Jan Brewer has done everything she can do for Arizona! All that’s left is a Fred Barnes op-ed

Jan Brewer is officially out of solutions because Arizona is the best state run by the best governor with the best budget and the best economy! Step aside, Jeb Bush, Fred Barnes is on the case.

via The Awl

Climate skeptic, Bjorn Lomborg, now wants a $100 billion global climate change fund

Uhh, what? And because he is a former skeptic and not fat like Al Gore he gets wide play on NPR, BBC etc. Guardian via Ezra Klein:

Bjørn Lomberg, formerly a major opponent of climate change legislation, is calling for $100 billion to reduce emissions, reports Juliette Jowit: “Examining eight methods to reduce or stop global warming, Lomborg and his fellow economists recommend pouring money into researching and developing clean energy sources such as wind, wave, solar and nuclear power, and more work on climate engineering ideas such as ‘cloud whitening’ to reflect the sun’s heat back into the outer atmosphere. In a Guardian interview, he said he would finance investment through a tax on carbon emissions that would also raise $50bn to mitigate the effect of climate change, for example by building better sea defences, and $100bn for global healthcare.”

ZOMG. Now that he’s declared it open season, we must hop to it. Though, I wonder if the change in heart is a result of Chicago style politics.

WSJ economist survey: prediction v. extreme wrongery

So the WSj has this big article on how the majority of the economists they surveyed want Bush tax cuts extended and that no additional stimulus is required. One minor point: they have an AWFUL history of forecasting anything accurately:

I am sorry what? These people predicted that job growth and were only short by, oh, I dont know, 17 million in 2009? And they couldn’t predict that real growth in early 2010 and we’re supposed to take the advise of this sage bunch on … what exactly?

Snippets:

“The economy needs government to get out of the way,” said Stephen Stanley of Pierpont Securities.

Hi, Sarah Palin Jr.

“It is irresponsible nonsense to claim that tax cuts ‘pay for themselves,’ ” said Nicholas Perna of Perna Associates.

True. Any guesses where he’d like cuts … education?

When asked about the biggest risk facing the economy, “too few jobs, too little wage income and too little consumer spending”

No shit, sherlock. Let me guess: extending Bush’s tax cut will fix all three?

I am wondering if the WSJ just interviewed Peter Morisi, Glenn Hubbard, Allen Meltzer & Greg Mankiw 13 times.

More Weiners, less wusses, please

Now, that, that’s kickin ass:

Peter King o’ Crap gets bitch-slapped again:

The most sensible argument against same-sex marriage

Gawker TV “balla macka wonk filla hiren”:

The financial regulatory & lobbyist rats are fleeing

Mission accomplished, I suppose.

The lobbyist rats that helped the fatten the cats are leaving the ship: former banking lobbyist John Dugan will leave the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency after a 5 year term during which he looked the other way & ignored consumer complaints.

According to Dugan he was “an effective crisis manager, worked to soften the impact of financial turmoil on national banks and sounded off on certain regulatory issues relevant to those banks, such as the need for better loan underwriting and the risk of being too reliant on commercial real estate lending”. LOL.

All evidence to the contrary. Chris Whalen:

“The OCC bears a large part of responsibility for the subprime fiasco because not only were large banks involved in the purchase and securitization of subprime, they were also involved in the derivatives and CDOs,”

Meanwhile a change at John Dugan’s former employer, banking lobby firm, the ABA:

“After 25 years at ABA, I believe this is the best time to create the opportunity for new leadership,” Yingling said in statement.

The move comes as Congress is on the verge of passing broad financial regulatory legislation. Like most of the industry, the ABA lobbied aggressively against many of the provisions.

I wonder what new industries & people they’ll screw over in retirement.

It’s true: tax cuts for the rich create jobs. It’s just not in this country

I didn’t hear a peep about this in the business media:

[The] results of the 2010 Global Venture Capital Survey conducted by the NVCA and Deloitte have made this shrinkage in the U.S. all the more clear — but it also shows how venture capital is on the rise in emergingmarkets like China, India and South America. In all, 500 venture capitalists were surveyed.

But they’ll low taxes on any profits that they make from successful companies created in China & India. Awesome.

Or how US banks – backed with huge tax cuts for the executives and for the firms – are aiding the UK economy to recover:

U.S. banks have paid the majority of the $3.81B that the British government have collected from its bonus tax. Nice. Remember – the talent will flee to Dubai if we tax them.

Or:

BYD Auto, one of China’s most ambitious electric-vehicle makers, just stretched its reach a bit further. Backed with $250 million from none other than Warren Buffett, the company was already prepping its all-electric E6 sedan for the U.S. market by the end of 2010. Now it’s looking to carve out a niche for itself in the growing home energy management market,

Warren Buffet’s effective tax rate is around 15%. And he created jobs in China. Awesome.

The Simpsons: “Welcome to Israel: Your American Tax Dollars at work”

AIPAC’s panties in a bunch:

The Economist laments the death of Ayatollah Fadlallah. CNN fires correspondent for same.

I am guessing that CNN’s rating are going through the roof as I speak because every fucking teanut is tuning in impressed by CNN caving in to right-wing faux outrage:

That was in the midst of Lebanon’s gruelling civil war, from 1975 to 1990. Yet Mr Fadlallah had mellowed, long before his death on July 4th at the age of 74. Once damned by Westerners as a mentor to hostage-takers and suicide-bombers, he was viewed by his own flock as the most open-minded of ayatollahs. He boldly championed women’s rights. He preached the duty of Muslims to fight foreign invaders but counselled Iraqis to be patient with the Americans who had rid them of Saddam Hussein. He immediately and unequivocally condemned the 9/11 attacks on America, the first leading Muslim cleric to do so.

When The Economist later spoke to him, he opened the conversation by thanking Western countries for giving refuge and freedom of worship to many Muslims. Visitors to his modest office in the Dahiya, Beirut’s dense, Shia-dominated southern suburb, were often surprised to find Sunni Muslims and even Christians seeking guidance from the sage.

The reason we are losing in Afghanistan: islamofacist monkeys!

Is it April 1 in China? NY Mag:

According to a report from a Chinese news site, the Taliban has been training monkey soldiers to fight American troops in Afghanistan. The source for this claim seems to be an unnamed “British-based media agency” and some photos on the Internet of monkeys holding guns.

Fox “News” is gonna run with it and recommend erecting borders to keep terrorist monkeys from entering our borders and infiltrating our zoos