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Russian scientists flee Iran fearing both questioning and arrest tied to Stuxnet virus. (See 1 below.)
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Selwyn Duke discusses libertarianism and why it is no longer sustainable. (See 2 below.)
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Israel indicts and convicts two soldiers for inappropriate conduct in Gaza. Contrast that with Arab behaviour. (See 3 below.)
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Midwestern Democrat rout forming. Rust belt turning against the Donkey! (See 4 below.)
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Tax hikes 'acomin' Brought to you by your friendly Democrat Congress. (See 5 and 5a below.)
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It's the stupid policies stupid. (See 6 below.)
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Who cares when apples fall 'close' to the tree? Chicago politics is more polluted than any toxic river. (See 7 below.)
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Dick
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1)Russian experts flee Iran, escape dragnet for cyber worm smugglers
Intelligence sources report from Iran dozens of Russian nuclear engineers, technicians and contractors are hurriedly departing Iran for home since local authorities began rounding up their compatriots as suspects of planting the Stuxnet malworm into their nuclear program.
Among them are the Russian personnel who built Iran's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr which Tehran admits has been damaged by the virus.
One of the Russian nuclear staffers, questioned in Moscow Sunday, Oct. 3 by Western sources, confirmed that many of his Russian colleagues had decided to leave with their families after team members were detained for questioning at the beginning of last week. He refused to give his name because he and his colleagues intend to return to Iran if the trouble blows over and the detainees are quickly released after questioning.
According to information, these detentions were the source of the announcement Saturday, Oct. 2, by Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi that several "nuclear spies" had been captured. "The enemy had sent electronic worms through the internet to undermine Iran's nuclear activities," he said. This was the first high-level Iranian admission that the Stuxnet virus had been planted by foreign elements to sabotage their entire nuclear program - and not just the Bushehr reactor. The comprehensive scale of the damage is attested to by the detention of Russian nuclear experts also at Natanz, Isfahan and Tehran.
Moslehi added: "We are always facing destructive activities by these espionage services and of course we have arrested a number of nuclear spies to block the enemy's destructive moves.
This statement is expected to prompt a second wave of Russian nuclear specialists to flee Iran.
The prime aim of their interrogation is to find out if Russian intelligence knowingly planted the destructive worm in Iran's nuclear facilities, possibly for under-the-counter pay, or were the unwitting carriers of equipment on order by Iran that had been previously infected.
Westerners report that hundreds of Russian scientists, engineers and technicians employed in Iran were responsible for installing the Siemens control systems in Iran's nuclear complex and other facilities which proved most vulnerable to the cyber attack.
They were the only foreigners with access to these heavily guarded plants. At Bushehr, for instance, the Russian personnel enjoyed full access to all its systems.
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2)Libertarianism's Folly: When 'Live and Let Live' Fails
By Selwyn Duke
While there was a time when I might have described myself as a libertarian, those days are long gone. In fact, I don't even call myself a conservative anymore. Oh, don't get me wrong, I agree with libertarians on many issues, and their governmental model is vastly preferable to what liberals have visited upon us. Yet there is a problem: However valid their vision of government may be, their vision of society renders it unattainable.
Thomas Jefferson once said, "The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." Now, I certainly agree with the first sentence, as it's merely a statement of the obvious. But then we have to ask, what constitutes "injurious"? And, when determining this, do we completely ignore indirect injury? Then, if we do consider the latter, to what extent should it be the domain of government? (When pondering these matters, note that the Founding Fathers didn't reside on the modern libertarian page. They certainly would have, for instance, supported the idea of state and local governments outlawing pornography and would be appalled at what is now justified under the First Amendment.)
However you answer these questions, you should question Jefferson's second sentence. While it may make sense on the surface, it ignores that spiritual/philosophical foundation affects morality. And what happens when a people becomes so morally corrupt they elect a government that picks your pocket or breaks your leg?
Lest there be any misunderstandings, I don't propose that our central government establish religion. But I do have a problem with the implication that a person's most fundamental beliefs -- which influence action -- always do me "no injury," as this leads to a ho-hum attitude that lessens the will to uphold proper traditions and social codes. And if you doubt the power of belief, wait until a European nation turns predominantly Muslim and watch what ensues -- then get back to me.
And today's libertarians have gone Jefferson one better. They ignore not merely religion's effect upon morality but also morality's effect upon government, as they apply their ideology not merely to law but also social codes. Indulging "moral libertarianism," they not only oppose anti-sodomy and anti-polygamy laws, they also look askance at social stigmas that could discourage such sexual behaviors. Not only do they oppose obscenity laws, they're wary of courageous condemnations of the obscene. Even that most intrepid libertarian, Glenn Beck, is guilty of this. When asked during an appearance on the O'Reilly Factor whether faux marriage was a threat to the nation in any way, he laughed and mockingly replied, "A threat to the country? No, I don't . . . . Will the gays come and get us?" I don't know, Glenn, ask the Europeans and Canadians who criticized homosexuality and were punished under hate-speech law.
Quite fittingly, right after Beck answered, he quoted the "It neither picks my pocket . . . ." part of the Jefferson quotation, espousing the libertarian idea that we really shouldn't care what others do as long as they don't hurt anyone else. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, however, this is much like having a fleet of ships and saying that you don't care how the vessels function as long as they don't crash into each other. Obviously, if they don't function properly, they may not be able to avoid crashing into each other. So libertarians may say "Whatever works for you -- just don't work it into government," but what about when someone doesn't work properly? Thinking that personal moral disease won't infect the public sphere is like saying, "I don't care what a person does with his health -- carry tuberculosis if you want -- just don't infect me."
And the proof is in the electoral pudding. Did you ever observe what groups vote for whom and wonder why? Churchgoing Christians cast ballots overwhelmingly for traditionalist candidates while atheists and agnostics support leftists by wide margins. In fact, consider this: Virtually every group involved in something those Neanderthal Christians call sinful or misguided votes for leftists. Goths? Check. Homosexuals? Check. Wiccans? Check. People peppered with tattoos and body-piercings? Check. You don't find many vampirists, cross-dressers or S&M types at Tea Party rallies.
In light of this, do you really believe there is no correlation between world view and political belief? In fact, is it realistic to say that there isn't likely causation here? And what can you predict about America's political future based on the fact that an increasing number of people are embracing these "non-traditional" behaviors and beliefs? The irony of Jefferson's statement is that whether our neighbor believes in twenty gods or no God, he will likely vote the same way (this is at least partially because paganism and atheism share a commonality with liberalism: the rejection of orthodox Christianity). And equally ironic is that he will elect people who do injury to the very Constitution Jefferson helped craft.
So there is a truth here hiding in plain sight: If someone is not a moral being, how can he be expected to vote for moral government? Do you really think a vice-ridden person will be immoral in business, when raising children and in most other things but then, magically somehow, have a moment of clarity at the polls? This is why John Adams warned, "Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private [virtue] . . . ."
Despite this, libertarians tend to bristle at bold moral pronouncements that would encourage private virtue. As was apparent when I penned this piece on the Internet's corruptive effects, they fear that, should such sentiments take firm hold, they will be legislated and forestall the libertarian utopia. But they have it precisely backwards. As Edmund Burke said:
Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites . . . . Society cannot exist, unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere; and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things, that men of intemperate minds cannot be free. Their passions forge their fetters.
Thus, insofar as the libertarian governmental ideal is even possible, it is dependent upon the upholding of morality, upon the "controlling power" of social codes. For not only do they help shape moral compasses, thereby increasing governance "from within," insofar as that internal control is lacking, the social pressure attending the codes serves to govern from without. And insofar as this social control is lacking, governmental control fills the vacuum. As freedom from morality waxes, freedom from legality wanes.
Ultimately, the tragic consequence of the libertarian mentality is that it guarantees the left's victory in the battle for civilization. This is because, in libertarians' failure to fight for hearts and minds in the cultural realm, they cede it to leftists, who aren't shy about advancing their "values." And proof of this is in the social pudding. You see, if talk of establishing social codes and traditions sounds stifling, know that we haven't dispensed with such things -- that is impossible. Rather, the left has succeeded in replacing our traditional variety with something called "political correctness," which describes a set of codes powerful enough to control the jokes we make and words we use, get people hired or fired, and catapult a man to the presidency based partially on the color of his skin.
As for elections, political battles need to be fought, but they are the small picture. For if the culture is lost, of what good is politics? People will vote in accordance with their world view no matter what you do. Thus, he who shapes hearts and minds today wins political power tomorrow.
The libertarian chant, "I don't care what you do, just lemme alone" sounds very reasonable, indeed. But as hate-speech laws, forcing people to buy health insurance and a thousand other nanny-state intrusions prove, when people become morally corrupt enough, they don't leave you alone. They tyrannize you. A prerequisite for anything resembling libertarian government is cast-iron morality in the people. And we should remember that, to echo Thomas Paine, "Virtue is not hereditary."
For this reason, neither is liberty. Scream "Live and let live!" loudly enough in the moral sphere, and in the hearts of men the Devil will live -- and the republic will die
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3)2 soldiers convicted of inappropriate behavior in Cast Lead
Military Prosecutor’s Office convicts Givati infantrymen of overstepping authority when they ordered Palestinian boy to open bags suspected of containing bombs during Gaza operation.
Two Givati Brigade infantrymen on Sunday were convicted of overstepping authority to the point of endangering human life and inappropriate behavior during Operation Cast Lead in 2009.
The Sourthern Command Military Prosecutor’s Office decided that the soldiers acted inappropriately when they ordered a Palestinian boy to open bags suspected of containing bombs during the Gaza operation last year.
The prosecutor's office was expected to sentence the soldiers to a suspended sentence.
The conviction is the first of its kind for what is termed in the IDF "neighbor procedure" which deals with the use of human shields during searches and pursuits, which has been outlawed.
In March the Military Prosecutor’s Office claimed that the two staff sergeants ordered a child to open bags that were suspected of being booby-trapped while searching a building in Tel al-Hawa, an affluent neighborhood on the south side of Gaza City.
The two soldiers came under investigation before the UN’s Goldstone Report was released last September. The probe was opened based on information in a report compiled by a special United Nations representative appointed to investigate matters involving children and armed conflict, and following a specific complaint filed by the Israeli branch of Defense for Children International.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------4)Democrats fear Midwestern meltdown
By: Maggie Haberman
Two years after President Barack Obama swept the Midwest, Democratic fortunes in the region are sagging, with the GOP poised to make big gains by scooping up disaffected independent voters in a wide swath of states hit by job losses, budget woes and political scandal.
From Ohio to Iowa, there’s a yawning stretch of heartland states whose citizens voted for Obama and congressional Democrats in 2008, but who have lost patience waiting for an as-yet undelivered economic revival that was first promised in 2006, and then two years later. Now, they look set to stampede toward the out-of-power party.
“There's little doubt that the Midwest is the Democrats' toughest region this year,” Democratic pollster Tom Jensen of Public Policy Polling wrote on the firm’s website Friday, adding that the firm is also finding an enthusiasm gap of about 10 points down from what existed in 2008.
“If the election was today the party would almost certainly lose the Governorships it holds in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. It's also more than likely at this point to lose the Senate seats it has in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Indiana, miss out on a once promising pick up opportunity in Ohio, and quite possibly lose their seat in Illinois as well. And there are too many House seats the party could lose in the region to count,” Jensen noted.
Top GOP pollster Glen Bolger of Public Opinion Strategies wrote in even harsher terms last week: “The Midwest is going to be a killing field for Democrats this year from western [Pennsylvania] through to the Plains, Republicans are going to sweep a LOT of Democrats right out of office.”
The states in question magnify what’s happening elsewhere in the country: dissatisfaction with Obama, unrest with Washington in general over major legislation that voters feel has merely piled onto the national debt, and the steady erosion of jobs.
“There’s two major factors. One is that there are a lot of swing voters, as well as a lot of Reagan Democrat voters, in the Midwest, and therefore I think the national mood hits harder,” said Saul Anuzis, the former Michigan Republican Party chairman. “And secondly you’re talking about record unemployment.”
But there’s also the enthusiasm gap, the flight of independent voters, unpopular Democratic governors in each state and Obama’s own sinking approval ratings, PPP found.
Anuzis said there had been very high expectations of Obama, and that the crash from such a high has been a bitter pill for voters to swallow.
Some states appear to suggest that 2008 was an anomaly—such as Indiana, which Obama carried despite losing 77 of its counties.
“I think states are reverting back to form. I think there's a lot of people in the middle who are not aligned with either party, who have been [ticked] off since 2006 and haven't stopped being [ticked] off,” said a Democratic strategist who is working on races in Illinois.
Bolger cited generic ballot data he’s just conducted showing the Democrats faring even worse in the Midwest than in the South. His numbers show Democrats getting 35 percent in that key region, compared to 39 percent in the South, which is a Republican stronghold.
In both regions, the generic Republican captures 47 percent.
Such brutal forecasts suggest an intense fight could be in the works for Obama and his party in 2012 to win back independents who are clearly still up for grabs, but seem set to teach the Democrats a lesson.
“The tea party movement and all these grassroots movements on both the right and the left are not going away,” Anuzis said. “There are much more independent voters, and they’re more likely to react and punish folks they think have [failed them].”
In every state in the region, the top of the ticket is struggling and the problems are rolling downhill. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who’s run an energetic reelection campaign and still trails former GOP Rep. John Kasich, isn’t even cracking 35 percent approval, according to PPP’s surveys.
Yet he’s at the top of the Midwestern gubernatorial heap, with most incumbents not even breaking the 30 percent mark.
“When Obama was elected, it was almost like he was the second coming of a political Jehovah, who was somehow going to deliver us into the promised land,” said Bill Ballenger, the pundit behind Inside Michigan Politics. “And more and more things have happened that have disillusioned people.”
That disillusionment is front and center in Illinois, the truest blue state of the crop. Its budget hole rivals California’s, and instead of making long-term structural revamps, the state has this year borrowed heavily and issued bonds.
At the same time, voters have watched the corruption trial of Democratic ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and the hapless campaign of current Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who’s got an anemic 23 percent approval rating in PPP’s recent survey and trails GOP nominee Bill Brady by double digits.
In the state’s other high-profile statewide race, despite help from the White House, Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is struggling in what should have been a far easier race to hold the president’s former Senate seat against GOP Rep. Mark Kirk—especially after revelations that the Republican exaggerated his military record.
Obama’s approval ratings are actually slightly better in Illinois than in other states—52 percent somewhat or strongly approve of his performance, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey. But elsewhere, including Ohio, Obama’s negative numbers top 50 percent.
In Ohio, Strickland failed to win the backing of the state chamber of commerce, which backed Kasich in its first-ever gubernatorial endorsement. He has tried going more the I-feel-your-pain route in his latest ad, using the word of the cycle—anger—but it’s not clear that it will be enough to turn the tide.
Strickland, though, is seen as a better bet than his lieutenant governor and ticket mate, Lee Fisher, the Democratic Senate nominee who is trailing by a wide margin to former GOP Rep. Rob Portman.
Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Chris Redfern insists the national trends are being misread in their state.
“The air is fresher in the Midwest,” Redfern told POLITICO. “I understand it’s the first term midterm, blah blah blah. I’m bullish on Ohio. God bless everybody who disagrees, but most of those people who disagree don’t live in Ohio.”
He said that looking at critical Hamilton County (Cincinnati), Democrats were seeing requests for absentee ballots that rivaled the number sought there in 2008, and that internal polls for both Republicans and Democrats show the race much closer.
But he added, “I hope I'm not wrong.”
In nearby Michigan, many Democrats privately concede the governor’s office is gone after two terms of Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who’s got a dismal 60 percent disapproval rating in the latest Rasmussen Reports poll.
Democratic Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero has failed, except on a few occasions, to get past 30 percent in the polls against Rick Snyder, the wealthy businessman who is the GOP nominee.
Democrats are still hoping they can portray Snyder, who has spent big on well-known Washington consultants, as similar to Dick DeVos, the unsuccessful GOP hopeful four years ago, and distance Bernero from the anti-establishment anger.
But Ballenger said it’s unlikely given Michigan’s budget problems, which he said are so bad that a new batch of well-received state-sponsored tourism ads had to be yanked because the government ran out of funds to pay for them. He noted that voters have some appreciation for the auto industry bailout, but would like carmakers in Michigan—now dubbed ‘Government Motors’ by some residents—to start standing on their own.
Indiana is yet another state where hits to the manufacturing base and concern about debt have reverberated. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, the Democratic nominee for retiring Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh’s seat, is way back in the polls and extremely low on campaign funds, leaving him unable to fight back against GOP rival Dan Coats’s attacks.
In Wisconsin, where both Sen. Russ Feingold and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are trailing their Republican competitors in the Senate and gubernatorial races, the landscape is only slightly more promising.
Feingold, a liberal icon, took two politically wise votes against TARP and the financial regulation package. But he backed the stimulus bill, and Johnson’s personal and anti-government narrative also dovetails neatly with the tea party movement.
Bolger said that Democrat talk of stopping the wave is happy talk.
“It’s a lot better than starting drinking at 9 am,” he said. “In 2006 and 2008, that's what a lot of Republicans did - happy talk. It is healthier for you [but it] doesn’t make it true.”
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5)The Tax Hikes Cometh. Grab your wallet.
BY Matthew Continetti
Let’s examine what the 111th Congress has accomplished so far. There was a $1 trillion stimulus bill that failed to jumpstart the economy. There was a $1 trillion health care overhaul that the public did not want. There was a financial bill that gave huge amounts of power to unelected regulators. And now, for their final trick, the Democrats who run Congress have decided to leave Washington without doing anything to prevent the largest tax increase in history. God only knows what they are planning for an encore.
In a little more than 90 days, taxes on incomes, capital gains, dividends, and estates are going to rise. Not just for some families. For every family. And the Democrats haven’t lifted a finger to stop it. They haven’t even written a bill. They have not found the time, in the twenty months they’ve controlled Congress and the White House, ever actually to try to block the tax hikes. It’s amazing: The Democrats have no problem passing unpopular legislation. But when they are charged with doing something that the public actually wants, such as preventing the coming tax hike, they turn to jelly.
How did it come to this? President Obama wants to limit any tax increase to families making more than $250,000 a year. Republicans, along with many Democrats, say that raising taxes on anyone during a weak recovery is a horrible idea. Instead, this group suggests, why not extend current tax rates for another two years? After all, a bill to that effect could easily pass both houses of Congress.
But it’s not going to happen. The chances for a compromise are nil, at least until after the election. It’s a decision that reveals the depth of the Democrats’ ideological commitment. One of the president’s favorite lines during the tax debate has been that Republicans are holding tax cuts for the middle class “hostage” to tax cuts for the rich. But events have proven that it’s the Democratic leadership and Obama who are holding taxpayers hostage. It’s the Democratic leadership and Obama who would rather have taxes rise on everyone than extend current tax rates for everyone including the wealthy.
This obsessive focus on income redistribution has divided the Democrats and left them in the grip of a political panic. One reason no bill has been brought to a vote is the leadership is afraid they’d lose. They don’t want to be exposed as weak in the run-up to Election Day. Or, if they did win the vote, then Democrats would have supported higher taxes on small businesses. And since that’s not exactly a campaign winner, the Democrats have punted.
Notice how the actual, real-life, day-to-day economic fortunes of 300 million Americans do not figure in the Democrats’ philosophical and partisan calculations. Such is the tenor of government in the Obama presidency. Four years ago, remember, the Democrats pledged that they would govern differently from the corrupt and big-spending Republican Congress. It was an oath that President Obama broadened and deepened in 2008, when he spoke of bridging the divide between red and blue America and changing the culture of Washington. Americans took the Democrats at their word, entrusting them with power in 2006 and 2008.
What Americans didn’t realize at the time was that they were also emboldening an arrogant, belligerent liberalism. It’s a liberalism that believes all answers to political questions have been scientifically decided, in the liberals’ favor. Americans not only were handing the reins of government to a political party. They were handing those reins to a theory about how social and economic policy ought to work. The theory gave us the stimulus, Obama-care, and (in the House) cap and trade. The theory says you can raise taxes on high earners without damaging the economy. But the theory hasn’t produced the desired results. And the theory has no answers for Americans who support limited government.
What’s the legacy of the 111th Congress? The economy remains weak. Government has grown larger and is no more effective. So more lobbyists than ever are feeding at the trough. Corruption still exists. Trust in institutions keeps falling. Congress can’t pass a budget, and it can’t prevent a tax increase.
Democrats explain their failure by blaming Republican opposition or lamenting the filibuster. But these are sideshows. There always will be partisan disagreement, and Democrats will soon love the filibuster again. No, the reason Democrats have failed is that big-government liberalism has been exposed, over and over, as an inadequate response to the challenges of our times. Need evidence? Look no further than the great Democratic tax dodge of 2010.
5a)New phone: how does this grab you....
Just when you think you've heard it all, our illustrious Congress quietly comes up with a new zinger to put their hands in your pockets, and pick them while you aren't watching.
Isn't this just wonderful! I wonder if our Democrat-controlled Congress used its favorite phrase ("We have to pass the bill, to see what's in it") when it passed this gem of pork barrel legislation.
"Is a new type of cell phone called the 'Obama phone'".
"Welfare recipients are now eligible for: (1) a FREE new cell phone, and (2)approximately 70 FREE minutes of air time every month.
SafeLink Wireless is a government supported program that provides a free cell phone and airtime each month for income-eligible customers. In other words, your tax dollars are being distributed to a wireless phone provider to provide welfare recipients with free cell phones and airtime.
We are $14 Trillion in debt, Congress is balking at continuing unemployment payments to those who want to work, and Congress is increasing the dole.
The ship of State is sinking, and it's sinking fast. The old concept of getting ahead through hard work has flown out the window. It has been replaced by Obama and Congress' idea of "Hope and Change." The country has changed all right, changed to "Why should I work for it, when I can get it for free?"
You can click on the link below to confirm for yourself that the "Obama Phone" is real. Just have a barf bag ready.
https://www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/Home.aspx
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6)It's the Policies, Stupid. Economic uncertainty hurts.
BY Irwin M. Stelzer
It’s the policies, stupid. That should be the guiding light for everyone trying to figure out the course of the U.S. economy for the rest of the year. As things now stand, in the absence of any dramatic policy shift, the economy should continue on its present path—slow growth, a bit of job creation but not enough to move the unemployment rate more than a tenth of a percentage point or two, a sluggish although perhaps more stable housing sector, and a stock market trying to decide if the world is coming to an end or we are on the brink of a new golden age.
Unfortunately for forecasters, it is impossible to predict whether new policies will be put in place. And, if they are, how long it will take for the shift to make itself felt outside of the world of politics—in the real world in which consumers patrol the aisles of Wal-Marts, investors look for opportunities, and workers look for jobs.
We do know that the Federal Reserve Board is seriously thinking about launching the good ship QE2, the current euphemism for printing money. Which says something about the speed with which the economic outlook changes. It seems like only yesterday that the Fed was considering tightening by shrinking its balance sheet, Fedspeak for not renewing or replacing some of the loans it had outstanding. Now, new data have the Fed’s monetary policy gurus worried that the price level might just turn down, producing a deflation of the sort that has bedeviled Japan for decades. Of course no central banker dare mention the D word: the Fed prefers, “Measures of underlying inflation are currently at levels somewhat below those the [Monetary Policy] Committee judges most consistent, over the longer run, with its mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability.”
If we know anything about what drives Fed policy it is that its fear of deflation exceeds its fear of inflation—the former being thought much more difficult to reverse. Perhaps, but only perhaps. Politicians whom the Fed must keep happy love inflation, since it initially produces a feel-good factor, gives them cheap money with which to repay debts they have run up appeasing various constituencies, and (they believe) creates jobs. The once fiercely held independence of central bankers from politics is dead, or at least in intensive care, a victim of the onslaught of the recession that the experts say ended this past June after 18 months, two months longer than the recessions of 1973-75 and 1981-82. So central bankers might just be tempted to pander to inflation-loving pols.
For now the Fed is prepared to “provide additional accommodation if needed,” leaving inflation worries for another day. Translation: We have our finger on the “start” button of the printing presses, but are stalling so we can decide if such signs as the decline in the corporate debt-default rate to pre-crisis levels, an unexpected increase in capital goods orders, and the August increases in the construction of new homes and in retail sales, will enable the QE2 to remain in port.
If the Fed pushes the button, it will increase the money supply by buying Treasury bonds. That should keep interest rates down, and depress the dollar. Indeed, the very possibility of the launch of QE2 already has the dollar heading south. Which under ordinary circumstances would be good news for exporters, and drive up the price of imports, helping to reduce the trade deficit. But both the Chinese regime and the Japanese government (the latter to the tune of a $23 billion purchase of dollars with more to come) are intervening in currency markets to make sure that the yuan and the yen, respectively, do not rise so much relative to the dollar as to cut into the flow of exports to America.
That has Congress preparing to force President Obama to retaliate against such currency “manipulation.” The president responded to that pressure by taking the opportunity at this week’s UN meeting to meet privately with Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao and tell him that this is “the most important issue” in the two nations’ relationship. Wen, who earlier had told U.S. businessmen that China would not respond to pressure on this issue, emphasized the “common interests” between his country and the U.S. In short, no movement by the Chinese authorities who seem to assume that it is unnecessary to appease their best customer since that customer is also deeply in hock to China.
The Fed is not the only player with a policy that matters. The Obama administration is engaged in a combination of re-think and persistence. The former is reflected in the upcoming departure of Larry Summers, the director of the National Economic Council. Summers, variously praised for policies that prevented the Great Recession from becoming another Great Depression, or derided as unable to face down the president’s inner circle of politicians when important decisions were being made, is to return to Harvard, some say as always planned, others not so sure that he is voluntarily parting with his White House pass. No matter: he will be gone. That clears the way for Obama to appoint a businessperson to the post, which his advisers are urging him to do. Some of the president’s staff—Summers was one such—believe that words matter, that the president’s strident anti-business rhetoric is deterring businessmen from investing. They feel the business community would find the appointment of one of their own reassuring, and perhaps unlock the $2 trillion in cash held by major corporations. Whether such a symbolic move would cause businessmen to forget the abuse that the president has heaped upon them can’t be predicted.
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7) Can Jesse Jackson Jr Be Saved?
By Clarence Page,
When the news came out that Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. was under federal investigation, I found myself hoping in an odd Chicago-style sort of way that he was indeed guilty. I would hate to see the system punish an innocent man.
But, guilty or not, he already is being punished in the court of public opinion without being formally charged with anything.
His latest headache came Tuesday when the Chicago Sun-Times dropped a bombshell: Fundraiser Raghuveer Nayak of Oak Brook told federal authorities that Jackson personally directed him to offer then- Gov. Rod Blagojevich millions in campaign cash in return for President Barack Obama's vacated Senate seat.
Jackson has denied similar allegations since they first surfaced in a federal criminal complaint against Blagojevich in late 2008.
Jackson said little more until a WLS-AM radio interview on Sept. 17 in which he acknowledged a meeting with Nayak on Oct. 28, 2008. He claims part of the conversation was in Hindi and said he "did not participate in any of that part of the conversation nor do I even remember hearing it."
Jackson, considering a run to replace Mayor Richard M. Daley, who announced he will not run again, still appeared to have his political viability intact. After all, this is Illinois, where getting things done politically is not unlike dealing with Afghanistan's tribal warlords. You have to choose your allies carefully and heaven help you if you have to be held responsible for everything they say they are doing in your name — especially if they are speaking a language you don't speak.
But the newspaper report also dropped another bombshell: Nayak told authorities he paid for two airline trips to Chicago at Jackson's request for a "social acquaintance" identified as Giovana Huidobro, a blond hostess at a Washington cigar bar and restaurant.
As if comparisons to Blagojevich weren't bad enough, Jackson now was being compared to Tiger Woods too.
Suddenly attempts by media folks, including me, to reach Jackson were politely rebuffed. "The reference to a social acquaintance is a private and personal matter between me and my wife that was handled some time ago," he said in a statement. "I ask that you respect our privacy." Very well. But don't expect the same respect from the House ethics committee investigators. The alleged flights could be a violation of House rules.
So, with all that in mind, I hope the young Jackson is guilty of something. Otherwise tons of public indignation are going to waste, along with pieces of his once-promising political reputation.
Some observers already are speculating that he'll lose half of his black female support behind that airplane ticket news alone. Maybe. But as an African-American male, I caution anyone who would attempt to take the African-American woman for granted. I am reminded of the pretrial assumption by O. J. Simpson's prosecutors that black female jurors would be swayed against Simpson out of resentment of his having married a white woman. That famously proved not to be the case.
Jackson is damaged more severely by something he has tried for years to escape: unfavorable comparisons to his father, the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson. With memories of the National Enquirer's disclosures in 2001 of the senior Jackson's then-20-month-old child of an extramarital affair, the phrase "Like father like son" has been tripping off many weary lips.
And even if the junior Jackson clears the air of this recent scandal, his potential mayoral bid faces other major landmines of our times: Voters have grown weary of family dynasties (just ask the Daley, Bush and Kennedy clans) and other names that have been around a long time.
But don't count the congressman out yet. A mayoral run has become a mission improbable for him, but not impossible. First he needs to clear the air of the many questions that still hang over him, including his own reasons for running. Voters are understandably suspicious these days of candidates who seem too eager to win the job.
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