Beard Of Wisdom.com

It only took six years, nine months, 24 days, and a change in Congressional power, but Bush finally vetoed his first appropriations measure yesterday.  And he did it to be fiscally responsible:

“Their majority was elected on a pledge of fiscal responsibility, but so far it’s acting like a teenager with a new credit card,” the president said…

[…]

Bush criticized Democrats for approving a bill that exceeded his budget request for the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education departments by $10 billion.

Good criticisms, but a little weak coming from Bush:

Since 2001, Bush signed at least 50 spending bills passed by Republicans that exceeded his budget requests, according to House Appropriations Committee records. He did not veto a single one.

Nor did he veto any bills to protest the explosion of earmarks under Republican Congresses. (Bush has vetoed only six bills, the fewest by any president since James A. Garfield, who was shot in 1881 after four months in office and died weeks later.)

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The blind want noisier cars:

On Wednesday, the president of the NFB’s Maryland chapter planned to present written testimony asking for a minimum sound standard for hybrids to be included in the state’s emissions regulations.

Prince, Radiohead, and Nine Inch Nails have decided to “concentrate on their art”:

 Highly successful artists have started abandoning albums as a way to make money. They are now giving away their music for free. Instead of selling albums, they are concentrating on building their fan bases, putting out quality art, and making their bread through touring and merchandising.

Polled Republicans are as dumb as ever:

While 60% of respondents said they want the next president and Congress to continue cutting taxes, 32% said it’s time for some tax increases on the wealthiest Americans to reduce the budget deficit and pay for health care.

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From the NY Times:

Ethanol production in the United States and other countries, combined with bad weather and rising demand for animal feed in China, has helped push global grain prices to their highest levels in at least a decade. Earlier this year, rising prices of corn imports from the United States triggered mass protests in Mexico. The chief of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has warned that rising food prices around the world have threatened social unrest in developing countries.

A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an economic forum of rich nations, called on the United States and other industrialized nations to eliminate subsidies for the production of ethanol which, the report said, is driving up food costs, threatening natural habitats and imposing other environmental costs. “The overall environmental impacts of ethanol and biodiesel can very easily exceed those of petrol and mineral diesel,” it said.

If our technology and resource levels were such that a shift to ethanol was a good idea there would be financial incentives for individuals to undertake the transition.  The fact that you need the government to hand out subsidies while requiring people to use it should be a pretty good sign that it doesn’t really make sense right now.

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Bulgaria is about to join the ranks of the League of Countries With A Tax Code Better Than the United States. In January they’ll implement a 10% flat tax and cause me to finally utter the phrase, “if only our tax code was advanced as Bulgaria’s.”

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