Quotes of the day

Melancholy and bile are not our greatest traits.--Larry Mullen

You can't make a baby in a month by getting 9 women pregnant--Warren Buffett

[President Obama will] stop the globe from getting warm, fill your car with nuts and corn.--JibJab

Never buy a Ford from a guy who drives a Lexus. Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy voted for Medicare. He is eligible for Medicare. When he got cancer, he did not use Medicare. If they won’t use it, you don’t want it.--Don Surber

... Bernanke really is the most superbly qualified economist out there to deal with this particular sort of crisis. But perhaps more importantly, regulatory uncertainty is not what we need now. Bernanke may be tempted to keep monetary policy loose in order to make the economy look better and save his job. Obama may be tempted to appoint someone insufficiently interested in inflation, both to goose the economy ahead of the midterms, and to ease his debt problem. And whoever it is will be getting his feet wet at exactly the wrong time. There's a strong argument to be made that one of the reasons the Great Depression was so bad in America was that the Fed power vacuum left behind by the death of Benjamin Strong left the central bank too divided to take appropriate action.--Megan McArdle

I love it when people who have never managed anything more than a government grant are convinced they can manage one sixth of the economy.--Arnold Kling

No word yet on whether the FTC plans to go after Congressmen and political appointees who fail to disclose conflicts of interest when they advocate particular policies after having received thousands of dollars from those who stand to benefit from the policies.--David Henderson

Why, Gabriel Calzada wonders, is the U.S. president recommending that America emulate the Spanish model for creating "green jobs" in "alternative energy" even though Spain's unemployment rate is 18.1 percent -- more than double the European Union average -- partly because of spending on such jobs?--George Will

Today, the regulatory community whines about the systemic risk that financial technology created. At the time, the regulators were approving and encouraging the process. Today, regulators complain about the "shadow banking system." At the time, they were encouraging the dispersal of risk and saying that it made the system more resilient.--Arnold Kling

The explicit lesson is the futility of central planning. The surest sign a Soviet-era communist country had a government office of food distribution was the presence of food lines—again, no one person or even group of people staffing a government agency can possibly possess all of the knowledge required to move a food item from raw materials to the packaged goods in your cabinet. If there isn't a single person on the planet who can make a pencil or toaster without the aid of millions of others motivated by their own self-interest, it seems ludicrous to think, for example, that we can save the entire U.S. economy if only we can find the right all-knowing experts to use the power of government to "more properly" allocate resources.--Radley Balko

Just as President Bush did in the first film, President Obama does take a few hits here. The president is named and his National Security liaison, a posturing, snotty Paul Begala-esque simp who disrespects the military, takes the same appeasement, anti–American Leftist position we saw in Iraq. Rather than blame the bad guys, the President blames the good guys for attracting the bad guys and demands Optimus Prime and the Autobots leave Earth until “every diplomatic option” with the Decepticons is explored. To Bay’s credit this is handled with some subtlety, much more subtlety than the cinematic attacks on Bush these last few years.--John Nolte

When asked to judge the constitutionality of the Senate HELP committee proposal, there's a reason why the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service said that the proposed Medical Advisory Council "raises potentially significant constitutional concerns." Our Founders thought politicians should be accountable when it comes to citizens' right to life, liberty and the pursuit of heart surgery.--Scott Gottlieb

If we had 130 law schools (instead of 200) and 200 medical schools in the U.S. (instead of 130), it would probably go a long way to solving our "health care crisis." More MDs at much lower salaries along with fewer lawyers and lawsuits would be a good thing, wouldn't it? Can't breaking up the medical cartel, training more physicians, and lowering MD salaries be part of the discussion for health care reform?--Mark Perry

Or to put it another way, to let Ken Lewis threaten a [material adverse clause] without any repercussions is to give Lewis a free roll. Heads: Bank of America gets to extricate itself from Merrill. Tails: The get a bailout to help it acquire Merrill. What the heck is that? The problem comes back to banks being of such a size that they're too big to fail. When they get that large, there's just no way to credibly deny them a bailout. So, until there's some way to address this issue, the only realistic lever the Fed can have over big banks is over management, and Bernanke recognized that. Why this is so outrageous to people, particularly Congress, is hard to imagine.--John Carney

I recall the pride with which I wore my first Fred Perry shirt and being put out when the art master said “what’s that seaweed round your nipple?”.--Jon Henderson

How it came to pass that the melody of an American Baptist hymn was transmogrified into an ode to raccoon dog testicles, I cannot tell you. But I think we need more of this kind of globalization.--Andrew Leonard

It's Dr. Evil, I didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called 'mister,' thank you very much.--Dr. Evil

You know, do me a favor. Could you say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am'? ... It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, yes, thank you.--Barbara Boxer