Saturday, April 05, 2014
Around And Around We Go
Every once in awhile we have to rediscover the fact that Andrew Sullivan is horrible.
Clean The Damn Streets
I'm a bad person for not participating in the regular annual or semi-annual citizen street cleaning activities here in the urban hellhole, but it's really time for the powers that be to recognize that cleaning the damn streets is part of their responsibility. Volunteerism is lovely, but it isn't a substitute for regular and guaranteed government action. Also, too, street cleaning machines.
The practice of setting up special business tax districts with an additional layer of bureaucracy and enforcement/collection mechanisms to do these things in the few neighborhoods where it happens is highly inefficient. Buy some machines, hire some people.
The practice of setting up special business tax districts with an additional layer of bureaucracy and enforcement/collection mechanisms to do these things in the few neighborhoods where it happens is highly inefficient. Buy some machines, hire some people.
And The World Didn't End
I've been puzzled by the belief that increasing the gas tax would be political DOOM for everybody involved. There was a time when that might have been true, but given the level of gas prices and the degree of "normal" price fluctuations, I just don't see people really noticing.
Of course some people will notice. It's a regressive tax, and people who don't have any money notice the price of anything. I just mean that it won't sweep people out of office.
Within five years, if wholesalers pass on the full increase to consumers, that could increase the gas tax by about 28 cents a gallon, from 31.2 cents a gallon in 2013 to 59.2 cents by 2018.
Of course some people will notice. It's a regressive tax, and people who don't have any money notice the price of anything. I just mean that it won't sweep people out of office.
Flying Death Robots
Brave new world.
Military officials say an unmanned aerial vehicle, commonly known as a drone, crashed near a central Pennsylvania school and a hotel.
Friday, April 04, 2014
Do The Maths
I'm generally not one who thinks that "voters are stupid" is a reason that My Preferred Agenda is not being implemented. People disagree about stuff, and while it's certainly the case that people sometimes vote against their apparent direct interests... so do I! You can take my tax dollars to educate other people's rugrats.
But parking is an issue that just makes people stupid. I realized this when it was apparent that local developers had an easier time getting neighborhood approval for projects if those projects included street facing garages because of parking concerns. Realize that street facing garages remove one public parking spot and replace it with a private one. If you're concerned about your ability to find a parking space, this is unequivocally a negative. But those concerned with parking were happy that these developments "provided" parking...by taking away public parking. And, yes, the width of one Philly rowhouse is basically one parking space.
Existing residents who don't have private parking spaces want any new development to provide massive amounts of parking. Parking takes up an immense amount of public space. It shouldn't be free. It shouldn't be cheap. In much of the city it's free, and everywhere else it's extremely cheap, and people think they're entitled to this.
But parking is an issue that just makes people stupid. I realized this when it was apparent that local developers had an easier time getting neighborhood approval for projects if those projects included street facing garages because of parking concerns. Realize that street facing garages remove one public parking spot and replace it with a private one. If you're concerned about your ability to find a parking space, this is unequivocally a negative. But those concerned with parking were happy that these developments "provided" parking...by taking away public parking. And, yes, the width of one Philly rowhouse is basically one parking space.
Existing residents who don't have private parking spaces want any new development to provide massive amounts of parking. Parking takes up an immense amount of public space. It shouldn't be free. It shouldn't be cheap. In much of the city it's free, and everywhere else it's extremely cheap, and people think they're entitled to this.
It's Still Sunny In Philadelphia
Huzzah. It's been renewed.
Supposedly the show was pitched as "Seinfeld on crack," which in a way it is, but it's also very different. It pulls off the trick of doing cringe comedy without making you actually cringe. The characters are horrible and bring all sorts of indignities on themselves but they're horrible enough that you don't care. You get to laugh at them.
Supposedly the show was pitched as "Seinfeld on crack," which in a way it is, but it's also very different. It pulls off the trick of doing cringe comedy without making you actually cringe. The characters are horrible and bring all sorts of indignities on themselves but they're horrible enough that you don't care. You get to laugh at them.
My First Amendment Right To Be A Wealthy CEO Has Been Violated
And Dave Winer continues to be the internet's worst person.
As Long As Everybody's Getting Rich
We spend so much money on things which are, at best, stupid.
Mercenaries are, you know, mercenaries.
Quite apart from the rights or wrongs of the U.S. government using commercial social media for espionage or to organize political subversion in Cuba, the case presents another troubling issue: ZunZuneo was being run through a private operator, a firm called Mobile Accord, that had won a financial contract from the U.S. government. This is consistent with a growing pattern in recent years, in which implementation of the most sensitive aspects of American security policy is increasingly handed over to contractors who are working for money, not necessarily for philosophical or even patriotic reasons. The mercenary firm Blackwater, renamed XE and then Academi (after earning notoriety in the killing of seventeen Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisour Square, in 2007), has effectively become an action arm of the C.I.A., its personnel loading the missiles on the drones that are fired at presumed terrorists based on White House decisions. Clearly, there are risks to this ever-expanding outsourcing. That outraged patriot who divulged the N.S.A.’s secrets was first a C.I.A. and then an N.S.A. contractor.
Mercenaries are, you know, mercenaries.
You'd Understand If You Had Daughters
No, actually, I wouldn't. I don't know why so many people lose all memory of their teenager lives.
Thursday, April 03, 2014
Confiscate
As Pareene says, if you're worried about rich people spending too much money in politics, the solution is to take away their moneys.
Evening Thread
I'll never say who, but I once saw a prominent lefty (his speechwriter, presumably) rip off this bit almost directly for a speech.
Totebagging
On NPR, Donna Shalala informed me that the NCAA cartel's practice of restricting athlete wages to $0 while letting unlimited monies flow to coaches, staff, and facilities, was a way of ensuring there was a level playing field in college athletics.
Whole
If MF Global customers could get all of their money back, then what exactly was the problem? Who was to blame? How were wire transfers improper? I'm not getting this story.
Megalots
Most redevelopment in Philly has been pretty piecemeal, house by house or a few at a time. This is mostly a good thing, as it's minimized the street grid destroying megablock projects that developers tend to love. But there are decaying megalots in the more post-industrial parts of the city, and it's a problem.
LEAVE CHARLES KOCH ALOOOOOOOONE
Sorry Chuck. If you want me to say nice things about you, you're going to have to pay up. That's what all the money is good for, after all.
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
The World Done Change
The thing the olds (defined as anyone older than me) don't seem to get is that the American Dream world isn't there anymore. You know, if you roughly do the right things (keep your nose clean, go to college), then you can expect a lifetime of reasonably stable compensation. I went to a lesser state school and from what I can tell, this has been true for my peers. My drunken reprobate bro pals all (from what I can tell through the facebook and similar) seem to have done well enough for themselves, not because they were all Star Pupils, but because they did well enough and got decent enough jobs.
We graduated college into a recession, but not The Great Recession, and tuition was pretty damn cheap then. Things are different now.
We graduated college into a recession, but not The Great Recession, and tuition was pretty damn cheap then. Things are different now.
The USPS Works Well
My local post office has a bad reputation because it is completely understaffed, but the people who do work there, when they aren't cranky due to cranky customers, are actually quite nice and helpful. I used to think UPS and FedEx were good companies with good customer service - and probably the used to be! - but most of my non-simple interactions with them over the past few years have been pretty horrible. Managers do what managers know how to do... piss off their workers.
Stuff I'd Happily Pay For
Yes we should have paid parental leave. My tax dollars can even foot the bill. The Swedish model not only helps parents/children, but also encourages gender equality.
Also, too, I have no kids.
Also, too, I have no kids.
Whack-A-Mole
It isn't that I think the latest Supremo ruling is a good thing or makes any sense, but I really don't get that upset about campaign finance-related stuff. It isn't that I don't think the money/politics thing is a problem - it is! - but I'm honestly not sure what to do about it legally. Campaign Finance laws have always just been a game of whack-a-mole. Shut down one avenue for contributions, and another one opens up. And while donating money=speech is stupid, ultimately efforts to win the whack-a-mole game do start limiting speech.
Direct donations to federal candidate campaigns are just a tiny part of the money in politics problem. We should cheer that disclosure requirements remain, but I don't think there any obvious legislative fixes to the broader problem, at least within the framework of campaign finance laws.
Some people have too much goddamn money. That's really the problem.
Direct donations to federal candidate campaigns are just a tiny part of the money in politics problem. We should cheer that disclosure requirements remain, but I don't think there any obvious legislative fixes to the broader problem, at least within the framework of campaign finance laws.
Some people have too much goddamn money. That's really the problem.
That's All They Control
Managers at these types of retail franchises really only have control over labor costs. They don't handle marketing or choose suppliers or anything else. The metric they can really be judged on is labor costs. So of course.
Two former McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) store managers, assisting with a campaign to raise pay for fast-food workers, said they helped withhold employees’ wages at the restaurant chain after facing pressure to keep labor costs down.
The ex-managers, who came forward as part of an effort backed by worker advocacy group Fast Food Forward, said they engaged in tactics such as asking employees to continue working after they clocked out or adding unpaid breaks to time sheets. They took the steps to avoid exceeding a store’s strict goals for wage expenses, said Lakia Williams, a former assistant manager at a McDonald’s in Charleston, South Carolina.
CHOP'D
A truly horrible project that'll ruin the neighborhood, ruin the riverfront, and ruin the river crossing.
At least there will be plenty of parking.
At least there will be plenty of parking.
Frontrunning
Michael Lewis is all over the place--60 Minutes and Jon Stewart--with a story that's long overdue. It's been obvious that "High Frequency Trading" is a euphemism for front-running. Front-running generally occurs when a brokerage firm places an order for its own account in front of a large customer order, harvesting the uptick or downtick of the order before anyone else can, and increasing the cost of filling the customer order. This is insider trading, and illegal.
In the case of HFT, trading firms obtain the order information after it's been placed, but before it's executed, front-running literally by having a shorter length of optical fiber connecting them to the exchange doing the execution than the customer's.
This is what economists would call a dead-weight loss.
Tuesday, April 01, 2014
I Think The Problem Is The Tip
Cheapskates.
Future banksters:
Neff told the student newspaper that a group of about 50 people attending a lacrosse team event shattered a glass light fixture, stole a bottle of liquor from the bar and smoked marijuana in the bathroom. The group also allegedly exposed a female student’s genitals to patrons and left a paltry tip of less than 4 percent on a $1,300 tab.
Future banksters:
The Daily Pennsylvanian also reported that student groups affiliated with Penn’s Wharton School are already banned from making reservations at Fado due to past unruly conduct, including using cocaine in the bathrooms and urinating on the bar.
Hibernation Over
I've been quite the couch potato lately. It's been a long, crappy, cold, wet, cloudy winter. At some point one forgets that "going outside" is an option.
Finally over.
Finally over.
Feed The Poors Into The Volcano
I don't need to look at the Exciting New Ryan Budget to know that it cuts taxes for rich people and feeds the poors into a volcano. Every single budget they release does that. The details aren't very important.
They Are Monsters
But forget the torturers, let's consider their enablers, those who wrote and published numerous justifications for torture over the years.
Elite DC is rotten.
Elite DC is rotten.
Self-Refuting Gibberish
How hard one must reach for the "both sides" narrative.
Rahmbo:
We are truly ruled by the worst humans on the planet.
Rahmbo:
Democrats, on the other hand, want universal early education and are willing to spend whatever is required. But more money for more slots will not automatically achieve the goal of preparing children to learn.
...
First, we made full-day kindergarten universal.
...
Third, while adding 5,000 more children to pre-kindergarten...
...
Because of our unprecedented investment in pre-K education, 75 percent of our city’s 3- and 4-year-olds living at poverty level or below now have access to quality early learning.
...
Democrats are wrong to equate more funding and more slots with better results.
We are truly ruled by the worst humans on the planet.
Indebted
I temped at a collections agency one summer. I didn't get the sense that the people I worked with were corrupt, but they were assholes, bullying people on the phone. And only suckers paid.
But plenty of the firms are just evil.
But plenty of the firms are just evil.
Monday, March 31, 2014
The Audition
Cuomo obviously isn't running for president, he's running for future plutocrat.
Know the players, know the game.
Know the players, know the game.
"Corporate Culture"
I just find its invocation to be weird.
With so much at stake, why didn’t GM act sooner?
The answer, according to many people familiar with the automaker, is a corporate culture reluctant to pass along bad news. When GM was struggling to cut costs and buff its image, a recall of its popular small cars would have been a terrible setback. By the time GM engineers began to face up to the potential gravity of the defect, the Great Recession had hit and the company was begging Congress for a taxpayer bailout that would become its financial lifeline.
Where Do Youse Live
I get a bit cranky about the whole concept of "gentrification," or at least most of the fretting about it. Yes I think it's sad when (especially poor) people get displaced by what we call "market forces." Yes I'm horrified by variations of "slum clearing" public policies which actively seek to displace people. And, most of all, I'm disgusted by the fact that better public services follow the arrival of money to neighborhoods, when in theory the quality of public services should be pretty uniform across a given municipality (at least).
But lots of people who fret about "gentrification"* publicly are either new arrivals to a supposedly gentrifying neighborhood, otherwise known as "gentrifiers," or people pontificating in the abstract from their exclusionary zoning enclaves where poor people have been assumed away.
*I put it in quotes because it isn't a very well-defined term.
But lots of people who fret about "gentrification"* publicly are either new arrivals to a supposedly gentrifying neighborhood, otherwise known as "gentrifiers," or people pontificating in the abstract from their exclusionary zoning enclaves where poor people have been assumed away.
*I put it in quotes because it isn't a very well-defined term.
Separation of Powers
Culture of Truth took a break this weekend. So here's Marcy on Chuckie T being ridiculous.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Sunday Happy Hour
Ted Kaufman, who served as Biden's replacement in the Senate for two years, has an op ed in the local rag outlining exactly why there have been no prosecutions of banksters. Bottom line, it's just not a priority, even though there has been a separate fund set up to do exactly that.
Angry? You bet I am. Even more angry than I was back in 2009 when, as a U.S. senator, I saw shocking paper trails that I believed would have convinced juries to convict some crooked CEOs if there were aggressive efforts to prosecute them. That’s why I worked hard for and co-sponsored the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, which in May 2009, gave an extra $55 million to the Justice Department over the next two years – over and above the Department’s normal appropriation. This money was specifically granted to bring to justice top executives who had engaged in fraud leading up to the financial meltdown.
Oh, well. Maybe next time.
Really Big Or Really Small
Obviously this baby blue blog shouldn't be too critical of anybody's web site design, but a big mystery to me over the past few years is that all Exciting New Site Designs seem to be directed at people with really big screens or really small screens. As in, dual monitor 27" or mobile devices. More recently some sites seem to be redesigned with touch screens in mind (not crazy, but premature).
"Our website would be awesome if only everybody upgraded to 27" screens" is stupid. The future is likely mostly desktops with decent but not huge screens at work (those cubicles aren't so big), and medium sized notebooks and tablets otherwise. Also, too, smartphones, but those sites can be designed separately. The first time I saw GIANT DUAL MONITORS was when I visited an IT department, then I understood what was going wrong. People designing this stuff were designing it for their toys, not ours.
"Our website would be awesome if only everybody upgraded to 27" screens" is stupid. The future is likely mostly desktops with decent but not huge screens at work (those cubicles aren't so big), and medium sized notebooks and tablets otherwise. Also, too, smartphones, but those sites can be designed separately. The first time I saw GIANT DUAL MONITORS was when I visited an IT department, then I understood what was going wrong. People designing this stuff were designing it for their toys, not ours.
Airline Mysteries
I'm old enough to have a dim memory (true? who knows) of the Time Before, when airlines would readily book you on another carrier if there was a problem with your flight. I don't mean pre-deregulation, when a ticket was basically good on any carrier, I mean after that when flying was still not totally horrible.
I've long been curious why airlines don't have a funny money system for rebooking you on another carrier. The obvious reason is, of course, that they've decided it isn't worth it, but it's still puzzling to me.
I've long been curious why airlines don't have a funny money system for rebooking you on another carrier. The obvious reason is, of course, that they've decided it isn't worth it, but it's still puzzling to me.
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