June 2012
23 posts
America’s jobs crisis →
To spell this out: high corporate profits and low levels of job growth are two sides of the same coin. If things were working properly right now, companies would take their excess revenues and use them to hire more people. Instead, they’re basically just letting those excess revenues sit on their balance sheets as cash because they’re scared to invest in themselves. It’s frankly pathetic.
The...
“We’re not where we need to be; we’re not there yet; you saw that in today’s jobs...”
– Obama Tells Donors Europe to Blame for Weak Job Growth - Bloomberg
There’s also the small problem of a failed policy platform and the large problem of ongoing global realignment.
squashedcomments:
That said, there wasn’t a foreclosure crisis in 1993.
Fact-check - in 1993 we were still recovering from the 1991 real-estate collapse. Foreclosed properties still formed a significant percentage of used homes for sale. And they were always the homes of vulnerable people, who were then purchased by capitalists and rehabilitated for a profit.
I think this is a fine practice....
climateadaptation asked: hey bud, what's really funny (to me) is i had to look up how to spell 'pornography.' and i've been a professional writer for nearly 15 years. i don't recall having ever written that word before. anyway, hope you're enjoying this dreary day. m
Breaking: Republicans hear woman's testimony on... →
Maria was going to show another picture to the House subcommittee yesterday, this photo, which is a photo of a five year old child bathing in that kind of brown, poisonous water. The child is naked, as you normally are when you bathe. I’d invite you to click that link, and think about what, if anything, distresses you about it… Maria was told that she would not be allowed to show that photo. It...
“One such property she bought for $30,000, then sold for $145,000 five months...”
– Elizabeth Warren accused of making a fortune from flipping foreclosed homes | Mail Online
The house was in foreclosure.
(via thecallus)
A 1993 foreclosure sold for a huge gain after five months almost certainly means an abandoned and blighted property was turned into something somebody wanted to...
“One such property she bought for $30,000, then sold for $145,000 five months...”
– Elizabeth Warren accused of making a fortune from flipping foreclosed homes | Mail Online
The house was in foreclosure.
Elizabeth Warren, Housing Speculator →
squashedcomments:
thecallus:
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barticles:
Well, THIS is sorta embarrassing! —
Elizabeth Warren, who has railed against predatory banks and heartless foreclosures, took part in about a dozen Oklahoma real estate deals that netted her and her family hefty profits through maneuvers such as “flipping” properties, records show.
A Herald review has found that the Democratic...
Elizabeth Warren, Housing Speculator →
squashedcomments:
barticles:
Well, THIS is sorta embarrassing! —
Elizabeth Warren, who has railed against predatory banks and heartless foreclosures, took part in about a dozen Oklahoma real estate deals that netted her and her family hefty profits through maneuvers such as “flipping” properties, records show.
A Herald review has found that the Democratic U.S. Senate candidate rapidly...
What the fuck, guys?
I’ve noticed that a lot of female bloggers are always talking about “crazy anons” and all that. To be honest, part of me always assumed this was a kind of cry for attention. “Oh, I’m so important! Look at all my critics!” Sorry; I know this makes me kind of an asshole.
More and more, I see that female bloggers really do receive an inordinate amount of...
Hmm.
Today was a very “hmm” day. And potentially a very “!!!” day. It was certainly a “hmm” day, though.
wardrobe malfunction
jakke:
[snip]
Also, I acknowledge that the quality of posts hereabouts is in a serious phase of decline. I’m too busy with the economics that I’m supposed to be doing to write about anything else economics-y. When the panic mode/impostor syndrome subsides a bit I’ll be back to posting about the eurozone and all.
Don’t worry. All you’re missing is a lot of worried people running...
shortformblog asked: Re "that guy sounds like a moderate": It was intended as sarcasm. Heh. — Ernie @ SFB
“In The Demise of Guys, Professor Zimbardo argues that young men are struggling:...”
– Mark McCormack, The Demise of a Particular Type of Guy
GOD, IT MUST BE SO HARD FOR YOU. See: Zimbardo’s The Demise of Guys
(via maozedongisnotcool)
Why do manarchist tears taste so disgusting? (via mohandasgandhi)
In fairness, it’s like dieting. We know dieting is good for us, but hunger...
My Sneaky (Even Evil) Trade Idea of the Day: Greek... →
Don’t pay for polls - polls are for shit. Just trade the vol. Asymmetry means that you can win on direction or on volatility. Trade the latter, not the former.
Capn's Log: Some Background →
capnmidori:
So, some background for that last post might be helpful. I work at a locally based classic and used video game chain, where I handle a myriad of behind the scenes stuff for the company including our web store, inventory distribution, and product research and pricing. While I get to avoid them now,…
Hey, neckbeards: cut the shit.
Keynes's Economic Plan Has Failed
Sorry, get that weak “stimulus not big enough!” shit out of here. This is what an expensive failure looks like. I know economic dogma will never, ever change and we’re all invested in a version of the truth here, but I’m going to spend this morning calling bullshit on the long-term efficacy of short-term stimulus.
Thanks for a brief ride in a bottomless boat, Bernanke.
Unemployment - up 0.1% to 8.2%
Every single statistic on this report was terrible. Payrolls had anemic growth at 69,000, way under the lowest predictions, and declining participation couldn’t offset the damage. Work week also declined, which is a negative forward indicator.
Job quality measures were negative. U-6 climbed faster than U-3, indicating the headline number is actually optimistic. This is not what a...
Jobs Data In An Hour
I’m going to go ahead and just assume the number sucks, because absolutely nothing is fixed. This is far more efficient than actually reading BLS data. There are only so many hours in the day, after all.
“Romney’s hopey-changy plan to create jobs explains how he can belong to a...”
– Jason Stanford (via azspot)
Sorry, I can’t hear you over the din from all the megachurches. And if you think Romney has too much money, consider the size of the Catholic boy-touching slush fund. Or Judaism’s strangely pederast-oriented requirement that I mutilate my genitals, which...
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May 2012
433 posts
peterfeld:
One hundred years ago, we weren’t drinking sugar water by the gallon. We did not evolve to consume this crap. We drink it now because we developed our ability to sell ourselves crap faster than our ability to protect ourselves from that crap.
It’s time someone put a brake to it. These things start in NYC and spread. Like the smoking ban - remember how the haters said “we’re so...
Speaking of Ms. Weaver
One week until “Prometheus”. Insert a superfan gleam of madness, please. EEEEEEE Aliens! Psychological horror and mistrust of corporations in a dystopian future!
I am going to a midnight showing by myself, like a cool person that is popular and loved by many.
Kristen Stewart
There is this really tortured piece on her at Grantland right now, and it can’t quite find a comparable figure for her. And the whole time I’m just screaming like “SIGOURNEY WEAVER!”
Please Don't Squeeze The Shaman: In response to... →
pleasedontsqueezetheshaman:
A couple of years ago we were living in our little sublet apartment by the river and Mr. P was working in his office working from home and I was in the kitchen/dining room/living room. I went in to visit/bug him/cry, which was something I did a lot during that time, because it was two months after…
So true.
I'd be shocked if we down ticked
Unemployment is probably going to come in UNCH. Every-Thursday precursor data has tons of people coming off of long-term unemployment bennies, so we can expect another participation decline. The question is if it will offset all the weakness in the labor market generally.
Friday’s number certainly won’t provide any hope, at all, for general American well-being. We’ll see, but I...
Chicago PMI
Really dangerous drop in a key number that signals recession. It’s bad for jobs, and I have to say that the jobs report tomorrow looks like it’s going to be awful.
This country started executing a genocide before...
And then continued to execute it long after, until all the original inhabitants of our continent were dead or penned up on “reservations”. America has never believed in not killing competing cultural frameworks. It’s in our DNA! With all the racist immunology in the world to challenge the arrival of white and brown people who look, talk, or think funny.
“Has there ever been a point since America’s inception when someone, somewhere,...”
– Ta-Nehisi Coates, on Obama’s “kill list” and drone attacks. (via theatlantic)
That’s entirely the strategy. I think it’s weird that people find it oddly horrifying to suddenly realize in 2012 that America is a cultural consolidation engine - join “the West” or die. But...
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Soda Bans and Contraband
I love the New York soda ban for a variety of reasons. The first is that soda is absolutely terrible for you - it basically sends your entire body into sugar shock. Your insulin response to sugared beverages is awful. If you drink soda, you should stop. Soda is making you fat and prone to diabetes.
The second is that I love contraband. Years ago, I was a smoker; I distinctly remember paying a...
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“The proposed ban would affect virtually the entire menu of popular sugary drinks...”
– A New York Times article regarding a proposed plan in New York City to ban sugared drink sizes larger than 16 ounces. Or in other words, your Trenta just got cut in half. Also, the corn syrup lobby has had a really terrible day. (via shortformblog)
This is so awesome, New York City leads the way...
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Does it bother you
…that Christina Hendricks really has been treated like an object, and Jon Hamm really has been given undue respect as an actor?
kelsium:
Social media seems to hinge on the unfortunate assumption that we like the people we know.
Isn’t it kind of the opposite? I view the constant, self-interested blather of Facebook to be a sort of dry, distant, obliquely positive hate-fuck. “Social” is strictly a platform for making people who use it feel bad about themselves in comparison to you. If you’re a...
Just Pointing Out
I watched some fat fucking cracker slug crawl out of his Jag this weekend with a dreamcatcher on his rearview. And you know what? I bet he’s paid for a couple of Joans on long business trips in his time - I bet he watches Mad Men and holds his stupid scotch aloft during. Because the brand stands, and honesty it’s not like that goddamn show is making you hate these people like you...
kelsium:
WOW. See, this is where I feel like people get turned off of Mad Men because it’s so easy to take the—relative, okay, sometimes less so than others—subtleties of the show’s criticism of gender, objectification, and materialism and present them at face value, and make them out to be a tacit approval of nonsense like this.
That’s because tons of people watch the show to celebrate,...
“I’m black and proud to have African roots. I think I’m lucky to be black. People...”
– Mario Balotelli: I’ll walk if racially abused [ESPN]
“Let’s see what happens at the Euro,” Balotelli told France Football. “I hope that there will not be a problem because I really can’t handle that. I cannot bear racism, it’s unacceptable for me. If it happened again I would straight away leave...
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RIM and Patents
Motorola Mobility - a failing hardware vendor with an impressive patent portfolio - was sold to Google for $7B.
Research In Motion - a failing hardware vendor with an impressive patent portfolio - has 515,450,000 shares outstanding, which have currently fallen to $10.43 a share in after-hours trading. Which means the company is now worth just over $5B.
RIM is so putrid a firm, so doomed an...