Michelle Bachmann Clears a Low Hurdle, Delta Airline Joins the Management Hall of Shame, Small Business Wins One . . .

And Other News That Needs Commenting On

Ed Rollins, newly signed on to lead the expected Presidential aspirations of Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann (R, MN) said that Ms. Bachmann was “much more substantive” than Sarah Palin.  He also stated that “Ronald McDonald is much more substantive than the Burger King King”.

The business savvy Delta Airline charged GI’s returning from Afghanistan $200 each in baggage fees.  A spokesman for Delta later said just because these men and women risked their lives defending airline safety in the sky is no reason for the airline not to make a buck on their return flight home.  The Dismal Political Economists had written earlier about Airline Management incompetence.  It is now safe to say that the reason for airline financial troubles is a near fatal combination of managerial greed and stupidity.

Remember all that talk about how small business was the engine of growth in the U. S. economy, and that government should support policies to strengthen small business.  Well in a bi-partisan vote 54 Senators voted to stop the Federal Reserve from limiting the fees that businesses pay credit card companies for each credit card transaction. In one of the few times the Senate rules worked to favor small companies over large banks or big business, the vote required 60 votes to pass, and so the attempt to enrich credit card companies at the expense of small business failed.  No this was not Conservative Republicans acting alone, 35 Democrats voted to side with the big banks.

Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination soon.  Huntsman is a media favorite, but only because of his intelligence, experience and rationale approach to Conservative governing principles.  Huntsman does need to read the latest Quinnipiac poll, however, that showed his support at 1%.  In a related story Quinnipiac revealed that 1% of their polling sample consisted of member of the media.

Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm writes in Politico that Michigan should let Mitt Romney go bankrupt, since that is what he proposed for the auto industry.  Now The Dismal Political Economist has had plenty to say about Mr. Romney, most of it, well, not very complimentary, but it does appear that Mr. Romney was done in on this issue by an errant headline, as we have reported earlier.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is starting his campaign for the 2016 Republican nomination (assuming Obama is re-elected) by traveling to Ohio.  He is one of the leading candidates for that nomination, as the first report on the 2016 election (by The Dismal Political Economist no less) pointed out.  Jindal is unopposed for re-election this fall as the Democratic Party decided they no longer wish to be a national political party.

John Fund is quoted in the Wall Street Journal that since New York must lose two Congressional seats, and one will have to be a Democratic District in NYC, the solution to getting He-Who-Is-Not-To-Be-Named out the Congress is to just eliminate his District.  See, good ideas can come from the Op/Ed Section of the WSJ if they just try.

Now Seth Lipsky has an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that violates one of the cardinal rules of The Dismal Political Economist.  When The Dismal Political Economist and Mr. Lipsky are having a conversation, at least one of them has to understand what they are talking about.