Obamonomics—1930s Style [Sam Staley]
THE CORNER
Saturday's video announcement that President-Elect Barrack Obama would unleash a massive spending plan to boost the economy wasn't much of a surprise. True to form, he used grand images—"We need to act with the urgency this moment demands"—and he seemed to promise the federal government as savior to our economic ills.
Specifically, President-Elect Obama promised an infrastructure-spending program bigger than the investment in the federal Interstate Highway System. It is a proposal that is both grand in words and extraordinarily shallow in substance.
While we have been underfunding roads and highways to the tune of about $70 billion a year, depending on which estimates one uses, Obama's emphasis on "ready to go" projects belies a naïve faith in government spending as a generator of jobs. Investments in infrastructure have to be the right kind, in the right place, at the right time to have meaningful impacts on long-term economic growth. Massive infusions of government cash in the current system likely will simply reinforce the status quo, dumping money into the current infrastructure black hole that might undermine long-term competitiveness as Adrian Moore and I discuss in our recent article in National Review (Dec. 15, 2008) as well as our new book, Mobility First: A New Vision for Transportation in a Globally Competitive 21st Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008).
Worse, Obama's strategy of spreading federal largesse beyond roads to water and sewer systems, schools, and even extending broadband access is little more than a massive centralization and extension of federal authority over the national economy under the guise of an economic stimulus plan. The Obama stimulus package—likely to be more than $300 billion over two years—is old-style pump priming. Welcome back to the days of old-fashioned Keynesian economics.
—Sam Staley is director of urban and land use policy at the Reason Foundation.
Federal typists [Mark Steyn]
Further to my post re Timothy Egan below, Mark Pinsky over at The New Republic says that, what with all the newspaper lay-offs, it's time for a new Federal Writers Project:
Today, there are many dislocated "old media" journalists from newspapers, radio, and television on the street—here I declare my personal interest, as one of them—who could provide a skilled pool to staff a new FWP...
This time, the FWP could begin by documenting the ground-level impact of the Great Recession; chronicling the transition to a green economy; or capturing the experiences of the thousands of immigrants who are changing the American complexion...
Like Detroit's troubled Big Three automakers, federal intervention to save the newspaper and magazine industries are highly problematic, at best. Ink-on-paper periodicals are never coming back, and it may be some time before the web can provide well-paying jobs with health benefits—if it ever will. Until then, providing some way to provide young journalists a way to get started, or displaced media workers a way to transition to new occupations, or to retirement, might help—and serve the nation in the process.
But what about the legions of American satirists about to be laid off because fellows like Pinsky are writing stuff like this for real?
Autos in Wonderland [Henry Payne]
Two days of auto hearings before the Senate Banking and House Finance Committees makes a powerful commercial for limited government. Some choice moments of foot-in-mouth, tongue-in-cheek, and stupefying arrogance from America's greatest deliberative body. . .
- Rep. Maxine Waters, (D., Calif.), didn't even bother to do her homework on how to pronounce the name of Chrysler's parent company, Cerberus (a Wall Street investment firm). Waters repeatedly pronounced it "Cerebus."
- "It's just not something I'd ever want to drive," blurted out House Finance Committee Chair Barney Frank, when Rep. Shelley Moore Capito revealed that her father once owned a Chrysler wagon he nicknamed the "Chick Magnet."
- "It doesn't matter how much they say they need. What matters is: Are they going to help Florida and America by building cleaner and, thus, more fuel-efficient cars?" said green zealot Sen. Bill Nelson, (D., Fla.) who insisted that, in return for government loans, the Detroit Three stop fighting efforts by his state and 12 others (led by California) to impose their own auto emissions standards. Such a patchwork of standards are inherently unworkable and opposed by nearly EVERY manufacturer, not just the domestics, because it would necessitate selling cars under potentially 13 different state emissions standards.
- Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut called for the resignation of General Motors' CEO Rick Wagoner saying he should "move on." Meanwhile, Dodd — the largest recipient of Freddie Mac money in the Congress, beneficiary of plum deals from subprime mortgage villain Countrywide, and a key player in watering down mortgage standards that led to the current credit crisis without which the Detroit Three wouldn't be in the pickle they are — clings to his post as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.
- "But what I think we have to put an end to is the head-in-the-sand approach to the auto industry that has been prevalent for decades now," said President-Elect Barack Obama who last year opposed a new, transformational union contract negotiated by the Detroit Three estimated to save $3.8 billion annually for GM, $2.4 billion for Ford and $2.0 billion for Chrysler.
- Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.): You drove up here. Did you drive or did you have a driver? Did you drive a little and ride a little? And secondly, I guess, are you going to drive back?
Chrysler CEO Nardelli: Yes, sir. And I did have a colleague drive, and we rotated.
Shelby: What about you?
Ford CEO Mulally: We carpooled. I drove, and I'm driving back.
Shelby: You didn't carpool with him (Nardelli), did you?
Mulally: No. Carpooled with our Ford team.
Shelby: O.K. What about you?
GM CEO Wagoner: I drove with a colleague. We split it up about 50/50. We drove down yesterday and I'm going to drive back myself Friday or Saturday.
Mass Transit Windmills [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Wendell Cox also responds to a Washington Post piece today:
The transit spinmeisters are at it again, an example being this story in the Washington Post.
The story line is that transit's modern record ridership continues, even with the decline in gasoline prices. In fact, gasoline prices during the reporting period (3rd quarter) were the highest on record. At the end of September, they were 3.70, virtually double what they were on December 1.
Even with the highest gas prices in history, transit was able to garner only 3 percent of the decline in driving, which again eloquently speaks to the reality that transit is not a substitute for autos, except in niche corridors to the nation's largest metropolitan areas.
Licensed typist [Mark Steyn]
According to Saturday's New York Times, "Maureen Dowd is off today." But not as off as Timothy Egan, the guy filling in for her. Irked by Joe the Plumber's book deal, Mr Egan pens (as he would no doubt say) one of those unintentionally hilarious pieces whining at the very idea of an uncredentialed amateur muscling in on the guild of official "wordsmiths" (to use his preferred term). I like this fantastically pompous advice:
If Joe really wants to write, he should keep his day job and spend his evenings reading Rick Reilly's sports columns, Peggy Noonan's speeches, or Jess Walter's fiction. He should open Dostoevsky or Norman Maclean — for osmosis, if nothing else. He should study Frank McCourt on teaching or Annie Dillard on writing.
The idea that someone who stumbled into a sound bite can be published, and charge $24.95 for said words, makes so many real writers think the world is unfair.
"The world is unfair": Do you have to be a professional writer before attempting that advanced level of penetrating insight? Of course, having completed the special advanced course at the Paducah Academy of Professional Wordsmithery, Mr Egan knows that the credentialed wordsmith doesn't just toot his own thesis unsupported but drops in a couple of big names from Bartlett's Pocket Guide To Lame Over-Used Quotations:
Writing is hard, even for the best wordsmiths. Ernest Hemingway said the most frightening thing he ever encountered was "a blank sheet of paper."
As Tim Blair points out:
Hemingway never saw a sheet of paper with Egan's words all over it.
Quite. Mr Egan begins his column thus:
The unlicensed pipe fitter known as Joe the Plumber is out with a book this month, just as the last seconds on his 15 minutes are slipping away. I have a question for Joe: Do you want me to fix your leaky toilet?
I didn't think so.
The clapped-out Warhol yawneroo in the very first sentence? What wordsmith's course did he learn that from? By the way, I'd certainly like him to fix my toilet, and would be willing to chip in the Greyhound fare up to New Hampshire. Oh, and, given the amount of lead in his prose, Mr Egan would seem to be a natural pipe fitter.
In related news: Chicago Trib seeking to avoid bankruptcy; Miami Herald's principal asset is the lot the building is on; S&P downgrades New York Times to junk.
Stimulating [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
Wendell Cox is an infrastructure-policy expert/consultant. As you'll see, he also thinks the train has left the station when it comes climate-change policy, aiming to "be at the table" when the plans are made. Agree or disagree, here are some of his informed thoughts about Obama's infrastructure talk over the weekend:
>>>The president-elect intends to proceed with an economic stimulus program involving infrastructure spending. It seems likely that the Congress will consent and thus the issue is making the program as effective as possible, or at least as minimally destructive as possible.
Positive words are coming from Mr. Obama. He speaks of ending pork and of getting "the most bang for the buck," and making the nation more competitive through the program. Further, he is tying the program to improving energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs). We can be certain that the new president will propose an aggressive greenhouse-gas-reduction program. The economic stimulus program represents an opportunity to direct GHG removal strategies in rational directions.
The risk for the president-elect is that his concern about cost effectiveness and competitiveness is not shared powerful interests that support him and would prefer to use GHG emission policy to advance their ideological agendas. It is time to put a price tag on all such strategies. The United Nations International Panel on Climate Change says that sufficient GHG emission reductions can be obtained for under $50 per ton. Some of the most vocal elected officials on GHG reduction, such as Speaker Pelosi and Governor Schwarzennegger pay about $12 per ton to compensate for their GHG emissions when flying.
Cost effectiveness is required or GHG emissions reduction will take a heavy toll on an already weak economy. Ideological approaches, such as light rail or other expensive transit projects, cannot reduce GHGs anywhere near the $50 maximum. On the other hand, everyone is committed to far more fuel efficient cars and it is clear that traffic congestion will continue to get worse once the economy starts growing again. Expanding road capacity so those more fuel efficient cars can operate optimally (and with fewer GHG emissions) and any number of other strategies could make a lot of sense.
But the bottom line is that it is time to throw out the ideology and start serious cost analysis. The president-elect can address two of his principal goals by such a rational approach.
Ah, America. You Were Nice While You Lasted, Too. [Jonah Goldberg]
Imagine if he was playing Cowboys and Indians!
NEWTON COUNTY, Ga. — The latest case of zero-tolerance at the public schools has a 10-year-old student sadder and wiser, and facing expulsion and long-term juvenile detention. And it has his mother worried that his punishment has already been harsher than the offense demands.
Alandis' gun was a "cap gun," a toy cowboy six-shooter that his mother bought for him.
"We got it from Wal-Mart for $5.96," Tosha Ford said, "in the toy section right next to the cowboy hats. That's what he wanted because it was just like the ones he was studying for the Civil War" in his fifth-grade class at Fairview Elementary School.
Alandis was charged with possessing a weapon on school property and with terroristic acts and threats.
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