U.S. Outgrows Debt Clock

The national debt is now over $10 trillion and no longer fits on the National Debt Clock in Times Square. Here's the Onion's take. This video is pretty funny too: "Gunman Kills 15 Potential Voters in Crucial Swing State."

A Real Life Socialist

There is now a smoking gun connecting Barack Obama to bona fide socialism. Not liberalism, not leftist ideology, but pure socialism. During Obama's State Senate run, Obama joined forces with the Chicago "New Party" to win the Democratic nomination. The New Party was established by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to help socialists win Democratic primaries. Understanding that as a third party they would have little impact, their goal was to promote the Socialist movement by supporting socialists who were running in Democratic primaries.

The DSA covered up Obama's membership in the now defunct New Party, but at least four sources, the New Party's website (Obama's name had been purged from the site, but was found in web archives) the "Progressive Populist" magazine, the Columbus Free Post and the DSA's newsletter all show that Obama was indeed a New Party candidate in 1996. E.g.:"Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary)."

Obama took advantage of technicalities of election law to remove all of his competitors from the ballot for his 1996 Illinois State Senate run. Even though he didn't need to, he sought out the endorsement of the New Party. The New Party required candidates pledge their support for the party. Obama wasn't merely associated with this socialist group, he was a member of the socialist group. His alliances with William Ayers, Rev. Wright, Father Pfleger, and ACORN, as well as his voting record in the State Senate and the U.S. Senate do nothing to indicate that Obama has changed these anti-American, dangerous views since 1996. Consider this video.

In case you need a reminder of why socialism is one of the great evils in world history, the American Thinker details why Obama's commitment to socialism is important:

Regardless of Obama’s presumed good intentions, socialism always brings a society to a bad ending. I don’t want to believe that Americans who live in a free society that allows people to think what they will, do what they want, and succeed if they can, will willingly hand themselves over to the socialist ideology. They must therefore be reminded, again and again and again, that socialism isn’t just another political party; it’s the death knell to freedom. So remember, while McCain wants to change DC, Obama wants to change America.

McCain's Letter

Here is the letter from Senator McCain and 19 other Senators, sent in 2006, demanding reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The letter said it was "...vitally important that Congress take the necessary steps to ensure that [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac]...operate in a safe and sound manner.[and]..More importantly, Congress must ensure that the American taxpayer is protected in the event that either...should fail."

Neither Obama nor any other Democrat signed the letter. If Congress had acted on McCain's recommendations we might have avoided this economic crisis and I might have the courage to look at my 401k. Unfortunately, Democrats fought reform tooth and nail, perhaps preferring the political benefits of providing "affordable housing" to their constituents and the campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie. Is this the party we want in charge of Washington?

McCain's Healthcare Plan

Obama and Biden have been distorting McCain's health care plan both in the debates and in commercials. Obama says it will be a net tax on you and that you'll be less likely to have insurance. This is absolutely false.

The average employer contribution to family coverage is $9,325. Everyone with employer contributions under $20,000 benefits under McCain's plan. McCain's plan allows for you to have a $5,000 tax credit to buy health insurance for your family if your job doesn't include it as part of your compensation. Most jobs would probably still offer health insurance in order to attract good employees, but the new tax credit may encourage some people to choose to get their own insurance and get more in cash from their employer.

One advantage to having individual health insurance is that it is portable if you switch jobs. McCain's plan also allows you to shop across state lines for the plan that fits your needs best. Obama considers this incredibly dangerous because you are too stupid to know which plan to choose. States usually weigh down insurance plans with too much regulation. Liberals love it when the government requires insurance companies to cover everything, but it makes insurance incredibly expensive. You might want a more basic plan you can actually afford, but the state government has probably made that plan illegal. McCain would allow you to choose from plans offered around the country. McCain also favors tort reform to prevent frivolous lawsuits that also drive health care costs up. Obama opposes tort reform, as do most Democrats who get millions from trial lawyers.

Obama's plan is to force employers to either provide health insurance or to pay a fine to the government (Obama says "asking employers" instead of "forcing" like they would have any choice in the matter). It's really impossible to know the impact of this plan because Obama refuses to say how much the fine would be. If it is high, it would encourage employers to offer health benefits, but it would also destroy jobs for people who currently don't have health insurance because many employers wouldn't be able to afford it. If the fine is low, it would encourage the employer to just enroll the employee in the government's plan and we would see a mass exodus from private insurance plans into the government plan. Voila, government run health care. All-knowing government officials would then ration health care to keep down costs and the free markets role in health care would be over.

MLB Payrolls and World Series Success

Now that the White Sox and the Cubs have made hasty exits from post season play, the whole city of Chicago is now on suicide watch. The 5th and the 7th highest payrolls respectively netted exactly one playoff win and the Yankees, Tigers and Mets failed to reach the post season altogether despite having the three highest payrolls (although the Tigers were close, they only missed the playoffs by 14.5 games).

This got my friend Rudi and I thinking. What is the relationship between payroll and post season success? While our wives rolled their eyes and talked about more meaningful things (like the Hills), we punched the numbers into Excel.

As you can see in the graph, many World Series champs had payrolls that exceeded the median payroll by over 50%. Only 5 out of the last 19 champs had payrolls within 5% of the median ('89 A's, '90 Reds, '91 Twins, '02 Angels, and '03 Marlins). As for the big spenders, 9 out of 19 had a top 3 payroll and 11 out of 19 had a top 5 payroll. The highest payroll won the World Series 4 times.

With 30 teams in Major League Baseball, each team theoretically has a 3.3% chance to win the World Series. However, in the last 20 years at least, if you have the highest payroll, you win 21% of the time. Your odds are dramatically improved, but you'll still lose 79% of the time.

Of the teams that are left, the Red Sox, Angels and Dodgers have top 10 payrolls, the Phillies are near the median and the Rays are second to last. The Rays payroll is about half that of the median and a little more than a third of the White Sox. Go Rays!

Gosh Darn It, Joe!

National Review Online has a good article about Biden's debate performance. Biden was lying through his teeth through most of the debate.

For the most part, these were gross exaggerations or convenient fictions aimed to allow him to make a point he couldn’t otherwise support. How to answer the charge that he and Obama voted for a budget resolution that called for taxing Americans making $42,000? Assert that John McCain voted for it too, although he didn’t. How to argue that we’re paying no attention to Afghanistan? Claim repeatedly that we spend more in Iraq in three weeks than we have spent in Afghanistan in seven years, although that’s very far from true. How to explain his vote for the Iraq war in light of his subsequent views? Say it wasn’t a war resolution, though it was. And on and on Joe went.

Biden misrepresented McCain's views on deregulating the banking and health care industry. The Washington Post says Biden's claim that McCain's healthcare plan would result in the middle class paying more for health insurance and in taxes was a "fabrication." Part of McCain's plan is to allow you to buy insurance from out of state (currently illegal). This is what Biden calls "deregulation." McCain's plan would make health care more affordable, give you more control, and make it portable if you switch jobs.

Biden claimed that McCain has special tax cuts planned for oil companies. This is untrue. McCain wants to lower corporate tax rates for all corporations, not just oil companies. And who does Biden think pays corporate taxes? They are passed down to us through higher prices.

Pandora.com

Sarah just turned me on to Pandora.com. It's an online radio station that only plays songs you like. You start with typing in a band you like and then it plays songs from that artist and artists that are similar. Pandora learns more about your taste in music as you rate the songs it plays. For example, I started with Wilco and I've heard artists like Ryan Adams, the Flaming Lips, and Mason Jennings. If you listen to a wide range of music, just create different channels for the different styles. It's a great way to discover new music or just to have playing while you check email. I think you can share channels with your friends but I haven't gotten that far yet.

Palin Takes Off the Gloves

After the debate, Governor Palin said “Some of [Obama's] comments that he has made about the war that I think may — in my world– disqualifies someone from consideration as the next commander in chief. Some of his comments about Afghanistan and what we are doing there supposedly– just air raiding villages and killing civilians. That’s reckless."

I can think of a few other comments or positions that should disqualify him for the presidency in the minds of Americans. Electing a president with Obama's extreme left views would be more shameful than Clinton's indiscretions.

• William Ayers is "respectable" and "mainstream" despite being a completely unrepentant terrorist.

• Obama's arguments against making infanticide illegal for babies that survive botched abortions. He argued that protecting the "right" to abortion was more important than protecting innocent, born alive, babies.

• Choosing an America-hating, racist pastor to be his spiritual adviser and attending his church for 20 years.

Debate Tonight

I'm looking forward to the VP Debate tonight. Random thoughts:

Hopefully Senator Biden's plane lands safely, without being forced down by enemy fire.

Great choice for moderator tonight, Gwen Ifill is committed ideologically and financially to an Obama win. She violated journalism ethics by failing to disclose to the Commission on Presidential Debates that she has a book coming out on inauguration day titled "The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama." She's probably studying Charlie Gibson right now to learn how to look at Palin with contempt after every answer.

Joe Biden should be a formidable debater. After all, he received academic distinction in college, was the "outstanding student in political science," "graduated with three degrees," "went to law school on a full scholarship - the only one in [his] class to have a full academic scholarship," won an international moot court competition, and finished in the top 1/2 of his law school class. Oh wait, I forgot, he made up every one of those claims.

Palin should be debating Obama and let Biden debate McCain. That way we'd get the debate between the inexperienced candidates out of the way first.

The Blame Game

Obama says the financial crisis is like a house fire - we need to put it out before worrying about who started it. McCain has taken the same position. They are both wrong. Right now, the arsonist is grabbing the fire hoses.

It is important to know why this crisis has happened so we can fix it. The Democrats pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make risky loans to people with poor credit. Knowing that risky investments have a higher reward than safer investments and that they were protected by the guarantee of a bailout should things go badly, Fannie and Freddie made a lot of bad loans. President Bush and other Republicans, including Senator McCain, pushed for more regulation of Fannie and Freddie's lending practices, knowing the taxpayer could be on the hook for the loans. Democrats opposed them, afraid that regulation would harm the greater social good of "affordable housing." It didn't hurt that Fannie and Freddie showered them (Obama was a top recipient) with millions in campaign contributions. Now the Democrats have the gall to blame Republicans and the media is letting them get away with it.

Although the Federal Reserve bears some blame for keeping interest rates too low, a disaster of this magnitude doesn't happen without Fannie and Freddie and the Democrats who decided they knew how to loan money better than bankers.

A couple good articles: NRO, Thomas Sowell.