The Sagamore Journal

The Sagamore Journal | Weekend

“I don’t want to be all negative,” the officer begins, “but you have to read this book.” Not as in “This is a must-read,” but “We’ve had people go to jail for not reading.”

Eight different states have instituted programs for offering college literature courses in lieu of jail time for convicted criminals. The recorded recidivism rates, “half… of [the] control group,” and significantly lighter expense, “roughly $500 a head, as opposed to $30,000 a year for incarceration,” suggest education may in fact be a means toward rehabilitating some of the nation’s less-serious offenders.

TSJ

Watch out for iceburgs!

The Sagamore Journal | Weekend

Despite the gloom out there I think it’s important that we change gears a bit and take a look at this modern engineering marvel.

The Oasis of the Seas, is a 1.2 billion dollar leisure vessel that’s currently under construction in Florida. The Royal Caribbean expects her to set sail prior to year’s end.

Say what you will about recessions or hard times, but if things were as bad as some folks want you to believe, a project like this would have been stopped mid construction or scrapped completely.

TSJ

CNN, that festering mouth-sore that keeps you coming back even though its full of fail, has just done something really really naughty.

Not four months after concluding the quadrennial election cycle, picking a new president and being rid of pervasive polling and baseless punditry, Americans now have to listen to CNN/Opinion Research Corp start it all up again with an early poll on GOP “front-runners”. The last time it went on 24-hours a day for two years.

Please, I’m begging you. I can’t take another round of constant spirit-crushing. Not yet.

TSJ

http://alphainventions.com/

I’ve been lurking over at LOUDelf’s blog ever since he commented a few days back. Go check it out.

This is the problem in America nowadays. People are angry at those who have more, and instead of being constructive and working to catch up…” -LOUDelf, Socialism is a shift to laziness and ruin for the U.S.

TSJ

In developed countries the idea of censorship, especially religious censorship, seems almost laughable, considering the ever-present internet, but other nations have an easier time of it, so it seems. So much so that Azerbaijan has moved beyond domestic censorship to further suppress the export of any religious material, be it freshly printed Scientology propaganda or an ancient copy of the Koran.

Their confidence in the skill of their border agents is remarkable.

TSJ

AM DIGEST | The Sagamore Journal

• ECONOMICS | Obama’s Gall »EconLog
  • Obama: Yeah, I’m pretty much just going to say whatever I want.
• DEFENSE | The New Pentagon Budget—So New? »Slate
  • Ha ha ha ha ha…
• SOCIALISM | Citigroup reaches aid deal with government »DC Examiner
  • Crap.

TSJ

“Uncertainty rules the tax situation, the labor situation, the monetary situation, and practically every legal condition under which industry must operate. Are taxes to go higher, lower or stay where they are? We don’t know. Is labor to be union or non-union? Are we to have inflation or deflation, more government spending or less? Are new restrictions to be placed on capital, new limits on profits? It is impossible to even guess at the answers.”

- Lammot duPont II…..during the great depression

TSJ

It’s hard to ignore arrogance like that exhibited by CIA chief Leon Panetta who recently singled out Argentina, Ecuador and Venezuela as being in dire economics straits and at risk of destabilization. Now I wonder why that might be, Leon… (hint)

We should applaud Argentina’s foreign minister Jorge Taiana for standing up and noting the comment for what it was: “unfounded and irresponsible, especially from an agency that has a sad history of meddling in the affairs of countries in the region.”

If South America is financially unfit to cope with worldwide econo-debacle it is because conniving, corporate American scumbags already came through and corrupted the leadership before leaving with the resources.

The great Teddy Roosevelt, adventurer, marauder, Amazonian explorer, President of the United States, relates a startling tale of mountain men and monsters.

Orson? Is that you? Nanu nanu.

About a year ago I came off a failed project called SwitchVote and composed a short email to an old friend.

Today I’m writing my friend looking for advice… this project may in fact not materialize. Do you indeed think that this project is worth continuing at all? Have you any inspired ideas as to something else we could do instead?

And his reply:

So, let us again assess our goals. If this is to be for us a joy and not an obligation, perhaps we should reassess the idea… Decentralized systems have a way of never quite dying… they just adapt. The question we most need to answer is whether we want to do A project or THIS project. If it is simply extracurricular activity we’re seeking, then lets begin small with the things that interest us. As others are motivated by our enjoyment of the project, they’ll be free to share in it with interests of their own.

My response:

But I question the success of this beyond “cultivating one’s own garden”. After all, we’re not quite as qualified as Politico.com or Spectator.org… or could we nevertheless be something similar? And could we build a base? And could we find more contributors committed to writing for us? And does that even matter? On all counts, probably not.

Another reply:

I agree… You can make money just by signing up to write or edit random articles for certain websites.. why would anyone do it for free. As it is I currently write seven market reports and countless news items each week. I’d do more, but probably not for my health. Remember this, it is possible to exist and slowly grow from very small seeds. It’s like I said in that previous email, don’t be scared to be tiny and ineffectual for a long time before the niche develops and turns into something.

And a year ago today:

And so,” he said, unsure as to the next step, “where does that leave us?”

Lando twirled his beard and clicked his remaining teeth thoughtfully. “S’pose I dunno,” he said.

They mused.

Environmentalism becomes a theater in which the privileged act out their narcissism.

-Newsweek’s Joel Kotkin in Death of the Dream

Back when the bailout of American car makers was still nominally justified, Bush decreed that a so-called Car Czar should be appointed to restructure the industry.

Skip forward a few months. The glaring need for bad businesses to survive is as real as ever, but with a new president and renewed interest in bureaucratic growth rates the number of folks needed to overhaul this system has shot up 18-fold. And the final plan isn’t even in place yet.

The Detroit News reports that among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two own American cars.

The Times spoke with professor Michael Cusumano of M.I.T’s Sloan School of Management who wisely noted, “There’s good reason to wonder why the government would be any better at doing this than the management at the companies.”

Our Clintonian actress of a state secretary has been trying to shore up relations with Asian nations while also reminding China that it has already made its bed out of US debt, and now it’s time to sleep in it.

Not quite sure why she felt the need to urge China to keep buying treasury debt. I don’t see as how they’ve got much choice. My libertarian friends often go overboard with fears that China and other large holders will suddenly sell off US debt, sending us back to the financial stone age. It’s not that they couldn’t do it, but it would be economic suicide.

In effect, what China buys for their money is access to the massive American consumer market. There are some major European debt-based economies that could fill our role, but none that will do any better in a global downturn. The Chinese know it too.

The Financial Times quoted CBRC director-general Luo Ping as saying “Except for US Treasuries, what can you hold? Gold?” I suppose my liberty-loving friends are correct on that point. Compared with US debt, the security of gold’s low long term growth rate seems pretty good.

But don’t be fooled into thinking the Chinese (and Japanese for that matter) aren’t buying up all the gold they can. A few months back when Bernanke was being grilled by the House finance committee he said something to the effect of “the only time we talk about gold is when we talk about selling it”  The Chinese almost choked on their sandwiches.

They know as well as we do that all this “stimulus” will depreciate the US dollar and drive up inflation. It’s a sad commentary on the state of the brave new world when policy makers must settle for bad economic choices because they’re the best option available.