you know, if you hadn't talked smack about the housing credit, you might have been invited to the Treasury briefing with the other influential bloggers.
According to the NYT, one justification was: "Democrats are eager to show progress before Friday, when the October jobless report is again expected to show high unemployment."
I'll just post this again, since obviously the stupid arse tax credit is designed to reinflate our housing bubble, whereas these other countries have clearly been more effective at the task.
Sorry if that came across wrong or arrogant ... I just didn't see the point. I thought I already knew what they were going to say. I read some of the reports - and there were no surprises.
So, Yves climbs on the Washington shuttle, or the train, at 0 Dark Thirty to ride down there to listen to their propaganda.
You travel all that way and all you hear is crap. The human mind being what it is, you've got to make something of all that wasted time and expense so, like Yves, you say they're very smart people.
Gee, I wish I'd been there. They would have ejected me.
extending the carryback to five years. Pure and brazen theft of the taxpayers. Which i guess we should expect at this point. At this point anyone who isn't trying to game or actually rip off the system is a sucker. If you pay taxes, you are participating in criminal activity. If you can't beat 'em,join em.
You made the right choice. Going there is not good for your health, or your reputation, and it would be a total waste, just as it turned out for those who did go. They just gave these fools justification. Id have prefered if everyone snubbed them.
The first person to be convicted of defrauding the tax credit program was a tax preparer in Jacksonville, Fla., who was sentenced last month to 30 months in prison. According to the Justice Department, he claimed the credit for ineligible clients, many of whom were unsuspecting, and electronically paid himself $1,000 of the credit’s value each time.
30 months in jail for this shmoe (even though the "unsuspecting" clients pocketed the other $7K), yet Dick Fuld remains free...
I remain unconvinced. Sure, they have been wildly successful in holding off bad news for bad banks, but I question weather that even smart or wise. Oh and their idea of moving all regulation to the Fed? F'n brilliant!
Hey, at least they're acknowledging CR and the others are players in the grand scheme of things.
It's a new world posing unforeseen dangers, and they're not quite sure how to negotiate it, let alone control it. That's all very good, very good indeed.
OT, but why does there seem to be no anti-trust issues being raised regarding the merger (or purchase) of Stanley Tools & Black & Decker? I know there was little to no enforcement of anti-trust laws during the Bush Administration, but . . .. BBC NEWS | Business | Rival firm to buy Black & Decker
If nothing else, if the purchase goes through, there will be "streamlining" or more jobs lost.
p.s.: The fact that they issue invites without sending planes (or at least first-class tickets) just reinforces their naivete. Economics bloggers may have money, but they're not generally wealthy and certainly didn't get their money blogging.
Hey, at least they're acknowledging CR and the others are players in the grand scheme of things.
Perhaps it is somewhat political. Someone rising from the blogosphere on an anti-banker ticket seems to me to be a VERY reasonable threat, that the (R) are unlikely to pursue. If unemployment in 2010/12 is still >10%, all incumbents should be sweating a little.
Pigged...
Found a currency devaluation study about the decline of the Mexican peso in 1994 where the authors question 2 earlier hypotheses of this devaluation and conclude that a government announced 15% devaluation was a 'sudden death'...'a surprise devaluation does destroy indeed all hard won credibility' and that exchange rates pegs are very fragile.
Economists do disagree with each other and see various factors having more or less importance so this research evolves. Also various devaluations may have different factors...but...
Mexico's financial sector was deteriorating and there was a loose credit stance before this 'devaluation'. This seems a common theme in currency devaluations. http://econ.as.nyu.edu/docs/IO/9383/RR96-20.PDF
I also find it encouraging that they're even aware of folks like CR and Mish. Please, please, please, let them be reading and taking some of the analysis to heart and not just blowing smoke up everyone's *** with invitations. The bloggers are the real press these days.
FWIW we're renters who sold our house 2.5 years ago. We owned the house before that for 9 years. No credit for us. Guess we'll just have to wait for the price to go down organically when they pull the supports out.
And THAT is causing them fits I am sure. Not quite as tractable as the NYT or WSJ folks. I mean have you ever taken a look at some of the comments under a USA Today article, or even Krugman's blog? CR (and the others) are where it is at.
FYI before Hillary ran for president 10-15 of the top "liberal bloggers" were invited to a lunch with Bill Clinton. All expenses paid of course. the majority invited took the bait. they realize bloggers aren't like rich lobbyists and can be bought cheap. Luckily our friend CR doesn't fall into the normal blogger demo of living in his parents basement.
Given that we have gone the Japan route, the enormous amount of MBS on the Fed balance sheet and the nationalization of AIG, FRE and FRN. That may be a very, very, long wait. Unless, unforeseen events occur...
The home builders need help carry back losses; I suppose when they were making money hands over fist 2000- 2006, they pumped all that extra cash into campaign coffers for just such a day as this, when they will get some of their meager taxes back. Lets not forget the paid only 1% in taxes by their off shoring their income. Patriots these!
Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Lloyd Blankfein and Jamie Dimon, the chief executive officers of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., met Kenneth Feinberg as the Obama administration’s paymaster prepared to consider proposals from seven bailed-out companies, government documents show.
Blankfein and Dimon, whose banks are exempt from the pay rulings, had separate meetings in their New York offices in July, according to Feinberg’s daily schedules obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
SEC Commissioner Aguilar had a private meeting with GS about dark pools...
Good link, thanks. I think the right conclusion is that a "surprise" devaluation is an acknowledgement by a country's financial authorities that they have no further ability to prevent market forces from driving exchange rates to a different, stable level. The economics boilerplate and math that is included in the paper appears to me to just provide an excuse to include the real discussion of the issues.
The Senate and House are poised to agree on a compromise measure to extend unemployment benefits
What really frosts me about Congress is how unrelated items are attached to popular bills in order to give everyone voting "Aye" some plausible deniability if the unrelated item should backfire. Until it does, of course, they can take credit for voting "Aye," but should things turn, they had to vote that way to extend UE benefits for all those hard-working Americans who . . . well, aren't working very hard any more.
But don't anyone call that welfare. It's just a transfer payment.
The economics boilerplate and math that is included in the paper appears to me to just provide an excuse to include the real discussion of the issues.
My man:
The peak of the [1980 Presidential] campaign happened in Albuquerque, where a local reporter said to me, "Dr. [Barry] Commoner, are you a serious candidate or are you just running on the issues?"
What really frosts me about Congress is how unrelated items are attached to popular bills in order to give everyone voting "Aye" some plausible deniability if the unrelated item should backfire.
Meh, compromise and weak sauce seem inevitable, short of a line item veto, and I see no chance of congress handing that much power to the executive.
Well in terms of priority in my book, a check for the Unemployed poor comes before a check for the folks aiming to buy a 750K house with combined salary of 225K. Pooling all these unrelated stuff in the same bill sucks.
Perhaps that is why the Secret Service is spread so thin. Tough job to keep tabs on every nutjob poster?
That really is the other side of the coin from bloggers being harder to control than the writers at the NYT and WSJ. No advancement without some discomfort.
These days nutjobs are all over the internet. (Some even have cable shows outside of the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. news programming hours.) In the old days, you actually had to go to the demonstration, wear something radical or carry a good homemade sign and have the MIB take your photo and put up with all the related hassles. Now it's just so much easier.
Contagion - the cross-country incidence of currency attacks
Conclusion -
'We have found strong evidence that currency crises tend to spread along regional lines suggested by international trade.
Countries tend to suffer speculative attacks after their foreign competitors are attacked.'
(This is something to watch for...)
Well not if "Scarecrow" goes down, and the MSM Googles up pages of tirades from the perpetrator... Makes me wonder what a modern day Kazynski would do... Use the internet to get his anti-technology rant out, or not?
mp - I agree that next Nov is the target
and as someone who grew up in a very very politically involved family
if you can prop up an economy or at least produce the patina of positive reversal
the White House is in Def Con 5 mode as we speak... O loses the House and he's
toast, a Billi Clinton reversal can only be done if you're BC...
compromise and weak sauce seem inevitable, short of a line item veto, and I see no chance of congress handing that much power to the executive.
Agree that will never happen. Congress was already marginalized enough by the Imperial Executive and the current Administration's envoys seem to find it difficult to mask their contempt for any oversight.
So they continue to play their duck and cover games, mixing up the voting for what they want by voting for what they think we need.
Looking at and listening to Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell, it's easy to see why no one respects them.
" Our building of a better world must begin at the bottom with... ordinary people all over the world. Capitalism is fine if the people have sufficient checks on the bosses - it can work and does work well... but we must work from here on to see that the interests of capital and humanity are the same, not merely manifestations of the financial lust of a greedy minority."
I don't respect Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell, but the awkward amendment insertions have a perverse logic: everything really is related, and the discount rate does affect the price of tea in China.
Looking at and listening to Pelosi, Ried, Boehner and McConnell, it's easy to see why no one respects them.
Never has the D.C. bubble been more apparent to me than now. These guys seem so detached from those they are preportedly supposed to represent, nor do they seem to hold to any core ideals. They just seem to sway with whatever the latest WSJ or NYT editorial proposes or the will of their corporate masters. Now Grayson, Paul, Franken and Snowe seem to be a bit more clued in. 2010 will be very interesting to me.
OK...here it is...the Perfect Storm...how IT happens...
'When markets perceive that conditions such as high unemployment or a weak banking system compromise the central bank's willingness to defend a currency peg by raising interest rates, speculative attacks are more likely to succeed.'
Yeah I used to find it absurd but I see that it can give minority blocs their due. The Senate is set up to squelch any national minority that is spread out (e.g., one black woman Senator for one term ever, despite >6% of the population).
1 Currency
I just checked the Times and saw that the Dems won in the 23rd district ... who are the geniuses in the Rep Party that
ran someone on the Conservative ticket thereby splitting the vote?
I see the Times sees this as a glimmer of hope for Obama, hmm...
The Senate is set up to squelch any national minority that is spread out (e.g., one black woman Senator for one term ever, despite >6% of the population).
And yet lawyers and GS seem VERY well represented... /s
who are the geniuses in the Rep Party that ran someone on the Conservative ticket thereby splitting the vote?
Are you asking a serious question or snarking?
NY Times wrote:
Leading conservative voices — including The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page and The Weekly Standard and the talk show personalities Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck — took on the Republican nominee, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, who supports gay rights and abortion rights and had embraced some Democratic economic policies like the federal stimulus package. They labeled her as too liberal.
.
The attacks on Ms. Scozzafava eventually took their toll, and she stunned her party over the weekend first by withdrawing from the race and then by urging her supporters to vote for Mr. Owens, a 60-year-old lawyer from Plattsburgh.
Palin came to fight off a Republican "Commie" who supported some venal social sin like the institution of marriage, so she dropped out and threw support to the Democrat.
Oh, okay. Yes, there would be a large investigation after the fact . . . isn't there always one.
I suspect they change names from time to time. If I were them, I would constantly be changing names and then leak a name to the media that we never used . . . but that's just me.
I agree that today's Congressional "leaders" are disconnected from the people. What's funny to me is how phony they appear when trying to connect.
The attacks on Ms. Scozzafava eventually took their toll, and she stunned her party over the weekend first by withdrawing from the race and then by urging her supporters to vote for Mr. Owens, a 60-year-old lawyer from Plattsburgh.
Does that qualify as a Profile in Courage or did it just put Plattsburg on the map of upstate NY?
Why is it that congress has no trouble with extending the net-operating-loss carryback period for firms from two years to five years and creating the carryback in the first place (to help homebuilders, as CR stated), yet I never hear of them even considering temporarily increasing the annual capital loss limit to more than $3,000 to help out the Joe Main Streets who might have lost money during the crash.
I never hear of them even considering temporarily increasing the annual capital loss limit to more than $3,000 to help out the Joe Main Streets who might have lost money during the crash.
Far be it for me to suggest deductions being a direct function to campaign contributions... It sure wold be nice to get some o' that .07% tax rate.
Brooke's seat seemed secure until 1978 when the Boston Globe reported a series of financial and ethical problems including the fact that Brooke had lied about his financial worth in divorce proceedings. He was investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee and, although it emerged that much of the information against Brooke was being leaked by members of his family, he became politically vulnerable. Some also criticized him for failing to promote Massachusetts' interests in the Senate; and Massachusetts' other Senator, Ted Kennedy, for the first time campaigned on behalf of Brooke's Democratic opponent, Paul Tsongas. Tsongas defeated Brooke in the 1978 election.
james, you ask a good question. Everything "they" are doing is designed to put liquidity into the system, whether it's loss carrybacks that generate refunds, tax credits for buying a McMansion, or the most obvious and effective, extending unemployment benefit checks and food stamp distribution.
Increasing the capital loss limit would accomplish the same goal of injecting liquidity, either through lower tax payments or higher refunds. But I fear the answer has already been posted.
So I will just close on this cheery note. The unused capital loss carryforwards that we can only deduct at the rate of $3,000 per year die with us. Our estates will not benefit from any further deductions on that basis. They just go poof.
Not sure it's ever wrong to out a hypocrite, but I don't follow gossip. I don't care whether the guy is wearing high heels, a blond wig, and is Madonna's playmate, how many rebounds did he pull down...
sportsfan,
why do you think members of his family were sabotaging his re-election effort?
it wasn't financial at all... that might have been true but it was smoke,
he had a particular problem...
1 currency
you might not cause you're a New Yorker but other voters might care...
what if said behavior made you an easy target for blackmail?
why do you think Karla ever bothered with honey traps in Le Carre novels?
cause it works...
I agree sportsfan...
long ago, but that was a case where an affirmative action bias helped a lot
Using Thomas.gov to figure out what exactly is going on with the credit & amendments is very confusing. Is there any other place where it is spelled out? The effective dates for one, while I have heard Dec 1st through April 30th.. all the amendments I have seen don't specifiy a start date.. but I have a hard time believing they'd retroactively reward homebuyers who qualify. And I am also interested in seeing if the 225k is a hard cap or phased out.. I see articles saying it is phased out but can't find the specifics in the amendment.
You do the right thing and announce that you had encounters with hookers on day one.
They mocked Paterson for a day. Anyone mocking him now is a dumbass who can't keep up with his wit.
1 Currency
come on... NY State is a bit like France. perhaps you can also announce that you once were arrested in female drag... ok, so far so good... but when it comes out that you were dressed a Nazi concentration camp warden (yes, they had them... one even had glass put into an oven so she could see their bodies burn - source a stenographer at the Nuremburg Trials)
what then are your chances of political viability? Zero
Mitterand types can't win elsewhere IMO.
duke
Niall Ferguson on Charlie Rose tonight (second half, first was office of budget management guy, talking about our scary deficits and ineffectual congress) - Niall seemed to seriously rattle Charlie with all his talk about the inevitable downfall of America and our potential default on our debt. Charlie was getting very combative.
This is the only part of doomerism that I'm not convinced of. There must be some adjustment, but that's not to say being anywhere else in the world is necessarily going to be superior.
Anyone see Nemo weighing in at Accrued Interest on the Treasury/Bloggers date?
Fine chap.
Asia was boringly bouncy today. Nikki stayed home with granma. Currencies were all over the joint, local news making for some odd movements. Some more breathless nonsense about India glod buy. The rest of the news seemed to be Dances with Dictators.
I met Niall back in '03 when he was pushing Colossus? about the new American Empire, in
my opinion the book felt very rushed and not though like some of his earlier books...
hope he's not trying to hop the topical train, in a way... scholarship takes time and lately
his notoriety seems to make him push the envelope.
pity, I can't seem to get Charlie Rose over here
A bunch of morons ... I support the housing credit oif done properly ... but this is not it ... simply more political pandering ... EXISTING HOMES needed no incentive - they are selling just fine and there are plenty of good deals in the foreclosed home ranks ... likewise existing homes offer little or no stimulus effect ...
On the other hand NEW HOMES - even if they are homes that people would have bought anyway - offer very real stimulus effect ... 3 new FTE jobs created for every new home built - not to mention the big multiplier effect .... not a singke politicaian smart enough to figure that out ... isnetad we'll simply subsidize a bunch of buyers to buy homes that do little to create actual benefit
On the bright side, at least they are aware that there are bloggers out there with meaningful contributions and thoughts. Unfortunately this doesn't help them, as their main problem is how to be a winner in a no-win situation. Can't just say we're going to do the least painful thing and end up down the ladder a few rungs, nope. Gotta have a "recovery".
Well, politicians and bank executives more or less use the same logic. What looks good in the short term is more important than what is sustainable. Their calculus is governed by their ability to move on before the consequences of their decisions are realized.
people keep mentioning a second StimPack but a) does Obama have enough political capital to push this through?
me thinks not, esp. not after losing NJ and VA because the Indies shifted and if exit polls and analysis show it
was due to his Admin of the economy he'll lose Dem moderates backing ...
Axelrod “That doesn’t mean they won’t come out for us,” he said. “I think they’ll come out for national races. But this wasn’t a national race.”
right... that huge turnout of young voters, minority voters, etc won't happen again... that event was akin to the Beatles getting back together, once in a generation... I suspect that most will go back to there apathetic ways
I think part of the problem is acknowledging that the Japan scenario is actually the wildly optimistic one. The center may have shifted already on the unrevealed position. The defense of the policy then starts to sound like it's an all-out effort, because perhaps it is. Policymakers and officials then get caught on the cleft stick of selling a policy that has manifest holes and problems, which they can't admit let alone engage on, because the criticism is valid but change is not deemed possible (usually that is politically not possible).
I've been in analogous situations and it is not rewarding. No one walks away satisfied.
This movie so far lacks racy jump cuts and a chase scene, but I suspect the hostages all die of asphyxiation in the dr evil machine before the hero arrives in the aston martin.
Totally. And maybe constitutionally too. I was working over various doomerish scenarios early in the year wandering around Montpelier, listening to the guides explain how happy they were since the place had been restored to its previous glory (aka ripped apart, downsized, but more historically accurate). Hmmm, Madison, constitution, political economy, crisis, taxes, fundamentals, accretions...
And the question kept coming up: at what point are states simply non-viable? There are metric tonnes of texts on sovereign state failure, but not much on the limits of federalism and what happens to prevent, moderate, ameliorate, or fix a downward spiral.
Yeah. I've always been philosophically inclined that way (obviously), but I'll admit that it is difficult to consider an entity a sovereign if it is not financially independent. (Of course, that could carry over to our federal government too....) But even if there were widespread financial issues with state governments, there are other political/cultural concerns about consolidated government.
True, but if he were around D.C. I can't help but think he would have gone in.
But what interests me is what the administration is thinking about this going forward. Are they going to be using bloggers to float trial balloons? Why are they trying to build a relationship? It's not as if the bloggers have much political power. Is it to get in touch with businesses unofficially? There's got to be a little more to it than just a friendly chat.
My guess is that they thought they could enchant bloggers and that maybe they would receive less criticism in the future. If they wanted genuine feedback on issues, they would have done something in an open fashion. Town hall meetings on this topic would probably be bad for their health, however.
Interesting isn't it how they slipped in the corporate welfare for the homebuilders, under cover of the night. Apparently the NAHB learned their lesson last year, when they groveled in public for the tax loss carryover and were met with a groundswell of outrage. Better to make a back room deal with "Dirty" Harry Reid, and slip him a few shekels for his re-election campaign.
And tying it to the "must pass" unemployment bill is a nice touch. Machiavelli would blush.
This Senate is truly the worst collection of crooks, grifters and outright on-the-take thugs ever to darken the Capitol. At least in Chicago machine politics, you get the streets plowed and the garbage collected. In DC, you get your pockets picked and nothing to show for it but a housing market distorted by subsidies.
Following links from NK and turned up a scenario in which states move to preserve themselves at some cost to Federal power. Floridians may have a Dem candidate who recommends doing it, too.
dear Commentariat
I'm working on a new story and I wanted to pitch its title - nothing more -
it's High Concept enough (High Concept in the Hollywood sense of the late 80s, for example,
Scharzwnegger / DeVito = Twins) to describe itself or as programmers would say, self documenting...
ok
any hands for Genocide Jury Duty ?
Bond Girl, I think you're correct. But bloggers who did help the administration win will see yesterday's invitations as a friendly gesture. (Think: a lobbyist buying a congressperson dinner in a 5 star restaurant...)
Corpoarate welfare indeed. I'm staying at a hotel near the NAHB building in DC and I get pissed everytime I have to walk by it.
Separately the National Postal Museum had a big banner with a "HOPE" header. Further reading revealed they were hawking FDR commerative stamps from the Depression. I wondered if it was someone with a weird sense of humor or ...
burnside
thanks for that link!
I broke away from my story long enough to peruse it. very interesting, indeed.
nice to see something other than the Fed as the only solution. I think a lot of the move
away from states banks came in the mid to late 1800s when a number of Midwest states dumped
money into an extension of the Erie Canal only to see it go bust with the advent or Buffett's favorite
investment these days. I believe my own state of Indiana went belly up... correct me if I'm wrong,
I'm a writer not a historian - that is, I like to make things up.
edit
make that struggling, in every sense of the word, writer!
I suspect that most will go back to there apathetic ways
Mostly, I suspect because they may not have gotten what they thought they voted for. But I'm not sure it is going to matter so much, if the (R) do not come up with something better than the party of "just say no", and "cut taxes." While noble sentiments in theory, recent history has taught us that borrow and spend, may be worse than tax and spend.
CR is admirable as always but I wonder if Tanta would have went just to stir the pot. Of course if they offered her the ring and she accepted we would have to love her and despair.
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Which is Worse
assuming you'll see all the beach you want in Thailand (IMO the Thais are exploiting them way too much )
Phnom Pen is worth about 2 days maybe 3 (beats Saigon which is worth 1 day), if no beach in Thailand
go to Shianoukville for the beaches, not quite on par with thailand but much cheaper and where else can
you drink magic milkshakes with impunity or buy ganja joints? Off Topic? that's the only reason why CR tolerates my presences here is my consistency to be always such!
"And where are the fathers who died in the dust
And mothers who died hungry in the snow
And where’s the kids that watched the banks
Plough the houses down
Those are things I guess my teachers never knowed
Have you heard about a country where the rivers run free
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Well it is good to see people are paying attention when you look at the election results. I hope this sends a message, but...BUT! we must be vigilant as this may cause a ratcheting up if you will and a rush rush on the part of the Obama administration to pass bills in a more speedy fashion. Do not let down your guard.
Also anyone catch "V" funny aliens from another planet offering free health care hahaha!
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Which is Worse
assuming you'll see all the beach you want in Thailand (IMO the Thais are exploiting them way too much )
Phnom Pen is worth about 2 days maybe 3 (beats Saigon which is worth 1 day), if no beach in Thailand
go to Shianoukville for the beaches, not quite on par with thailand but much cheaper and where else can
you drink magic milkshakes with impunity or buy ganja joints? you Off Topic? hey, that's the only reason why CR tolerates my presences here - my consistency to be always such,
otherwise I would've been persona non grata long ago...
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Dude did you forget to take your ritalin this morning or what?? Buy a tour guide.
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
This is an outrage, they are luring people into a guaranteed(most likely) big bill in a deteriorating job market for an asset that will probably continue to go down in value. If they want to stick people in houses put out some kind of rent subsidy not stick them the illusionary home ownership. Don't think of it as a house think of it as a decade long bill contract on a deteriorating asset.
Anon Bosch
the Duke in bed at 8:20 pm, me thinks not...
check to see if by chance you have me Ignore - Which is Worse
I've answered your question Twice...
....
something is FUBAR here...
I keep adding people to my IGNORE list ??? WTF?
.....
Which is Worse must have me on his List...
.......seems there was a louder cry NOT for GOP, but for "out with the incumbents"........now THAT would be a refreshing change. (Except for NYC which is,.....well,.......NYC)
*CR knows a charade when he sees one. *
It seems to me that the administration is trying to do to bloggers what they have already done to the MSM. Control the message by controlling access to "insiders" . If you don't write what we want, or if you criticize too harshly you lose your access. It's worked on the MSM for years, Somehow I don't think it will work in the blogosphere.
I'll just post this again, since obviously the stupid arse tax credit is designed to reinflate our housing bubble, whereas these other countries have clearly been more effective at the task.
It won't reinflate the bubble if it's going to move-up buyers. That will spur supply and drive prices down. They're idiots, but their desire to prop up prices is only secondary to desire to increase sales volume and reward the cockroach realtors.
Kind of late for a pig, and bad news to boot.
Keynesian multiplier equals what, .1 or .2?
you know, if you hadn't talked smack about the housing credit, you might have been invited to the Treasury briefing with the other influential bloggers.
Negative FFR?
Wouldn't that be like paying someone to borrow?
Yep, never gonna happen.
Never.
I feel your pain, as this is more bank welfare, mainly.
And I rent.
Basel Too wrote:
Would that have been a good thing? I mean Krugman lost a lot of cred with me, after the fact.
According to the NYT, one justification was: "Democrats are eager to show progress before Friday, when the October jobless report is again expected to show high unemployment."
Huh. Ya think? Ain't progress wonderful?
I was invited. I wasn't interested in listening to them ...
best wishes
Respect, sir.
blackhalo, CR: my comment was meant to be snark...
Now, that's an attitude I can share.
Another good call CR, judging by Yves report on the meeting.
Oh snap!
Mish was invited too. I guess he didn't go. Of course I'm in California, so it wasn't like I could drive over there.
best to all
CR
refuses to puff or inhale the hopium
Well at least we know that things will get worse rather than an uncertain future where this could have gotten better
I bet the meeting would have been much more interesting if Mish had gone. He might have brought the outrage!
I'll just post this again, since obviously the stupid arse tax credit is designed to reinflate our housing bubble, whereas these other countries have clearly been more effective at the task.
Fears of a New Bubble as Cash Pours In - WSJ.com
Sorry if that came across wrong or arrogant ... I just didn't see the point. I thought I already knew what they were going to say. I read some of the reports - and there were no surprises.
best to all
So, Yves climbs on the Washington shuttle, or the train, at 0 Dark Thirty to ride down there to listen to their propaganda.
You travel all that way and all you hear is crap. The human mind being what it is, you've got to make something of all that wasted time and expense so, like Yves, you say they're very smart people.
Gee, I wish I'd been there. They would have ejected me.
Well, if you get a coupon in the mail for a free roast beef dinner,...
extending the carryback to five years. Pure and brazen theft of the taxpayers. Which i guess we should expect at this point. At this point anyone who isn't trying to game or actually rip off the system is a sucker. If you pay taxes, you are participating in criminal activity. If you can't beat 'em,join em.
You made the right choice. Going there is not good for your health, or your reputation, and it would be a total waste, just as it turned out for those who did go. They just gave these fools justification. Id have prefered if everyone snubbed them.
CalculatedRisk wrote:
No, you did not. No apologies necessary.
Besides, according to Yves & Panzner the roast beef wasn't digesting well.
The first person to be convicted of defrauding the tax credit program was a tax preparer in Jacksonville, Fla., who was sentenced last month to 30 months in prison. According to the Justice Department, he claimed the credit for ineligible clients, many of whom were unsuspecting, and electronically paid himself $1,000 of the credit’s value each time.
30 months in jail for this shmoe (even though the "unsuspecting" clients pocketed the other $7K), yet Dick Fuld remains free...
mp wrote:
I remain unconvinced. Sure, they have been wildly successful in holding off bad news for bad banks, but I question weather that even smart or wise. Oh and their idea of moving all regulation to the Fed? F'n brilliant!
Oh I was just being playful. But I'm glad they invited you at least. Hopefully someone in the Admin is reading the stuff you post here.
CR, I catch your meaning, but I no longer have any interest in hearing what they have to say.
All I want to know is what they do, mainly so I can get out of their wyay.
Hey, at least they're acknowledging CR and the others are players in the grand scheme of things.
It's a new world posing unforeseen dangers, and they're not quite sure how to negotiate it, let alone control it. That's all very good, very good indeed.
No banker invited you on his corporate jet? They'll regret this...
Arrogant, no, modest.
No way I could have resisted the opportunity to laugh in Timmy's face.
the net-operating-loss carryback period for firms
can we define "firms"
OT, but why does there seem to be no anti-trust issues being raised regarding the merger (or purchase) of Stanley Tools & Black & Decker? I know there was little to no enforcement of anti-trust laws during the Bush Administration, but . . .. BBC NEWS | Business | Rival firm to buy Black & Decker
If nothing else, if the purchase goes through, there will be "streamlining" or more jobs lost.
Yah, but wise people know that don't mean they're right.
You know it's the smartest people that make the best crackpots.
p.s.: The fact that they issue invites without sending planes (or at least first-class tickets) just reinforces their naivete. Economics bloggers may have money, but they're not generally wealthy and certainly didn't get their money blogging.
Some Democrat called the Bloomberg spin army "full of shit" on public radio tonight, with no apology.
It is what it is.
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Perhaps it is somewhat political. Someone rising from the blogosphere on an anti-banker ticket seems to me to be a VERY reasonable threat, that the (R) are unlikely to pursue. If unemployment in 2010/12 is still >10%, all incumbents should be sweating a little.
So I assume that Dean Geithner put the rest of us on double-secret probation, just for participating in the blog.
mock turtle is running, and I'll donate time and money
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Those inside the bubble are unfamiliar with the challenges of the plebes. Oh yeah and they may be used to sending
?
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Ummm, perhaps this is just the first round.
Pigged...
Found a currency devaluation study about the decline of the Mexican peso in 1994 where the authors question 2 earlier hypotheses of this devaluation and conclude that a government announced 15% devaluation was a 'sudden death'...'a surprise devaluation does destroy indeed all hard won credibility' and that exchange rates pegs are very fragile.
Economists do disagree with each other and see various factors having more or less importance so this research evolves. Also various devaluations may have different factors...but...
Mexico's financial sector was deteriorating and there was a loose credit stance before this 'devaluation'. This seems a common theme in currency devaluations.
http://econ.as.nyu.edu/docs/IO/9383/RR96-20.PDF
azurite wrote:
Maybe B&D can teach them how to work the tax system
Tax Shelter Can Have a Business Purpose
Polite discourse is nice, but if you hold back you have a Billy Budd risk.
I expect it to peak somewhere around next November and think that would make it very rough for Democrats to retain control of the situation.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
Oregon, right?
yogi,
The rhetoric is getting nasty now...tensions mount...
mp wrote:
I expect Stimpack II to be heavily targeted to that concern.
Oh, I agree, especially after today's non-denial denial.
I also find it encouraging that they're even aware of folks like CR and Mish. Please, please, please, let them be reading and taking some of the analysis to heart and not just blowing smoke up everyone's *** with invitations. The bloggers are the real press these days.
CalculatedRisk wrote:
I guess he didn't make it past the metal detector...
CR, are you aware of a complete list of the bloggers invited? I have yet to find one.
FWIW we're renters who sold our house 2.5 years ago. We owned the house before that for 9 years. No credit for us. Guess we'll just have to wait for the price to go down organically when they pull the supports out.
Bloomberg is now a confirmed lame duck and the tone changed within minutes. Even Republicans must slam him now to leverage the anti-incumbent rage.
mock is in OR or WA I can't think. I respect his sincerity.
MommyKnows wrote:
And THAT is causing them fits I am sure. Not quite as tractable as the NYT or WSJ folks. I mean have you ever taken a look at some of the comments under a USA Today article, or even Krugman's blog? CR (and the others) are where it is at.
sdtfs wrote:
Washington, Ninth District
FYI before Hillary ran for president 10-15 of the top "liberal bloggers" were invited to a lunch with Bill Clinton. All expenses paid of course. the majority invited took the bait. they realize bloggers aren't like rich lobbyists and can be bought cheap. Luckily our friend CR doesn't fall into the normal blogger demo of living in his parents basement.
I'm going to guess you're either bullshit intolerant or propaganda neutral
~splat
MommyKnows wrote:
Given that we have gone the Japan route, the enormous amount of MBS on the Fed balance sheet and the nationalization of AIG, FRE and FRN. That may be a very, very, long wait. Unless, unforeseen events occur...
The home builders need help carry back losses; I suppose when they were making money hands over fist 2000- 2006, they pumped all that extra cash into campaign coffers for just such a day as this, when they will get some of their meager taxes back. Lets not forget the
paid only 1% in taxes by their off shoring their income. Patriots these!
Blackhalo wrote:
What a great development in human history that has been.
No snark intended.
SEC Commissioner Aguilar had a private meeting with GS about dark pools...
These
are pushing the 
Who extends the invites to Jackson's Hole?
There's a lot of hiking there I bet.
splat wrote:
Still would it not be nifty to get your picture taken, giving a treasury official, "rabbit ears?"
The pressure still seems to be to the downside, but some locales maybe not.
As CR and Jim the Realtor have pointed out, there are pockets in California that are showing signs of turning bubbly again.
Having said that, I wouldn't be buying a house right now, but that's just me.
I guess.
Oh.. they're all on "the list"....
~splat
splat wrote:
40% of us are too.
splat, I think you're on the red list.
Uncle Warren is king of the
Jamie has a bigger gross notional outstanding.
Lewis is off the island.
Vikram's services are worth a dollar a year.
I'm sorry, I was thinking of Nixon's Enemies List.
Blackhalo wrote:
Unforeseen by whom?
Properties in my bubble area have come down 30% and stuck there.
They're still about 90% more than 2000 values, which, even then, were high.
I won't be buying a house until they get all the way back down to 2001 prices.
Jimi turned down Nixon's invite to the White House. He claimed he never saw it but I suspect he "wasn't interested in listening to them".
Good link, thanks. I think the right conclusion is that a "surprise" devaluation is an acknowledgement by a country's financial authorities that they have no further ability to prevent market forces from driving exchange rates to a different, stable level. The economics boilerplate and math that is included in the paper appears to me to just provide an excuse to include the real discussion of the issues.
sportsfan wrote:
Perhaps that is why the Secret Service is spread so thin. Tough job to keep tabs on every nutjob poster?
Secret Service under strain as leaders face more threats - The Boston Globe
What really frosts me about Congress is how unrelated items are attached to popular bills in order to give everyone voting "Aye" some plausible deniability if the unrelated item should backfire. Until it does, of course, they can take credit for voting "Aye," but should things turn, they had to vote that way to extend UE benefits for all those hard-working Americans who . . . well, aren't working very hard any more.
But don't anyone call that welfare. It's just a transfer payment.
My man:
TJ and The Bear wrote:
Benny, Timmy and Larry would be my first thought.
sportsfan wrote:
Meh, compromise and weak sauce seem inevitable, short of a line item veto, and I see no chance of congress handing that much power to the executive.
Well in terms of priority in my book, a check for the Unemployed poor comes before a check for the folks aiming to buy a 750K house with combined salary of 225K. Pooling all these unrelated stuff in the same bill sucks.
Blackhalo wrote:
That really is the other side of the coin from bloggers being harder to control than the writers at the NYT and WSJ. No advancement without some discomfort.
These days nutjobs are all over the internet. (Some even have cable shows outside of the 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. news programming hours.) In the old days, you actually had to go to the demonstration, wear something radical or carry a good homemade sign and have the MIB take your photo and put up with all the related hassles. Now it's just so much easier.
Thought the Supremes took that item offline....
Congress learned how to finesse blame for war powers abused, though.
Merchants of Fear: "We scare, because we care"
Contagion - the cross-country incidence of currency attacks
Conclusion -
'We have found strong evidence that currency crises tend to spread along regional lines suggested by international trade.
Countries tend to suffer speculative attacks after their foreign competitors are attacked.'
(This is something to watch for...)
FRBSF: Economic Letter - How Do Currency Crises Spread? (8/28/98)
rosethorn,
Check out the research above on the 'contagion' of currency attacks...this is very interesting.
sportsfan wrote:
Well not if "Scarecrow" goes down, and the MSM Googles up pages of tirades from the perpetrator... Makes me wonder what a modern day Kazynski would do... Use the internet to get his anti-technology rant out, or not?
mp - I agree that next Nov is the target
and as someone who grew up in a very very politically involved family
if you can prop up an economy or at least produce the patina of positive reversal
the White House is in Def Con 5 mode as we speak... O loses the House and he's
toast, a Billi Clinton reversal can only be done if you're BC...
Blackhalo wrote:
Agree that will never happen. Congress was already marginalized enough by the Imperial Executive and the current Administration's envoys seem to find it difficult to mask their contempt for any oversight.
So they continue to play their duck and cover games, mixing up the voting for what they want by voting for what they think we need.
Looking at and listening to Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell, it's easy to see why no one respects them.
" Our building of a better world must begin at the bottom with... ordinary people all over the world. Capitalism is fine if the people have sufficient checks on the bosses - it can work and does work well... but we must work from here on to see that the interests of capital and humanity are the same, not merely manifestations of the financial lust of a greedy minority."
Saw this in book thought I'd share it
Blackhalo wrote:
Sorry, can't make a connection. Somehow I don't think it involves the Wizard of Oz.
I don't respect Pelosi, Reid, Boehner and McConnell, but the awkward amendment insertions have a perverse logic: everything really is related, and the discount rate does affect the price of tea in China.
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
. . . especially when it's being traded as in "this" for "that."
Black & Decker is a toy company, not a tool company, so no antitrust issues.
Yup
sportsfan wrote:
Never has the D.C. bubble been more apparent to me than now. These guys seem so detached from those they are preportedly supposed to represent, nor do they seem to hold to any core ideals. They just seem to sway with whatever the latest WSJ or NYT editorial proposes or the will of their corporate masters. Now Grayson, Paul, Franken and Snowe seem to be a bit more clued in. 2010 will be very interesting to me.
sportsfan wrote:
Supposedly, O's SS codename.
OK...here it is...the Perfect Storm...how IT happens...
'When markets perceive that conditions such as high unemployment or a weak banking system compromise the central bank's willingness to defend a currency peg by raising interest rates, speculative attacks are more likely to succeed.'
FRBSF: Economic Letter - How Do Currency Crises Spread? (8/28/98)
Yeah I used to find it absurd but I see that it can give minority blocs their due. The Senate is set up to squelch any national minority that is spread out (e.g., one black woman Senator for one term ever, despite >6% of the population).
1 Currency
I just checked the Times and saw that the Dems won in the 23rd district ... who are the geniuses in the Rep Party that
ran someone on the Conservative ticket thereby splitting the vote?
I see the Times sees this as a glimmer of hope for Obama, hmm...
1 currency now -yogi wrote:
And yet lawyers and GS seem VERY well represented... /s
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
Are you asking a serious question or snarking?
NY Times wrote:
Palin came to fight off a Republican "Commie" who supported some venal social sin like the institution of marriage, so she dropped out and threw support to the Democrat.
Go home, &^%$#, and take the big fat idiot.
Blackhalo wrote:
Oh, okay. Yes, there would be a large investigation after the fact . . . isn't there always one.
I suspect they change names from time to time. If I were them, I would constantly be changing names and then leak a name to the media that we never used . . . but that's just me.
I agree that today's Congressional "leaders" are disconnected from the people. What's funny to me is how phony they appear when trying to connect.
The Wizard of Oz?
I think it's more The Wiz, what character did Michael Jackson play in the movie?
Something for Duke
YouTube - Grandma shooting a FA MP40
sportsfan wrote:
"Progressive"?
The
is spread out, but it functions as a majority of almost every State.
yagij wrote:
LOL! +1
1 Currency
remember the republican black senator from CN? Brooks ....
do you know why he had to step down?
Does that qualify as a Profile in Courage or did it just put Plattsburg on the map of upstate NY?
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
MA
I assume either Kennedy or Kerry beat him.
BROOKE, Edward William, III - Biographical Information
yagij wrote:
Good one. I never understood the "most liberal Senator" and related attacks during the campaign. The guy is about as Establishment as they come.
He just happened to be the only Black in the Senate, so "he must be liberal" or something.
thanks yagji!
Why is it that congress has no trouble with extending the net-operating-loss carryback period for firms from two years to five years and creating the carryback in the first place (to help homebuilders, as CR stated), yet I never hear of them even considering temporarily increasing the annual capital loss limit to more than $3,000 to help out the Joe Main Streets who might have lost money during the crash.
james_fitz wrote:
Far be it for me to suggest deductions being a direct function to campaign contributions... It sure wold be nice to get some o' that .07% tax rate.
Duke, the official line:
The whisper number was different.
james_fitz wrote:
The cynic's response: Joe Main Streets doesn't matter. Looking for another reason?
.
AMT anyone?
deleted by request
Services in U.S. Probably Expanded for Second Month (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
And what does the future hold for the RE agents and car salesmen in Q4?
james, you ask a good question. Everything "they" are doing is designed to put liquidity into the system, whether it's loss carrybacks that generate refunds, tax credits for buying a McMansion, or the most obvious and effective, extending unemployment benefit checks and food stamp distribution.
Increasing the capital loss limit would accomplish the same goal of injecting liquidity, either through lower tax payments or higher refunds. But I fear the answer has already been posted.
So I will just close on this cheery note. The unused capital loss carryforwards that we can only deduct at the rate of $3,000 per year die with us. Our estates will not benefit from any further deductions on that basis. They just go poof.
Not sure it's ever wrong to out a hypocrite, but I don't follow gossip. I don't care whether the guy is wearing high heels, a blond wig, and is Madonna's playmate, how many rebounds did he pull down...
sportsfan,
why do you think members of his family were sabotaging his re-election effort?
it wasn't financial at all... that might have been true but it was smoke,
he had a particular problem...
Duke, so I've heard, but it was a long time ago and there's no reason for further speculation today.
I thought he served honorably in the Senate for two terms and that should be the story.
1 currency
you might not cause you're a New Yorker but other voters might care...
what if said behavior made you an easy target for blackmail?
why do you think Karla ever bothered with honey traps in Le Carre novels?
cause it works...
I agree sportsfan...
long ago, but that was a case where an affirmative action bias helped a lot
Using Thomas.gov to figure out what exactly is going on with the credit & amendments is very confusing. Is there any other place where it is spelled out? The effective dates for one, while I have heard Dec 1st through April 30th.. all the amendments I have seen don't specifiy a start date.. but I have a hard time believing they'd retroactively reward homebuyers who qualify. And I am also interested in seeing if the 225k is a hard cap or phased out.. I see articles saying it is phased out but can't find the specifics in the amendment.
Duke, yogi, et al.,
I think it's time to go watch the make believe election night returns with Jon Stewart.
Later.
Effective Demand, they still have to work it out in a conference committee. That's my take, anyway.
You do the right thing and announce that you had encounters with hookers on day one.
They mocked Paterson for a day. Anyone mocking him now is a dumbass who can't keep up with his wit.
1 Currency
come on... NY State is a bit like France. perhaps you can also announce that you once were arrested in female drag... ok, so far so good... but when it comes out that you were dressed a Nazi concentration camp warden (yes, they had them... one even had glass put into an oven so she could see their bodies burn - source a stenographer at the Nuremburg Trials)
what then are your chances of political viability? Zero
Mitterand types can't win elsewhere IMO.
duke
Hmmmm, slow night. Seven users, of which one is definitely past her bedtime.
I can't sleep....
Niall Ferguson on Charlie Rose tonight (second half, first was office of budget management guy, talking about our scary deficits and ineffectual congress) - Niall seemed to seriously rattle Charlie with all his talk about the inevitable downfall of America and our potential default on our debt. Charlie was getting very combative.
I bet that was entertaining....
This is the only part of doomerism that I'm not convinced of. There must be some adjustment, but that's not to say being anywhere else in the world is necessarily going to be superior.
Anyone see Nemo weighing in at Accrued Interest on the Treasury/Bloggers date?
Fine chap.
Asia was boringly bouncy today. Nikki stayed home with granma. Currencies were all over the joint, local news making for some odd movements. Some more breathless nonsense about India glod buy. The rest of the news seemed to be Dances with Dictators.
C
Perhaps for some a new standard of living might as well be The End.
Yes. I thought Nemo made some excellent points.
I met Niall back in '03 when he was pushing Colossus? about the new American Empire, in
my opinion the book felt very rushed and not though like some of his earlier books...
hope he's not trying to hop the topical train, in a way... scholarship takes time and lately
his notoriety seems to make him push the envelope.
pity, I can't seem to get Charlie Rose over here
A bunch of morons ... I support the housing credit oif done properly ... but this is not it ... simply more political pandering ... EXISTING HOMES needed no incentive - they are selling just fine and there are plenty of good deals in the foreclosed home ranks ... likewise existing homes offer little or no stimulus effect ...
On the other hand NEW HOMES - even if they are homes that people would have bought anyway - offer very real stimulus effect ... 3 new FTE jobs created for every new home built - not to mention the big multiplier effect .... not a singke politicaian smart enough to figure that out ... isnetad we'll simply subsidize a bunch of buyers to buy homes that do little to create actual benefit
It's really depressing that this is how the administration views the public's contribution to financial regulatory reform.
Let's allow some bloggers to vent. There. We heard the other side of things.
On the bright side, at least they are aware that there are bloggers out there with meaningful contributions and thoughts. Unfortunately this doesn't help them, as their main problem is how to be a winner in a no-win situation. Can't just say we're going to do the least painful thing and end up down the ladder a few rungs, nope. Gotta have a "recovery".
Well, politicians and bank executives more or less use the same logic. What looks good in the short term is more important than what is sustainable. Their calculus is governed by their ability to move on before the consequences of their decisions are realized.
people keep mentioning a second StimPack but a) does Obama have enough political capital to push this through?
me thinks not, esp. not after losing NJ and VA because the Indies shifted and if exit polls and analysis show it
was due to his Admin of the economy he'll lose Dem moderates backing ...
Axelrod “That doesn’t mean they won’t come out for us,” he said. “I think they’ll come out for national races. But this wasn’t a national race.”
right... that huge turnout of young voters, minority voters, etc won't happen again... that event was akin to the Beatles getting back together, once in a generation... I suspect that most will go back to there apathetic ways
We are creating bubbles in East Asia. Ah, irony.
Fears of a New Bubble as Cash Pours In - WSJ.com
I think part of the problem is acknowledging that the Japan scenario is actually the wildly optimistic one. The center may have shifted already on the unrevealed position. The defense of the policy then starts to sound like it's an all-out effort, because perhaps it is. Policymakers and officials then get caught on the cleft stick of selling a policy that has manifest holes and problems, which they can't admit let alone engage on, because the criticism is valid but change is not deemed possible (usually that is politically not possible).
I've been in analogous situations and it is not rewarding. No one walks away satisfied.
C
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
You don't think the negative aspect will help? That is: "We didn't get the 2nd stimulus thru because of him/them,...and now look at where we are!
I don't know, Duke. Will be interesting for states if nothing happens.
Applause for a man with honor. A delight to be represwented by you. Thank you.
CR knows a charade when he sees one.
Could be The End for states if nothing happens...
An Update on State Budget Cuts — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
This movie so far lacks racy jump cuts and a chase scene, but I suspect the hostages all die of asphyxiation in the dr evil machine before the hero arrives in the aston martin.
C
LOL, C.
But that is more or less the case. As long as unemployment is high, states are pretty much screwed. And that will translate politically eventually.
Totally. And maybe constitutionally too. I was working over various doomerish scenarios early in the year wandering around Montpelier, listening to the guides explain how happy they were since the place had been restored to its previous glory (aka ripped apart, downsized, but more historically accurate). Hmmm, Madison, constitution, political economy, crisis, taxes, fundamentals, accretions...
And the question kept coming up: at what point are states simply non-viable? There are metric tonnes of texts on sovereign state failure, but not much on the limits of federalism and what happens to prevent, moderate, ameliorate, or fix a downward spiral.
C
Yeah. I've always been philosophically inclined that way (obviously), but I'll admit that it is difficult to consider an entity a sovereign if it is not financially independent. (Of course, that could carry over to our federal government too....) But even if there were widespread financial issues with state governments, there are other political/cultural concerns about consolidated government.
is it me or does that 10000 Interior Design Pictures unnerve you to?
reminds of some B movie like Night of 1000 Zombies
*CR knows a charade when he sees one. *
True, but if he were around D.C. I can't help but think he would have gone in.
But what interests me is what the administration is thinking about this going forward. Are they going to be using bloggers to float trial balloons? Why are they trying to build a relationship? It's not as if the bloggers have much political power. Is it to get in touch with businesses unofficially? There's got to be a little more to it than just a friendly chat.
My guess is that they thought they could enchant bloggers and that maybe they would receive less criticism in the future. If they wanted genuine feedback on issues, they would have done something in an open fashion. Town hall meetings on this topic would probably be bad for their health, however.
Bloggers helped elect Obama and defeat Hillary. The O administration will consider them an ally, until they don't.
I doubt they consider finance/economics bloggers allies.
Interesting isn't it how they slipped in the corporate welfare for the homebuilders, under cover of the night. Apparently the NAHB learned their lesson last year, when they groveled in public for the tax loss carryover and were met with a groundswell of outrage. Better to make a back room deal with "Dirty" Harry Reid, and slip him a few shekels for his re-election campaign.
And tying it to the "must pass" unemployment bill is a nice touch. Machiavelli would blush.
This Senate is truly the worst collection of crooks, grifters and outright on-the-take thugs ever to darken the Capitol. At least in Chicago machine politics, you get the streets plowed and the garbage collected. In DC, you get your pockets picked and nothing to show for it but a housing market distorted by subsidies.
Following links from NK and turned up a scenario in which states move to preserve themselves at some cost to Federal power. Floridians may have a Dem candidate who recommends doing it, too.
t r u t h o u t | Cut Wall Street Out! How States Can Finance Their Own Economic Recovery
They give two extant examples - North Dakota and Oz.
dear Commentariat
I'm working on a new story and I wanted to pitch its title - nothing more -
it's High Concept enough (High Concept in the Hollywood sense of the late 80s, for example,
Scharzwnegger / DeVito = Twins) to describe itself or as programmers would say, self documenting...
ok
any hands for Genocide Jury Duty ?
central_scrutinizer wrote:
The Senate is a reflection of the American people.
Bond Girl, I think you're correct. But bloggers who did help the administration win will see yesterday's invitations as a friendly gesture. (Think: a lobbyist buying a congressperson dinner in a 5 star restaurant...)
Corpoarate welfare indeed. I'm staying at a hotel near the NAHB building in DC and I get pissed everytime I have to walk by it.
Separately the National Postal Museum had a big banner with a "HOPE" header. Further reading revealed they were hawking FDR commerative stamps from the Depression. I wondered if it was someone with a weird sense of humor or ...
sdtfs wrote:
Well they manged to get Paul banned from an (R) primary debate.
Moneybomb - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mirabile dictu. NYer's James Surowiecki has gone on the offensive . . .
Why banks stay big : The New Yorker
burnside
thanks for that link!
I broke away from my story long enough to peruse it. very interesting, indeed.
nice to see something other than the Fed as the only solution. I think a lot of the move
away from states banks came in the mid to late 1800s when a number of Midwest states dumped
money into an extension of the Erie Canal only to see it go bust with the advent or Buffett's favorite
investment these days. I believe my own state of Indiana went belly up... correct me if I'm wrong,
I'm a writer not a historian - that is, I like to make things up.
edit
make that struggling, in every sense of the word, writer!
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
Mostly, I suspect because they may not have gotten what they thought they voted for. But I'm not sure it is going to matter so much, if the (R) do not come up with something better than the party of "just say no", and "cut taxes." While noble sentiments in theory, recent history has taught us that borrow and spend, may be worse than tax and spend.
Duke, you're very welcome.
And I'm off to farmers' market.
Bank of North Dakota: About BND
Gee is that Gold @ $1090.....wait let me get a closer look (o) (o) yup it sure is.
7:14a
J.P. Morgan downgrades Burlington Northern
LOL, LOL, LOL
That's it, Warren is buying J.P. Morgan
Silver and copper are outperforming gold as of yet.
CR is admirable as always but I wonder if Tanta would have went just to stir the pot. Of course if they offered her the ring and she accepted we would have to love her and despair.
YouTube - LOTR: FOTR - Galadriel choose
shill wrote:
With the USD at ~76.32, I'm curious to know if AU went up due to a weakening USD or stronger
demand.
I am beginning to lose the faith all those saleman on fox with the same pitch makes me feel very nervous.
Duke-
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Just finished reading the tax credit bill.......Second homes for everyone!.....
Which is Worse
assuming you'll see all the beach you want in Thailand (IMO the Thais are exploiting them way too much )
Phnom Pen is worth about 2 days maybe 3 (beats Saigon which is worth 1 day), if no beach in Thailand
go to Shianoukville for the beaches, not quite on par with thailand but much cheaper and where else can
you drink magic milkshakes with impunity or buy ganja joints?
Off Topic? that's the only reason why CR tolerates my presences here is my consistency to be always such!
The Senate is a reflection of the American people.
Slight correction: The Senate is a reflection of how the American people would act, were there no consequences for their actions.
We may get to that point sooner than we would like.
From "Plains of Nebrasky-o" by Eric Anderson
"And where are the fathers who died in the dust
And mothers who died hungry in the snow
And where’s the kids that watched the banks
Plough the houses down
Those are things I guess my teachers never knowed
Have you heard about a country where the rivers run free
That’s a place where I think you ought to go
Where the corn stands high
Tall as the sky
On the great plains of old Nebrasky-o"
Duke-
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Well it is good to see people are paying attention when you look at the election results. I hope this sends a message, but...BUT! we must be vigilant as this may cause a ratcheting up if you will and a rush rush on the part of the Obama administration to pass bills in a more speedy fashion. Do not let down your guard.
Also anyone catch "V" funny aliens from another planet offering free health care hahaha!
Duke-
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
Which is Worse
assuming you'll see all the beach you want in Thailand (IMO the Thais are exploiting them way too much )
Phnom Pen is worth about 2 days maybe 3 (beats Saigon which is worth 1 day), if no beach in Thailand
go to Shianoukville for the beaches, not quite on par with thailand but much cheaper and where else can
you drink magic milkshakes with impunity or buy ganja joints?
you Off Topic? hey, that's the only reason why CR tolerates my presences here - my consistency to be always such,
otherwise I would've been persona non grata long ago...
Dude did you forget to take your ritalin this morning or what?? Buy a tour guide.
8:06a
GMAC Financial Services Q3 net loss $767 mln
Duke-
Way off topic but I just bought a plane ticket to BKK for the upcoming Muslim holidays. Outside of the obvious Angkor Wat, what is your recommendation as a place to see in Cambodia?
This is an outrage, they are luring people into a guaranteed(most likely) big bill in a deteriorating job market for an asset that will probably continue to go down in value. If they want to stick people in houses put out some kind of rent subsidy not stick them the illusionary home ownership. Don't think of it as a house think of it as a decade long bill contract on a deteriorating asset.
"Oh well..." Shrugging Cartoon Bear Hat from Zazzle.com
Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven hundred. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Which is worse, just made it to the ignore list....
Which is worse is probably at the airport...
to get some inside info.
Duke probably went to bed already.
PREPPING FOR THE FED
THE PRAGMATIC CAPITALIST » » PREPPING FOR THE FED
I'll hold my nose and take full advantage of this. Thanks, Washington. You've covered my selling costs.
Anon Bosch
the Duke in bed at 8:20 pm, me thinks not...
check to see if by chance you have me Ignore - Which is Worse
I've answered your question Twice...
....
something is FUBAR here...
I keep adding people to my IGNORE list ??? WTF?
.....
Which is Worse must have me on his List...
maybe a shrugging pig?
.......seems there was a louder cry NOT for GOP, but for "out with the incumbents"........now THAT would be a refreshing change. (Except for NYC which is,.....well,.......NYC)
I can't imagine why, Duke. You're always entertaining.
Time to make the donuts.
TTFN
sdtfs (profile) wrote on Wed, 11/4/2009 - 3:00 am
*CR knows a charade when he sees one. *
It seems to me that the administration is trying to do to bloggers what they have already done to the MSM. Control the message by controlling access to "insiders" . If you don't write what we want, or if you criticize too harshly you lose your access. It's worked on the MSM for years, Somehow I don't think it will work in the blogosphere.
Traderwalt,
many thanks for the Eric Anderson link. You sent me off to itunes...haven't listened to him in a long time.
GDD9000 wrote:
It won't reinflate the bubble if it's going to move-up buyers. That will spur supply and drive prices down. They're idiots, but their desire to prop up prices is only secondary to desire to increase sales volume and reward the cockroach realtors.