On what happens next January if Paulson gets his way:

I’ve been pointing out that the dictatorial powers Paulson has sought would accrue to the next Treasury secretary, who might well be Phil Gramm. I’ve been trying to come up with a liberal-leaning name who might seem equally horrifying to Republicans, and the only one I’ve come up with is … me.

More here.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a legitimate scientific poll in which a value was actually zero. Until now. In an American Research Group poll on the national economy released today, one of the findings is that “No Americans say they think the financial situations in their households are getting better.” Nobody. Zero. Zip. Yes, this poll was conducted last week, as venerable financial companies crumbled and the government put together plans for a $700 billion blank check bailout plan. But zero? The pollsters couldn’t get one person on the phone who cleaned up shorting AIG? One person who just started a new job after being unemployed for six months? Nope. Nada. As everything seemed to collapse last week, the pollsters at ARG couldn’t find anyone in their representative sample of 1,100 American households who could boast that his or her personal situation was getting better. It brings to mind that old saw that frequently made the rounds during the final days of the dot-com bubble, as bottom fishers occasionally bought up the stocks of distressed companies like Kozmo.com and Pets.com for pennies. Such bargains! Unlimited upside! No, actually, even at penny-stock prices, those companies were overpriced. “It could go to zero,” was the warning from finger-wagging naysayers. It could, and it did. And now, it has again.

Gotta love the independent ecommerce site Democratic Stuff. While their collection of hundreds of buttons for affinity groups includes some of the typical ones you’d see on any similar site (Teachers for Obama), it also features some that are downright loopy. Many reflect musical interests, including—I am not making this up—Thereminists for Obama. Others options for microcultures include Mullets for Obama, Avant Garde for Obama, and Bug Enthusiasts for Obama. Of course, since it’s all print-on-demand, the Dem Stuff folks can be as creative as they want, since it really doesn’t matter if they actually sell any Breakfast for Obama buttons. Still, the fact that they took the trouble to design and market these speaks to the diversity that really does exist within the Democratic Party. Somehow I can’t imagine anyone on the other side trying to reach out to mathematicians, moon walkers, trekkies, roller girls, recyclers, surfers and, of course, community organizers. They appeal to a segment of the population that defines itself far more narrowly, and one that doesn’t embrace the huggers, beards, punks, environmentalists and LGBT found on Dem Stuff. Though if they want the mullets, they can have them.

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but what I do watch means a lot to me. And one thing that I’ve been watching for years is MSNBC’s election coverage. It’s a tradition I began during the long 2000 election, when I turned to the channel just about every night for the latest news on the Florida recount. And, of course, it was Tim Russert (along with Darrell Hammond and Will Ferrell) who kept me informed about the latest twists and turns of that endless—and ultimately futile—process. Later, Russert guided me through more elections, including this year’s seemingly endless primary. For me, the primary ended not when Barack Obama gave his victory speech, or when Hillary Clinton finally conceded, but when Russert declared it over after the North Carolina primary: “We now know who the Democratic nominee will be. And no one is going to dispute it.” Such was Russert’s authority that many people did indeed consider the primary season over at that point (though, of course, others continued to dispute it). Though I respected Russert’s authority, that’s not what kept drawing me back to MSNBC election after election. It was his boyish excitement, the way you could tell he just loved what he was doing. Other journalists would take on a studied cynical pose, or make breathless pronouncements, but not Russert. He was always, as Rachel Sklar recently described him, “the happiest guy at the primary.” That’s how I’ll remember him. And I’m sure I’ll do so whenever I watch election coverage, this year, and every year from now on.

When reporters visit North Korea, they’re usually given a highly restricted itinerary, consisting largely of visits with happy workers, tours of gleaming-but-empty buildings, and lectures about the glory of the Great and Dear Leaders. And, based on this Times report , the latest batch of reporters—who accompanied the New York Philharmonic on its historic visit to the Hermit Kingdom—had to follow the same script. But there was at least one striking lapse on the part of the group’s handlers, during a visit to the country’s National Library:

A librarian said the library had room for 30 million volumes and was 95 percent full. Two-thirds were said to be foreign-language books. The librarian summoned up some books on a conveyor belt and spread them out for the visitors to see. They were mostly computer books: “Electronic Packaging, Microelectronics and Interconnection Dictionary,” and a Windows 95 guide.

Yes, that’s right. Windows 95! If this is what they’re showing off to the press, who knows what’s actually in the rest of those 30 million volumes? Manuals for repairing your ‘46 Packard? The latest on that wacky new disco dancing craze? Suddenly, I’m a lot less worried about the North Korean nuclear program.

There were a number of nice moments in Bill Gates’ corny, gently self-mocking CES farewell keynote presentation and video (though the big plug for Silverlight on the MS site isn’t one of them), but for me the sweet spot was his plea to join the Democratic presidential ticket. Not only does this represent the culmination of a political turnaround by someone who once saw Republicans as his key allies (former Washington Senator Slade Gorton was nicknamed “the Senator from Microsoft” thanks to his close ties to Bill’s company). But it also featured a slam dunk by Barack Obama, in which the candidate managed to join the Bill-dissing party, slap his main competitor and show off his geek cred in one fell swoop. When BillG calls Obama, he introduces himself simply as “Bill.” The senator’s response: “Shatner?” Gates responds in the negative, and Obama’s second guess is, of course, Clinton. Way to go, Big O. I’m still rooting for yet another Bill, but if he doesn’t make it, you’ve got me energized.

Since everyone else has already compiled their “Best of 2007” lists, here’s mine, in no particular order:

The beauty of the Kindle isn’t its readability; its screen is basically the same as that of the Sony Reader. Amazon’s acheivement is solving the chicken-and-egg conundrum that ebook readers have faced for over a decade. With wireless access, tens of thousands of available books (including many that people might actually want to read) and even daily newspapers, the Kindle is the first ebook reader designed for readers. Now if they could just do something about that price.

Gore’s Nobel
Without Karl, Ralph or the Supremes in his way, the winner of the 2000 presidential race sailed to a well-deserved victory in Sweden. Of course, it remains to be seen whether his prize helps influence policy on climate change.

The Consumerist
Nick Denton will never be confused with Colston Warne, but as the force behind The Consumerist, he’s shown that he’s capable of actually helping people other than gossip-hungry New Yorkers and Valleyites. Featuring everything from recall news to guerilla support tips, Consumerist is the new face of consumer advocacy for Gen Y.

Alas, I didn’t make it to this show, the group’s first in over 25 years. But the YouTube clips confirm that my boyhood idols still sound great—but are now bald, fat and middle-aged … just like their fans.

Zoho Writer
Google Docs may get all the glory, but Zoho feels a lot more like a real word processor, and includes such niceties as a tabbed interface, ad-free environment, and, most impressive of all, a seamless offline mode—powered by Google Gears, which has yet to make an appearance in its parent’s online editor.
 
Forever Stamp
I buy stamps. I lose them. I find them five years later and have to buy extra pennyweight stamps if I want to use them. Not anymore. I can buy as many stamps as I want, lose them for decades, and still be able to use them to mail my pleas for cash to the Social Security Administration.

The Yiddish Policemen’s Union
Alt-history, Chandleresque suspense and the “frozen chosen.” What’s not to like?

OLPC XO GOGO
I’ll leave the hardware reviews to the experts. But Nicholas Negroponte’s “Give One Get One” ploy was pure genius, and managed to change the public perception of the XO from a well-intentioned failure to a cool way to be philantropic and get a free gadget at the same time (or even make a profit, as some eBay merchants have managed to do.

Yahoo Pipes
Plug-and-play RSS mashups for the masses. Users have created pipes that do everything from add a category-specific price-watch service to craigslist to the most recent “interesting” flickr photos, except for those that feature flowers. And, of course, all scripts can be copied, merged, altered and further mashed as needed.

WGA Strike
The union movement in the U.S. may be a shadow of its former self, but that doesn’t mean it’s completely toothless. The ongoing strike has brought one of the country’s most powerful industries to its knees and, like the Tasini lawsuit a half-decade ago, serves as a reminder that companies that control content don’t have a unilateral right to use it “in any medium yet to be invented” without compensating its creators.

When I was a kid, the space race was as big a deal as the cold war and the arms race—in fact, it was inexorably tied to those parallel contests. And the event that started that competition, the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union, happened 50 years ago today. For those who don’t remember that period, it’s difficult to describe the passion this nation felt for space travel in the 60s and early 70s. I remember, even as a kid, being swept up in the excitement of the new “space age.” My early heroes were test pilots and astronauts, not rock stars or sports figures. There was a sort of boundless optimism about space in those days; even as the U.S. struggled with the Kennedy and King assassinations, the Vietnam war and Nixon, the final frontier offered a new hope that we could pursue our dreams to infinity and beyond (yes, this sentence was crafted for both film geeks and SEO hacks). A movie like “2001” didn’t seem so far-fetched back then; space stations, giant computer-controlled starships, and contact with alien life forms in about 30 years? Why not? After all, we went from Sputnik to Apollo 11 in just 12 years. What couldn’t we accomplish in another 30? Of course, we all know what really happened. And, when I woke up this morning, instead of being able to visit a lunar colony or vacation on Mars, I ended up visiting Woot, where a one-day commemorative Sputnik shirt was already sold out. Yes, I lived through the space race. And I didn’t even get a stupid t-shirt.

At CR, we’ve been covering the ongoing issue of tainted products from China for some time. And many other media outlets have been doing so as well, from CNN’s Lou Dobbs, who warns of the dangers posed by products from “Communist China,” to the crew at Consumerist, who have dubbed the whole mess the “Chinese Poison Train.” But the Adam Smith award for economics reporting has to go to CNBC’s Erin Burnett, who last week said the following, with no hint of irony or satire:

I think people should be careful what they wish for on China—you know, if China were to revalue its currency, or China is to start making, say, toys that don’t have lead in them, or food that isn’t poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up. And that means prices at Walmart, here in the United States, are going to go up too. So, I would say China is our greatest friend right now.

Can’t wait to see what Erin has to say about global warming.

[Via Kos]