Layers of lawyers
“GM Collapses Into Government’s Arm,” screamed a headline in The Wall Street Journal. “A Saga of Decline and Denial,” said another Journal headline. But the headline that really caught our attention was published in the New York Times a week before General Motors’ bankruptcy filing on Monday: “Auto Troubles Touch Many Concerns; Bankruptcy For G.M. Would Tax The Experts.” The story says GM’s troubles are bad for workers and execs, “but it will be putting a lot of lawyers to work.” The government bailout and subsequent bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler could be called the Lawyers Full Employment Act of 2009 - President Obama’s gift to the legal industry. Other booms from GM’s bust will benefit hotels and restaurants near the New York bankruptcy court handling the case. “For law firms,” the Times noted, “big bankruptcies can be very lucrative.” Taxpayers take note: We’re sending lawyers tubs of money to rescue another corporate giant.
Aporkalypse now
Nothing like a pandemic scare to bring out the capitalists and the scam artists. One man’s swine flu symptom is another’s fatter pigskin wallet. Stores and Web sites have sold out of masks and hand sanitizers. Web sites created overnight are offering illegal and counterfeit flu drugs. Investment advisors are pointing out how to leverage swine flu into market gains. Designer breathing masks are on order, along with T-shirts that say “My folks went to Mexico and all they brought me was the flu.” Swine flu video games invite players to fatally inoculate pigs. An Australian newspaper dubbed this “aporkalypse humor,” but the flu is no laughing matter to pork producers and the capitalists who’ve been hurting due to curtailed travel and sick employees. Not to mention the survivors of those killed by this outbreak.
Relatively ‘rich’
A conservative group puts Oklahoma in the top 15 of states in terms of “economic competitiveness.” The American Legislative Exchange Council favors states that aren’t trying to tax their way back into solvency. Utah was tapped as the best in this regard; New York is the worst. Oklahoma did well because of growth in gross domestic product and personal income between 1997 and 2007. The “Rich States, Poor States” report also favors states with right-to-work laws and a minimum wage that doesn’t exceed the federal floor rate. By these measures, Oklahoma ranks low among those who favor higher taxes, closed union shops and a state minimum wage. People and business leaders looking for a place to prosper, though, are put off by states such as New York and California. An example is Arthur B. Laffer, one of the study’s authors, who’s famous (or infamous if you don’t like him) for his supply-side economics position. He moved from California (ranked 43rd in the study) to Tennessee (ranked 9th).
Et tu, Greenpeace?
We recently chided the Sierra Club for consuming so much conventional energy in trying to promote alternative energy. That effort doesn’t hold a patch to Greenpeace, a more radical environmental group, which has just come out with a “National Energy Scenario” report in conjunction with the European Renewable Energy Council. The report runs to 46 pages of tiny type, not to mention supporting materials sent to U.S. media affiliates. That’s a lot of paper and ink to talk about saving the environment in part through using less paper and ink. Of course we were comforted in knowing that the report and supporting materials were printed on recycled, chlorine-free paper using vegetable inks. No word on whether the presses were powered by humans working a treadmill rather than electricity generated by coal.
Drew who?
He’s no Willie Stark, but Drew Edmondson seems to be going populist in a big way. Will it help him in his quest to be the next governor? That he needs some help is shown by a new poll in which 35 percent of those surveyed said they’ve never heard of the state’s long-time attorney general. That’s a better recognition rate than his potential rival for the Democratic nomination, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, but worse by 10 percentage points than GOP front-runner Mary Fallin. Edmondson’s visibility may have risen with his recent attacks on the state Department of Health over the cause of an E. coli outbreak in Locust Grove last summer. With his ongoing lawsuit against and outrage toward the poultry industry, Edmondson is ramping up the populist thing that sometimes makes a difference in elections but sometimes leads to disenchantment with the message and the messenger.
A fur piece
What’s a PETA-loving liberal to do? Just as the warm glow of Barack Obama’s election reached its zenith, many of his black supporters at the inauguration were keeping themselves warm by wearing fur coats. Seems fur is making a comeback after years of being demonized by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and its celebrity supporters. The fur industry says fur is a traditional symbol of status, luxury and beauty, but warmth and practicality are two key reasons for its popularity. Fur is particularly popular in the Chicago area, from whence Barack Obama ran for president. Blacks are “disproportionately big fur buyers,” the Wall Street Journal reported last week. Michelle Obama doesn’t wear fur, but we doubt she’d advocate pelting red paint on those who do, some of whom are her husband’s biggest supporters.
Having it both ways
We’ve long observed how obsessed liberals are with hypocrisy, while noting that their own variety seems exempt from self-evaluation and that the word “hypocrisy” is often inaccurately applied when the word “inconsistent” is more apt. The literal meaning of hypocrisy is “actor” - portraying oneself as something he’s not. We found a trace of hypocrisy and a ton of inconsistency in a recent letter-to-the-editor submission. A clip-art note at the end, in green type, urged the receiver not to print the email if at all possible. We presume this is to save trees and ink. Yet the writer wanted his letter printed in a newspaper, using paper and ink. Not to mention electricity.
Our green speaker
It’s easy being green these days, but if you’re a conservative Republican it’s not so easy being known as being green. Yet the man taking the lead on alternative energy at the state level is Republican House Speaker Chris Benge of Tulsa. He wants to make it easier for vehicles to run on natural gas instead of gasoline or diesel. He wants to reward people for using solar power and wind power. Conservatives and Republicans are widely represented in the alternative fuel movement. Benge, R-Tulsa, is pushing House Bill 1952, which offers incentives for increasing the number of vehicles powered by compressed natural gas. The bill also addresses the problem of the paucity of CNG fueling stations. Benge is also pushing initiatives creating incentives for wind power and solar power. The state will be better off for his efforts.
Lords of the rings
The phrase “counter-intuitive” means contrary to normal expectations. We were surprised to learn that the University of Arizona is home to the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. The university is in Tucson, usually associated with the desert rather than forests. This would be like the University of Oklahoma hosting the National Hurricane Center rather than the National Severe Storms Lab. Yes, we know Arizona has The Petrified Forest. But living trees? Actually, the Coronado National Forest lies just outside Tucson’s city limits. And why not a research station for dendrochronology (dating events through tree-ring research) in Arizona? Texas A&M has a department of oceanography, even though College Station is 130 miles from the ocean. Also, the lead research on the Oklahoma Cross Timbers region has been conducted at the University of Arkansas in a state that has virtually no presence of prototypical Cross Timbers flora. Perhaps we’ll discover that the fine print of the stimulus bill includes funding for iceberg research at OSU.
Smile of cars
What’s it going to take to put you in the driver’s seat of that new car? This should put a smile on your face: Part of the federal stimulus package is a deduction on taxes paid when new cars are purchased. Congress considered, but rejected, another deduction for the interest paid on new car loans. Oklahoma doesn’t assess sales taxes on vehicles. Instead, it takes 3.25 percent of the purchase price on new cars (used cars also have an excise tax, but it’s figured differently). Motor vehicle excise tax collections led all categories in declines for January, compared to January of 2008. The vehicle tax decline was nearly 60 percent. Most car buyers will qualify for the new federal deduction. So in addition to those dealer incentives, Uncle Sam is offering one of his own. Of course all of us will ultimately pay for this deduction through the increase in the federal debt.
