Betzee said...

Betzee at 11:40 PM JST - 4th March

Meanwhile, the healthy banks find it no easier to get capital because investors can't trust the banks to earn a genuinely profitable return and Federal Reserve is focusing on rescuing the unhealthy banks.

That's true. Investors are hesitant because they are unsure which banks are solvent and which are not…

Posted in Obama's plan to raise taxes on wealthy meets fierce opposition at 11:40 PM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 11:08 PM JST - 4th March

When the government bails out companies, it keeps unhealthy companies in business. Those unhealthy companies compete with healthy companies for a smaller market.

The criticism is that the government allocates capital to them which would otherwise go to businesses that compete in the free market. But what happens if the…

Posted in Obama's plan to raise taxes on wealthy meets fierce opposition at 11:08 PM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 10:47 PM JST - 4th March

The Chinese can afford it and Beijing may view increased spending on defense as a "stimulus" to offset declining consumer good export revenues.

Posted in China announces 14.9% rise in defense spending in 2009 at 10:47 PM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 10:32 PM JST - 4th March

Tom Friedman in his column today is correct:

*We are coming off a 20-year credit binge. As a country, too many of us stopped making money by making “stuff” and started making money from money — consumers making money out of rising home prices and using the profits to buy…

Posted in Obama's plan to raise taxes on wealthy meets fierce opposition at 10:32 PM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 10:25 PM JST - 4th March

In other words, the military-industrial complex and weapon sales is what pulled the United States out of the Depression.

This would go under the heading of "socializing security." WWII put a lot of people to work, but Uncle Sam certainly borrowed to pay for it.

Posted in Obama's plan to raise taxes on wealthy meets fierce opposition at 10:25 PM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 10:20 PM JST - 4th March

The purpose of taxation is to enable the government to pay its bills. Now one can justify deficits for any number of reasons. They will impinge on people's ability to enjoy the good economy (GWB) or the government needs to spend to offset private sector contraction (BHO).

There's little debate…

Posted in Obama's plan to raise taxes on wealthy meets fierce opposition at 10:20 PM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 09:50 AM JST - 4th March

I just want some sign that Obama realizes the market is totally falling apart and that his agenda has a big hand in that happening.

What did he recommend? The "do nothing" approach and like we can expect investors to suddenly develop amnesia about the banks' toxic assets?

Posted in Obama's economic efforts hit wall of bad news at 09:50 AM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 09:40 AM JST - 4th March

This bothers me on more than one level... I know that it is tempting to use this kind of technology to eliminate genetic diseases, malformations, and the like, but even that makes me nervous.

What happens if there's a way to predict homosexuality? The parents might not want to deal…

Posted in Fertility clinic to offer custom-designed babies at 09:40 AM JST - 4th March
Betzee at 12:00 AM JST - 27th February

Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington.

Indeed. The biggest expansion of the welfare state since LBJ occurred under GWB when he enacted his prescription drug plan for seniors. So, is Jindal talking about rolling that back in order to regain the trust of Americans?…

Posted in Republicans, Democrats criticize Jindal's speech at 12:00 AM JST - 27th February
Betzee at 03:13 PM JST - 26th February

I haven't seen this movie so I can't comment on it. I'm not a great fan of Feng Xiaogang's New Year's comedies and probably will give it a miss. He rakes it in every year at the Chinese box office, tho.

In another Chinese-language film Millenium Mambo, the ending was…

Posted in Romantic comedy turns Hokkaido into new attraction for Chinese visitors at 03:13 PM JST - 26th February