Political Economy category archive

Expect more stories like this if the wingnut assault on public services succeeds:

Federal investigators say concerns over firefighting costs slowed the U.S. Forest Service’s initial response to a Southern California wildfire that killed two firefighters and destroyed 89 homes.

New Jersey Republican Governor Christie threatens to scuttle a new commuter terminal between New Jersey and New York City.

Bob Herbert comments:

There have been many times when the U.S. has stunned the world with the breadth and greatness of its achievements — the Marshall Plan, the G.I. Bill, the world’s highest standard of living, the world’s finest higher education system, the space program, and on and on.

Somewhere, somehow, things went haywire. The nation that built the Erie Canal and Hoover Dam and the transcontinental railroad can’t even build a tunnel beneath the Hudson River from New Jersey to New York.

Because, you see, the tunnel would benefit persons who can’t afford to have chauffeurs.

Via Atrios.

Republican millionaires have claimed for years that teachers and cops and other government employees making, say, $30-50,000 a year are overpaid. (See some comparative pay statistics; it’s a little dated but it was the clearest I could find that focused on numbers, not on rants.)

They’ve finally figured out what to do about it.

Crash the economy.

State and local governments from New Jersey to California are firing workers to balance their budgets as declining property values and slowing economic growth squeeze tax revenue.

Public schools in New Jersey were set to start the academic year down 10,000 jobs, including 7,000 educators who chose to retire, Steve Wollmer, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, a union that represents teachers, said in August after Governor Chris Christie slashed $1.3 billion in aid to schools and local governments.

(Link fixed.)

Via TPM.

From the Booman, a chart contrasting actual wealth distribution with Imagined wealth distribution by members of different income levels, sexes, and voting groups.

No one estimates the reality: that the very rich own almost everything:

Click the image to read the Booman’s complete analysis.

Under 450k for the first time in weeks, but just barel. Bloomberg:

Jobless claims dropped by 11,000 to 445,000 in the week ended Oct. 2, the fewest since July 10, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The median forecast or 47 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News projected 455,000 new claims last week. The total number of people receiving unemployment insurance decreased and those getting extended payments jumped.

(snip)

The four-week moving average, a less volatile measure than the weekly figures, dropped to 455,750 last week from 458,750, today’s report showed. It was the sixth consecutive decrease.

The beatdown goes on.

Zandar thinks it’s all about the Scary Black Man. I think his rhetoric is somewhat extreme. But only somewhat.

Tea Partiers don’t give a damn about the fact that cash is being poured into the system by conservative groups with unlimited donation power, and that’s because Tea Partiers don’t give a damn about fiscal responsibility. They just want Obama gone, and they don’t really give a damn how it’s accomplished.

All of the rest is a ruse. Yes, if this means Christine O’Donnell is in office, they don’t care what she does, as long as Obama is removed from office.

People need to recognize the driving force behind Tea Party anger is getting rid of Obama.

What you are getting for your defense dollars: Do-Overs:

The latest round of repairs aboard the Norfolk-based amphibious ship San Antonio will run the Navy at least $39 million, far more than the $7 million officials originally estimated, the service said Friday.

The San Antonio, commissioned in 2005, has been under continuous repair since December.

Down three percentage points.

The number of people who signed up for state unemployment benefits fell 16,000 to a total of 453,000 in the latest week, the Labor Department reported Thursday, leaving the level of new claims back where they were at the start of 2010.

Big deal.

Via Down with Tyranny. Follow the link and read the post.

Zandar reports on the breadlines.

ThePoliticalCat, in a post entitled “I Pay Taxes So the Rich Don’t Have To”:

The right question we should all be asking is how much do the rich pay as a percentage of their income? Warren Buffett has famously said that he pays less as a percentage of his income than his secretary does and he says that isn’t fair.

Read the whole thing.

. . . is missing.

Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit told brokers and agents to halt evictions tied to foreclosures on homeowners in 23 states including Florida, Connecticut and New York.

GMAC Mortgage may “need to take corrective action in connection with some foreclosures” in the affected states, according to a two-page memo dated Sept. 17 marked “urgent.” Ally Financial spokesman James Olecki confirmed the contents of the memo. Brokers were told to immediately stop evictions, cash- for-key transactions and lockouts, according to the document, addressed to GMAC preferred agents.

No indication yet as to what the “corrective action” may be.

The local rag reports in contributions to candidates for Virginia Beach City Council:

Beach real estate and construction interests were the biggest givers overall, handing out about $80,000 of the $200,000 given to 13 candidates running for five contested seats. The Tidewater Builders Association spread $12,000 among six candidates, making the group the largest contributor to Beach races.

People and businesses from the Oceanfront area – the 23451 ZIP code – forked over about $79,500, about 40 percent of all contributions.

Vivian Paige breaks the campaigns’ financial status out in a list.

Take the quiz.

Via Vivian Paige.

Bloomberg reports on a study by Moody’s which indicate that they stimulate the rich–stimulate them not to spend their tax cut money. Moody’s, by the way, is hardly a leftist media source:

Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush were followed by increases in the saving rate among the rich, according to data from Moody’s Analytics Inc. When taxes were raised under Bill Clinton, the saving rate fell.

The findings may weaken arguments by Republicans and some Democrats in Congress who say allowing the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to lapse will prompt them to reduce their spending, harming the economy. President Barack Obama wants to extend the cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 and couples earning less than $250,000 while ending them for those who earn more.

Follow the link for a summary of the actual numbers.

Down from last week, but still high:

Initial jobless claims dropped by 27,000 to 451,000 in the week ended Sept. 4, the lowest level in almost two months, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The total number of people receiving unemployment insurance was little changed, while those getting extended payments rose.

Deborah Orr, writing in the Guardian, takes a look at the growing respectability and visibility of pawnshops.

I suspect that much of what she has to say applies also to the States. Pawnshops appear to moving into the mainstream of commerce. Locally, there is one large pawnshop that is running a series of TV commercials touting its friendly service and attractive shop adjacent to a major mall.

In theory, bank loans have never been cheaper, with interest rates as close to zero as one could wish. Except that the banks are not lending and people are still borrowing. Since 2003, the number of pawnshops in the country has increased from 500 to 1,300, holding a loan book of around £192m. Britain’s biggest chain of pawnbrokers, H&T, last week announced a 71% leap in half-year profits, up to £14.5m from £8.5m in the first half of 2009. While the majority of customers are seeking loans of less than £100, and more than two-thirds live on a household income of less than £300 a week, industry insiders also report an increase in custom from businesspeople.

And the ghastly truth is that the Telegraph is right. Pawnbrokers are these days a comparatively solid option. If you go to a pawnbroker, then monthly interest payments range from five per cent to 12%, with a loan of £100 over six months attracting an APR of 70% to 200%. If you have nothing to pawn, though, and you instead go to a pay-day loan company – otherwise known as a “legal loan shark” – you could find yourself faced quickly with an APR approaching a stratospheric 3,000%. The appalling truth is that these companies too have proliferated in recent years, offering loans over the internet or via the mobile phone, and filling the gap left as bank loans became harder to secure.

The bright side would be that, when you deal with a pawnshop, you are bargaining over real stuff, not over bags of air derivatives and other financial instrument of self-immolation.