2010 archive
Ideology and Wishful Thinking 0
Tom dissects Republican economic theory in response to a commenter (identified as Mr. K) on his blog. A nugget:
And what gets me is the way that folks like Mr. K. seem to think two things:
First, that contracts may be binding for thee and me, but not if your contract happens to be collectively bargained and between an individual and the state. The cop who started work ten years ago signed on to a challenging, difficult and sometimes dangerous job in exchange for a defined compensation package. Now we should throw this away? I don’t think so.
Second, that whatever we pay our civil servants is always too much, and hence ill-gotten, which is why it is OK not (sic–I think he meant “to”–ed.) cut people’s pay while expecting them to provide the same labor.
When Zombie Banks Walked the Earth 0
There is a certain delightful irony in this. There’s a line forming at the returns desk (emphasis added):
The banks are setting aside more reserves to cover the potential costs of such repurchases, cutting into earnings.
The trend is also pitting big lenders, insurers and mortgage-finance institutions against each other. That’s a big change from the previous decade, when they worked together to fuel the housing boom by originating, insuring and securitizing mortgages in record amounts.
Christopher Whalen, managing director of research firm Institutional Risk Analytics, offered up a colorful metaphor for the unfolding situation.
“The wave of loan repurchase demands on securitization sponsors is the next area of fun in the zombie dance party, namely the part where different zombies start to eat each other,” Whalen wrote in a note to clients Tuesday.
Nothing To Do, Nowhere To Go 0
Bloomberg:
Initial jobless applications increased to 480,000 in the week ended Jan. 30, the most in seven weeks, from 472,000 the prior week, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The number of people receiving unemployment insurance was little changed and those receiving extended benefits increased.
Recycling 0
Just think how hunky-dory everything would be now if Bush had just gotten this through the first time.
Dreaming of the 50s 0
Back in the olden days, when I was a young ‘un, there was a joke that went something like this:
Q. Should women have clubs?
A. Soitenly. Clubs, rolling pins, baseball bats, whatever they want. (Rim shot)
One would hesitate to tell that joke today, not for any reason of “political correctness,” but simply because it’s no longer funny. It is meaningless in the context of most of contemporary society.
Unless, of course, you are a Republican.
The Entitlement Society, Microcosm Dept. 0
For some persons, too much is never enough. Take, for example, this.
The United States Slopes to the Southwest 0
Everything loose rolls to California.
The Entitlement Society 0
Pay for attendance.
As much as 95 percent will be paid in stock vesting over about three years, the person said. Those receiving the smallest bonuses will get about half their compensation in cash, paid later this month, the person said. The unit accounts for 10,000 people, or 4 percent of the bank’s 283,000 workers.
Also, fight club.
So, Does This Mean I Can Cancel My Auto Insurance? 0
Or maybe I should get uninsured microbes protection. Shadow boxing reality in Virginia:
The legislation targets the so-called “individual mandate” provision that could be part of a federal health care reform package being negotiated by congressional leaders. The Senate passed three identical bills by votes of 23-17, with five Democrats joining the chamber’s 18 Republicans in support of the measures.
(Not that I’m a fan of the individual mandate. It’s not single payer.)
Colorado Spring Sprang Sprung (Updated) 1
Colorado Springs is in shut down mode as the Town Fathers discover that living in civilized society has a price tag and that the Laughable Curve just doesn’t work.
The parks department removed trash cans last week, replacing them with signs urging users to pack out their own litter.
Neighbors are encouraged to bring their own lawn mowers to local green spaces, because parks workers will mow them only once every two weeks. If that.
Water cutbacks mean most parks will be dead, brown turf by July; the flower and fertilizer budget is zero.
Via the Inverse Square blog, where Tom editorializes so I don’t have to.
(Later on in the story, a local plutocrat is quoted as wondering “why the city spends $89,000 per employee, when his enterprise has a similar number of workers and spends only $24,000 on each.” Bet his enterprise offers great health care and retirement.)
Addendum:
Tom Publishes an follow-up, in which he discusses Megan McArdle’s statement that she is not against government “in its place.” A nugget:
So no, I don’t think, nor did I ever say, that McArdle wants to fire every cop in Colorado.
What I do think, and say, is that there are recognizable consequences to arguments consistently made…and Ms.McArdle’s position leads in practice, if not in the theory that lights the spotless sunshine of her mind, to local disaster and, unchecked, the long term erosion of American power and (relative) wealth.
As Tom points out, words have consequences.
Twits on Twitter 0
From ye olde country.
Of Mice and Men 0
El Reg:
The unnamed 59-year-old decided to “wreak cruel revenge” on his 37-year-old former other half, who woke up yesterday to find the flat full of “scampering murines”, as The Local puts it.
Brendan Writes a Column 0
On Pennsylvania’s on favorite promoter of gambling halls.
I wonder how much of Ed Rendell’s support for casino gambling comes from his notion that it is a painless cure for ailing tax revenues (it’s not–think how much money gamblers have to lose so that casinos and racetracks can pay those taxes governments want so much) and how much comes from his love of a bet?
Shoe. Other Foot. 0
Dean Baker, writing at the Guardian, speculates on what might happen if homeowners who are under water on their mortgage’s did the work of Goldman-Sachs’s god:
(snip)
In short, homeowners who are seriously underwater in their mortgages should check the numbers. Walking away from a home may well be the best economic choice, and in such cases, it is also likely to be the best choice from the standpoint of the economy as a whole. This may not be advancing God’s work, but if millions of people walked away it might educate Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street bankers about what happens when everyone plays by their rules.
Footloose 1
No longer fancy free.