A Most Peculiar Dichotomy
I keep encountering folks who are mad at the subprime borrowers. "Because these people borrowed beyond their means, I am going to be screwed" is the basic sentiment. I find this mostly with armchair and amateur Libertarians (as opposed to the professionals, who are annoyed at the Fed and want to see the economy take its lumps for the overall good of the system).

What puzzles me is, why aren't these guys at least equally mad at the lenders?

(Rant follows, I expect religious Libertarians to be offended.)
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Time For Another Episode of "Why Europe Is Now Kicking Our Broadband Bottoms."
From the NYT: http://mobile.nytimes.com/article?a=149340&f=24&single=1

Granted, like all regulators, Vivane Redding has a tendency to credit her initiatives with all successes. But the undeniable fact is that other countries in the EU, after adopting the structural separation rules we used to have, began significantly leapfrogging us in broadband penetration and broadband adoption -- with a subsequent boost to their economies. The alternative explanations -- different population densities, metrics like this are irrelevant -- are wearing thin.

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Final Thought On Obama Speech
As I was stuck in traffic, having forgotten today was the day of fifth anniversary protests, I heard a commentator on the Obama speech observe that what was important was the spin by pundits because most people won't have seen the speech or take the time to read it.

Happily, the internet changes that. While many will not trouble themselves to do the due diligence themselves, many millions more will. And they have the opportunity to do so.

If you haven't already done so, read the speech (or watch it) yourself, then read the punditry. You will find it an interesting exercise.

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