Smoke and teleprompters.

Expect an even more watered down version from our US Congress...

"ORRP!" : the sound one makes having mistakenly bent-over in debtors-prison; taxpayer's exclamation (universal)

--bh

OT: From a couple of threads back on inflation (wasn't awake early enough to post )

I'm surprised at people's dramatic reaction over core CPI (a useless government data, which excludes food and energy prices). What's next? We go ga-ga over the U3 unemployment numbers stabilizing? And what's with the weird belief that unemployment or lack of cash prevents hyperinflation? No it doesn't; a loss of faith in the dollar leads to hyperinflation. A panic triggered by a massive selloff of dollar will lead to dollar dropping 30-40% overnight. Something affected by, let's say, BRIC's sudden formation of a new currency (when they finally got rid of enough dollars) like:

China's holding of US bonds drops first time in 11 months (as well as Russia/Brazil)
AFP: China's holding of US bonds drops first time in 11 months

BRIC - Russia stresses need for new reserve currency
Dollar slides after Russia comments, BRIC summit |
Business |
guardian.co.uk

Oh good, another dog and pony show from the Obama Administration.

Hey wait a minute. Where the hell did my pony get off to?

...another dog and pony show from the Obama Administration

But this pony will poop Skittles! We promise!

Damn, CR got it in twice already. But he was quoting, mine was original.

I propose the creation of at least 4 new regulatory bodies to supervise the financial sector. These will add thousands of jobs to the economy and act as a stimulus in themselves.
Their effectiveness is secondary to a govt. job creation scheme.

They could be:
- Department of financial regulation and supervision
- Department of financial supervision and regulation
- Department of supervision and financial regulation
- Department of regulation and financial supervision

• splat

Isn't it hilarious how the Wide Elephant Party is trying to pin the tale on the Donkey?

Only one thing to say: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

The Mess That Greenspan Made: You're pitiful

Obama wants to dumb finance down so even we dumb Americans can understand it.

Hey BHO

How do you expect the banks to make money?

It's all just high-fructose con syrup, ladled out generously...

Band-aids on gaping chest wounds

So new contracts will include simple language and pictures for the unsophisticated consumer?

@Ben - probably pictures like that old/young lady...

Yeah, I'm with Tim. How can banks make uberprofits without shenanigans?

• no "going forwards" or "moving forwards"
• no "the Economy is strong"
• no flight jacket and carrier landing
• no attack yet on another country
• he doesn't acknowledge that the foundation is rotten - it has to be rebuilt not propped up
• "everlasting prosperity"....fiction

Then didn't bother to edit the barrage of the royal "we" halfway through.

Nemo wrote
2) "Too big to fail is too big to exist." Kind of obvious, actually.

DAMN RIGHT.

• splat

Where is Sheila Bair in all of this? FDIC gets absorbed or something? And no predatory lending? What will all those salesmen do for a living - cars, jewelry, furniture, annuities, insurance.... And also no mandate to the schools to teach any kind of financial wisdom...

There was a gawdawful consortium called AMF in the 60-70's, that tried to be everything to everybody and ended up being nothing to nobody...

small is beautifuller

I put a couple of hours into this on the overnight thread, Gary. Check it out. I'm beat. Strengthen this, enhance that. Very little substance, and no check on the power of the FED.

That was my fly on the wall, that got the swat.

Perhaps if we built a large wooden badger....

and the comments sum to:

Teh Obama is teh suxx0r!

I think you see what you want to see.

Bubbles (and the bursting of the bubbles) are not created by the market. They are the results of government interventions in the market in order to get elected...

I think an honest assessment of the historical record leads to the conclusion that markets do go to excesses on their own, but in modern markets these excesses have not become extreme until they began to correct and threaten the economy at which point politicians use government machinery to halt the correction of these excesses in the name of rescuing the economy. Once the market knows it has a government provided safety net as well as the additional liquidity usually provided by these rescues that's when it really goes insane and you get the extraordinary destructive bubble events we saw post 1927, 1998, 2001, 2007 as well as the Japan debacle.

RATM (profile) wrote on Wed, 6/17/2009 - 11:08 am

Obama wants to dumb finance down so even we dumb Americans can understand it.

Fine by me.
'
"There are three kinds of financial instruments: stocks, bonds, and bullshit."

Or someone else said "financial innovation" is the latest technique to make a bad loan.

There are good uses for futures, options etc, but most derivatives = BS.

"While the crash only took place six months ago, I am convinced we have now passed through the worst -- and with continued unity of effort we shall rapidly recover. There has been no significant bank or industrial failure. That danger, too, is safely behind us."
- Herbert Hoover, President of the United States, May 1, 1930

BURN
Tear it DOWN

Gary, Gary, Gary.

You are right about one thing: Compared to Bush, Obama looks competent.

Unfortunately, that is the only sense in which he does.

Gold Star to whomever can find the loopholes first.

Well, of course they do; they are ENTITLED.

The first thing we do, let's kill all the bankers.

The first thing we do, let's kill all the bankers.

They are already dead, they just don't know it yet.

Obama Revises Campaign Promise Of 'Change' To 'Relatively Minor Readjustments In Certain Favorable Policy Areas'

May 29, 2009 |

WASHINGTON—In a slight shift from his campaign trail promise, President Obama announced Monday that his administration's message of "Change" has been modified to the somewhat more restrained slogan "Relatively Minor Readjustments in Certain Favorable Policy Areas." "Today, Americans face a great many challenges, and I hear your desperate calls for barely measurable and largely symbolic improvements in the status quo," said Obama, who vowed never to waver in his fight for every last infinitesimal nudge forward on the controversial issues of torture and the military ban on homosexuals. "Remember: Yes we can, if by that you mean tiptoeing around potentially unpopular decisions that could alienate a large segment of the populace." Washington insiders said that, while the new mottos are certainly in keeping with Obama's pledge of government transparency, they are significantly less catchy.

From The Onion

"Gold Star to whomever can find the loopholes first. "

The Fed needs Treasury permission. The Treasury and FRB people are all former (or current) Goldman Sucks senior management/board members.

RATM,
I agree as well. Funny thing though, many around me are starting to learn a bit more about this stuff! Nothing like fear as a motivator. I anticipate "financial advisers" taking a BIG hit with this catastrophe.

ac,
Another good example of government/financial synergy in really ramping up a bubble is John Law's bubble in early 1700s France. It was a doozy and financial historians credit a lot of went on as early examples of the financial innovations (fiat currency and central banking) that are ubiquitous today!

I don't know why this one doesn't come up more often.

Well, Pill, it is history. . . Don't know much about history.

A few comments on the doctors...

While we have all mocked the "brain drain" comments on Wall Street, anyone want to bet how many people are going to go through 4 years of med school, 3-5 years of residency, another 1-3 (or more) of fellowship to emerge $100K (minimum) in debt?

Yes, I'm biased. It's still something to consider and I don't think they are entitled to anything as such. My 2 cents.

Gary, Gary, Gary.

Unfortunately, that is the only sense in which he does.

I still don't know what to make of Obama. I always felt that Bush meant well but was incompetent and didn't understand reality or the fact that he wasn't on a mission from God.

It's hard for me to think of Obama as being incompetent. It seems to me he has the intellect and ability to be highly competent. What I worry is that maybe he lacks enough real-world experience and wisdom to really question his own abilities and beliefs (sometimes that's a strength I'll admit).

I've personally gone through periods where I had absolute faith in my own abilities as well as certain beliefs I held.

After a good ass kicking and a lot of personal harm my perspective was adjusted by the world outside my head. The thing is I realize that I could have only gotten that experience via the ass kicking.

Mish said this :

"Note how increased power is given to the Fed, an agency that did not see this coming and whose premise is that bubbles are best dealt with after the fact because no one can tell bubbles in advance.

The best way to limit appetite for risk is to prevent the Fed from manipulating interest rates to ridiculously low levels. The way to do that is to abolish the Fed, not strengthen its power."

~ I would nationalize the privately owned and operated Federal Reserve and place it in the Treasury Department ... but we agree, as presently constituted and enabled the Fed is an institution that needs to be reconciled to a much lesser or no role in the regulatory scheme ...

ac,
Another good example of government/financial synergy in really ramping up a bubble is John Law's bubble in early 1700s France. It was a doozy and financial historians credit a lot of went on as early examples of the financial innovations (fiat currency and central banking) that are ubiquitous today!

I don't know why this one doesn't come up more often.

If I recall correctly, even during the original Tulipomania the Dutch government tried (unsuccessfully) to prop up the tulip market when it collapsed.

"Even a perfect regulatory structure will not work, if the regulators do not do their job. They will not have an incentive to do their job, if there are no consequences for not doing their job.

My feeling has been that part of the healthcare reform (maybe it is a bribe but hey) is to pay off the doctors. Pay off their debt and pay for the new one's school (mostly anyway) then you would get people who want to be doctors not greedy who want to be rich. Then they can afford to get paid what the govt will pay which will be generous but not outlandish. They have to work for govt for certain amount of time before they can go completely outside govt system. This would bring those people on board and not penalize the people that went into debt when they thought they could make lots of money as doctors.

No CA bailout announced yet...

Yep, I have no objection to those going into gov't doc services getting a bunch of their debt \
(up to a quarter mil!) forgiven.

I have a feeling, one way or the other, most of those school loans will not be paid, In all
fields.

One power loop

The FED cannot lend money without the Treasuries permission. It gives the illusion of oversight but actually concentrates more power in the two agencies.

The Capital requirements will be determined by the FED who will not put more stress on the banks than they know they can handle. The FED doesn't want to oversee a large failure. Remember how BB deflected questions about Lehman, basically said "talk to the Treasury"

Ivy Tower BS of the highest order

@lawyerliz,

I head on the radio yesterday that the legislature is supposed to have a budget proposal at the end of this week, but everyone doubts it will get done. I've heard no other news about it.

So 44 or 45 days left to Calisposion?

Thx Shadow.

And I meant I know those who owe a quarter mil, not that I necessarily think that much should be forgiven.

Basel on Med tech

That technology would not be implemented without the endorsements of hospital directors and doctors.

Cap reimbursement rates via Medicare/Inurance reumbs and that spending will end very quickly IMO.

OT:
I love living in South Carolina.
We have a 56% high school graduation rate and this fool suggests this:

TheState.com 404

Basel

The only reason hospitals spend more on technology is two reasons.

1. They can bill for new procedures, tests etc
2. They can save time to see more patients or do more procedures.

Oh yeah and there is a little ego and reputation involved.

Well, if they learned to swim, I guess they'd have learned SOMETHING.

hahahahahah, Shadow.

In the overall scheme the only way to regulate the financial system is to regulate the overall amount of credit available to the system ...

To do this we need to prohibit fractional reserve banking and have the Treasury auction credit with the proceeds going into the Treasury

to reduce debt and taxes ...

Only by having one source of credit will we have the ability to manage credit ... having thousands of financial institutions with

the ability to leverage 10 to 1 is Not manageable ...

Sunday, July 08, 2007
Swimming and the Talmud...

"According to the Talmud, A Jewish parent is required to teach his/her child three things (Kiddushin 29a).

1. The first is Torah (that is, the rules of the world as we understand them and wrong from right).
2. The second is to prepare them for some way to make a living so that they can support themselves and their families.
3. The third is to teach them how to swim."

Anyone notice that the transports seem to be leading us down. Bearish IMO

"The fastest growing component of health care inflation is medical technology, which is basically the intersection of finance and patents. "

And a system in which none of the major customers exercise effective pricing power.

Saw a Frontline special on national healthcare systems in other countries. In Japan, there was a need for cheaper, simpler MRI (I think) scanners to do jobs that you don't need the Cadillac version for -- and all that was made was the Cadillac version. The gov't was the chief procurator in this case and they told private industry -- make 'em this way, or sell very few more in these parts." And they made 'em that way.

That doesn't much happen here. The just buy the Cadillac version and pass the costs along.

I need an attitude adjustment.

Right now, I'm saying to myself "The resulting legislation will be so full of holes that it'll sound like a steam calliope when the wind blows."

Maybe I'm drinking the wrong coffee...

OT: A teacher friend from California reports that his district has put its staff on notice that anyone with fewer than 12 years seniority can consider themselves layoff fodder--and if you're in a "non-mission-critical" position, such as band director, you might as well start looking for your next job.

It's really grim south of the (Oregon) border...

lawyerliz wrote
Per prior thread, how slow a recovery does it have to be before it isn't a recovery at all?

The new metric is, if the line on the graph is not pointing straight down and/or the rate of decline has slowed, then it is clearly an indicator that the recovery is in full swing.

• splat

"A Fart Tax?"

Coming to cows soon!

"graduation rate and this fool suggests this:"

Wendell is an idiot. Always has been.

Black Star Ranch solves energy shortage problem..

Cow farts collected in plastic tank for global warming study - Telegraph

Yep, farts are a significant part of greenhouse gases (as are termites), so let's tax 'em.

Termites account for over 85% of the biomass of the planet...

If you paraphrase Shakespeare, don't add words.

I don't.

Crap and trade - that sort of sums up our relationship with China, doesnt it...

"In surveys, around 70% say they wish they did something else. After watching a number of people go through this I have concluded we have a system that takes well intentioned people, beats them down, puts them into debt, and voila! you get jaded people trying to go home to sleep and earn "their due." It's misery becoming a doctor."

The most societally-important physician slots (family practice, public health, etc.) are the ones that pay the least -- and then there's that debt.... Any decent national health plan should include incentives to get doctors to train for the jobs that are most important to the most people -- not simply the most remunerative. One way is to incent doctors who train for those positions by paying some or most of their medical school debt in return for a promise of service -- and a carrot of even more training in that field.

If you structure a system so that you're rewarded only for going for the bucks and punished for thinking of society as a whole -- what do you think happens?

I read about a 22 year old commercial airline pilot pulling down $22k a year, the other day...

Wouldn't a Mickey D's manager make more than that?

Healthcare : We need HR 676 Single Payer ...

Cuts profit ~ 20%

Cuts overhead ~ 15%

Bargaining for Drugs ~ 10%

~~~~

Allows standardization for billing, records and treatments ... Through records with names being withheld for privacy, data regarding treatments can be

gathered to find the best treatments and drugs for injury and disease ...

It's SC - I'm surprised he's not suggesting they teach abstinence from swimming.

It's misery becoming a doctor.

It needs to change.

Yes, I see no reason for the abusive work loads for residents. It's just stupid.

Those small tumors they are detecting are the ones most likely to go
away by themselves without treatment.

homegnome: i've met wendell gillaird a couple of times. not the sharpest tool in the shed. Most of the drowning deaths have involved kids under the age to 12, so i'm not sure how a graduation requirement would help that group. Darwin might have a word or two regarding 18 year olds that dont know how to swim hanging around unsupervised swimming pools.

Perzbo does not have too much more to Nationalize to have seized total dominance.....I'm pulling for you COMRADE!!!!!!! From the Peoples Republic of Amerika

It's misery becoming a doctor.

I would agree. During the Nazcrash, I looked into my non-offshorable options. It was far too late in life for me to think about being a doctor.

The sweet spot seemed to be PA. Bio or some other pre-medical degree. 3 years graduate school. In 2002, I was seeing an average around here of $105K salary plus a $100K signing bonus.

"The marketplace would work on it's own with medical care,"

Proven to be false ...

~~~~

By example we can prove that single payer health care is the "best" approach to health care ...

G7 countries that some form of single payer cover all their citizens for less cost and better outcomes ...

@sdtfs - The alternatives to fewer hours per week are more years of residency. It's a bad trade-off either way. When training, there are a certain number of patients/cases you need to see - the doctors themselves would likely tell you the same thing. There's no getting around the experience required.

Aaand, goodbye, Comrade Mike.

Thanks Ken!

I am not placing blame, but doesn't the AMA play a role in the how the process works?

I think the AMA only represents about a third of doctors now. It is a weakened trade organization. I was listening to the spokesperson the other day and I admit their rhetoric makes them seem disconnected from the severity of the problems. Like the rhetoric from finance.

The "system" is an inhuman cogwheel machine with big cogs being insurance, drug companies, lawyers, AMA, and much entrenched infrastructure. My sad conclusion is that real change only comes with severe systemic failure.

A system that treats people as cogs (I am looking at you Bernanke and economists in general) creates unhappy people. Is this really surprising.

And it is insane giving power to profit motivated organizations over a "product" that you can easily extort people with. Duh.

I know some personally who want to make money which I think negatively affects patient care and costs. I wish I didn't have first hand knowledge of this.

I am glad they changed the law so they don't have to work as many long hours, clearly that would lead to errors.

Debt is the enemy. It is very very bad to have people trapped in debt having to do jobs they don't like. It give bad incentives to milk the system and have fraudulent care.

I think universites should have in addition to truth in lending they should show what the people getting any given degree make 1, 5 and 10 years after graduation. This would give people pause. Until recently financial advisors always said "student loan debt is good debt" the financial community is finally fessing up that this is not always the case.

One other tangentially related observation on health-care... anyone know what the typical commission structure on health insurance products is like? Is that efficient? Near as I can tell an insurance company consists of:

A) A finance/investment firm attached to
B) A bureaucracy that
i) pays claims when forced/obvious
ii) tries like hell to avoid paying claims
iii) HR/functional departments

I'm not sure but aggregating a lot of the bureaucracy might actually be efficient. Would the same people that defended MSFT as a monopoly refuse the same claim about something like health insurance?

OT:

Has anyone ever ordered from APMEX?
Good/ Bad/ Ugly?

@MsAnn- the med students are more or less aware of what the specialties make. That's why nobody goes into geriatrics. There is a massive range of salaries within the medical profession as any doctor will tell you. There is also a massive range of "quality of life" that goes with that. And there isn't necessarily a direct relationship between those two.

Employer health care is not free

A lot of people are going to find that out soon if Congress decides to tax ESI.

@Shadow - "Overhead", eh? I realize this is treading dangerously close to socialism but all that "profit" is someone else's inefficiency. Anyone who has ever sat a negotiating table knows the "let's be partners" line is a bunch of BS. They want you to squeeze your profit to a bare minimum so that they can increase their own margin.

Everybody squawks about the pay prison guards are pulling down, but the beauty of a story most have never heard, is the medical staff's payment scheme, from orderlies to M.D.'s on a 24/7365 basis.

A doctor can make twice as much working on convicts, (no malpractice insurance is needed either) as he or she can serving the hoi ploy. ha!

"A lot of people are going to find that out soon if Congress decides to tax ESI."

I think health care as part of a benefit package should be taxed at the employer level. Why should many of us pay with after taxed dollars. It makes you more aware of cost.

DataQuick: SoCal Home Sales Increase

" splat (profile) wrote (in reply to...) on Wed, 6/17/2009 - 1:57 pm

"A Fart Tax?""

Damn! I'm in trouble. Guess I'll have to stop eating chili...

[Aghhhhh! Pigged again!]

OT:
My DoublePlusGood Fart Recipe:

a six pack of beer and half a dozen pickled eggs followed by a BBQ sandwich.

By example we can prove that single payer health care is the "best" approach to health care ... G7 countries that some form of single payer cover all their citizens for less cost and better outcomes ...

Don't forget the rationing and waiting lists. See the UK national healthcare system for examples. Having experienced the British National health system first hand several times and the US healthcare system, don't believe the bullshit about the nationalized system. Think of the DMV running hospitals.

Granted something has to be done about healthcare costs and wide availability but a "Department of Health" isn't the best solution.

• splat

And to you Obama lovers let me recall

" I don't have to pay my Mortgage '
" I don't have to pay my electric bill "
"I won't have to worry about putting gas in my car",

Key word being "worry" not "pay".

Lotta shortpigs today.

And a last thought...anyone else catch the VA hospitals disaster with colonoscopies done by undertrained people leading to HIV infections and Hepatitis B and C cases?
If this is what the government offers veterans, I'd rather stand in line in Canada, with cash in hand.

"All OTC derivatives markets, including CDS markets, should be subject to comprehensive regulation that addresses relevant public policy objectives"

How about a simple rule that says you can't bet on something you don't own and/or have a direct stake in? And that the bets on any individual asset etc cannot exceed the face value of the asset

Seems that boils down the vast majority of the financial meltdown cause right there ... allowing massive CDS "bets" on assets they ahd nothing to do with ... and faking bets many times the face value of the asset bet on ...