And first day of Summer. Does anything say summer quite like fresh fruit?
In closing: glitch, or back door to true universal health care?; digital destruction; good luck with that first line; trickle down; enough war; Science American Style; it’s the jobs, stupid; tied; origins of the Japanese; explains the evening “news“; and 747-8.
In other news, sky blue, water wet: The cable industry recognizes that poverty is as big threat to their subscriber base as Netflix.
Duhpartment of Research: What do cats do all day? Mostly sleep and rest.
World’s Oldest Known Museum: Turns out to have been in ancient Babylonia.
Views of Vegas: From the Strip and from one of the mountains north of town.
Couldn’t have anything to do with it: Worker’s share of national income is plunging faster than a supermodel’s neckline.
Congress Can’t Outlaw What They Aren’t Told About: surveillance programs go unnoticed. It’s a bad thing.
Cancer Needs Sugar to Survive: Low carb diets prevent cancer.
Sure Would Be Handy: Let’s see, we have lots of unemployed people, and we have roads to fix, schools to build, and lots of infrastucture that needs to be constructed or repaired. Gee, why don’t we try putting those things together??? Aw, that’s crazy talk.
If you say so: Has anybody come up with a really good use for these things? Lots of people say I need them and then they can’t explain why.
Can’t Resist: I know I said it earlier elsewhere, but HA HA! Righthaven smacked down! Yes, the source of that article was intentionally ironic.
This time it’s Getting To Happy.
Oh Jamie, Jamie, Jamie. Me thinks thou dost protest too much.
JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon was actually able to say with a straight face that the reason the economy has stalled is too much banking regulation. Somebody pass the man a fire extinguisher; his pants are surely ablaze. Fed officials “dispute” it. Heck, when Jim Cramer says you’ve gone too far, that’s a big hint.
We already — still — have a problem where banks think the rules don’t apply to them. That’s even more true at the “too big to fail” institutions. The Feds can’t make banks follow the law. The states don’t even have authority to make them follow the law. And yet Jamie thinks he has too many regulations?
Just ignore those pesky regulations, Jamie. Keep ignoring the law. And especially, ignore those angry consumers who are tired of getting screwed.
In closing: on health care; Jesus wouldn’t approve of Ayn Rand; national debt; local news; spam; band-aids on a bullet wound; I hope it never happens to his wife; the elements; food prices going up; wage “growth“; Hooverites; fossil sea turtle; and the continuing saga of Whitney Elementary.
This time, the BlogHer book event is A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. My version is right here. Next up will be Terry McMillan’s Getting to Happy.
In Closing: Ezra; Beetles; Faux-pas; finances; debt; wieners; banks; speculation; carbs; demand; testing; Reich; and free books.
I was reading along, minding my own business, when I came across this USAToday item about how Americans have come to expect that they won’t be in any better financial situation next year. Near the bottom is buried this little gem, emphasis mine:
A typical recovery pattern goes like this: stock market bottoms, economic growth bottoms and then hiring and wage increases return. What’s unique and scary about this recovery is that the last piece of the recovery is not there.
The author goes on to talk about how weak job creation has been throughout this “recovery”. It’s almost like he was thinking of this chart from Calculated Risk:
Now let’s keep in mind the various bits of financial news we’ve had this week: there were only 54,000 jobs created in May, barely enough to employ a third of the people new to the job market; housing prices are officially in a “double dip“; major stock market indexes are down for the 5th week in a row; 45 banks have failed this year, and almost a thousand more are in trouble; certain forces in government are talking about severe austerity that would cripple job growth and throw millions of people into poverty and disease, despite the contrary wishes of the American people.
Now tell me, where exactly do we get the idea that despite all this, we are actually in some sort of “recovery”? Only if you measure corporate profits without any regard for Human-Americans do we have anything of the sort.
In closing: history for sale; Roman fishing vessel may have had a live storage tank; sluts must be punished; at least they admit that meat isn’t the only source of protein (I also like the emphasis on fruits and veggies over grains); damned liberal facts!; truth isn’t what the media wants you to believe; I don’t quote the good professor enough; depressing; 3rd grade; 60 small changes; HA! Manager comes up with a check fast when the moving truck and sheriff’s deputies show up!; turns out that physical activity is good for kids (who knew???); and the War On Drugs is officially a FAILURE.
So let’s just start with Robert Reich, pointing out the disconnect between Washington and the economy.
The economy, by the way, is in lousy shape. It’s just that between inflation reporting that automatically inflate GDP and corporations raking in record profits, it’s easy to pretend that things like anemic jobs numbers, people leaving the workforce, dropping housing prices, declining wages, high fuel prices, and all the other things that effect those of us in the trenches don’t matter.
But here’s an odd glimmer of hope. One Fed official thinks it’s time to start raising interest rates. His reasoning is that it will encourage saving. Traditionalists should be ripping their hair out yelling about how it will kill the “recovery” (you know, the one we aren’t really having) by making it harder for businesses to borrow money (you know, the money banks aren’t really lending).
Some of those traditionalists might stop for a moment to consider that it would also stifle inflation (the inflation the feds have been trying to pretend hasn’t existed since the Clinton Administration). None of them will point out that it will make it more attractive for everyone to own bits of the national debt (the debt that Congress is arguing about). It is too much to hope that anyone other than myself is beginning to question whether super-low interest rates actually do much for the economy.
In Closing: porn; abortion; blast from the past; War on Drugs; humiliation; security; and cats.
This morning, I learned that CNBC anchor Mark Haines had passed away suddenly last night.
Wow.
Some people may want to debate this, but Mark was always a voice of reason on CNBC. He wouldn’t take any nonsense from anybody, guest or co-worker. And the professionalism with which he handled the completely unexpected 9/11/2001 broadcast was remembered by many.
By the way, “died unexpectedly” happens altogether too much. I know doctors cost money, but they can save your life.
In closing: not working all the Angles; Senate Odd Couple wants to fix the PATRIOT Act; Save the 4th Amendment (get a load of the source!); if you can’t drive, you can’t vote; this would be a Good Thing for all of us; Tequila Party starts by putting a thumb in Arizona’s eye; what savings?; and look for my next book review next week.
How’s that working out for you? I feel fine.
So I haven’t said anything about the brouhaha surrounding now-former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Let me remedy that right now:
But by far, the best actual headline has to be IMF Aborted Internal Investigation of Strauss-Kahn in 2008. Thank you, Businessweek!
In closing: the truth; if even joking about having a bomb is enough to get you arrested, then why weren’t TSA officers arrested?; most Americans don’t give a **** what gender your spouse is; Disagree with me? And you’re a woman? Or an underage female? You deserve to be killed and raped! (*ahem* at least according to some animals who consider themselves conservatives — just a friendly reminder, you don’t know whether I’ve got a concealed carry license, now do you); For pity sake, Mr. President, just freaking appoint Elizabeth Warren already!; The People want more regulation of Wall Street (are we mad enough to “vote all the bums out?”); the environmental case for legalizing marijuana; are your children at the park?; and Mark Zuckerberg is a freaking idiot.
I have got to get into the habit of little posts throughout the week. Today’s items are a little mind-blowing.
On Taxes and Debt: Two graphs.
On Inflation: Core rate is crazy.
Explains the Popularity of Certain People: Most people just don’t read books.
I wonder if they’ll remember this come fall: Americans want to nearly double fuel efficiency standards.
Danger, Mistress: Alert the Doctor, Sarah Jane has been traveling solo.
Sadly, probably not a world record: One man eats 25,000 Bic Macs over 13,800 days. I feel bloated just thinking about it.
Speaking of bloating: 513 illegal immigrants in 2 trucks.
Sure, that’s your money, but you can’t have it! You’d just spend it on food and shelter: The Senate wants to “save” you from spending your own 401k funds in an emergency.
Record Used Car Prices: and it’s not just “Cash for Clunkers” that got us here, but the recession and Japan’s earthquake/tsunami issues.
“Banks Say Simpler Mortgage Form Could ‘Stifle’ New Products”: by “stifle“, they mean “make it harder to trick you into getting a mortgage that will gradually strangle your finances.”
On living within your means: If it weren’t for credit cards, the American economy would suck even worse.
On Bid Laden’s Security: It involved about 100 flash drives.
Millenials Have No Clue: They think that they are precious snowflakes that deserve jobs, despite reality.
If you’re going to be out of town for a while, make sure somebody is watching your place: you never know when somebody might set up a brothel inside.
Reid Dares Them: Yeah, go ahead and vote to gut Medicare. Do it. I dare you.
Huh?: Obama says Israel needs to go back to its 1967 borders and like it?? Oy, that will put some people in a tizzy.
Here’s a Hint, Janet: Stop treating us all like criminals. Enough with the nudie scanners. Enough with the probulators. Enough with confiscating our water bottles while letting real threats through. Enough with the Do Not Fly list and other shit that doesn’t keep us safe.
That is all.