As IF Times

link 630 WMAL: Stimulating Talk – Breaking News.

To say that logic has been stretched by the media in reporting on recent events is like saying a cow has nipples.  In the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, conservatives, specifically Sarah Palin, were linked to the shooter through some gossamer thread of logic despite having no evidence of this at the time or since.  Logic and Reason 101 are not required courses for a journalism degree.  Now, Michelle Obama is being linked to increases in pedestrian fatalities because of her widely advertised “get out and move” campaign.

Reasonable people might find both accusations presposterous in their claims as both are undoubtedly rooted in partisan sentiments.  Certainly in the case of Palin, but doubly so in the case of Mrs. Obama.   The author of the article is may be a bit delusional if they think that a prodding from the wife of the president would encourage people to get out and walk.  However, it is refreshing that someone of influence can motivate the slack jawed masses to action.

Notwithstanding the fitness and green propaganda overwhelming people on a daily basis, in reality, people would drive to the kitchen from their bedrooms if they could.  The likely culprits for the increase in pedestrian strikes are more likely attributable to:

1. Poverty.  After years of declining real estate prices, high  unemployment and upticking gasoline prices, people can’t afford to drive cars.

2. Complacency.  Because of the culture of entitlement, people are not afraid of being harmed by cars, instead they assume that cars wouldn’t dare strike them because of their rights as pedestrians

3. Darwinism.  Related to the above, people don’t know any better than to step out into traffic without regard to tons of metal, glass and rubber bearing down upon them at any given time.

4. Distraction.  People are increasingly absorbed in texting and phoning so that they become oblivious to their surroundings.  A recent you tube video shows a woman walking in a mall, so absorbed in her texting that she headed straight towards and fell into a reflecting pond in her path.  No doubt she will sue for her own carelessness.

Of course, the real answer is probably all the above.  Apart from reason number 1 listed above, all of the other explanations are rooted in modern cultural conditioning.  People have offloaded responsibility for their own actions onto the ever crowded lap of “society”.  Somebody else is always to blame and more importantly may be a source of reparations.  This being the case, the federal government may now be found responsible for the uptick in pedestrian deaths and it’s only a matter of time before a class action suit is filed on their behalf against the federal government.  In legal parlance, they “knew or should have known” that exposing people by walking would contribute to injury or death.  If found culpable, the government, which means the public, will pay out compensation to all those injured.  That’ll be good for the deficit.  More likely, a new tax will be imposed on drivers to pay into the compensation pool.  Some genius will invent pedestrian insurance. 

The worst part will be new propaganda programs instructing people how to be cross streets.  We’ll have the likes of George Clooney and Bono doing Public Service Announcements exhorting people to cross only on green lights as well as urge them to go inside if raining.   It may be determined that being a pedestrian is too dangerous in the presence of cars and we may see cities banning cars all together in favour of pedestrians to ensure a safe environment for them.  Good luck getting to the theater on time. 

That Michelle Obama, like Sarah Palin, such enemies of the state.

link Analysis: What is Plan B if China dumps its U.S. debt? | Reuters.

This topic has been the source of hand wringing for the past decade and recently, getting more and more play.  While there is no doubt the U.S. has been profligate in its spending habits and irresponsible in ramping up total national debt, particularly the past 2 years, the fear of the Chinese dumping debt is not the issue it has been played up to be. 

While large, the entire debt holdings of the Chinese are about 9% of the outstanding amount, the vast majority still being held by domestic American holders.  At 9%, 900 billion of U.S. treasury holdings is still a large amount of course.  But the Chinese are in a precarious situation themselves.  Unless their own domestic consumption can absorb the production pushed out by their low cost factories, they themselves will be unable to sustain them.  Without the benefit of a willing consumer market like the U.S., a market like no other, the Chinese cannot sell their goods.  Only the Americans have the idiot mentality of buying something just for the sake of buying something.  It’s very catch 22.  Metaphorically, the Chinese run a bar which extends credit to it’s main frequent customer, America.  Sure the bartender can cut off credit from the patron, but they would also cut off their main customer.  What to do. 

In the case of foreign exchange, if the Chinese were to place all their export loot into their own currency rather than U.S. dollars, their currency would skyrocket, undercutting their export advantage.  As far as things are now, the Chinese are held captive by this trading dynamic.  That doesn’t mean they can’t exert influence on U.S. affairs and it is in this area that things get tricky.  We have to fully acknowledge that they are helping to maintain financing of U.S. debt at an artificially low rate.  They may not pull their support, but there may be concessions sought on tricky trade issues.  Taiwan for instance.  Sensitive technology transfers as well.   In effect, the Chinese have as much interest in selling U.S. debt as the bartender has of losing his best customer.   They are buying market share.

It’s not as if the Chinese can sell refrigerators, T.V.’s, sofas, toys, video games and jeans to anyone else in the world on the scale at which they sell to the Americans.  So the worry about debt dumping is woefully misplaced.  The real dark side of the debt bomb is when they decide to start buying U.S. assets with the money.  That’s the lurking problem.