TORONTO, ONTARIO - Canadians probably had an eerie feeling this week as they watched US President Barack Obama at a press conference on Tuesday say that "Profit and earning ratios are starting to get to the point where buying stocks is a potentially good deal if you’ve got a long-term perspective on it." Back in October during an interview with the CBC's Peter Mansbridge during the campaign, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper stated that he believed there were "probably some great buying opportunities out there." The statement was heavily criticized for being out-of-touch with average Canadians--and we all know what's happened to North American stock markets since October. Obama's quote was not substantively different than Harper's--draw your own conclusions about the validity of the advice and whether the same criticisms apply.
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Unfortunately for the Republicans, their public statements sound even less rational than Obama's. While Rush Limbaugh could perhaps be expected to stick to ideology, the same basic message was being voiced by Newt Gingrich today on NBC's Meet the Press as well as by other Republicans at a time when they probably should be listening to moderates in their ranks; I've already praised David Brooks enough. A caller to the Dave Ross Show on KIRO-FM in Seattle summed it up best: "When I listen to Republicans, it's like a Miller Lite commercial, except instead of 'Tastes Great' and 'Less Filling' they're saying 'Lower Taxes' and 'Less Government.'"
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I don't know if Bill Gates and his family would take the side of lower taxes or less government (or if they are even Obama supporters), but a CNET report this week broke the news that Melinda Gates and their children have iPhone and iPod envy. The family has reportedly decided not to buy any Apple products in favor of Microsoft products, but are increasingly jealous of friends' iPhones. Then, of course, there are those of us that don't even have a "smart" phone of any kind.
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Interestingly, cell phones do not need to be turned off during Earth Hour, which for those planning ahead is scheduled for 8:30 pm local time on Saturday, 28-March-2009. This year, organizers are characterizing the act of turning off one's lights for an hour to be a "vote" for Earth instead of global warming. Considering that most people don't vote in any election and not voting is equivalent to a vote against Earth, I'm expecting the planet to lose this one.
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