Month: March 2008

My brother over on his blog has put forth the scenario of the Democrats having both Obama and Clinton running in the general election, preventing a majority in the Electoral College, thereby throwing the election into the House of Representatives.

How wild would that be? But according to the 12th Amendment, each state’s delegation gets one vote:

But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice….

So the sole Alaskan rep’s vote counts the same as all the Califronia reps. Would delegations vote the way their state voted, or split along party lines? How would the Democrats choose which candidate to back? Huge can of worms…fun to contemplate.

FT.com / Comment & analysis / Letters – Premature to say US is in recession:

Premature to say US is in recession
Published: March 17 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 17 2008 02:00
From Mr Joe Carl White.

Sir, In the first sentence of your report “Dollar plunges to record low” (March 14), you say that “retail sales figures confirmed that the US is in recession”.

Hardly. The sales figures cited show a decline for February, true; but a recession is two or more quarters of decline. Since preliminary figures for fourth quarter 2007 show an increase, it is quite premature to state that we are in a recession at this time.

Joe Carl White,
Houston, TX 77057, US

FT.com / World / US & Canada – Dollar plunges to record low:

The dollar plummeted to record lows and the price of gold touched $1,000 on Thursday as retail sales figures confirmed that the US is in recession and concern intensified about spreading distress in the hedge fund sector.

The retail sales figures to which the piece referred showed a 0.6 percent decline for the month of February; a recession is two or more quarters of decline back to back, and since last quarter most likely saw an increase, it is much too early to declare we are in a recession, especially when many economists believe we will avoid one.