Monday, September 30, 2013
About Those Paychecks
Since it'll all mostly be about the "optics" and "who wins the day," just a reminder that temporarily laying off a few hundred thousand people is a big fucking deal, and not a good BFD.
Very Silly People
Sure they have the power to destroy the world, but it's still worth remembering that the teabaggers in the House GOP are really really silly people.
It Doesn't Really Matter Matter Matter Matter Matter
If only Jeff Bezos would furlough Chris Cilizza.
It's official!
It's official!
The Precious
Except for the fact that he beat them twice, conservative really don't have any reason to hate Obama. "Obamacare" is just the Heritage Foundation health care plan, aka Romneycare, and otherwise, uh, what?
I'm not making the argument that Obama is just like a Republican, just making the point that he really hasn't given them much to work with. They've seized on Obamacare because it's the big legislative accomplishment, but they're mostly incoherent (or lying) about why it makes them so mad. It's just the thing they've chosen to rally behind because they really don't have anything else.
I suppose there's Benghazi!
I'm not making the argument that Obama is just like a Republican, just making the point that he really hasn't given them much to work with. They've seized on Obamacare because it's the big legislative accomplishment, but they're mostly incoherent (or lying) about why it makes them so mad. It's just the thing they've chosen to rally behind because they really don't have anything else.
I suppose there's Benghazi!
Tantrum
I suppose it's "funny" that conventional wisdom seems to be that the House GOP are a bunch of children and we have to let them throw at least one tantrum.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
The Bad, It Breaks
Personally got stuck on season 2, not because it was bad but because it's pretty effing depressing. But what I saw was good! Watch it!
Hobbies
Most of us have hobbies of one sort or another. Certain hobbies are, for some reason, culturally privileged and some of their practitioners really buy into that. Sports fans get macho cred and some even convince themselves that it's some high level intellectual activity. It's entertainment and gambling, people.
And that's also the case with "gun culture." That isn't actually a real thing. It's a stupid phrase. No your gun is not going to allow you to defend yourself or defend your family. No your love for guns doesn't make you special and immune from criticism. No there's nothing special and manly about hunting. The hunters I knew all brought a case of beer with them to keep them company in their early morning tree stands.
Despite the fact that no one is actually going to take away all of their guns, gun owners are weirdly sensitive that someone might disapprove of their little hobby. As someone who grew up with mostly nerd hobbies it's pretty funny to me. I never had culturally sanctioned hobbies and they didn't involve killing machines.
And that's also the case with "gun culture." That isn't actually a real thing. It's a stupid phrase. No your gun is not going to allow you to defend yourself or defend your family. No your love for guns doesn't make you special and immune from criticism. No there's nothing special and manly about hunting. The hunters I knew all brought a case of beer with them to keep them company in their early morning tree stands.
Despite the fact that no one is actually going to take away all of their guns, gun owners are weirdly sensitive that someone might disapprove of their little hobby. As someone who grew up with mostly nerd hobbies it's pretty funny to me. I never had culturally sanctioned hobbies and they didn't involve killing machines.
Catch up
In any case, the kid casualty count is now in the sphere of legitimate controversy.
The rifle association’s lobbying arm recently posted on its Web site a claim that adult criminals who mishandle firearms — as opposed to law-abiding gun owners — are responsible for most fatal accidents involving children. But The Times’s review found that a vast majority of cases revolved around children’s access to firearms, with the shooting either self-inflicted or done by another child.
A common theme in the cases examined by The Times, in fact, was the almost magnetic attraction of firearms among boys. In all but a handful of instances, the shooter was male. Boys also accounted for more than 80 percent of the victims.
Time and again, boys could not resist handling a gun, disregarding repeated warnings by adults and, sometimes, their own sense that they were doing something wrong.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Shutherdown
Some men just want to watch the world burn.
...and, according to the twitters, the House GOP demand is a one year delay of Obummercare. shutdown!
With Washington barreling toward a government shutdown, a deadlocked Congress entered the final weekend of the fiscal year with no clear ideas of how to avoid furloughs for more than 800,000 federal workers. Millions more could be left without paychecks.Austerity!
...and, according to the twitters, the House GOP demand is a one year delay of Obummercare. shutdown!
Friday, September 27, 2013
Wingnut Welfare
I gotta switch teams.
Sen. John McCain has hired Elizabeth O'Bagy, the Syria analyst in Washington who was fired for padding her credentials, The Cable has learned. She begins work Monday as a legislative assistant in McCain's office.
PLATY MAKE HULK WANT TO SMASH
I love the platinum coin talk because it enrages people on the internets. It makes them ragey and incoherent, which is always the most fun combination. Basically no one likes to come to terms with the fact that money is almost entirely worthless except to the extent that we collectively agree it's worth something. It isn't entirely worthless. As I wrote last time we went through this (was it really only last January?):
If someone claims you owe them money, they have to accept cash to pay the debt. They can take seashells or beanie babies, too, if they agree to it, but they can't refuse cash and still have a legal claim against you.
For transactions not yet made, cash is worth what the person you're trying to give it to thinks its worth.
Aside from the fact that at the moment we've all agreed to believe in the fiction that is money, it does have one "real" value - as legal tender, it must be accepted as payments for claimed debt. If you have no debt, money has as much value as people believe it does.
If someone claims you owe them money, they have to accept cash to pay the debt. They can take seashells or beanie babies, too, if they agree to it, but they can't refuse cash and still have a legal claim against you.
For transactions not yet made, cash is worth what the person you're trying to give it to thinks its worth.
Finally
I've been a little worried that the Platinum Coin Posse has been too silent this time and that I would be the only one. Mint the damn coin! Quietly, if necessary.
Problems
Just the occasional reminder that this crisis presented a tremendous opportunity. A low inflation recessionary period is a chance to have a free lunch, to have the Fed finance government spending to give free money to people, or repair bridges, or build SUPERTRAINS, or whatever. Instead they bought up big shitpile with little impact and we doomed people to economic misery.
Heckuva job, overlords.
Heckuva job, overlords.
Still
Glad to know the White House is still for cutting spending.
The economy might be getting better, but the unemployment rate is still at 7.3%.
The economy might be getting better, but the unemployment rate is still at 7.3%.
No Constitutional Crisis Necessary
If the debt ceiling is hit, one way or another laws are going to be broken.
Unless, of course, they mint the damn trillion dollar platinum coin which is obviously so crazy and silly unlike the other options which are incredibly serious.
Unless, of course, they mint the damn trillion dollar platinum coin which is obviously so crazy and silly unlike the other options which are incredibly serious.
Problems
No deep thoughts on what should be done with Detroit, but I know what isn't a problem.
shutupShutupShutUpSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP
The Obama administration repeatedly had signaled it would not offer a massive federal bailout like the one credited with helping rescue Chrysler and General Motors.
“There is not going to be a bailout,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Carl Levin told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We have enough problems with the federal deficit. We need to be creative and look at existing programs. There are still some funds there.”
shutupShutupShutUpSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP
Expand
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Unnecessary
I find all the debt ceiling talk very annoying. It's a fake crisis. Mint a coin. End it now.
We'd Better Spy On Everybody Twice
And double the surveillance budget.
It's always about us. Look if there are people willing to get caught and/or die while killing others then there's really nothing that can be done to stop them. It's insane to expend so many resources - also, too, killing people - protecting against low probability events that you can't really stop anyway. If some assholes want to shoot up an American mall, they're going to be able to get the guns and do it. It's that simple.
NAIROBI, Kenya — Viewing the deadly siege at a shopping mall in Kenya as a direct threat to its security, the United States is deploying dozens of F.B.I. agents to investigate the wreckage, hoping to glean every piece of information possible to help prevent such a devastating attack from happening again, possibly even on American soil.
It's always about us. Look if there are people willing to get caught and/or die while killing others then there's really nothing that can be done to stop them. It's insane to expend so many resources - also, too, killing people - protecting against low probability events that you can't really stop anyway. If some assholes want to shoot up an American mall, they're going to be able to get the guns and do it. It's that simple.
Pretending To Care
The thing is, I doubt Ron Fournier gives a shit. His job is to find a thousand ways to write "both sides do it" to cover for the GOP.
Mint The Damn Coin
My regularly reminder that there is no need to play default games. Mint the trillion dollar platinum coin and pay the bills.
And Speaking Of
Dicks.
Goddess knows, I'm not the biggest fan of President Obama's, but when they start playing the race card I wish I could go and vote for him again.
Goddess knows, I'm not the biggest fan of President Obama's, but when they start playing the race card I wish I could go and vote for him again.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Obummercare
Something I'm looking for and not finding is an estimate of the effective marginal tax rates on people in the exchanges who are eligible for subsidies. A problem with means-testing programs is that as you earn more income, your benefits go away, meaning that effectively you're paying a pretty high tax on each additional dollar earned. Your company giveth, and Uncle Sam taketh away.
Peak Commute
I remain suspicious of the viability of the technology of driverless cars, but I also remain suspicious of the potential for transformation even if they do work.
I just don't really see how you get around the peak commute problem. Sure not everyone commutes at exactly the same time, but despite/as evidenced by peak time congestion people do commute at the same time to a surprising degree. So, yes, sure, the car fleet could be reduced some and parking lots could be at the very least placed elsewhere. But there are good reasons people don't like carpooling which wouldn't really be solved with this type of system.
As long as there's a peak commute time, we're gonna have a lot of cars.
In a world of ubiquitous cheap taxis, you don’t need nearly as many cars. Since not everyone commutes at the exact same time, any given car can shuttle several different people to work. And the average commuting vehicle can be small enough for a single passenger to sit in comfortably. This smaller number of smaller cars could get by with radically fewer parking spaces.
I just don't really see how you get around the peak commute problem. Sure not everyone commutes at exactly the same time, but despite/as evidenced by peak time congestion people do commute at the same time to a surprising degree. So, yes, sure, the car fleet could be reduced some and parking lots could be at the very least placed elsewhere. But there are good reasons people don't like carpooling which wouldn't really be solved with this type of system.
As long as there's a peak commute time, we're gonna have a lot of cars.
Park-n-Ride Hell
The problem is that existing stakeholders, people who drive to the train station and park there, have political power while potential future stakeholders, people who would like to live in a building by the train station, don't.
If Only
Actually have no idea what the health care system was like in the Soviet Union, but I really don't understand conservative messaging on Obamacare. I'm less optimistic than many that people will learn to love it once they try it as our medical system is pretty fucked up and bullshit and Obamacare hasn't/isn't going to change that nearly enough. I do think conservatives will have plenty of opportunities to make genuine criticisms of it and make use of legitimate complaints people have with our medical system (whether or not those complaints have much to do with the changes), but the hysteria is just weird.
Priorities
Kick the poors, defend the rich.
George Osborne is to take legal action against Brussels over the European Union's proposed move to cap the bonuses of thousands of British-based bankers.
Sky News has learnt that Treasury officials have been considering the move for several months.
A decision to formally challenge Brussels in the courts over measures to restrict bank bonuses echoes a similar legal action launched by the Treasury in April over the EU's proposed financial transactions tax (FTT).
The Kids Today
I read that WSJ column and thought "great!" For some people constant improvement is a motivator, but for many competitive pressures are a big barrier to exercise. I'm so old I remember when we called what most people do "jogging" instead of "running."
Regular exercise is good for you. People get dissuaded by the idea that if they don't perform at a certain level they shouldn't bother. When you're first starting out, running feels like dying. The only way you're going to get in a bit of shape is by doing it really slowly. And once you are in a bit of shape, there's no need to set extreme goals. Just keep at it.
Regular exercise is good for you. People get dissuaded by the idea that if they don't perform at a certain level they shouldn't bother. When you're first starting out, running feels like dying. The only way you're going to get in a bit of shape is by doing it really slowly. And once you are in a bit of shape, there's no need to set extreme goals. Just keep at it.
Private Contractors
It's a complete mystery what the flaws in this system could possibly be.
We created a surveillance state, and then took away the state part. What could go wrong?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal prosecutors have documented at least 350 instances of faulty background investigations done by private contractors and special agents for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in recent years, illustrating what some lawmakers call systemic weaknesses in the granting of federal security clearances.
We created a surveillance state, and then took away the state part. What could go wrong?
When It Comes To Lying
No one does it better than Lynn Cheney.
ooops, seems Atrios already linked to this Digby post. Worth doing it twice!
ooops, seems Atrios already linked to this Digby post. Worth doing it twice!
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
When You Have All The Moneys
I'd like to think I'd have a nice life. Travel a bit. Enjoy not having to worry about paying the bills every month. Treat my friends sometimes.
But these dudes need their fee fees to be respected, they need the lesser beings to worship their awesomeness. The fact that a few people said mean things about them caused them psychic harm. We should remember that it wasn't as if there was mass vilification of these people in the mainstream press or anything. Our Galtian Overlords mostly got the respect they think they deserve. And they still have all the moneys!
But these dudes need their fee fees to be respected, they need the lesser beings to worship their awesomeness. The fact that a few people said mean things about them caused them psychic harm. We should remember that it wasn't as if there was mass vilification of these people in the mainstream press or anything. Our Galtian Overlords mostly got the respect they think they deserve. And they still have all the moneys!
What, Not Just Like Being Put In Gas Chambers?
The worst person in the world.
Left on the cutting-room floor: Benmosche’s comments saying the national outrage about AIG’s bonuses was comparable to the lynching of blacks in the South.
The uproar over bonuses “was intended to stir public anger, to get everybody out there with their pitch forks and their hangman nooses, and all that-sort of like what we did in the Deep South [decades ago]. And I think it was just as bad and just as wrong.So nutty AIG paranoia about the potential of hayseeds with pitchforks stringin’ ‘em up is “just as bad and just as wrong” as the actual murder of thousands of black people by hayseeds with pitchforks.
There Is Another Option
I guess no one really expects a default, but someone (me) still has to beat the lonely drum for minting the platinum coin. It's a perfectly legal way to avoid destroying the world, but because hippies like it and it sounds silly because we pretend money doesn't work like that (it does) we must not do it.
Sphere of Deviance
From Sunday, Digby recounts her personal experience with The Hill and the sphere of deviance.
Update: Or, via Anne Laurie, Alex Parene on Bill de Blasio, dirty fucking hippie.
Update 2: Picture via QC,N in comments.
Update: Or, via Anne Laurie, Alex Parene on Bill de Blasio, dirty fucking hippie.
Update 2: Picture via QC,N in comments.
Monday, September 23, 2013
The Guy With The Gun Is The Bad Guy
Almost all of the security we have in this country is about making sure people don't bring guns where they aren't supposed to. Personally I find the degree of security in many office buildings to be quite silly. Do they really need metal detectors? But they do, and what they're trying to detect is guns because obvious.
So all the gun nuts having their feefees hurt because the starbucks guy is asking very nicely for them to not bring their giant external penises into their stores is really just kinda funny. If this trend of proud external penis wearers booms, the result is just going to be... metal detectors in any place that can legally exclude guns. Yay freedom.
So all the gun nuts having their feefees hurt because the starbucks guy is asking very nicely for them to not bring their giant external penises into their stores is really just kinda funny. If this trend of proud external penis wearers booms, the result is just going to be... metal detectors in any place that can legally exclude guns. Yay freedom.
Values Voters
Thinking about how it's amazing how much we've all internalized the idea that in politics "values" just means "no unapproved fucking."
Mobility
I'm sure there are lots of little stories one can tell to help explain the decline in American mobility. The one I'll suggest is the rise of credit checks and the need for 3 months rent up front to get an apartment. Moving's expensive.
I'd also guess that people in their 20s especially tend to have stronger local social networks than they did when I was their age.
I'd also guess that people in their 20s especially tend to have stronger local social networks than they did when I was their age.
There's Always Money In The Banana Stand
For the banksters, at least.
Not that it's necessarily wrong, but "health of the banking system" should not be the ultimate policy goal. Improving the welfare of your citizens should be.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said he’s ready to deploy another long-term refinancing operation to provide funds to Europe’s banking system if needed.
Not that it's necessarily wrong, but "health of the banking system" should not be the ultimate policy goal. Improving the welfare of your citizens should be.
Hierarchies
One toxic thing about academia is the extreme snobbery associated with the implicit and explicit hierarchies.
One reason your liberal academy isn't so liberal, even aside from assholes like Cruz.
One reason your liberal academy isn't so liberal, even aside from assholes like Cruz.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Superintendent
Coatesville is about 45 miles outside of Philly. It's also almost 50% African-American.
The abrupt departure of the Coatesville Area School District superintendent and another senior administrator came two weeks after numerous exchanges of inappropriate and racially-charged text messages were discovered on their district-issued cell phones, and multiple sources have indicated that school board officials were not only aware of the exchanges, but were prepared to allow the pair to remain in their positions until the conduct prompted a criminal investigation, the Daily Local News has learned.
Choice Allowed
Rig the game and get any result you want.
The four-point gains D.C. public school students achieved citywide on the most recent annual math and reading tests were acclaimed as historic, as more evidence that the city’s approach to improving schools is working.
But the math gains officials reported were the result of a quiet decision to score the tests in a way that yielded higher scores even though D.C. students got far fewer math questions correct than in the year before.
There Has To Be Money There For Someone To Steal It
I admit to not understanding the endgame of the people trying to destroy the Philly public school system. It seems to be a combination of defunding the school system and giving all of the money to corrupt charter owners. I'm not quite sure how they can continue to do both simultaneously.
The Greatest Country In The World
No deep point here, just the millionth restatement of the fact that shit is fucked up and bullshit. The only "solution" to the problems of the economy that we're allowed to try is giving immense amounts of money to rich people who have mastered the heads they win tails we lose strategy. Nice trick.
Service
I'm not too picky about service in restaurants. As long as the food shows up hot (as appropriate) in roughly the right order I don't care if the waitperson is attentive to my every random need. But I do think that people who go to these types of chain restaurants do expect good service. If you're cheap with your employees, they aren't going to get that.
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Joseph Heller Covered This
From Catch-22.
Our politics never changes.
Major Major’s father was a sober God-fearing man whose idea of a good joke was to lie about his age. He was a longlimbed farmer, a God-fearing, freedom-loving, law-abiding rugged individualist who held that federal aid to anyone but farmers was creeping socialism. He advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down. His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce. Major Major’s father worked without rest at not growing alfalfa. On long winter evenings he remained indoors and did not mend harness, and he sprang out of bed at the crack of noon every day just to make certain that the chores would not be done. He invested in land wisely and soon was not growing more alfalfa than any other man in the county. Neighbors sought him out for advice on all subjects, for he had made much money and was therefore wise. “As ye sow, so shall ye reap,” he counseled one and all, and everyone said, “Amen.”
Major Major’s father was an outspoken champion of economy in government, provided it did not interfere with the sacred duty of government to pay farmers as much as they could get for all the alfalfa they produced that no one else wanted or for not producing any alfalfa at all. He was a proud and independent man who was opposed to unemployment insurance and never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle and extort for as much as he could get from whomever he could.
Our politics never changes.
Fee Fees
One thing I regularly find amusing is that it is adherents to the supposedly most macho elements of our culture that demand that their fee fees are respected, that their "culture" isn't "disrespected."
Carry your giant external penis if you need to. Once the rest of us stop being frightened that you're going to kill us, we'll laugh. Because giant external penis.
Carry your giant external penis if you need to. Once the rest of us stop being frightened that you're going to kill us, we'll laugh. Because giant external penis.
Happy Hour
Yves, at Naked Capitalism isn't too impressed with all the posturing about raising the credit limit.
Szechuan
Szechuan peppercorns are awesome. Most "Szechuan" food in the US doesn't actually contain any, perhaps because they were banned from importation for awhile. They're actually not all that hot. If the food is really hot it's because there are other hot pepper related things in there. But, yes, they do numb your mouth.
Close Call
That would not have been pleasant.
LONDON — A U.S. hydrogen bomb nearly detonated on the nation’s east coast, with a single switch averting a blast which would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that flattened Hiroshima, a newly published book says.
Friday, September 20, 2013
Don't Give Any Money To Harvard
I suppose if you're super-rich and want to see your name on a campus building you can go for it, but Harvard has $30 billion. Giving money to Harvard is probably the worst charitable donation one can imagine.
I guess you can also fight the scourge of campus affirmative-action for the blahs by buying your child a spot in the incoming class.
I guess you can also fight the scourge of campus affirmative-action for the blahs by buying your child a spot in the incoming class.
Friday Crass Commercialism
I think it's a little hard to explain quite how they do it, but it's true that it there is a bit of genius about It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. It manages to somehow use the kind of humor we normally associate with crude sexist/racist punching down humor without actually being sexist, racist, or punching down. It also does the Larry David style cringe/embarrassment humor without making us cringe. Sure they've probably gotten it wrong a few times, but overall it's a pretty neat trick.
Also, good shots of my neighborhood.
Also, good shots of my neighborhood.
The End Of Politics
One of the weird ideas of 90s-era politics, and the people who came up during that time, is that there are all these nasty contentious issues that people disagree about and if only we can come to some compromise then we can put these issues behind us and never speak about them again. Also, too, tip and ronnie can go out for a drink and not argue.
But it doesn't work that way. People who want to destroy the safety net really want to destroy the safety net. People who want to ban abortion really want to ban abortion...and contraception! (Not all anti-choice people, but the movement people.) As long as Social Security exists, the Washington Post will be writing about the need for "entitlement reform." They. Will. Never. Stop.
Give them an inch, and they'll come for the next one, and the next one, and the next one.
And, yes, I get that a big part of the problem is that the compromisers actually support the supposed compromises on the merits, but no one should fool themselves into thinking that the latest Grand Bargain is the end. It's just the beginning.
But it doesn't work that way. People who want to destroy the safety net really want to destroy the safety net. People who want to ban abortion really want to ban abortion...and contraception! (Not all anti-choice people, but the movement people.) As long as Social Security exists, the Washington Post will be writing about the need for "entitlement reform." They. Will. Never. Stop.
Give them an inch, and they'll come for the next one, and the next one, and the next one.
And, yes, I get that a big part of the problem is that the compromisers actually support the supposed compromises on the merits, but no one should fool themselves into thinking that the latest Grand Bargain is the end. It's just the beginning.
Did They Think He Was Moses?
I got a bit confused yesterday when the House Republicans pulled an epic freakout against Ted Cruz. What, exactly, did they think think he was capable of accomplishing?
These weirdos really do live in an alternate reality.
These weirdos really do live in an alternate reality.
Pork
I should be used to it by now, but you'd think one or more of the good government centrists who want to gut Social Security would point out that there isn't a whole lot of good public policy in the "farm bill."
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Bunches Of Turkee
If only poor people would spend less at the mall after Thanksgiving, they'd have more income.
Looking forward to my new show on Fox: Non Sequitur Theater.
Looking forward to my new show on Fox: Non Sequitur Theater.
Obsessions
As a non-religious outsider, the extreme focus on issues related to sex and sexuality by the catholic church (and other denominations) has just been weird, especially given the lack of support in scripture for some of it. It's as if morality had been reduced entirely to some concept of sexual morality.
Now I know that isn't true in every church and doesn't come from every priest, but it has been the public face of religion in this country for most of my life.
Now I know that isn't true in every church and doesn't come from every priest, but it has been the public face of religion in this country for most of my life.
Progress
It's one thing to teach that homosexuality and abortion are wrong, it's quite another to be obsessed with them to the exclusion of everything else.
Pope Francis, in the first extensive interview of his six-month-old papacy, said that the Roman Catholic church had grown “obsessed” with preaching about abortion, gay marriage and contraception, and that he has chosen not to speak of those issues despite recriminations from some critics.
I Hate Humanity
Obviously I spend too much time reading stupid things on the internet and, more than that, the comments on stupid things on the internet, but the hate for the kids on their lawn that I see is staggering.
No you can't afford to work your way through college anymore. No a STEM degree does not guarantee you riches. No there aren't many good jobs.
I assume some of the assholes I read actually have kids. Well good luck to them. Jeebus.
When in the history of the universe has someone defined "disposable income" as excluding rent. I need a drink.
No you can't afford to work your way through college anymore. No a STEM degree does not guarantee you riches. No there aren't many good jobs.
I assume some of the assholes I read actually have kids. Well good luck to them. Jeebus.
When in the history of the universe has someone defined "disposable income" as excluding rent. I need a drink.
Morning Thread
We turned on CSPAN 2 yesterday and there was one Democratic senator
after another taking to floor explaining the benefits of Obamacare,
debunking all of the thug talking points and explaining how much money
even just the threat of not lifting the debt ceiling is costing. If
Chuck Todd needs Democratic talking points to counter the b.s. being put
out by the thugs, I imagine he could do the same. Or, if he doesn't
have a tevee in his office, he could listen on the radio. Or even, gasp,
listen on the internet. It's not hard getting this information. Of
course, that's only if you want it.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
The Kids Today
Whatever else is wrong with our glorious economy, entering your working life during a recession totally sucks. I avoided it by going to grad school, but I left college at what was fortunately the tail end of a recession, though it didn't feel that way at the time. A lot of my friends had no or shit jobs for a couple of years before things turned around. And they did turn around. When I graduated college the unemployment rate was about what it is now, and then it headed down. Due to the Bush I recession, unemployment was, roughly, 7-7.7% for about 18 months. The unemployment rate has been above 7% for almost 5 years now, and of course significantly above 7% for some of that time.
I get enraged when I see people hating on the kids today. You try graduating into this mess.
I get enraged when I see people hating on the kids today. You try graduating into this mess.
A BFD
Most of my real life friends who I see regularly are gay/lesbian and the most obvious way they've taken a financial hit because of it over the years is the spousal benefit issue.
Once Obama evolved, and section 3 of DOMA was overturned, they became pretty aggressive about making the changes as real as possible, not just symbolic. Good for them.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Legally married same-sex couples have the right to participate in employee benefit plans even if they live in states that don't recognize their union, the Labor Department said Wednesday.
The new guidance means gay spouses enjoy the same federal rights as other married couples when it comes to pensions, 401Ks, health plans and other similar benefits.
Once Obama evolved, and section 3 of DOMA was overturned, they became pretty aggressive about making the changes as real as possible, not just symbolic. Good for them.
Health Care
I've always been a pro-choice absolutist, though once upon a time I was at least a bit more sympathetic to the "abortion is icky" crowd. But, really, who gives a shit. Lots of things are icky. It's none of your business. No one wants your 4000 word think piece on why you think we all need to furrow our brows and feel really bad every time someone has an abortion. It isn't about you so piss off.
Or Necessary?
I have no idea what they have in mind for a Woodrow Wilson biopic, but a "man this dude was a horrible person and president" biopic wouldn't be such a bad thing to foist on the world.
Our Job Is To Read Talking Points And Then Feel Them At You
When they say things like this, I just...I really have no idea what they think their job is. They're saying they're just middlemen in a propaganda contest, dutifully repeating whatever is told to them by "sources."
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
For reasons that have long mystified me, most economists are only comfortable with the social welfare function W=f(per capita GDP). That is, economic growth is "good" but only dirty hippies concern themselves with the distributional impacts.
We need policies to fix this, and politicians who understand it. And the fix isn't "everybody get a STEM degree!"
We need policies to fix this, and politicians who understand it. And the fix isn't "everybody get a STEM degree!"
For all but the most highly educated and affluent Americans, incomes have stagnated, or worse, for more than a decade. The census report found that median household income, adjusted for inflation, was $51,017 in 2012, down about 9 percent from an inflation-adjusted peak of $56,080 in 1999, mostly as a result of the longest and most damaging recession since the Depression. Most people have had no gains since the economy hit bottom in 2009.
Mint The Platinum Coin
A reminder that there's a perfectly legal way to avoid the debt ceiling fight, which for some reason is "crazy" while defaulting is not because serious.
More Zen
First segment.
That's when I realized all of yesterday's confusion in the reporting (is) not a mistake because sadly the one thing in this country they should have great practice in covering are these horrific shooting tragedies. And there are a ton of really smart people and good journalists who work over at CNN. And this is only five months after the criticism of CNN's chaotic Boston terrorism coverage--including when they announced on air an arrest that had not happened. So my final not initial conclusion is, this is deliberate. The chaos, the vomit on to the screen, the very thing we thought news organizations were created to clarify is a feature, not a bug.
Tuesday, September 17, 2013
A Couple Hours In Syria Made John McCain An Expert
To our media, anyone with a passport and views that justify the current war of the day is an "expert."
Of The 13%
Two foreign-born spouses household.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported today that 11.4 million married-couple households, or 21 percent of all married-couple households in America in 2011, had at least one spouse born in another country. About 13 percent (7.3 million) of households had two foreign-born spouses, and 7 percent (4.1 million) had one native-born and one foreign-born spouse.
Baby Steps
But good ones
The Obama administration announced on Tuesday that it was extending minimum wage and overtime protections to the nation’s nearly two million home care workers.
A Terrible Thing
Krgthulu.
Too often policies are seen through the lenses of ideology and positioning. The actual consequences to people are left out.
The evidence suggests that Europe’s austerians did a terrible thing, ruining the lives of millions. They will never admit it; they will seize on anything that gives them an out.
Too often policies are seen through the lenses of ideology and positioning. The actual consequences to people are left out.
Put My Bro In The Chair
I'm not especially enamored of the whole "central bank independence" concept. It's at best a polite myth, and at worst counterproductive unless you think inflation is the only thing that matters, but all the very serious people are wedded to it. It was surprising that there wasn't more pushback on the idea that Obama was trying to make his buddy Fed chair. The Fed chair isn't supposed to be the president's buddy.
Gun Safety
Yes there are responsible gun owners who use their guns for hunting and shooting targets and when they aren't using them they're locked up safely. But many gun owners have guns for the "defend my family and property" fantasy, and the unloaded locked up gun doesn't really aid that. Loaded and on your nightstand does.
Not Enough Inflation
The Fed seems to treat its inflation target as an upper bound, not as a target, so in practice its inflation target is lower than the notional 2%.
So there isn't enough inflation.
Mail people some checks already.
So there isn't enough inflation.
Mail people some checks already.
Serious Question
What, exactly, do conservatives hate about Obamacare? I mean, other than the Obama part.
Monday, September 16, 2013
We Did Everything Right
One thing I get the sense from the Clintonites and Obamaites (sometimes the same people) is the belief that when it comes to the economy, they did everything fucking right. The Clintonites saved the world from a deficit which didn't matter (which was promptly turned into tax cuts for rich people) and were in power during the 90s boom, and the Obamamites saved the world from The Second Great Depression. Things aren't perfect, but everything that's wrong really just isn't their fault.
The Clintonites solved the wrong problem and benefited from the internet boom, the Obamaites failed to address the things (and made them worse) - banksters/foreclosure crisis - that they actually had some money and power to deal with.
Shit is fucked up and bullshit. That might change if we reach full employment any time soon, otherwise...
The Clintonites solved the wrong problem and benefited from the internet boom, the Obamaites failed to address the things (and made them worse) - banksters/foreclosure crisis - that they actually had some money and power to deal with.
Shit is fucked up and bullshit. That might change if we reach full employment any time soon, otherwise...
Guns Kill People
Just rerunning this.
People do dumb things, people go crazy, people get overcome by rage. Absent a projectile killing machine the results would usually be less tragic.
People do dumb things, people go crazy, people get overcome by rage. Absent a projectile killing machine the results would usually be less tragic.
Guns
As I regularly say, when I am your benevolent dictator I will actually take away all of your guns. I'm certainly on board with anyone trying to do anything to limit their availability, though I don't actually think that any possible-to-pass (not that anything actually is) gun control legislation will really do all that much to curb gun violence.
Shooters
Media outlets have released and then retracted the supposed identity of the shooter in the Washington Navy Yard. This is probably the fault of twitters and/or blogs.
But seriously, don't do that. There is no advantage to being 1/2 second ahead of the competition reporting this stuff. In the age of social media, releasing a false name can really fuck somebody up.
But seriously, don't do that. There is no advantage to being 1/2 second ahead of the competition reporting this stuff. In the age of social media, releasing a false name can really fuck somebody up.
Still Time To Give People Free Money
No it isn't going to happen and yes it's illegal, although recent events demonstrated that the Fed can do what it wants when it decides to, but it'd be nice if someone in the Fed at least acknowledged that "giving people free money" is what needs to happen.
They're essentially doing it anyway, just doing it in a way which mostly benefits rich people.
They're essentially doing it anyway, just doing it in a way which mostly benefits rich people.
The Wisdom Of The Center
Yes we're responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, but we've been proved fucking right!!!!
We must support more wars with immense costs and nonexistent benefits!!! The bipartisan consensus demands it!!!
The public focus on Obama’s decision-making has obscured something perhaps more important, which is the breakdown of bipartisan foreign policy. Instead of converging in the center around U.S. leadership, the country seems to be converging at the wings, in a shared left-right rejection of the traditional interventionist role. The public overwhelmingly rejects more “wars of choice” in the Middle East to help nations and people who are seen as feckless and ungrateful.
You can think this new American caution is potentially dangerous (as I do), but there’s no arguing that it’s deeply felt and (given the immense cost and almost nonexistent benefits of war in Iraq and Afghanistan) understandable. The question is what a president should do about it.
We must support more wars with immense costs and nonexistent benefits!!! The bipartisan consensus demands it!!!
Please Don't Tell Me To Do The Maths
I don't think this op-ed makes the case very well, but even with my now very degraded math skills I get that there are some very pretty things in Big Math. I'm not one who thinks that everyone needs to get a STEM degree, though I do lean a bit towards the idea that some things, like math, are perhaps a bit harder to teach in self-study.
Digby, What She Said
Hullabaloo
Furthermore, judging by that polling, it's at least partially President Obama's fault that Christie got such a bump (certainly the second visit was pretty gratuitous) and you'd think for the sake of the Party he'd make some effort to mitigate it. I won't even talk about the foolishness of the New Jersey Democratic Party that can't be bothered. Buono is a progressive, fully in touch with New Jersey voters so naturally Democrats won't waste any time or effort to help get that word out. The establishment is too busy recruiting Republicans to run as Democrats in quixotic races in Red States and spending lots of money to validate right wing talking points. We wouldn't want to change that winning strategy. After all, having Democrats constantly move to the right has worked so well to moderate the Republican Party.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
How Things Work
Trial balloon floated, people react to trial balloon, reaction occasionally pops balloon.
Sunday Crass Commercialism
Margaret Atwood has a new book, so you should probably read it.
I liked the first in the trilogy, Oryx&Crake, though wasn't a huge fan of the second one. Still I'm sure I'll read this one.
I liked the first in the trilogy, Oryx&Crake, though wasn't a huge fan of the second one. Still I'm sure I'll read this one.
SIFUABS
This should never, ever happen. And as this couple never missed a mortgage payment, it can happen to anyone:
Last year, they got a loan modification with Ocwen Financial Corporation. Then they say they got a call, and later a letter, notifying them Ocwen had sold their loan to Nationstar Mortgage. In June, they got a knock at the door."They came and knocked on our door. That's how we found out our house had been sold," said Louise Sinclair.
The Sinclairs say although they hadn't received notice prior to that day, the person at the door told them they had two weeks to leave their house because a company called Sage Equities had bought it in foreclosure. They were expected to pay rent in the meantime.
Companies like Nationstar aren't honoring modifications when they buy mortgage servicing rights. They try to steal the home instead.
This on non-bank servicers like Nationstar.
This on how CFPB found abuse like this as a continuing practice.
Private property rights are theoretical at this point.
Flood
I think these types of complaints are overblown sometimes, but the relative lack of coverage by the national media of what's going on in Colorado right now has surprised me.
Morning Thread
If the coffee isn't doing the trick, Echidne's post on The Language of the Class Wars will.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
New Rule
Any pundit who advocates war for supposed humanitarian reasons must be able to point to 5 recent occasions when they advocated for achieving humanitarian goals using non-killing methods.
Otherwise, STFU.
Otherwise, STFU.
Afternoon Thread
Took a long walk in the urban hellhole which I have not done enough of lately. Too easy to get trapped in the "everything I need is less than a mile away" mindset.
Starting to get a bit chilly finally.
Starting to get a bit chilly finally.
Boys With Toys
Really don't need to know much more than that.
NSA director modeled war room after Star Trek's Enterprise
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
And on and on.
It starts out innocently enough. The banks hire property management companies to determine whether homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments have abandoned their homes and, if so, to secure the vacant property.
It doesn’t always go that way. The Illinois suit accuses the largest company in the industry, Safeguard, of breaking into homes despite evidence of occupancy, damaging and removing personal property, changing locks, cutting off utilities, and bullying occupants into leaving their homes when they have the legal right to stay. In several other states, private lawsuits and complaints to legal aid lawyers have alleged similar abuses.
Morning Thread
Adding: There are NFL concussion deniers? Really? They blame Feminazis
It's way too early to start drinking.
(Link to Crooks & Liars, Susie Madrak)
It's way too early to start drinking.
(Link to Crooks & Liars, Susie Madrak)
Friday, September 13, 2013
Moment of Zen
And I get that Fox opposes the Syria peace plan because its modus operandi is to foment dissent in the form of a relentless and irrational contrarianism to Barack Obama and all things democratic to advance its ultimate objective of creating deliberately misinformed body politic whose anger, fear mistrust and discontent is the manna on which it sustains its parasitic succubus-like existence.
At 8:36
When It Mattered
DeLong continues his noble battle to improve the reputation of his friend.
Great idea, Larry! What happened to it?
I have concluded that [we need] a modest set of changes in the bankruptcy law… [it is] ironic and probably inappropriate that our bankruptcy law is currently contrived so that a wealthy person with a second house receives more protection from his creditors on the second house than a less-wealthy person with only a principal residence receives from his creditors….
Great idea, Larry! What happened to it?
“We would propose that this stuff be included and they kept punting,” said former Rep. Jim Marshall, a moderate Democrat from Georgia who had worked to sway other members of the moderate Blue Dog caucus on the issue.
“We got the impression this was an issue [the White House] would not go to the mat for as they did with health care reform,” said Bill Hampel, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association, which opposed cramdown and participated in Senate negotiations on the issue.
Privately, administration officials were ambivalent about the idea. At a Democratic caucus meeting weeks before the House voted on a bill that included cramdown, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner “was really dismissive as to the utility of it,” said Rep. Lofgren.
Larry Summers, then the president’s chief economic adviser, also expressed doubts in private meetings, she said. “He was not supportive of this.”
The White House and Summers did not respond to requests for comment.
Treasury staffers began conversations with congressional aides by saying the administration supported cramdown and would then “follow up with a whole bunch of reasons” why it wasn’t a good idea, said an aide to a senior Democratic senator.
ChooChoos Elsewhere
For a bit of perspective, a highway lane can maybe handle 1800-2000 cars per hour, though that's only if the precise right amount of cars are on the road. Too many and you have congestion, and too few and you're obviously not operating at capacity.
Doomsday
We really need a governor and state legislature that doesn't operate on the primary principle of "screw Philadelphia."
Our Media
We spend a lot of time complaining about a complicit, even corrupt media environment. But everybody's gotta make the rent. Emptywheel is among the nation's foremost investigative reporters--and she is beholden to nobody but her readers.
She's running a fundraiser.
She's running a fundraiser.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Kids
I hope I was never that horrible (I'll confess to not being great at times), but I do remember enough to know that as a teen the temptation to side with the bullies over the bullied was strong. I was on the victim side of that, too. Social media definitely provides additional opportunities for the breadth and depth of such activities.
If I was a parent, the one message I would hope I would manage to communicate is:
Be excellent to each other.
If I was a parent, the one message I would hope I would manage to communicate is:
Be excellent to each other.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
I'll never be a real writer, because I would have condensed this down to about 3 sentences. Something like:
It's a similar point to what I was making here, or maybe a good example of that point. I wasn't talking about millennials. I was talking about people like Peter Beinart, people my ageish, who are now more open to recognizing that shit is fucked up and bullshit than they once were. I see plenty of eventhenewrepublic types subtly or not so subtly shifting leftward on their domestic economic policy preferences. You gotta be really rich to send a couple of kids through an elite college. Those 401K balances aren't exactly as high as they're supposed to be. There's a reason the New York Times runs their neverending series on the "plight of the not quite rich enough." That's the "younger" generation and themselves. That's their cohort.
The point is that even among the pretty damn successful, life is harder than it should be and maybe they're starting to extrapolate from that just a bit. I don't like to play the generational war game, because it isn't about blame, but those that came up a bit earlier did, in many ways, have it better. Stable careers, defined benefit pensions, cheap college for their kids, and much cheaper health insurance/care. From what I see, too many of the "olds" don't actually understand that.
This is a class thing, of course. Poverty has been with us forever. I'm not talking about the poors, though hopefully we do spend a bit more time talking about the poors. I'm talking about the people who have succeeded quite nicely by any measure, yet still can't quite afford that nice vacation every few years. The people who thought they'd be on top, yet are discovering things are not nearly as easy as they were supposed to be.
Economy is screwing millennials. They didn't grow up hearing from Republicans and Democrats about how awesome Reagan was and how government sucks. They want more.
It's a similar point to what I was making here, or maybe a good example of that point. I wasn't talking about millennials. I was talking about people like Peter Beinart, people my ageish, who are now more open to recognizing that shit is fucked up and bullshit than they once were. I see plenty of eventhenewrepublic types subtly or not so subtly shifting leftward on their domestic economic policy preferences. You gotta be really rich to send a couple of kids through an elite college. Those 401K balances aren't exactly as high as they're supposed to be. There's a reason the New York Times runs their neverending series on the "plight of the not quite rich enough." That's the "younger" generation and themselves. That's their cohort.
The point is that even among the pretty damn successful, life is harder than it should be and maybe they're starting to extrapolate from that just a bit. I don't like to play the generational war game, because it isn't about blame, but those that came up a bit earlier did, in many ways, have it better. Stable careers, defined benefit pensions, cheap college for their kids, and much cheaper health insurance/care. From what I see, too many of the "olds" don't actually understand that.
This is a class thing, of course. Poverty has been with us forever. I'm not talking about the poors, though hopefully we do spend a bit more time talking about the poors. I'm talking about the people who have succeeded quite nicely by any measure, yet still can't quite afford that nice vacation every few years. The people who thought they'd be on top, yet are discovering things are not nearly as easy as they were supposed to be.
Afternoon Thread
As for the point below, I'm not even saying "give her bonus points because she's a woman." The point is, more, that Larry has obviously been given bonus points because he's a bro. The best argument for him is that guy with free money spigot will use free money spigot to bail out the rich people who will inevitably try to destroy the world because that guy with the regulation power won't use it.
It's a bro's world, after all.
Don't bro me, bro.
It's a bro's world, after all.
Don't bro me, bro.
Put A Ladybrain In Charge Of The Fed
One reason the (likely) failure to nominate Yellen as the next Fed Chief is such a disappointment is that it will miss an incredible opportunity to give the job to a woman for the first time. She has the experience. No one really denies she's qualified, except to suggest she's insufficiently bro-y. And these opportunities don't come up all the time. Due to historical extreme explicit discrimination against women, and existing barriers (including discrimination) big and small, fewer women rise up close enough to the top that getting the top job is realistic. It's reason enough to give her the job. It's an opportunity.
It is, I think, one reason for the disappointment of some Hillary Clinton supporters in 2008. While it hopefully happens more and more, at the moment the likelihood of women getting close enough to reach the top is just lower. One only has to look at the gender balance of governors and senators, the people who have a realistic shot at getting the nomination, to see this. Of course a similar issue existed for her main opponent at the time.
It is, I think, one reason for the disappointment of some Hillary Clinton supporters in 2008. While it hopefully happens more and more, at the moment the likelihood of women getting close enough to reach the top is just lower. One only has to look at the gender balance of governors and senators, the people who have a realistic shot at getting the nomination, to see this. Of course a similar issue existed for her main opponent at the time.
The Most Trusted Name In News
One weird thing is how right wing kooks with a history of odious actions and views never seem to get their media card revoked.
When A Corporation Does It It's Not Illegal
I don't claim to know the merits of the case or the applicable laws, but good that someone is pushing back on the idea that illegal acts done under the corporate banner mean that no one actually did anything criminal.
Bring out the whaaambulance.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane's decision to prosecute a major Marcellus Shale natural-gas driller for a 2010 wastewater spill has sent shock waves through the industry.
Bring out the whaaambulance.
"The incident has been fully addressed at the state and federal levels, and this action creates an untenable business climate that will discourage investment in the commonwealth," Kathryn Z. Klaber, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, said in a statement.
Everyone Recognizes
I like Rich Cordray and the CFPB, but here he is at the American Mortgage Conference yesterday, talking about the Ability to Pay rule for qualified mortgages:
We understand this poses a challenge for industry, just as the writing of such a substantial set of mortgage rules by last January posed a significant challenge for our new agency. Had we failed to do so, many key statutory provisions that Congress had enacted in Title XIV of the Dodd-Frank Act would have taken effect in their own right, which everyone recognizes would have been much harder on industry and much worse for the mortgage market.
I know hating on Congress is the new hotness, but they do write laws, not helpful suggestions that regulators then work with the industry they regulate to shape into something less "challenging."
With Lehman +5 approaching, there's no better representation of the mindshare corruption that made our response to the meltdown so inadequate.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
The Stupidest Fucking Person In Journalism
I will never forgive Peter Sarsgaard for making Chuck Lane seem cool in that stupid movie.
Olds
Anyone who is younger than 20, that is anyone born after 1993 or so, really doesn't remember the horrible events of September 11, 2001.
It was a big deal, but it was a long time ago.
It was a big deal, but it was a long time ago.
Ripping Babies From Incubators
It's amazing how these people manage to appear, and be embraced, at the right moments.
Heckuva job, John Kerry. Also, too, enjoy your meeting with Kissinger on the 40th anniversary of the coup in Chile.
Heckuva job, John Kerry. Also, too, enjoy your meeting with Kissinger on the 40th anniversary of the coup in Chile.
The End Of Bloomberg Liberalism
I don't have a fully fleshed out thesis here, but I do think there's been a big change over the past few years in the tone from the New York chattering classes, as the bright (not so) young writers are beginning to recognize that shit is fucked up and bullshit for them, too, as their dreams of owning a place with a dishwasher in NYC recede and that house in the Hamptons that all of their senior colleagues own is a couple of lines below "unicorn pegasus" on the list of things they're likely to possess one day.
Hopefully the $250,000/year household crowd stops whining about their taxes and starts realizing that their economic interests are much more aligned with the botched and the bungled than with Bloomberg's Russian billionaires.
Hopefully the $250,000/year household crowd stops whining about their taxes and starts realizing that their economic interests are much more aligned with the botched and the bungled than with Bloomberg's Russian billionaires.
How Many Spots?
I chatted with a bar manager once who was fretting about the parking availability. I was pretty astounded that this was a concern as I'd bet 70%+ of his patrons walked/used transit/took a cab to and from the place. And, you know, if you're running a bar you should be pretty happy about that due to host liability issues. But it's the drivers who complain.
But more generally, how many spots and where? Are one dozen extra spots nearby going to transform your business in a neighborhood with other retail uses? 20? 50? Where are they going to go?
Parking takes up a lot of space. Unless you want suburban shopping mall levels of parking, it's hard to imagine that a few spots here and there are really going to make a difference to your business.
But more generally, how many spots and where? Are one dozen extra spots nearby going to transform your business in a neighborhood with other retail uses? 20? 50? Where are they going to go?
Parking takes up a lot of space. Unless you want suburban shopping mall levels of parking, it's hard to imagine that a few spots here and there are really going to make a difference to your business.
Keep Lighting Money On Fire
Christie knows how to pick them.
Taxpayers won't be on the hook, they promise, because freedom. Or something.
The Bergen County Improvement Authority is seeking state approval to float as much as $800 million in bonds on behalf of Triple Five, the private developer behind the American Dream project in the Meadowlands.
Taxpayers won't be on the hook, they promise, because freedom. Or something.
Morning Thread
Obama is going to give diplomacy a chance. That's good. It should have been the first choice, but I'll take what I can get.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
What's It All About Then
I still haven't been able to follow the pro-bombing arguments, which are obviously not the same thing as "threaten bombing to get results" arguments. Basically it was red line, must send message, have to do something, diplomacy isn't going to work, though this probably won't work either, but message.
Lines
Of course some people are genuinely broke and are therefore happy to sacrifice their time instead of money, but the willingness of people generally to stand in line for cheap or free stuff mystifies me.
In this case it's a $.50 cheesesteak.
In this case it's a $.50 cheesesteak.
Stopping The Bombs
I think we should be moving away from even the threat of violence as our go to solution for all of the world's problems, as once the threats come out we must Look Serious and Show Resolve and start blowing things up. Bluffing isn't allowed in this game.
But, hey, as long as the bombs don't drop...
But, hey, as long as the bombs don't drop...
Vote!
Off to the Upper West Side to help Debra Cooper on primary day. Seven candidates plus a chance to select a liberal Democrat, Bill de Blasio, for Mayor. It's sadly infrequent that your vote matters. But here in NYC today it certainly does.
Monday, September 09, 2013
Guy With Gun Might Use It
Hopefully the legal authorities keep Shellie Zimmerman safe.
I didn't really fault the jury for their decision. Given (horrible) state law and the allowable evidence, I'm not sure a guilty verdict was really on the table. But "gun nut with racist vigilante murder fantasy" was always the obvious conclusion to draw. I've known a couple of them in my life, though as far as I know none of them ever actually lived their fantasy.
I didn't really fault the jury for their decision. Given (horrible) state law and the allowable evidence, I'm not sure a guilty verdict was really on the table. But "gun nut with racist vigilante murder fantasy" was always the obvious conclusion to draw. I've known a couple of them in my life, though as far as I know none of them ever actually lived their fantasy.
Remembering When
Lost in the thousand year old blog history is the fact that political blogging really started with "warblogging." You know, random yahoos obsessing about blowing shit up in Afghanistan post-9/11, thinking it was somehow patriotic and productive. But left wing political blogging found its voice and audience when all the Very Serious People, including most of the supposedly lefty serious people, with actual mainstream news outlets were at best lukewarm on the war, but frequently totally for it. And not just eventhenewrepublic.
I don't know everything. I do know violence is bad, that violence tends to lead to more violence, and that our recent history of blowing people up in the name of good suggests that maybe we should do a bit less of that. No matter how awesome or well-intentioned the man in charge is, he isn't really in charge, not in the sense that he micromanages everything the military does or who the NSA is spying on at any particular moment.
I don't know everything. I do know violence is bad, that violence tends to lead to more violence, and that our recent history of blowing people up in the name of good suggests that maybe we should do a bit less of that. No matter how awesome or well-intentioned the man in charge is, he isn't really in charge, not in the sense that he micromanages everything the military does or who the NSA is spying on at any particular moment.
Afternoon Thread
I guess I did my duty and protested outside Rep. Carney's office this afternoon. I bet he votes yea. Still, gotta make a statement.
What's It All About Then
It's all so familiar.
(Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry was making a rhetorical comment when he said on Monday that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad would not hand over his country's chemical weapons.
Kerry told a news briefing on Monday that Assad could avoid a military strike by turning over all his chemical weapons within a week but added that Assad was not about to do that.
"Secretary Kerry was making a rhetorical argument about the impossibility and unlikelihood of Assad turning over chemical weapons he has denied he used," a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.
Bad People
I'm no saint, but I don't get how people can sleep at night.
“The Mayor found out about [the Office of the Chief Financial Officer's] policy on tax-lien sales by reading about it in the Post article yesterday, and he was shocked and outraged by the revelations," Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro just said in an email statement. "He is calling for an immediate moratorium on OCFO’s sales of liens and foreclosures, and will transmit emergency legislation addressing the situation to the Council for them to consider when they come back from recess. The legislation will put in place needed protections for homeowners – and particularly seniors, who appear to have been the group most frequently affected by this practice.”
...
A second Post story found that six firms have dominated the tax lien purchases. Unusual bidding patterns imply that these firms may have colluded to split the properties and their profits.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit
Linked this yesterday, but good journalism about people getting fucked by the system deserves another click.
DC Mayor expressed some concern on the twitters yesterday, so hopefully the pressure to do something increases.
Too many people have had their homes stolen over the past several years. The title system has been destroyed, along with any sense of justice with respect to secured debt. We're all the next likely victims.
DC Mayor expressed some concern on the twitters yesterday, so hopefully the pressure to do something increases.
Too many people have had their homes stolen over the past several years. The title system has been destroyed, along with any sense of justice with respect to secured debt. We're all the next likely victims.
What's It All About Then
In a way I find the Syria and NSA things to be similar. Either the people in charge are idiots who only know how to do one thing (war, collect data, respectively), or it's all more horribly evil than we imagine.
Sunday, September 08, 2013
A starter guide to reverse the Powell Memo
If you can, you really ought to take the time to listen to this discussion between Gaius Publius, Stuart Zechman, Dave Johnson, and Jay Ackroyd about who we are, who They are, how we talk about issues, how we can learn from the feminist movement, and what it is we need to fight for.
Minutemen
Dave Neiwart has a new book out, And Hell Followed with Her about the Minutemen movement.
Or you can read David's C & L post about the Minutemen and "border security".
Or you can read David's C & L post about the Minutemen and "border security".
What's It All About Then
So things went pretty well with Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. I won't even bother bringing up the success of Droney.
Who Runs The World
Two groups think they do.
It's the basic contrast between Yes, Prime Minister and The Thick of It. The first is a world where the country is basically run by the civil servants. The second is the new modern world in which the country is run by the spinners and the manipulated press. The first is generally preferable, but neither is really the way things are supposed to be.
I'll also add that from my vantage point, the two groups aren't nearly as different as they probably think they are.
Consider this debate between Ezra Klein and Mark Leibovich on “the real structure” of Washington, D.C.: is it the policy experts who understand how the country is governed, or is it the press secretaries and professional schmoozers who understand how to manipulate people inside and outside of the Beltway?
It's the basic contrast between Yes, Prime Minister and The Thick of It. The first is a world where the country is basically run by the civil servants. The second is the new modern world in which the country is run by the spinners and the manipulated press. The first is generally preferable, but neither is really the way things are supposed to be.
I'll also add that from my vantage point, the two groups aren't nearly as different as they probably think they are.
Saturday, September 07, 2013
Your Moment Of Zen
...will drive you all mad if that's on the main page all night, so here's a link.
Don't Let The Door
Things that are racist: having a family and not hiding them in the closet if one of them is a blah person.
Things that aren't racist: Racially profiling young black men so that the cops can harass them constantly for no good reason.
I'm sure our news elites will never tire of dreaming of the country being run by supposed technocratic plutocrats, but maybe the rest of us will.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in an interview published on Saturday that Bill de Blasio, one of the leading candidates to succeed him, had run a “racist” campaign.
In the interview, with New York magazine, Mr. Bloomberg said that he considered it racist of Mr. de Blasio to promote his mixed-race family. Mr. de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray, is African-American and their teenage son, Dante, has appeared in his father’s campaign ads.
Asked what was racist about the campaign, Mr. Bloomberg said: “I mean he’s making an appeal using his family to gain support. I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone watching what he’s been doing.”
Things that aren't racist: Racially profiling young black men so that the cops can harass them constantly for no good reason.
I'm sure our news elites will never tire of dreaming of the country being run by supposed technocratic plutocrats, but maybe the rest of us will.
These Days
3600.
In a display of the demand for affordable housing in Northern Virginia, more than 3,600 people have applied for a chance to rent one of 122 new affordable apartments still under construction along Arlington County’s Columbia Pike.
Friday, September 06, 2013
Well That Sucks
Camden's only supermarket is closing.
That's probably going to be pretty devastating to a place which is pretty, well, devastated. The ability of carless poor people (and Camden is pretty damn poor) to have access to a decent selection of food at decent prices is important.
A lot of money went into "revitalizing" Camden over the years, which mostly involved building waterfront attractions to try to attract outsiders to drive in and then drive out again.
That's probably going to be pretty devastating to a place which is pretty, well, devastated. The ability of carless poor people (and Camden is pretty damn poor) to have access to a decent selection of food at decent prices is important.
A lot of money went into "revitalizing" Camden over the years, which mostly involved building waterfront attractions to try to attract outsiders to drive in and then drive out again.
Frisky
Glibertarian support for (or, at best, indifference to) stop and frisk practices are hilarious given that stop and frisk will find a) guns, b) drugs, c) nothing. Also, too, freedom.
High School
Heard just now on NPR (rough quote from memory, gist is accurate) regarding Putin: "He'll take any opportunity to blacken the eye of the US."
Who is up, who is down, who is the jock, who is the nerd, who is the bully, who is the bullied.
Who is up, who is down, who is the jock, who is the nerd, who is the bully, who is the bullied.
Give Him A Good Spanking
What exactly is the punishment? Can somebody tell me that?
Margaret Carlson's column also includes the perennial Villager hatred of democracy:
Opposing the will of the voters is courageous!
Memories.
Punishing Assad may not accomplish much, but not punishing him sets a terrible precedent: that we will let pass the use of chemical weapons. Even though the something to be done isn't perfect, something is sometimes all you can get.
Margaret Carlson's column also includes the perennial Villager hatred of democracy:
Will there be profiles in courage — members (such as Boehner) up for re-election in 2014 who go against their constituents?
Opposing the will of the voters is courageous!
Memories.
Targets
I'm no smart military strategery guy, but I have yet to hear just what we plan to bomb and why? What message is it going to send? Who, exactly, is going to be hurt, directly or indirectly?
I just don't understand. Call the generals. Tell them to bomb some shit. Ok.
I just don't understand. Call the generals. Tell them to bomb some shit. Ok.
Jobs
+169K, unemployment at 7.3%.
Not bad, but not the super awesome number everyone was predicting.
Not bad, but not the super awesome number everyone was predicting.
Miserable Failure
Indeed.
Obviously, the Obama people are less wrong than the Republicans. But, by any objective standard, U.S. economic policy since Lehman has been an astonishing, horrifying failure.
Path Dependence
It's really great that John has given a health insurance professional a forum to explain how this stuff works. I expect it will work out much like the Syria debate has--exposing the absence of any public benefit to a health care system of for-profit providers administered by for-profit gatekeepers with prices set in secret by the providers. In the OECD countries that use private sector administrators ("insurance companies"), they are closely regulated by the government--so well that, for instance, in the German private insurance system there is effectively universal participation with no individual mandate.
It always makes me laugh to see statements like this:
It always makes me laugh to see statements like this:
I agree with the vast majority of the commenteriat here that absent massive path dependency... , I would not choose the US model or the modifications to the model that are being made by Obamacare.The US has a single payer system in place already. Just change the Medicare eligibility age. Set premiums. Compete!
Update: complete sentence in quote
Thursday, September 05, 2013
If Only There Was An Entity With The Power To Do Something
If only.
Green shoots and a new excuse. Yeah, shock waves from Syria.
FRANKFURT — The president of the European Central Bank issued a sober assessment of the euro zone economy, saying on Thursday that he was “very, very cautious” about prospects for growth and acknowledging concern about shock waves from the civil war in Syria.
“I can’t share the enthusiasm” about budding growth in the euro zone, Mario Draghi, the bank president, said at his monthly news conference. “These shoots are still very, very green.”
Green shoots and a new excuse. Yeah, shock waves from Syria.
Talking To Our People
The thing about the Fox only campaign strategy is that people who watch Fox are already going to vote for the Republican. What's the point? Yeah, sure, maybe there's some base motivation to get them to actually go out and vote, but it's hard see how it'd be particularly effective for that.
I don't think they had any idea what they were doing.
I don't think they had any idea what they were doing.
Always A Bridesmaid
Nobody is wooing me.
*** Wooing the left: In its lobbying effort to get support for military intervention in Syria, the Obama administration now has one clear target: the left. Yesterday, per the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, White House officials held a conference call with House progressives. Today, Secretary of State John Kerry chats with liberal bloggers, and he also sits down for an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.
Thursday Crass Commercialism
The Thick Of It. Because you won't be able to appreciate the next Doctor Who until you experience Malcolm Tucker.
fuckity-bye.
fuckity-bye.
Bombing's Easy
"What would you do, hippie?" is the other shorter Kristof. Violence escalation is always the only answer, despite having had a couple of lessons in the past decade about why that really isn't such a good idea.
I don't have the knowledge to plan the logistics for a massive refugee resettlement program (for example) and fit it neatly into a 700 word column. But someone should be thinking of ways to help the people we claim to care about.
I don't have the knowledge to plan the logistics for a massive refugee resettlement program (for example) and fit it neatly into a 700 word column. But someone should be thinking of ways to help the people we claim to care about.
Theater District
On my (temporary) commute from the suburban paradise to the urban hellhole, there's a vibe not entirely unlike the Starship Troopers movie. Citizen security posters--"If you see something, say something," the panopticon photo "We're looking out for you" as well as enlistment and support the troops posters. On the platforms and the trains there are recorded announcements to keep your eyes peeled for suitcase bombs, the "if you see something, say something" thing and the bags are subject to random search thing.
Today, coming out at a major midtown subway connection, a couple of cops were set up to do backpack searches, with a sign saying you couldn't enter the system if you refused the search. Of course, this is a major connection, so there are about half a dozen other entrances to the system within a block. Those I walked by didn't have a search table set up.
Nobody really pays attention.
IAC, here's thread.
Today, coming out at a major midtown subway connection, a couple of cops were set up to do backpack searches, with a sign saying you couldn't enter the system if you refused the search. Of course, this is a major connection, so there are about half a dozen other entrances to the system within a block. Those I walked by didn't have a search table set up.
Nobody really pays attention.
IAC, here's thread.
Wednesday, September 04, 2013
Fee Fees
A double dose of Digby today. I saw that article earlier and and my jaw dropped.
You're rich. Want people to respect you? Put your name on some buildings that do something to help the masses. That usually works.
You're rich. Want people to respect you? Put your name on some buildings that do something to help the masses. That usually works.