Dreams Into Lightning 2

Morning Report: 2012-08-26

USA: Romney - Democrats use Akin to discredit GOP. Well, no kidding. I'm glad he's calling this nonsense for what it is: 'The leaders of our party have pretty much unanimously said, "Mr. Akin, get out of the race."'

USA / Space: Neil Armstrong dies at 82. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden:

"On behalf of the entire NASA family, I would like to express my deepest condolences to Carol and the rest of the Armstrong family on the passing of Neil Armstrong. As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind's first small step on a world beyond our own.

"Besides being one of America's greatest explorers, Neil carried himself with a grace and humility that was an example to us all. When President Kennedy challenged the nation to send a human to the moon, Neil Armstrong accepted without reservation.

"As we enter this next era of space exploration, we do so standing on the shoulders of Neil Armstrong. We mourn the passing of a friend, fellow astronaut and true American hero."

Italy / USA: Unicredit Bank in Iran sanctions investigation. BBC reports that Unicredit is cooperating with a US investigation over a possible breach of Iran-related sanctions.

Afghanistan: Haqqani figure confirmed killed. Fox reports that Badruddin Haqqani, the son of the founder of the powerful Haqqani militant network has been killed in an airstrike in Pakistan, citing Afghan intelligence sources.

Morning Report: 2012-07-18

Syria: Suicide bombing kills defense minister. American Thinker: 'This one hits close to home for Assad. Syrian defense minister, Daoud Rajha, and Asef Shawkat, the president's brother-in-law who was the deputy chief of staff of the Syrian military, were killed by a suicide bomber yesterday. ...' But AT is skeptical that the bombing represents more than an "inconvenience" to Assad. Long War Journal has more:

A suicide bomber killed the top two defense officials and seriously wounded the interior minister and the chief of the national security office in an attack at a high-level meeting of security officials in Damascus today. The attack was claimed by both the "Brigade of Islam" and the Free Syrian Army.

The suicide bomber, who is said to have been a bodyguard of a senior official in the Assad regime, detonated his explosive vest during a high-level meeting at the National Security building in the Syrian capital. Defense Minister Daoud Rajha and Deputy Defense Minister Assef Shawkat, who is also President Bashir al Assad's brother-in-law, were killed in the blast, according to the state-run Syrian television. ...

Read the rest at the link. UPDATE: Rebel leader says it was not a suicide bomb.

India: Minister claims doctors in hysterectomy scam. 'Doctors in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh performed hysterectomies on poor village women without a valid medical reason in order to claim money from a national insurance scheme, the state's health minister said on Wednesday. ...'

Israel: MK publicly destroys New Testament. Disgusting and disgraceful. And yet, somehow we're not hearing about deadly riots around the world. Odd, that.

Technology / Business: Yahoo names Google's Marissa Mayer as CEO. CNN: 'Marissa Mayer, who was Google's first female engineer and its 20th employee when she joined that company in 1999, has been named CEO of Yahoo....' Go to the story for 11 facts about her, including what she could do 40 of in her first career. Also, she's pregnant.

Economist on Creating Jobs

I've been wanting to post something on the political battle around "job creation" - the notion that creating jobs is something that corporate CEOs are supposed to do, and a skill that candidates are supposed to bring with them from the private sector when they aspire to public office. But I'm not an economist - so, here's The Economist:

Mr Obama, as noted above, likes to insinuate that there is a conflict between pursuing profits and creating jobs. In the long run, however, in a competitive economy, that is nonsense. Only profitable firms can sustain any jobs, and the more profitable they are, the more money they have to invest in new ventures with new workers. Mr Obama is guilty not of rhetorical excess but of economic muddle.

That's Lexington, on page 42 of the June 2 print edition. And that's the thing - it is not the CEO's job to "create jobs". It is the CEO's job to create business, and jobs are a byproduct of a successful business. If the Acme Widget Company has a hundred widget makers on the payroll to do the work of twenty, the result is likely to be an overpriced widget. There are a bunch of guys sitting around the widget factory drinking coffee and reading magazines while they're drawing paychecks from Acme. I'll probably buy my widgets from Brand X instead, where I'll get a better value. Sooner or later, the laws or market economics will catch up with Acme and they'll go broke, but that's not my problem. In any case, I certainly would not vote for the CEO of Acme; I'd vote for the guy who hires as many people as he needs, no more and no less, and doesn't waste my money.