President Obama is asking the Cabinet to cut $100 million over the next 90 days.  RealClearPolitics has a video of reporters taking the administration to task for hailing the $100 million dollar cut as significant after dismissing criticism of an $8 billion appropriations bill several weeks ago.  Gibbs mentions how $100 million is a lot of money and to folks like you and me (assuming billionares don’t read J’s Notes) it most certainly is.  $8 billion is a heck of a lot more, though, and pales in comparrison to the $787 billion bailout.  Both of those are paltry compared to Obama’s proposed 2010 budget.  The Heritage Foundation has a handy graphic to put it all in perspective:

It is disengenious to try and tell the American people that you are saving them millions when taking them and their children and grandchildren to fiscal task for TRILLIONS.

That’s like saying “buy $3.69 trillion dollars worth of government, save 0.00271%!  The more you buy the more you save!”  Obama’s 2010 budget is nearly $12,300 for every man, woman and child in America, while his budget cut saves each and every single American an amazing $0.33.  Thanks!

(Graphic via Tertium Quids)

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BookSwim aims to do for the book market what Netfilx has done for DVDs.  For $19.98 a month you can rent up to three books at a time, free shipping to and back.  Why not just go to a library?

The company’s answer includes these main points: no late fees, 24-hour browsing, a wider selection, less waiting for popular titles, and no need to leave home.

I’m not persuaded by all of these reasons. I don’t believe BookSwim’s selection is as wide as a major city library. The Martin Luther King Jr. Library here in San Jose claims a collection of over 1.5 million items. And its catalog can be searched online, like most libraries these days. BookSwim’s selling points probably mean more to customers who don’t have a big library nearby.

I suspect the waiting-list and convenience issues will favor one side or the other, depending on the customer and the books they’re reading.

The page also says this about BookSwim’s selection: “Can’t find a book on BookSwim.com? Let us know and we’ll buy it!”

The concept is interesting but I wonder whether or not it’ll really take off.  Most avid readers like to keep their books and build an impressive library (like me) and usually know where to find deals on their books that make the $20 price point not such a great deal, especially when you can find a lot of books used through Ebay or Amazon or just trade for them through services like PaperBack Swap.

But you may be hard pressed to find the newest releases cheaply, so the immedeate satisfaction of having a new book or best seller for a few days for a quarter of the cover price does have its appeal.