Monday, January 12, 2009
Sometimes you wonder.....
Excellent idea from Deroy Murdock in today's NRO.
Well, part of the idea is excellent. Splitting and selling is good, but splitting by alphabet is really dumb.
The alphabet is emphatically not random. For example, C, J, M, S would be large chunks with broad distribution, but Q, X, Y, Z would be tiny and far off balance. X would consist of a few Greeks, "Black Muslims", and some recent Chinese immigrants.
I have to wonder how a wise and well-informed man like Murdock could have missed this obvious fact, and how his editors could also have missed it. Maybe it only seems obvious to me because I've always been interested in linguistics and cryptology? No, anyone who ever used a phone book or an encyclopedia should have noticed it.
In the end it doesn't really matter, because computers could run a truly random split. Most of all, it doesn't matter because the basic idea makes sense, and the Feds will never, never, never, never, no never at all, consider an idea that makes sense. ¶ 8:20 AM
Fannie and Freddie’s assets should be pooled and alphabetized by the surname of each mortgage holder. Thus, Abramson and Acosta top the list. Marlowe and Moskowitz occupy its middle. Zoro and Zucker will bring up the rear. These assets then would be segmented alphabetically into 26 units.
These 26 companies would be auctioned to the highest bidders in transparent, public ceremonies. Revenues would go to the Treasury. This income should be reserved to offset the massive debts that are the domestic legacy Bush has bequeathed America’s unborn after his relentless, eight-year spendathon.
Because the alphabet does not distinguish between rich and poor, creditworthy and delinquent, nor east and west, each of these 26 companies would include mortgages on mansions and shotgun shacks, from Savannah to Seattle.
Well, part of the idea is excellent. Splitting and selling is good, but splitting by alphabet is really dumb.
The alphabet is emphatically not random. For example, C, J, M, S would be large chunks with broad distribution, but Q, X, Y, Z would be tiny and far off balance. X would consist of a few Greeks, "Black Muslims", and some recent Chinese immigrants.
I have to wonder how a wise and well-informed man like Murdock could have missed this obvious fact, and how his editors could also have missed it. Maybe it only seems obvious to me because I've always been interested in linguistics and cryptology? No, anyone who ever used a phone book or an encyclopedia should have noticed it.
In the end it doesn't really matter, because computers could run a truly random split. Most of all, it doesn't matter because the basic idea makes sense, and the Feds will never, never, never, never, no never at all, consider an idea that makes sense. ¶ 8:20 AM
