Elections Have Consequences: Aerial Cattle Car Edition

The Transportation Department has now forbidden airlines from keeping passengers on a plane for more than 3 hours while it waits on the tarmac.

This is a long overdue change.

And yes, I realize that there appears to be some dissonance from my prior post, lambasting Obama and His Stupid Minions^™ on cutting another taxpayer funded giveaway to AIG fat cats.

The thing is, Obama is not every special interest's bitch, just the FIRE (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate) sector.

Airlines are not part of FIRE, so they don't get a pass.

More Change We Can't Believe In

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Well, isn't that special?

Kenneth Feinberg, AKA the "pay czar", has folded like wet broccoli on AIG salaries:

Feinberg said the insurance company also will be allowed to pay the employee incentive payments worth about $4.3 million, made up of an annual long-term restricted stock grant worth about $1 million and a stock grant valued at about $3.3 million on the grant date.

That's just marvelous.

Maybe we should return to the days of Dwight Eisenhower, and raise the maximum marginal tax rate to 91%, it would help deal with the pillaging parasites.

More Evidence that the Healthcare Bill Won't Benefit Us

The stock prices for health insurance, for profit hospital chains, and pharmaceuticals rose sharply on the news that the Senate succeeded in cloture.

They see the bill as a win for us, which makes it a lose for the rest of us.

Economics Update

More bad news in real estate, with commercial real estate prices falling to a 7-year low, and the latest figures on home prices showing a year over year decline of 7.8%.

More generally, the Chicago Bank of the Federal Reserve's economic index rose slightly in November, from -1.02 in October (indicating growth below the historical trend) to -0.32 (indicating growth below, but closer to the historical trend).

We also had good news in Japan, where exports rose sharply.

In treasurys, bond prices fell, as investors moved into US equities.

To move into those equities, foreign investors bought dollars, which drove the dollar, and the rising dollar drove oil down.

Quote of the Day

All other things being equal, the progress of the health care reform debate is looking good for me personally because I had invested heavily in futures contracts on cross-party histrionic nonsense.

Josh Marshall

Man, does he have me pegged, and he's never even heard of me.

Saab Not Dead Yet.

Rule 1 of this blog:
Never miss a chance to invoke Monty Python

Well, it looks like the Saab automobile manufacturer may be back from the dead, with Spyker reentering negotiations, and there are nibbles from other firms. (also here)

There are two paragraphs of note in the story:

Spyker said Sunday it has submitted a renewed offer including an 11-point proposal addressing issues that arose during the due diligence process.

……

GM—which had previously entered talks with Spyker after a deal with Swedish luxury car builder Koenigsegg collapsed last month—had set an original deadline of Dec. 31 to seal a deal.

My guess as to what this means is that GM is spend a lot of time dicking with potential bidders, either in terms of an unwillingness to allow the transfer technical rights and data to the prospective bidders, or in terms of financial issues, particularly in terms of the dealers and access to GMAC financing for those dealers.

Unlike Pontiac or Saturn,^* Saab, small though its sales are, has the advantage that it actually has a devoted and nigh-fanatic following who are willing to pay a premium for the product, and so there are companies, particularly in the very end super car field, who are interested in purchasing it, because it gives them a way to go mass market with some of their more esoteric technology.

If there is a mass market car company that will implement things like friction stir welding on its models to go with an all aluminum body at a reasonable price, it would be Saab, and I can see how a supercar manufacturer like Spyder, or Koenigsegg, might use the interplay between the low-volume hand made autos and the (relatively) high volume Saab to create a sort of "technical echo chamber" to move the implementation of this technology along.

^*Actually, Saturn did too in the mid 1990s, with people literally going on vacation to their manufacturing facility in Spring Hill, Tennessee, but once GM realized that people loved their cars, they spent the next 10 years doing their level best to piss off employees and customers, because if Saturn could make cars that people liked, it would put too much pressure on the rest of GM.

Too True

From Matt Bors.

Now go to his web page, and buy his stuff

Someone Else Who Tries to F%$# Us Like a Bitch

I'm not kind of bummed that I riffed on that scene in Pulp Fiction yesterday, because there are so many people who want to f%$# us all like a bitch.

Case in point, Verizon, who is claiming to the FCC that charging exorbitant cancellation fees should be supported because it helps the poor:

Verizon defended its early termination charges for cellphone contracts Friday, telling federal regulators that the high fees help the poor by making it more affordable for them to access the mobile internet.

The Federal Communications Commission asked the nation’s largest wireless carrier earlier this month to explain why it had raised the fees for breaking a mobile phone service contract to $350 for its smartphones. In a response that gave no ground to an increasingly active FCC, Verizon said the fees were a necessary and good way to subsidize expensive smartphones so that users don’t have to pay for the hardware up front, so long as they sign a two-year contract.

That arrangement “enables many more consumers, including those of more limited means, access to a range of exciting, state of the art broadband services and capabilities (.pdf),” Verizon VP Kathleen Grillo wrote. “The company’s pricing structure therefore promotes the national goal of fostering the greater adoption and use of mobile broadband services.”

Verizon raised the fees in November, with a $10 discount for each month of the service contract fulfilled for smartphones. Even so, if a customer cancels on the last day of their 2-year contract, they’d have to pay Verizon $120 for early termination.

It appears that in Verizon's eyes, we all look like bitches that they really really want to f%$#………Without Lube.

What John Said

John Aravosis, that is:

President Obama doesn't seem to lack the will to fight on matters of principle, rather, he seems to lack the will to fight on anything.……

…

…We know that when you fight for something in politics, you can very often win. But if you don't fight, you'll never win. We are upset at the President and the Congress because no one fought for the public option, for the President's own campaign promise. (As David Gregory rightly noted to David Axelrod during the same broadcast.)

(emphasis mine)

We are not angry because he refused to fight for our own values, we are angry because he has refused to fight, period, full stop.

It's not the morals, or lack thereof. It's the cowardice.

Virgin Unveiling

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So, Virgin Galactic has unveiled its SpaceShipTwo space tourism ride.

You can see a cheesy video at the bottom.

RQ-170 Sentinel Revealed

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RQ-170


What are the fairings on top are for, maybe antennae?

So, I was wrong, when I suggested that there was no reason for the USAF to be flying a stealthy UAV in Afghanistan and that someone was Photoshopping a Burt Rutan project.

I was wrong.

The configuration is interesting, because while it is clearly low observable, the location of the exhaust is fairly conventional, rather than discharging on top of the wing, which implies that, despite it clearly being a LO design, it's not a "LO is the be all and end all of the design" vehicle like the F-117 and B-2 are.

The USAF has now admitted to fielding the RQ-170 Sentinel UAV in Afghanistan as well as the fact that it was developed at Lockheed Martin's Skunkworks.

It appears to have been developed in response to the diplomatic brouhaha that resulted from the interception and forced landing of an EP-3 at the beginning of the Bush Administration.

It should be noted that the RQ designation means that it is unarmed, (paid subscription required) and the linked article also gives a reason for the USAF to deploy a radar evading UAV to Afghanistan:

“Don’t get enamored with current conditions,” [Air Force deputy chief of staff for ISR, Lt. Gen. Dave] Deptula cautions. “We don’t know what the future will bring.” While operations in Afghanistan will be “more complex than ever,” the future is “not only going to be about irregular warfare.”

Beyond 2011, the Air Force’s first priority and the destination of the next dollar to be spent “if I were king for a day,” Deptula says, “would be for long-range [reconnaissance and] precision strike. That’s the number-one need.
The “black” Sentinel was seen in 2007 at Kandahar, Afghanistan. Two photographs surfaced this year via the Secret Defense Blog.

“We cannot move into a future without a platform that allows [us] to project power long distances and to meet advanced threats in a fashion that gives us an advantage that no other nation has,” he notes. “We can’t walk away from that capability.

It's all about the Benjamins. The USAF is deploying this to Afghanistan because they think that it will help them in their budget fights against other services.

Russians Adapt Cruise Missile to Conventional Warhead

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AS-18 Kazoo variant


AS-15 Kent Variant

We now have evidence that the Russians are modifying their cruise missiles to accommodate conventional warheads. (paid subscription required)

You can notice on both the Kazoo (top) and the Kent, forward surfaces have been added, probably to accommodate a center of gravity that has moved forward due to a heaver conventional warhead replacing the previous nuclear payload.

Additionally, the Kazoo appears to have some electro-optical sensors, which are likely used to improve terminal accuracy, reported to be 2-5 meters.

Considering their experience in Georgia, where they aircraft to anti-aircraft systems that they had designed, the renewed focus on stand off weaponry is not a surprise.

If It's In The Weekly Standard, They Are Either Liars of Incompetent

Well, the good folks at Defense Tech flag an article by John Noonan at The Weekly Standard suggesting that Iran's new solid fuel multi-stage missile represents a quantum leap in missile capabilities:

I'm a little late coming in on the latest Iranian missile salvo, but there a few salient points still worth mentioning. First, the Sajjil-2 is a solid fuel rocket. That's the type of power source that we use in our own Minuteman III rockets, as solid fuel is stable in flight and requires no preparation time ahead of a launch. Liquid fuel, which powers the Iranian Shahab-3 fleet, is highly corrosive and sloshes around in a rocket's downstage, destabilizing flight and degrading accuracy. It's so toxic that the fuel eats away at a missile's internal tanks, and thus needs to be inserted right before launch. That prep time is important, as it gives us a little extra warning prior to a hostile missile launch, which could be used to kill Iranian birds before they fly. With this new Sajjil-2 system, Iran has the ability to keep their missiles hot and ready for execution, killing any chance of an advanced warning or neutralization actions prior to a launch.

………

(emphasis mine)

I understand that John Noonan, like most of the staff of The Weekly Standard, wants to bomb Iran, and wants Iran bombed, but this does not justify his not telling the truth, and in the two areas that I've highlighted, he's not telling the truth:

• The need to load the fuel immediately before launch.
  
• Simply not true. The US and Russia started using storable liquid propellants, nitrogen tetroxide oxidiser and a hydrazine UDMH mix propellant in the both the Titan II, and SS-18, and had them in ready for immediate launch for years, perhaps 15 seconds from when the button is pushed until the missile exits the silo.
  
• Fuel sloshing
• Fuel tanks have baffles to prevent sloshing. The tanks are specifically designed to avoid this issues, and while it may be "rocket science", it's a problem that has been solved for years.
  
• The numbers accuracy for both the Titan (900m), and the SS-18 (250m) show that these missiles accuracy, much like their solid fuel counterparts, is a function of the guidance system, not any fictional sloshing.

Let's be clear, for ICBM's, solid fuel is better. There are a whole bunch of problems, as exemplified by the Titan II silo explosion that resulted from a workman dropping a socket that punctured a tank.

Additionally, if you want to go with a mobile launcher, it's somewhere between insane and impossible to transport a loaded liquid fueled rocket.

Additionally, the operational costs of a liquid fueled system are higher, with, for example routine replacement of seals and X-Rays of the tanks to verify fuel levels.

So, a solid fueled ICBM, or IRBM is marginally more capable, and much simpler to operate, but running around with your head on fire about it indicates that one is either incompetent, or dishonest.

What Does Matthew G. Saroff Look Like?

Original Courtesy of Quentin Tarantino, with typography by mdaisey

What?

What country are you from?

What, what?

What ain't no country that I ever heard of. They speak English in what?

What?

English, muthahf%$#er, do you speak it?

Yes.

Then you know that I'm saying!

Yes.

Describe what Matthew G. Saroff looks like!

What?

Say what again! Say what again! I dare you! I double dare you muthahf%$#er! Say what one more God Damned time!

He's white! He's bald! …… He could stand to lose 40 pounds!

Does he look like a bitch!

What?

(Bang! screaming)

Does … he … look … like … a … bitch!?!?!

Nooooo!!!!!

Then why are you trying to f%$# him like a bitch David?

Axelrod promises to push for drug re-importation after healthcare reform
By Kevin Bogardus - 12/20/09 09:59 AM ET

A senior White House adviser said Sunday that the Obama administration will push forward on safe re-importation of pharmaceutical drugs after the healthcare reform bill is finished.

As a candidate in 2008, President Barack Obama promised to allow cheaper drugs to be re-imported into the United States from Canada and other countries. He also co-sponsored legislation that would allow re-importation as an Illinois senator. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, a key White House ally in the healthcare reform push, has lobbied heavily against re-importation, though, and would likely not support the final bill if it was included in the package.

Speaking on CNN’s "State of the Union," David Axelrod, Obama’s top political aide, said the White House still favors drug re-importation and wants to move forward on it.

Do I look like an idiot? After fighting tooth and nail to keep drug re-importation out of the healthcare bills, you are going to fight to bring it back, like you promised during the campaign, just like you promised to repeal "Don't Ask Don't Tell", promote marriage equality, and to go after people who broke the law in the Bush administration?

Barack Obama and His Evil Minions^™ are trying to f%$# anyone who wants to improve healthcare, and that means that they are trying to f%$# Matthew G. Saroff, and Matthew G. Saroff don't like to be f%$#ed by anyone except Mrs. Saroff.

Not Enough Bullets: Credit Card Companies Edition

In particular First Premier Bank Credit Cards, which is charging 79.9% interest:

Here’s something you don’t see every day: A credit card with a $75 dollar annual fee, a $300 limit, a $29 penalty for being late or over limit… and an interest rate of 79.9 percent? Welcome to First Premier Bank, a sub-prime credit card issuer.

First Premier is just following the new regulations found in the Credit Card Reform Bill passed by Congress and signed by our President this past year. Apparently, Congress set out to curb the abuse that has become all-too-common in the credit card industry… you know, like exorbitant fees and interest rates from 20-40%… so they asked the banking lobby to come up with something acceptable and this is the result. So, there should be no one surprised when other credit card issuers follow suit as expected.

You know, it's this kind of crap makes cynicism rule in politics.

Why the Naked CDS Should Be Banned: Part McCMLXXVII

Yes, once again we have Goldman Sachs that great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity,^* using naked Credit Default Swaps, (CDS) which are basically insurance policies, with the crucial differenc being that you can insure your neighbor's home, and collect when you burn it down, something forbidden in other insurance products since 1746.

You see Goldman Sachs bought naked CDS, and then interfered in its reorganizing its debt so that it could collect:

International Brotherhood of Teamsters President James Hoffa said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is creating derivatives trades that would profit from the bankruptcy of YRC Worldwide Inc., the trucking company trying to avert failure with a debt exchange.

The most profitable securities firm in Wall Street history “is actively soliciting bond trades for clients and underwriting credit-default swaps to benefit from a failed exchange and resulting bankruptcy,” Hoffa, the union leader, wrote in a letter dated yesterday to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein.

YRC, the biggest U.S. trucker by sales, is extending the exchange offer deadline to Dec. 23, after investors holding 75 percent of its debt initially agreed to the exchange, below the 95 percent required by bank lenders. As of 5 p.m. in New York yesterday, participation fell to 57 percent, the Overland Park, Kansas-based company said in a statement. The company said it believes some bondholders have withdrawn because they want to tender their notes only on the expiration date.

The company has faced opposition to its plan to exchange $536.8 million of notes for equity from bondholders who also own derivatives that pay out in a default, according to people familiar with the matter. The Teamsters’ pressure comes as Goldman Sachs is under fire from other labor groups over its role in the subprime mortgage crisis.

This is precisely why the Marine Insurance Act of 1746 was passed, and why the writing of new naked CDS instruments should be banned, and existing naked CDS contracts should be rendered unenforceable.

There is a difference between making money off of someone else's misfortune, and making money by causing someone else's misfortune.

^*Alas, I cannot claim credit for this bon mot, it was coined by the great Matt Taibbi, in his article on the massive criminal conspiracy investment firm, The Great American Bubble Machine.

Deep Thought

H/t Pundit Kitchen

60……Until Leiberman Knifes Everyone Again……

We now have reports that Reid and Obama have managed to cajole Senator Ben Nelson into not filibustering the helathcare bill:

Senate Democratic leaders achieved a breakthrough Saturday in the drive for health overhaul legislation, securing the 60 votes needed to ensure passage after a late-night deal on abortion coverage locked in the support of Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson.

The bill is at best marginally better than what we have now, it might be a bit worse, since the mandate in a monopoly situation is a disaster, and the abortion language allows states to forbid insurance companies to cover abortions.

Let's be clear, insurance companies don't customize their plans unless forced to, and over the next few years, this will have the effect of eliminating abortion from insurance coverage, as NOW notes:

Statement of Terry O'Neill, NOW President

December 19, 2009

The so-called health care reform bill now before the Senate, with the addition of Majority Leader Harry Reid's Manager's Amendment, amounts to a health insurance bill for half the population and a sweeping anti-abortion law for the rest of us. And by the way, it's the rest of us who voted the current leadership into both houses of Congress.

The National Organization for Women is outraged that Senate leadership would cave in to Sen. Ben Nelson, offering a compromise that amounts to a Stupak-like ban on insurance coverage for abortion care. Right-wing ideologues like Nelson and the Catholic Bishops may not understand this, but abortion is health care. And health care reform is not true reform if it denies women coverage for the full range of reproductive health services.

We call on all senators who consider themselves friends of women's rights to reject the Manager's Amendment, and if it remains, to defeat this cruelly over-compromised legislation.

###

I'll still be calling my Senators, and asking them to vote against the bill and against cloture.

DC Same-Sex Marriage Bill Law……Sort Of

Mayor Adrian Fenty has signed the bill, but there is still a 60 day Congressional review period, because DC citizens don't have full civil rights more generally, and I think that you will see a concerted effort by the 'Phants/Blue Dogs/Closet cases, and other various bigots in Congress to repeal this.

Economists Should Not Do Rap

Ever!!!!

That being said, this is a pretty good short (9:11) video on the relative merits of Keyenes and Hayek.



H/t naked capitalism