Obama Whines About Date Night Politicization

I think this is why people are starting to become disillusioned about Obama.

“If I weren’t president, I would be happy to catch the shuttle with my wife to take her to a Broadway show, as I had promised her during the campaign, and there would be no fuss and no muss and no photographers,” the president said. “That would please me greatly.” He went on to say: “The notion that I just couldn’t take my wife out on a date without it being a political issue was not something I was happy with.”

Well, if you wanted to catch a shuttle to New York for a show then you should have stayed the junior Senator from Illinois. Then you could have paid for it out of your own pocket and there would have indeed been "no fuss and no muss." Instead you chose to be President of the United States. You can always resign and have Biden take over. Then you can have all the date nights you want.

He should know that the top job is one where expensive date nights and trips to Copenhagen to help your political cronies are seen with a *lot* more scrutiny. I think Obama has not grasped the enormity of his office yet.

His vast responsibilities should preclude date nights, petty rivalries with cable TV, or pimping the George Lopez show or any of that nonsense. There was no one forcing him to run for the Big Chair. I think it is time to put away the campaign posters and airy rhetoric and simply lead this damn country. Go out there and think of a way to get people back to work. This whining and "woe is me" stuff is getting old fast.

Public Option will Have Higher Premiums then Private Insurance?

You have to be kidding me. All this and if you get stuck on the "Amtrack health plan" you might have to pay more then if you were on private insurance?

In one bit of sobering news, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that only about 6 million people would sign up and that premiums for the government plan could be higher than for private coverage. The CBO says sicker people with higher costs probably would be attracted to the government plan. By comparison, 162 million people would remain covered through employer plans.

Again the US Government shows they don't know how to run a business. They end up with the sickest people with no healthy people to offset them. So this forces people to pay higher premiums then those that are on private insurance? I think insurance companies have absolutely nothing to fear from these amateurs.

Another messed up thing is that private insurance may get to go up because of taxes on windfall insurance, covering people no matter how sick they are, etc. will be passed on to people on the private plan. In other words they are planning to spend $1.055 trillion over 10 years in order to raise everyone's insurance premiums whether they have "evil insurance company" insurance or they are stuck with the public plan.

About the only thing I think is decent is that you might be able to do is game the subsidy that you are supposed to get from the government by buying cheap bare-bones insurance (if there will be such a thing still after these bills are pushed through.) I can see a lot of younger people doing this in order collect a little extra income at the expensive of their health care.

White House Puts Edmunds.com on the Enemies List

It seems that the White House can't let a day go by without looking thin-skinned and petty.

But in addition to Fox News, now The White House is going after highly-respected and influential car site Edmunds.com.

They're actually using The White House blog to dispute the site's analysis of Cash-For-Clunkers (via Detroit News).

The post is snarkily titled: "Busy Covering Car Sales on Mars, Edmunds.com Gets It Wrong (Again) on Cash for Clunkers"

Yes, the official White House blog just accused a site about cars of "being from Mars." I think someone seriously needs to go down there and tell them that they aren't working for DailyKOS or someone. They represent the most powerful office in the land and need to use at least a small dollop of civility toward people that disagree with them.

Copenhagen Consensus Center Takes on Gore on Climate Change

I think this may be the most impassioned and greatest rebuttal to the climate change zealots that I have ever read.

There is another way to respond to climate change. Instead of putting arbitrary, expensive caps on carbon emissions, we can and should immediately spend more money on researching and developing alternative energy. This means renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, geothermal, and wave. These are all promising but in their current forms are incredibly inefficient compared with fossil fuels. It also means developing second-generation biofuel from biomass. It also means investing in energy efficiency, fission and fusion, and carbon capture and storage. Unless we make a much bigger investment in these areas right now, fossil fuels are going to maintain their stranglehold on all the economies of the world.

I agree with this Bjørn Lomborg guy 100%. If we spent even a 10th of the money that will go into this whole carbon trading scheme on R&D then solutions will come that much quicker. If we can find a more efficient solar cell, a closed fuel nuclear reactor cycle, or some carbon capture system then we can solve the problem just like that.

Then spend all the rest of the money that would go into carbon trading on getting poor nations to be richer. I don't think millions of people need to die because they don't have enough micro-nutrients or are forced to burn dung to heat their food. Hell, even sustainable farming practices could prevent millions of people from starving.

China and India don't want to sign of to some carbon trading scheme because they know that their economies will be handicapped by it. Why should rich nations tell China and India to reduce their GDP when that growth is pulling millions of their citizens out of abject poverty?

In fact the first thing we should do is create a global alternative energy R&D center. Make it run out of the UN and it is funded by a certain amount from every one of the G20 nations and contain the brightest scientists from all over the world. Have an appointment to this center be so prestigious that it would be like winning a Noble Prize. Then have these people work their entire career on alternative energy solutions. The ideas coming out of this place could not just help climate change but make lives better for decades to come.

Another Reason Why Obama is Falling in the Polls

I think this article hits the nail on the head on why Obama suddenly fell from his lofty 70%+ approval rating.

After ten months in office a clear pattern has emerged. Instead of hope and change, it's blame and attack. Obama rarely gives a speech about a pressing national problem--the economy, health care, the budget deficit--without blaming Republicans or former president George W. Bush. For many Americans it's getting old. It makes the president look small and petty. Does he want America's respect or its pity?

Yup people voted for hope and change and instead got petty and mean-spirited. I mean you can only blame Bush for so long before people start asking "yeah that other guy is gone so what are you going to do now Mr. President?"

The Afghanistan whining was case in point. Rahm Emanuel and everyone was "it has been screwed up for 8 years already." Yeah that doesn't matter because what you do in the next 8 years is all that matters now. Blaming Bush is getting so old that I immediately change the channel whenever a White House person utters it.

Stimulus Jobs Numbers Fudged

I think they need to just abandon the failed stimulus and get on with an actual jobs creation bill using whatever stimulus money that hasn't been wasted. These shenanigans that they are pulling with "saved" jobs and other nonsense is just not working.

The government's first accounting of jobs tied to the $787 billion stimulus program claimed more than 30,000 positions paid for with recovery money. But that figure is overstated by least 5,000 jobs, or one in six, according to an Associated Press review of a sample of stimulus contracts.

The AP review found some counts were more than 10 times as high as the actual number of jobs; some jobs credited to the stimulus program were counted two and sometimes more than four times; and other jobs were credited to stimulus spending when none was produced.

The idea that they spent $787 billion and only have a measly 30,000 jobs to account for it just shows that the "stimulus" money was flushed down the toilet. Also just about all of these jobs seem to be of the 5 month variety as well so they aren't even very permanent.

Is It Time to Sell Out of Bonds? Minyanville Thinks So

According to this article it seems we might be in for a bear market for bonds going forward.

Another opportunity to get short in bonds is upon us. Using technical analysis, it appears that the run up in bonds last December was the head of a giant head-and-shoulders top on the weekly charts. I wouldn't advise anyone to short bond weakness but instead to short failed rallies into resistance. Bonds don’t end their seasonally strongest period until late November, and there seem to be plenty of eager buyers around at auction time. In spite of this fact, I do expect bonds to complete this huge head-and-shoulders top between now and Thanksgiving. The long secular bull market in bonds ended in December 2008 and a new secular bear market in bonds has only just begun.

The article says the go to stock to catch this move downward is the UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury ProShares (TBT) I think I'll reduce my bond exposure going forward since Minyanville tipped me off of the warning signs that led to the Lehman collapse.

Another interesting side not in a sell-off in the bond market is that it will put a crimp on any further insane spending by the White House. So "Failed-Stimulus 2 - Pelosi's Revenge" will not be in the offing anytime soon.

In any case, I have read multiple sources saying that the market is getting ahead of itself and might sell off soon. The severity of the sell off is different with each commentator though so you can't really be sure. I think it is time perhaps to be whittling down positions to get back into cash again.

Poll Shows Double the Amount of Conservatives then Liberals

It seems that America is truly a center-right nation after all according to this article.

First, those Gallup numbers: Forty percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36 percent as moderate, and 20 percent as liberal. “This marks a shift from 2005 through 2008, when moderates were tied with conservatives as the most prevalent group,” Gallup reported of its study based on combining16 surveys for a sample of 16,321.

That seems like it was the first time in a while that conservatives outnumbered moderates. Also the 2-1 margin of conservatives against liberals was quite staggering. You would figure that Obama and the Congress would read these numbers as a call to tack to the center.

I mean candidate Obama seemed like a moderate with a slightly leftist bent. Instead we get Obama the panderer to the far left. I mean how can you sustain your grip on power if you are just trying to please 20 % of the population?Mark my words: If Obama tacks to the center like Clinton did his poll numbers will shoot back up.

Google Mobile to Take Share Away from Garmin and TomTom?

It certainly seems that way according to this article.

Google released a new mobile navigation app today and GPS navigation companies such as Garmin And TomTom saw their shares take a plunge. The announcement shaved $1.2 billion off of Garmin’s market cap alone. Its shares are down more than 16 percent so far today to $31.60. TomTom’s shares are down 21 percent to $8.11.

I haven't used the app but from what I can read from its features it is a serious contender to these two companies. The idea of using your cell to get driving directions and having the speaker phone tell you when to turn is a game changer. Add to this the fact that it is free and we might see the slow death of the GPS stand alone device.

Big Companies Against Public Plan

I wonder if Obama just put these people on the White House Enemies list?

The Business Roundtable, comprised of chief executives at Verizon Communications (VZ.N), JPMorgan (JPM.N), General Electric (GE.N), Wal-Mart (WMT.N) and other companies that together employ more than 12 million people, said the federal government is inefficient and would underpay providers. That would result in providers boosting prices for private insurers and employers, the group said on Wednesday.

I guess one good thing is that White House staffers will no longer be running to Wal-Mart for DVDs the next time a head of state like Gordon Brown visits.

Baucus Against Cap and Tax

I'm liking Max Baucus more and more since he actually stands up to the idiots in his own party.

"I have some concerns about the overall direction of the bill," Mr. Baucus (D., Mont.) said at the start of hearings in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "I have serious reservations with the depth of the mid-term reduction target in the bill and the lack of preemption of the Clean Air Act."

I think he understands that knee-capping our economy, that is just recovering from a recession, just to lower the temperature by a negligible amount in a 100 years is asinine. The only thing that will make this mess palatable is if it provided billions for nuclear power and offshore drilling. Even then it is a joke of a bill that will probably cause a double dip recession.

Reid May Not Have to Votes to Cram Public Option down Our Throats

It seems that Reid may have just put the public option back on the table as a sop to liberals in his party. It seems that he isn't close to the 60 votes needed to stop a filibuster.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., one of several Democrats unhappy with Reid's proposal, said he may seek changes on the Senate floor, a move likely to be welcomed by moderates. He backs a government role in states where one or two insurers control the market and premiums are high.

While Reid is expected eventually to secure all 60 Democratic votes on the critical first test to bring the bill to the Senate floor, Sens. Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Evan Bayh of Indiana all declined to say on Tuesday how they would vote.

That is 4 votes he is down. Reid will also will not be able to count on Joe Lieberman as well.

Mr. Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who caucuses with the Democrats, told reporters Tuesday that he would vote in favor of a procedural motion allowing debate of the bill. But he said that, unless the bill changes substantially, he would vote with Senate Republicans against a motion to allow a vote on final passage of the bill.

I like Lieberman in his deficit hawk mode. He is also looking out for the big health insurers in his state that would be decimated by the public option. In any case I think this might be Harry Reid's last hurrah. Especially if the message is that health care "reform" was crammed down America's throat.

3 Ways to Take Advantage of Oil Weakness

Well I have been looking at some ways to hedge against the price of oil reversing due to dollar strength and demand issues came up with a few names.

Direxion Daily Energy Bear 3X Shares (ERY)
This one is a 300% short on the Russell 1000 Energy Index. It seems pretty volatile (it has dropped from $80 to $11.71) but it acts as a short on the entire oil and gas industry.

UltraShort DJ-AIG Crude Oil ProShares (SCO)
This one is a 200% short on the Dow Jones AIG Crude Oil Sub-Index. This is more of a bet against oil as a commodity. So if we see oil slide from $80 to the $60s on weakening demand this will be the stock to capture that move.

UltraShort Oil & Gas ProShares (DUG)
This one is a 200% short on the Dow Jones U.S. Oil & Gas index. This is more of a bet against how badly Schlumberger blew their numbers. There will be a recovery in this space but it might have gotten pushed back into late 2010. The flat natural gas demand also hurts these companies as well.

Want to Get Rich on the Government Dime? Hoard Golf Carts

I love the unintended consequences of the failed stimulus bill. This is due to the tax credit of between $4,200 and $5,500 for people who purchase an electric vehicle. Enter the "road-worthy" electric vehicle AKA the golf cart.

The intent was to get people to replace their existing vehicles with electric-power cars, not golf carts. In this way it is similar to the Cash for Clunkers, except there was no requirement to retire an existing vehicle and no limit on the number or type of vehicles one could claim. Now American taxpayers will pay for road-worthy golf carts, and at least theoretically subsidize entire fleets of them for later resale and profit by hoarders. After all, tax credits are nothing more than subsidies funded by other American taxpayers.

If you want a stock trade to take advantage of this stupidity I offer Textron (TXT) which owns E-Z-Go which is a large manufacturer of golf carts and electric ATVs. Now let the "great golf cart bubble" start to grow!

Obama's War on Coal: Good for Suppliers?

It seems interesting that the EPA is being used as a cudgel against the coal industry by denying mining permits. That heavy-handedness will probably cost him when it comes to Cap-and-Trade since they need those coal state Dems to pass anything.

To get cap-and-trade past a cloture vote, Obama will need Rockefeller and fellow WV Democrat Robert Byrd. That’s not likely as long as the EPA attempts to hamstring the coal industry through heavy-handed regulatory encroachment. But cloture isn’t the real problem. Coal states have elected a number of Democrats, from Indiana to Ohio to Pennsylvania to West Virginia, none of whom will get re-elected if they kneecap their states’ economies by allowing the Obama administration to bankrupt the coal industry — especially through EPA overreach.

I wonder if this will actually help the coal suppliers like CONSOL and Arch Coal? I mean the EPA denying permits will help to constrain supply going forward. You would think that this would end up raising the price of coal and thus the profits of these coal suppliers. It could be an interesting way to play against Obama's EPA anti-coal tactics.

Health Insurers Make Obscene Profits: Yeah Right, they actually rank 35th out of 53 Industries

I love how the rhetoric and the truth are so different on this whole health care debate.

Health insurers posted a 2.2 percent profit margin last year, placing them 35th of 53 industries on the Fortune 500 list. As is typical, other health sectors did much better — drugs and medical products and services were both in the top 10.

The railroads brought in a 12.6 percent profit margin. Leading the list: network and other communications equipment, at 20.4 percent.

HealthSpring, the best performer in the health insurance industry, posted 5.4 percent. That's a less profitable margin than was achieved by the makers of Tupperware, Clorox bleach and Molson and Coors beers.

I think the government needs to form their own network equipment company to "keep Cisco honest." The argument is so bogus that many people see right through it. The more I look at it the more I think the government just wants to control health care for some nefarious purpose. Maybe this all an elaborate plot to get Glenn Beck's medical records in order to "destroy him." After all that is the Chicago Way.

White House Tries to Freeze out Fox News and is Forced to Back Down

It is kind of sad to think that the White House is playing all these partisan games with Fox News when they should be focusing on Afghanistan and getting rid of the "jobless" part of the jobless recovery. Now they are freezing out Fox News from interviewing the "Pay Czar."

Decide for yourself what the most disgraceful aspect of this is. Was it the fact that Gibbs told Jake Tapper explicitly on Monday that the White House wouldn’t try to dictate to the press pool who should and shouldn’t be included — before doing precisely that? Was it Anita Dunn going out of her way to say she respects Major Garrett as a fair reporter — before the administration decided he didn’t deserve a crack here at Feinberg? Or was it the repeated insistence by Dunn and Axelrod that of course the administration will make its officials available to Fox — before pulling the plug today?

This is simply an unwinnable battle that they are waging. There is no way that they would delegitimatize Fox News without the press banning together to protect their own asses from the next time there is a GOP President. All I can think is that the White House somehow links their cratering poll numbers with Fox News or talk radio or something.

Are "Progressive" Cities Too White?

It seems that way according to this article.

This raises troubling questions about these cities. Why is it that progressivism in smaller metros is so often associated with low numbers of African Americans? Can you have a progressive city properly so-called with only a disproportionate handful of African Americans in it? In addition, why has no one called these cities on it?

I think that most "progressives" give lip-service to idea of diversity but do nothing to encourage it in their own affluent neighborhoods. There is no rent control in Portland because these "progressives" are afraid it will knock down their property values.

You would figure that rent control would create an influx of diverse people that would seriously benefit from the top-flight schools in these "progressive" cities. Instead of pouring money down the rathole that is most inner cities what would be wrong with incentivizing these families to move to a "progressive" city like Portland? I mean these minorities would get a crack at prime opportunities and these cities can polish their "progressive" bona fides.

I guess you might have to chalk it up to liberal hypocrisy. You can vote for our "progressive" candidates as long as you don't share their cities or go to their schools. The Dems never have to worry about helping these people gain a better opportunity because there is no cost for taking them for granted.

Pay Czar May Not Have Too Many Execs Left to Rob

It seems that the very idea of the government coming and stealing their pay had people looking for the exits for months already.

At Bank of America, for instance, only 14 of the 25 highly paid executives remained by the time Feinberg announced his decision. Under his plan, compensation for the most highly paid employees at the bank would be a maximum of $9.9 million. The bank had sought permission to pay as much as $21 million, according to Treasury Department documents.

At American International Group, only 13 people of the top 25 were still on hand for Feinberg's decision.

The funny thing about this is that a guy that is paid $21 million will probably be paid that same amount at some foreign firm and the only people hurt are the taxpayers. You figure you want the best people you can get at the helm if we want to see our TARP money again.

Instead we probably will get some unqualified person that will work for substandard pay instead of the best and the brightest. Who would want to work at AIG if some unelected czar will cut your pay at a whim?

Now Moderate Dems Defend Fox News

I really think the White House has miscalculated by going after Fox News.

“It’s a mistake,” said Rep. Jason Altmire, a moderate Democrat from western Pennsylvania. “I think it’s beneath the White House to get into a tit for tat with news organizations.”

I think the Dem's really need to think about how to hold on to their majority. If you lose these moderates it is not like there is a western Penn. version of Henry Waxman that will step into this spot. Instead it will be a GOPer and that seat and vote is lost to them.