Quotes of the day

Medicare is Going to Bankrupt Us, Which is Why We Need Universal Health Care.--Megan McArdle

By stepping over the bright line between the rule of law and the arbitrary behavior of men, President Obama may have created a thousand new failing businesses. That is, businesses that might have received financing before but that now will not, since lenders face the potential of future government confiscation.--Todd Zywicki

But the spectacle of creditors being stripped of their legal rights in favor of a labor union with which the president is politically aligned does little to attract private capital at a time when the government and many companies need these investors the most.--Washington Post Editorial Board

The second editorial argues that the entitlement problem is serious and cannot wait. The third editorial defends the DC school voucher program. Since we know that the Obama Administration is centrist and pragmatic, the only inference to draw is that the Post has become a mouthpiece for the far right wing.--Arnold Kling

Computer Prices Have Fallen By 90% Over the Last Ten Years: Is That Evidence of [Intel's] Monopoly Power?--Mark Perry

Instruct regulators to look for the newest fad in the industry and examine it with great care. The next mistake will be a new way to make a loan that will not be repaid.--Bill Seidman

The thinking was that the Basel capital accords required banks to hold too much capital for mortgages (this was probably true). Accordingly, the article takes a sympathetic view of regulatory arbitrage. In retrospect, this is a bit like watching a movie in which a jailer becomes sympathetic to a prisoner, when we know that the prisoner is eventually going to escape and go on a crime spree.--Arnold Kling

The trappings of success may be a by-product of this larger mission, but they can't be the central thing. Just ask Bernie Madoff.--President Obama

In nationalizing health care, President Obama promises to save us $500. And he’s going to do it magically, by spending $2,500. But the question isn’t answered: Where will the $2,500 come from?--Stephen Green

Today all the assumptions that once defined Bill Clinton's "New Democrats" are being contested by the Obama White House. And nowhere is the contrast more stark than on the defining issue of trade.--William McGurn

At some point, President Obama must publicly apologize to President Bush and admit that he (Obama) did not realize the full depth and scope of the decision to establish a military detention center at Gitmo and to use the military courts for any trials.--Don Surber

The ultimate takeaway from the evening was, Jim, why didn't you defend yourself? And the answer is, I was trying to defend our network and take a high road and I didn't want to hit [Jon Stewart] with a chair or break his face or something like that. But he was very vicious. One day he'll answer for it.--Jim Cramer

The Laffer Curve is usually used to describe American income taxes, for which it isn't all that useful. But it was actually first developed to analyze another sort of "stealth" taxation: seignorage, the income that a government earns from printing money. The interesting result was that the Weimar Republic was printing money too fast--it could have earned more by keeping the inflation rate lower.--Megan McArdle

I cannot with a clear conscious move forward supporting and promoting the Miss Universe Organization when I no longer believe in it, or the contracts I signed committing myself as a youth. I want to be a role model for young woman with high hopes of pageantry, but now feel it more important to be a role model for my children. I am sorry and hope I have not let any young supporters down but wish them the best of luck in fulfilling their dreams.--Shanna Moakler

Moakler as a role model for you women? Let’s see, unwed mother, nude poser, got in a public fight with Paris Hilton — she is the woman you warn your daughters against being.--Don Surber