Nobdy Could Have Predicted

That energy "deregulation" was just a scam to enrich monopolists and that actual competition would never appear.

Slow Progress

Gotta cheer the good news.

RIVERSIDE, Calif. -- A federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military's ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips on Thursday granted a request for an injunction halting the government's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for gays in the military.

Evening Thread

Chat on.

The Summer Of The Shark

So what's next?

Curious

Good for Voinovich, but I'm also a bit curious about why I don't ever remember hearing him be one of those reasonable Republicans the Obama administration was trying to reach out to. He stepped up a couple of times during the Bush years.

Driving Is Really Dangerous

I know for lots of people getting around by any means other than automobile for most purposes is basically unfathomable, but it still amazes me that we collectively yawn at the massive number of annual automobile deaths. They continue to decline, which is good news of course, but it's still a lot of people.

All We Need To Do Is Anything

Of course there are better and worse plans, and I'm not especially enamored with parts of this, but what we need are people who recognize that 9.6% unemployment is a problem and it's their job to fix it.

Rigged Game

I do not think I am going out on a limb in predicting that there will never be any consequences for Bob Rubin ever.

That Nasty Deficit

So the "centrist" Dems who are usually given lots of friendly ink over the endless kvetching about the deficit are going to prove, for the trillionth time, that they don't actually care about the deficit but instead only care about marginal tax rates for rich people.

That won't stop reporters from writing about their "deficit concerns," though with any luck they'll all be chucked out of their jobs.

Our Genius Overlords

OECD in May:

RATE RECOMMENDATIONS:

UNITED STATES:

In the United States, where some long-term measures of inflation expectations have increased and the labour market has stabilised earlier than expected, the start of normalisation should not be delayed beyond the last quarter of 2010. Policy interest rates should be well above half-way to neutral by end-2011, but the path of convergence to full normalisation would have to accelerate if long-term inflation expectations were to drift up further.

OECD now:

The global economic recovery is proving slower than projected and policy makers may need to extend or bolster stimulus programs to support it, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said.

...

If the slowdown is temporary, then policy makers should postpone the withdrawal of monetary support for a few months, while maintaining plans to cut fiscal deficits to reassure investors, the OECD said. If growth is threatened for longer, then central banks may need to buy assets and commit to near- zero interest rates for a long period and governments may need to delay budget cuts, it said.

Our business discourse is so absurd. "Reassure investors."

Is That Really So Many?

My local newspaper is trying to make a big deal out of the fact there was a 1.5% absentee rate for teachers on the first day of school. That doesn't sound so bad to me.

Hopey Changey

I admit to just feeling completely powerless over the issues that are Glennzilla's main beat, as the Obama administration continues with the worst of the Bush administration claims on executive power and torture/assassination. This, it must be said, has nothing to do with the power of President Snowe.

Thursday Is New Jobless Day

451K new lucky duckies.

Better, but still high.

Deep Night Thought

I'm very grateful that the Guardians of Our Elite Discourse have decided to listen carefully to Pam Geller. They are however missing out on a good thing in regards to Pastor Grant Swank. I could hook them up. Pastor Swank = Great Copy.

Late Night

More Thread

Because you talk too much.

Happy Hour Thread

Enjoy

Terrible Bang For The Buck

Indeed.

The View From TheMineapolis Fed

The problem is structural, nothing we can do, call us in a few years, naptime.

This estimate is based on a rather aggregative view of the labor market. It is important to dig deeper to get a better understanding of the problem, and there is a considerable amount of research under way exploring the quantitative importance of the various forms of mismatch. For example, the International Monetary Fund has recently released a special study based on a new state-by-state measure of the gap between demand and supply for workers with different levels of educational attainment. The study examines the impact of this variable and the foreclosure rate on state-level unemployment. It estimates that 1.5 percentage points of the national unemployment rate is due to these two sources and their interaction. Thus, according to this study, these two types of mismatch alone can account for a significant fraction of my estimate of 2.5 percentage points.

Good economic policy is about using the right tool for the problem at hand. The mismatch problems in the labor market do not strike me as readily amenable to the kinds of monetary policy tools currently available to the Fed.

Oh well.

Econ 101 Makes You Stupid

It is indeed a problem. Just to add to the linked post a bit, in normal situations increased demand for shovels would lead to new entrants into the shovel manufacturing and distributing businesses, causing there to be more shovels available for all. But in snow storm crisis, there isn't actually going to be time for new shovels to appear in the marketplace. Instead, shovel sellers will simply make more money, and rich people will be more likely than poor people to obtain needed shovels, even though poor people might not just shovel their own driveways but also might get a bit entrepreneurial and sell their driveway shoveling services to their neighbors. As James says, the point isn't that there's necessarily a perfect rationing mechanism, just that in this case there's no particular reason to think that price is the best one. Under certain conditions, price is a good rationing mechanism, but not all.