For securities traders who take their cues from the headlines, we cannot recall a more challenging environment. Do we buy, or do we sell, when the news is obsessively concerned with…Kim Kardashian? Our collective descent into the sordid details of her worthless life is evidently the price we must pay for a slow-news month. Considering the alternative — reading about the latest hairbrained scheme to save Europe — perhaps we should be grateful to the Kardashians? In any case, we’re stuck with them for now, and we can only hope there is no higher form of intelligence in the universe watching earthly civilization topple head-long into such a deep abyss of prurience. Unfortunately, there is no getting around the shame of it: America’s most famous – and for all we know, most talented – fellationist has been rewarded beyond a publicity agent’s wildest dreams with a claim on our attention that would surpass that of Jesus were he to return to Earth. Avoiding further details of her publicity-seeking exploits is enough, almost, to drive one to MSNBC in search of a Kardashian-free zone.
Unsurprisingly, the story-of-the-hour concerning our sloe-eyed, semen-swallowing callipygian lass has spread well beyond the sensation-mongering E! The otherwise respectable Associated Press, for one, delved yesterday into the question of whether E! should feel any shame over its plan to re-broadcast the wedding even though Kardashian’s summer marriage to pro basketball player Kris Humphries lasted all of 72 days. Shame? You’ve got to be kidding. Like the fictional Broadway hit “Springtime for Hitler,” Kim’s story is so good-bad that it will probably run forever. The original nuptial broadcast – “Kim’s Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event” – drew the largest audience in the tabloid network’s history, perhaps demonstrating that the jihadists are not entirely wrong in their belief that a hopelessly decadent America deserves to be put out of its misery.
Herman Cain’s Lament
Herman Cain is probably wishing the Kardashians were even more popular, since his is the other story to which America’s three-day attention span has been commanded. The newsmongers seem hell-bent on pretending that we care whether Cain made some sort of “offensive” gesture sixteen years ago. America awaits a demonstration of whatever it is he supposedly did. If we were Cain, we’d recall that we’d simply been picking our nose, or doing a Buster Keaton impression. Regardless of whether he escapes a lynching, it’s going to be a long campaign season.
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Dear Benjamin:
“……….The rest of this post is for the purpose of showing what a midget-brain you are. That’s the only reason I’m wasting my time with you………..”
I know. People like me and Robert, who have faith in liberty, are such are such pea brained fools, so undeserving of your attentions. Thank you for prefacing your explanations that way, so that we’ll all know what a strong argument you have waiting for us; with your inspiring words, there may yet be hope for us mental midgets.
“……….1) Vicious competition to rush X to market, resulting in medicore to negative returns (too many people doing the same/similar thing because no one can know who is going to do what). ……….”
Yeah: “Let’s empower the state to crack down on wasteful competition. The state is so wise and efficient; the free market is so foolish and inefficient.”
“………2) Capital idles in the face of instability and/or uncertainty………..”
I see: So free competition means that capital will either be wasted in a mindless frenzy of competition or it will freeze up in mindless fear. The free market will never respond to price signals or even begins to approach a virtuous mean between these two extremes because we’re all such fools in need of the enlightened supervision of bureaucrats, who have only our best interests a heart.
“……….3) Both. ……….”
At the same time?
“……….The only thing that matters is that the unity isn’t done by forceful means, but rather by mutual agreement. ………..”
Voluntary borders?
“……….But go ahead and shake your fist at that barbarous relic of an idea (which isn’t even mine). You’d at least have a half-reason for doing so. Borders, unions, treaties, and countries are indeed concepts as old if not older than farming and gold and silver money themselves………..”
Tyranny, xenophobia, genocide, poverty and war are all an integral part your grand old traditions that you conveniently forget to mention.
Where ever there has been progress; where ever living conditions have improved; where ever there has been peace and good will or at least tolerance, it has occurred only to the extent that free trade and travel are permitted.
Just because destructive institutions will not vanish overnight is no reason not to oppose them and to educate people about their futility and evil consequences.
Human society will continue to evolve and progress toward liberty in spite of set backs and dead ends. There is no justification for your cynical world view, but pay no attention to me; I’m just a pea brained liberty lover.