THE DALY SHOW

FactCheck Confirms Portion Of My Book

This is a posting about one of the most untruthful emails you will ever read.  I guarantee some of you have received it.  The sad part is this: if those people who read it and believe it had read my book there would be no controversy.  FactCheck confirms what I wrote four years ago.  It’s in this posting here on JohnDalyLive.

Preparing For Economic Earthquake

Get Ready.  The ground is shifting.  In this post at JohnDalyLive, I have put together a piece that should be a guide for this new shift in our economic, political, and social landscape.  Please give me your thoughts.

Hopefully The Final Episode of Cramer Versus Stewart

The so-called debate between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer was like Muhammed Ali fighting a cream puff.  On JohnDalyLive, I tell you why.

Excuse Me, Guys. There’s A F#%king Financial Crisis Going On

This is a posting about our back-to-usual politics in Washington. Hey, we the People are still out here.

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 4, 2009) – Today is a day we move ahead. The date is March 4 as in march forth. Get it.

Yet in Washington, we continue to slide backwards.

The GOP is lost in the wilderness – just as the Democrats were in 2005. Let them wander. Most polls show the country doesn’t seem to care. The Rush-Steele feud is nonsense. Neither will change Washington or the course of our economy.

But Democrats need to stop the Rush baiting. It’s silly. Get back to work. Why do you continue to poke a stick at the caged lion? All he’s going to do is roar. And that roaring – a sound and fury coming from an idiot; to steal from Faulkner – only keeps us away from doing the people’s business.

It’s politics as usual in DC while the rest of the nation tries to survive.

Here are my suggestions.

President Obama needs to move forward with or without Republicans. The only way the GOP will join him is if progress in the economy appears. That won’t happen for another year. So, Mr. President, keep going and ignore the majority of GOP blow-hards until 2010 when many of them will be replaced.

However, President Obama needs to sit on his party. He made a bad public relations decision to not cut out the earmarks from the omnibus spending bill that keeps the government afloat. His excuse: the bill was drawn up before he came to office; Weak. Mr. President, you need to get that red pen out and start slashing those line items on all budgets.

Next, Mr. Obama needs to get off the fence. I think we saw it a little from his economic team yesterday. Three of them – Bernanke, Geithner, and Orzsag – finally talked back to Congress.

Of course, this stimulus package and the new budget have optimistic predictions. What did you expect? Should they be gloomy? It’s the same thing we forgave President Bush for in the war. We understood he needed to keep up troop morale or the fight would be a waste.

But the Obama economic team needs to explain more. I hear National Review’s Rich Lowry (a good guy who I met recently) say that because the Bush White House overspent doesn’t mean the Obama people should do the same thing. That’s mixing apples and oranges, Rich.

First, the majority of the Bush over-spending was frivolous. (A side note: the Iraqi War may have a peace dividend in years to come so it might not be totally frivolous; expensive but not frivolous.) Still, we couldn’t afford the wars especially when we cut taxes. So we went out and borrowed from the Chinese.

How come simple math didn’t apply to the Bush White House? They believed the less you take in and the more you spend would lead to a budget surplus. No one could sell that, so they took the war off the books. It’s like having a secret credit card for hookers and then when you’re bankrupt, you tell your wife, “Oh by the way I was using this card to help unfortunate young women.”

Now they want simple math at a time when most economists and traditional economic theory says flooding the markets with money to spur commerce is right?

(Another side note: we can argue all day about Keynsian theory and the Depression. My take: his theories went into effect four years after the economic downturn in 1929 and only reaped benefits from the war and post-war spending which brought a quarter century boom period.)

Yes, these are huge deficits. Yes, we’re adding to the Bush deficits. But these deficits are investments for the future. The party is over. We need to spend to clean up the mess. We are trying to get our workforce educated and involved in the new Information Age.

If the GOP wants to rail about earmarks, I’m with you. A word of caution to the GOP, you have earmarks in there, too. So be careful what you ask for.

I’m hoping that President Obama keeps his cool and continues to reach out to the GOP and the extreme wing of his party. The majority of Americans will realize his pledge to them to make politics civil and pragmatic again. Most likely the GOP will continue to rebuff the President’s overtures. After all, they still think it’s politics and usual and they want to save their jobs.

Here’s where the GOP is like radical Islam. You can’t negotiate or compromise with them. They simply want their backwards ways – because it’s God’s word. After all, they want the President to fail. That’s OK for them to say. But if you went against President Bush about the Iraq War you were a traitor.

So frankly I’m encouraging the GOP to keep up the fight. As a result, their party will disintegrate.

And then President Obama will need to gather the common sense Republicans, if there are any left, and join them with the common sense moderate Democrats, to form a new party.

The other party will be called the Extremist Party with Pelosi and Reid joining Rush and Steele. Wouldn’t you like to be at that convention?

If not, then join me as we either vote out every incumbent or push for term limits.

Why Political Landscape Changes Quickly

This is a posting about the New York Times Magazine piece on Newt Gingrich. Matt Bai’s profile on the former Speaker of the House is worth the read. It should be the GOP hope, but it should also worry Dems – not for the reasons you think, though.

LAS VEGAS, NV (March 1, 2009) – Watching parts of the CPAC outing over the weekend was a laugh. The biggest names were entertainers Limbaugh and Coulter. This is truly a part lacking thinkers.

Bobby Jindal’s a joke. Mitt Romney is old news. Charlie Crist is considered a traitor.

Newt Gingrich is probably the only intellectual leader of the GOP right now. Read Matt Bai’s profile of Gingrich in today’s New York Times Magazine. It’s a good read.

A couple of points:

First, Gingrich is the only Republican offering ideas. And some of them are outside the box.

Second, he also understands that the America is changing. We aren’t living in the 1980s like the rest of the party thinks.

Three, despite that, Gingrich will probably fail in his effort to be on top of the GOP since he seems to continue playing to the Religious Right segment of the party rather than the reformist side.

Fourth, Democrats should read the piece carefully. Only four years ago, the Democrats were acting like the Republicans are now.

Most Democrats think there’s been a big resurgence in their party. They’re wrong. The party moved back to the center – where most Americans are – and the GOP collapsed on itself. The only difference is Barack Obama who is apparently moving away from most things “Washington” whether Democrat or Republican.

The Democrats could very easily be the minority party again – especially if current House Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid try to control the agenda further left. Their schoolyard pay-back politics – just like the GOP from 2001 to 2007 – is one of the reasons are country is in trouble. Remember, Democratic leaders, it’s not about you holding your job. It’s about the people.

Bai’s profile paints the political landscape perfectly – as of now.

Like Democrats after John Kerry’s defeat, Republicans now whine about their failed strategists or their flawed candidate or a media that refuses to expose the obvious deficiency of their opponents. The Democratic establishment in 2005 was under assault from online activists who demanded that the party modernize its message and appeal to voters in all 50 states; now conservative blogs like The Next Right and The New Majority are making the exact same argument daily. Wealthy Democrats got behind a policy group called the Center for American Progress because, they said, the left had no intellectual or rapid response “infrastructure” to compete with the likes of Heritage and Cato. It’s almost comical, then, to hear senior Republicans complain now that none of their policy groups have the capacity to compete with a liberal behemoth like the Center for American Progress.

Let me disclose my biases here.

First, I am a big fan of Newt Gingrich. He is a thinker who is always trying to find new ideas to make life better for most Americans. Sure, he sticks his foot in his mouth. And sometimes his ideas seem a little far-fetched. But when you hear him speak, you get the feeling “he gets it” for everyone and not just the GOP.

Second, I truly hate both parties. I believe anyone who is a card-carrying member of either party is stupid. How can you support what either party says since their platforms and their various groups are contradictory? I still haven’t had anyone tell me what Republican or Democratic ideals are. Frankly, the parties are there to make money for special interests that contribute to them — and screw the majority of us.

Obama Plan Only Hurts Stupid-Rich

This is a posting about the proposed budget that includes a tax cut for the wealthiest Americans. If the spirit of this budget fails, then we truly have lost the “exceptional” tag de Tocqueville gave us in the 1800s. I also need someone to find me the author of a theory about empires that endure.

LAS VEGAS, NV (February 27, 2009) – I miss Mike Green, one of my best friends. He died suddenly in 1991 at the age of 46 as Police Chief for Cromwell, Connecticut.

Mike was a big, tough guy with a big smile and always a quick, funny, and bawdy quip. Besides being the town’s top cop, Mike would ump baseball and ref basketball games for the community. He was a cop’s cop who also understood the community side of being a good cop.

Mike was also one of those Americans that de Tocqueville described in the 1800s as “exceptional.” He didn’t tolerate the stupidity or greed of politicians. Heading to the bathroom he would shout, “I’m giving birth to a politician.” (I wonder how de Tocqueville would have written that.)

He didn’t suffer complainers either. If another guy was whining Mike would respond in a most politically incorrect way, “Take off the panties and bra.”

That’s why I wish today’s Republicans and conservatives would have known Mike Green. They need to (with apologies to the feminists) take off the panties and bras or else they’ll be flushed down the political toilet.

Take the whining over the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

First, they won’t take affect until 2011.

Second, they only affect families making more than $250,000 a year.

Third, the tax cuts go back to Clinton era rates. For those who don’t remember, that’s when we had a budget surplus.

Fourth, this is a redistribution of wealth. So were the Bush tax cuts; they took away from the poor and middle class.

Remember when Republicans were fairly smart. For instance, they demanded welfare reform from President Clinton – and they got it. And those work-fare reforms worked.

Their reasoning was: don’t coddle people and they will be forced to find work and sustain themselves. In other words, push yourself to be a better person; that’s the American way. As a result, many people pulled out of poverty. The 1990s became a decade of prosperity.

That theory works for the wealthy too.

Let’s look at it economically. Take Warren Buffet. The wealthiest man in the world says the tax structure is unfair. While he makes $7 billion, he pays fewer taxes than his secretary who makes $70,000.

I’m no Warren Buffet, but I know how to legally cut my tax bill. I have the greatest accountant here in Las Vegas. His name is Matt Swan. And he was brilliant in setting up my corporations – especially when I began my national TV career earning money all over the country.

I have to think there are other people out there with CPAs like Matt Swan or competent tax attorneys.

This is one theory I’ve always had:

No matter what the economic situation, the smartest people will make money and thrive.

I still believe it even in today’s environment.

The whining you’re hearing from the GOP and the conservatives are from what I call the Stupid-Rich. These are people who are just like the loafers who want to stay on welfare and not work.

Sure, these wealthy people made money and admirably risked their own money on ventures. However, chances are they were either lucky to have had the market conditions, the Bush hand-outs, or someone left them with a bundle of inheritance.

Wow. That sounds a little callous.

Not really. If they were smart and they knew what they were doing, they’d simply succeed again.  If they can’t, then they were lucky even while while being stupid.

How come after I was a ratings success in TV I was always told, “So what are you going to do for me next?” or “Kid, you’re only as good as your next gig.”  It’s the same for the wealthy. You need to go out and earn it again.

What the whiners won’t admit is this. The world economy is changing. And they’re too lazy to adapt. Big business in America continues to complain that taxes are too high, but they don’t want to mention corporate welfare that comes from taxpayers.

Come on, you wealthy and business folks. This is a challenge. This is something to look forward to.  These tax increases on the wealthy and the business community will spur innovation – just as the drying up of welfare checks spurred people to go out and find a job.

True, the tax increases will not create new jobs. That’s fine. Most businesses wouldn’t be hiring anyway. As technology evolves, fewer jobs are being created. Technology allows businesses to hire less while being more productive.

The lack of jobs, on the other hand, will spur even more innovation among those who are out-of-work.

Now let’s look at it politically. I’ll need your help here for a reference.

There is a theory about the survival of empires. It goes like this. The empire or society that survives is one where the upper class has as much to lose as the lower class. For example if the poor only live in the lowlands and the flood area while the rich live safely up on hills, then with one massive flood the society is left with only the upper class to do the work.

I think it’s a sound theory. If you know who championed that theory, let me know.

But it makes sense. Look at the social misery Hurricane Katrina caused. Mr. Bush was labeled a racist. I doubt he is; but his policies were.

Let’s take a baseball analogy. If Major League Baseball allowed the teams free reign over how much they could pay players, then most likely only the wealthiest of teams would win or make money.

We saw this in the late 1990s when there was no luxury tax on free-spending baseball teams. The New York Yankees were building another dynasty. The Yankees’ income from the more affluent New York City market dwarfed all other teams, allowing them to sign the best free agents.

Major League Baseball, though not the many myopic Yankee fans (yes I’m part of Red Sox Nation), realized that if this laissez-faire business model continued the Yankees might only be playing a few teams since teams in smaller markets that might not be able to compete. Or if they did compete, the competition wouldn’t be worth anyone paying to see.

In short, to keep baseball thriving the Yankees and other big-spending teams are paying a luxury tax that keeps teams like the Rays and the Royals competitive.  My late friend Mike, a Yankee fan, I know would agree with this.

Unfortunately, the Bush years weren’t like that for all of America. We were becoming a nation of have’s and have-not: a few Yankees and too many Montreal Expos – a team which doesn’t exist.

The Obama Administration is boldly trying to change that.

As a result, there will be upheaval over the next ten years. Businesses are already changing the way they produce, market, and distribute products and services. For anyone not preparing for the future or hoping for a return to the Bush years, they will fail miserably.  For example, if you’re a bricks-and-mortar business refusing to use the internet, then you deserve to fail.

Will the Obama plan give us record deficits? Absolutely. I’m a fiscal conservative who doesn’t like over-spending. But economic theory tells us now is not the time to tighten government spending.

If in two years when the economy improves and we continue to over-spend, then I have a problem.

If we don’t take care of Medicare and health costs in two years, then I have a problem.

What if it doesn’t work? What if the economy is tanking after all this spending? It might happen.

But by doing nothing, we learn nothing. By doing something, we learn lessons.

I’d rather take the chance of doing something that might work in this new economic matrix rather than sitting and hoping the old failed ways might work. 

In short, I’d rather be bold and daring than be a Republican.

Recall All Congress

This is a posting about the idiocy we’ve elected to represent us in Washington. They don’t represent all of us – only small portions. If we could only rid ourselves of them.

LAS VEGAS, NV (February 8, 2009) – Our last hope was Congress. How stupid was I to think that?

Watch Meet the Press and you will understand. Four elected officials talked incessantly and said, for the most part, nothing. One of those elected officials is my Senator, John Ensign, a good guy and someone who kindly endorsed my book. Even he disappointed me.

Again, I think Republicans are living in 1980. They fail to see that this is the economic equivalent to September 10, 2001.

The best example is Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, one of the most intransigent House members. He, along with the rest of the GOP, wants to tax-cut our way to a deeper recession.

There is a time-honored way to stimulate the economy.  John F.  Kennedy knew it, Ronald Reagan knew it.  When the towers fell in 2001, President George W. Bush knew it.  And that is you give the American people more of their hard-earned tax dollars, work–tax relief for working families and small businesses…

He’s wrong and a horrible observer of history and economics. JFK and Ronnie Reagan cut taxes and revived the economy. But they didn’t face what we’re facing today.

Here’s what I’m hearing from folks today that I’m talking to.

People with some means to survive this economic crisis have stopped spending money and are taking all available cash from savings and insurance policies and stuffing it into the 2009 equivalent of a mattress – a home safe or safe deposit box.

Those employers and managers who have laid people off tell me that the layoffs are not as drastically needed and, in many cases, an excuse to cut costs.

The cause of layoffs and lack of economic activity is the lack of credit available. People can’t use credit cards or home equity. And businesses are denied up-front capital to expand or hire.

To think that we’re going to spend ourselves back to prosperity is ridiculous. There is nothing to spend. The consumer is tapped out.

In other words, there is only one entity that spend us back into some prosperity and that’s the federal government.

Sure, it’s going to raise the deficit. That’s what you do in a recession. Now the GOP wants fiscal restraint?

Furthermore, Congressman Pence tries to conjure up the arguments of conservative economist Martin Feldstein – which he gets wrong. Here’s the transcript.

DAVID GREGORY: Conservative economic professor, economist from Harvard Martin Feldstein, who supported the stimulus originally, this is what he said back in October: “The only way to prevent a deepening recession will be a temporary program of increased government spending.” So what’s wrong with this approach?

REP. MIKE PENCE (R-IN): Well, Martin Feldstein now says it’s an $800 billion mistake. 

Not exactly for that reason, though. Here’s what Feldstein wrote on January 29, 2009 in the Arizona Republic.

The plan is to give a tax cut of $500 a year for two years to each employed person. That’s not a good way to increase consumer spending. Experience shows that the money from such temporary, lump-sum tax cuts is largely saved or used to pay down debt. Only about 15 percent of last year’s tax rebates led to additional spending.

He says tax-cuts, especially the ones in the stimulus package, make no sense.

Again, I’m no liberal. The idiocy from the extreme left has been revealed as well when the “Buy American” provision was discovered and eventually removed. Talk about an invitation to a worldwide Depression.

And even though I consider myself a moderate, I fear the one thing we moderates become — wishy-washy. President Obama has, unfortunately, done that.

I’m hoping tomorrow in his national nightly news conference he wakes up and wakes us up with some common sense that ignores the extremist wings of both parties.

Aside from that I will call for a National Recall of everyone in Congress. Please join me.

Morons On The Hill

This is a posting about the Senate’s passage of two misdirected amendments giving tax credits to home buyers and car buyers. These measures should scream to Americans the need for public funding of campaigns.  I can already hear the screaming from my conservative friends like Jake The Weasel. And I have two new things for you to read.

LAS VEGAS, NV (February 5, 2009) – The Senate is proving as moronic as the House.

Today the Senate added two tax credits to the economic stimulus package: up to $15,000 for new home-buyers; and the deduction of loan interest and sales tax on new car sales.

Clearly, these additions are high-fives for the housing and auto industries – and the middle finger to the rest of us.

First, the amendments fail to address the core problem of our economic crisis: We can’t get credit. What good is a tax credit if someone can’t buy a house because they can’t get a mortgage? What good is a tax exemption if you can’t buy the car?

We need to unfreeze the credit markets first. See my column on resurrecting the Shadow Banking system.

The smarter thing to do would be to offer relief to people who have mortgages. Lower the amount due on the mortgage, lower the interest rate, and raise the number of years to pay it back.

Second, the goal of economic stimulus was to increase jobs in the energy and conservation sector. The tax exemption should have been for only energy-efficient, hybrid, or non-gasoline cars.

Read a study by Robert Pollin and the Political Economy Research Institute at UMass Amherst. It shows how energy conservation and not fossil fuel drilling creates more jobs and more sustainable jobs.

Why would they pass these silly measures? Because of lobbying efforts by the housing and car industries. Campaign donations by major donors are nothing more than legalized bribery.

If President Obama is serious about removing special interest from government, he will make every election dependent on public financing. This way the people elected will be beholden to us, the taxpayers first; not the energy industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and not the banking industry.

Am I calling for more government intervention? You bet I am. And we need it because no one else will create a level playing field. Without a level playing field, the majority of us get screwed.

Pick up the book, The Case for Big Government by Jeff Madrick. There’s not a conservative out there who would dare read it – just based on the title. But if you’re someone neither liberal nor conservative – in other words you’re smart, pragmatic, and learned – you will at least give it a look.

Madrick shows that America’s gains in standard of living happened when government intervened to increase social and educational programs for lower and middle class folks, while regulating business for equality and transparency.

After the Civil War, the government stepped in with Reconstruction. That led to the Industrial Revolution.

During the Progressive Era, led by Teddy Roosevelt (a real Republican), government intervened by busting the monopolies and expanding democracy with powerful tools we still use today – initiative, referendum, and recall.

The New Deal took us out of the Great Depression with big government outlays which led to the Post World War II era from 1950 to 1980 which saw our standard of living increase.

Since 1980, Madrick argues, our standard of living – along with the notion of less government and lower taxes – has dropped. Most of us baby-boomers didn’t grow up in two income households and we could reasonably pay off our college tuition. It’s a different story today as Mom and Dad must work while Junior takes six years to get a four year college degree and barely pays off his loans well into his 30s.

Historically, if you look at the times in between big government spending and good economic times, we saw other austerity movements and distrust of government; the late 1890s and early 1900s; and the roaring 1920s – which all led to economic crisis like the one we’re living today.

Yes, the stimulus package needs to be bigger and more widespread.

Here’s what needs to be done.

We need to take care of current homeowners and get the mortgages in line with the true value of the homes. We need to remove the toxic assets from the banks and get the Shadow Banking System moving again to finance the mortgages and loans – with more regulation. We need to step up energy conservation including an increase in the gasoline tax. And we need to reduce the cost of education and increase the incentive to get more learning for this new world, meaning more math and science.

Is this expensive? Yes. But if done right, it can lead to more jobs, wider economic growth for more Americans, and expanded tax revenues.

And for all of you out there who will say we can’t trust government, well big business has done little to foster our faith in them lately.

Sure, the deficit will balloon. But we’re in drastic economic times. You don’t ask the price of water when you’re house is burning.

And yes, we need to look at Medicare and Social Security. But we need to create more jobs and more educated high-earning workers that will work in this new era to gain revenues to pay for these entitlements while demanding more from the recipients.

Besides the greed of most lawmakers who cater to their campaign donors, today’s members of Congress fail to see the history that is happening around us.

We are in the midst of massive change. This isn’t the 1980s. 2009 is the equivalent to the Progressive era, the 1930s, and post World War II rebuilding which led to our current interstate highway system.

We’re no longer a manufacturing economy; we’re a service economy. We have to rely on our smarts, not our brawn. This requires education about the new world – and paying qualified teachers. Although we are still a dominant economic power, we won’t call the shots entirely: India, China, Russia, and soon Brazil have enough influence to make us pay attention. And right now two of those countries – China and India – are out-educating their kids compared to ours.

We’re also seeing the world’s distribution system changing. I’m reaching you and millions of others over the worldwide web. We’ll be getting most of our goods services through the Internet and not at our local stores. The Internet has democratized business allowing poor countries to become competitive while dropping the cost of goods. Yet, a measure in the current stimulus bill calls for Buy-American only. And the major broadcast and cable companies continue to fight measures for free wireless service.

If we really want to invest in America only, then we need the government to invest in educating our children and conserving energy, while creating jobs.

Cutting taxes for the rich and big businesses that already get massive tax credits – the 1980s way – is not the answer.

My New Career

This is a tongue-in-cheek posting in the aftermath of the Blago impeachment.

LAS VEGAS, NV (January 29, 2009) — Now that Blago is out, I’m going on the comedy and impersonation circuit as the defamed governor from Illinois.

Hey it should be easy.  Everyone tells me I look like him.  All he’s doing is a cheesy Ronald Reagan mixed with a young Wayne Newton.

The only thing missing is a good photo shoot.  Can anyone out there, help?  I need you to photo shop my headshot.  It’s right there.  Email me at info@johndaly.tv if you need a PDF version.

New Heroes: Sully The Pilot and Bailey The Road Warrior

This is a posting about the media attention on the U.S Airways pilot who safely landed the crippled jet into the Hudson River. We desperately need him and others. In fact, as you read on, I introduce you to another hero, another Sully. His name is Bill Bailey and he is trying to, literally, pave a future for our environment and some poor countries.

LAS VEGAS, NV (January 18, 2009) – Don’t be surprised at the extensive media coverage and attention to the successful emergency landing of US Air Flight 1549. It’s not the story’s news value. And it’s not because we have the actual video of the water crash. No, it’s the story’s psychological value.

We desperately need a hero.

Look at the parade of screw-ups and scoundrels we’ve had for the past eight years. The line-up includes many people in the Bush Administration – including the President, Vice President and other elected officials like the now incarcerated Duke Cunningham. Many of these are politically-connected people who didn’t get their jobs through merit but guile, cunning, and deceit.

The results show it: Katrina, the aftermath of the Iraq War, and the lack of policing in the well-connected and special interest spending financial industry.

In addition, we have some of the smartest people in America who used their brain power for self-gain and the destruction of others. As I mentioned in a previous column, Bernie Madoff is only the beginning.

So, we’ve been searching for a new American hero.

Enter Pilot Chesley B Sullenberger III – a.k.a Sully. Call it fate or a Black Swan event. It might be Divine Intervention where a benevolent God says, “OK, you’ve gone through enough. Here’s something I bestow on you. I call him Sully.”

Sully landed that crippled jet into the Hudson River. Reports say Sully was the last man off the floating craft. He wanted to make sure everyone was out safely. Wow, a leader who feels his life is no more important than others.

Sully also made what seemed to be a split-second decision after considering a multitude of options. Wow, a leader who is a certified expert.

Take a look at his bio and his education and you’ll understand how Sully performed flawlessly under pressure. He’s well-educated in his field and he has a deep pride and interest in what he does. It’s no wonder that Sully shrugged off his heroism as just something he does.

Memo to Barack Obama: Sully sits in the gallery and is introduced at your first State of the Union.

Sully fits Obama’s style. The comparison is too rich. Sully safely maneuvering a crippled aircraft is an allegory for Obama’s treacherous journey to a hopefully soft-landing in the economy. In these times, we need something that obvious.

In other words, Barack doesn’t have to go it alone. Sully is there. And the media gets it.

I write a lot about media bias. I try to be balanced by not offering too much opinion, but uncovering the different forms of bias. Some bias is inevitable. The Sponsor Bias goes without saying. Some media outlets will not tell the truth or avoid certain stories about sponsors who help keep them in business. I don’t like the trade-off, but I understand it. And I feel compelled to write about it so folks can make their own assessment.

Another media bias is Entertainment Bias. The extreme is the constant coverage of people like Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears. It’s journalism that borders on an uncomfortable voyeurism. I felt it for John Travolta after the untimely death of his son. Please stop the stories and allow them to grieve in private.

But here’s where media bias – or in this case Entertainment Bias — is good. The media understands what we as a people need. And they have presented us with Sully.

He’s not rich; he lives in middle class America with what seems to be the every-American family. He’s not young; he’s 57 with decades of flying experience. And according to reports, he’s humble. All indications are he’s not going to change either. It makes you feel that W and Bernie are in the rear view mirror.

But Sully is not alone. Look around and you will find more Sully’s. I have.

His name is Bill Bailey. Bill may come across as a good old boy.  But like Sully, he is well-educated in his field with decades of experience.  He also has great pride in his work.  He carries around a plastic cup of gray rubber pellets that might be an answer to pulling some countries out of poverty.

Let me explain.  Bill works on roads. More precisely, he has created technologies that turn tires into asphalt.

The process is not new. It’s been around for almost 30 years. Simply put, you crush up old tires, treat them, add them to a hot mixture, and then spread it on the roads. Decades of testing show that tire asphalt creates roads that need less maintenance, are quieter, and are safer since cars can stop quicker in the rain.

And environmentally, for every one mile of paved highway with tire asphalt, 2000 tires are removed from landfills. That means less toxicity in nearby drinking water and less chance of those choking tire fires.

The problem is that this technology is expensive and cumbersome. To pave a road you need to bring what seems to be an entire factory to the site. So unless you have miles and miles of road to pave, tire asphalt might be too costly. In other words, if you wanted to pave your driveway or your backyard for your kid’s basketball court, you might need another mortgage.

That is until now.

Bill and his partner Ian Cousins formed the company and clever moniker Billian International. Together, they created a process – that is now patented – that will allow the tire asphalt process to be done on a smaller, less expensive scale. Take a look at this crude but revealing video of their testing.

Primarily, Bill and Ian have created a way to treat the crushed tire so the tire pellets — the ones he carries around as samples — can be used in the field efficiently while maintaining the long-term integrity of the finished road. Now Billian will license that process to paving companies. Billian will also build plants for entrepreneurs who can remove tires from their landfills and turn them into pellets to sell to paving companies. (We’re discussing franchising such plants.)

Yes, there is a business opportunity here for many of you.

And there is a great opportunity for Bill and Ian to make a lot of money. Look at all the infrastructure projects that will be funded through the Obama Economic Stimulus Package. Some of it could be heading indirectly in Bill Bailey’s direction.

But when I sit with Bill and talk about his technology, it’s not about the money. He wants to improve the world. “We can go over to some of those countries and pave roads in between villages and help them create commerce,” he tells me. He has a big smile and says, “We can do some good.”

And that “good” comes in the form of helping to grow an economy while cleaning up the environment rather than the decades of corporate indifference to the health and well-being of foreign people.

Some disclosure here. I’m trying to help Bill Bailey raise money to launch and market Billian. So yes, I have a financial interest in talking about him here.

But if you could sit with Bill and hear him talk about this, you too would be inspired beyond just making money.

Even if you don’t believe me about Bill’s intentions, what’s so cool about his work is that he’s creating something. He’s manufacturing. It’s not a financial instrument with illusionary money that most of us don’t understand.

Getting back to making stuff is what we need.

And Bill Bailey, along with Sully and Barack, have a chance of making a difference for all of us – and with all of us.