Wednesday, November 30, 2011
They Know Even Less Than What They Say
I agree that most pundits are clueless about the things they talk about. I have a fantasy about lining a bunch of them up and asking them what the median monthly Social Security check is. I wouldn't expect them to get the right answer, or even close to the right answer, but I doubt they'd even be close to the ballpark. And if that question is too specific I'd be happy for any answer which, roughly, conveyed the range of Social Security payments people receive.
Make It More Profitable
I don't really think the state should have gotten into the booze sales business, but given that it's in the business I'm not sure it makes much sense for them to get out of it. If bringing in more revenue is the issue, then make them become better businesses. Right now it's half a temperance enforcement agency and half a booze sales agency. There aren't enough stores, they should open more. Most of the stores are awful, though they've been making some improvements. Use the monopsony buying power to get truly good deals.
Urban Parks For People
There are a lot of reasons we lack vibrant public spaces, but one reason is that people seem to not want the few public spaces we have to be vibrant. Many people don't agree with these posts, which is the point I'm making, but it's still mysterious to me. If you build things for people why not build them to accommodate people?
The Worst Person In The World
Ruth Marcus.
Pierce gets at something I saw in there too, the general contempt for the idea that people who haven't been given tenured spots at legacy newspapers should be able to write stuff, and even have an audience, if their behavior doesn't conform to the Official Peggy Noonan Guide To How (The Right) People Are Supposed To Behave.
And the fainting couch stuff really is absurd. I've spent enough time in Washington to know that everybody fucking swears and says naughty things all the fucking time. A senator, and not even one you'd probably expect, said fuck about 5 seconds after meeting me, and I'm an irresponsible blogger who might reveal that event to the world.
Pierce gets at something I saw in there too, the general contempt for the idea that people who haven't been given tenured spots at legacy newspapers should be able to write stuff, and even have an audience, if their behavior doesn't conform to the Official Peggy Noonan Guide To How (The Right) People Are Supposed To Behave.
And the fainting couch stuff really is absurd. I've spent enough time in Washington to know that everybody fucking swears and says naughty things all the fucking time. A senator, and not even one you'd probably expect, said fuck about 5 seconds after meeting me, and I'm an irresponsible blogger who might reveal that event to the world.
Narratives
We've spent some futile effort trying to point out that most deficit hawks, especially Republican deficit hawks, don't actually care about the deficit. They care about tax cuts. More than that, they care about tax cuts for rich people and are happy to increase taxes on poor people to pay for them.
So How's That Austerity Working
I'm no really sure how an impoverished country is supposed to pay its debts.
Jeebus just give everybody free money and have a do over already. You can even let the banksters keep their jobs. Again.
Jeebus just give everybody free money and have a do over already. You can even let the banksters keep their jobs. Again.
We Just Open Our Mouths And They Shit Money Down Our Throats
It's good to be a bankster.
It might be the right thing to do. Also, too, making dollars more available to me would be the right thing to do.
WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve moved Wednesday with other major central banks to buttress financial markets by increasing the availability of dollars outside the United States, reflecting growing concern about the fallout of the European debt crisis.
It might be the right thing to do. Also, too, making dollars more available to me would be the right thing to do.
Fuck Authority
I guess it's time for us all to go a bit punk.
I don't know what this kid's politics are, or if she has any well thought out politics, but our ruling class, including Brownback and Ruth Marcus, blowsalot.
I don't know what this kid's politics are, or if she has any well thought out politics, but our ruling class, including Brownback and Ruth Marcus, blowsalot.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Collapse
A largely untold story is how many liberal arts colleges have taken a dirt nap in the past decade. I suspect the whole higher education model is about to collapse.
Hopefully None Of Them Were Playing Butt Doctor
I'm no fan of the 21-year-old drinking age, but it's one thing to have it be against the law and another to make serving or responsible for drinking minors to be a major crime. Teens are going to drink. Public policy that was about outcomes rather than just official tut-tutting would recognize that it's probably best that there are some adults in the room...
Not All That Interested
I suppose it makes me a bad political blogger, but I've really just never been all that interested in election campaigns. Unlike Digby, I'm happy for it all to end soon. I just want somewhat less shitty policies. And a pony.
As for Digby's question...well, yes, it is weird. If Mittens were an Atheist, a Muslim, or even Jewish, there wouldn't be much hesitation to discuss whether that made him Amurkan enough. But the Mormon issue spooks them.
As for Digby's question...well, yes, it is weird. If Mittens were an Atheist, a Muslim, or even Jewish, there wouldn't be much hesitation to discuss whether that made him Amurkan enough. But the Mormon issue spooks them.
Not Just Money
Pierce is writing about the NBA situation, but it's a useful general reminder. Too often we assume that Homo Economicus is truly just motivated by the money, or more ridiculously the financial interests of the shareholders of the companies they run. The truth is, Our Galtian Overlords are frequently just assholes because they are assholes, not because being assholes will actually make them any richer.
Maybe Something To Consider
Presumably the "give loans to anybody and everybody" era isn't going to return anytime soon, so policymakers, and related business interests, should consider the impact of the one-two punch of retiring and potentially household downsizing baby boomers and a generation of young people whose first home purchases will be heavily delayed by the massive amount of debt they already have.
Too Charitable
Gerson knows what he's doing, he just uses his David-Brooks-With-Extra-Jesus schtick to cloak the fact that he's an asshole.
Destroying Careers
As the Tories decimate the state, it's worth remarking that many people losing their jobs will never find comparable jobs again. It isn't because they're stupid, it's because they spent their lives investing in job-specific human capital which isn't all that transferable to other professions. It isn't unique to government jobs, nor universally true of them, but the skills learned in public sector jobs can be pretty specific to that department/organization. They're starting from scratch.
Entry Price Has Increased
Quality public higher education used to be free or cheap. Now it is very expensive. People who go this route start their lives massively in debt.
I'm fast becoming an old man, but not so old that I imagine that these kids somehow have it easy today. They don't, even if they manage to avoid being arrested for playing butt doctor.
I'm fast becoming an old man, but not so old that I imagine that these kids somehow have it easy today. They don't, even if they manage to avoid being arrested for playing butt doctor.
Fresh Thread
Not happy with the little test. I'll see if we can entice butterbar back from his bender.
Kids Do Stuff
In some ways we've progressed quite a bit about sex-related stuff in our dumb society, but the level of complete freakout about anything related to children is getting more and more absurd.
The World Is Run By Stupid People
Watching the UK Chancellor speak it's clear that his social welfare function is something like W=(100-Gilt Interest Rate).
The inflation lunatics have more justification for theirs.
The inflation lunatics have more justification for theirs.
Among Friends
In case there was any doubt that the game was rigged.
After a perfunctory discussion of the market turmoil, the fund manager says, the discussion turned to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Paulson said he had erred by not punishing Bear Stearns shareholders more severely. The secretary, then 62, went on to describe a possible scenario for placing Fannie and Freddie into “conservatorship” -- a government seizure designed to allow the firms to continue operations despite heavy losses in the mortgage markets.
Paulson explained that under this scenario, the common stock of the two government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, would be effectively wiped out. So too would the various classes of preferred stock, he said.
The fund manager says he was shocked that Paulson would furnish such specific information -- to his mind, leaving little doubt that the Treasury Department would carry out the plan. The managers attending the meeting were thus given a choice opportunity to trade on that information.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Unintelligble Patter
I don't really have strong opinions about when "politician having affair" should be "news" in any way, I just wish mainstream journalists would themselves have some strong sense of the rules. Post-Lewinsky I thought it was all fair game, because that was the standard the panty sniffers set. Since then...well... maybe time to let things go a bit.
There Never Really Were Any Green Shoots
What drove me nuts at the time was there was never any reason to see that a recovery was happening, at least not a real recovery. Obviously if you define 'recovery' as 'positive GDP growth' then...we've had that... but there was never a reason to believe there was going to be sustained job growth. Nothing in the data ever suggested that.
Teach Your Children Well
No expert in this area, but I see a tendency to perceive different countries as being 'corrupt' or 'not corrupt.' The primary difference seems to be not the level of corruption-at-the-top, except perhaps in some extreme cases, but the degree to which corruption is egalitarian. I don't really want to live in a society where every cop and petty bureaucrat needs a bribe, but at some point you're just a sucker if you aren't in on the action. When the assholes at the top are just stealing and looting, the rest of us might as well have our chances too.
Not Hyperbole
Every few years we're going to have to beat back yet another "kill the internet" bill or regulation
Suck On It SEC
No full news story yet, but as mostly expected a judge told the SEC and Citi to take their sweetheart settlement deal and shove it. Trial time!
...awesome.
...awesome.
In a written opinion, Manhattan federal court judge Jed Rakoff said the proposed settlement was "neither reasonable, nor fair, nor adequate, nor in the public interest."
What About The Rest Of Us
Extraordinary action by the Fed might have been desirable and necessary, but I'm not sure why "moral hazard" is not a concern when it comes to the rich assholes who have the power to destroy the world, but a 10 grand principal reduction on your Uncle Jim's Riverside tract home might destroy the foundation of the market economy.
If it was best to save the institutions, the people who ran them should have been escorted out of the building. If it was necessary to give massive amounts of free money to rich assholes, massive amounts of free money should have been given to the rest of us too. Not just out of fairness, but because it might have saved the economy. Not that the people in charge give a shit about that.
If it was best to save the institutions, the people who ran them should have been escorted out of the building. If it was necessary to give massive amounts of free money to rich assholes, massive amounts of free money should have been given to the rest of us too. Not just out of fairness, but because it might have saved the economy. Not that the people in charge give a shit about that.
Not Working
There isn't even any kind of coherent theory about why shrinking our way to prosperity is supposed to work. But The Very Serious People know what must be done.
I'm not sure if it's better or worse that they've decided to spend their time destroying their own countries instead of everybody else's.
I'm not sure if it's better or worse that they've decided to spend their time destroying their own countries instead of everybody else's.
But The Law Was Only Supposed To Apply To Brown People
What horrible rulers of that state, and horrible people who supported them.
You see, you aren't business friendly when you're locking up the people who run the business, only when you're locking up the people who work for it.
That was turning around and many foreign manufacturers, including Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Honda, have set up there. Its business-friendly reputation took a serious blow with the arrest in Tuscaloosa of a visiting Mercedes manager who was caught driving without his license and taken to jail as a potential illegal immigrant.
You see, you aren't business friendly when you're locking up the people who run the business, only when you're locking up the people who work for it.
Small Plans From Small Minds
Good luck, UK.
Meanwhile the lunatics at the OECD say Europe might go into a recession...but everything will be great as long as there's more austerity.
I predict a year from now the solution to the recession will be more austerity.
And the year after that.
And the year after that.
An extra £5bn of capital investment, funded by spending cuts elsewhere, will form the centrepiece of an overall £30bn national infrastructure programme due to be announced by George Osborne on Tuesday as part of an attempt to prevent the country from sliding back into recession.
Meanwhile the lunatics at the OECD say Europe might go into a recession...but everything will be great as long as there's more austerity.
I predict a year from now the solution to the recession will be more austerity.
And the year after that.
And the year after that.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Our media, not theirs
What Digby said about Dehumanization.
In a few minutes you can call in and tell Jay and me how awful the talk shows were and what they should have been talking about instead (and I think we have a special Culture of Truth spot), or listen live or later to this week's Casual Thanksgiving Weekend edition of Virtually Speaking Sundays.
The rest of the week's Virtually Speaking schedule can be found here.
Signed,
Not Atrios
In a few minutes you can call in and tell Jay and me how awful the talk shows were and what they should have been talking about instead (and I think we have a special Culture of Truth spot), or listen live or later to this week's Casual Thanksgiving Weekend edition of Virtually Speaking Sundays.
The rest of the week's Virtually Speaking schedule can be found here.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Dance With The Devil
Apparently the IMF is determined to do to Europe what it did to Asia and South America.
Good luck with that.
Good luck with that.
Can't Pay Wont Pay
When Village elders like David Brooks or similar write their various tributes to the joys of other people suffering in order to purge the nation of its sins, and by sins they mean the Lewinsky affair and not banksters stealing all the money, I think their idea of personal austerity is like cutting HBO from the cable bill or something. They have no understanding of what it might be like to be without a job for years after spending your life living mostly paycheck to paycheck. It isn't about one fewer trip per month to the Outback.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has Condi Rice and people who write books.
Meet the Press has Grover and Chuck Schumer.
This Week has Pat Toomey and Colin Powell.
So stay in bed, as usual.
Meet the Press has Grover and Chuck Schumer.
This Week has Pat Toomey and Colin Powell.
So stay in bed, as usual.
Good Morning
Here's Echidne's fine Rant About Whoever Changes MY Computer Stuff. I've been noticing that mail from professional offices have handwritten envelopes. I'm assuming it's because they can't get the ^&^%* printers to do envelopes and it's just easier to write them out.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Flying Robots Are Killing People
Huzzah.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani government has demanded the U.S. vacate an air base within 15 days that the CIA is suspected of using for unmanned drones.
The government issued the demand Saturday after NATO helicopters and jet fighters allegedly attacked two Pakistan army posts along the Afghan border, killing 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Musical Chairs
The banksters are informing their servants that they aren't going to eat big shitpile.
It might not be the best solution, but the reality is no one needs to eat it. They can just give everybody free money and have a big do over.
It might not be the best solution, but the reality is no one needs to eat it. They can just give everybody free money and have a big do over.
Convergence
America's Worst Law Enforcement official is in charge of the Penn State investigation and is the trustee for the MF Global bankruptcy.
He's found his niche: sometimes people value deliberate incompetence.
He's found his niche: sometimes people value deliberate incompetence.
Shitpile
Oh, sorry, crap assets.
We've seen this movie before. Our Overlords apparently slept through it.
Again.
Or maybe they've been wide awake the whole time.....
The balance sheets of European banks are piled high with legacy assets -- mortgages, real-estate, and other loans--that are tying up precious capital and constricting the banks' ability to make new, more productive loans.
At the same time, the banks' traditional sources of funding--other banks and institutional investors--have begun drying up as the European crisis intensifies.
This leaves the banks desperately needing to raise cash to survive.
The first plan was to sell off the crap assets.
But according to Gareth Gore in the International Financing Review, this plan has failed, because buyers won't pony up the prices the banks want them to pay.
We've seen this movie before. Our Overlords apparently slept through it.
Again.
Or maybe they've been wide awake the whole time.....
Friday, November 25, 2011
Musical Chairs
And we're playing that game again. The key is to bet on which financial organizations are not connected well enough to get the big bazooka of free money, and which ones are. The latter will probably eat the former, too.
Or just invest it all in Egyptian cotton futures.
Or just invest it all in Egyptian cotton futures.
Chump Change
It's fascinating, in an "oh my god our country is doomed" kind of way, how every single fantasy "centrist" "bipartisan" group gets endless free press from the official Court publications. It actually isn't news that a bunch of rich assholes have raised TWENTY TWO MILLION DOLLARS. That isn't actually real money in this context.
The Great And Glorious Empire
I gather we're entering another "clap louder you stupid hippies" phase.
Unemployment is at 9.0%. Nobody thinks it's going to be much better, or better at all, a year from now.
Nobody in charge thinks they should be doing much about that.
Unemployment is at 9.0%. Nobody thinks it's going to be much better, or better at all, a year from now.
Nobody in charge thinks they should be doing much about that.
Saving Money By Spending More Of It
Yes, if we encourage people to buy more expensive plans that do less for them, with much of the money going to overpaid executives, we will save lots of money.
Plutocracy
It is really what the leading lights at Kaplan Test Prep Daily want. The plutocracy we already have isn't good enough for them.
Also, too, monarchy.
Also, too, monarchy.
Farce
It really isn't very hard. Escort executives out, change the locks, point the free money bazooka at them, at let the game continue like nothing happened.
Instead we're just going to repeat this over and over again.
Instead we're just going to repeat this over and over again.
Thursday, November 24, 2011
It's Thursday, Thursday
Holiday posting schedule. Enjoy your turkeys. Try not to shoot anybody in the face.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Wednesday Night
Have another video.
It occurs to me that the great thing about Thanksgiving is that it means that Life Day is just around the corner!!
It occurs to me that the great thing about Thanksgiving is that it means that Life Day is just around the corner!!
So Many Hostages
Government shutdowns, debt ceiling showdowns... Not sure why we're forgetting the cards Republicans have.
Connected Vultures Get First Dibs At The Carcass
No confidence that this will be the event that's the catalyst, it is going to take rich people screwing each other for there to be any real impetus for meaningful reform.
Thread
Sam Seder did a good interview with Dean Baker the other day, if you want to check that out.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Signed,
Not Atrios
Afternoon Thread
If you have to deep fry the turkey tomorrow, please do it at least 25 feet from a flammable structure.
One Thing We Know For Sure
The buck will stop with the lowliest person possible.
As the tent city on the University of California, Davis, tripled in size, Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi insisted Tuesday that the school's police department defied her orders when it used force against students in last week's pepper-spray fiasco.
The Obvious Solution Is
Because it's working!!
Once upon a time too many economists had a social welfare function was basically W=GDP. Growth was good and the distributional effects didn't matter. Now apparently the social welfare function is just some function of the public deficit and the inflation rate. The rest of it is unimportant.
UK households are facing pay cuts in real terms of more than 3.5% as salary increases fail to keep pace with inflation, official figures reveal.
The median salary for a full-time worker in the UK rose 1.4% in 2011 to £26,244, against a headline CPI inflation rate of 5% or higher, according to the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings from the Office for National Statistics.
Once upon a time too many economists had a social welfare function was basically W=GDP. Growth was good and the distributional effects didn't matter. Now apparently the social welfare function is just some function of the public deficit and the inflation rate. The rest of it is unimportant.
Asked And...Answered?
Not sure congressional hearings are ever the place for actual information to see the light of day, but it will be interesting to see of Corzine agrees to show up and answer questions.
While I Was Sleeping Newt Become The Presumptive Nominee
Um, John? I think this was more than a "mild hotfoot" whatever that is.
Next week everything will be good news for someone else. Is it finally Ron Paul's turn?
Next week everything will be good news for someone else. Is it finally Ron Paul's turn?
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Help a Blogger Out
World o'Crap invented devastating left snark-blogging. Scott C is a standup guy hard up right now (which if we had a first-world healthcare system, it seems, he wouldn't be). Go give him all your money or Al Qaeda wins, red-snouts.
We All Know What The Solution Is
Austerity and tax cuts for rich people.
Also, too, in Spain.
So, don't borrow, cut cut cut!
The Commerce Department said Tuesday that the economy expanded at an annual rate of 2 percent in the July-September quarter, lower than an initial 2.5 percent estimate made last month. The government also said after-tax incomes fell by the largest amount in two years, reflecting high unemployment and lower pay raises.
Also, too, in Spain.
Spain paid more than Greece and Portugal to sell three-month bills as the newly elected People’s Party called for a European agreement to “save” the nation’s debt, saying the country can’t afford 7 percent interest rates.
So, don't borrow, cut cut cut!
Americans And "Americans"
When the Kenyan Muslim Socialist talks about lazy Americans (not that he actually did), he's talking about good, god-fearing, salt of the earth, hard working, Christian folk. When wingnuts do, they're talking about those other people.
America's Worst Law Enforcement Official
Gets an unbelievable fluffing in the Inqy.
Freeh's personal perspective may be as significant as his professional qualifications, said Howard Means, who cowrote Freeh's 2004 memoir, My FBI.
"He's the father of four children and he is an altar boy," Means said. "Louis is a very moral man, and has a strong relationship with the Catholic Church. He must have had a very visceral reaction when he first heard about this case. This is right down his alley - the alleged crime is one that would deeply offend him. He's a bulldog, and I think he'll wade in there and do everything he can to piece the story together."
LEEEAVE OUR POOR MILITARY CONTRACTORS ALOOOOOOOOOOONE
The issue is, of course, that "defense hawks" and "deficit hawks" are often the same people, and completely full of shit. There is a consistency, however, as both versions of hawkery involve the suffering of others.
Monday, November 21, 2011
Or Maybe A Trillion
Not really, but I really want to know how this story ends.
WASHINGTON—The court-appointed trustee overseeing MF Global's bankruptcy says up to $1.2 billion is missing from customer accounts, double what the firm had reported to regulators last month.
Happy Hour Thread
Get happy!
...ding dong the supercommittee is dead.
Hopefully we don't experience Supercommittee Returns: Supercommittee Cuts Stuff.
...ding dong the supercommittee is dead.
Hopefully we don't experience Supercommittee Returns: Supercommittee Cuts Stuff.
Text And Subtext
I've been seeing quite a lot of this lately, where if you read closely it's fairly clear that what (some of) our Galtian Overlords want is the big bazooka of free money, and not just for themselves. But they can't quite come out and say that.
How It Works
Digby:
Maybe one day they'll figure out that the median voter is not actually Fred Hiatt or Charles Lane.
In fact, the Republicans will be able to say quite honestly in their campaign ads that the Democrats want to cut social security and medicare and raise taxes.
Maybe one day they'll figure out that the median voter is not actually Fred Hiatt or Charles Lane.
It's Working! It's Working!
1) Destroy the economies of all of the people who buy your crap.
2) ???
3) Profit!!
2) ???
3) Profit!!
FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Germany's central bank on Monday cut its forecast for German economic growth in 2012, projecting gross domestic product to expand by 0.5% to 1% versus an earlier prediction of 1.8%, Dow Jones Newswires reported.
The New Normal
You know, it should occur to some people that perhaps there's a wee problem with the way things are set up if we're living in daily fear of the banking system destroying the world.
Elections About Nothing
Conservatives won on the "we're not them" policy agenda in Spain. Election isn't soon, but opposition Labour party in the UK seems to be running with the "marginally better than the other guys" agenda. And in the US the distinction between Team D and Team R is?
I'm not doing a 'no difference between the parties' thing. I'm a high information voter. I know what the differences are, even if they aren't as great as I'd like. But what are they going to run on in 2012? What will the choice be for low and medium information voters?
I'm not doing a 'no difference between the parties' thing. I'm a high information voter. I know what the differences are, even if they aren't as great as I'd like. But what are they going to run on in 2012? What will the choice be for low and medium information voters?
Deficitmania
If you'll let me be completely charitable for a moment, and take a break from assuming Villagers are all assholes who want granny to starve, and instead assume that their concerns about the deficit are genuine, then basically their presumption is Big Money beats Big Voters. That is, "entitlements" need to be cut because they know Defense can't be. Donors trump voters.
This Is How The World Ended
I suppose we'll ("we" broadly speaking) hit another crisis point in the not too distant future, when the world is about to collapse and all of the free marketers will inform us that, once again, free money for rich assholes is the only solution.
Silence
UC Davis Chancellor.
The Atlantic has been on this.
Franke-Ruta
It is hard to look at this kind of attack and think this is how we do things in America.
Madrigal
Our police forces have enshrined a paradigm of protest policing that turns local cops into paramilitary forces
Coates
When accused of police brutality cops often claim to be endangered, regardless of the facts of the situation.
Fallows
Notice the crowd.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
$1.2 Trillion In Deficit Cuts
So there's this bipartisan group of elected officials known as "Congress" that passed $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions into law. They also designated a random group of wankers to come up with some alternative $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions as a substitute. They didn't come up with a substitute. So we have the original path to deficit reduction as opposed to the potential substitute.
Why the press has mostly taken the position that some unspecified substitute would be better, or that cuts are implicitly good...
Why the press has mostly taken the position that some unspecified substitute would be better, or that cuts are implicitly good...
One True Technocrat
There is no "right" policy. There can be disagreed upon means for achieving agreed upon ends, but it's wrong to assume that there is in any way agreement on the ends, and even slight differences in desired ends can suggest fairly different means for achieving them. It's quite possible that Europe's "technocrats" know exactly what they are doing. Their ends may not be mine, or Brad's, and they may not be their stated ends, but it's possible they know exactly what they're doing.
That the social welfare function of someone who is willing to trade several points of unemployment for a point or two of worried about inflation might be a bit weird, or even sociopathic, does not mean that they are failing to maximize that social welfare function. Arguably the people who are in these jobs are in them for precisely that reason.
That the social welfare function of someone who is willing to trade several points of unemployment for a point or two of worried about inflation might be a bit weird, or even sociopathic, does not mean that they are failing to maximize that social welfare function. Arguably the people who are in these jobs are in them for precisely that reason.
PR And The University-Industrial Complex
Having spent lots of time in and around academia, I will say that there's a fundamental flaw, or at least thorn, in the model. The problem is that members of The Academy are committed to certain values, including a degree of honesty, whether or not they always live up to them, but of course The Academy is also made up of institutions with PR people and marketing departments and lawyers. That is, advertising and damage control, areas where The Truth is not necessarily a high priority. These worlds can collide. Also, too, militarized police forces.
A Boot On The Faces Of Hippies, Or Those Walking Nearby, Forever
Not that 'killing the protesting hippies' was ok either, but something often overlooked in contemporary discussions fo the Kent State shootings is that not everyone killed or wounded was even involved in the protests.
Occupied
If nothing else, managing to shift the conversation for a couple of months is a tremendous accomplishment. While right wing lunatics can kick the ball and have the press follow any time they want, it's almost impossible for anyone resembling lefties to do it.
To State The Obvious
If it's ok for police to torture people with pepper spray given the circumstances at UC Davis, it's basically always ok for police to torture people with pepper spray.
And if it's ok for university administrators to order such things in those circumstances, it's always ok for university administrators to order such things.
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away.
And if it's ok for university administrators to order such things in those circumstances, it's always ok for university administrators to order such things.
'Cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can't take that away.
Today In Elections
Elections in Spain today. "The assholes who are worse but at least aren't you assholes" are favored to win.
Austerity rocks!
Austerity rocks!
They Aren't "Technocrats"
And, yes, we should retire the word. As Chunky BoBo columns go there are worse ones, but it's a decent moment to point out that the "technocrats" everyone keeps talking about in Europe are just ideologues of a certain flavor, ideologues who are likely to destroy the thing they're pretending to try to save.
Whatever the word is supposed to mean, "technocrat" is just this year's "Very Serious Person." In another words, just more assholes who like to destroy the world while patting themselves on the back for how brave and smart they are.
Whatever the word is supposed to mean, "technocrat" is just this year's "Very Serious Person." In another words, just more assholes who like to destroy the world while patting themselves on the back for how brave and smart they are.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has Rubio, Chris Coons, and Rahmbo.
Meet the Press has Kyl and Kerry.
Face the Nation has Toomey, Manchin, and Paul.
Document the atrocities!
Meet the Press has Kyl and Kerry.
Face the Nation has Toomey, Manchin, and Paul.
Document the atrocities!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Please Fail Soon
Appropriate celebratory drink for the moment when the SuperWankers officially fail?
Mass Unemployment Is A Small Price To Pay For, uh.. something
Basically, the idea is that central banks need to prove the aren't crazy inflation lovers. They do this by proving that they're crazy inflation haters, that they'd kill their mothers, or at least YOUR mother, in order to keep inflation low. This means keeping inflation low even when it's "crazy" to do so. Even if it impoverishes a lot of mothers of people who don't run central banks.
A Boot Stomping On The Faces Of Hippies Forever
Stay away from newspaper comment sections unless you wish to see how much that is the dream for some.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Feed Kids More Pizza
Actually I imagine some fantasy foodie version of pizza might be pretty good for kids. You know, thin crust, quality ingredients, heavy on the vegetable toppings, real cheese, high ratio of toppings to cheese, relatively low (for pizza) salt content. Stick something resembling a salad on the side and we've got a meal. But the reality of public school pizza, unless it's changed a lot since I was a kid, is a slab of something resembling cheese on top of a slab of something resembling bread, a tiny bit of something resembling tomato sauce, and maybe something almost but not quite pepperoni.
Please Fail And Go Away
I suppose it's possible that all of the political pitter patter doesn't really matter, that whether the Villagers are talking about jobs or the deficit has no impact on anything that happens. Still I'd like to err on the side of thinking it does, that years of the public hearing that the problem with the economy is "the deficit" instead of hearing that the problem with the economy is that Republicans (and helpful democrats) have made austerity the de facto policy.
Please go away supercommittee.
Please go away supercommittee.
Ummm.. So Are We?
But welcome to the party!
The austerity measures being rolled out in countries across Europe will have a devastating effect on the living standards of its population, an economist told CNBC Friday.
Houston Also Has Land Use Regulations
Posting mostly as a reminder that Houston not having zoning laws does not mean that Houston does not have regulations about things like minimum parking requirements.
As Houston considers the first overhaul of its parking ordinance since 1989, those voicing the most concerns are restaurant and bar owners.
Owners say proposed requirements for more spaces at new bars and restaurants would be a hardship for small-business entrepreneurs who lack funds to buy or rent more land.
Wee Suggestion
Don't trust Fox.
Saw some slightly more respectable people on the twitter taking this seriously.
They just make things up.
Saw some slightly more respectable people on the twitter taking this seriously.
They just make things up.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
EATED
Well, LOOTED.
In the last days before MF Global’s collapse, the firm was borrowing cash from its customers without backing the loans, a serious violation of Wall Street rules that regulators believe contributed to $600 million of missing money.
Investigators have now zeroed in on the suspect borrowing at the commodities and derivatives brokerage firm, which at the time of its collapse was run by Jon S. Corzine, according to people briefed on the investigation. At least some of the borrowed customer cash was used to pay off bad bets made by MF Global, regulators suspect, meaning the money is not simply missing. It is gone.
Republicans Don't Care About The Deficit
I say it regularly, but not many other people do. They care about cutting taxes on rich people.
Umm...
Cable companies actually pay for the privilege of providing many of the channels in even the basic bundles? So the basic bundle cost depends, in part, on which channels with significant per subscriber fees they include? We're basically at the whim of the outcomes of negotiations between monopolies (your cable provider) and pseudo-monopolies (firms with big channel portfolios).
Lots of people like ESPN. Many don't. It's a typical part of a cable channel bundle. It's expensive.
Lots of people like ESPN. Many don't. It's a typical part of a cable channel bundle. It's expensive.
Happy Anniversary
12 hours of the Majority Report to celebrate the anniversary of the triumphant return of the Majority Report.
How About Giving Them Some Free Money?
People are un- or underemployed so they're living with their parents. If they had more money they'd spend it. Give them some damn free money. Fix the economy.
Unpossible
I had to check news reports to make sure this wasn't some sort of parody that I wasn't comprehending.
Stealing houses is supposed to be legal in this country, as long as it's done in a very civilized fashion by men in suits with expensive pens.
Stealing houses is supposed to be legal in this country, as long as it's done in a very civilized fashion by men in suits with expensive pens.
How About Because Of
Austerity in a recession is just insanity.
Higher unemployment and higher deficits. Winning!!!
No one will shift gears, because they'll be proved fucking right! The pointless goal was to borrow less than Labour was planning to borrow, and now they're borrowing more so look over there Yurp!
Government borrowing is expected to rocket to levels higher than was envisaged by Labour, despite George Osborne's deep spending cuts.
On a day when youth unemployment rose to a record 1.02 million, figures slipped out by the Treasury revealed how the Chancellor's deficit reduction plan has been blown off course by anaemic growth levels and high jobless figures. Labour claimed the pain of £40bn of cuts and tax rises had not been worth it.
Higher unemployment and higher deficits. Winning!!!
No one will shift gears, because they'll be proved fucking right! The pointless goal was to borrow less than Labour was planning to borrow, and now they're borrowing more so look over there Yurp!
Umm...I Bet Somebody Does
The question is who.
At the bankruptcy hearing Wednesday at a federal court in Lower Manhattan, there were more questions than answers. Judge Martin Glenn asked a lawyer for the trustee if he knew whether customer money had been mingled with company cash, a major violation of Wall Street rules and a potential explanation for the shortfall.
The trustee’s lawyer, James Kobak of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, replied: “I don’t think anybody knows the answer.”
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
I'm Not Sure
Should the title of this post be "Nobody Could Have Predicted" or "The Obvious Thing to Do is"...
In any case, we know what the obvious thing to do is. Huzzah!
George Osborne is braced to admit this month that the scale of Britain's economic slowdown, demonstrated yesterday by youth unemployment spiralling to more than 1 million, means he will be unable to meet his main deficit reduction target before the next election.
It is now expected that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will declare at the time of Osborne's autumn statement on 29 November that the downturn's impact is more permanent than thought and the government may not be able to meet its commitment to eliminate the structural deficit – the part of the deficit unaffected by growth – by 2014-15, as he predicted in the June 2010 budget.
In any case, we know what the obvious thing to do is. Huzzah!
Rick Perry For President
Not really, but it's inevitable that this kind of thing will happen.
No Republican will be better when it comes to big banks, but low information voters won't know that and the press won't explain it to them.
Perry offered criticism of large banks and federal judges as he sought to cast himself as an outsider who could reform Washington.
"While Main Street's been struggling, the cash has still been flowing to Wall Street financiers and Beltway profiteers," Perry said at a town hall meeting in Nashua. "My career has been outside of Washington, always."
No Republican will be better when it comes to big banks, but low information voters won't know that and the press won't explain it to them.
Something No One Acknowledges
Republicans aren't actually stupid enough to take responsibility for cutting Social Security.
No Surprise
At the worst moment when everyone else deserted big shitpile, the FHA took over...
WASHINGTON — Chances are nearly 50 percent that the Federal Housing Administration will need a bailout next year if the housing market deteriorates further, the agency’s independent auditor said in a report released Tuesday.
Insurance Fraud
No they can't afford to pay even a modest portion of this.
To the extent that people buying this stuff knew what they were doing, they were just buying "fake insurance for the regulators." Late capitalism is grand.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), among the world’s biggest traders of credit derivatives, disclosed to shareholders that they have sold protection on more than $5 trillion of debt globally.
Just don’t ask them how much of that was issued by Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, known as the GIIPS.
To the extent that people buying this stuff knew what they were doing, they were just buying "fake insurance for the regulators." Late capitalism is grand.
Legal?
MF Global looting could have been perfectly legal, although it seems there was at the very least some sloppy deception going on.
Ultimately the only hope for major reform is if enough of the right rich assholes fuck over enough of the (other) right rich assholes, yet at a small enough scale that the Full Bailout doesn't happen. As in, rich people decide they're tired of being fucked over. Though I'm not holding my breath for that needle to be threaded.
Then, in February 2004 and May 2005, Regulation 1.25 was further amended and refined to the liking of Ferber and the banks. In the end, the door was opened for firms such as MF Global to do internal repos of customers’ deposits and invest the funds in the “general obligations of a sovereign nation.”
This practice, of course, may well be the centerpiece of the MF Global disaster. We now know that Corzine -- who was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 1999 -- bet $6.3 billion on the distressed long-term bonds of countries such as Italy and Spain, although it’s unclear if clients’ funds were used. Bart Chilton, a CFTC commissioner, told Bloomberg News on Nov. 10 the loss to customers’ accounts may have resulted from a “massive hide-and-seek ploy.”
Ultimately the only hope for major reform is if enough of the right rich assholes fuck over enough of the (other) right rich assholes, yet at a small enough scale that the Full Bailout doesn't happen. As in, rich people decide they're tired of being fucked over. Though I'm not holding my breath for that needle to be threaded.
Not So Nice Work
It's a complete mystery what Occupy is all about.
I'm not against a well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. In fact, I wish we had a massive well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. But this is just giving free labor to companies, and in a way which doesn't leave people with much time to look for real jobs.
Britain's young unemployed are being sent to work for supermarkets and budget stores for up to two months for no pay and no guarantee of a job, the Guardian can reveal.
Under the government's work experience programme young jobseekers are exempted from national minimum wage laws for up to eight weeks and are being offered placements in Tesco, Poundland, Argos, Sainsbury's and a multitude of other big name businesses.
The Department for Work and Pensions says that if jobseekers "express an interest" in an offer of work experience they must continue to work without pay, after a one-week cooling-off period, or face having their benefits docked.
I'm not against a well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. In fact, I wish we had a massive well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. But this is just giving free labor to companies, and in a way which doesn't leave people with much time to look for real jobs.
This Will Probably Destroy The Econony
Margin requirements? That's crazy talk.
Reading to the end we discover it's... 2.5%
The New York Fed said it will be increasing the collateral requirements on 21 primary-dealer banks in transactions dealing with mortgage-backed securities, in an effort to lower the settlement risks with its counterparties.
Reading to the end we discover it's... 2.5%
Reasons to Cheer
Please fail and go away.
It's been almost two years since the "deficit pivot." Please, somebody, tell the people in charge that nobody cares about the damn deficit. They will say they do in correctly worded polls, but they don't care. They care about jobs and having money in their pockets. If the economy sucks they imagine the "deficit" is somehow to blame, because that's what NPR tells them every day.
Give people jobs. They'll get happy and go back to worrying about gay abortions and the like.
White House officials are quietly bracing for “supercommittee” failure, with advisers privately saying they are pessimistic that the 12-member Congressional panel will find a way to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit as required.
It's been almost two years since the "deficit pivot." Please, somebody, tell the people in charge that nobody cares about the damn deficit. They will say they do in correctly worded polls, but they don't care. They care about jobs and having money in their pockets. If the economy sucks they imagine the "deficit" is somehow to blame, because that's what NPR tells them every day.
Give people jobs. They'll get happy and go back to worrying about gay abortions and the like.
Operation Blame Yurp Is In Full Swing
Obviously I blame Yurp too, but they're just part of the austerity madness which has inefected everybody.
The outlook for output growth is unusually uncertain. That reflects in particular the exposure of the UK economy to developments in the euro area.
The euro area faces substantial challenges as several members seek to ensure the sustainability of their public and external debt and maintain financial stability. Implementation of a credible and effective policy response in the euro area would diminish uncertainty and so support the UK recovery.
So, Uh, Stop That
Not good.
WASHINGTON - The Secret Service says a bullet hit an exterior window of the White House and was stopped by ballistic glass.
Coordination
I'm so old I remember when TIME's Jay Carney pooh-poohed the idea that the Bush Administration was coordinating the replacement of US Attorneys General who were insufficiently zealous in pursuit of bogus voter fraud cases.
And I'm so cynical I suspect there has been coordination in the crackdown on people who object to austerity forever, for almost everyone.
And I'm so cynical I suspect there has been coordination in the crackdown on people who object to austerity forever, for almost everyone.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Can This Possibly Be True
I honestly would prefer "true Pete Peterson believer" to "we think the politics is good on this."
Someone please check the White House water supply for toxic brain-bending substances.
For most of this year, the White House has thought that the surest path to President Obama’s reelection was to strike a big deficit deal with Republicans, or at least be seen trying to strike a big deficit deal with Republicans.
Someone please check the White House water supply for toxic brain-bending substances.
The Victims Don't Matter
It's the feefees of the community of JoePa worshippers that matter. They need to heal. Because they haz a sad that the victims didn't shut the fuck up.
What We're Doing
It occurs to me that the orientation of our economic policy isn't simply about giving free money to and bailing out rich assholes, it's giving free money to and bailing out rich gambling addicts.
What a country!
What a country!
Because We're Exceptional
I imagine no one will be allowed to call it a 'lost decade' until we're entering decade 3 of it.
Vertical axis is the unemployment rate.
Vertical axis is the unemployment rate.
Alternative Reality
It's almost needless to say, but if a bunch of TeaBaggers settled into a park somewhere to protest Kenyan Muslim Socialism then things would be playing out a bit differently. Brooks and Gerson would be writing regular tributes to these heroic Americans who represent the best of us. Nightly on the NewsHour they'd remind us that it had been "X days since President Obama refused to give in to their demands" no matter how kooky or nonexistent those demands were.
And, no, the cops would not have gone in and started bashing heads.
And, no, the cops would not have gone in and started bashing heads.
Light Touch
I actually think all of the biometric passport stuff is a giant waste of money and time, a solution to a problem no one bothered to define, and heavy-handed border checks between Schengen and non-Schengen EU countries are mostly silly, but the "private jet exception" is, of course, precisely what you imagine it to be.
First World Problems
Until a few days ago, when I'd search for something in Google and then click the "news" button to access google news it would automatically search for that term in google news.
And now it doesn't. boo.
And now it doesn't. boo.
Good Luck With That
Euro elites want more of a political union, but I tend not to think that they really want silly people like Greek voters having much input as to what goes on there. They want more unaccountable centralized institutions run by the right people.
I wasn't always so skeptical about such things, but it's hard to not see that real democracy is falling out of favor everywhere...
I wasn't always so skeptical about such things, but it's hard to not see that real democracy is falling out of favor everywhere...
"Somehow Occurred"
Golly just no idea how it happened.
(Reuters) - MF Global Holdings Ltd (MFGLQ.PK) may have faced a shortfall in customer funds even as far back as October 27, four days before the U.S. futures brokerage filed for bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
Just hours before the bankruptcy filing, MF Global executives told regulators they believed a shortfall had somehow occurred, possibly starting on October 27 or October 28, the people told the paper.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Come Again...?
Sorry for breaking in here, but... beg pardon...?
The very wingnutty Florida Representative Allen West:
And yes inevitable Dave Chappelle sketch reference.
MAS. Possibly tongue in cheek. But gracious.
MUCHO MAS. OK, probably meant as sarcastic. But come now. If a certain Muslim Kenyan had appeared at this sort of an event, it is entirely possible the conservative response might not have been "reverse racism!"
MUCH MUCH MAS. Some trains are never late! (Heh. "Titcomb.")
The very wingnutty Florida Representative Allen West:
Congressman West: "Oh come on, I mean you know I was the only black member of a white supremacist motorcycle gang, so liberals and there are certain others I would say even within our party that are not comfortable with strong black conservative voices, and I would say there are people that feel very threatened by that because we do stand on principle. We are someone or entities that are out of the mainstream, if you want to call it that, so liberals are definitely going to come at you. But I think you also have this inner fight within our primary candidates for that piece of the pie that they want to have."There's audio!
And yes inevitable Dave Chappelle sketch reference.
MAS. Possibly tongue in cheek. But gracious.
MUCHO MAS. OK, probably meant as sarcastic. But come now. If a certain Muslim Kenyan had appeared at this sort of an event, it is entirely possible the conservative response might not have been "reverse racism!"
MUCH MUCH MAS. Some trains are never late! (Heh. "Titcomb.")
Bring Them Down
Yes urban freeways were a tremendously bad idea. No that doesn't mean they should all come down. But probably more of them should come down than even this car hater generally thinks.
Plenty of lovely cities are almost entirely without them. There's a price to that - it can take awhile to drive in and out of the city! - but it also means that people don't move out of the city.
Plenty of lovely cities are almost entirely without them. There's a price to that - it can take awhile to drive in and out of the city! - but it also means that people don't move out of the city.
The Next Step
Stan Collender:
And then Congress can comply with the compliance by designating another SuperCommittee...
and all of this dumb because it can and will be undone by any future vote.
What a fucking waste of time.
And the most inane, stupid, absurd, remarkable thing about this is that the definitely-not-super committee will claim that this make-someone-else-do-the-hard-work-later process complies with the legal requirement to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion.
And then Congress can comply with the compliance by designating another SuperCommittee...
and all of this dumb because it can and will be undone by any future vote.
What a fucking waste of time.
Some People Are Born More Equal Than Others
I suppose maybe it's good we're just dispensing with the unpaid-internships-for-people-who-can-afford-unpaid-internships paths to media stardom.
Worthless
I've been wondering a bit why this angle hasn't been getting a lot of play.
Companies aren't buying CDS because it's actually insurance. By now we all realize the issuers either can't pay in the event of default because they don't have enough money or won't pay because the powers that be will declare that a default isn't really a default. I assume companies know this so they aren't really buying insurance, but the appearance of insurance, to make it possible for them to pretend they're hedged against bad bets if we all stick our fingers in our ears and yell "I CAN'T HEAR YOU." But they aren't, really.
Nobody could have predicted we wouldn't have learned the lessons of THIRTY EIGHT MONTHS ago.
The market's worries have been deepened by the weakening of a widely used defense against financial contagion: credit-default swaps, bilateral agreements that are supposed to insulate against losses from debt defaults. Recent efforts to quell the euro crisis have raised questions about the viability of that popular insurance-like hedging vehicle.
This latest chink in the financial armor has investors demanding more evidence that financial companies aren't making outsize bets in weaker European economies and aren't relying too heavily on hedges that might falter in a pinch.
Companies aren't buying CDS because it's actually insurance. By now we all realize the issuers either can't pay in the event of default because they don't have enough money or won't pay because the powers that be will declare that a default isn't really a default. I assume companies know this so they aren't really buying insurance, but the appearance of insurance, to make it possible for them to pretend they're hedged against bad bets if we all stick our fingers in our ears and yell "I CAN'T HEAR YOU." But they aren't, really.
Nobody could have predicted we wouldn't have learned the lessons of THIRTY EIGHT MONTHS ago.
Looters
It's the New York Post, but will be fascinating to see if JP Morgan succeeds completing the (apparent) theft of MF Global customer funds for their own benefit.
And by "interesting" I mean "I suppose we should all just sign everything we own over to them now and save the hassle."
And by "interesting" I mean "I suppose we should all just sign everything we own over to them now and save the hassle."
Powerfully Stupid Shit
What happened here was that David Brooks sat down and thought to himself, "how can I blame liberals for what happened at Penn State, but in a subtle way" and this is what he came up with. No he doesn't use the words liberal or democrat, but we all know that liberals destroyed moral clarity in the 1960s when child rape and pedophilia were invented.
It's just the tarted up for the Sunday set version of Newt Gingrich back in the day:
Even Pastor Chunky BoBo didn't really go there.
It's just the tarted up for the Sunday set version of Newt Gingrich back in the day:
The mother killing her two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we have to have change. I think people want to change and the only way you get change is to vote Republican.
Even Pastor Chunky BoBo didn't really go there.
At Least I Know We're Free
Because nothing says freedom like random stop and search.
Really can't quite see how "piss off" isn't the UK response, but...
The US has raised repeated concerns about security at the London Olympics and is preparing to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to provide protection for America's contestants and diplomats, the Guardian has learned.
American officials have expressed deep unease that the UK has had to restrict the scope of anti-terrorism "stop and search" powers, and have sought a breakdown of the number of British police and other security personnel that will be available next summer.
Really can't quite see how "piss off" isn't the UK response, but...
Invite Them
It isn't just small towns. Too lazy to dig out the numbers at the moment, but a rising Latino population has helped to stop the urban hellhole from withering, too. I've actually been impressed at how little backlash there has been, though admittedly that's somewhat because "hating black people" is still the preferred local option.
Punt!
Our idiotic rulers.
Oh and thanks for this, but it isn't like we have any actual problems to talk about.
WASHINGTON — With a little over a week left to reach a deal, members of the Congressional deficit reduction panel are looking for an escape hatch that would let them strike an accord on revenue levels but delay until next year tough decisions about exactly how to raise taxes.
Oh and thanks for this, but it isn't like we have any actual problems to talk about.
Under this approach, the panel would decide on the amount of new revenue to be raised but would leave it to the tax-writing committees of Congress to fill in details next year, well beyond the Nov. 23 deadline for the panel itself to reach an agreement. That would put off painful political decisions but ensure that the debate over deficit reduction stretched into the election year.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Our media, not theirs
Tonight's panelists on Virtually Speaking Sundays will be Sam Seder of The Majority Report and Avedon Carol of The Sideshow, also known as ....
Not Atrios
Not Atrios
Elites
Everybody protects them.
"I didn't even know he was leaving the school with my child," the mother said. "I didn't know he was taking him out of classes. They never told me that."
Victim One's mother told the Patriot-News that officials at Central Mountain High School urged her to think twice about how she wanted to handle the situation, "how that would impact my son," she said.
Over 3 Years Of Crisis
We've had a massive unemployment crisis for awhile now. When the latest round of panicking Masters of the Universe ends, we will still have an unemployment crisis.
Just a reminder.
Just a reminder.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has some people who probably don't know much about the subjects they're discussing.
Meet the Press has Bachmann and Wasserman-Schults
Face the Nation has Hunstman, Lindsey Graham, Haley Barbour, and Martin O'Malley.
Document the atrocities!
Meet the Press has Bachmann and Wasserman-Schults
Face the Nation has Hunstman, Lindsey Graham, Haley Barbour, and Martin O'Malley.
Document the atrocities!
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Stop Watching?
I'm not one to get on people for being impure in their failure to boycott all the evil institutions in the world, if for no other reason than it's pretty much impossible. But I admit I'm a bit puzzled about the number of self-admitted really hardcore college sports fans who admit the entire enterprise is completely abusive and corrupt.
I Guess We'd Better Put Metal Detectors In The Malls
It's always interesting (and other things) to see where people imagine there must be TSA-style security and where they don't. For some the presence of strangers seems to be enough, I guess. I really don't understand. And trains are foreign and scary, or something.
Consensus
Well the consensus seems to be we need to just install bankers as the leaders of all the countries, and the only way any of us can survive is if all the richest countries of the world are turned into 3rd world hellholes after the middle class gives all of their money to rich people.
The frustrating thing is that we could just give free money to rich people. Every time banksters light a pile of money on fire, the ECB and the BOE and the Fed can just say, oh, no worries chap, here's another pile. At least try to get down to the dog track this week instead of just having a bonfire with thousand dollar bills. This isn't my preferred option, but it's a better option than making poor and middle class people suffer just because.
The frustrating thing is that we could just give free money to rich people. Every time banksters light a pile of money on fire, the ECB and the BOE and the Fed can just say, oh, no worries chap, here's another pile. At least try to get down to the dog track this week instead of just having a bonfire with thousand dollar bills. This isn't my preferred option, but it's a better option than making poor and middle class people suffer just because.
Friday, November 11, 2011
I Guess There Isn't Much For Them To Do
Reuters:
I'm wondering if we're going to get answers. What exactly happened to the customer accounts? Who was responsible, and who knew? And..how widespread is the practice of that kind of 'borrowing' when your dog doesn't come in.
The brokerage arm of collapsed futures firm MF Global Holdings Ltd has terminated its 1,066-member workforce, according to the trustee in charge of liquidating its assets.
I'm wondering if we're going to get answers. What exactly happened to the customer accounts? Who was responsible, and who knew? And..how widespread is the practice of that kind of 'borrowing' when your dog doesn't come in.
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Who knew austerity during a recession would cause a deeper recession?
MADRID — Spain's feeble economic recovery petered out in the third quarter of 2011, official figures showed on Friday, stoking recession fears just nine days before a general election.
Granny Flats
Hopefully the slow trend of states and communities becoming more open to the creation of 2nd dwellings on existing lots continues.
But even in communities that have liberalized their rules, there can still be several challenges at the local level. Parking is a big one because many areas require the unit to have an extra space off the street, and there may be rules as to where the spot can sit on the property. Many locales also require minimum lot sizes; in Berkeley, Calif., for instance, the property must be at least 4,500 square feet, according to a research paper that studied secondary units in the East Bay area. Others might require the unit to be a certain number of feet from the rear and side property lines. In fact, all the rules have driven many homeowners to just roll the dice and add the units without their community’s blessing.
Advocates of in-law units say they also address the changing face of families and their economic circumstances. They can provide an extra income source, or allow elderly people to remain in their communities. They can also create a source of affordable housing, they say, at no cost to the government.
No, Tax Expenditures Will Never Go Away
And it's important to recognize that. It's why people like me are a bit more fond of, say, the mortgage interest deduction than we otherwise would be. It's because it's a goody that not-super-rich people actually get. I'm not particularly enamored with subsidizing homeownership, and I'd prefer scrapping most deductions in exchange for increasing the personal exemption for everybody, but even if Alan, Erskine, and I manage to come to an agreement on this stuff and Congress passes it...just wait until next year.
If we agree to scrap some stuff that benefit middle class people in exchange for scrapping some stuff that benefits rich assholes and corporations, next year the lobbyists will be back. And who has the better lobbyists?
If we agree to scrap some stuff that benefit middle class people in exchange for scrapping some stuff that benefits rich assholes and corporations, next year the lobbyists will be back. And who has the better lobbyists?
Armistice Day
Remember the dead, and remember how the people who ran the world blew it up for no good reason.
Suicide
It is fascinating that the ECB is hellbent on destroying the euro, and by implication themselves.
They're also determined to destroy some countries in the process. Maybe they're just like that.
They're also determined to destroy some countries in the process. Maybe they're just like that.
This Has Never Been Suggested Before
Rich assholes think cutting their taxes will solve all the problems.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
I read Booman
With all that's been written about Penn State I think that Marty's posts have been the most thoughtful that I have read. In fact, I could replace "Penn State" with quite a few topics and not change the rest of that last sentence.
Bollocks
I actually don't think think the Perry "brain freeze" was any big deal, but apparently our liberal media will deliver an automatic apologia anytime a right wing idiot can't tie his shoes.
So, Uh, Take The Bus Or Subway? Also, too, walk or bike.
Yes, yes, I know some people are going to want to drive, and businesses might legitimately worry about those (potential) customers, but the only way to have a thriving corridor in that spot or anywhere similar is if significant numbers of people don't drive. The cars take up too much space. There isn't room. The subway stop is about a block and a half away and there's a frequent bus line right there.
Businesses in places like that really need to stop worrying about the people who bitch about parking and worry about how to increase foot traffic.
Businesses in places like that really need to stop worrying about the people who bitch about parking and worry about how to increase foot traffic.
Open The Box
Wonder if anybody is starting to panic...
Federal regulators have ordered an audit of every American futures trading firm to verify that customer money is protected, a move that comes after roughly $600 million in client funds went missing from MF Global, the bankrupt brokerage firm once run by Jon S. Corzine.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the federal regulator searching for the missing money at MF Global, will audit many of the nation’s largest futures commission merchants, according to a person briefed on the mater. Exchanges like the CME Group will examine smaller firms to ensure they are keeping customer money separate from company money, a fundamental rule on Wall Street.
Movement
Amanda:
I've been saying this, roughly, for years. I don't think all self-identified "pro-life" people are anti-women, anti-sex, anti-birth control, controlling pervert freaks, but the pro-life movement is. It's why it was so frustrating to watch for years as Sensible Democrats imagined they could come to some sane "grand bargain" and put the issue behind them forever. Sensible Democrats imagined that reducing abortion must surely be the goal of the "pro-life" movement, and so reducing unwanted pregnancies must be common ground we can all agree on. But, no, as they eventually finally figured out. Unwanted pregnancies are a feature, not a bug, at least for slutty slutty slutty sluts who have unapproved of sex. It's the "punishment."
The other important takeaway from this is that there's a genuine disconnect between the anti-choice movement and people who identify as "pro-life" but aren't in the movement.
I've been saying this, roughly, for years. I don't think all self-identified "pro-life" people are anti-women, anti-sex, anti-birth control, controlling pervert freaks, but the pro-life movement is. It's why it was so frustrating to watch for years as Sensible Democrats imagined they could come to some sane "grand bargain" and put the issue behind them forever. Sensible Democrats imagined that reducing abortion must surely be the goal of the "pro-life" movement, and so reducing unwanted pregnancies must be common ground we can all agree on. But, no, as they eventually finally figured out. Unwanted pregnancies are a feature, not a bug, at least for slutty slutty slutty sluts who have unapproved of sex. It's the "punishment."
Chronic
I don't think whatever you're doing is working?
On Wednesday, the judge homed in on the issue of banks who settle with the S.E.C. and pledge to not violate the securities laws, yet repeatedly do so. Why then, Judge Rakoff asked, had the commission not brought any contempt charges against large financial firms in the past 10 years?
Mr. Martens, the S.E.C. lawyer, said that the agency felt that there were better and more appropriate ways to deal with chronic misconduct. The S.E.C. has said that striking settlements is often preferable to a costly and protracted lawsuit that it might lose.
They Need The Cash
I'm sure some in bank management look at all of the accounts of people who live paycheck to paycheck, with average daily balances under $1000, and think that they don't need these losers, that the accounts cost more to administer than they actually make from them, at least without all of the additional fees they're trying to pile on. But that's basically most of their customers, and without them they won't be a bank anymore. They need reserves to function.
...and echoing this commenter, when it comes to the bullshit fees it isn't just about the money, although it's of course the money too. It's one more bullshit thing to worry about, to pay attention to, to have to keep track of. People are tired of dealing with crap that is going to take up another hour of your life. It's a complete mystery why people don't want to constantly worry about whether or not their bank is screwing them.
...and echoing this commenter, when it comes to the bullshit fees it isn't just about the money, although it's of course the money too. It's one more bullshit thing to worry about, to pay attention to, to have to keep track of. People are tired of dealing with crap that is going to take up another hour of your life. It's a complete mystery why people don't want to constantly worry about whether or not their bank is screwing them.
The Beatings Will Continue
Not much concern for the independence of sovereign nations and democracy.
The second reason the ECB may refuse to make huge bond purchases is moral hazard. The ECB would lose its leverage to drive fundamental reform in Italy. The discipline imposed by high interest rates currently offers the best hope of making the euro zone more competitive. And if the ECB accepts the role of lender of last resort to countries, it can't be rescinded. Its relationship with governments will have changed fundamentally, making it hard to resist future demands. The ECB effectively will have ceded a large slice of its cherished independence.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
They Have A Printing Press
The EU can certainly afford to bail out Italy and Greece and everybody else (recognizing they're really bailing out the banks). Whether that's entirely wise is a separate issue, as is the legality of various actions, but affordability does not come into it.
Giants
I suppose I thought 'covering up child rape' might cross the line just enough that even our rulers might find it problematic.
Easy
People can quibble about where precisely responsibility lies, but the truth is there's a simple solution to the problems we have: give people free money. I imagine it might even be popular.
Maybe They Don't Care About The Deficit?
I know there is no way to puncture that myth, but Republicans care about tax cuts for rich people and taxing poor people to give the money to their rich friends. They don't care about the deficit. They never have.
Fail
It's November 2011. We're still in an ongoing banking crisis. The housing market is a disaster. Unemployment is a disaster, not just the headline number but the fact that so many have been out of work for so long.
I think the powers that be patted themselves on the back two years ago thinking they'd solved the problem. The spiked the football in the endzone and did a victory dance and decided it was 1995, because it's always fucking 1995 in Washington. But they didn't fix the problems. They left the bastards who fucked it all up in place and are now surprised that things are operating just the same way they were. We're still talking about the stupid deficit.
I think the powers that be patted themselves on the back two years ago thinking they'd solved the problem. The spiked the football in the endzone and did a victory dance and decided it was 1995, because it's always fucking 1995 in Washington. But they didn't fix the problems. They left the bastards who fucked it all up in place and are now surprised that things are operating just the same way they were. We're still talking about the stupid deficit.
Money
I don't have a fully fleshed out point here, but it occurs to me that there are certain people in politics who are like the finance guys in business. They're so removed from the actual product that they're selling that they forget that customers actually need to like and buy their crap.
The economy sucks. It has sucked for years. That's the issue. Anyone in politics who failed to understand that should not be working in politics.
I know all the Very Serious People imagined the economy would just right itself because that's what happens. But it doesn't, actually.
The economy sucks. It has sucked for years. That's the issue. Anyone in politics who failed to understand that should not be working in politics.
I know all the Very Serious People imagined the economy would just right itself because that's what happens. But it doesn't, actually.
Stupid People
That Hillary Clinton seemed to surround herself with incompetent people always disturbed me.
Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Doing It Wrong
I don't claim to have deep knowledge of this, but I was in Peru a couple of years ago and one thing that was clear was that the lack of a decent mass transit system was an incredible problem. Despite the somewhat low level of development and the degree of widespread poverty, everything was basically designed around the idea that people would have access to a personal vehicle. Which of course many didn't.
Assholes
Also, too, the cost of college has gone up a wee bit.
I went to a not especially elite state school. Pretty sure tuition+room+board+fees didn't break $5K in 1989. Books might have put it over. That's about $9000 in today's bucks. Currently the going rate is $17,500+, and that's cheap by today's standards.
I went to a not especially elite state school. Pretty sure tuition+room+board+fees didn't break $5K in 1989. Books might have put it over. That's about $9000 in today's bucks. Currently the going rate is $17,500+, and that's cheap by today's standards.
Scale
There are reasons to object to the overall impact of Wal-Mart on the world, but competing with the higher priced skimmers is not one of them.
Geoffrey Cardone, a 26-year-old factory worker, said he dumped his bank account because he felt that he was being nickeled and dimed by fees. His new payday ritual includes a trip to the Wal-Mart here in northeastern Pennsylvania.
“It’s cheaper,” said Mr. Cardone, who was charged a flat fee of $3 to cash his paycheck. Many check-cashing stores keep a percentage of the check, which tends to be higher.
Huzzah Rahmbo
I've never been quite sure why people inclined to support such things haven't gotten behind an increase in parking taxes/fees as essentially a substitute for a congestion fee.
And, no, the purpose isn't to soak drivers because I hate them it's because congestion is an unpriced externality. You're all stuck in traffic, not me.
And, no, the purpose isn't to soak drivers because I hate them it's because congestion is an unpriced externality. You're all stuck in traffic, not me.
Duh
Really no other option.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Joe Paterno’s tenure as coach of the Penn State football team will soon be over, perhaps within days or weeks, in the wake of a sex-abuse scandal that has implicated university officials, according to two people briefed on conversations among the university’s top officials.
Nostalgia
Just a random thought here, but was reminiscing about the good old days back when this blog was not quite as sucky as it is now. It's hard to comprehend now, but there was really something controversial and subversive about the idea that you could just write stuff on the internets and people might read it. There were a few proto-bloggers before cheap-to-free hosting and blogging software, but those two things lowered the entry bar just enough to make it easy for everybody.
Opportunities
A very sad thing about all of this is that being in a liquidity trap provides opportunities. The government can borrow lots of money for almost nothing and build SUPERTRAINS. Alternatively, the central bank could just give the government free money and the government wouldn't have to borrow at all. Or, of course, Ben could just shower cash on all of us.
Normally these would be bad things because of the risk of inflation. We worry way too much about inflation, and this crisis has demonstrated that the central bank should normally target a higher level of inflation than it has, but that's not to say it's of no concern. Here we truly have an opportunity for some tasty free lunches and we're just leaving them on the table.
mmm...lunch...
Normally these would be bad things because of the risk of inflation. We worry way too much about inflation, and this crisis has demonstrated that the central bank should normally target a higher level of inflation than it has, but that's not to say it's of no concern. Here we truly have an opportunity for some tasty free lunches and we're just leaving them on the table.
mmm...lunch...
I Promise Not To Kill Again (Crossed Fingers)
That's the way bankster justice works.
WASHINGTON — When Citigroup agreed last month to pay $285 million to settle civil charges that it had defrauded customers during the housing bubble, the Securities and Exchange Commission wrested a typical pledge from the company: Citigroup would never violate one of the main antifraud provisions of the nation’s securities laws.
Jubilee
I know I'm repeating myself here, but I do so because it's "crazy" yet precisely what should happen. When the financial crisis first hit, one way or another all the banksters got a free money do over. It wasn't quite as simple as Ben showering them with bags of cash, but essentially that's what happened. The rest of us, including certain sovereign sates, just need a free money do over as well. There's no reason to continue with the endless crises.