Somebody find Robert Maynard, We’ve got Pirates!

Until recently I had been under the wrong impression that the age of piracy had come to an end sometime long ago. Other than a few randomly occurring attacks by AK-47 wielding speed boat crews I thought piracy was all but gone. However, I was wrong. In the Indian Ocean of the coast of Africa pirates still sail attacking and capturing freighters and oil tankers.

On November 15th 2008 a pirate crew attacked and seized the Sirius Star, an oil tanker carrying a payload valued over $110million. This makes the Sirius Star the most valuable booty ever captured by pirates ever. The hijacking occurred in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Kenya. In addition to the Sirius Star there have been over 96 reported pirate attacks and 39 hijackings in the African corner of the Indian Ocean over the last year. Several boats still remain in Pirate custody awaiting ransoms.

It is believed that most of the pirate crews hail from the failed state of Somalia where pirate crews can harbor without fear of government interaction. In Somalia it is easy for pirates to attract crews. Given a choice between making their fortune on the high seas or fighting for survival in war torn Somalia many people are eagerly joining the pirates.

In an effort to stop the attacks on unarmed commercial vessels Navies from around the world are sending ships to help. Warships from the United States, Russia, Denmark, Italy, China, India, and others now patrol the area. However, these naval vessels can only do so much. Unless they manage to intercept a pirate boats before a hijacking the good guys cannot attack for fear of killing crews taken hostage by the pirates. An Indian warship recently destroyed a fishing trawler thought to be a mothership for the pirate fleet only to find that they killed up to 14 Thai hostages. This military action against the pirates now threatens to create an international issue between the Indian and Thai governments.

Rather than playing a reactionary game, preemptive naval action should be taken against these pirates. Nationally owned warships are technologically superior and should have better trained crews. A destroyer or cruiser should be able to make short work of a Somalian pirate’s ship. What are a few AK-47’s and RPG’s going to do against a Steel hulled US Cruiser with it’s 5-Inch/54-caliber (Mk 45) lightweight gun?

As to the possibility of accidentally killing the hostage crews held by pirates it is a calculated risk that must be taken. Governments need to realize that allowing pirates to continue to roam freely without fear of naval interaction cannot continue. By attacking the pirates before they raid cargo ships civilian casualties can be minimized and a clear message can be sent that piracy will not be tolerated. International Navies should be hunting down the pirates and showing that they cannot terrorize the shipping lanes anymore.


Sources: Seattle Times, The Economist

4 Of The Most Economically Literate Politicians

You don't have to agree with their politics or broader worldview, but these political figures have demonstrated they possess, for the most part, a thorough understanding of fundamental economics which drive several of their policies:


Robert Bennett (R) – Standing at nearly 6’6’’, the lumbering Bob Bennett may seem hard to misplace amongst his congressional chums in the Senate Banking Committee; however, he has been a key maverick (yes eat your heart out, John!) behind the scenes of various economic issues. During the 1994 Mexican Peso crisis, Bennett helped prevent economic disaster by working furtively off the radar to secure American capital for the collapsing Mexican economy. With a 91% CATO rating, Bennett has tirelessly stood up for free-market principles throughout his political career.

CATO: 91%
US COC: 100%
NTU: 73%
Votes With Party: 88%
Hot or Not: Not


Michael Bloomberg (I) – Twice consecutively (and likely soon to be third) elected Mayor of New York City and billionaire, Michael Bloomberg turned a staggering $6 billion NYC deficit into a $3 billion surplus through enacting innovative tax reform and cutting the ineffective spending of various state agencies. The Harvard educated businessman exclaimed during a speech to the UK Conservative Party:

“Being a fiscal conservative is not about slashing programs that help the poor, or improve health care, or ensure a social safety net. It's about insisting that state services are provided efficiently, get to only the people that need them, and achieve the desired results.”

His penchant for inventive pragmatism can be further reflected in his membership into the ‘Pigou Club’ – an increasingly popular group of elite economists and public policy experts which advocate a carbon tax to curb greenhouse emissions, promote economic growth, and ensure national security. Bloomberg’s style of governance is indicative of a politician which emphasizes methodology over ideology, which resonates well with the dismal science of economics.

Hot or Not: Hot!

Maria Cantwell (D) - Now serving her second term as Washington State's second female Senator, Cantwell epitomizes a potential new generation of Democrats which look to abandon traditional methods of representing the working class through the (often counterproductive) protectionist approach, instead looking to empower them through human capital enhancing policies and exploiting the advantages a globalized economy has to offer the lower-middle class of Washington State. She did this by voting against repealing tax subsidies to US companies which operate offshore and voicing her support for CAFTA, earning her resentment amongst many of her Democratic counterparts. Despite having voted with her party 95% of the time (a somewhat misleading statistic), she was the sole vote against a 2007 measure that would allow US companies to seek anti-dumping duties on goods from any country that maintains a "fundamentally misaligned" exchange rate after being formally cited by the United States.

CATO: 62%
US COC: 39%
NTU: 15%
Votes With Party: 95%
Hot or Not: Not

Judd Gregg (R) – A ranking member in the Senate Budget Committee, Judd Gregg has been a fiscal watchdog for reining in federal spending which doesn’t have the bang for its buck and overburdens future generations, earning him the nickname ‘Judd Dredd’ (okay not really, but wouldn’t that be pretty sweet?). Committed to his fiscal conservatism, Senator Gregg has not been reluctant to vote against his own party, most notably on prescription drug legislation and energy subsidies to ethanol. Yes, Gregg understands that there’s no point in complaining about stale bread on a shit sandwich of national debt.

CATO: 92%
US COC: 78%
NTU: 80%
Votes With Party: 83%
Hot or Not: Hot!

http://www.ontheissues.org/
http://www.opencongress.org/

Other honorable mentions include:

Kent Conrad
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Susan Collins
Chuck Hagel

Mustache Parade

Eric Holder is looking to be the first mustachioed AG since 1945 when Francis Beverly Biddle held the post (and yes I scoured the archives for that fact). However, the appointment may not come as easily as many expected if Senate Republicans have their way.

Today, the LA Times reported that at least eight GOP senators are threatening to delay Holder’s nomination hearings until after the January 20^th inauguration, potentially throwing a wrench in what many thought would be an easy process. The sticking point for Republicans is the role Holder may have played in the 11^th hour Clinton pardon of the fugitive financier Marc Rich, as well as a number of other controversial commutations made in the latter days of the Clinton White House.

The Republicans say they are worried that Holder could kowtow to the wishes of the President at the expense of justice. Meanwhile, Democrats are accusing the Republicans of playing the party line and needlessly delaying the confirmation of an important cabinet official. Unfortunately, the editors of Mustache Aficionado could not be reached for comment at the time of this posting.

In other mustache news, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has accused Britain of starting a cholera outbreak that has killed over 700 and infected thousands more in the country. I would like to give Mr. Mugabe the benefit of the doubt here, after all his policies single handedly made every citizen in his country a millionaire.

Seriously though, with a glorious specimen of minimalist mustache design like that how could you even think of sharing power with your democratically elected rival?

Guantanamo Bay: Still Better Than My Highschool

I’m a bit (a lot) hesitant on the whole ‘lack of due process and habeas corpus thing,’ however, these photos below from The Big Picture really struck me. It also reports that most detainees are provided with advanced educational opportunities, up to 12 daily hours of recreational opportunities, and a library with over 7,500 books. The most requested book title is the Harry Potter series.

The Potential $150 Million Waste

The University of Washington and its football team are looking to make substantial improvements to Husky Stadium. The improvements to the stadium will cost an estimated $300 million. The Husky football club, Tyee, will by working to fundraise half of the $300 million. Meanwhile, the University of Washington will be seeking the remaining $150 million in tax money this coming budget cycle. The University is proposing that the money come from continuation the tourist taxes on hotels, rental cars, etc. that exist to pay for both Safeco and Qwest Fields.

The request comes shortly after an Olympia announcement regarding a potential $5.1 billion budget deficit in the state. The University and Husky football supporters claim that the renovation will work to increase revenue brought in by the football team by providing a better experience for fans while also creating jobs in an economically slow time. Their claim is that the stadium renovation will be far more valuable then the $150 million that is costs the state.

The University football team does bring in the most revenue of all the school different programs. Almost 80% of the revenue from the sports department comes from the football program. However, the benefits of a new stadium are more easily argued when the team using the stadium is not one of the worst division one football programs in the country. A better and less expensive way for the University to increase revenue from its football program would be to field a half way competent team. Losing teams do not bring fans to game and teams that do not even keep games close bring even less. Some may argue that a better stadium would bring better recruits, but better coaching and smart recruiting have much more of an effect then a stadium.

As to the creation of jobs, renovating Husky Stadium would do just that. However, building more mass transit, investing in green energy plants, and many other possible civil projects would also create jobs. These projects also have the added benefit of helping everyone in the community rather then a small niche of Husky football supporters. Additionally, jobs created by Husky stadium will only last as long as the construction of the stadium, while smart investment into the right civil projects can create much longer lasting employment opportunities.

The state should find better more universally beneficial ways to spend our tax dollars. Spending $150 million on the renovation of a football stadium during an economic downturn is not the best use of or states tax dollars.

Sources: Seattle Times

The Congressional Report Card for the Auto Crisis: C+

It appears painfully eminent that the distraught 'Big Three' automakers will get their bailout albeit a far cry from the original sought amount of approximately $36 billion. A congressional breakthrough reveals these new loans will likely not exceed more than $15-17 billion which will now largely come from the government's plug-in hybrid auto fund originally intended for Detroit.

That being said, allow me to emphasize the sound argument(s) for not bailing out Detroit and allowing them to operate via chapter 11 bankruptcy:

(1) The flexibility of a chapter 11 bankruptcy in this context would effectively allow the Big Three to break atrocious labor contracts with the United Auto Workers union and cancel/renegotiate debt with creditors by transfer of future assets, all while still operating largely uninhibited (especially in several international emerging markets where they have had success). Back in 2005 Delta Airlines filed for chapter 11 with $20.5 billion in debt and 2 years later reached full year profitability goals with the majority of past layoffs recalled. At the very least Congress should require them to file for bankruptcy first and then evaluate providing government aid.
(2) What message would a bailout of domestic firms send to foreign direct investors looking in the future to compete and insource (opening jobs) in the United States? Proponents of a Detroit bailout argue it is necessary to protect the manufacturing base here. Ironically, too many similar bailouts could deter the prospects for manufacturers to invest here.
(3) Detroit is near failure primarily due to its inflated cost structure and crude business model. Foremost, the Big Three were quick to settle with the demands of the UAW and pay wages of about $29 per hour more than their foreign competitors (who still are paid handsomely despite being relatively unskilled laborers). Secondly, Detroit has long emphasized the production of inefficient SUVs for their high profit margins, even during times of high fuel prices. In addition, they engaged in superfluous amounts of branding which diluted profits. Should we be using taxpayer (the majority of whom make significantly less than UAW workers) funds to prop up these companies who aren’t capable of selling their intended product? Even at the expense of blocking the emergence of potential green technology industries? Nearly a century ago it would have been madness to protect the horse and carriage industry against Henry Ford and the advent of the automobile.

In spite of the decision by Congress to grant federal aid to the Detroit automakers, the Senate finance committee remained for the most part, relatively vigilant in scathing the company executives and resisted previous pressures to use amounts upwards of $50 billion for a proposed package. Yes, simply by not issuing Detroit a blank check, Congress has earned a grade of C+.