Kay Thompson

Last night, I enjoyed watching again one of my favorite movies—Funny Face. Besides the big names of Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn, Kay Parker shines. This is the only movie in which I recall seeing her perform. She's wonderful. For a fun sample, check out "Clap 'Yo Hands".

Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights

Yep, the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights is a new link I've added to my favorites here. It's a breath of fresh air needed desperately in Washington, D.C.

For example, breathe this in. Objectivist or not, consider this excerpt:

And as a historical fact, the U.S. economy during the period 1870 - 1913 grew significantly faster than it did after the Fed was established. True, there were many bank failures in this period, but there were also many business failures in general: banks were actually less likely to fail than were other businesses. The number of bank failures speaks to the dynamism of the period, not to anything fragile in the financial system. Precisely because market mechanisms were permitted to work, depositors, creditors and counterparties all kept a close eye on banks, monitoring leverage and withdrawing funds at the first sign of problems....

So pre-Fed we had runs on banks, some undoubtedly severe--but with the Fed we’ve had the Great Depression, the S&L meltdown and now perhaps the greatest worldwide credit crisis ever.

Think about it. Think about it as the Fed pours billions more into a black hole of irresponsible failures it fostered. Think about it as you listen again to Alan Greenspan blame a country of victims for the results of his actions on behalf of the Fed.