A casual story confirms my uncomfortable feeling that President Obama is not always the magnanimous, self deprecating gentleman he presents. I categorize this under "having fun at someone else's expense"

Isn't one of the main problems right now the fact that banks aren't lending? Isn't lending to businesses the grease that will make the financial wheels turn again? I thought so. Well, these folks aren't ready to help out. Hmm.

At a time when small business owners desperately need loans and credit lines to help them weather the recession, some of the industry's most active lenders have bolted shut the doors to their vaults.

Just amazing. No sooner am I wondering what happened to Howard Dean and he turns up, just like the bad penny he is. This time we find him in Switzerland at the Davos Forum. I guess he's having a hard time weening himself off the limelight as well as the koolaide.

Shortly after the much-anticipated speech of Valerie Jarrett, who is in effect the Obama administration’s ambassador to Davos, Howard Dean was lounging about with his BlackBerry and strong opinions. Mr. Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, was truly reveling in the fact that President Obama is a much-admired man at Davos. An honorary “Davos Man,” if you will.

(h/t State of Disbelief @ The Confluence)

The passing of Bush's Conscience Rule enables the implementation of laws written decades ago allowing caregivers to refuse services they consider morally objectionable. The laws followed the Supreme Court passage of laws allowing a woman's right to abortion but didn't have the connection to enable them.

The Bush administration announced its "conscience protection" rule for the health care industry yesterday, giving everyone including doctors, hospitals, receptionists and volunteers in medical experiments the right to refuse to participate in medical care they find morally objectionable.

In this Chicago Tribune article from March, 2008 Obama carefully dances around several sensitive issues including the reappointment of Patrick Fitzgerald in the context of the Rezko investigation. Now that there's more heat in Chitown, I say Obama promotes Fitzgerald to another job and let's the Blago investigation simmer w/out it's captain.

George Soros' son, Jonathan opines on the merits, or lack thereof, of our electoral college in this article.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12293012...

Although this made the OpEd page the WSJ, I wonder how much time will be spent discussing this topic before October of 2012.

We often forget that the power to appoint electors is given to state legislatures, and it is only because they choose to hold a vote that Election Day is at all relevant for us. Nowhere is a popular election constitutionally required. And, as the 2000 election reminded us, the winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed to become president.

As Krugman appropriately calls it, our job numbers are in a "nosedive."

"So are we now losing jobs at the rate of 600,000 a month? 700,000? If fiscal expansion takes, say, 8 months to kick in (and that’s optimistic), where will that leave us?"

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12...

Here's are some of the ugly numbers:

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/...

"The first graph shows weekly claims since 1968. Initial weekly unemployment claims last week were the highest since late 1982.

The four moving average is at 540,500; the highest since December 1982. Continued claims are now at 4.429 million.

At the risk of deflating my capital (even further) here at the Mighty Corrente Building, I'm voicing a concern/pet peve. Much like the abuse of the term "gate", the word czar is now tacked on to every government appointment that doesn't currently have an official label. Besides having a major problem with these appointments, in and of themselves, I'd rather not give the appointees the idea that they can exercise power without concern. Didn't we have 8 years of that w/ our own little dictator, George Bush, who intoned that running our country would "be a lot easier if this were a dictatorship."

I think my gag reflex kicked in when the cutesy "car czar" was coined.

Sometimes the yucks come from the oddest places:

"Save a Bundle When You Buy a Bank (like Citigroup...)

Help your children start to practice financial responsibility early! Our ATMs work just like the real thing—deposit cash and coins, and they will keep a running balance of savings. It's a great way to save for something special, and to build on math and budgeting skills. Plus, for 48 hours only, you can save $10 when you buy!

The Deluxe ATM features a motorized feeder that accepts bills and credits the account once the amount is entered. It also includes a personal ATM card to withdraw money from the vault, and can even be mounted to a wall for a more realistic experience!"

This may be the only experience these youngsters will have with money.

We're in a recession. How long will it take for them to admit we're actually in a depression? I'm guessing another year.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/01/news/eco...

The WH did have some words of encouragement:

"In a statement, White House Deputy Press Secretary Tony Fratto said that even though the recession is now official, it is more important to focus on the steps being taken to fix the economy.

"The most important things we can do for the economy right now are to return the financial and credit markets to normal, and to continue to make progress in housing, and that's where we'll continue to focus," he said. "Addressing these areas will do the most right now to return the economy to growth and job creation."

Read this article the other day and thought it was worthy. It's make all the sense in the world that during a depression the most expensive commodities are the hardest to come by and in the 30s it was food, clothing and shelter. When we experience the full effects of a depression, healthcare, safety and human kindness will be rarities.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/...

Now that we're distracted by the upcoming holiday season, the real news breaks about where our economy is right now. In the toilet.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/q3...

"Economists have said they believe the weakness in the July-through-September quarter is a harbinger of further weakness ahead. Growth in the current quarter is on track to fall at a 4% annual rate.
'As bad as the third quarter was, the fourth quarter will undoubtedly be worse,' economists at RBS Greenwich Capital wrote to clients.
Business and consumer activity ground to a halt between mid-September and mid-October. "

Apparently it's our fault...again...

It appears Howard Dean is good for his word and he will not be seeking another term as Chair of the DNC. According to HuffPo, Clair McCaskill may share the chairmanship. Bottom line, their circling the wagons and I'm afraid us liberals will be on the wrong side.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-tra...

I guess any candidate like Clinton will have to work hard to crack that inner circle.

From the HuffPo:

Just received a missive from Hillary. Since I don't have faith in Obama and thereby won't hold him accountable for...what did he say he was going to do again?, anywho, I have faith in Hillary and will hold her accountable for paragraph three. Especially that universal healthcare thingy.

Dear Xxxxx,

We did it! In this incredible year, we have changed our politics, our country and our nation! And I could not be more proud or more grateful to you for sharing this journey with me. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for everything you have done, for me, for Barack Obama, and for all our Democratic candidates, to make these successes possible.

{{First post - wish me luck}}

Ah, where were "the authorities" back in January? I think we’d have a different democratic nominee if they’d been vigilant about this voter fraud thingy back then.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/09/a...

Here's my favorite part:

"And in Lake County, home to the long-depressed steel town of Gary, the bipartisan Elections Board has stopped processing a stack of about 5,000 applications delivered just before the October 6 registration deadline after the first 2,100 turned out to be phony.

"All the signatures looked exactly the same," Ruthann Hoagland, a Republican on the board. "Everything on the card filled out looks exactly the same."