Romney in a homage to Thatcher - Slate finds that Mitt Romney (intentionally) copied a Tory ad campaign from circa 1979, right down to the UB40 form.

Americans are gloomy - Contentions has the numbers: "Survey says: Economy will be same or worse a year from now." It's almost like there's a malaise over the country.

Remember when Jon Stewart said the NY Times wasn't as biased as Fox News? - Good times. Hot Air: "NYT on Libya: Bailing out of a war before it's won will hurt U.S. credibility."

Just readin' what they put on that teleprompter - When I read this story on Ace of Spades about the Commander-in-Chief flubbing a military honor, I said "can't be true" and even the Blackfive link only had a text description. But a little digging found the video on Military Times; be sure to check the comments below.

Quote of the Day: "We don't estimate speeches."

Of course, proposing a budget with numbers printed on paper means leadership and we all know how Obama feels about that. He outsourced debt reduction first to the Bowles-Simpson commission and then to Joe Biden; I can't help but wonder if the Republicans' walking away from the latest yak-fest is designed to finally force Obama to take ownership for a solution.

No more voting 'present.'

The Obama job market

Victor Davis Hanson explains the mindset in the world where jobs are made:

Two thoughts: One, the latest Democratic idea of borrowing even more money is de facto proof that all the bailouts, borrowing, vast increases in unemployment and food-stamp monies, Obamacare, etc., have done nothing but terrify employers, who are holding off buying and hiring. And, second, when one adds in the National Labor Relations Board roguery, the presidential quips about the wealthy, the Chrysler creditor mess, the nonstop spread-the-wealth, already-made-enough-money demonization of those who make over $200,000, etc., we are witnessing a sort of psychological stasis in which millions of employers are shrugging and collectively sighing, “I think I’ll pass until this crazy outfit is out of here.”

Hanson posted that in the morning and by the end of the day, CNBC reported this headline: "Firms have a record $800 billion of cash but still won't hire."

Where did I put my Oliver Peoples sunglasses? - New season of Burn Notice starts tonight. Yay!

Some would say this is a self-indulgent post. Others aren't reading it anyway.

I have to crow about this just a little bit. Before Obama's speech tonight announcing he's pulling back the troops he sent into Afghanistan, I predicted to my family he would use his old "some on the extremes say 'this' but me, in the middle, say 'that'." The President did not disappoint:

Some would have America retreat from our responsibility as an anchor of global security, and embrace an isolation that ignores the very real threats that we face. Others would have America over-extend ourselves, confronting every evil that can be found abroad.

We must chart a more centered course.

Obama: the reasonable counterbalance against nameless extremists he invented.

Extra - Stephen Green remembers it this way: "Here it comes! “Some would retreat from Nevada… ” Others would nuke the crap out of Holland…” “But I am the sane centrist!”"

Here comes stagflation - Zero Hedge: "Fed lowers GDP, raises unemployment and inflation estimates."

Medicare, we hardly knew ye - Testifying before Congress, two Medicare trustees declared that an unreformed program means "ending Medicare as we know it." So, by all means, do nothing.

Both but more of one - The director of the CBO writes that we need to raise taxes and slash spending to reduce the federal debt. But he also notes that while revenues have averaged around 18% of GDP for the past 40 years, total outlays are projected to be 24% of GDP which is 6% higher than the average during the same 40-year period.

Extra - Doug Ross says Greece is the word.

San Francisco faces the "Children of Men" scenario

"Keep that kid safe - we need him to pay off the national debt."

Here are some stories that fit together. First, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the average city pension in San Fran pays more than the average worker earns. At least there are plenty of jobs to pay taxes.

Not so fast: Companies leaving California in record numbers. Well, at least there will be a new generation of people to support the pensioners.

Not so fast: "San Francisco losing kids as parents seek schools, homes"

New census figures show that despite an intense focus by city and public school officials to curb family flight, San Francisco last year had 5,278 fewer kids than it did in 2000.

The city actually has 3,000 more children under 5 than it did 10 years ago, but has lost more than 8,000 kids older than 5.

Just 13.4 percent of the city's 805,235 residents are younger than 18, one of the smallest percentages of any city in the country. In 1970, those younger than 18 made up 22 percent of San Francisco. In 1960, they made up 25 percent.

A pension fund bankrupting a city? Why, that couldn't happen in America.

Jobs that Americans will do...if they could - Robert Samuelson discusses how even though we have 9.1% unemployment, there are a good number of positions out there that employers can't fill. For good measure see: "Siemans chief warns on US skills shortage."

The days of graduating from high school and getting a high-paying job in the factory are long gone.

We're not gonna take it - In light of recent personal events, I found that this Boston Globe story about workers preparing to find new jobs hit home: "Unhappy but gaining confidence, more workers seek new jobs." "Even as companies slashed pay and increased workloads during the recession, many workers were happy just to have a job. Now, as the economy slowly improves, many disgruntled employees who waited out the worst of it are ready to jump ship."

NASCAR Fantasy league update

If you'll recall, a couple weeks back I decided that I'm completely inept at picking winners for my NASCAR fantasy league, so I employed a driver-picking algorithm to choose my drivers. The key is to find the right combination of driver statistics to make a good predictive rating. Here's how it's been going after three races:

Kansas - algorithm #1 - 7th place (out of 10)

Pocono - algorithm #2 - 6th place

Michigan - algorithm #3 - 3rd place

Actually, I was in first place near the end of today's race until Junior cut a tire with ten laps to go. So I'm going to stick with Secret Algorithm #3 for now and see if I can keep moving up.

Smart power rules

It's good thing that President Obama used to be a Constitutional Law professor because he knows what's what: "President Barack Obama decided he could continue the air war in Libya without congressional approval despite rulings to the contrary from Justice Department and Pentagon lawyers, according to published reports."

Yeah, but how many Nobel Peace Prizes do those lawyers have? None, that's how many.

Another useless debt commission

After ignoring the advice of his own blue-ribbon debt panel, President Obama outsourced the job to Joe Biden who, after eight days of meeting with Republicans, has done close to nothing:

Biden said that both sides have signaled what they might be willing to accept as part of a larger agreement but that they haven't tackled really tough decisions on health care or new revenues. He spoke to reporters after the eighth in a series of meetings aimed at producing an agreement on budget cuts that would accompany must-pass legislation to allow the government to keep borrowing to avoid a default on its obligations.

Eight days and they haven't even started discussions on runaway entitlement spending which is poised to consume the entire federal budget. Instead, they've been jerking around with the 12% of the budget dealing with park rangers and Pell grants. This past week the Senate voted to end ethanol subsidies which account for $5 billion - almost as much as the federal government is borrowing every day - and the White House threatened a veto of even this.

Meanwhile, the IMF is warning the U.S. on its humongous budget deficit and estimating lower growth rates because of debt, meaning less opportunity and fewer jobs for Americans. But, by all means, let's blow another $80 billion on "green" jobs which do not exist.

Extra - From Doug Ross.

More - Sheriff Joe gets tough: "Time to 'get real' in deficit talks." Yeah, sure, whatever.

The lockbox is bare - USA Today: "Payroll taxes raid Social Security." Short takeaway: the payroll tax cut is making Social Security's finances worse and Washington is raiding other parts of the budget (and borrowing) to make up the shortfall.

Stanley Cup update - Hey, who told the Bruins they can win in Vancouver? It's 3-0 for the B's after two periods and they're looking solid tonight. I probably won't be able to update from here on, but it's looking like the Bruins might win their first Cup since 1972.

Update - Bruins win!

After the crisis - From Jim Lacey with "Entitlement Overstretch": "It is a sad state of affairs when one has to pin the long-term hopes of this great nation on a crisis so monumental that one has to count on the “day after” to return reason to the nation’s fiscal policy."

Bruce Springsteen and "Neil Young" sing "Whip My Hair"

Legal stuff - Legal Insurrection has some commentary on the Wisconsin Supreme Court affirming the collective bargaining bill today.

Unclear on the concept - Obama's super lamo-o job council has slashed a bunch of jobs. You know what that means? We need another commission.

Losing the argument - In Opinion Journal, two lawyers for the states' case against Obamacare write "Why Obamacare is losing in the courts - The government's lawyers keep changing their arguments as each one is exposed as constitutionally suspect."

Meanwhile, in the court of public opinion, "finding out what's in the bill" has not convinced Americans to support Obamacare.

And on a non-governmental level - Megan McArdle has a good post about personal debt with "Should we care if people don't pay their debts?" "The answer seems to be "I don't want to pay, and as long as I'm willing to take the hit on my credit score, no one should judge me." Yet if this were the actual standard by which most Americans lived, would there be any market for unsecured debt? Or even secured debt for items that depreciate quickly? Seems unlikely."

Well, that's just one man's opinion - Unfortunately, it's the opinion of the guy who runs the largest mutual fund in the world. PIMCO's Bill Gross says that Americas's financial state is "worse than Greece." That would Greece, the country where the bond is now rated "junk" status.

In the years 2020 and 2036

The business section of today's Boston Globe featured three articles about growing federal entitlements and the consequences of inaction. In short, the entitlement programs of Medicare and Social Security are going to exhaust their trust funds in 2020 and 2036 leading to automatic benefit cuts for both programs based on current law. Here are some excerpts:

Medicare: "Retiring Boomers, rising health costs are a frightening combination"

By 2020, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, Medicare’s main trust fund will be effectively drained, requiring a strict “pay as you go’’ system financed by payroll taxes and money squeezed from other federal programs, assuming the current structure of Medicare is kept intact. Longer-term projections point to multitrillion-dollar deficits for Medicare stretching late into the century, economists said.

Social Security: "Waiting to address a shortfall could worsen problems, analysts warn"

Whatever solutions lawmakers choose, it’s better they act soon, economists said. Each delay compounds the program’s financial problems, which in turn would require more drastic tax increases, benefit cuts, or both.

Of course, that's also true for Medicare and a host of other federal programs where promises have long out-paced reality. What will happen if we keep kicking the can down the road? "The clock is ticking in the debate over how to fix programs"

If something isn’t done relatively soon, economists say, higher interest rates, a weaker dollar, increased payroll taxes, and deep cuts to other federal programs are among potentially dire consequences that could mean slower growth, higher unemployment, and lower standards of living.

I've said it before and I'll write it again: the problems in Europe don't need to be repeated here in America if we face up to our long-term problems and take positive, if painful, steps towards resolution. The sooner we face up to mathematics, the pain of reform can be spread over decades rather than the sudden shock of automatic benefit cuts.

It's time to be adults.

Waiting for the turnaround - Commentary: "A lost generation in the making?"

Must be a coincidence - WashPost: "Twice in recent weeks, the United States provided Pakistan with the specific locations of insurgent bomb-making factories, only to see the militants learn their cover had been blown and vacate the sites before military action could be taken, according to U.S. and Pakistani officials."

Anthony Weiner, American hero - You know who he's like? Martin Luther King Jr. Oh yeah.

Meanwhile, the Congressman didn't know he was tweeting with minors when they talked about high school and asked him to the prom.

It ain't me, babe. No, no, no, it ain't me babe - Marketwatch: "Many of us won't be able to retire until our 80s." I'm mortified by the low retirement savings for most Americans since it means either seniors are going to live in penury or the government is going to seize the nest eggs of more responsible savers (ahem) in the name of "fairness."

Good intentions - Here's economist Greg Mankiw on the Center for American Progress's plan for health care equity: "That is, under the likely scenario that healthcare spending keeps rising faster than GDP, the Center for American Progress would give government the power to prohibit people from buying expensive health plans with their own money. That is not my idea of progress."

Revenues down, entitlements up - Reason: "Another trillion dollars in debt (and we've still got four months to go.)" In the fiscal year, that is, borrowing money and sticking the grandkids with the bill.

Here's part of the problem, from American Thinker: "A Nation of Government Dependents" found via Maggie's Farm. This is a comment on the article:

I am an ER doc in a large suburban hospital. Over my 20 years of practice, I have watched the welfare roles grow to twice what they were when I started. More troubling is how attitudes of the dependent have changed. Where once people were thankful for short-term help, they now seek to find every possible penny they can find, and now services are demanded: thank-yous are few and far between. It's so bad now, for example, that I recently had a Medicaid patient come in at 0200 by ambulance- for a pregnancy test...when I asked her why, she told me she didn't want to waste her gas, and she knew the ambulance and the ER couldn't refuse her. It's getting to be almost too much for me sometimes. I've talked to Congressmen and Senators about the abuse, and they are always "woking on it". Meanwhile, we have a patient who has been to the ER 1300 times since 2003 !! When I call the Medicaid office, they tell me there's nothing they can do. I'm convinced that the system is going to have to crash, and I'm really frightened about the people that believe it's their right to have others take care of their needs without a hint of personal resposibility.

Don't worry, Obamacare will cut back expensive ER visits just like they did in Massachusetts.

The piggybank of last resort

This is awful news via Zero Hedge: "30% of people with a 401(k) have taken out a loan against it: new all time record." I know times are tough and homeowners can't cash out on their houses anymore, but there are so many downsides that go beyond the obvious of raiding the fund that will keep you out of cat food after Social Security benefits get scaled back.

Zero Hedge puts in the last word: "Luckily, Americans have demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that when it comes to abusing rainy day capital to satisfy trivial material needs, there is nothing to worry about. Nothing at all." After all, tomorrow is another day.

They've awakened a sleeping giant wicked pissed Boston

I didn't mention this before but on this past Sunday I took my kids to their first ever Boston Red Sox game at Fenway Park. We took a tour bus into Boston (I'm not a fan of city driving) and took our seats in the right field, near the bleachers.

Just as the game was starting, four guys made their way to the upper seats, each wearing a Vancouver hockey jersey. Vancouver had just gone up two-games-to-none in the Stanley Cup playoffs over the Boston Bruins and these guys were met with a chorus of boos.

WELL. Since that game (in which the Red Sox beat the A's) the Bruins have won two games with a total of twelve goals to Vancouver's one (8-1 Monday and 4-0 tonight).

Eleventh Circuit on Obamacare: "You gotta be kidding me."

It sounds like the bipartisan mix of judges on the 11th were not buying the Administration's arguments on the individual mandate. Hot Air: "Federal appeals court highly skeptical of Obamacare in today's oral arguments." Right out of the gate, the chief on the bench asked the question Obama can't answer:

“I can’t find any case like this,” said Chief Judge Joel Dubina of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “If we uphold this, are there any limits” on the power of the federal government? he asked.

And at AoSHQ, it's noted that if the Framers of the Constitution thought the Commerce Clause could be expanded in this way, they would have also outlined the limitations of such a statute.

Extra - Maggie's Farm: "Enumerated powers."

Stay classy, Wisconsin - Althouse: "Wisconsin protesters disrupt Special Olympics ceremony." Because Governor Scott Walker was there and they got to dress up like zombies.

The WashPost channels Mary McCarthy

Here's the Factchecker on "President Obama's phony accounting on the auto industry bailout":

What we found is one of the most misleading collections of assertions we have seen in a short presidential speech. Virtually every claim by the president regarding the auto industry needs an asterisk, just like the fine print in that too-good-to-be-true car loan.

And here's author Mary McCarthy on Lillian Hellman:

"Every word [she] writes is a lie including 'and' and 'the.'"

It's another Three Pinocchios for the Obama Administration.

The national press is a.) inept, b.) biased, c.) all of the above

I swore I wasn't going to blog about Anthony Weiner but I will hold forth on the embarrassingly feckless "investigative" powers of the mainstream media. There's an absence of objectivity that's been building for years and should have shamed the media into reform after the National Enquirer nearly won a Pulitzer for exposing John Edwards. But it didn't and now they've been pwned yet again.

While the talking heads were asking the Rep. Weiner the same questions and accepting the same answers, all the real information was coming to the surface on the blogs and e-media. Somehow Andrew Breitbart was collecting information that was escaping the putative skills of the Associated Press. While the NY Times was trying to figure out what a "DM" on Twitter meant, the Daily was reporting that all of Weiner's tweets - including the "hacked" ones - originated from a program called TweetDeck. It was on a blog that I found that Weiner had quite suddenly doubled the people he "followed" on Twitter in a transparent attempt to dilute his pool of young hotties. Ace and Patterico and others were asking questions and finding answers even though they never attended the high-falutin' Columbia Journalism School.

But maybe collecting facts is hard. How about unbiased reporting? Mark Steyn takes note of the NY Times initial coverage of the Weiner presser:

...that New York Times “news alert” — “Representative Anthony D. Weiner Acknowledges Communication With Women Online” — nobody who could write that headline with a straight face should be in the news business.

It’s one thing to lose the story to Andrew Breitbart because you’re too snooty to sully yourself with Weiner’s briefs. It’s another thing to pile on and support Weiner’s slandering of Breitbart out of ideological solidarity. But, when the congressman himself is at a press conference admitting he’s e-mailed explicit photos of himself around the Internet and you choose that headline to convey the story to your readers, you’re basically telling them you’re the paper for court eunuchs.

All this reminds me of Jon Stewarts reaction when two college punks managed to bring down ACORN with a feather boa and a hidden camera:

Kudos to Jon Stewart, who doesn’t sugar-coat the embarrassment at all — to the apparent delight of his audience, who get kudos of their own. How can the national news media ignore the many allegations of corruption at ACORN, which gets millions of dollars in federal funding, and allow a couple of independents with $3,000 and a bad wardrobe scoop them on the undercover story of the year? It’s easy when newsrooms are more concerned with political direction than truth.

With the Weiner affair, it's now altogether obvious that the mainstream media is either incapable or unwilling to do the job of investigation and reporting. The online media is going to fill the vacuum.

NASCAR Fantasy League: Save me, Microsoft Excel!

So here's the thing: I'm in a NASCAR fantasy league and, well, I stink. I've had exactly one decent week and the rest of the time I'm scraping the bottom of the rankings. I'm thinking of sending ransom letters to the various teams warning them that unless I get $1000 in unmarked bills, I'll pick them for my lineup, whereupon they'll inevitably crash or their engines will explode. It's truly bizarre the bad luck that follows my teams.

So here's what I'm going to do: no more "gut" picks, no more news feeds, in fact no more free will. I've developed a ranking system based on driver stats at a given track and them I'm plugging them into a spreadsheet to tell me who I should pick.

For those of you uninitiated in fantasy leagues or the NASCAR league in particular, you have a salary cap where you have to balance your good/medium/struggling drivers. So you want to maximize your driver rankings but stay below the salary cap; this is the program I've set up. Microsoft Excel (for example) has a macro called "Solver" although I'll be using the fantastic Open Office spreadsheet for the same calculation. This is an experiment which I'm going to try to stick with for at least ten races.

I've set my team for tomorrow's race at Kansas and, frankly, I wouldn't have picked three out of my five drivers. This will be interesting.

Update: 7th place out of 10. Ugh.

Things that can't go on, don't - Zero Hedge: "Social Security - the Liberals are killing it." The "worst case scenario" for Social Security's finances is the new reality.

If at first you don't succeed, spend spend again - The Hill: "Dems double down on new spending after discouraging jobs report." Of course.

It's unanimous - DNC Chair Wasserman-Schultz is a lying liar about Paul Ryan's Medicare Plan, so says the Associated Press, Factcheck, and the WashPost's Fact Checker who gives her claims "three Pinocchios."

Summer of Recovery 2: Electric Malaise

Fox News: "Employers add just 54,000 jobs in May, unemployment rate rises to 9.1%" This latest news is going to - has to - lead to a whole new spin for the White House where they search out new targets to blame.

Extra - Peter Wehner also evokes Jimmy Carter.

More - From Instapundit.

And this - Obama's re-election slogan is "Help me finish the job"? You've done quite enough.

The British parallel - The UK's National Health Service (NHS) is in trouble and Stata-Sphere sees similar problems for Obamacare which has hit a new low in favorability.

Road to nowhere

Here's Charles Krauthammer talking about the Obama-GOP debt "summit":

The president has chartered a course of remarkable cynicism in the way he attacked the Republican plan and presented none of his own. He hasn’t offered anything. And the Senate, for example, hasn’t even offered a budget - which is required to do by law. The Democrats are placing a bet on cynicism. They might win the election on that.

Businesses and the markets hate uncertainty and yet this is the modus operandi of the Obama Administration. There's been no budget from House Democrats, which sparked the drawn-out "continuing resolutions" of early 2011. There's been no budget from the Senate Democrats for 762 days, in violation of the law. And there's no budget from the President who is a thousand times more concerned with re-election than he is with dealing with the nation's problems.

Here's the cold fact: Medicare will go bust in 2024 and that's assuming that Congress will not pass the "doc fix" to cut payments to doctors; otherwise Medicare is broke in 2016, only five years away. Social Security goes belly up in 25 years. And by "broke" I mean the programs - by law - can only pay out what's coming in from payroll taxes meaning that either benefits will need to be slashed and/or taxes will go way up. Cold fact #2: only one political party seems willing to face up this reality, while the other wants to demagogue these entitlements into their respective graves.

More - As in more uncertainty.

Identify this Johnson

It's NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson. That wasn't so difficult.

What?

Western Massachusetts update - It's been a strange day as a tornado touched down in Springfield before moving east along the Mass Pike. My commute takes me through Springfield north on I-91 and there were dozens of trees with splintered tops, stripped billboards, and toppled business signs.

Extra - That was fast: a Wikipedia page on the 2011 Massachusetts tornado outbreak.

"Shockingly weak" is the new "unexpected" - CNN: "Shockingly weak job growth in May."

Blindsided again - CNBC: "Double-dip in housing prices even worse than expected." So are you saying it was "unexpected?" Time to recalibrate.

If you want it, here it is, come and get it

Normally I hate when Congress engages in these "show votes" and tonight's House vote to reject a debt ceiling increase is no exception. But let's remember who asked for the ayes and nays:

Just last month, 114 Democrats signed a letter calling for a “clean” vote and Democratic Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also advocated one. But today, Hoyer announced he was advising his caucus to vote against the measure. Ultimately, just 97 Democrats voted for it, with 82 explicitly voting against it (on top of the seven “present” votes).

Congressional leaders will be meeting with Obama tomorrow, possibly to discuss another commission whose recommendations they will summarily ignore.

Memorial Day - Arlington National Cemetery

As usual, I'm watching my "Band of Brothers" DVDs.

Asked and answered - Medicare's own trustees have reported that in a decade or so the program will be bankrupt and only able to pay out what it receives in payroll taxes. This Sunday morning on "Face the Nation" the DNC chair was asked if the Democrats have a plan to save this fiscally-challenged program. As Hoystory quips: "That would be a no."

Extra - Here's a very good review on Medicare's mathematical demise via the Sundries Shack.

Bad slides - Found via today's Boston Globe, here are the winners of the Infocus contest for the worst Powerpoint slides. This gives me an opportunity to link to one of my favorite essays about bad presentations: "Let there be stoning."

It was a nice day plus pasta salad - Spent some time with the neighbors, eating pizza. Tomorrow, there's 1100 miles of racing (Indianapolis 500 + Coca-Cola 600). The Sam Adams Summer Ale is cooling in the fridge.

It's come to this

Senate majority leader Harry Reid - of "show vote" fame - won't hold a vote to recess the Senate for the Memorial Day holiday because it would highlight the fact that the Senate Democrats have failed to produce a budget proposal. To avoid an unpleasant vote for adjournment over, you know, responsible government, the Senate will hold three "pro forma" sessions next week where some flunky from Virginia will gavel the Senate into session then adjourn. The good news is that because the Senate will remain "officially" in session, President Obama can't make any recess appointments.

Gosh, it makes me proud to be an American.

Hey! Was that Abed?

I'm a huge fan of the NBC show "Community" and there's a running joke about how Abed is a bigger fan for the ABC show "Cougar Town." In this scene, Abed gives a long anecdote about how he traveled to the "Cougar Town" set and managed to get into a scene during shooting.

Then I was watching "Cougar Town" last night and...who's that weird guy?

Abed! Nice. Here's more on the episode from ZapIt.

It's time to face up to Medicare's problem

So says Bill Clinton. Yes, Bill Clinton.

Former President Bill Clinton, still widely considered one of his party’s foremost politicians, said on Wednesday that Democrats should cut a “reasonable” deal with Republicans on Medicare savings rather than conclude from Tuesday’s upset in a special Congressional election that bashing Republicans on the issue is the key to a party comeback in 2012.

But he knows that Democrats don't really believe in leadership:

But Mr. Clinton said he feared that Democrats would conclude “that we shouldn’t do anything.”

“I completely disagree with that,” he said. “I think there are a lot of things we can do to bring down Medicare costs.”

The former President recognizes the threat:

Mr. Clinton, with some passion, returned to the topic at the end of an hour-long interview. “I think the Democrats are going to have to be willing to give up, maybe, some short-term political gain by whipping up fears on some of these things — if it’s a reasonable Social Security proposal, a reasonable Medicare proposal. We’ve got to deal with these things. You cannot have health care devour the economy.”

Yes, but it's such good politics.

Extra - The only Democrat-proposed budget in the Senate gets zero votes. Finally, bipartisanship! It's to do nothing, but still.

Twisters - Disaster in the Midwest: "Death toll from Missouri tornado tops 100." Just terrible and now a rainstorm is hindering rescue efforts.

That's not what Nancy Pelosi told me - Marketwatch: "Get ready for Social Security, Medicare meltdowns."

I was Mitch Daniels' secret lover supporter - I have to say that I'm disappointed that Indiana governor Daniels isn't running for the Presidency because I think he can win in a walk. So I'm moving on to my second choice of Midwest governors: Tim Pawlenty.

Mitt Romney? Never, never, never. If Romney is the nominee then I'll be signing up for the "Daniels/Pawlenty 2016" campaign.

Can't hack it? Pack it in - CNN: "Why would-be engineers end up as English majors."

It's Rapture night!

I'm going to resist the obvious Blondie reference and go with Napoleon Dynamite:

Social Insecurity - Reason Online: "The Facts about Social Security - Separating economic myths from economic truths."

But we got that oil company vote - Hot Air reports that the "Senate Democrats still not letting anyone see their budget." It's been 750 days since the Senate put forth a budget proposal.

Nancy Pelosi: "Medicare forever!"

Medicare's chief actuary: "Yeah, about that...."

Extra - AosHQ notes what happens in about eight years with the status quo: "Immediate, automatic cuts."

Franken-frame - The Truth About Cars: "Mission creep, weight problems, compromise haunt GM's Alpha platform." That was a good investment, America.

Math is not that hard - President Obama is going to have to tax the middle class says...the New Republic? In a nutshell, there simply isn't enough money to tax from the "rich" to pay for all of our overspending. (H/T AoSHQ.)

If you liked the new jobs from the stimulus plan, you'll love the savings from Obamacare - Over at Reason, Peter Suderman reveals that Medicare's own chief actuary says "don't trust the Medicare trustees" while Jacob Sullum notes that any savings from health care reform are based on assumptions that will not occur, such as the "doc fix."

And then there were five - Now I'm just waiting to make a Gang of Four quip. Republican Tom Coburn has pulled out of the Gang of Six trying to find a compromise on deficit reduction. From what it sounds, Coburn was insisting that entitlements needed to be a part of any reform plan while Democrats wanted to raise the passport renewal fee by $5.

Bumping up against the debt ceiling

Megan McArdle has a long and thoughtful post today about how low interest rates are delaying action on the debt ceiling because the cheap borrowing indicates the financial markets don't think the debt crisis is real and/or there's little chance of default.

Let me just add this, if I may. I just finished reading an excellent book about the subprime mortgage crisis and the ensuing economic downturn titled "All the Devils are Here" by Bethany McLean. (She's also the author of the fantastic account of Enron: "The Smartest Guys in the Room.") One thing I took away from the "Devils" book is that - once the market loses faith in an institution - the downfall is swift, harsh, catastrophic, and irreversible.

This was true for AIG, Merrill Lynch, Washington Mutual, but especially for the old-money boys at Wall Street institution Lehman Brothers. In mid-2008, Lehman's exposure to subprime loans was becoming evident. By September, the 150-year-old firm - unable to find a buyer - declared bankruptcy. Only six months before the collapse, Lehman CEO Richard Fuld had appeared on a Barron's list of the 30 best CEOs in the country.

Overcome with debt and liabilities it could not contain or mitigate, Lehman imploded like *that*.

A trillion dollars spent, a million jobs lost - Two Ohio State economists found that Obama's "Recovery and Reinvestment Act" killed off a million private sector jobs but saved 450K government jobs. Powerline: "A verdict on Obama's "stimulus" plan." Heckuva job, Bammy.

Extra - The thrill is gone.

Shared sacrifice

In "The elderly must share the financial burden," columnist Robert Samuelson takes on the long-cultivated stereotype that senior citizens are only a Social Security check from destitution:

From 1959 to 2007, the proportion of the 65-plus population with incomes under the government's poverty line ($12,968 for a couple in 2009) dropped from 35.2 percent to 9.7 percent, which was half the poverty rate for children under 18 (18 percent).

The proportion of elderly living in the "high income" group - defined as four times the poverty line, or almost $52,000 for a couple in 2009 - rose from 18.4 percent in 1980 to 30.6 percent in 2007.

In 2007, the median net worth (that is, assets minus debts) of 65-plus households was $237,000, about twice the amount for households aged 45 to 54. Among 65-plus married couples, median net worth was $385,000.

This is one of the things that drives me batty when we talk about "fairness" in America's entitlement system. There's very little that's "fair" about transferring large sums of cash from young workers to relatively affluent seniors, especially when everybody knows the system will not offer the same level of support when those workers grow old.

Social Security was formed when Americans when seniors were living in poverty because they could not do the physical labor demanded of the Depression era. Today seniors are healthier, wealthier, and labor is much less strenuous - yet talk of reforming entitlements is a taboo. Sooner or later (I'm guessing sooner), younger Americans are going to figure out that they're at the bottom of this pyramid scheme.

Come fly with me - Pajamas Media: 'Senate GOP embarrasses Dems over Boeing."

David Mamet leaves the herd - Over at Weekly Standard, there's a story about the conversion of the playwright from liberal darling to conservative apostate. Mark Steyn adds his thoughts.

Waiver count: 1,372 - The Hill reports: "HHS approves 200 more new health care waivers." At what point does Obamacare become unconstitutional by violating the 14th Amendment stipulating equal protection under the law?

Playing politics - Charles Krauthammer: "Demagoguery 101." Also, the Minuteman has more on Obama's El Paso speech.

Medicare "as we know it" is already gone

Today the Trustees for Medicare and Social Security released their annual report and - big surprise - the entitlement programs are on a glide path to insolvency:

The Medicare hospital insurance fund for seniors is now projected to run out of money in 2024, five years earlier than last year's estimate. The Social Security trust funds are projected to be drained in 2036, one year earlier than the last estimate. Once the trust funds are exhausted, both programs can only collect enough money in payroll taxes to pay partial benefits, the report said.

There's no point in nostalgia for the days when Medicare and Social Security paid out the benefits afforded in the past decades. There's only one future: a reformed entitlement system that bows to current economic conditions and simple math, versus waiting for the inevitable:

If the trust funds are exhausted, immediate benefits cuts would go into effect. Starting in 2024, Medicare could pay about 90 percent of benefits, but that would drop to about 75 percent in 2045. In other words, despite Democratic attempts to savage the Ryan/GOP budget for “ending Medicare as we know it” (starting in 2022), the fact is that “Medicare as we know it” simply won’t be around much longer anyway on it’s current path. Social Security benefits, meanwhile, would receive an immediate 25 percent cut. This is exactly what Paul Ryan is talking about when he stresses to need to address entitlement spending now, on our terms, before cuts are imposed swiftly and indiscriminately.

Except for younger voters who fail to grasp the hole being dug on their behalf, I think Americans are waking up to the danger of delay over action and debt over fiscal sanity.

But, but, they've sold dozens of Volts - Megan McArdle: "GM's profits are still a huge net loss for taxpayers."

This is terrible news - Word came out after the Team Six takedown of Osama Bin Laden that the SEALs had collected three computers, computer disks, and a hundred thumb drives. Now, I'm thinking that the data on those drives may not be the intelligence treasure trove we were led to believe.

The entitlement bomb cometh - Opinion Journal: "The Millionaire Retirees Next Door - Typical retired couples will collect $1 million or more in Social Security and Medicare. This is more than they paid in, and the cost will fall on today's workers."

Ryan rebuts

The House Budget Committee chair answers some charges from President Obama. A good part is explaining that the "cuts" that Obama criticizes are actually bringing government spending back down to earth after exploding the budget.

And since I think Factcheck is a fair player in any debate, here's their re-rebuttal to Ryan.

That's what I call sAT-ATire - The detail on this story from the "Galactic Empire Times" is fantastic, down to the comments and the small ad for "Alderaan Real Estate."

Kill/Capture - Right now on PBS is a Frontline special on how the U.S. military targets terrorists in the hot zones.

Update - Depressing: an Afghan commander being supplied by the government forgets that he's "miked" and, once he's "out of earshot" of the Frontline crew, he tells a fellow fighter that he's actually in allegiance with the Taliban.

Let's all scare Grandma

Hit & Run: "How Obamacare cuts Medicare." What it boils down to is that if Medicare doesn't hit certain savings targets, an independent board will cut medical care (that's all they can do) and under-compensated providers will simply drop their Medicare coverage. That's the new status quo, America.

Meanwhile, the WashPost fact-checker gives HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius "three Pinocchios" for her lies about Paul Ryan's reform plan.

Extra - Here's a good Sibelius.

Long train running

In the Ideas section of today's Boston Globe, there was an absolutely fascinating article about how officials in India were using "behavioral architecture" to keep poverty-stricken people living near the train line from being killed while crossing the tracks.

The article titled "Train! How psychological tricks can keep people from being killed on the tracks" tells the story about how one area in India employed three changes to keep people aware of the danger of crossing the tracks and fatalities plummeted. First, it was found that people have trouble telling the speed of large objects so they painted sections of the railroad ties yellow to give better perspective of velocity. Second, the warning signs around the tracks using stick figures were replaced with horrific (staged) pictures of an actor being mowed down by a train (see at link). Finally, the warning whistle for the trains was altered:

Final Mile’s third intervention required train drivers to switch from one long warning whistle to two short, sharp blasts. By way of explanation, Dominic cited a 2007 paper from the Stanford University School of Medicine, which found that brain activity - and hence alertness - peaks during short silences between two musical notes. "The silence sets up a kind of expectation in the brain," said Vinod Menon, the paper's senior author and a behavioral scientist working with the Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Lab. "That’s the way it works in music, and it isn’t inconceivable that it would work similarly with train whistles."

It's kinda like the false ending in the Young Rascals hit "Good Lovin'" where you're waiting for the song to re-start. In all. a very interesting article about how psychology and behavioral science are employed to solve a problem and save lives.

Happy Mother's Day!

So I wasn't crazy

I was watching the somewhat-funny show "Happy Endings" Wednesday night and one character was talking to his ex about a mouse in the apartment they couldn't catch. "It's my Bin Laden...Jessica Bin Laden, this hot Arab girl who I dated in college."

Then, well, the audio blanked out. But according to this article, the brilliant producers of the show cut out the line "She was the one that got away." You know, because of recent events.

Dummies! It would have been so much more memorable if you left the line in.

Extra - Whoops! It looks like "Chuck" used an Osama ref also.

Exclusive video of Operation Neptune's Spear!

Navy SEALs on the attack. Must credit Viking Pundit!

Who did Osama have on sleeve dial?

I think this is the most interesting development in the Bin Laden story:

Osama bin Laden had cash totaling 500 Euros and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed - sure signs that he was prepared to flee his compound at a moment’s notice -top U.S. intelligence officials told members of Congress at a classified briefing in the Capitol Tuesday.

It seems to me that these phone numbers are going to be a big story. Were they Osama's contacts in the Pakistani ISI, who were supposed to tip him off to an American operation? Or Ayman Zawahiri's satellite phone? Domino's Pizza?

The tipping point - TaxProfBlog: "51% of households pay no income tax."

Man's best friend, Osama's worst enemy - It looks like the seals were aided by a dog. NY Times: "A Bin Laden hunter on four legs." Woof.

It's all been said - I feel like the Osama story is going to dominate the blogosphere for weeks. So I'll say this: that Susie with the lemonade business is adorable.

"We were in town for the Lil Miss Kyber pageant, but the Best Western in town was overbooked" - I laughed like an infidel at these Google Maps "reviews" of Osama Bin Laden's Hideout Compound, found via this post on Power Line, with real pictures of the compound.

This one's going out to Ayman Zawahiri!

There's a capital idea - Since those Navy SEALs won't collect the $25 million bounty on Bin Laden's head, Vanderleun suggests that they live the rest of their lives tax-free. I don't think they'll - ever - have a problem with bar tabs.

Facebook status: dead - Via Maggie's Farm, it's reported that the Navy SEALs in the Osama raid picked up hard drives and documents that could blow open Al Qaeda. So we got that goin' for us.

Color me un-flabbergasted - UK Telegraph: "Osama bin Laden 'protected' by Pakistani security". Keeping the Paks in the dark about the raid was the first key to success.

Obama earns a round of golf

A big kudos to the Obama Administration and the Special Forces that took out Bin Laden. There's really nothing I can add to the avalanche that 's already been posted today. I'll just say this: this whole operation could have easily gone the way of Desert One and the blame of failure would have fallen squarely on Obama's shoulders. But since it went spectacularly successfully, Obama deserves high marks for green-lighting the raid.

Make no mistake, I think this guy's going to bankrupt the country. But - at least for today - I'm proud he's my Commander-in-Chief.

Extra - OK, this is appropriate.

AT LONG LAST - Fox News, CNN, and NY Times confirm that Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Once again, after almost 10 years on the run, Bin Laden is dead dead dead.

News is just coming in tonight but, according to sources, he was killed by a U.S. bomb a week ago and (somehow) the news was kept a secret until DNA tested was complete.

Wow. I was just flipping around channels before going to bed and now this.

I have to be honest: the first couple months after 9/11, I remember waking up every morning hoping to hear news that Bin Laden was cornered somewhere and/or killed. It took way longer than any American could have hoped, but now he's met his maker.

And, boy, is she pissed.

Extra - We have the body? Oh wow.

More - Via Hot Air. I cannot believe the Administration/military kept this a secret for a whole week. Well done, sir, well done.

Even more - Shocking! Killed in our "ally" Pakistan.

Update - From Fox News and ABC News.