Archive for the 'economy' Category
First Rule: Stop Digging
Ok, I’ll admit I’ve been on a tear about this fake economic stimulus package now for three days. I can’t help it: it’s a waste of time and money that won’t work. For example, after announcing the fact that we’re all getting free money every day since January, the IRS decided it would be a [...]
Read More..>>Stimulus in a Nutshell
Imagine an abusive husband, constantly beating the daylights out of his wife.
Imagine that same husband realizing that one beating has gone a little bit too far, and he has to make it up to his wife.
So he gets a check (from their joint checking account), gives her semi-conscious body a poke with his [...]
Long Emergency
In comments to Ghost Towns, Alex writes:
To most Americans, large cities are for cultural and sporting events.
Some of them may live in one for a few years after graduation, then
they’re planning to spawn in the burbs.
They’ll go bankrupt before they move into the cities.
He’s probably right: the comment reminded of something Kunstler wrote [...]
Ghost Towns
This piece on the housing crisis, via Daily Kos is really interesting:
Recent studies suggest that buyers underestimated the costs of their long commutes. Those expenses can add up to more than the buyers saved on the home. Developers also miscalculated, lured by cheap land and rising home prices. They overreached, “partly [...]
Fuel Prices Fucking Families
Tell me about it…
Gas prices have gone up steadily in the last few days, jumping from an average of $3.42 Saturday to $3.44 yesterday in Philadelphia, and from $3.26 to $3.29 in South Jersey.
With gas prices jumping an average of 16 cents in two weeks nationally, they are as high as they were during the [...]
Worried? Who’s Worried?
Generation X glum on retirement prospects: survey:
More than two-thirds of Americans aged 27 to 42 don’t think they will ever be able to stop working, according to a survey published jointly on Monday by Scottrade and BetterInvesting.
In contrast, 64 percent of respondents aged 55 to 64 said they could retire and not worry, even though [...]
Bailout
Apparently, the Treasury told the NY Fed that they can bill the Treasury for any losses associated with the Bear Stearns bailout.
So, bypassing the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury just hit the taxpayer with a $15,000,000,000 bill for Bear Stearns. What a wonderful precedent this sets: I wonder what other privately held companies whose [...]
I Have a Reason to Be Hostile.
Every couple of weeks (or days depending on my mood), I like to call up Arlen Specter’s office and remind his staff that he’s a stupid fucking asshole. The conversation usually goes like the one I had this morning, after putting 3 gallons of gas in my van, at $3.11 a gallon.
“Hi there, it’s [...]
Reality
Over at Booman Tribune, Arthur Gilroy expounds on his belief that the Democratic primary election boils down to a choice of “The Bitch or the Negro”.
So given these two choices and of course an almost unthinkable third one…the continuation of a set of policies and leaders that has proven to be absolutely disastrous for this [...]
Allyson Schwartz: Not So True
Writing in the City Paper, Paul Fain makes some truly absurd claims in his hagiography of Allyson Schwartz, D-Mastercard.
Congress is getting serious about trying to jump-start the sluggish economy, and has been working overtime on a short-term stimulus plan. It’s an unusually bipartisan deal that could include checks of up to $600 per person sent [...]
