Saturday, November 19, 2011
Please Fail Soon
Appropriate celebratory drink for the moment when the SuperWankers officially fail?
Mass Unemployment Is A Small Price To Pay For, uh.. something
Basically, the idea is that central banks need to prove the aren't crazy inflation lovers. They do this by proving that they're crazy inflation haters, that they'd kill their mothers, or at least YOUR mother, in order to keep inflation low. This means keeping inflation low even when it's "crazy" to do so. Even if it impoverishes a lot of mothers of people who don't run central banks.
A Boot Stomping On The Faces Of Hippies Forever
Stay away from newspaper comment sections unless you wish to see how much that is the dream for some.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Feed Kids More Pizza
Actually I imagine some fantasy foodie version of pizza might be pretty good for kids. You know, thin crust, quality ingredients, heavy on the vegetable toppings, real cheese, high ratio of toppings to cheese, relatively low (for pizza) salt content. Stick something resembling a salad on the side and we've got a meal. But the reality of public school pizza, unless it's changed a lot since I was a kid, is a slab of something resembling cheese on top of a slab of something resembling bread, a tiny bit of something resembling tomato sauce, and maybe something almost but not quite pepperoni.
Please Fail And Go Away
I suppose it's possible that all of the political pitter patter doesn't really matter, that whether the Villagers are talking about jobs or the deficit has no impact on anything that happens. Still I'd like to err on the side of thinking it does, that years of the public hearing that the problem with the economy is "the deficit" instead of hearing that the problem with the economy is that Republicans (and helpful democrats) have made austerity the de facto policy.
Please go away supercommittee.
Please go away supercommittee.
Ummm.. So Are We?
But welcome to the party!
The austerity measures being rolled out in countries across Europe will have a devastating effect on the living standards of its population, an economist told CNBC Friday.
Houston Also Has Land Use Regulations
Posting mostly as a reminder that Houston not having zoning laws does not mean that Houston does not have regulations about things like minimum parking requirements.
As Houston considers the first overhaul of its parking ordinance since 1989, those voicing the most concerns are restaurant and bar owners.
Owners say proposed requirements for more spaces at new bars and restaurants would be a hardship for small-business entrepreneurs who lack funds to buy or rent more land.
Wee Suggestion
Don't trust Fox.
Saw some slightly more respectable people on the twitter taking this seriously.
They just make things up.
Saw some slightly more respectable people on the twitter taking this seriously.
They just make things up.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
EATED
Well, LOOTED.
In the last days before MF Global’s collapse, the firm was borrowing cash from its customers without backing the loans, a serious violation of Wall Street rules that regulators believe contributed to $600 million of missing money.
Investigators have now zeroed in on the suspect borrowing at the commodities and derivatives brokerage firm, which at the time of its collapse was run by Jon S. Corzine, according to people briefed on the investigation. At least some of the borrowed customer cash was used to pay off bad bets made by MF Global, regulators suspect, meaning the money is not simply missing. It is gone.
Republicans Don't Care About The Deficit
I say it regularly, but not many other people do. They care about cutting taxes on rich people.
Umm...
Cable companies actually pay for the privilege of providing many of the channels in even the basic bundles? So the basic bundle cost depends, in part, on which channels with significant per subscriber fees they include? We're basically at the whim of the outcomes of negotiations between monopolies (your cable provider) and pseudo-monopolies (firms with big channel portfolios).
Lots of people like ESPN. Many don't. It's a typical part of a cable channel bundle. It's expensive.
Lots of people like ESPN. Many don't. It's a typical part of a cable channel bundle. It's expensive.
Happy Anniversary
12 hours of the Majority Report to celebrate the anniversary of the triumphant return of the Majority Report.
How About Giving Them Some Free Money?
People are un- or underemployed so they're living with their parents. If they had more money they'd spend it. Give them some damn free money. Fix the economy.
Unpossible
I had to check news reports to make sure this wasn't some sort of parody that I wasn't comprehending.
Stealing houses is supposed to be legal in this country, as long as it's done in a very civilized fashion by men in suits with expensive pens.
Stealing houses is supposed to be legal in this country, as long as it's done in a very civilized fashion by men in suits with expensive pens.
How About Because Of
Austerity in a recession is just insanity.
Higher unemployment and higher deficits. Winning!!!
No one will shift gears, because they'll be proved fucking right! The pointless goal was to borrow less than Labour was planning to borrow, and now they're borrowing more so look over there Yurp!
Government borrowing is expected to rocket to levels higher than was envisaged by Labour, despite George Osborne's deep spending cuts.
On a day when youth unemployment rose to a record 1.02 million, figures slipped out by the Treasury revealed how the Chancellor's deficit reduction plan has been blown off course by anaemic growth levels and high jobless figures. Labour claimed the pain of £40bn of cuts and tax rises had not been worth it.
Higher unemployment and higher deficits. Winning!!!
No one will shift gears, because they'll be proved fucking right! The pointless goal was to borrow less than Labour was planning to borrow, and now they're borrowing more so look over there Yurp!
Umm...I Bet Somebody Does
The question is who.
At the bankruptcy hearing Wednesday at a federal court in Lower Manhattan, there were more questions than answers. Judge Martin Glenn asked a lawyer for the trustee if he knew whether customer money had been mingled with company cash, a major violation of Wall Street rules and a potential explanation for the shortfall.
The trustee’s lawyer, James Kobak of Hughes Hubbard & Reed, replied: “I don’t think anybody knows the answer.”
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
I'm Not Sure
Should the title of this post be "Nobody Could Have Predicted" or "The Obvious Thing to Do is"...
In any case, we know what the obvious thing to do is. Huzzah!
George Osborne is braced to admit this month that the scale of Britain's economic slowdown, demonstrated yesterday by youth unemployment spiralling to more than 1 million, means he will be unable to meet his main deficit reduction target before the next election.
It is now expected that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will declare at the time of Osborne's autumn statement on 29 November that the downturn's impact is more permanent than thought and the government may not be able to meet its commitment to eliminate the structural deficit – the part of the deficit unaffected by growth – by 2014-15, as he predicted in the June 2010 budget.
In any case, we know what the obvious thing to do is. Huzzah!
Rick Perry For President
Not really, but it's inevitable that this kind of thing will happen.
No Republican will be better when it comes to big banks, but low information voters won't know that and the press won't explain it to them.
Perry offered criticism of large banks and federal judges as he sought to cast himself as an outsider who could reform Washington.
"While Main Street's been struggling, the cash has still been flowing to Wall Street financiers and Beltway profiteers," Perry said at a town hall meeting in Nashua. "My career has been outside of Washington, always."
No Republican will be better when it comes to big banks, but low information voters won't know that and the press won't explain it to them.
Something No One Acknowledges
Republicans aren't actually stupid enough to take responsibility for cutting Social Security.
No Surprise
At the worst moment when everyone else deserted big shitpile, the FHA took over...
WASHINGTON — Chances are nearly 50 percent that the Federal Housing Administration will need a bailout next year if the housing market deteriorates further, the agency’s independent auditor said in a report released Tuesday.
Insurance Fraud
No they can't afford to pay even a modest portion of this.
To the extent that people buying this stuff knew what they were doing, they were just buying "fake insurance for the regulators." Late capitalism is grand.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), among the world’s biggest traders of credit derivatives, disclosed to shareholders that they have sold protection on more than $5 trillion of debt globally.
Just don’t ask them how much of that was issued by Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain, known as the GIIPS.
To the extent that people buying this stuff knew what they were doing, they were just buying "fake insurance for the regulators." Late capitalism is grand.
Legal?
MF Global looting could have been perfectly legal, although it seems there was at the very least some sloppy deception going on.
Ultimately the only hope for major reform is if enough of the right rich assholes fuck over enough of the (other) right rich assholes, yet at a small enough scale that the Full Bailout doesn't happen. As in, rich people decide they're tired of being fucked over. Though I'm not holding my breath for that needle to be threaded.
Then, in February 2004 and May 2005, Regulation 1.25 was further amended and refined to the liking of Ferber and the banks. In the end, the door was opened for firms such as MF Global to do internal repos of customers’ deposits and invest the funds in the “general obligations of a sovereign nation.”
This practice, of course, may well be the centerpiece of the MF Global disaster. We now know that Corzine -- who was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 1999 -- bet $6.3 billion on the distressed long-term bonds of countries such as Italy and Spain, although it’s unclear if clients’ funds were used. Bart Chilton, a CFTC commissioner, told Bloomberg News on Nov. 10 the loss to customers’ accounts may have resulted from a “massive hide-and-seek ploy.”
Ultimately the only hope for major reform is if enough of the right rich assholes fuck over enough of the (other) right rich assholes, yet at a small enough scale that the Full Bailout doesn't happen. As in, rich people decide they're tired of being fucked over. Though I'm not holding my breath for that needle to be threaded.
Not So Nice Work
It's a complete mystery what Occupy is all about.
I'm not against a well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. In fact, I wish we had a massive well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. But this is just giving free labor to companies, and in a way which doesn't leave people with much time to look for real jobs.
Britain's young unemployed are being sent to work for supermarkets and budget stores for up to two months for no pay and no guarantee of a job, the Guardian can reveal.
Under the government's work experience programme young jobseekers are exempted from national minimum wage laws for up to eight weeks and are being offered placements in Tesco, Poundland, Argos, Sainsbury's and a multitude of other big name businesses.
The Department for Work and Pensions says that if jobseekers "express an interest" in an offer of work experience they must continue to work without pay, after a one-week cooling-off period, or face having their benefits docked.
I'm not against a well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. In fact, I wish we had a massive well-designed makework program for the unemployed with reasonable compensation. But this is just giving free labor to companies, and in a way which doesn't leave people with much time to look for real jobs.
This Will Probably Destroy The Econony
Margin requirements? That's crazy talk.
Reading to the end we discover it's... 2.5%
The New York Fed said it will be increasing the collateral requirements on 21 primary-dealer banks in transactions dealing with mortgage-backed securities, in an effort to lower the settlement risks with its counterparties.
Reading to the end we discover it's... 2.5%
Reasons to Cheer
Please fail and go away.
It's been almost two years since the "deficit pivot." Please, somebody, tell the people in charge that nobody cares about the damn deficit. They will say they do in correctly worded polls, but they don't care. They care about jobs and having money in their pockets. If the economy sucks they imagine the "deficit" is somehow to blame, because that's what NPR tells them every day.
Give people jobs. They'll get happy and go back to worrying about gay abortions and the like.
White House officials are quietly bracing for “supercommittee” failure, with advisers privately saying they are pessimistic that the 12-member Congressional panel will find a way to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit as required.
It's been almost two years since the "deficit pivot." Please, somebody, tell the people in charge that nobody cares about the damn deficit. They will say they do in correctly worded polls, but they don't care. They care about jobs and having money in their pockets. If the economy sucks they imagine the "deficit" is somehow to blame, because that's what NPR tells them every day.
Give people jobs. They'll get happy and go back to worrying about gay abortions and the like.
Operation Blame Yurp Is In Full Swing
Obviously I blame Yurp too, but they're just part of the austerity madness which has inefected everybody.
The outlook for output growth is unusually uncertain. That reflects in particular the exposure of the UK economy to developments in the euro area.
The euro area faces substantial challenges as several members seek to ensure the sustainability of their public and external debt and maintain financial stability. Implementation of a credible and effective policy response in the euro area would diminish uncertainty and so support the UK recovery.
So, Uh, Stop That
Not good.
WASHINGTON - The Secret Service says a bullet hit an exterior window of the White House and was stopped by ballistic glass.
Coordination
I'm so old I remember when TIME's Jay Carney pooh-poohed the idea that the Bush Administration was coordinating the replacement of US Attorneys General who were insufficiently zealous in pursuit of bogus voter fraud cases.
And I'm so cynical I suspect there has been coordination in the crackdown on people who object to austerity forever, for almost everyone.
And I'm so cynical I suspect there has been coordination in the crackdown on people who object to austerity forever, for almost everyone.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Can This Possibly Be True
I honestly would prefer "true Pete Peterson believer" to "we think the politics is good on this."
Someone please check the White House water supply for toxic brain-bending substances.
For most of this year, the White House has thought that the surest path to President Obama’s reelection was to strike a big deficit deal with Republicans, or at least be seen trying to strike a big deficit deal with Republicans.
Someone please check the White House water supply for toxic brain-bending substances.
The Victims Don't Matter
It's the feefees of the community of JoePa worshippers that matter. They need to heal. Because they haz a sad that the victims didn't shut the fuck up.
What We're Doing
It occurs to me that the orientation of our economic policy isn't simply about giving free money to and bailing out rich assholes, it's giving free money to and bailing out rich gambling addicts.
What a country!
What a country!
Because We're Exceptional
I imagine no one will be allowed to call it a 'lost decade' until we're entering decade 3 of it.
Vertical axis is the unemployment rate.
Vertical axis is the unemployment rate.
Alternative Reality
It's almost needless to say, but if a bunch of TeaBaggers settled into a park somewhere to protest Kenyan Muslim Socialism then things would be playing out a bit differently. Brooks and Gerson would be writing regular tributes to these heroic Americans who represent the best of us. Nightly on the NewsHour they'd remind us that it had been "X days since President Obama refused to give in to their demands" no matter how kooky or nonexistent those demands were.
And, no, the cops would not have gone in and started bashing heads.
And, no, the cops would not have gone in and started bashing heads.
Light Touch
I actually think all of the biometric passport stuff is a giant waste of money and time, a solution to a problem no one bothered to define, and heavy-handed border checks between Schengen and non-Schengen EU countries are mostly silly, but the "private jet exception" is, of course, precisely what you imagine it to be.
First World Problems
Until a few days ago, when I'd search for something in Google and then click the "news" button to access google news it would automatically search for that term in google news.
And now it doesn't. boo.
And now it doesn't. boo.
Good Luck With That
Euro elites want more of a political union, but I tend not to think that they really want silly people like Greek voters having much input as to what goes on there. They want more unaccountable centralized institutions run by the right people.
I wasn't always so skeptical about such things, but it's hard to not see that real democracy is falling out of favor everywhere...
I wasn't always so skeptical about such things, but it's hard to not see that real democracy is falling out of favor everywhere...
"Somehow Occurred"
Golly just no idea how it happened.
(Reuters) - MF Global Holdings Ltd (MFGLQ.PK) may have faced a shortfall in customer funds even as far back as October 27, four days before the U.S. futures brokerage filed for bankruptcy protection, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.
Just hours before the bankruptcy filing, MF Global executives told regulators they believed a shortfall had somehow occurred, possibly starting on October 27 or October 28, the people told the paper.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Come Again...?
Sorry for breaking in here, but... beg pardon...?
The very wingnutty Florida Representative Allen West:
And yes inevitable Dave Chappelle sketch reference.
MAS. Possibly tongue in cheek. But gracious.
MUCHO MAS. OK, probably meant as sarcastic. But come now. If a certain Muslim Kenyan had appeared at this sort of an event, it is entirely possible the conservative response might not have been "reverse racism!"
MUCH MUCH MAS. Some trains are never late! (Heh. "Titcomb.")
The very wingnutty Florida Representative Allen West:
Congressman West: "Oh come on, I mean you know I was the only black member of a white supremacist motorcycle gang, so liberals and there are certain others I would say even within our party that are not comfortable with strong black conservative voices, and I would say there are people that feel very threatened by that because we do stand on principle. We are someone or entities that are out of the mainstream, if you want to call it that, so liberals are definitely going to come at you. But I think you also have this inner fight within our primary candidates for that piece of the pie that they want to have."There's audio!
And yes inevitable Dave Chappelle sketch reference.
MAS. Possibly tongue in cheek. But gracious.
MUCHO MAS. OK, probably meant as sarcastic. But come now. If a certain Muslim Kenyan had appeared at this sort of an event, it is entirely possible the conservative response might not have been "reverse racism!"
MUCH MUCH MAS. Some trains are never late! (Heh. "Titcomb.")
Bring Them Down
Yes urban freeways were a tremendously bad idea. No that doesn't mean they should all come down. But probably more of them should come down than even this car hater generally thinks.
Plenty of lovely cities are almost entirely without them. There's a price to that - it can take awhile to drive in and out of the city! - but it also means that people don't move out of the city.
Plenty of lovely cities are almost entirely without them. There's a price to that - it can take awhile to drive in and out of the city! - but it also means that people don't move out of the city.
The Next Step
Stan Collender:
And then Congress can comply with the compliance by designating another SuperCommittee...
and all of this dumb because it can and will be undone by any future vote.
What a fucking waste of time.
And the most inane, stupid, absurd, remarkable thing about this is that the definitely-not-super committee will claim that this make-someone-else-do-the-hard-work-later process complies with the legal requirement to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion.
And then Congress can comply with the compliance by designating another SuperCommittee...
and all of this dumb because it can and will be undone by any future vote.
What a fucking waste of time.
Some People Are Born More Equal Than Others
I suppose maybe it's good we're just dispensing with the unpaid-internships-for-people-who-can-afford-unpaid-internships paths to media stardom.
Worthless
I've been wondering a bit why this angle hasn't been getting a lot of play.
Companies aren't buying CDS because it's actually insurance. By now we all realize the issuers either can't pay in the event of default because they don't have enough money or won't pay because the powers that be will declare that a default isn't really a default. I assume companies know this so they aren't really buying insurance, but the appearance of insurance, to make it possible for them to pretend they're hedged against bad bets if we all stick our fingers in our ears and yell "I CAN'T HEAR YOU." But they aren't, really.
Nobody could have predicted we wouldn't have learned the lessons of THIRTY EIGHT MONTHS ago.
The market's worries have been deepened by the weakening of a widely used defense against financial contagion: credit-default swaps, bilateral agreements that are supposed to insulate against losses from debt defaults. Recent efforts to quell the euro crisis have raised questions about the viability of that popular insurance-like hedging vehicle.
This latest chink in the financial armor has investors demanding more evidence that financial companies aren't making outsize bets in weaker European economies and aren't relying too heavily on hedges that might falter in a pinch.
Companies aren't buying CDS because it's actually insurance. By now we all realize the issuers either can't pay in the event of default because they don't have enough money or won't pay because the powers that be will declare that a default isn't really a default. I assume companies know this so they aren't really buying insurance, but the appearance of insurance, to make it possible for them to pretend they're hedged against bad bets if we all stick our fingers in our ears and yell "I CAN'T HEAR YOU." But they aren't, really.
Nobody could have predicted we wouldn't have learned the lessons of THIRTY EIGHT MONTHS ago.
Looters
It's the New York Post, but will be fascinating to see if JP Morgan succeeds completing the (apparent) theft of MF Global customer funds for their own benefit.
And by "interesting" I mean "I suppose we should all just sign everything we own over to them now and save the hassle."
And by "interesting" I mean "I suppose we should all just sign everything we own over to them now and save the hassle."
Powerfully Stupid Shit
What happened here was that David Brooks sat down and thought to himself, "how can I blame liberals for what happened at Penn State, but in a subtle way" and this is what he came up with. No he doesn't use the words liberal or democrat, but we all know that liberals destroyed moral clarity in the 1960s when child rape and pedophilia were invented.
It's just the tarted up for the Sunday set version of Newt Gingrich back in the day:
Even Pastor Chunky BoBo didn't really go there.
It's just the tarted up for the Sunday set version of Newt Gingrich back in the day:
The mother killing her two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we have to have change. I think people want to change and the only way you get change is to vote Republican.
Even Pastor Chunky BoBo didn't really go there.
At Least I Know We're Free
Because nothing says freedom like random stop and search.
Really can't quite see how "piss off" isn't the UK response, but...
The US has raised repeated concerns about security at the London Olympics and is preparing to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to provide protection for America's contestants and diplomats, the Guardian has learned.
American officials have expressed deep unease that the UK has had to restrict the scope of anti-terrorism "stop and search" powers, and have sought a breakdown of the number of British police and other security personnel that will be available next summer.
Really can't quite see how "piss off" isn't the UK response, but...
Invite Them
It isn't just small towns. Too lazy to dig out the numbers at the moment, but a rising Latino population has helped to stop the urban hellhole from withering, too. I've actually been impressed at how little backlash there has been, though admittedly that's somewhat because "hating black people" is still the preferred local option.
Punt!
Our idiotic rulers.
Oh and thanks for this, but it isn't like we have any actual problems to talk about.
WASHINGTON — With a little over a week left to reach a deal, members of the Congressional deficit reduction panel are looking for an escape hatch that would let them strike an accord on revenue levels but delay until next year tough decisions about exactly how to raise taxes.
Oh and thanks for this, but it isn't like we have any actual problems to talk about.
Under this approach, the panel would decide on the amount of new revenue to be raised but would leave it to the tax-writing committees of Congress to fill in details next year, well beyond the Nov. 23 deadline for the panel itself to reach an agreement. That would put off painful political decisions but ensure that the debate over deficit reduction stretched into the election year.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Our media, not theirs
Tonight's panelists on Virtually Speaking Sundays will be Sam Seder of The Majority Report and Avedon Carol of The Sideshow, also known as ....
Not Atrios
Not Atrios
Elites
Everybody protects them.
"I didn't even know he was leaving the school with my child," the mother said. "I didn't know he was taking him out of classes. They never told me that."
Victim One's mother told the Patriot-News that officials at Central Mountain High School urged her to think twice about how she wanted to handle the situation, "how that would impact my son," she said.
Over 3 Years Of Crisis
We've had a massive unemployment crisis for awhile now. When the latest round of panicking Masters of the Universe ends, we will still have an unemployment crisis.
Just a reminder.
Just a reminder.
Sunday Bobbleheads
This Week has some people who probably don't know much about the subjects they're discussing.
Meet the Press has Bachmann and Wasserman-Schults
Face the Nation has Hunstman, Lindsey Graham, Haley Barbour, and Martin O'Malley.
Document the atrocities!
Meet the Press has Bachmann and Wasserman-Schults
Face the Nation has Hunstman, Lindsey Graham, Haley Barbour, and Martin O'Malley.
Document the atrocities!
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