Week in Review Part IV:Random Musings

--New Hampshire formally designated Jan. 10 for the first in the nation primary. So it’s set.

Iowa…Jan. 3 New Hampshire…Jan. 10

South Carolina…Jan. 21

Florida…Jan. 31 Nevada…Feb. 4 --Editorial / Wall Street Journal

“Now Herman Cain knows how Icarus felt at the top. We won’t go so far as to push the analogy to conclude that the Cain campaign is crashing into the sea. But make no mistake: Herman Cain’s got a sea of trouble.

“It’s clear by now that the voluble former restaurant executive had no expectation that his Presidential candidacy would fly as high as it has. If he did, he’d long ago have had in place the kind of campaign staff able at least to guide a candidate through the inevitable turbulence of modern politics. “The last few days witnessed the spectacle of Mr. Cain’s campaign first blaming the liberal media for reporting years-old claims of sexual harassment, then denying the claims as ‘baseless,’ then acknowledging that he might have known something about the settlements reached by the National Restaurant Association where he was in charge. “The story reached fiasco status on Wednesday when Mr. Cain’s chief of staff, Mark Block, accused the Rick Perry campaign of leaking the early sexual harassment stories. Yesterday Mr. Block half-retracted the accusation. One may reasonably wonder whether Mr. Cain approved this stillborn damage-control strategy. Either answer would be unflattering….

“Mr. Cain has proven there is a hunger in the public for roiling the political status quo. If he has disappointed his supporters, which remains to be seen, it is because he hasn’t displayed sufficient self-awareness of the requirements of being a top-tier presidential candidate….

“If in one’s past exist two sexual harassment suits formally settled by one’s employer, that is going to become public. It is a certainty. Allowing oneself to drift through a campaign until the day the buried bombs go off is amateur hour. Republicans have a right to ask Mr. Cain what he would have said if he won the nomination and the news had broken after Labor Day next year. The Cain campaign would have been smarter to leak the story pre-emptively.” We still don’t have all the details and I refuse to comment beyond echoing the Journal’s main point, that I can’t believe the man wasn’t better prepared to handle the allegations. --In the latest Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of likely caucusgoers (prior to the Cain mess):

Herman Cain 23%

Mitt Romney 22% Ron Paul 12% Michele Bachmann 8%

Newt Gingrich 7%

Rick Perry 7% Rick Santorum 5% Curiously, from Aug. 13 to Oct. 29, Romney and Cain had each held just 3 events in Iowa, while Bachmann and Santorum had held 29 and 28, respectively, thus debunking the myth that to do well here, you need to basically live in the state.

--George Will / Washington Post

“The Republican presidential dynamic – various candidates rise and recede; Mitt Romney remains at about 25 percent support – is peculiar because conservatives correctly believe it is important to defeat Barack Obama but unimportant that Romney be president. This is not cognitive dissonance. “Obama, a floundering naïf who thinks ATMs aggravate unemployment, is bewildered by a national tragedy of shattered dreams, decaying workforce skills and forgone wealth creation. Romney cannot enunciate a defensible, or even decipherable, ethanol policy. “Life poses difficult choices, but not about ethanol. Government subsidizes ethanol production, imposes tariffs to protect its manufacturers, mandates the use of it – and it injures the nation’s and the world’s economic, environmental and social (it raises food prices) well-being.

“In May, in corn-growing Iowa, Romney said, ‘I support’ – present tense – ‘the subsidy of ethanol.’ And: ‘I believe ethanol is an important part of our energy solution for this country.’ But in October he told Iowans he is ‘a business guy’ so as president he would review this bipartisan – the last Republican president was an ethanol enthusiast – folly. Romney said he once favored (past tense) subsidies to get the ethanol industry ‘on its feet.’ But Romney added, ‘I’ve indicated I didn’t think the subsidy had to go on forever.’ Ethanol subsidies expire in December but ‘I might have looked at more of a decline over time’ because of ‘the importance of ethanol as a domestic fuel.’ Besides, ‘ethanol is part of national security.' However, ‘I don’t want to say’ I will propose new subsidies. Still, ethanol has ‘become an important source of amplifying our energy capacity.’ Anyway, ethanol should ‘continue to have prospects of growing its share of’ transportation fuels. Got it?

“Every day, 10,000 Baby Boomers become eligible for Social Security and Medicare, from which they will receive, on average, $1 million of benefits. Who expects difficult reforms from Romney, whose twists on ethanol make a policy pretzel?” --In a USA TODAY/Gallup survey of 12 likely key swing states in the 2012 election, President Obama has an approval rating of just 40% in them, below the 45% he garners in other states. In a nationwide matchup for the same poll, Obama and Romney both receive 47%. [The dozen are: Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida.]

--New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Campaign 2016 train picked up another victory as the state’s second-largest employees’ union approved a 4-year deal freezing wages the first three years in return for preventing 3,500 layoffs. Healthcare premiums are also going up, though there are ways for workers to avoid the increase in return for giving up vacation days and such. All in all, the governor didn’t cave and when he threatened the layoffs, the union gave in instead so it’s a good arrow in his quiver when he goes after independent voters in 2016.

--From Brian Faler / Bloomberg News “Political dysfunction is often blamed for Congress’ inability to curb the U.S. budget deficit. An even bigger obstacle may be the American public. “A record 49 percent of Americans live in a household where someone receives at least one type of government benefit, according to the Census Bureau.

“And 63 percent of all federal spending this year will consist of checks written to individuals for which the government receives currently no services, the White House budget office estimates. That’s up from 46 percent in 1975, and 18 percent in 1940.”

--Editorial / New York Post…on the Occupy Wall Street crowd in lower Manhattan’s Zucotti Park: “Time’s up: The Zucotti Park vagabonds have had their say – and trashed lower Manhattan – for long enough. “They need to go.

“Be it voluntarily – by packing their tents and heading off in an orderly fashion.

“Or by having the NYPD step in – and evict them. “Whether the protesters go peacefully is entirely up to them. “But go they must: Their lease on Zucotti Park has expired. And it’s their own fault.

“What began as a credible protest against bank bailouts, crony capitalism and the like has, in large measure, been hijacked by crazies and criminals.

“Beyond that, too many protesters demonstrate by their actions a level of contempt for residents, businesses and workers in the area that long ago crossed the line. “No one should have to put up with the incessant noise, filth and downright dangerous conditions the protesters have foisted upon lower Manhattan. “The drumming and tambourines.

“The yelling and screaming.

“The public urination and defecation. “The drugs. “The lewdness.

“The criminals and their crimes.

“It’s all got to end…. “If they choose not to leave – which they probably won’t – then (Mayor) Bloomberg needs to instruct the NYPD to clean the mess up.” You could say the exact same thing about the protesters in Oakland who turned violent again this week. Imagine being a shop owner near these encampments. They have rights too. And I’ve noted the protests going on in London, which are tearing apart the congregation of St. Paul’s Cathedral. Sweep ‘em into the Thames.

--Famed Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout, first captured in a sting operation in Thailand in March 2008 by U.S. DEA agents posing as members of the Colombian rebel group, FARC, was convicted Wednesday of conspiring to sell surface-to-air missiles, machine guns and other weapons. He faces life in prison.

Viktor Bout is one bad guy. A 2001 United Nations report said he “supplied military equipment and other necessities to all conflict areas in Africa.” A Manhattan jury found him guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. citizens and conspiracy to acquire and use antiaircraft missiles as well as provide such weapons to a terrorist group. [Note: I just saw that FARC’s leader was killed by elite Colombian forces. This is good.] --When my flight from Charleston, S.C., arrived in Newark on Wednesday afternoon, I couldn’t help but think the mood at the airport may have been rather grim were it not for the heroics of the crew of the LOT Polish Airlines plane from Newark Liberty that landed on its belly the previous day in Warsaw after a landing gear malfunction. Passengers said the crew came through the plane an hour before, noting they would need to make an emergency landing but that they wouldn’t be landing in a lake or field. Then witnesses say 30 seconds before the pilot told them to brace, but they felt nothing as the pilot brought it down incredibly smoothly and no one was hurt. Imagine the prayer taking place on that plane. I have a little ritual I do before every flight. I would have gone through it 100 times if I had an hour to think about it.

Then again, I should go through the same ritual just crossing the street in my hometown with all the idiots running red lights while on their phones or texting.

[As the light turns green and I step off the curb… “Our Father, who art in Heaven….”] --The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration notes there are about 1 million car accidents with deer each year that kill 200 Americans, cause more than 10,000 personal injuries and result in $1 billion in vehicle damage. By comparison, over the last ten years, sharks and bears have killed a combined 38 in the U.S. It’s deer mating season now. Beware, especially if you live in West Virginia, which tops the list of states where a driver is most likely to run into a deer.

--Researchers at the Mayo Clinic believe that they have discovered a drug that can manipulate the body’s cells in such a manner as to slow the aging process. Sign me up for any trials, Mayo scientists!

--A study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that those who reported feeling happiest had a 35% reduced risk of dying compared with those who reported feeling least happy. A study of “Week in Review” readers has found that only 2% are happy and the balance have an 84% increased risk of dying. It’s not known if this is a reversible condition should you choose to leave the site. --- Pray for the men and women of our armed forces…and all the fallen.

God bless America.

--- Gold closed at $1756 Oil, $94.26

Returns for the week 10/31-11/4

Dow Jones -2.0% [11983] S&P 500 -2.5% [1253] S&P MidCap -1.2%

Russell 2000 -1.9%

Nasdaq -1.9% [2686] Returns for the period 1/1/11-11/4/11 Dow Jones +3.5%

S&P 500 -0.3%

S&P MidCap -0.9% Russell 2000 -4.7% Nasdaq +1.2%

Have a great week. I appreciate your support.