That didn't take long.

Why do conservatives hate America?

Rush Limbaugh: "I Hope Obama Fails.”

The end is near for Norm

Two months after the election, Nate Silver is still at it.

"Let's be frank: Norm Coleman doesn't have much of a future in electoral politics.

... in his career running for statewide office, Coleman has lost to a professional wrestler, beaten a dead guy, and then tied a comedian. "

Money for nothing

Those central bank interest rate cuts didn't work so well for Japan a few years back.

"Economists and former Bank of Japan officials say the biggest lesson they learned was that cutting rates alone has almost no effect when the financial system has fallen into a crisis as deep as the one Japan faced in the 1990s."

This article suggests that just injecting capital into banks isn't enough.  The federal regulators also need to audit the banks and find out which ones are overloaded with bad debt.  We have to hope that the next Secretary of the Treasury will do better at this than Hank Paulson has done.  Assuming there is any money left by January.

There is hope!

It turns out we really aren't out of answers.  The government can still do more to help the economy after cutting interest rates to zero.  

They print more money!  (Martin Wolf's article is worth reading just for the part about the government dropping cash out of helicopters.)

I hope this works out better for us than it did for Zimbabwe.

Ongoing economic meltdown

I'm not sure why the stock market would go up when the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates to zero.  To me, this is a sign that the economy is about as bad as it can get and the government is out of answers.  I take this is further evidence that stock markets are not rational, at least in the short term.

But don't just take my word for it.   Paul Krugman, economist and recent Nobel laureate says, "Seriously, we are in very deep trouble."

We are all socialists now

Random post-election thoughts:

The Republicans accused Barack Obama of being a socialist and wanting to redistribute income. Well, the people have spoken and their message is clear: the USA is now a socialist country. I'm sure everyone will be excited when they Congress imposes universal health insurance, 35 hour work weeks, and 6 weeks of vacation for everyone.

I am a white Christan man who voted for Obama. After reading this I am having an existential crisis. Maybe I have already become extinct.

Also, I wonder why it is that so many of the policies which my faith leads me to support are those of the "non-Christian" party? If the Republicans are the party of most Christians, why don't they care about the poor? Are they reading a different Bible?

I remember hearing Jesse Jackson speak and voting for him in the 1988 primaries. 20 years ago I would not have believed that Barack Obama could actually win election as President of the United States. I am literally in awe of what happened in our country yesterday. The USA is certainly changing for the better.

Unelectable Maverick

Watching John McCain on Saturday Night Live, my impression was that he has given up and realizes he can't win. He was back to being the old maverick McCain, the one who wasn't trying to please the conservative base. He is unelectable either way, but the ironic maverick is a version of himself he is more comfortable with, and that's how he wants to go out.

Fallows says it better than I can.

I expect McCain to apologize for the negative tone of the campaign soon after the election in an attempt to reclaim his misplaced honor.

GOTV

I was at the DFL phone bank yesterday calling Minnesota voters. Have to get some outdoor work done today with the nice weather, so I couldn't go back.

Funny thing is that the McCain campaign called me at home and left a message while I was out volunteering for the Democrats. Republicans still need a little more work on their "micro-targeting"!

Of course, the micro-targeting didn't work too well in the 2006 Congressional elections.

I would encourage anyone interested in influencing election results to volunteer for your chosen candidate. You will have a much bigger impact than staying at home worrying and reading the internet.