Links and Minifeatures 2008 01 16 Wednesday

Carnival of the Capitalists. Looks like Bizosphere has come to a similar conclusion I have as regards Consumer Focused Carnival of Real Estate

Recommended: A post summarizing mortgage securities from Econbrowser. Nothing that regular readers shouldn't be familiar with (indeed, I've gone into greater detail on some points), but worth reading for dealing with it all in one place.

A worthy discussion of rational libertarian views versus irrational ones over at Q and O

I have no use for anyone who substitutes jingoism for thinking a problem through, even if they might happen to agree with me on some subjects. Dale's done a good job of thinking it through. The people complaining to him (about his voting as a juror to convict a drug trafficker), not so much.

Note to politicians: A telephone is a two way communication device. When my phone rings, I expect to be able to hold a conversation. You are, after all, asking for my attention right now. Using automated message delivery frustrates this. If you just want to send me a message, use mail - whether electronic or snail. Believe me, you're better off if I drop your message in the trash unread or consign you to the email blacklist than when I get a phone call from a machine. It wasn't for nothing that people demanded the Do Not Call list, and nobody likes political calls any better than telemarketers. It's not like you're not after my wallet just as much as they are, if not more. Just because it's not illegal doesn't mean you have to be that stupid yourself. Just sayin'.

Looks like Romney finally won one. Of course, he's from Michigan originally, his father was governor of the state, and he heavily pandered to his audiences in the state, which his major competition (John McCain) declined to do. Furthermore, the weather was reported as being bad in most places, bad enough to keep the independents McCain was hoping would cross over home. If Romney hadn't won under such circumstances, it would be time for him to go home. As it is, a 39-30 victory allows him to stay in the race, but it isn't as strong as he should have been under those circumstances.

I've decided Romney ranks behind John McCain, ahead of only Ron Paul and Mike Huckabee on my current list of Republican preferences. Judging Romney by his record (MassCare and electoral pandering are only the most salient), I might even vote for Hillary if she appears on the ballot opposite Romney. At least everybody knows she's the enemy of fiscal prudence and civil rights and individual responsibility. But with her only winning by 15 points over "None of the Above" since her supporters kept Obama and Edwards off the Michigan ballot, it's looking less likely she'll even win the nomination.

(My first choice at the moment is still Fred Thompson, followed by Rudy Giuliani, then Duncan Hunter. John McCain would still get my vote over any of the current crop of Democrats, but I'm not so sure the same thing can be said for Romney. Huckabee, who seems to be running upon his credentials as a minister, is Right Out for that reason as well as his record in Arkansas. Obama talks a good game right now, but his record indicates his real sympathies are elsewhere. Edwards is a false-populist demogogue in the worst tradition of Elmer Gantry, albeit with false populism substituted for religion. Ron Paul is as crazy as "Mad Cow" Kucinich, and the only thing we'd accomplish by electing either one is making Jimmy Carter's record as president look good, because there's no way they could lead Congress or the Courts where they want to go, and that is a requirement for a successful presidency. After about two months, even if it was a national emergency, Congress would be trying to figure out which of half a dozen congressional plans they'd enact, instead of anything proposed by either one of them)