Friday night comedy

I just got back from a Bob Saget show at 4th & B. If you haven't seen his HBO special, watch it. It's really funny.

I would say his live show is much the same material as the HBO special, but it's not really material. It's more of an hour-long gimmick, that it's really funny to see the nice-guy dad from a syrupy sitcom let loose with extremely obscene humor. It works. But the second time you see it is not nearly as good as the first.

It was also really funny to see a few clueless prudes walk out horrified in the first five minutes. You bought a ticket based on his witty comments in America's Funniest Home Videos?

All for naught

Remember January 22, when Bernanke, in a panicked attempt to stop a slide in the equity market, maniacally slashed the Fed Funds rate by 75 basis points, the largest cut in history?

Like an overdosing junkie responding to a shot of adrenaline to the heart, the market responded with a sharp rally. It went from down 465 on the Dow to down just 128. The rally continued into February as the markets acted like easy money was a perfect solution to all of our economic problems.

Bernanke followed up with another 50 basis points of cuts, bringing the Fed Funds rate to 3%, less than the rate of inflation. That's right, negative real interest rates. I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so.

All for naught. Today the financials are back to the January 22 intraday lows. Bernanke has spent most of his bullets, and the credit crunch monster keeps coming at him. And all that shooting woke up the inflation monster sleeping behind him.

The bitch is back

... with help from Republican voters.

Gotta love those open primaries. Let the opposition choose your candidate.

With McCain already a lock, it made perfect sense for Republicans to cross over and vote for Hillary. She'd be easier to beat in a general election, and even if she still can't win the nomination, it keeps the nasty Clinton organization attacking Obama for a while longer.

Greenspan's body count

We gave you a couple anecdotes.

Is it showing up in the statistics?

Study shows increase of suicides among 45- to 54-year-olds:

Dr. Sasha Federer, a clinical psychologist at Carolinas Hospital System, said he doesn’t see many suicides among middle-aged adults in their emergency room. “We see a lot of younger folks and some teenagers,” Federer said. “(The few) people we see who are middle aged are just mentally ill.”

He said one possible reason for the increase could be the amount of pressure because of recent financial crises, such as the home mortgage situation.

“Economically people have not been doing as well as they have before,” Federer said. But he said he has no direct knowledge of what would cause a person from that age group to commit suicide.

“One can only speculate,” he said. “But there have been (financial) trends that have been going on for a while and maybe a person can only be stretched so far.”

And that study goes only through 2004, long before the housing downturn. Wait until you see the 2008 figures, with the Greenspan mortgage crisis in full swing.

A liberal and his money are soon parted

Liberals exist to separate you from your money. It's nice to see someone turning the tables.

Today's example: The Blue Fund (as in "blue state"), a large cap fund that charges liberals 1.5% per year to invest in lefty-approved companies. They range from well-known tech stocks with lefty management like Apple and Google to more sinister companies like Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enrichment scheme for retired Democratic politicians.

1.5% for any domestic large-cap fund is a hefty fee. But for an index fund that doesn't even pretend to have a skillful manager, it's outrageous. It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of suckers.

Finally

I figured out what to do with my life. Thanks, Google Ads.

The Woman from Fear

Bill Clinton '04:

"... if one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other one is trying to make you think, if one candidate's appealing to your fears, and the other one's appealing to your hopes. You better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope."

Hillary Clinton '08: Your children are not safe at night with Obama in the White House.