Category: Rants

Apparently Gov. Dave Paterson isn’t the only blind one running things up in Albany. According to Bloomberg, the New York Lottery is proposing to move its $1.3 billion prize fund into investments such as stocks, corporate bonds, real estate and hedge funds and out of the safety of U.S. Treasuries.

Wait, it gets even better. “New York would be the first state lottery among the 20 largest to shift to pension fund-style investments.” You know, because that’s working out oh so well as underfunded and overgenerous pensions across the country teeter on the brink, threatening to make things even worse for those of us who, unlike government employees, actually work for a living and suffer immediately for foolish financial transactions. (Do a search on Instapundit for pensions and you’ll get a raft of bad news.)

But I guess I shouldn’t expect more from New York State, which is probably only second to California in its inability or unwillingness to comprehend fiscal reality and where at the government is doing its damnedest to set up a plantation system in which it and its employees are the master’s family and the private sector is just the help. Of course, we also know how well California is doing as the state goes broke, businesses continue to flee the high taxes and ludicrous legislation imposed by the masters and the state gets set to release 58,000 prisoners onto the streets.

I have an even better idea. Why not go all in and put the MTA in charge of the lottery funds?

Better yet, considering the state of the stock market recently, why not just reinvest all the New York State Lottery in MegaMillions and Powerball tickets?

Update Welcome Instapundit readers. You know the drill. Look around, etc. Follow me on Twitter as well! @kenwheaton

If Barack Obama wants to sell this stimulus package to an unwilling consumer, how about he make his point on TV via debate? Prime time. On all major networks.

Sure, he’s going to go on TV anyway and have a one-sided talk with at the American people, trying to scare the hell out of them, convince them that the money currently in their wallets will literally go up in flames if Congress doesn’t act now and pass a trillion-dollar wealth shift that violates at least two of his so-called campaign promises — no earmarks, no bills being passed without Americans having five days to view the thing. (Let’s also overlook the tax cheats appointed to cabinet positions, the lobbyists now scurrying around the White House and the complete inability to vet people.)

What we should have is Obama debate either a rabid House Republican — one of those guys who tried to stop the excrement-filled TARP bill from passing — or Sentator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma. That guy’s about as anti-pork as you can get. (McCain’s had his chance to not prove any of his points for the last two years, so let him rest.) The Democrats are whining that they’ve allowed the Republicans to “define” the argument. Well, this would be a chance to make the case to the American people without sounding like you’re whining about evil Republican tactics or, worse, sounding like you ARE taking one great leap forward to half-assed Socialism. We’ll overlook how much whining you do — even when you have the majority. (And while we’re overlooking things, we’ll also overlook the fact that George W. Bush’s ridiculous spending habits and the passage of TARP and auto bailouts–helped along by some Congressional Republicans–set the whole ball rolling.)

At any rate, Obama needs to convince people that this recession isn’t going to be over by the time the money in this bill–which does indeed look like 40 years of back-logged liberal pet programs–starts rolling out into the economy. Is that too much to ask when insisting that we give you a trillion dollars of our money. Hell, I’d like you to convince me that you realize that the trillion dollars actually comes from us and not from some magical government piggy bank that is replenished by fairies.

And if it is too unseemly for a President to debate a Senator or Representative, I get that. There is protocol. There is tradition. In that case, put Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi on the podium. In prime time on the three major broadcast networks (then again, this would be a killer ratings coup for CNN, FoxNews or MSNBC). Of course, that wouldn’t even be close to a fair fight.

UpdateWelcome Instapundit readers. Look around. Follow on twitter at @kenwheaton. And if you remember my name come January 2010, by my first novel, “First Annual Grand Prairie Rabbit Festival” from Kensington Books.