June 2011
2 posts
Someone's saying cop cars are burning in Boston...
I had a friend who lived near the Staples Center in 2001 (Back2Back, on the way to Three-Peat). This is normal victory celebration in the US. BUT YOU ARE IN CANADA! Also, not a G8 meeting.
Did y'all hear the 405 will be closed for TWO...
gilmoure:
squee-gee:
July 16-17 Between the 10 and the 101. …. Fuuuuuuuuuuuu
Since I don’t know what this means or refers to, I’ll assume I won’t be impacted by this.
Woah. I’m heading to LAX on the 17th (from Santa Barbara). You just saved me a LOT of headache. Now I’m going to think about how I got this news via a computer tech in New Mexico.
April 2011
1 post
February 2011
2 posts
jakke:
Duly noted. So the decline in the labour market participation rate isn’t an artifact of long-term unemployed people lapsing out of the official unemployment stats after all. These people are actually giving up on looking for work and doing… something else. It’s not clear what.
Thanks for the clarification!
Well, from a practical standpoint, things can diverge. I think most people,...
jakke:
booklover206:
jakke:
jasencomstock replied to your quote: My first question is where are all the workers…
I think after 99 weeks a person isn’t considered looking for employment anymore, so they are not considered actively unemployed.
That might be the cutoff for benefit eligibility (not sure how this works in the US), but as far as the US BLS is concerned, unemployment can last as...
December 2010
18 posts
correlationstonone-deactivated2 asked: Courts are allowed to make wildly evil decisions, after all.
“I would love to get another dog in the future. I think it would be a big step...”
– Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, to NBC News.
[gawker.]
(via thedailywhat)
I’m not really sure how to handle this.
Full disclosure: I’m a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan and have been since I was born. On the other hand, I’m a huge animal lover and actively participate in charities designed to...
Possible End Of BAB Program Raises Questions On... →
gilmoure:
I suppose getting Prop. 13 changed or revoked is off the table?
I lol’d.
Possible End Of BAB Program Raises Questions On... →
gilmoure:
cnjspeaks:
correlationstonone:
crazynutjob:
This once looked like a pretty sure thing. Now it looks like the Build America Bonds program won’t be extended. This, combined with the falloff of other federal aid, will put a lot of strain on California’s budget.
I guess some cans weren’t meant to be kicked forever.
I like CA for a trial patient. Or patient zero, more likely.
...
Possible End Of BAB Program Raises Questions On... →
correlationstonone:
crazynutjob:
This once looked like a pretty sure thing. Now it looks like the Build America Bonds program won’t be extended. This, combined with the falloff of other federal aid, will put a lot of strain on California’s budget.
I guess some cans weren’t meant to be kicked forever.
I like CA for a trial patient. Or patient zero, more likely.
For sentimental reasons, I...
“The spread of information networks is forming a new nervous system for our...”
– Hillary Clinton on internet freedom, January 21 | Foreign Policy
Pre-WikiLeaks. Boom.
(via david-noel)
vruz: the internet is good when it brings down communists, and other types of government the U.S. doesn’t like. internet considered harmful when it exposes U.S. government dirty laundry....
South Pol: About President Barbour →
jasencomstock:
cnjspeaks:
southpol:
Jonathan Chait:
Longtime readers know that I’ve been continually puzzled by the Washington press corps’ insistence on treating Haley Barbour as a plausible presidential nominee. The idea of nominating the physical embodiment of the worst stereotypes of the Republican Party strikes me as so…
Just clarify for me: Could he be worse than Palin?
Haley...
South Pol: About President Barbour →
southpol:
cnjspeaks:
southpol:
Jonathan Chait:
Longtime readers know that I’ve been continually puzzled by the Washington press corps’ insistence on treating Haley Barbour as a plausible presidential nominee. The idea of nominating the physical embodiment of the worst stereotypes of the Republican Party strikes me as so…
Just clarify for me: Could he be worse than Palin?
I’m still...
South Pol: About President Barbour →
southpol:
Jonathan Chait:
Longtime readers know that I’ve been continually puzzled by the Washington press corps’ insistence on treating Haley Barbour as a plausible presidential nominee. The idea of nominating the physical embodiment of the worst stereotypes of the Republican Party strikes me as so…
Just clarify for me: Could he be worse than Palin?
Is it really rape if he's sufficiently popular,... →
squashed:
I’m concerned about the cavalier attitude toward the rape charges against Julian Assange. It reminds me of the posts about Roman Polanski being a misunderstood genius rather than a convicted rapist.
Charges do not establish guilt. But having your lawyer say you didn’t do it does not establish innocence.
There are not rape charges against him. There are charges for sex without a...
Republicans to Fed: Forget about jobs - CNN.com →
squashed:
In their continuing effor to stay classy, some prominent Republicans want to strike the “maximize U.S. employment” half of the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate. It seems a bit strange to go on the record with that sort of thing during an unemployment crisis … but apparently the Republicans won their elections so now they can let their true colors show.
Worse, I hear they don’t...
Y.A.B.A.N: QotD: Invisible Hand of the Market Man →
gilmoure:
What I find fascinatin g, as I watch the entire world slip into a corporate feudal system, is all our “Adam Smith-The Invisible Hand-Free Market” commandos always forget to mention a key point in Smith’s system, that business will always strive to attain a monopoly, and only an open free market…
This is the biggest and weakest straw man I’ve ever seen. Libertarians...
GM Confirms, Yes, We're Losing Money on Every Volt... →
squashedcomments:
correlationstonone:
crazynutjob:
Yes, this is the future of GM: lose money on each sale, but make it up with volume. And future bailouts.
The article is very defensive of this policy (“It’s called R&D, folks”). It fails to mention that the Nissan Leaf, AKA “the competition,” has a positive profit margin.
(via naked capitalism)
Derp. I am going to win that bet so...
Merry Christmas, from the Republicans →
correlationstonone:
squashedcomments:
If we’ve got an unemployed rocket scientist, is there any reason to push her to take a job at McDonalds?
Does unemployment result from a need for different skillsets and salary expectations, write large? Absolutely. If you believe unemployment in America is partially the consequence of the fact that Americans did jobs that we don’t need them to do...
Cancun climate change summit: scientists call for... →
continuum:
Global warming is now such a serious threat to mankind that climate change experts are calling for Second World War-style rationing in rich countries to bring down carbon emissions.
Sorry, my gas tank only accepts unleaded … or baby koalas. Your choice, experts.
November 2010
12 posts
FBI raids two hedge funds →
woody:
crazynutjob:
This appears to be the big story for the day. There aren’t many details, which should probably be expected given that this is a large, ongoing FBI operation. The FBI seems to be under the impression that this is a rigged market and that common industry practices might be illegal. This post on naked capitalism is probably the best bit of background information on the...
Body scanner makers doubled lobbying cash over 5... →
The companies with multimillion-dollar contracts to supply American airports with body-scanning machines more than doubled their spending on lobbying in the past five years and hired several high-profile former government officials to advance their causes in Washington, government records show.
L-3 Communications, which has sold $39.7 million worth of the machines to the federal government,...
FBI raids two hedge funds →
gilmoure:
crazynutjob:
This appears to be the big story for the day. There aren’t many details, which should probably be expected given that this is a large, ongoing FBI operation. The FBI seems to be under the impression that this is a rigged market and that common industry practices might be illegal. This post on naked capitalism is probably the best bit of background information on the...
Voters favor cuts to balance the budget — yet they... →
continuum:
Voters favor cuts to balance the budget — yet they object to most of the cuts that could be made, a Los Angeles Times/USC Poll shows.
Don’t start at the services level. I’d start at the Agency level. Do we really need an acupuncture board? But aside from that, some of the obvious cuts sound extremely scary. California diced up their agency equivalent of the Department of...
TSA: Employee Data Security Incident →
Since you guys are following my random comments tumblr, I’m going to share a failed post in the hopes that you might find it useful yourself.
I was actually looking at the TSA site to see if I could find employment numbers. They grew faster than any other government agency, which puts some strain on the credibility of the idea that these are all “well trained, dedicated...
“What do you want to do, get blown up by a goddamn Arab at 30,000 feet or we get...”
– Body Scanner Operator Caught Masturbating at Colorado Airport, Aug 2010
those are really the only choices we have, huh?
(via meebobebo)
*facepalm*
(via robot-heart-politics)
I’m just waiting until we get a real headline like this. It’s only a matter of time.
Muni prices revive after steep sell-off →
gilmoure:
You guys aren’t gonna’ go all Greco-Gaelic on us?
Ireland and Greece? Heck, throw in Portugal and you still can’t get close to our level of problems. Our GSP is $1.9 trillion. We’re in a different world (think Spain-level problems). Granted, our budget problems are smaller as a percentage of our economy, but our level of dysfunction is equal. We are crumbling. And we are...
C2N's GM Wager
correlationstonone:
Let’s play the stock market game. If GM’s stock price one year from now is higher than it closes today at 4:30 PM, I will post a video indicating that I was wrong about the stock market. In that video I will name my opponents in the bet and sing their praises. If you lose the bet, you have to post a video singing the praises of C2N and recommend me in the tumblr...
National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and... →
squashedcomments:
I still hold that this is a meaningful proposal. When you combine that with tax reforms and a Medicare fix, the budget starts to look a whole lot better.
If our budgets over the next 5 years resemble anything remotely like this proposal, I hereby grant you one giant “I told you so.” But it looks to me like compromises were already made before it got turned over...
October 2010
7 posts
“When Treasury refuses for more than a year to require TARP recipients to account...”
– Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP)
to say “it damages the public’s trust to a degree that is difficult to repair” assumes the public hears, understands, and then cares. as such, i consider mr. barofsky an optimist.
(via hilker)
I’m...
Report: Fed will probably use gradual approach for... →
correlationstonone:
crazynutjob:
Corporate debt seems to be benefiting heavily from the new money, and it seems silly to bet against the stock market while the debt market is so cheery. You’ve got me there. However, commodities can and have been bid up without corresponding increases in consumption before. Heck, this is going on now. So you are asserting that one trend will break while another...
Pimco, NY Fed Said to Seek BofA Repurchase of... →
correlationstonone:
Oh. So THAT’S how the Fed is going to reverse-repo that shitty paper.
No, no. They’ll find a way to dump the burden on government/taxpayers eventually. Don’t give up faith yet.
I don't know how anyone who is aware of anonymous...
ctrain:
I don’t know how anyone can believe that, but especially now that we have access to so much information, news, and, of course, commenters, I really really don’t.
Look at any crisis. People divide into two extreme groups (and the middle, boring group). Those that go around trying to band together, help people, and sing Kumbayah and those that go around trying to rape and pillage. The...
“A report released this month found that 90% of the guns recovered from crime...”
– And it’s not just Mexico that suffers - most guns found at American crime scenes come from ten lax states, predominantly in the south. (via theeconomist)
vruz: why aren’t the mexicans building a fence, then?
(via vruz)
You understand that the statistic from Mexico is a bit misleading. Most...
September 2010
4 posts
Jimmy Carter: Ted Kennedy killed health reform →
correlationstonone:
Ted Kennedy, the iconic senator f rom Massachusetts who passed away last year, was responsible for the failure of then-President Jimmy Carter’s health reform plan in the 1970s, the result of a personal rivalry between the two politicians, Carter says.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, to be broadcast Sunday and previewed at the CBS News site, Carter asserted that Kennedy was...
@Misanthropolgie
[much snipped]
misanthropologie:
My criticism lies with the meaning that people are trying to derive from the financial statements - you can’t predict the future of a company based on a set of financials alone. To complain that valuation is unfair because it doesn’t take into account future earnings is wrong.
I agree that you can’t predict the future of a company from the financial...
“In the United States, firm assets are initially valued at “cost”. Very simply,...”
– Steve Randy Waldman in interfluidity » Do financial statements tell the truth? (via quotingthecrisis)
Extremely well said.
(via crazynutjob)
“Valuable” to whom, precisely? To you, specifically, or will it be more valuable to anybody who might purchase the equipment? The balance sheet...
August 2010
6 posts
Yuan Drops 5 Consecutive Days, 1.8% Lower Than the... →
isay:
gilmoure:
crazynutjob:
The article is long. It’s not terribly important that you read it. The headline is everything. Certainly there’s (gallows) humor here.
What does this mean?
I think unfortunately it means that as the markets begin to panic about China’s economy being unable to sustain meaningful growth the dreaded double-dip recession becomes more likely.
And in Australia if...