Stories from Baseball Crank

  1. POLITICS: The BP Shakedown

    Baseball Crank &bull Yesterday

    If you want to see a rank example of the unhealthy symbiosis between Big Government and Big Business, consider this morning's announcement by BP that "it will set up a $100 million charitable fund to support unemployed oil rig workers experiencing economic hardship due to the deepwater drilling moratorium imposed by the Obama administration." At first glance,… Full Story »

  2. POLITICS: Who Do You Trust?

    Baseball Crank &bull Jul 22, 2010

    Topping the list? Five institutions consistently targeted and mistrusted by the Left: (1) the military (trusted by 76%), (2) small business (66%, the only other institution over 60), (3) the police, (4) church/organized religion, and (5) the medical system. The… Full Story »

  3. LAW/POLITICS: Swallowing The Rule

    Baseball Crank &bull Jul 21, 2010

    Randy Barnett looks at the radicalism of the legal theory invoked to defend Obamacare. Barnett admits that he himself adheres to a particularly narrow view of the scope of federal powers and particularly broad view of the Ninth and Tenth… Full Story »

  4. POLITICS: Deficits Are A Symptom. The Problem Is Spending.

    Baseball Crank &bull Jul 15, 2010

    The Obama Administration has been in something of a quandary lately as to whether to primarily emphasize its plans to spend more taxpayer money as "stimulus" or to paint itself as fighting against deficits. The former has the advantage of looking like the White House is doing - or trying against GOP opposition to do - something about the economy and its still-listless rates of growth and job recovery; the latter has the advantage of allaying voter fears that the Democrats have been doing too much and digging us into a fiscal hole, as well as offering at least the… Full Story »

  5. BASEBALL: Unbossed

    Baseball Crank &bull Jul 13, 2010

    George Steinbrenner has died, at age 80, of a massive heart attack. The Boss' timing was perfect to the end: a week after his 80th birthday on July 4th, on the morning of the All-Star Game (with the baseball media all gathered in one place with nothing much to write about), which Joe Girardi will manage as the skipper of the defending champs (the 7th in the 37 years of Steinbrenner's tenure), just days after the passing… Full Story »

  6. BASKETBALL: The King Becomes The Apprentice

    Baseball Crank &bull Jul 9, 2010

    There have been oceans of commentary on the LeBron James to Miami story (NY Daily News headline - "WHO CARES" - but they still put him on the front and back covers of the paper for the second day running). On a general level I agree with the consensus: I can't blame him for deciding to leave Cleveland for a better chance to win a title, but if he was going… Full Story »

  7. WAR/POLITICS: Not In Charge

    Baseball Crank &bull Jun 22, 2010

    President Obama should fire General Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for a highly impolitic interview Gen. McChrystal gave to Rolling Stone magazine (of all places) mocking the Vice President and the U.S. Ambassador in Afghanistan, among others, and making evident his disdain for the Administration's civilian management of the war effort. Obama should fire him - but he's painted himself into a corner in which doing so would be damaging to him politically and to the nation's war effort. Let's review why. When Barack Obama came into office, he had an Afghanistan problem. Obama had won crucial credibility… Full Story »

  8. POLITICS: Primary Colors

    Baseball Crank &bull Jun 18, 2010

    Ben Domenech looks at the possibility that President Obama could face a primary challenge, possibly from Hillary Clinton, in 2012.As Moe Lane notes, Obama's people are busy reworking the primary system so as to make a repeat of 2008 less… Full Story »

  9. POLITICS: Piggy Bank

    Baseball Crank &bull Jun 18, 2010

    Democrats are seeking to increase taxes on oil companies as part of their vaunted "tax extenders" legislation. The new revenue would flow into the federal governmentas Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which was created following the 1989 Exxon Valdez crash.… Full Story »

  10. Business/Politics:

    Baseball Crank &bull Jun 16, 2010

    Everywhere in the world for a good twenty years now, the real rate of return on economically-productive investments has tended to be well below its previous trendline. During that time, rates on the short-term debt of high-rated governments have tended… Full Story »

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