Today’s Links: October 25, 2011

OPINION

A. BARTON HINKLE: “Obama’s Great Depression”
“Barack Obama has joined George W. Bush in a dubious category. They are the only two presidents besides Herbert Hoover to see the number of job-holding Americans decline on their watch. The parallels with Hoover don’t end there. It’s commonly believed Hoover took a hands-off approach to the country’s economic distress, and that his administration’s tight-fisted refusal to spend prolonged the misery. But Hoover was about as stingy with a government dollar as ‘Jersey Shore’ is with hairspray.”

GENE HEALY: “Life is Good in the Capital of Crony Capitalism”
“According to the latest Census figures, Washington, D.C. is now the wealthiest metropolitan area in the United States. That’s good news for local property values, but I can’t say it fills me with hometown pride. After all, Silicon Valley’s wealth was earned — just rewards voluntarily given for producing innovations that have dramatically improved our lives. In contrast, D.C.’s prosperity reflects a parasite economy that battens on wealth created by others. We live in a vast, metastasizing tick of a city, swollen on the lifeblood it drains from the body politic. This is one race the home team deserved to lose.”

RALPH BENKO: “Democracy Denied; Republic, Lost”
“Does this government represent you?  78% of us say that America is on the wrong track.  Only 15%, near an historic low, feel America is headed in the right direction.  This implies that a supermajority says that their intention, their well being, and their very dignity are being violated.”

NEWS

IMMIGRATION – Mexican ID Becomes Valid ID in Sonoma County
“In Sonoma County, a California driver’s license is accepted as valid identification — but so is a card issued by the Mexican consulate.”

TRANSPORTATION – MTA Considering No Trash Bins on Subway Platforms
“New York City is considering a plan to remove all trash cans from some subway platforms — a move many straphangers fear will make the stations even dirtier. “