Begging for dollars

God knows I love newspapers. Printed-on-paper newspapers. Dead-tree media, whatever you want to call them. But my former colleague Ken McIntyre is absolutely right about Senator Ben Cardin's newspaper bailout bill. It's amazing what things those folks in Washington can think up to spend other people's money on. I wonder if Cardin, not a poor man himself, is heavily investing in newspaper stocks to help the beleaguered industry right itself in the time-honored free market fashion. Bets, anyone?

I'm reminded of the quotation attributed to Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Whether the Great Lady said it or not, it's an apt sentiment.

As a Marylander though, I suppose I should be grateful for the sighting of Cardin. In the tradition of ex-Senator Paul Sarbanes, he's largely disappeared from view since the state Democratic machine awarded him a seat in the Senate (elections are merely a formality in our one-party state). Let me make it quite clear, however, that rumors of a milk carton with Cardin's picture on it are categorically not true. You can be sure he'll resurface anyway around election time for his rubber-stamped second term in the Senate.