D. Aristophanes puts the "Feebl" in "Feeble." Lettuce Prey!
(I fucking hate Veggie Tales...)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Bipartisan Commissions
Department of really awful ideas.
WASHINGTON — Faced with anxiety in financial markets about the huge federal deficit and the potential for it to become an electoral liability for Democrats, the White House and Congressional leaders are weighing options for narrowing the gap, including a bipartisan commission that could force tax increases and spending cuts.
Amateurs
I'm not personally into Karaoke, but like Amanda I like that amateur performance seems to have increasing acceptance in this country, whether its Karaoke or people making youtube videos of themselves singing.
Please Get A Soil Lead Reading First
I guess we can make this contrarian Saturday. One thing I really don't understand - help me! - is the regular stream of people promoting urban agriculture. I don't understand the point. I've got nothing against community gardens and the like, I understand that even urban hellhole residents might want to play in the soil a bit, but I really don't get what the point of promoting urban agriculture more widely is.
Septa Strike
Talks are continuing and strike hasn't happened yet, new deadline is this evening, but even if it does the regional rails and suburban trolleys (Norristown high speed line, 101, 102) will still run. The latter won't be much help for getting into center city, but the former will. For those heading to the baseball stadium for the world series, if the strike does happen, it's probably a $20 cab ride from Market East or Suburban Station to the stadium. And late after the game trains will be running.
Hating Infrastructure
Assuming Defazio's earlier characterization of Larry Summers hating infrastructure is correct, then we have a problem. Even if we accept that exciting new but not yet sufficiently planned for projects didn't belong in the stimulus bill, infrastructure is, you know, necessary, and every municipality in the country has on the shelf projects that could be started pretty quickly. These projects tend not to be sexy - water and sewer lines, station restoration - but they're necessary and often overdue. There was money for such things in the stimulus, but it's a shame that there wasn't more. And it's going to be a bigger shame if one way or another they don't come up with more stimulus money, whether or not they call it that.
Late Night Binging
I checked the list fairly late last night, saw nothing.
9 more banks got eated last night. One bank ate them all.
9 more banks got eated last night. One bank ate them all.
Watertiger
Just right for a Halloween morning.
Update: In comments P O'Neill provides Halloween substance. EATED Scary!
Update: In comments P O'Neill provides Halloween substance. EATED Scary!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Not Surprising
While not without its problems, plugging holes in state and local budgets was obviously one of the best stimulus targets...
Progress
This is the kind of thing we hoped the Obama administration would overturn. Alotta stoopid in our government.
President Obama called the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals a decision "rooted in fear rather than fact" and announced the end of the rule-making process lifting the ban.
The president signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the White House Friday and also spoke of the new rules, which have been under development more more than a year. "We are finishing the job," the president said.
3 Waves
Though I don't think there will any real divide between the waves, they'll just overlap, this sounds about right.
The costs of foreclosures - monetary and human - are huge. It's an area the administration should've been much more aggressive about. There is no perfect solution, of course, but an $8000 tax credit to encourage short sales and modestly prop up prices really doesn't seem to be the best one...
Sharga sees the foreclosure crisis coming in three waves, and with this new data, the market is showing signs of the second one.
“That first wave of foreclosures cratered the economy, which created job losses, which created the second wave. Now, we’re seeing prime rate loans affected by unemployment. And the third wave will be really a repeat of wave one, except this time we’re going to see a switch of Option ARM and Alt-A loans out for the subprime loans. It will probably be as big but somewhat shorter lived,” Sharga said.
Sharga said that he expects a peak in foreclosures in 2010, only a marginal improvement in 2011 and a return to normal monthly foreclosure activity sometime in 2012.
The costs of foreclosures - monetary and human - are huge. It's an area the administration should've been much more aggressive about. There is no perfect solution, of course, but an $8000 tax credit to encourage short sales and modestly prop up prices really doesn't seem to be the best one...
Better Than Shrinking, But...
As Krugman says, to reduce unemployment significantly you need more than "normal" growth, you need turbo-charged growth.
Tossed
Those of you who saw Michael Moore's latest know about the case of the judge getting kickbacks to send kids to a private juvenile detention facility. PA Supreme Court tossed almost all of the cases out, meaning they can't even be retried. Good for them.
Who Will Tell President Snowe?
And the rest of the Villagers.
"Which of these would you prefer – (a plan that includes some form of government-sponsored health insurance for people who can’t get affordable private insurance, but is approved without support from Republicans in Congress); or (a plan that is approved with support from Republicans in Congress, but does not include any form of government-sponsored health insurance for people who can’t get affordable private insurance)?"
Fifty one percent said they preferred the public option; 37 percent said they preferred a bill with some support from Republicans in Congress. Six percent said neither and seven percent expressed no opinion.
Never Knew What Color To Make My Avatar
This is an interesting development, though I admit to not have followed this very closely.
Deposed President Snowe, there's hope for you yet!
MEXICO CITY — A lingering political crisis in Honduras seemed to be nearing an end on Friday after the de facto government agreed to a deal that would allow Manuel Zelaya, the deposed president, to return to office.
Deposed President Snowe, there's hope for you yet!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
You'd Think We Could Make A Deal
So I was sitting there watching Earl Blumenauer onstage with Ed Rendell. Blumenauer's giving his 21st century infrastructure pitch and bragging about Oregon's streetcar manufacturing company. Philly's got a couple of trolley lines which they promised to restart, though those restarts are always 5 years off. Tracks and lines are roughly intact, but need rolling stock. Hmm....
Handy Chart
Compares original House bill with current one, but is pretty good at just laying out the details generally.
...oops, sorry about that, try this link.
...should work for everyone, but might just be working for people who are logged into google...
...oops, sorry about that, try this link.
...should work for everyone, but might just be working for people who are logged into google...
Exchange Access
The good news is that the House bill expands access to the exchanges, and therefore the public option, fairly rapidly. A decent public option plan with wide availability is what's necessary to fix this mess.
A Question
Last night at a roundtable for our nations's elite, that is to say, "bloggers," Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President, implied, though did not say outright, that one consequence of the real estate bubble was that manufacturing and other types of businesses were finding it difficult to obtain credit at favorable terms. As I said, this seemed to be the gist of what he was saying though I'm not 100% sure that was his point. So I'm curious! How much was credit being funneled away from all other sectors in the economy?
Credentials
A couple of speakers here talking about education have emphasized the need to expand and extend training credentialing, so that skills earned in a variety of contexts - work, college, various training programs - can be universally recognized and provide more job portability for those skills. I'm not sure what I think about this. Discuss!
Not Enough Stimulus
Harold Meyerson is explaining that about half the stimulus has been offset by reductions in public spending by state/local governments. Remember that very serious senators like Arlen Specter pushed a "compromise" which cut aid to states.
Hopefully I'm just unduly pessimistic and GDP growth will continue. I'm usually happy to be wrong.
Hopefully I'm just unduly pessimistic and GDP growth will continue. I'm usually happy to be wrong.
Where Will The New Jobs Come From
That seems to be the question of the day at this conference. It was the lingering question around the time I graduated from college, too. Then the internets came along. I think people are a little hard on the dotcom boom and bust, because while it was a bubble, the internets we still have with us. And they're pretty awesome. But then came the housing bubble, overinvestment in residential and commercial real estate, and massive mortgage equity withdrawal. Sure we're left with a bunch of empty houses and office buildings, which aren't entirely worthless, but empty houses deteriorate pretty quickly. The policy, it seems, is to breathe life into real estate while hoping something else comes along. It's a policy.
Thursday Is New Jobless Day
530K new lucky duckies, down from 531K last week.
Not over.
...in somewhat more encouraging news, GDP rises 3.5%.
Not over.
...in somewhat more encouraging news, GDP rises 3.5%.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Fun!
If my local transit authority strikes, all buses, subways, and trolleys within Philadelphia will cease to operate. Certain suburban lines, including the regional rail system, will continue to operate as they have a different union.
Won't affect me much, as I don't have a commute and walk most places anyway, but shitty times might be ahead for others.
Won't affect me much, as I don't have a commute and walk most places anyway, but shitty times might be ahead for others.
Densify
As Matt says, unless local authorities are willing to rethink zoning around transit stops, the utility of transit projects are greatly diminished. I'm not unsympathetic to local authorities who don't want to change, as plenty of people probably like their neighborhood the way it is and don't want radical change. Though, obviously, if you're trying to run a rail system from A-C, and B is in the middle you have a bit of a problem.
While I am sympathetic to people who don't want neighborhood change, I do suspect that for something like this opposition comes from people who have an exaggerated sense of the horror that is a walkable neighborhood with a bit of mixed use residential/retail.
While I am sympathetic to people who don't want neighborhood change, I do suspect that for something like this opposition comes from people who have an exaggerated sense of the horror that is a walkable neighborhood with a bit of mixed use residential/retail.
Conferencing
Heading to this conference tomorrow to hear from some people who think that inflating asset bubbles isn't necessarily the only thing that can be done.
I don't quite agree Trumka that we don't have an industrial policy. People on both left and right say this, and what the left means is we have a crappy industrial policy and what the right means is let's just pretend we live in free market fairy land where the government isn't doing anything to prop up various sectors through subsidies and wars and whatnot.
I don't quite agree Trumka that we don't have an industrial policy. People on both left and right say this, and what the left means is we have a crappy industrial policy and what the right means is let's just pretend we live in free market fairy land where the government isn't doing anything to prop up various sectors through subsidies and wars and whatnot.
But The Village Obsession Will Continue
It seems like there's a competition between Politico and Cillizza to see who can get the breaking news of every little detail of Sarah Palin's existence. She has about as much chance of being president as I do.
WASHINGTON (CNN) - More than seven in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin is not qualified to be president, according to a new national poll.
Bay Bridge
Rod from recent repair snaps, bridge is closed...
I have no idea, but in general this country is not so good at keeping up with needed bridge maintenance...
Abolhassan Astaneh-Asl, a civil engineering professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who has spent 20 years studying the Bay Bridge, called the initial crack a "warning sign" of potentially bigger safety issues with the bridge.
"The repair they were doing was really a Band-Aid," said Astaneh-Asl, who criticized Caltrans at the time for rushing to reopen the bridge.
Astaneh-Asl said the failure of the repair job demonstrates the need for a longer-term solution. The bridge's age and design make it susceptible to collapse, especially if commercial tractor-trailers are allowed to continue using it, he said.
I have no idea, but in general this country is not so good at keeping up with needed bridge maintenance...
Sparked
This article says that "subprime mortgages that helped spark the crisis." No they didn't. They were an early warning signal, and if anyone had given a shit people would've realized that banks had completely abandoned responsible underwriting. But no one cared until the financial crisis, and then they just cared because it was fun to blame poor minorities for what the banksters were responsible for.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
My heartfelt plea
Dear fence-sitters (aka Lieberman, Nelson, Landrieu et al),
Forget all the talk about the public option for a second and ignore your political consultants who are cautioning you about the imaginary negative repercussions of a “government takeover.” The reality is this debate really isn’t about politics, it’s about health care. It’s not left or right, it’s about all of us.
People need help. They can’t afford their health care bills. People are dying. The crazy health care expenses are hurting businesses. Please don’t turn your back on these people. If you join with the Republicans and block health care reform, you’re basically saying to the American people – go fuck yourselves.
Forget all the talk about the public option for a second and ignore your political consultants who are cautioning you about the imaginary negative repercussions of a “government takeover.” The reality is this debate really isn’t about politics, it’s about health care. It’s not left or right, it’s about all of us.
People need help. They can’t afford their health care bills. People are dying. The crazy health care expenses are hurting businesses. Please don’t turn your back on these people. If you join with the Republicans and block health care reform, you’re basically saying to the American people – go fuck yourselves.
Depressingly Bad Project
Even I can't get behind a plan which runs down Market St., which is already covered by a subway and numerous buses, and then travels between two casinos that haven't been built yet.
Mo Money
GMAC goes back for more.
I don't really have any opinion about this, just passing it on...
Citing unnamed sources, the report said the U.S. government is likely to inject between $2.8 billion and $5.6 billion in additional capital into the troubled lender. GMAC has already received $12.5 billion since December, the report said. The government's willingness to deepen taxpayer exposure to GMAC reflects its importance to the revival of the U.S. auto industry, according to the report.
I don't really have any opinion about this, just passing it on...
Happy Hour Thread
It's amazing how fast Windows runs before you load a bunch of crap onto it.
Anyway, hopefully will spend less time yelling at computer and more time blogging.
Anyway, hopefully will spend less time yelling at computer and more time blogging.
A Man Of Principle
No one is better at Arlen at being on every side of an issue, switching positions when expedient.
Tolls
I think too often discussion of road tolling gets a bit confused. There are two reasons to toll roads. One is toll as user fee, which can be just taken care of with a gas tax except for roads that for whatever reason we've deemed special. The other is as a way of reducing congestion, and the point here is that there's a congestion externality and you can turn "too much time wasted in traffic" into "money for other stuff" and make everyone better off.
There's also no reason for a flat-rate vehicle miles tax, which can be handled more smartly with a gas tax (I don't know why people think a whole new exciting tax is more politically easy than just nudging up the gas tax.) As for a high tech continuously varying by time/place/congestion VMT tax... well, it's a transport economist's dream, perhaps, but people would hate it. A lot.
There's also no reason for a flat-rate vehicle miles tax, which can be handled more smartly with a gas tax (I don't know why people think a whole new exciting tax is more politically easy than just nudging up the gas tax.) As for a high tech continuously varying by time/place/congestion VMT tax... well, it's a transport economist's dream, perhaps, but people would hate it. A lot.
What Are We Doing There
At some point the invasion of Afghanistan - and Iraq after it - ceased to be about getting rid of the bad guys and became a perpetually self-justifying occupation. We can only leave when everyone in the country is happy for us to stay.
Good
Someone has declared they will no longer drive their car to or visit Center City Philadelphia. Uh, good? There are plenty of places in the city that are reasonable to drive to, and obviously sometimes there are good reasons to drive anywhere, but the rather small part of the city most people think of as Center City is, you know, crowded. You can't have that many people there unless most of them aren't driving! There's no place to put the cars!
Maiden Lane
Bailed out the banksters at par.
Part of a sentence in the document was crossed out. It contained a blank space that was intended to show the amount of the haircut the banks would take, according to people who saw the term sheet. After less than a week of private negotiations with the banks, the New York Fed instructed AIG to pay them par, or 100 cents on the dollar. The content of its deliberations has never been made public.
The New York Fed’s decision to pay the banks in full cost AIG -- and thus American taxpayers -- at least $13 billion. That’s 40 percent of the $32.5 billion AIG paid to retire the swaps. Under the agreement, the government and its taxpayers became owners of the dubious CDOs, whose face value was $62 billion and for which AIG paid the market price of $29.6 billion. The CDOs were shunted into a Fed-run entity called Maiden Lane III.
Monday, October 26, 2009
SUPERTRAIN Series
Phillies ride the choo-choo to Yankeeville.
Normal non-Acela Amtrak is about 1:20 to NYC and 1:50 to DC from Philly.
Normal non-Acela Amtrak is about 1:20 to NYC and 1:50 to DC from Philly.
Deep Thought
I'm all for there being a decent public option, but am still disturbed at the apparent coup which has removed President Snowe from office.
Reconsidering Death Penalty
But only for virus makers and people who don't clean up after their dogs.
Funny How That's Working
Federal government owns most mortgages. It's not new that Fannie and Freddie are taking them, it's just that they used to have other shareholders...
We're Living In Truly Crazy Times
According to Dana Bash, the public option made it into the Senate bill because Reid and others started to get worried that if they don't throw a bone to the base voters then they won't turnout and they'll lose their jobs.
Point Of No Return
I don't know if newspapers could have done all that much to stop their circulations from falling. Certainly it seems like they've clung to a rather odd product model, though whether changing that model would have helped much I do not know.
Corzine
I don't know if this poll is an outlier or not, but presumably team Corzine is happy regardless.
Oddly I never worried much about this race, even though Corzine was running behind for quite awhile. Christie's a really unappealing guy, and no that's not a subtle jab at his weight.
Oddly I never worried much about this race, even though Corzine was running behind for quite awhile. Christie's a really unappealing guy, and no that's not a subtle jab at his weight.
Nobody Could Predict
That this will go horribly wrong...
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
If the parking meter deal put a bad taste in your mouth, try swallowing this:
Chicago is considering leasing its water system to help fix the budget.
The new boss could charge whatever they want for water, CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports.
Holy Wars
Radical cleric Ross Douthat:
That foe, of course, is the Islamic religion, which is apparently taking over Europe or something.
What’s being interpreted, for now, as an intra-Christian skirmish may eventually be remembered as the first step toward a united Anglican-Catholic front — not against liberalism or atheism, but against Christianity’s most enduring and impressive foe.
That foe, of course, is the Islamic religion, which is apparently taking over Europe or something.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Village Elders
When the American empire crumbles, future historians will point to the fact that anyone took any of these people seriously as the main reason...
Strike
Just in time for the World Series, my local transit authority union has voted to authorize a strike.
ruh-roh
ruh-roh
Should Be A Nice Place
I briefly visited Atlantic City recently ($8 SUPERTRAIN trip on NJT), and I was struck by what a failure it is. It could be quite a nice tourist town, but instead suffers from the casino problem in that all the casinos are designed to trap people within. Individually it's probably a smart business decision, but collectively it fails the town. It's really kinda weird that "old people playing slot machines" was the vision for years. Really could be a nice place.
Bankster Madness
As I've said before, one thing I didn't realize during the blowing up of the great housing bubble was that banks basically threw lending standards out the window entirely. I thought they were suckering people into taking onerous loans, but ones which they could sorta barely manage to repay.
...it's interesting that there was a quiet run on the bank.
...it's interesting that there was a quiet run on the bank.
More than $17 billion flew out the door between Sept. 5 and 25, when federal regulators finally pulled the plug on Killinger's dream of a banking Wal-Mart.
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has President McCain and Russ Feingold.
This Week has Claire McCaskill, Mitch McConnell, and an exiting roundtable with Al Hunt, John Podesta, Laura Ingraham (!), and George Will.
Dancing Dave's Sunday Variety Show has Cornyn, Schumer, and a very balanced roundtable with Joe Scarborough, Erin Burnett, Jane Meyer, and Baghdad Dan Senor.
Document the atrocities!
This Week has Claire McCaskill, Mitch McConnell, and an exiting roundtable with Al Hunt, John Podesta, Laura Ingraham (!), and George Will.
Dancing Dave's Sunday Variety Show has Cornyn, Schumer, and a very balanced roundtable with Joe Scarborough, Erin Burnett, Jane Meyer, and Baghdad Dan Senor.
Document the atrocities!
Meanwhile
Over there.
BAGHDAD — A pair of suicide car bombs exploded almost simultaneously in downtown Baghdad on Sunday, targeting two government buildings and killing at least 132 people and wounding 520, according to the Ministry of the Interior. The official said the toll may rise even more.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
What's The Matter With Georgia?
I was pondering this question last night, as they've had a lot of bank failures even though Georgia wasn't exactly housing bubble central. Some of these banks were offering high yields to attract out of state brokered deposits, allowing them to grow fast without actually doing the heavy lifting of growing a local retail banking business. Those deposits were, of course, FDIC guaranteed. There was also some funny stuff going on...
A more pointed Material Loss Review was issued about another Georgia bank --Haven Trust of Duluth GA --back in August. That one cost the FDIC deposit insurance fund $207 million. Among the interesting items in the FDIC OIG's Material Loss Review for $576 million Haven are dubious multi-million dollar loans to the school age children of one of the bank's owners. The review also contains a photo of a planned 238 townhouse project that the bank financed for $5.6 million in 2007 even as the real estate market was softening. By September 2008 about three quarters of the loan had been disbursed. The photo taken in 2009 shows an empty lot with no construction on it. The FDIC now appraises the property's value at $1 million.
CRE Hell
I don't know enough to really know, but I do worry about the dominos falling...
This was part of GMAC.
Capmark Financial Group Inc., one of the nation's largest commercial-real-estate lenders, plans to file for bankruptcy as soon as this weekend, a person familiar with the situation said.
The much-expected move underscores the deep problems in the business-property market. After suffering from the collapse in residential mortgages, U.S. banks face steep losses from commercial real-estate loans. Capmark has originated more than $10 billion in commercial real-estate loans, according to Moody's Investors Service.
This was part of GMAC.
Nixonian
It really is a mystery to me why mainstream journalists, for whom their authority and standards are thought to be important, have gone out of their way to make sure Fox News is included in their little club. And the Obama/Nixon comparisons...oy.
If Even Kaplan "Public Option Is Dead" Test Prep Daily Says So...
Maybe there's room for a bit of optimism.
Democratic leaders in the Senate and House have concluded that a government-run insurance plan is the cheapest way to expand health coverage, and they sought Friday to rally support for the idea, prospects for which have gone in a few short weeks from bleak to bright.
The shift in momentum is so dramatic that many lawmakers now predict that President Obama will sign a final bill that includes some form of government-sponsored insurance for people who do not receive coverage through the workplace. Even Democrats with strong reservations about expanding government's role in the health-care system say they are reconsidering the approach in hopes of making low-cost plans broadly available.
Friday, October 23, 2009
If It's Friday...
Partners Bank, Naples, FL gets EATED.
#100!!
....#101
American United Bank, Lawrenceville, GA gets EATED
#100!!
....#101
American United Bank, Lawrenceville, GA gets EATED
To Answer The Question
Like fish and man, streetcars and light rail can happily coexist without breaking peoples' brains...
Eleventy-Seven Dimensional Chess
The optimistic reading of this is that Obama is willing to trade for Snowe's support for the Senate bill and then push for a better bill in the conference with the House.
The less optimistic reading is obvious.
The less optimistic reading is obvious.
This Is Excellent News For Republicans
Somehow.
WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Republican Party's favorable rating among Americans is at lowest level in at least a decade, according to a new national poll.
Thirty-six percent of people questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Friday say they have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, with 54 percent viewing the GOP negatively.
According to the poll, 53 percent have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party, with 41 percent holding an unfavorable view. The survey indicates that favorable ratings for the Democrats have dropped 5 points since February, with the Republican number slipping 3 points.
He's Not Important Or Influential Or Knowledgeable
But President John McCain will, yet again, be on your teevee this Sunday.
If it's Sunday, it's John McCain...
If it's Sunday, it's John McCain...
A Lot Of People Have No Choice
As with many issues, the conversations in the media about public transit tend to revolve around issues that the relatively privileged face. Going carfree is a "lifestyle choice," whether to build transit depends on whether "people like us" want to use it. "Nobody rides the bus" generally means "nobody like me rides the bus."
But the fact is in many places a hell of a lot of people don't drive for financial or medical reasons. In Los Angeles, nobody rides the bus, except for the million+ daily boardings. Locally it's clear a lot of elderly people - and locally there are a lot of elderly people - use the system as their primary means of getting around.
*must be a mistake in the August 2007 ridership figure.
But the fact is in many places a hell of a lot of people don't drive for financial or medical reasons. In Los Angeles, nobody rides the bus, except for the million+ daily boardings. Locally it's clear a lot of elderly people - and locally there are a lot of elderly people - use the system as their primary means of getting around.
*must be a mistake in the August 2007 ridership figure.
Nobody Could Have Predicted...
That these people were complete tools...
Oct. 23 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc.’s highest paid executives in the unit blamed for pushing the insurer to the brink of collapse haven’t returned bonuses as they’d promised, according to the Obama administration.
Four of five managers in AIG’s Financial Products unit that are under the jurisdiction of pay master Kenneth Feinberg didn’t make good on pledges to return the bonuses as of August, Feinberg said in documents released yesterday. The fifth employee hadn’t made any promise, Feinberg said.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
To Make An Obvious Point
If the government was tearing up union contracts and slashing wages, the equivalent story would be told from a different perspective.
Hopey
Like Digby, I can't predict the future but remain (very) cautiously optimistic about the end result of HCR. I was worried for awhile there, when I realized that it seemed that one thing many of our very important senators had forgotten to consider was that people actually have to kind of like this plan, and forcing people to buy shitty insurance would probably not make voters happy. I get the sense (not that I really know) that it's become a bit more of the conversation, and hopefully that'll lead a few more people to understand that pleasing Olympia Snowe and AHIP can't be the only considerations.
Real Estate Hell
Problematic when these companies go bust.
NORTH MYRTLE BEACH -- When Premier Resorts, a Utah company that managed some properties at Barefoot Resort, closed last week, the company left property owners without a way to get into their units and one couple without a venue for their wedding that is just weeks away.
Village Journalism
Time's Jay Newton-Small:
Jamison has more.
I presented both sides of the story. I'll leave it to columnists and readers to draw their own conclusions on who had the best case.
Jamison has more.
Conquest
I guess when you invade a country under false pretenses you're entitled to take their natural resources, too. If US soldiers died, US oil companies deserve profit. QED
My Wrongness Proves I Was Right!
Villagers are so absurd. Look, even they usually acknowledge, if apologetically, that the Right - both the movement and Republicans - have been attacking the "liberal media" for decades. It's like they wake up every day completely forgetting everything which happened previously.
Thursday Is New Jobless Day
Still bad.
Initial claims for state jobless insurance increased 11,000 to a seasonally adjusted 531,000 in the week ended Oct. 17 from a revised 520,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said, after declining for two consecutive weeks.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Socialism!!!!!!
Of the good kind.
I wonder how real this is... we'll find out!
NEW YORK - The Obama administration plans to order companies that have received exceptionally large amounts of bailout money from the government to slash compensation for their highest paid executives, according to a person familiar with the decision.
The deep cuts mean that the 25 most highly paid executives at these seven firms will see their total compensation for 2009 reduced by an average of 50 percent from last year, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.
Cash compensation will be reduced the most -- by about 90 percent, the source said. Treasury is expected within days to release the ruling by Kenneth Feinberg, the administration's special master on compensation.
I wonder how real this is... we'll find out!
Better And Cheaper
The only reason to prefer whatever monstrosity the Senate is likely to come up with over the House bill is that you think health insurance companies deserve to forever continue their role of skimming a few percentage points of GDP for no value until the end of time.
If the Senate bill is better than I expect then I will apologize. Harry could surprise!
If the Senate bill is better than I expect then I will apologize. Harry could surprise!
Bad Out There
State level unemployment numbers come out later than the national numbers, so these are from September.
Go big square states!
...Nebraska not quite as square as I remembered.
Michigan again recorded the highest unemployment rate among the
states, 15.3 percent, in September. The states with the next highest
rates were Nevada, 13.3 percent; Rhode Island, 13.0 percent; and
California, 12.2 percent. The rates in Nevada and Rhode Island set new
series highs. Florida, at 11.0 percent, also posted a series high.
(All state series begin in 1976.) North Dakota continued to register
the lowest jobless rate, 4.2 percent in September, followed by South
Dakota, 4.8 percent, and Nebraska, 4.9 percent.
Go big square states!
...Nebraska not quite as square as I remembered.
More SUPERTRAINS
My local transit authority is far from perfect, but they've been doing pretty well lately accommodating special events. They're running extra late night regional rail trains 90 minutes after the last out of the game my local sports franchise is playing. As usual they'll be stacking subway cars for when the game lets out.
Medicare E
This is good news. The more to the left both of the bills can be pulled, the more chance there is of a good final outcome.
Kaplan Test Prep Daily
Where facts aren't especially important.
...sigh, link pulled. killed the hamsters.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/10/21/95344/254
...sigh, link pulled. killed the hamsters.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2009/10/21/95344/254
Huckaboom
I think one of the most interesting moments of the presidential primary season came when the online Right and plenty of elite conservative commentators had a collective freakout about the possibility of Huckabee as their candidate. How exactly that squares with the Palin worship I don't quite understand, but keep that in mind as we watch the unfolding conservative movement crackup..
Giuliani Time
I wasn't sure what pissed off Bernie's judge so much yesterday. Now we know.
In June, the judge learned that a nonpracticing lawyer affiliated with Kerik was speaking with witnesses.
Kerik acknowledged having retained the man for $1, and Robinson warned it better not happen again.
In recent weeks, prosecutors discovered that Modafferi wrote anti-prosecution screeds on a Web site linked to Kerik's defense fund site.
They said Kerik was also using Twitter to refer supporters to Modafferi's site.
In one entry the judge quoted, Modafferi wrote, "In a heavy-handed attempt the government gave Kerik an ultimatum, plead or the government will do everything in its power to destroy Kerik and his family."
The judge also cited an affidavit in which Kerik admitted sending Modafferi's a defense motion that included material that was not public.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Everyone Drives
Even in urban dailies there's almost always the implicit assumption that everyone has a car. And it, you know, really isn't true! In 2000, 37% of DC households didn't have cars. I'd guess that number is higher now. 56% in New York, 36% in Philly, 35% in Boston etc..
Pat
One of life's enduring mysteries is how Pat Buchanan, apparently tenured at MSNBC, can get away with saying literally anything.
Creative Destruction
It really is quite fascinating just how fast the once ubiquitous video rental store industry is disappearing. I don't think this is anything to be especially sad about, as I think the internet "browsing" experience works just fine. If the studios had priced VHS movies at non-insane prices when they first came out it's possible rental stores would've never come into being, or at least not nearly as many.
...adding, I guess there's a digital divide issue here to some degree, though relative to other examples of those issues I'm not sure how important this one is.
...adding, I guess there's a digital divide issue here to some degree, though relative to other examples of those issues I'm not sure how important this one is.
Make Me Care
Journalists want me to care about quality journalism, and I do, if not necessarily the existing institutions and elite practitioners of it, but their failure to differentiate quality journalism from the partisan hacktitude of Fox News is one of the problems with their profession.
I don't have any problem with ideological media, obviously, though ideological is different than partisan, but people in elite media should have a modest understanding of the role of the various players in their ecosystem. Maybe it's fine that Fox News is basically just an extension of the Republican party, what's not fine is all the people pretending that isn't the case.
I don't have any problem with ideological media, obviously, though ideological is different than partisan, but people in elite media should have a modest understanding of the role of the various players in their ecosystem. Maybe it's fine that Fox News is basically just an extension of the Republican party, what's not fine is all the people pretending that isn't the case.
In Perpetuity
I don't really have a problem with paying for stadium naming rights, I just get tired of them changing names all the time. While the article makes it sound as if the Staples Center will keep its name forever, it might be just that it'll keep the name forever as long as they keep paying. Not quite clear.
Terraforming Mars
Um, I'm a big scifi dork but could we build a couple of supertrains and rebuild a bridge or two first?
Somehow This Is Excellent News For Republicans
As Greg notes, Republicans are positioned about as well as they were in 2006 and 2008, which is to say they're not well positioned at all. George Bush destroyed everything he touched, including the Republican party. Still, even after the country elected a biracial black guy named Barack Hussein Obama, the Villager media still has this odd deference to what's left of God's Own Party.
Get Off My Lawn
I don't think people need to embrace or enjoy any popular culture whatsoever, but I'm always amused by people who effectively say, "I haven't seen a TV show in 25 years because they're all bad."
They're Both Forgotten, Really
It's certainly the case that Afghanistan gets a bit more attention these days, but they're both still really afterthoughts. Since our freedom bombs didn't cause the spontaneous creation of paradise, leaving has long been equated with losing in both places. So we stay, spend lots of money, and people keep dying.
Your Liberal Media
The important thing to remember about John Stossel is that while Fox is obviously a perfect place for him, he was on ABC for years.
Monday, October 19, 2009
PAYD
Genuine pay as you drive insurance would be a good innovation. The point isn't to make people pay more overall - some would pay a bit less some a bit more - it's to convert a fixed cost into a marginal one.
Scranton To Hoboken
That's a SUPERTRAIN route I can support, though that's probably true of most of them.
Fortunately the Lackawanna Cutoff right of way remains intact.
Somehow I think the Scranton Chamber of Commerce is overselling its inevitability, but maybe it will happen!
Fortunately the Lackawanna Cutoff right of way remains intact.
In 1985, Conrail sold the trackless right-of-way for approximately $1 million to two land developers, one of whom, Gerard Turco of Kearny, New Jersey, proposed to use the Cut-Off as a massive source of construction fill, as well as to dump New York City garbage in the huge cuts. (The second developer, Burton Goldmeier, who purchased the short section of the line in Morris County, was rumored to want the right-of-way as an access road.) The Turco proposal, however, became a rallying point in preserving the Cut-Off and was a direct catalyst for a $40 million state bond issue for acquiring abandoned rail rights-of-way in New Jersey.
The bond issue was approved by the voters in November 1989, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation subsequently initiated condemnation proceedings against the corporations that Mr. Turco and Mr. Goldmeier had set up in New Jersey for the Cut-Off. (Mr. Turco established separate corporations for the sections of right-of-way in each municipality that the Cut-Off ran through — Knowlton, Blairstown and Frelinghuysen townships in Warren County; Green, Byram, and Andover townships and Stanhope and Andover boroughs in Sussex County; and Roxbury Township in Morris County. In addition, a separate corporation had been set up for the Paulinskill Viaduct in New Jersey, near the bridge to Pennsylvania.)
Somehow I think the Scranton Chamber of Commerce is overselling its inevitability, but maybe it will happen!
Unpopular
As Digby says, a bad health care bill will also be deeply unpopular. Even a pretty darn good health care bill might provoke a pretty big backlash. Ultimately if they fail to deliver a popular product, the Republicans will run against them on all the shitty parts of the bill.
What A Shitty Decade
Maybe it's just a bit too early, but I'm a bit surprised by the lack of end of the decade reminiscing pieces in the news. We all agreed that the new millenium started on Jan. 1, 2000, so its first decade is almost done...
Sooner Or Later They Might Notice A White Man
But if I were a white guy in the Obama administration I'd probably a bit comforted by the fact that Beck's teabaggers aren't too interested in me.
Lazy Assholes
I certainly think that handicapped licenses/placards should be given out pretty liberally. Even people who have what sound like relatively minor or temporary mobility issues can find a short walk to be a pretty daunting task. Still, stealing spots from handicapped people just because you can makes you a real asshole.
Intrusion By Regulators
I sort of thought that was their job?
In the accountability-free era it's fashionable to say that nobody could have predicted... but people did, and the people in charge did nothing.
In the accountability-free era it's fashionable to say that nobody could have predicted... but people did, and the people in charge did nothing.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Home To Homeless
I don't think there was one obvious right answer to this problem, but people should've more strongly felt the need to find an answer.
- Only three years ago, foreclosure was rarely a factor in how people became homeless. But among the homeless people that social service agencies have helped over the last year, an average of 10 percent lost homes to foreclosure, according to “Foreclosure to Homelessness 2009,” a survey produced by the National Coalition for the Homeless and six other advocacy groups.
Sheinhardt Wig Company
Apparently they bought a lot of CRE near peak...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Electric Co's $84 billion real estate portfolio remains a worry for investors, who wonder if the conglomerate will have to take big write-downs to reflect the lower value of real estate debt and equity holdings.
...
The financing available to roll over a lot of commercial debt coming due in the next few years is limited. Much of GE's commercial real estate equity is not worth what the company paid for it, especially assets bought near the market peak in 2006 and 2007.
"They're still not taking impairments on the commercial real estate portfolio and there's a lot of concern about that," said Jack De Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp, which owns GE shares in client portfolios.
Freedom Bombs
Reading this I'm reminded of all the early Iraq war era news stories about that odd Arab cultural trait which led men to have hurt pride when US soldiers would bust into their homes in the middle of the night and rough them and their families up. Wacky Arab culture!!
Time For Another Blogger Ethics Panel
Oh dear.
Joking aside, I've spent years watching journalists assert that they have "standards" and "ethics" and whatnot, as if simply asserting it made it true.
Joking aside, I've spent years watching journalists assert that they have "standards" and "ethics" and whatnot, as if simply asserting it made it true.
And They Probably Did The Right Thing
McClatchy has a story about how Moody's got rid of all the worry warts and promoted all the people who were happy to give AAA ratings to Big Shitpile and other assorted bits of feces. Not sure there have been negative consequence for them, so call it a win!
Sunday Bobbleheads
Face the Nation has Rahmbo and the Johns Cornyn and Kerry. Oddly Kerry is in Afghanistan and Rahmbo is not.
The Dancing Dave Show has Maria Shriver, Valerie Jarrett, Chris Dodd, and the John Kyl.
This Week has Axelrod, and a hilarious roundtable with EJ Dionne, Jake Tapper, Magic Dolphin Lady, George "Get Off My Lawn" Will, and The Shrill One.
Document the atrocities!
The Dancing Dave Show has Maria Shriver, Valerie Jarrett, Chris Dodd, and the John Kyl.
This Week has Axelrod, and a hilarious roundtable with EJ Dionne, Jake Tapper, Magic Dolphin Lady, George "Get Off My Lawn" Will, and The Shrill One.
Document the atrocities!
Dead of Night
The counterattack here was so feeble it almost went unnoticed. So let's just end it... WITH LOUDNESS!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Timeless
When I read this in my RSS reader it seemed like BooMan himself had gotten some Palin starbusts...
Better Than It Could've Been
Given when it was designed and built, I think DC's metro system functions surprisingly well as an intra-city subway system along with its park-n-ride suburban commuter function. But in the glorious future when I am your benevolent dictator, we will start thinking about providing quality transit in walkable densely populated areas under served by it instead putting most of our focus on suburban commuters.
Breakup
I guess the administration is a bit less enamored of the insurance industry than they were.
We know that this inaction has carried a terrible toll. In the past decade, premiums have doubled. Over the past few years, total out of pocket costs for people with insurance rose by a third. And we know that if we do not reform the system, this will only be a preview of coming attractions. A new report for the Business Roundtable – a non-partisan group that represents the CEOs of major companies – found that without significant reform, health care costs for these employers and their employees will well more than double again over the next decade. The cost per person for health insurance will rise by almost $18,000. That’s a huge amount of money. That’s going to mean lower salaries and higher unemployment, lower profits and higher rolls of uninsured. It is no exaggeration to say, that unless we act, these costs will devastate the US economy.
This is the unsustainable path we’re on, and it’s the path the insurers want to keep us on. In fact, the insurance industry is rolling out the big guns and breaking open their massive war chest – to marshal their forces for one last fight to save the status quo. They’re filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads. They’re flooding Capitol Hill with lobbyists and campaign contributions. And they’re funding studies designed to mislead the American people.
Heckuva Job, Larry
In fairness, I also thought interest rates would rise, though I didn't bet a billion+ of other people's money on that thought.
Civility
The fact that his son is responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths is a lot more uncivil than any namecalling I could possibly unleash.
But it's the Village, where people being mean to each other is much more important than the consequences of doing their jobs.
But it's the Village, where people being mean to each other is much more important than the consequences of doing their jobs.
I've always thought the Chamber of Commerce was just another scam, but they really are. I have to agree with this sentiment.
Signed,
Not Atrios
Signed,
Not Atrios
Friday, October 16, 2009
The Jews Love Us!
In the bubble your contemporary conservative/Republican lives in, Jews actually do vote Republican in overwhelming numbers. The fact that they're consistently the 2nd most reliable Democratic racial/ethnic voting bloc, after African-Americans, cannot possible be true so that can just be ignored.
Semi-joking aside, it really just is the case that in the Village there's a narrative about Jews being swing voters or even Republican-leaning. 78% for Obama in 2008.
A short blog post is not the place for a full discussion of what a "racial/ethnic voting bloc" is. You probably know what I mean.
Semi-joking aside, it really just is the case that in the Village there's a narrative about Jews being swing voters or even Republican-leaning. 78% for Obama in 2008.
A short blog post is not the place for a full discussion of what a "racial/ethnic voting bloc" is. You probably know what I mean.
You Know Else Was Pretty Smart? Hitler.
The thing is, conservatives can pretty much get away with expressing anything without any kind of consequences. If someone managed to find a picture of 15-year-old me wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt, House Democrats would probably draft a resolution condemning me the next day.
Hey, He Noticed
Got this in my inbox this morning. Excerpts from Summers speech:
All those crises that no one could have predicted. Makes one wonder if it's a feature, not a bug...
"There is much in the way the financial system functions in America and around the world that is essential to preserve. And yet the events of the last two years are the culmination of a remarkable sequence of financial problems. Roughly every three years for the last generation a financial system that was intended to manage, distribute, and control risk has, in fact, been a source of risk – with devastating consequences for workers, consumers, and taxpayers."
"Think about it. The last generation has seen:
The Latin American debt crisis
The 1987 stock market crash
The savings and loan debacle
The Mexican financial crisis
The Asian financial crisis
The collapse of LTCM
The bursting of the dot-com bubble
And now the financial crisis that began in 2007."
"One crisis every three years."
"Surely a system that produces this many accidents and accidents this severe is a system that is in very much need of reform."
“There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system. This has direct relevance on the changing nature of the social compact between the financial sector and the broader economy.”
“The time has come for fundamental change in the financial sector of our economy – both in how financial institutions conduct their business and how they are regulated.”
“Financial institutions that have benefited from government support can, should, and must use this moment to think about what they can do for their country – by accepting the necessary regulation to protect the American people.”
“The events of the past two years should serve as a wakeup call for the financial industry.”
“Wall Street was no small part of the cause of the crisis and Wall Street needs to be part of the solution.”
“President Obama came to Washington committed to change the way business in government is done. What we are able to do with financial reform now, in the wake of the financial crisis, is an important embodiment of that commitment. In order to usher in the “new era of responsibility” that the President called for at his Inauguration, we must ensure that we do not go back to the kinds of abuse that helped cause this crisis in the first place.”
“The House Financial Services Committee took an historic step in this direction yesterday when it voted to bring previously unregulated derivatives under the regulatory umbrella.”
“We in the Administration are determined to create economic expansion and growth not based on financial bubbles, but instead on real production and distribution of goods and services for the benefit of all the citizens of our country. That is a lesson not just of this most recent crisis, but of the agonizing pattern we have witnessed eight times during the past three decades.”
“It is our duty – for the government, the financial sector, and everyone else in this debate – to break this cycle and build a new, stronger, and more inclusive foundation for the American economy.”
All those crises that no one could have predicted. Makes one wonder if it's a feature, not a bug...
Wanting To Live With Mom And Dad
Are there really significant numbers of college graduates who want to live with mom and dad for reasons that aren't strictly financial?
And as for an unwillingness to work abroad, I'm curious about the level of generosity of international relocation packages. It's one thing to go work abroad for a few years if you have generous housing/travel/moving benefits, and, you know, a wee bit of job security, quite another if you don't.
And as for an unwillingness to work abroad, I'm curious about the level of generosity of international relocation packages. It's one thing to go work abroad for a few years if you have generous housing/travel/moving benefits, and, you know, a wee bit of job security, quite another if you don't.
What's The Matter With Idaho?
Anyone have any clue why the foreclosure rate there is so high?
I guess the most interesting housing boom/bust locations are Arizona and Nevada, as they are the obvious exceptions to Krugman's Flatland/Zoned Zone view. Unless I'm missing part of the story, people started going to these places when they were cheap...and then kept buying even when they ceased to be cheap. Here's a graph of Phoenix prices through June, for example.
I guess the most interesting housing boom/bust locations are Arizona and Nevada, as they are the obvious exceptions to Krugman's Flatland/Zoned Zone view. Unless I'm missing part of the story, people started going to these places when they were cheap...and then kept buying even when they ceased to be cheap. Here's a graph of Phoenix prices through June, for example.
Morning Thread
by Molly Ivors
Ah, the good old days. Topical songs, 2006 edition:
One million Samolians to the first person to recognize the long-haired guitarist with Dick Cheney's head.....
Ah, the good old days. Topical songs, 2006 edition:
One million Samolians to the first person to recognize the long-haired guitarist with Dick Cheney's head.....
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Foreclosed
A list of Irvine, CA foreclosures gives a taste of how much banks are potentially eating... before they get eated.
Lord Saletan
There's a germ of a point here, that these days in popular thought and discourse we tend to conflate statutory rape with both rape and child molestation, when these things are not exactly the same. But otherwise it's just Lord Saletan saying that unless he gets to administer Justice in precisely the fashion he thinks is appropriate, then rich and powerful people should get away with raping 13 year old girls.
Even Alan
Even Greenspan now thinks too big to fail is too big.
I can see that reasonable people can disagree about how and when to break up the banks, but I do not really see how one can think too big to fail institutions should continue that way indefinitely.
I can see that reasonable people can disagree about how and when to break up the banks, but I do not really see how one can think too big to fail institutions should continue that way indefinitely.
And Another Big Hoover
Paterson proposes big spending cuts in New York.
Things really aren't happening the way they should.
Things really aren't happening the way they should.
Giving Money To Seniors
Whatever the rationalization, it's stimulus and pretty good stimulus. Not all elderly people are poor, but plenty really do live on modest fixed incomes. They'll spend the extra.
Failure To Act
I'm not exactly sure when we all finally agreed that there was a looming foreclosure crisis, but it's been somewhere between 12-18 months that it became the consensus view. And foreclosures keep increasing.
Press Releases Gone Wild
The White House Press Office just sent me an email informing me of a presidential proclamation regarding White Cane Safety Day.
....ah, not nearly as silly as it sounds.
....ah, not nearly as silly as it sounds.
That Thing, It Does Not Exist
A "Republican filibuster" is mathematically unpossible. Perhaps reporters should understand this?
Conservatives Are Weird
When they start handing out Ronaldus Magnus awards left and right I won't presume to tell them who should get them.
Late Night
The things that are news to Senators. Oy.
As a class, Senators are fucking morons. I mean, good for Susie, but Christ, a sitting Senator having to be told that our stupid healthcare system is bad for entrepreneurs... gah.
As a class, Senators are fucking morons. I mean, good for Susie, but Christ, a sitting Senator having to be told that our stupid healthcare system is bad for entrepreneurs... gah.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
That Thing, It Does Not Exist
A Republican filibuster is unpossible.
And I'm tired of getting fundraising emails warning me about Republican obstructionism. Republicans can't obstruct crap without help... from Democrats.
And I'm tired of getting fundraising emails warning me about Republican obstructionism. Republicans can't obstruct crap without help... from Democrats.
Another Reason To Hate The Banksters
Much less willing to lend for development projects that don't have large amounts of parking...
More And Better Stimulus
The Fed isn't exactly super optimistic about things. More stimulus is needed. If they're not sure what to spend it on I will happily submit a list of pet projects for them to fund.
Glibertarian Freedom Communications
Shafting the carriers.
Among the unsecured creditors are 5,000 newspaper carriers who sued the Orange County Register, claiming the newspaper improperly classified them as independent contractors instead of employees. The Register agreed in a settlement last November to pay up to $22 million to the carriers and placed $28 million in an escrow account to be paid out Sept. 14.
Freedom, however, took back the money after filing for bankruptcy on Sept. 1, claiming that since it didn’t have to be paid out until Sept. 14, it was rightfully part of the company’s assets and should be included in the bankrupcty.
Oh What A Lovely War
And most of its advocates feel no remorse whatsoever.
BAGHDAD (AP) -- At least 85,000 Iraqis lost their lives from 2004-2008 in violence, the government said in its first comprehensive tally released since the war began.
The report by the Human Rights Ministry came out late Tuesday as part of a larger study on human rights in the country. It said 85,694 people were killed in the four-year period, and 147,195 were wounded during the same period.
Not Over
Just in case you thought it was.
Failure to strongly support bankruptcy cramdown legislation was a tremendous mistake by the Obama administration. I don't see how the economy turns around until the foreclosure crisis ends.
The Mortgage Bankers Assn. said Tuesday that it expected home foreclosures in the U.S. to continue to rise before leveling off late next year. The reason: Job losses have replaced adjustable subprime loans as the main cause of defaults.
Jay Brinkmann, the group's chief economist, predicted that unemployment would rise through next summer, causing delinquencies to rise. And because of the loss of income, it will be increasingly difficult to keep troubled borrowers in their homes by modifying their loans, he said.
As a result, the foreclosure rate is expected to increase "through the latter part of next year," Brinkmann said in San Diego at the trade group's annual convention. "And even when it starts to come down, it's going to come down very slowly."
Failure to strongly support bankruptcy cramdown legislation was a tremendous mistake by the Obama administration. I don't see how the economy turns around until the foreclosure crisis ends.
I Have A Little Dream
That one day someone will sit down with most of the members of the Senate and explain to them that most of them are completely ridiculous people and that their regular antics and usual speaking style causes most people to just roll their eyes.
We Didn't Do It
In the accountability-free era, it isn't really any surprise that no one actually takes responsibility for anything.
As Frank Rich wrote on Sunday about a different subject.
5 years from now it will probably be a "fact" that ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act caused the housing bubble.
As Frank Rich wrote on Sunday about a different subject.
This shameless argument assumes — perhaps correctly — that no one in this country remembers anything.
5 years from now it will probably be a "fact" that ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act caused the housing bubble.
Crosstown SUPERTRAIN
Contrary to what people might think, I'm actually not a huge proponent of pulling cars off streets and making pedestrian only zones. I'm not against it, but just not that enthusiastic. It doesn't always work very well, and sometimes does just create dead unvisited corridors. But I'd guess a light rail/pedestrian zone for 42nd street in NYC would work quite nicely.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Fucking Moron Of The Day
Richard Cleland.
To be clear, I have no problem with transparency and disclosure, I have a problem with Blogger Ethics rules and laws which don't apply anywhere else in the universe for no rational reason.
To be clear, I have no problem with transparency and disclosure, I have a problem with Blogger Ethics rules and laws which don't apply anywhere else in the universe for no rational reason.
Excellence In Wingnuttery
Surely there's no problem with sending large quantities of a white somewhat powdery substance to Senate offices...
You're Not Allowed To Go There
The Cuba travel plan is completely absurd, and people should be pretty pissed that their government is telling them where they can and cannot go. Hopefully it gets overturned one day...
Not Dead Yet
Report on Philly confirms what I'd thought, that the city as a whole isn't doing especially badly in the recession and that there wasn't really much of a housing bubble. Condo developers aren't doing so well because basically, why buy a condo when you get a whole house for less?
12,121 new housing units in center city since 1997. That's a lot, backwards and forwards!
12,121 new housing units in center city since 1997. That's a lot, backwards and forwards!
You Know Who Else Likes Nancy Pelosi? Hitler.
Once upon a time, strained and inappropriate references to Hitler and Nazis were the quickest ways to get yourself drummed out of the acceptable club. No longer, I guess.
Known About It For Years
Given the revolving door between government and industry I doubt we can ever expect perfection, but under a half decent Democratic administration you can hope that regulatory agencies will occasionally do what they're supposed to and use their powers for good.
Uhh...
I suppose avoiding foreclosure isn't a bad thing, but it doesn't actually avoid losing your home...
But Ceci Dutifully Jotted Down What She Was Told
I don't quite know what the rulers of Kaplan Test Prep Daily think their purpose is, but informing readers is not really part of it. If you pretend the cost savings do not exist, then they do not exist! QED!
Skip Stop
I don't have any sense of the engineering challenges or the consistent size of the right of way, but yes it would make a lot of sense to plan for the possibility of express trains from Dulles simply by building in occasional 3rd tracks. It's the kind of thing which is much easier and cheaper to do when you first build something, and much harder to add in later...
Cable News Free
I admit to going more days without cable news than I used to. Consider it a necessary mental health measure. But, yes, the problem isn't that people watch cable news, the problem is that influential people watch it. Congressional offices all have TVs tuned to it all day long. Congressional staffers are, to a surprising degree, stuck in campaign mood and think any little thing can be a crisis.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Water
Maybe Arnold should call up one of today's Nobel winners to get advice about how to solve this problem.
Gotta Live Near The SUPERTRAIN
As I've said before, urban gentrification is quite often less of a big deal than people worry about, but the exception is when higher income people start outbidding poorer people for places with good transit access. That can have a serious impact on people, especially seniors.
Alone In The Car
I admit that leaving your kid in the car to go gambling is a bit seedy sounding, but does it really warrant a child protection services intervention? Maybe my memory is faulty but I'm pretty sure I used to sit in the car sometimes at that age when mom went shopping (at least that's what she SAID she was doing), choosing to read or listen to the radio or whatever.
Putting Artists In Empy Storefronts
This has been happening here in Philly on South St., as landlords realized that too many empty spaces can kill a commercial corridor.
Quote It
Perhaps if reporters stop sanitizing the language of politicians and their people we can stop pretending that respectable people never use horribly uncivil naughty words. More than that, Villagers can stop pretending that people in their little community never tolerate such horrid behavior. People in DC swear a lot. A senator I had just met in an on the record setting let loose 'fuck' and 'shit' within about 5 minutes. Now I'm not going to "report" this (as in naming names) because I don't think it's particularly newsworthy, and depending on the day it might cause the absurd fainting couches to come out, but it would be nice if we all stop pretending that bad words are not a part of our normal discourse, used by people everywhere in the socioeconomic spectrum all the time...
Limbo
Obviously it's slightly problematic to worry too much about a misogynist taking part in what is a fairly sexist endeavor, but given the lengths beauty pageants have gone to try to make themselves respectable...
Option ARMs
Wells Fargo.
As I've said before, while I knew that there was a housing bubble which wasn't sustainable, I had no idea lending standards had gotten so lax that ability to repay ceased to be an issue.
It isn't over.
The market can also expect heavy losses among Option adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), a product that allowed negative amortization by letting borrowers choose to pay only the minimum monthly payment. Fitch Ratings expects significant payment shocks over the next several years as a wave of Option-ARMs recast from the minimum amount to a fully amortizing principle and interest payment. These recasts are expected to drive substantial losses among the Option-ARM sector.
“Several of our investors have questioned the current loss severity in light of negative amortization and home price decline,” researchers wrote in the report. “Our analysis suggests that option ARM loss severity will likely range between 60% and 70% provided home prices have stabilized.”
As I've said before, while I knew that there was a housing bubble which wasn't sustainable, I had no idea lending standards had gotten so lax that ability to repay ceased to be an issue.
It isn't over.
Remember When It Was Just A Subprime Problem?
Oh well.
The degree to which, early on, our media-industrial complex embraced the "housing bubble is just the fault of poor dark people" talking point was actually quite horrifying. It was obviously stupid, and obviously false.
New data suggest that foreclosures are rising in more expensive housing markets.
About 30% of foreclosures in June involved homes in the top third of local housing values, up from 16% when the foreclosure crisis began three years ago, according to new data from real-estate Web site Zillow.com. The bottom one-third of housing markets, by home value, now account for 35% of foreclosures, down from 55% in 2006.
The degree to which, early on, our media-industrial complex embraced the "housing bubble is just the fault of poor dark people" talking point was actually quite horrifying. It was obviously stupid, and obviously false.
Deep Thought From Ross Douthat
Truly deep.
One successful foray ended on the guest bed of a high school friend's parents, with a girl who resembled a chunkier Reese Witherspoon drunkenly masticating my neck and cheeks. It had taken some time to reach this point--"Do most Harvard guys take so long to get what they want?" she had asked, pushing her tongue into my mouth. I wasn't sure what to say, but then I wasn't sure this was what I wanted. My throat was dry from too much vodka, and her breasts, spilling out of pink pajamas, threatened my ability to. I was supposed to be excited, but I was bored and somewhat disgusted with myself, with her, with the whole business... and then whatever residual enthusiasm I felt for the venture dissipated, with shocking speed, as she nibbled at my ear and whispered--"You know, I'm on the pill..."
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Though I Don't Really Care
Looked forward to Krugman winning his inevitable-assuming-he-didn't-die-young Nobel, just to annoy the wingnuts, but otherwise... Despite the beliefs of said wingnuts, the econ prize for good or for ill never really has had any political slant, except to the extent that it reflects the general prevailing slant of the economics profession. Meaning, I don't deny that general political orientation impacts what economists deem to be "good work," I just mean that Paul Krugman didn't win the prize because he was mean to George Bush any more than the wacky conservatives who got one did because they were outraged by Monica Lewinsky.
Deep Thought
Only shutins in pajamas care about politics, and only nutty people support the president's stated agenda.
Don't forget Uzbekistan
On request...
In case you missed the real shows, translation of Meet The Press and This Week with George Stephanopoulos
In case you missed the real shows, translation of Meet The Press and This Week with George Stephanopoulos
Not Just McCain
Obviously tire swing McCain has a special place in the hearts of the Villagers, but his standing Sunday show gig is also a symptom of another problem. So often watching these shows I feel like I'm trapped in a previous decade, with the same idiots (I'm looking at you George Will) telling me what I'm supposed to think about things that were doing so 10-15 years ago.
Disallow
It's amazing how rarely this basic fact shows up in stories about journalists and media companies bitching about how the google is eating their babies. Don't want Google to index your site? tell it not to.
But they don't want Google to stop driving traffic to their sites, they want Google to pay them for the privilege of doing so.
(ht dan gillmor)
But they don't want Google to stop driving traffic to their sites, they want Google to pay them for the privilege of doing so.
(ht dan gillmor)
Sunday Bobbleheads
Meet the Press has Carl Levin, Attorney General Lindsey Graham, General Barry "Buckraker" McCaffrey, General Myers
This Week his Feinstein, Chambliss, Rep. McGovern, Gen. Jack Keane
Face the Nation has McConnell and Reed.
Document the atrocities!
This Week his Feinstein, Chambliss, Rep. McGovern, Gen. Jack Keane
Face the Nation has McConnell and Reed.
Document the atrocities!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Don't Quite See It
We might - and have! - see some areas where relatively new exurban development becomes rather slumlike, as foreclosures, trashouts, and unsold homes create a bit of a wasteland. But I'm not really sure buy into the whole death of suburbia stuff, and I think most local governments will light their neighborhoods on fire before they let them subdivide single family homes into multifamily ones.
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