will be because we are all a bunch of racists.

Apparently America is sitting in the box, waiting to observe itself.

(Link via Rand Simberg)

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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It looks kinda like a nail, right?

· 09/16/2008 09:33 PM by Steve Gigl

Because all McCain and Obama see are hammers.

See, this is why us right-of-center types didn’t necessarily want McCain to be the nominee. Not that he’s a bad guy, or that he wouldn’t be an outstanding president on some fronts. But he’s a bit dim about the economy:

McCain blames Wall Street’s ‘unbridled greed’ for economic woes

Well duh, but then he talks about establishing a commission and creating “comprehensive regulations.” Goodie.

Then again, look at the alternative:

Obama accused McCain of being an opponent of government regulation who turned a blind eye to market recklessness…

Both of them think more regulation will fix things. Yeesh.

Note: all regulations do is make money for lawyers and accountants (and legislators and lobbyists). Nothing more.

In fact, I heard an economist claim this morning that the regulations put in place after the Enron mess—including a requirement to write off paper losses every quarter even when the securities hadn’t been sold yet—caused, among other things, Lehman Brothers’ situation to look worse than it was, requiring them to abandon their recovery plans and file for bankruptcy. No idea if this is true (King?), but I definitely believe in the power of unintended consequences.

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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And the dead shall rise... and vote Democrat

· 09/16/2008 01:38 PM by Steve Gigl

I remember a book about this,. No, not that one ... something about “If it’s not close, they can’t cheat” or something, right?*...

(via Steve H.)

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Notes on last night

· 09/04/2008 07:55 AM by Steve Gigl

1. Noted. I’m trying not to get caught up in the emotion of being happy that McCain picked an actual conservative as a running mate, but sometimes you can’t help yourself. That said, the cognitive dissonance caused by seeing how she has been treated by a press (caught flatfooted) does still seem to indicate an innate sexism in the media that I thought was eradicated from even private life. Which leads us to…
2. Heh:

First of all, why are all the Democrats so shocked she gave a partisan, cutting, attack dog speech? She is the Vice Presidential candidate; that is the VP’s job, after all. Did they think she wouldn’t take on that traditional job because she’s a woman? Did they think she just wanted to talk about babies ‘n bakin’ cookies? Did they really believe their own horseshit that a governor who took on her own party and left it weeping on the floor was a bubbleheaded cupcake and couldn’t act tough and canny like a man?

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Michael Moore: "I am a classless asshole...

· 08/30/2008 09:30 PM by Steve Gigl

...who prefers death and destruction to my opponents having a good day.”

Wait, that’s not what he said? Well, it’s what I heard.

(via Drudge)

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Uh-huh

· 08/28/2008 09:58 PM by Steve Gigl

Obama tonight:

I will cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.

Please note:

... data from the Internal Revenue Service show that more than half of all federal individual income taxes—50.8 percent—are paid by the five percent of taxpayers who earn the most.

Helluva big tax cut that will be. How much you want to bet that the definition of “working families” will perfectly match the families that pay basically no taxes?

Here are the actual tax policies compared.

Actually, I don’t see anything in Obama’s list about cutting taxes to middle class or working families. I wonder if he’s changed his mind since that report was put together.

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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Illustrative

· 07/23/2008 06:43 AM by Steve Gigl

Replace “Keillor” with “TV and print media” and this paragraph from Lileks still pretty much works:

Keillor concludes that Obama is “much more One of Us” than the Current Occupant – although I suspect that if Obama was deeply religious and a reformed alcoholic this would be a sign of his ability to understand how human nature can be both transcendent and imperfect. Obama’s National Guard service would also be terribly illustrative, and old photos of the fellow in a flight suit would be regarded as proof of an essential, indelible, illustrative bond with the men and women who serve today. (In the absence of such photos, or the service that would have produced such photos, such experience is irrelevant.)

What do you suppose that means?

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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A minor distinction?

· 06/30/2008 07:47 PM by Steve Gigl

It’s pretty rare for someone to link to Instapundit for saying something well rather than just featuring the right link, but this bears repeating and spreading around:

...I must disagree with charges that McCain is being “Swift Boated.” For this to be a “Swift Boating,” people who stayed at the Hanoi Hilton would have to say that McCain was lying about what he did there—or perhaps that his repeated claims that events there were “seared, seared” in his memory are false, and he was never actually there at all—and those people would have to be telling the truth.

[Emphasis mine.]

Category: Politics
Scope: National

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