More Financial Debacles

The Wall Street Journal reports on a long-predicted problem finally coming to fruition. The Federal Housing Administration is a government-owned company that guarantees mortgages, and during 2007 and 2008, the government wanted the FHA to guarantee more mortgages for those who couldn't otherwise qualify for a mortgage.

If a borrower can't get financing on the open market, there is usually a good reason - they are a bad credit risk. So when the FHA took on guaranteeing such debt, it was stepping into a minefield.

Well, the mines are now bursting. The FHA expects 24% of the loans insured in 2007 and 20% of the 2008 loans to default, wracking up huge losses for the American taxpayer.

America's Image

The Wall Street Journal reports that Iranians staged large protests of the regime on the day traditionally used by the government to demonstrate against America. The regimes gets its thugs to chant "Death to America", so the protesters chanted "Death to the Dictator", a reference to the Iranian leadership.

But the protesters added a remarkable element to their demonstration, also chanting "Obama, Obama, you are either with us or with them".

So there you have it. America's image in the mind of freedom fighters is now one in which they believe we side with the authoritarian regime - a regime that is one of our leading enemies in the world.

With better presidential leadership, this is an easy call. America should side with the protesters and against our enemy.

Is this the kind of change Americans thought they were getting when they voted for Obama last year? Tuesday's vote suggests not.

Nobel / Noble Insights?

While much has been said about Barack Obama winning the Nobel peace prize, including becoming a punch line of many jokes, there is an important element that has generally been overlooked.

The Nobel committee lauded Obama for his commitment to rid the world of nuclear weapons, and while most realize Obama doesn't have achievements worthy of the peace prize, I want to raise the issue that the Nobel committee, and Obama, are wrong to think that trying to rid the world of nuclear weapons will make the world a safer place.

In the 64 years since the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, there have been no direct wars between the major powers. In the 75 year prior, there were two world wars that claimed tens of millions of lives, plus wars between Germany and France (1870), the United States and Spain (1898), and Russia and Japan (1905).

The stunning fact that the nuclear era has been free of war between the major powers isn't a mere coincidence. Instead, it is a function of the protection that the American nuclear umbrella provides to nations in Europe and Asia who are otherwise in close proximity to enemies (the Soviet Union and Europe and China and Japan / Korea) and that the consequence of war between the major powers would be so catastrophic.

It is true we stand at the precipice of rampant nuclear proliferation if we don't stop Iran's nuclear weapons programs. An Iranian nuclear arsenal will spur Arab nations to build nuclear weapons and raise the real specter of nuclear war involving Iran and Israel.

Unfortunately, it seems the only realistic to stop Iran's nuclear program is to destroy it militarily, which no doubt is the exact opposite of what the Nobel committee hopes to achieve with Obama's award.

The Norwegian leftists on the Nobel committee have gotten it exactly backwards: nuclear weapons in the hands of America and its allies have made the world more peaceful than it otherwise would have been, and a military attack is exactly what is needed to stop the disastrous consequences of Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Enabler in Chief

If there is one politician who, above all else, shares the largest responsibility for the financial crisis, it is Representative Barney Frank. He aggressively pushed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to expand subprime lending, and he has continued to demonstrate his reckless disregard for sound financial policies by pushing for more aggressive lending to lower- quality borrowers since the financial crisis has begun.

So what is Barney Frank's latest gambit? He and fellow Democrat Walt Minnick wrote a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Blair urging them to "show some temperance in their regulation of traditional banks.". Specifically, Barney Frank is worried that regulators are being too tough on smaller banks, many of whom have failed this year and many more which may fail due to poor loans quality.

Given the premises of our public-private financial system, this is exactly what regulators should be doing to protect taxpayers from shouldering an ever-higher cost to bail out these banks. Instead, Barney Frank wants these banks to get a break, at the risk of even greater taxpayer losses.

If Barney Frank were ever voted out of office, the stock market should rise 5% on the news - that's how harmful he has been and continues to be to America.

Change We Really Need

Election night was a bad night for Barack Obama and the leftist agenda of Democrats. Big losses in the governor's races in Virginia and deeply blue New Jersey grabbed the headlines, but Republicans made large gains in suburban communities that drifted Democratic the past ten years. One year of Obama's and Nancy Pelosi's leftist agenda has changed that.

This bodes poorly for the left's health care and global warming legislation, as the large number of Democratic congressmen from states or districts that McCain or Bush won in 2008 and 2004 presidential elections will realize their jobs are in jeopardy unless they tack right.

While much can happen in a year, as the change in political fortunes from the 2008 election to today demonstrate, Republicans must feel good about their prospects for picking up many congressional seats in 2010.

Obama Bests Bush

Barack Obama has taken the presidency to new heights as compared to his predecessor.

Obama has had 26 fundraisers in his first nine months in office as compare to six for George Bush during his first 12 months.

Obama also has golfed far more often than Bush: Obama has golfed in nine months as many rounds of golf that Bush took well over two years to play.

That's sure change we need.

You Can't Make This Up

In its attempt to get people to buy electric cars, the Obama administration provides a federal tax credit of up to $5,000 to subsidize their purchase.

Golf carts, which are electric-powered, are covered by this program. And when combined with subsidies provided by state government, up to 100% of the golf cart's price can be free.

While there may be no free lunch, with the advent of the Obama administration, there are free golf carts.