The Leap

Let's Break Up the Fed?

Amar Bhide had an interesting article in the Wal lStreet Journal July 29th titled "Let's Break Up the Fed." You can read it here. He makes a clear point that the powers of the Fed have grown over time to such a ponit where no one can really oversea the vast powers of the Fed and hope for a truly successful outcome. The history he gives of how the Fed's powers have grown is very intriguing. What are your thoughts?

Welcome to the real world kid

Two trustees quit amid scandal that is rocking the state of Illinios and the Univeristy of Illinois. Apparently, people who were politically connected, elected officials, and major donors to the university had a special secret admission process for their children or friends that was not based on academic records or potential. Basically, it wasn't based on EARNED merit but rather a specail deal becuase of who you were, who you knew, or how much you gave the univeristy. We certainly seem to be living in an age of special deals.

I love this quote by John Suo, a 4.0 grade point average student whose admission package to the university was rejected. "It makes me angry to think that someone who didn't put in the hours or work as hard as me has my spot." I am not a fan of special deals but rather merit based systems that reward achievement. John will be in for a shock when he sees how the government taxes him in his first job and uses that money to take care of their "special friends and projects." We as a country need to make some changes and get back to principles of our founding fathers.

Entrepreneurial Nation by Amy Wilkinson

This is a great article by Amy Wilkinson in the July 16th USA Today Newspaper.  I love this quote.

"Our prosperity depends on inovative thinking. Instead of bailing out behemoths that are "too big to fail", we must remember that mom-and-pop businesses, garage start-ups and small ventures are the reason we succeed."

New rules to help BMW and Daimler but hurts "Big Three"

This one has me scratching my head. The US auto industry is on the ropes with all three having been bailed out by the taxpayers to keep them running and yet our government is passing new laws that our auto industry must meet yet foreign car companies get a pass. This does not make sense to me. Read this article in the WSJ for more information. Stephen Power highlights that those companies who make under 400,000 vehicles a year do not have to meet these new fuel efficiency standards. Do we really have to give any more special breaks to industries operating here?

John Graham who worked under George W. Bush crafting fuel economy regulations is quoted in this article as saying, "Once companies become dependent on these provisions, they have an incentive to hire lobbyists and exert political pressure to extend those same provisions." I don't like special deals. If we are going to put new fuel standards in the industry I think everyone should have to meet those standards not just the big auto companies.

Good grieve, at least give our companies a fair playing field in our own country. They sure aren't getting any special deals over in Asia or in Europe!  What do you think?