Year: 2010

The Voters Have Spoken…Those Bastards!

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And once again, when the elites speak, and the ordinary folks listen to what is actually said, and educate themselves on the issue, they conclude that the elites are full of sh%$.

Case in point, the recent Japanese elections, where the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took a drubbing, because they threw out their old party leader, Yukio Hatoyama, and replaced him with Naoto Kan, who was big into Hoovernomics: His proposal was to raise the VAT in Japan from 5% to 10%, because the problem that Japan has, locked into a decades long deflationary spiral, is that ordinary people have too much money.

As a result of the elections, the DJP has lost its majority in the upper house of the Diet, and so must cut deals with the corrupt Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for most of the past 65 years, or with the rather eclectic “Your Party,” in order to get its legislation to pass.

Now might be a good time for the DPJ to work on what is ostensibly one of their major goals, to reassert the control of the democratically elected government over the entrenched Japanese bureaucracy, particularly since, in this area, they are in complete accord with the Your Party.

Yes, the Housing Crisis Was Caused by N%$##@&S

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You know the right wing talking point, that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, AKA the GSEs, and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) are responsible for the housing meltdown.

Ignore the fact that the GSEs proportion of mortgage securitization fell during the housing bubble, ignore the fact that the lenders that drove the craze were not banks, and were not covered by the CRA’s requirements for them to do lending, because if you are are a right winger, it’s all the fault of people who had the wrong coloration.

Once you let “darkies” buy houses, disaster is soon to follow.

It’s a f%$#ing lie, and the latest data point on this is the fact that, “The rich have stopped paying the mortgage at a rate that greatly exceeds the rest of the population.”

So an essential part of this narrative, that non-whites cannot be trusted to pay their debts or to be lent to seems to be another lie:

More than one in seven homeowners with loans in excess of a million dollars are seriously delinquent, according to data compiled for The New York Times by the real estate analytics firm CoreLogic.

By contrast, homeowners with less lavish housing are much more likely to keep writing checks to their lender. About one in 12 mortgages below the million-dollar mark is delinquent.

Though it is hard to prove, the CoreLogic data suggest that many of the well-to-do are purposely dumping their financially draining properties, just as they would any sour investment.

“The rich are different: they are more ruthless,” said Sam Khater, CoreLogic’s senior economist.

(emphasis mine)

The right wing has spent a lot of time attempting to manufacture the fiction that it was attempts to deter discrimination and to put some fairness into the system that caused this problem, but the GSEs could never securitize the jumbo mortgages, and the CRA never applied to the neighborhoods where the über-rich built their homes, because you don’t need banks to be forced to lend in well-to-do neighborhoods.

Their lying in furtherance of their bankrupt ideology, as well as a corrupt press corps which elevates “balance” above the truth, is all they have.

The facts prove them to be morally bankrupt parasites who should not be trusted.

Poor Implementation of Technology

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2 weeks ago, we bought a Mazda5 mini-minivan, a 2009 with about 36K miles on it.

On Tuesday, with the temperatures well over 100°, the “Check Engine” light went on.

So, my wife calls the dealer, it’s still under warranty, after all, and is told that they cannot see her until Monday.

Well, I tell her to take it to our mechanic, Marks Motors in Owings Mills, and he puts it on a scanner, and the scan code reads, “loose gas cap,” which was probably created by a juxtaposition of an improperly installed gas cap, screwed up by yours truly, and the heat of the day.

So, this car, which has more electronics on it than all of NORAD did in 1967, has a sensor to detect a loose gas cap.

This is a good thing. A loose gas cap spews pollutants into the atmosphere.

But still I wonder whatever possessed the designers of the car to display this as engine fault, rather than flashing something saying “tighten your gas cap.”

Why send someone on a premature trip to the mechanic for a damn loose gas cap?

It’s a nice car, but this is a truly bone-headed human interface decision.

Penny Wise and Pound Foolish

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On Thursday, Sharon* spent 6 hours in the emergency room with severe chest pains.

It turned out that it was her long-standing problems with acid reflux, so it was not a heart attack, it was heart burn.

Well, because of Sharon’s* sensitivities, allergies, and odd interactions between her body chemistry and drugs, there is currently only one drug on the market, the proton pump inhibitor Dexilant, on the market which can address this.

She’s tried all the other ones, and they don’t work, but the insurance company drones have decided that it’s a good idea to deny the authorization to save a few bucks.

We are appealing.

How many f$#@ing trips to the ER with symptoms of a heart attack, which they cover at 100% does it take to wipe out any savings?

Well, let me give you a hint,we have already blown through that with the first trip to the ER.

Not enough bullets.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

Littoral Combat Ship Video Pr0n

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I still think that the concept has a problem: it’s designed to operate in the shallows, but a grounding incident destroys a career in the US Navy, so it’s going to be an ugly assignment for the CO.

Still, topping 43kts is impressive.

I am also wondering, with the crewing being so low, everyone is doing multiple duty, as is discussed in the video, whether or not it might have problems with damage control in a combat scenario.

H/t Ares.

I Cannot See this Not Ending Up in Submarines

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Click for full size

Pix from Hyperion Power Generation‘s web site

Hyperion Power Generation is claiming that it can mass produce a 25 megawatt reactor in the volume of a refrigerator, 1.5m in diameter, and 2.5 m high.

As you can see from the picture, this is just the reactor, and the full installation is a lot larger than a refrigerator, but if you are dumping your heat into an infinite 20°C liquid, the ocean, and you eliminate the super-heating setup, since space is at more of a premium than efficiency, and I can see putting in something north of 15MW in a with a 10 foot stretch.

Hyperion is hawking their technology for military applications as well, albeit for remote bases, not warships.

I would note that their design, which uses convection cooling with a lead-bismuth coolant (the heat carrying capacity of the molten metal explains the small size) sound to me like it would be rather quiet too.

By way of comparison, a stretched Kilo would displace about 4,500 tons submerged, as compared to a Seawolf, which displaces around 9,100 tons and has a s power plant that puts out something north of 45MW, and the Kilo’s Wiki page has it exceeding 20 kts with less than 5MW on batteries.

It would probably keep the aircraft carrier battle group a few hundred miles further off a country’s shoreline during a time of heightened tensions.

That is assuming, of course, that their numbers are not too good to be true.

I Love This Stuff, But I Don’t Believe a Word of It

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I feel the same way about Bill Scott and Jay Ward’s Fractured Fairy Tales, though those typically had a greater proportion of reality than recent Russian weapons systems announcements.

Case in point, Russia is saying that it is working on a stealthy, 600 km/h combat helicopter.

Russian Helicopters Holdings, the corporate umbrella for Kamov, Kazan, Mil and Rostvertol, told the Moscow press yesterday the company will invest $1 billion to to develop a “fifth-generation helicopter”. CEO Andrei Shibitov did not provide details, such as what exactly defines a fifth-generation helicopter.

But the Ria Novosti newswire reports Konstantin Sivkov, who is identified as the “first deputy head of the Russian Academy of Geopolitical Problems”, filled in some criteria: Invisible to radar, extended flying range, smart weapons, air-to-air capability and 310-370mph speed.

Well, that and $8.50 will get you a grande Starbucks.

I’m a Bit Late in the Game on This

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But I do want to note that there is a program out there in defense procurement land that is:

  • On or ahead of budget.
  • On or ahead of schedule.
  • Appears to have no technical issues on the horizon.

It is the upgraded CH-53K, which has now had its schedule delayed by over two years.

What is going on here, I think is that the helicopter matches the V-22 in every capability except for speed, it carries more over short distances, and about the same over longer distances, it is more maneuverable in hover, and safer because it can autorotate.

Additionally, it is , and cheaper to buy and operate, and occupies less deck space than the Osprey, and the Marines with some justification, see it as a threat to their MV-22:

Slowing CH-53K development will keep the new helicopter out of the air (and prevent real-data comparisons between platforms) until after a second multi-year MV-22 contract gets signed in FY 2013. Even worse, slowing the CH-53K schedule raised the program price by at least $1.1 billion dollars, raising the per-unit price. The delay may also may dampen the enthusiasm of potential international buyers and give competing firms an opening to exploit this as yet unexplained delay in what was, once, a procurement showpiece. Why slow a program that stands to be a high-demand showpiece with potential markets in Israel, Germany, France, Turkey, Singapore and Taiwan?

Seriously, if we really care about our fighting men, and not about the future contracting gigs of generals, we have to put an end to this corrupt bullsh$#.

Jim Webb Asks the Right Question

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The distinguished gentleman from Virginia is asking why the military has so many flag and general officers (generals and admirals):

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., is pressing the Defense Department for justification of why the military has so many flag and general officers, and he also wants to know why the military is paying salary and tuition assistance to officers on loan to some Washington, D.C., think tanks.

It’s a good question, with about 1/10 the men in uniform as at the height of the 2nd world war, we have more active duty general officers .

Additionally, we just have more officers, with one officer for every 5 enlisted men, up from the traditional number of 1 for 10 that was the standard for the military throughout most of history.

The answer is, I think, that much like the incompetent banksters thinking that it is all about the banksters, the officer corps thinks that its all about the officer corps.

Lots of navel gazing, and lots of waste.

Cut back on the officer corps, and spend it on senior NCOs, and you will get a better military.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Ukrainians Gets Weird

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An-124 Ruslan (NATO Designation: Condor)

Yes, it appears that Antotov is serious about bidding on the KC-X tanker contract, and they have just asked for a 60-day freeze on the competition so that they can get their bid together.

These folks haven’t even decided what plane to submit, with reports of their considering, “three potential offers based on the An-124-KC and two new aircraft designs – the An-122-KC and An-112-KC.”

The AN-124 is clearly too big for the competition, it’s bigger than the C-5, and the competition is for a medium tanker, the KC-10 is the big boy, and according to the Wiki, the An-122 appears to be a 2 engined variant of the of the Ruslan, and lord knows what the AN-112 is.

On the plus side of the bid, Russia’s mega transport does appear to have much better rough field capabilities than the competition, both because of the multi axle main and nose gear, and because its high wing is makes engines less likely to suck debris off an unprepared strip.

Still, this is so silly as to be surreal.

I think that someone, possibly on the side of their US partner might be playing both ends against the middle, and the money is heading to Lichtenstein.

Barack Obama In Trying for Credibility in Defense, Destroys Our Military

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Because Barack Obama and His Stupid Minions™ are terrified about being accused of being soft on defense,* that his future budgets will by expensive high tech weapons systems at the expense of operations, maintenance, and readiness:

U.S. spending on weapons through 2016 likely will grow faster than the overall defense budget, which will have annual increases of only about 1 percent above inflation, according to Pentagon Comptroller Robert Hale.

“Our goal would be to get forces and modernization to grow by 2 or 3 percent,” Hale said in an interview, while saying that “it’s not a given.”

So Obama intends to spend money on crap we don’t need, thereby diverting money from the crap we do need

Of course, the fact that we are already spending more money on defense than at any time since the end of the 2nd World War, and he’s still trying to increase the defense budget in real terms just buggers the mind.

Republicans support wasteful defense spending because:

  • It’s easy to demagogue.
  • They find defense contractors an easy touch for donations.
  • They want to ruin our finances so that we have to make cuts in social programs.

The Democrats support wasteful defense spending because:

  • They are afraid that Republicans will call them names.

Truth be told, I am not sure which one is more pathetic.

*It won’t work, the Republicans will run against you as soft on defense anyway. As the saying goes, “The coward dies a thousand deaths, the brave man only one.”

Obama Tries to Prove Rush Limbaugh Right

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Unfortunately, no one notices.

The Obama administration is looking to implement draconian new IP laws that will literally criminalize certain types of thought:

While they may never be able to truly defeat piracy and drive it from the lurking depths of the internet, copyright protection attack-dog organizations like the RIAA and MPAA have long dreamed of the day when they would no longer have to pay for their own copyright enforcement. Now that dream is on the verge of coming true, thanks to the Obama administration.

……

The White House’s vision is perhaps a prelude to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which will go before Congress later this year. The bill would make P2P or BitTorrent client development a criminal offense if the distributed software was used for infringement. It also implements an interesting provision called “imminent infringement”, which allows the government to charge people who they think might be about to infringe with a civil offense (for example if you searched “torrent daft punk”). This is among the first official “thought crime” provisions to be proposed by the U.S. government. The bill also makes it a criminal offense to bypass DRM.

As I have said before, IP law is, at its core, public interest law, as is clearly stated in the Constitution, and this stuff is just nuts.

It does not serve anyone to spend taxpayer money to enforce private licenses, particularly not when doing so implies a regime that would have Eric Arthur Blair* spinning in his grave.

*Better known by his nom de plume, George Orwell.

Motivation, and What Works

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It Sounds good, but is it true?

I know that American, or more accurately Anglo-Saxon, management styles suck. We have no better examples than the economic meltdown, the collapse of 2 of the big 3 auto makers, BP, etc.

The overpaid masters of the universe model is a failure, and I would argue that it was eminently foreseeable.

Certainly the ideas and techniques suggested here are worth a try, and in any case, the cartooning on a white board is worth the 10 minutes 48 seconds.

H/t The Big Picture

South Korean Central Bank Raises Benchmark Rate

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It was only by 25 basis points (.25%) to 2.25%, but it was still a bit of a shocker.

My guess is that they are, like too many “very serious people” around the world, concerned about the invisible bond vigilante fairies, and they figure that the US dollar, the currency of their chief customer for their export driven economy, will be strengthening because of the Euro/PIIGS kerfuffle, so they could.

I’m not sure if it makes sense for them, if it does not drive their currency too high, it probably does, if just because it gives their central bank some maneuvering room if the recession goes double dip before hitting the zero bound once again.

Quote of the Day

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It is remarkable. I had expected that we economists would have to fight Democratic political advisors who would be pushing for policies that were bad in the long run but that gained votes in the short run. I had never expected to be fighting Democratic political advisors who are pushing policies that are:

  • bad in the long run.
  • bad in the short run.
  • lose votes too.

—-J. Bradford Delong, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the United States Department of the Treasury in the Clinton Administration

<Tinfoil Hat>I’m beginning to wonder if Obama isn’t some sort of Republican Manchurian Candidate</Tinfoil Hat>

I don’t really believe this, but his policy of cozying up to bankers, BP, and other corrupt centers of power in our society while cock punching the DFH’s* that are his base seems to be a pretty good job of sabotaging his party.

*Dirty F%$#ing Hippies.