Obama’s Cabinet

There are Hillary rumors, but I gotta think he’s going to put Chuck Hagel as Secretary of State and probably will keep Robert Gates as the Secretary of Defense.  A bi-partisan cabinet and obtaining consensus makes a lot of sense, but I worry that at some point it might compromise legislative efficiency.  After all, there is a lot that needs to get done.

Surprise

Friedman also says we should go big with the stimulus

The funny thing is that for years Economists have been saying America needs to improve its savings rate.  It’s been the primary benefit of plans for privatizing social security, creating opt-out retirement savings plans and instituting a consumption tax.  Yet ironically, we now need people to spend more than ever.

And seriously, it will take one hell of a stimulus to get people to start spending again.  This recession certainly is not helping.

Thoughts on Bond

Saw the new Bond movie–it was good, but not as good as Casino Royal.  I think the expectation was that it would be what the Dark Knight was to Batman Begins.  However, there was quite a bit missing.

First, they changed directors to the guy who did Finding Neverland.  I have no idea why they made this move and it made no sense here.  This movie did not seem a continuation of Casino Royale, which is what I think the expectation was.

Second, there was definitely not enough dialogue or character development within the movie.  The Bolivian Bond Girl (who was Ukranian in real life) was fantastic and there was some character development there.  But it seemed as if she had her own, somewhat independent story.  She was awesome and probably could have had her own movie (which would have probably been better than the actual plot of this one), but she was no Vesper.

Third, the whole Quantam back story was severely underdeveloped.  It had the potential to be awesome–”We have people everywhere”–but it turned into a very formulaic Bond film.  Bond chases bad guy.  And again.  And finally he captured him.

That said, it was worth the price of admission and the action scenes were well-shot.  Not Casino Royale.  Probably not even Golden Eye.  But better than anything else in the modern (since Golden Eye on) Bond era.