links of the day

In response to the impending auto industry bailout, here is a great article from James Quinn, from the Wharton School. It's chock full of charts, graphs, numbers, history etc. and while I think it puts too much blame on Bush and not enough on Carter & Clinton, I particularly like his conclusion...

"My biggest concern is that our politician leaders and their cronies running our government will continue to try and reverse the normal capitalistic course of recession and expansion. Companies need to fail, housing needs to find its bottom based on supply, demand and price. Those who gambled must be allowed to lose and suffer the consequences. If the government attempts to shift the losses to those who lived lifestyles of thrift, an angry uprising will ensue. Government intervention in this natural process could lead to a decade long depression."

That's my biggest concern too. Why is it ok for me to budget, live responsibly, work hard, only to see my money go to someone else who hasn't done any of those things? How long until we say enough is enough? If we're going to bail out each industry, when am I going to get my student loan bailout? Hm?

And in honor of Veterans Day yesterday, here is a cool link to say thank you to those who are still serving our great nation. The goal is to record over 1 million unique thank yous, so that 1 message can appear online every 30 seconds for 1 year. Our servicemen & women can log on at any time from any where and see a new thank you every 30 seconds :) A really big project - I think it's awesome!