Well, the old adage about not counting your chickens before they hatch is proven wise again.  A friend who played for Auburn (and who hates all things connected to Tennessee) was crowing about the 21-3 lead that New England held over the Colts last night.  It was a tragically classless act to rub it in our faces that Peyton Manning was losing again.  And sorely unwise as he now looks ridiculous and he has to put up with Manning in the Superbowl. 

So we won't bring it up when we see him.  He's otherwise a really good guy.  But he'll know.  And he'll wish he hadn't spoken.

I can't wait to see Manning and the Colts in the Superbowl. 

Oh, and congratulations to da Bears, too.

sharp

Ok, so I'm an economics nerd. But I continue to be amazed that there are so many doomsayers among (would-be) economists.

How many times have we heard that the economy is grinding to a halt and bad times are just around the corner.  And yet:

• 167k new jobs were reported in December vs. 100k forecast (btw, that's still far less than the real number which is reported through the HH survey)
• The Trade deficit shrunk
• The 1st Quarter budget deficit fell by another $35b or so from last year (when the full year came in more than $100b below their disastrous forecasts)
• The price of oil continues to drop which will fuel consumer spending and keep the ball rolling
• Consumer confidence continues to surge (despite the prognostications of depression)
• The stock market continues to hit all-time highs which is expanding wealth for the millions of American households with mutual funds, 401k plans, personal stock, etc.

The bottom line is this:  The tax cuts have created a booming economy.  Jobs are growing like crazy.  Wealth is growing like crazy (and not just among the wealthiest).   We've weathered the housing slowdown and the resurgence in housing is now predicted to fuel growth in the 2nd half of 2007. 

This economy is in powerfully strong shape.  So much so that I look for the Fed to raise rates this coming summer to try to cool down inflationary forces.

It's a good time to be living and working in America.

sharp

Bucs, you had an awesome season. Looks like a 56 day layoff and a hot Gators team were just too much.

Gators, you owned it from 20 seconds in.  Not bad.

So the scorecard read:  SEC: 7-2; Big 10:  2-4

The big losses by OSU and Michigan, combined with an LSU blasting of Notre Dame (a Big 10 team in all but name) left the Big 10 looking very weak.  Bowl games are a very different kind of animal, but you have to notice trends here.

Good thing we didn't wind up with a Michigan/Ohio State championship game repeat.  The Gators and USC might have both been better.

Rock on SEC!

sharp

It looks like Al Qaeda may have made a strategic mistake in Somalia. The Islamic Republic Court terrorized the country and limited the elected government to the capital city, while Al-Zawahiri called for Jihad against the poor perpetually starving people of that country.

But then America's ally Ethiopia came in and flushed the Islamic terrorists to the cheers of the citizens.  Now America has dealt a major blow at the direction of the Somali government on a terror headquarters and managed to find a major Al-Qaeda figure there.

Al Qaeda is also having an awful week in Iraq where a major bomb-making facility has been found and destroyed and a huge terror sweep netted dozens more of their faithful.  Not to mention the continual loss of terror resources in Afghanistan.

The only thing that can lose the war on terror is the U.S. losing our nerve.  Will we?

sharp

Harry Reid made a complete flip-flop in 48 hours from supporting a surge of troops in Iraq to coming down hard on it. But Nancy has been consistent and now Harry's done a 180.

Guess the pants reside at the House.

sharp