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‘Risk'y Business
Utah economist Jeff Thredgold’s Tea Leaf economic update this week deals with current economic challenges, taking a generally optimistic perspective. Says Thredgold: “Developments of the past week or two have raised the odds that the global financial community will survive relatively intact the risk crisis that has been front and center during the past five weeks. It is also likely that stock market gyrations and wild swings in investor and lender emotion will continue.” Thredgold said shocks to the financial markets are historically common occurrences, with 10-year cycles at play more recently. He expects economic growth of about 2% for the remainder of the year, with a return to near 3% real annual growth in 2008.
Washington Watch
Hatch, Bennett Probe Mine Disaster
Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett participate in a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting of the Sub-Committee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies regarding the recent Utah mine disaster (see Hatch and Bennett press releases).
Matheson: $$ for Airport
Rep. Jim Matheson announces that $7 million in federal transportation money has been awarded for the replacement St. George Airport (see press release).
Cannon: Honor Miners & Rescuers
In a floor statement on Wednesday, Rep. Chris Cannon paid tribute to the miners and rescuers who lost their lives in the Crandall Canyon mine tragedy. “While there will be time to decide what, if anything, we can do to ensure that tragedies such as these can be averted, now is the time, as elected Representatives for the people, to thank those involved, on behalf of the people,” said Cannon (see press release).
Billings: iProvo is Successful
In the latest edition of the Hinckley Journal of Politics (see page 81), Provo Mayor Lewis Billings makes a spirited defense of iProvo, the city’s fiber-optic, ultra-bandwidth telecommunications project.
Today in Political History
September 6, 1901: President William McKinley is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgoz in Buffalo, N.Y. He dies eight days later. (Source: McKinley)
September 6, 1977: Washington endures "Koreagate", wherein large quantities of cash were donated by Korea to Washington politicians in exchange for favors.
September 6, 1996: The "Ruby Ridge" hearings convene in the Senate, chaired by Senator Arlen Specter. (Source: Perspicuity)
Wise Words
“Business life, whether among ourselves or with other people, is a sharp struggle for success. It will be none the less so in the future. Without competition we would be clinging to the clumsy antiquated processes of farming and manufacture and the methods of business of long ago, and the twentieth would be no further advanced than the eighteenth century.”
-- William McKinley (Source: Think Exist)
Utah Trivia
Predictions Gone Awry
(From ‘Drat! Mythed Again: Second Thoughts on Utah’ by Steve Warren)
-- In its August 21, 1964 issue, Time gave this forecast on the Ernest Wilkinson-Frank Moss Senate race: “The way things stand now, Wilkinson can start packing to move back to Washington.” (Moss won 57 percent of the vote.)
-- Speaking at a Lincoln Day Rally in Thermopolis, Wyoming, on February 12, 1964, Senator Wallace F. Bennett predicted that President Lyndon Johnson would be unable to maintain his present popularity or translate it into votes “once flesh and blood opposition is in the field against him.” (Johnson carried 61 percent of the popular vote against Barry Goldwater in November 1964, a 20th century record.)"
National Politics
Best Stories From . . .
-- National Journal: Columnist Amy Walter sizes up the GOP presidential front-runners.
-- Washington Post: "Oprah Winfrey ... endorsed Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in May. Now, she is in discussions with his advisers about playing a broader role in the campaign ... or simply bringing her branding magic to benefit his White House bid."
-- Newsweek: Columnist Howard Fineman: "George Soros, the billionaire currency speculator, thinks he can save America by spending his pocket change to elect Democrats. OK, George, here's an idea: pay Sen. Larry Craig's legal bills. While you're at it, bankroll one of the 'independent spending' efforts (you have done it before) to tell the whole sad Craig story, and more, to Republican evangelical voters. I wasn't ready to conclude that 2008 is going to be a Democratic year, but the metastasizing Craig saga is tempting me to abandon my reporter's caution."
-- USA Today: "About 30 states have advanced their primary or caucus dates next year. Some will hold them weeks or even months earlier than in 2004. As many as 20 states could be voting Feb. 5. The unprecedented glut of early elections has officials worried about everything from the workforce to the weather."
Blog Watch
-- At The Senate Site, Sen. Lyle Hillyard discusses the equalization of school district funding. (See also related Senate Site post.)
-- At UtahSenateDemocrats, Sen. Ross Romero looks at "how community planning can benefit health."
-- Jesse Harris lists and dispels three voucher myths. (For more on the voucher issue, see Utah State Democratic Party.)
-- UAC Blog reports on some "potential election law trouble from Washington."
Lighter Side
Best of Late Night Humor
Conan O’Brien: Fred Thompson, who is a former star of ‘Law & Order,’ confirmed that he is running for president. Afterwards, Thompson promised to solve the crisis in Iraq by the end of the episode.
David Letterman: “Top Signs Osama bin Laden is Alive and Well”: FBI has indicted him for funding an illegal goat-fighting operation; On recent al-Qa’ida audiotape, he says some kind words about Merv Griffin; The new U.S. Weekly has photos of him in a hot tub with Britney; The congratulatory phone call to Barry Bonds; He’s booked with Regis and Susan Lucci at Foxwoods Resort & Casino; His MySpace page was updated this morning; Seen house hunting in L.A. with wife Posh bin Laden.
Jay Leno: President Bush was going to give the White House staff the day off for Labor Day, but then he realized everyone resigned—no one works there anymore. ... A couple of big anniversaries [last] week. It’s been two years since Hurricane Katrina and one year since FEMA found out about it. ... A lot of people are now calling Sen. Larry Craig a hypocrite because he was a very vocal opponent of same-sex marriages. But to be fair, he has never publicly come out against anonymous, gay, bathroom sex. ... You had the cop on one side. You know who was in the stall on the other side? Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey. If he just tapped his foot the other way, this whole thing could’ve had a happy ending. ... Speaking at a forum organized by Lance Armstrong on cancer research, Hillary Clinton told Chris Matthews if she were elected president, she would declare war on cancer, then she would support the war on cancer for two years, then she would be against it for a year, then she would back out of it all together. |
