Obama Deficits Four Times Bush's

This article tells it. Oblahma isn't backing down. All that campaign rhetoric has gone by the wayside.

President Barack Obama's budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits
over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W.
Bush's presidency, congressional auditors said Friday

All this from the guy who blasted the previous administration (which by the way deserved most of it) for its deficits. Hope may be lost by the time this guy is finished with his change. He's just getting started and he's four times worse.

Just a thought.

The Cow Is Out Of The Barn

Everybody whose panties are in a wad over AIG bonuses need to slow down. If that was their pay plan Ol' BC's understanding is only the courts can amend or negate contracts. Not the executive branch. Not the legislative branch. If your job was, say, to meet a goal in new life or health policies and you met it you would expect the bonus to be paid. If you agreed that after a time certain with the company a bonus would be paid and you met it, you would expect to be paid. If the government wanted to beat these guys and gals out of their bonuses, they should have attached the strings up front when handing over billions of taxpayer money. They had their chance and apparently ol' Senator Dodd (he of big money from Fannie fame) slipped in that it was alright to pay them.

It looks like Oblahma is going to overstep his authority and try to take charge of compensation in the private sector.

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now
covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money.
Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded
companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the
Securities and Exchange Commission.

Nothing good can come of this. Well run companies don't need goverment meddling. Look how inefficient government run entities are and have been throughout history. Poorly run companies need to change or fade away or be absorbed. Government meddling isn't going to help. Pretty soon they will be asking A-Rod for part of his $250 million in compensation because he plays games in stadiums that were built with public money. And on and on and on.

Just an observation.

Wal-Mart To Stifle Latinos

According to this article Wal-Mart is going to open Hispanic focused supermarkets complete with spanish speaking employees and signage.

Retail giant Wal-Mart
(WMT) will open its first Hispanic-focused
supermarkets this summer in Arizona and Texas. The stores will feature
Spanish speaking staff and new layouts, products, and signage that will be
"relevant to local Hispanic customers."
The stores, dubbed Supermercado de
Walmart, will appear in converted Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market stores in Phoenix
and Houston. Separately, the company also plans on converting a Sam's Club
warehouse into a Hispanic-themed Más Club.

Ol' BC wonders what kind of kudos Wal-Mart will receive for helping to relegate the latino population in the Houston and Phoenix areas to the lowest rungs of the economic ladder. Wal-Mart should lead the movement to encourage immigrants to the U.S. to assimilate, learn English and give themselves a chance to be successful in this country. Wal-Mart has the financial wherewithal to have an impact in this area. Of course, then again, maybe they prefer to have pool of those who will do grunt work cheaply because they can't speak English. This will help keep that pool viable for quite some time.

Just a thought.

Vacation Was Nice - President Still On Wrong Path

Ol' BC just returned to the semi-cold midwest from sunny Florida after a visit with my old man. He's 86 and still physically fit for the most part. We got in a couple rounds of golf, drank some cold beer and ate some delicious oysters. It was low 80's and sunny all week.

It was good to see that Mark Van Dyk was back stirring the pot and engaging in some interesting exchanges. Mark, I hope the kids are doing well. I see that you still lean towards the contradictory. Of course teaching college students must make one that way.

I did see where Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), a finalist for the VP nomination and one of Ol' BC's senators, voted against Oblahma's spending bill and is organizing a group of 15 or so to try to infuse some sense into the Oblahma administration. Bayh indicated that this present path is simply unsustainable.

I don't know if Bayh has enough backbone to make this interesting. He certainly didn't get it from his dad if he does. Stay tuned.

Just an observation.