by Alex Gimarc                                Mon., May 12, 2008

Interesting Items 5/12 -

Howdy all, a few Interesting Items for your information. Enjoy -

In this issue:

1. Bailout
2. Louisiana
3. Hezbollah
4. Hatcher Pass
5. Bridge

1. Bailout. It’s election season and congress is well on its way to buying your vote for their reinstallation in office come November. As usual, they are going to be doing the buying with your money. There is a $300 billion housing bailout bill moving its way through the House that essentially allows the speculators, the people who signed mortgages they couldn’t pay for, and lenders that ought to have known better than to lend money to people that couldn’t keep up with the payments, to refinance at lower interest rates on lower house values. This massive injection of federal dollars into a marketplace that has already corrected itself will do little except further garbage up that marketplace, as all federal intervention historically does. A version of this legislation has already passed out of the Senate with a vote of 84-12 in April, and passed out of the House 239-188, at which point the WH threatened a veto. There is growing anger against this bailout by homeowners who have managed to keep up with their mortgages and falling house values during the popping of the housing bubble. The run-up in home prices was a nice thing for homeowners. But that time has passed for a bit, and it is now a buyers market for a while, which will allow lower income people to get into homes a bit easier and current homeowners to sell and upgrade for a more reasonable cost. This sort of congressional meddling is not unexpected, but as usual it will always be substantially damaging to the marketplace. Kill this turkey and keep it killed. Malkin, Thurs, Fri.

2. Louisiana. Republican hopes for resurgence in the House took another hit last week in Louisiana where a long—time, safe Republican incumbent lost to a more conservative democrat by 3%. Like the loss of Denny Hastert’s seat several months ago, this election sends a very stark message to Republicans nationwide. The incumbent was not in any p articular trouble, but he had been in office for a while, and there were allegations of corruption floating around, though these sorts of allegations have become yet another standard electioneering tool for leftists and their lackeys in the drive-by media. There was a third candidate in the race that took 4% of the Republican vote. We are now faced at least until November with yet another congressional seat that will caucus with Pelosi and the democrats. It is not enough for Republicans to trot out their standard hot-button social issues any more. They must show how they plan to get the government the hell out of the marketplace so that government-caused problems like rising food prices, housing bubbles, energy shortages, gasoline price spikes, and our long-time favorite – health care, can all stabilize and repair themselves through the actions of hundreds of millions of our neighbors all acting in their own best interests in a free market of ideas and efforts. I believe the message this year ought to be some form of small government, less intrusion, leave us alone, and get out of the way. Should McCain adopt this economic message – and from the look of his economic advisors, it may be coming – he has a real chance to blow Obama out of the water in November. More problematic will be the congressional races, as I am not yet convinced that the National Republican campaign committees understands the self-created train wreck they are hurtling toward. They need not p articipate in that train wreck, and could instead turn the tables on the democrats. Our solution ought to come at the state and local levels via the actions of various state and local conservative activists and campaign committees.

3. Hezbollah. Iran and Syria triggered their expected summer offensive in Lebanon last week as Hezbollah st arted military action in Beirut. AJ Strata writing in the Strata Sphere believes the offensive is intended to distract attention from Iranian destruction in Iraq, as Al Sadr’s Iranian trained and backed Mahdi Army just surrendered to the Iraqi military. Hezbollah’s excuse for a p artial takeover in Beirut was the Lebanese governments’ elimination of a Hezbollah internal communication network used to coordinate their actions in Lebanon with their masters in Syria. This attack may or may not be a prelude to military action against Israel planned later this summer. Iran continues to meddle. Syria continues to carry its water. And Hezbollah continues to demonstrate the notion that should fight someone; you had better defeat them decisively and destroy their warfighting capability forever. If you don’t you will be back fighting them year after year after year.

4. Hatcher Pass. To demonstrate yet again the ridiculous lengths that the anti-development crowd will go, we have the story of a small hydroelectric project near Hatcher Pass, a recreation area sitting in the hills above Wasilla, Alaska, 50 miles or so north of Anchorage. A renewable energy company plans on building a small dam that will channel water into a long pipe. The pipe will run along the creek for a bit as it drops in altitude toward the valley. At the end of the pipe is a turbine and generator. Total output would be electricity capable of serving up to 1,000 homes. Total cost is in the $4 million range. The dam will not create a reservoir. Perfect project, right? It is privately done; uses renewables; is environmentally friendly; and has a very small footprint. Not so fast, as this is in no way good enough for the local greens. Our local McClatchy owned fishwrapper, the Anchorage Daily News, otherwise known as the Incredibly Shrinking Newspaper, ran an article Weds. describing a town meeting on the project. The largest concern was for insects that salmon fry fed upon and how taking water from the creek high in the mountains would damage salmon runs. Interesting enough, salmon don’t get that high in the creek, so it will be difficult for salmon fry to get that high. There are also a number of beaver dams along the creek below the proposed water offtake that have active and thriving rainbow trout and dolly varden (char) populations. Volume of water flow is no problem, as the mountains in the area regularly get significant snowfall. Rather than figure out how to make this proposal work and work well, the kneejerk reaction is to say no – and to dream up reason after reason after reason not to do so. The greens don’t want renewable energy. They don’t want any energy generation at all.

5. Bridge. The private sector, once unleashed and properly incentivized can do wonders. The latest example if the rebuilding of the I-35 bridge that collapsed in Minneapolis last August. Remember, that the public blame was quickly placed on President Bush, budget cuts and irresponsible tax cuts. The political solution was a series of proposals to raise taxes and to rebuild every single highway bridge in the US. The actual cause of the collapse was a structural design defect that had connecting plates on the bridge that were not strong enough to withstand the physical loads on the metal. The bridge was doomed as soon as it was designed. A private company in Minnesota got the contract to rebuild the bridge. The contract was modeled after similar contracts the rebuilt collapsed highways following the 1994 Northridge e arthquake in California, and gave significant monetary rewards to the construction company should they complete the job earlier than scheduled. Captain Ed in Hot Air, Mon. reports the new bridge is now fully three months ahead of schedule, with the construction company in line for over $20 million in incentives for early repair. They may end up being finished in Sept. rather than the scheduled December completion date. In all of this, local regulatory agencies have kept well out of the way; there have been few if any environmental harassment lawsuits or complaints. People got the bureaucracy out of the way and got the job done. Imagine what we can do if we take this model to other things the government is doing. We are back to the point where government is not the solution, it is the problem.

More later –

           - AG

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
- Samuel Adams, speech at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.