We don’t know where the buck stops, but that’s okay, because there are no bucks left!

From Paul Krugman at The New York Times:

Everyone’s talking about a new New Deal, for obvious reasons. In 2008, as in 1932, a long era of Republican political dominance came to an end in the face of an economic and financial crisis that, in voters’ minds, both discredited the G.O.P.’s free-market ideology and undermined its claims of competence. And for those on the progressive side of the political spectrum, these are hopeful times.

There is, however, another and more disturbing parallel between 2008 and 1932 — namely, the emergence of a power vacuum at the height of the crisis. The interregnum of 1932-1933, the long stretch between the election and the actual transfer of power, was disastrous for the U.S. economy, at least in part because the outgoing administration had no credibility, the incoming administration had no authority and the ideological chasm between the two sides was too great to allow concerted action. And the same thing is happening now.

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Mr. Shmeckel and Formaldehyde

From the Washington Post:

The Bush administration has changed Environmental Protection Agency reviews of chemicals in a way that will delay scientific assessments of their health risks and open the process to politicization, congressional investigators said yesterday.

In a new report and in testimony on Capitol Hill, officials with the Government Accountability Office criticized a White House policy that began this month to allow the Office of Management and Budget and other agencies to offer secret input on assessments of long-term exposure to chemicals such as formaldehyde.

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What’s Cookin’?

Hey, kids, did you know that Betty Crocker never really existed? Nope! Fake, make-believe, a figment of corporate imagination. From AdAge:

Betty was created in 1921 after a promotion for Gold Medal flour flooded Washburn Crosby Co. with questions about baking. To answer customers in a more personal manner, the company created a fictitious kitchen expert, pulling the name “Crocker” from a recently retired director of the company and adding the first name “Betty” because it sounded friendly.

Washburn Crosby’s female employees were asked to submit handwriting samples for Betty’s signature and the one selected as “most distinctive” is still Betty’s signature today.

You see, sometimes you need a face to put with a product. Do a little market research, find out the type of person you think the public will listen to and trust, and then let him or her do the talking!

On a completely unrelated note, General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker testified Monday before before a joint meeting of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees.

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The Surge, in General

From Joe Conason Salon:

When Gen. David Petraeus testifies Monday on the effects of the American troop escalation in Iraq, don’t expect him to dwell on the strategic irrelevance of the “surge,” which was supposed to revive chances for political reconciliation among that country’s warring ethnic and religious factions. Were the surge to be judged by that original metric — a reduction in violence sufficient to encourage real cooperation among the warring sides — then it has certainly failed so far.

The commanding general can be expected to sidestep such unpleasant topics and to focus attention instead on Anbar province, which President Bush himself has declared an exemplary “success” — and on the Pentagon’s hotly disputed casualty and incident statistics, which supposedly prove the value of the surge.

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It Was Just a Clerical Error!

Gee, I know I feel better!
From the Washington Post:

Bookkeeping deficiencies allowed thousands of weapons issued to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005 to then go missing, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said yesterday.

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I Wish They Would Disappear Instead

From the Washington Post:

The Pentagon has lost track of about 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to Iraqi security forces in 2004 and 2005, according to a new government report, raising fears that some of those weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents fighting U.S. forces in Iraq.

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