Check out Jon Stewart making fun (and this is to put it mildly) of Rick Santelli and the rest of Financial News networks.
It takes a late night comic show to point out that the US financial sector is in such severe turmoil despite the supposed scrutiny of 24×7 financial news networks. If these networks were all full of knowledge, analysis and insights like they claim, how come the crisis on Wall Street came about despite their supposed careful scrutiny?
Check out this article that tries to decipher the true meaning of President Obama’s pseudo state of the union address. As always, he gave a terrific speech. In a time of crisis of confidence, President Obama did well to return to his core strength – giving inspirational speeches.
Bobby Jindal’s speech in contrast was quite a disaster — lack-luster and flat. The Republicans can’t seem to reach beyond tax cuts. The centre piece of Governor Jindal’s message was about Katrina and the failure of government, knowing fully well that the Republicans controlled both the White House and the Congress for most of the last eight years!
Check out this article. The author thinks that the current Andhra CM has a lot to do with the Satyam scandal.
Scandals always erupt close to the centre of power, and in the Congress the effective state power is the Andhra CM.
Beyond this he also makes some interesting suggestions including a call for a Presidential form of government. Wonder if this is just the beginning of renewed call for the Prsidential form of government.
The management of the big 3 auto makers have been the favorite punching bag of all and sundry lately. Check out this piece in the NY Times where the author credits GM’s CEO Rick Wagoner for overseeing major changes at GM. While its great to hear the other side of the story, the author somehow ignores any missteps that GM might have made which brought it to its knees before the Federal Government.
It is sad to see this happen again. Its worse to see those who have been die-hard backers of the Iraq war, defending the Israeli actions. It has been reported that Israel’s move has a lot to do with its upcoming polls. But it is also a sign that Israel might not be sure of receiving the kind of unqualified support that it has been receiving from the Bush administration from the Obama administration.
Interestingly, President-elect Obama has refrained from weighing in on the issue. It is an indication that he disagrees with the Bush administration?
Check out this article in the Sunday Times, London.
Palin ended 2008 with a striking run of personal successes in high-profile popularity polls. According to a poll by Gallup she was the second most admired woman of the year, after Hillary Clinton. Time magazine chose her as the world’s fourth most influential person, behind Barack Obama, Henry Paulson of the US Treasury and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.
Last week she triumphed in an annual poll, commissioned by a property website, as the person Americans would most like to have as their neighbour. She finished ahead of Oprah Winfrey, the television chat show queen, and Michael Phelps, the Olympic swimmer.
If she were pull it off and become the Republican nominee the Democrats will surely welcome that.
But four years is a long time. She could be better prepared on everything from world history to domestic policy, Obama and co. could mess up real bad, Romney could switch all his positions and move to the center, Huckabee could decide to stay with Fox rather than run for office etc. For now, despite the Republican disaster this past year, she still appears to be very much in the game for 2012. Is this the party that is trying to re-invent itself?
Check out this article in the WSJ. The author has an interesting proposal. He says “Buy Pakistan’s nukes!”
While President-elect Obama has talked about “taking out” identified targets if the Pak government was not willing to act, India has shown signs of flexing its muscles, and President Zardari has supposedly clamped down on terrorist groups, there appears to be no conclusive long term solution. The author does have an interesting and possibly workable solution.
The government of Pakistan would verifiably eliminate its entire nuclear stockpile and the industrial base that sustains it. In exchange, the U.S. and other Western donors would agree to a $100 billion economic package, administered by an independent authority and disbursed over 10 years, on condition that Pakistan remain a democratic and secular state (no military rulers; no Sharia law). It would supplement that package with military aid similar to what the U.S. provides Israel: F-35 fighters, M-1 tanks, Apache helicopters. The U.S. would also extend its nuclear umbrella to Pakistan, just as Hillary Clinton now proposes to do for Israel.
A deal such as this or a similar deal is probably the most viable suggestion seen in the media lately. It will hasten the peace in Kashmir as well and cut down on the growth of terrorism in Pakistan.
Saw this article in the WSJ today which talks about how Google (one of the big proponents of net neutrality) is striking deals with network providers!That’s quite a U-turn for Google.
Google Inc. has approached major cable and phone companies that carry Internet traffic with a proposal to create a fast lane for its own content, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
It will be interesting to see the approach of the Obama administration in this regard considering his pro-net neutrality stance prior to the election. For now, it certainly appears as though net neutrality is doomed.
“The Internet is perhaps the most open network in history, and we have to keep it that way,” he told Google employees a year ago at the company’s Mountain View, Calif., campus. “I will take a back seat to no one in my commitment to network neutrality.”
Check out this video. An Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President Bush at a news conference. Firstly, I am impressed with his ability to move so fast in quick succession and avoid the object aimed at him. Next, he deserves credit for his sense of humor when he responded, “All I can report is it is a size 10.”
Pakora Korner 