Today's in Weird . . .

Random Thoughts April 24, 2011

The economic scene is now shifting to the debt ceiling issue.  For reasons no one understands the U. S. has a law limiting how much debt can be outstanding.  One must assume that the powers that be thought that if you limited debt by law, that would limit the amount of debt.  Of course, all it means is that every now and then the debt limit must be raised to accommodate the increased borrowings of a government running a deficit.

Politico has a story about what kind of deal Obama can make to get the debt ceiling passed.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53613.html

The story itself is indicative of the problem.  There should be no deal.  By continuing to allow Conservatives to extort concessions on spending on social programs Obama just encourages more demands for more concessions.  The simple solution is for Obama to say plainly that Congress should raise the debt ceiling, period.  Faced with resolve, Conservative’s would cave.  Of course, such a position would conflict with the President’s belief in bi-partisanship, a belief so lacking in empirical support that it is only held up by faith based politics.

In international finance the focus is now shifting to re-structuring the Greek debt.  For those not schooled in the nuance of finance, this means how can Greece default on its sovereign debt without disturbing too many people and banks who own the debt.

In Singapore they have a unique way of having both a democracy and one party rule.

http://www.economist.com/node/18587622

It seems a district is created with multiple representatives, and whichever party wins the district gets a win for all the representatives in that district.  It like, if Republicans win a majority of votes in Ohio, all House and Senate members in Ohio are the Republicans.  Before you get too smug about this system, check out what happens if there is a tie in the Electoral College.

And Donald Trump continues to attract international attention.

http://www.economist.com/node/18586584

Where’s Sarah Palin when you need her.

Boston is sending tax bills to tax exempt organizations asking them to help out with paying for the public services they get. 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/04/24/boston_sends_tax_bills_to_major_nonprofits/

Well the Harvard endowment is down to $20 billion or so, so good luck with that (yeah, we know, Harvard is in Cambridge, but they make a great example anyway)

Jeff Jacoby has a great column in the Boston Globe about how the requirements for being a good candidate for President are different from the requirements of being a good President. 

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2011/04/24/faced_with_a_field_of_mediocrity/

The current and past holders of the office prove the point.