Barney Frank quits. "The king is dead. Long live the queen" :)

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Quote of the day: military eating the employment lunch

I am not always a fan of Congressional Representative Barney Frank--he is too ideological for my political tastes.  What he says here is a gem:

Scoffing at the suggestion that “everything is on the table’’ in budget negotiations between the Obama administration and congressional leaders, Frank said, “The military budget is not on the table. The military is at the table, and it is eating everybody else’s lunch.’’

Frank also commented a few days ago that after Obama announced troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Congress didn't bother to take back the billions originally appropriated for those troops as well.

When it comes to war and defence, there is one one hell of a scary bipartisanship.

We are at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya Yemen, Pakistan.  In the first two, we have "boots on the ground."  In Yemen and Pakistan, we use drones.  And Libya, of course, is not war but "kinetic military action."

Meanwhile, scary employment and economy scenarios back here at home.

These are the kind of situations when I wonder why I even bother to read the news anymore :(

How to earn tenure, but lose elections

Via Brad DeLong, here is congressman Barney Frank:

Not for the first time, as an elected official, I envy economists. Economists have available to them, in an analytical approach, the counterfactual. Economists can explain that a given decision was the best one that could be made, because they can show what would have happened in the counterfactual situation. They can contrast what happened to what would have happened. No one has ever gotten reelected where the bumper sticker said, "It would have been worse without me." You probably can get tenure with that. But you can't win office.

General Motors is now Government Motors!!!

Says Greg Mankiw:

Here is what President Obama said about the GM restructuring:

What we are not doing -- what I have no interest in doing -- is running GM. GM will be run by a private board of directors and management team with a track record in American manufacturing that reflects a commitment to innovation and quality. They -- and not the government -- will call the shots and make the decisions about how to turn this company around. The federal government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamental corporate decisions. When a difficult decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plant or what type of new car to make, the new GM, not the United States government, will make that decision.

In short, our goal is to get GM back on its feet, take a hands-off approach, and get out quickly.

Very well put. Apparently, however, the president's congressional allies did not get the memo. Today's Boston Globe reports:

Frank intervention extends life of GM's Norton center

General Motors Corp. will delay the closing of a Norton parts distribution center it planned to shutter by the end of the year, according to US Representative Barney Frank. The extension will temporarily preserve about 80 jobs....

The plant manager received word yesterday that Frank had successfully lobbied GM chief executive Fritz Henderson to delay the closing....

Frank, whose district includes Norton, said he told Henderson, "Look, I understand that these things have to happen but they don't have to happen in the midst of the worst recession in years."

Will the Obama administration call Congressman Frank and ask him to refrain from further politicization of GM business decisions? Or will it put aside its principles and defer to Congress on these matters?

Ouch!

So, does this mean that just as we have an "independent" base closing commission, we will soon have an independent and bipartisan commission on which auto dealerships to close, and which auto factories to close? Lordy lord!!!

President and Congress explain the bailout