Vulture Capitalism

All right, here is a free catch phrase for my left wing friends: Vulture Capitalism

Venture capitalism is a process where investors pool their money and buy into smaller companies. Buy investing in a small company the investors are taking a larger risk than by investing in the larger market, thus venture, as in "nothing ventured nothing gained".

On average, over many such investments, the venture capitalist should expect to do better than the market as a whole, otherwise why take the risk?

What Mitt Romney and the Bain Group did in many cases was the traditional definition of venture capitol, though in many cases the companies invested in were fairly large, not the traditional start-up.

What they also did, quite a bit actually, was to buy up companies, and then dismember them for the assets. That is, they bought them not because they thought they could make money through the business, but they could make a profit by parting out the company, getting rid of the employees, selling off the land, buildings, fixtures and anything of value.

I call this dismembering of the carcass Vulture Capitalism. Even if it is necessary for the smooth running of a capitolist economy, it's the rather unseemly destruction of Jobs that leaves a rather bad taste for most Americans. Americans understand that businesses go under, and that businesses fail, they don't really understand or like it when businesses are closed on purpose in order to make money for outside investors.

So there you go my liberal friends: Mitt Romney, Vulture Capitalist.

Newt Gingrich

Top Ten Reasons I am supporting Newt Gingrich for the Republican Nomination.

10 - As Speaker of the House, he actually balanced the budget of the United States. Yes, there was probably some shuffling of accounts, but when Newt was Speaker was the closest we have been since WWII to having a balanced budget.

9 - He's not Mitt Romney

8 - Newt had the balls to actually shut down the nonessential portions of the Federal Government. Sure Clinton helped, and actually it was mostly Clinton's fault, but Gingrich got the blame. Therefore, by all rights he gets the credit as well.

7 - He's NOT Mitt Romney

6 - Newt is a Historian by trade, not a lawyer. This is obvious when you listen to him speak. he actually understands the background of the things he talks about.

5 - Again, he's not Mitt Romney

4 - Did I mention that he's not Mitt Romney? Because that's pretty important.

3 - Oh yeah, he's not Rick Perry either.

2 - Newt is the one person who can clearly articulate a philosophical basis for why everything the democrats have been doing is not only wrong from an outcome based approach, but from a moral and ethical standpoint as well. And let's face it, watching Newt in a debate with Obama would be kind of like watching Mike Tyson beat up your 8th grade bully. Satisfying and a bit disturbing at the same time.

1 - And most importantly, he's NOT MITT ROMNEY.

If somehow Mitt does manage to get the nomination, that means that we get 4 more years of Obama, and an economy that is starting to make the Carter malaise years look like "the good old days."

Mitt is the guy who couldn't beat the guy who couldn't beat Obama. He's the guy who is actually less attractive to the base than McCain. (remember McCain lost due to low voter turnout among republican demographics) Frankly he's less exciting that Bob Dole, and that's really really hard to do.

Mitt simply can't win. And even if he could win, having a large government, anti-gun, big business crony capitalist, nanystate Rebublican in office is not measurably better than having a large government, anti-gun, big business crony capitalist, nanystate Democrat in office is it?

Open legged Seated

The "Field" sitting position.

For competition use the Crossed Legged position is greatly preferred, as it is the most stable of the seated positions. For field shooting, or informal target shooting, the open legged position is almost as steady, and allows for a much greater field of regard. Useful when shooting multiple targets instead of a single bull.

Note how the subjects elbows are forward of the knees, locking in support. By repositioning the feet one can change the natural point of aim.

Rifle is a Remington Model Five (made by Zastava), and yes I really should add sling swivels and a model 1907 sling.

Bonus points to the first person to correctly identify the revolver.

Still in the Dark

In a little noticed provision of the latest spending bill, the Republicans mannaged to block any expendature of money to enforce the ban on 100+ watt incandescent lightbulbs.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/dec/16/congress-overturns-incandescent-light-bulb-ban/

Again, this does not actually repeal the law, it just makes it illegal to spend money enforcing the law. While this does count as a victory for common sense, it still strikes me as a rather small one.

Since the law was set to go into effect in 2 weeks, most manufacturers of such bulbs have already moved their production oversees, so while you may be able to buy lightbulbs, you won't be buying ones made here.

P rated Tires

I soooo HATE P rated tires. Seriously, what's the point in tires for an off road viehicle than can have holes poked through them by little rocks?

*sigh*

Anyone have anything bad to say about the Cooper ATRs? I'm going to pull the Goodritches off and upgrade to either Coopers or Nittos.

Harrier Time

Ate Breakfast at the Flight Deck Cafe this morning.

Weekends they have a buffet for about $9, and the kids are something like $4.50. Bacon was great, biscuits and gravy were outstanding, potatoes were the worst potatoes ever. *sigh*

The nice thing about the Flight deck is that there are usually some .mil aircraft parked right outside the window, since it's in the building that serves as the general aviation terminal.

Today we had Harriers and C-130J models.

The Genessis Bow

The girls have been doing 4-H shooting sports for a while now. Mostly they have been doing compound bow and air rifle. The bows are fairly neat. Mathews built and designed them for the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP).

Genesis Bow

Single cam with an idler wheel. Adjustable draw weight from 10 to 20 lbs. Zero let off.

Only real issue so far has been that daughter the eldest is left eye dominant. Right handed, but left eyes, just like her Opa. *sigh*

Shooting right handed she was doing pretty good, if "good" is defined as hitting the wrong target. Ended up asking the instructor if she should shoot left handed since she is cross dominant.

Last meeting they had 3 or 4 left handed shooters but only one left handed bow. *grumble*

Ended up buying our own off of E-bay. Even if she outgrows it it will get some more use, since the boy child also appears to be cross dominant. In fact the younger daughter was teaching him how to shoot it this afternoon.

As for firearms, looks like I'm going to have to buy a .22 caliber lever gun...

Aggregate good

Keen insight from Aretae, burred in comments.

There is NOT a common good. There MAY be an aggregate good...what is good for Abel,Baker,Charlie,and Dennis, but bad for Eddie and Frank may be worth "2 points" of good. And, if it's only 1 point of good each for ABCD, and 5 points of bad each for EF...that may not even be true. But it sure ain't in the "common good"...

Nothing the government does is good for everyone, someone always suffers from any government action.