Getting Out

The Times has a piece on the various measures we collectively call "bail-outs", including a discussion of the difficulty of getting out, of unwinding. It reminds me of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, an entity created under the Hoover administration which made loans for various purposes, over the years amounting to close to twice the annual government budget under Hoover.  It took until 1957 to wind down its affairs and close the doors. x

Grand Plans and Sad Realities

All too often people of my stripe get carried away by the brilliance of their own ideas. And sometimes they are able to convince others, convince enough others to get them implemented, at least in part. But when the idea meets the rude reality, the resulting heat is often enough to melt the best idea.

Prof. Negroponte of MIT had such an idea, a simple, tough laptop for the third world. Here's a progress report.

My Mind, What's Left, Is Blown

From the NYTimes:

Vietnam, for years a bitter foe of the United States, is now a friend. The clearest evidence of how far things have changed may be the Ho Chi Minh Golf Trail, a route that connects more than a half-dozen luxury golf courses and resorts. (Like its namesake, the golf trail runs north-south, but presumably the resemblance ends there.)

Who would have thought, when the Johnson administration was debating whether to bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail, they were really debating whether to help create sand traps and water hazards for wealthy golfers?

In Defense of Bureaucrats

Mr. Stier in the Washington Post writes an op-ed saying bureaucrats "...deserve better from their president. As the nation's leading public servant, you are their boss, and they take their cues from you." He's upset by Obama's references to government bureaucrats in the healthcare debate and ends "...you should avoid demoralizing those who are serving their country by portraying them as nameless, faceless "bureaucrats."

I think that's a lost cause--defaming bureaucrats is now too deeply engrained in the political psyche to reverse.  Our only comfort is knowing that while politicians come and go, the bureaucrat endures forever.

Milestones and Memory

The Post today has a nice piece on a schoolteacher using a 9/11 curriculum package to teach the event. It's a reminder that 8 years means there are students who don't really remember 9/11.

It's also a reminder of something I thought of watching the commentary on Ted Kennedy's death. It's been 40+ years since he was elected Senator, so anyone under 55 probably doesn't remember that, despite all the glowing memories and statements about how "we all" remember (the RFK eulogy, probably). Anyone under 60 wasn't really impacted by JFK's death. Few personally recall HST (I claim to be precocious.)  We may live on the same earth but we remember distinctly different worlds.

Kevin Drum on the Blogosphere

If you're at all interested in adult commentary and the blogosphere, read this interview with Kevin Drum.

Organics = Liberal

That's why they can get away with such items for their committee to consider as "Personal Body Care Standards". I can just hear what some on the right wing might make of that.

Good News Day

Seems the child mortality rate in the Third World has dropped dramatically since 1990. Plaudits to the Gateses and all others involved. Not mentioned, but this is a prerequisite to trimming the world's population--if you can be sure your child will live and provide for you, you'll have fewer children, eventually.

Good Government: Conflicts Versus Transparency

The Project on Government voices concern over an Obama appointee with a conflict of interest. Obama raised the standards for appointments, but has also waived the standards in a few cases. (I've not seen an analysis of the net effect compared to prior administrations.) I'm ambivalent on the subject; I highly value knowledge and conflict rules tend to work against that. So why not a compromise: the more spotless the appointees background, the less transparency in office, and vice versa. Appoint someone from the industry and they have to put an Internet videocam in their office.

I Need a Name for Bright Ideas That Aren't

It's not NIH (not invented here) but it's the same sort of ego-centric thinking. Maybe it's:
only I am brilliant enough to think of this idea = OIABETTOTI or my bright idea is best BIIB. I think there's a recurrent pattern among smart people of thinking no one ever before has had this great idea when the fact is someone probably has had a similar idea.

I'm picking on my favorite President, who wants to set up a farmers market for DC by closing Vermont Avenue on Thursdays.

But there are eighteen farmers markets in DC. Have the people in the White House thought about this? You need both supply and demand for a successful market. There's not many people living near the White House, so the demand is going to be mostly office workers picking something up for the evening. Doesn't strike me as the best prospect.