Sunday Linkage
Quite a few worthwhile reads for before or after the beach! The following links are interesting, off the beaten path provocative, or just worthwhile. And because its Sunday, there is a bonus link beyond the usual 10.
Enjoy:
• How the Crowd Might Be Wrong (Barron’s) Right now the crowd looks to be gathering around the idea that the stock market will turn decidedly more volatile and risky come September and October. But parsing that notion — and the related guess that more volatility will mean a weaker market — is no easy job. And it’s made all the harder by the fact that the reliability of a key indicator — the VIX — has been called into question.
• What was in Larry Summers’ D.E. Shaw Pitchbook? (Asian Times)
• RBS uber-bear issues fresh alert on global stock markets (Telegraph) Britain’s Uber-bear is growling again. After predicting a torrid “relief rally” over the early summer, Bob Janjuah at Royal Bank of Scotland is advising clients to take profits in global equity and commodity markets and prepare for another storm as winter nears.
• Forecast: Next Year Will Arrive in 2010-ish (WSJ) In the recent past, divining the future got a lot harder. Forecasts for just about everything from gas prices to advertising stumbled badly last year as the recession delivered shocks to the economy. The spate of cloudy crystal balls highlighted an uncomfortable reality about telling the future: It is hardest when it is most important.
• Retailers See Slowing Sales in Back-to-School Season (NYT) Halfway through the back-to-school shopping season, retail professionals are predicting the worst performance for stores in more than a decade, yet another sign that consumers are clinging to every dollar.
• The GOP’s Misplaced Rage (The Daily Beast) Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.
• Five New Rules for the Photoshop Era (Fast Company)
• Sony, Microsoft Face Whole New Game in Gaming (Bloomberg) The next major video-game platform may be no platform at all.
• Finance and the Flaw of Averages (Infectious Greed)
• Fun Research: When Zombies Attack! Mathematical Modelling of a Zombie Outbreak! (PDF)
What else is worth our time? Anything particularly linkworthy?
Tweet
Facebook
Reddit
Digg this!
August 16th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Wage deflation anybody?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/business/09intern.html?_r=2&em
Paying for an unpaid job. Ain’t America great?
OK, not exactly, but it’s just more downward pressure on wages and the job market. And I know that internships aren’t a new concept. But does anybody doubt that companies will be expanding their “intern” programs as they see more and more desperate workers willing to work for free? And even pay some intermediaries for the opportunity. I don’t know how long this can go on, but talk about undercutting workers and pay…
August 16th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
“The GOP’s Misplaced Rage (The Daily Beast) Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.”
Given the continuation of Bush’s economic policies, it’s hard to say that rage should be shifted away from Obama. I’m not saying that he should get the blame for it all, but Obama sold himself on a ticket of change (and I think he convinced a lot of gullible The Big Picture commentors to vote for him). Of course, most of the town-hall disruptors are just GOP drones being un-civil.
I did find this one to be amusing though – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y98HxYbsdBM
August 16th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
The GOP could never be angry at their own — it’s in their rules that anger must always be re-directed at Democrats.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
After a decade of wage stagnation and corporately-horded productivity gains, how can a consumption-based economy recover when the only wage pressure felt is downward?
We will lose at least a decade.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I agree with 90% of what Bartlett wrote, except he frequently confuses Conservatives with Republicans, and reports conservatives didn’t speak out against Bush’s economic policies. I don’t know what he reads, but true conservatives have been deriding GWB’s policies ever since he took office.
GWB wasn’t a fiscal conservative. The majority of Republicans aren’t fiscal conservatives either. Regulation exploded from 2001 to 2008. Their policies are based in a belief that big government is an effective tool in promoting opportunity and a growing economy. The also believe big government can be efficient.
Our national debt is $11.7 Trillion, and $9.3 Trillion will be added to it over the next 10 years. The government also has countless trillions in unfunded liabilities. Obama’s fix is to pour even more gasoline on a fire that is out of control, instead of instituting some fiscal responsibility within our government.
The problem with blaming Bush is it’s being used as an excuse to do more of the same. ‘Bush created deficits, Bush increased regulation, Bush grew the size of government, so it’s okay for Obama to do the same.’ I see this sentiment expressed time and time again.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Weekend Reading-Trader Mark
A good run down of some new stories by Trader Mark.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
There is alot of skepticism about the potential success of OnLive:
-millions of gamers have already demonstrated their willingness to pay up to thousands of dollars for the fastest and latest gaming rigs. There already exists a large secondary and rental market for used games that swipes the remaining dollars of more price-sensitive consumers.
-online gaming is already a mature industry. The latency problems have already been solved for the past decade with client-side prediction. “Cloud” gaming servers already exist in all sizes from massively multiplayer games such as World of Warcraft to Counterstrike servers run off an old Pentium 600 Mhz on a cable modem.
-First impressions are everything. I doubt OnLive will have few problems when it debuts to thousands of simultaneous users at various connection speeds. Clouds such as Google and Amazon work great when users are requesting finite packets of information. I wonder how a cloud can hold up when it has to continuously process game information AND graphically render for thousands of clients.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Five New Rules for the Photoshop Era
Fauxtography detection is catching up…
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1641863/blame_it_on_photoshop_dartmouth_computer_scientist_finds_fake_p/
But unfortunately, most of the fauxtography out there is being created and distributed by the MSM, and the MSM seems to have little interest in policing their industry.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
The Treacherous Path for Housing – Dr. Housing Bubble Blog
August 16th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Onlooker from Troy:
Now, that’s a good link. Thanks.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Marcus
Yep, the good Dr. is the best around in assessing the housing market, IMO.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
@Tom
I think he had a titling problem. His main target is the Brown Shirts who go to these town halls and try to scream everyone else down. Here is the money quote:
“In my opinion, conservative activists, who seem to believe that the louder they shout the more correct their beliefs must be, are less angry about Obama’s policies than they are about having lost the White House in 2008.”
And I think he’s right. But it’s hard to think up a better title:
“The Town Hall Protesters’ Misplaced Rage” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Also, it ignores the fact that the GOP is trying to parlay anti-government emotion into ballot box victories rather than presenting a cogent, well thought out alternative vision that provides reasonable answers to the real problems Americans face.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
“When the finest minds in the business disagree so starkly, the rest of us can only shake our heads in confusion.”
The Bob Janjuah piece ended with that line. I like it….
There are a lot of people I respect who think that hyperinflation is a foregone conclusion and there are some real bright guys talking deflation. It’ll be interesting to see how it all works out….
August 16th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Pure alcohol in an interstellar cloud
“… Using data collected by researchers at Ohio State University, astronomers have found vast quantities of pure alcohol in an interstellar cloud some 10,000 light years from Earth. Scientists said the cloud, located near the constellation Aquila, contains enough alcohol to make 400 trillion trillion pints of beer…”
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/beercld.htm
August 16th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
>> Obama sold himself on a ticket of change (and I think he convinced a lot of gullible The Big Picture commentors to vote for him)
Well, I’m pleased with the changes so far in these 7 months. Less torture, less warrantless activity, more transparency, greater competency at the helm. Do I like that 50 cents of every bailout dollar effectively supports the top 1% and maintains the wealth gap that Dems are philosophically supposed to work to reduce? No. But, I’ll take whatever improvements I can get.
For better or worse (or something in between), Obama’s picked up Bernanke’s playbook (abandoned by Dubya at the half) and hasn’t started overruling his financial coordinators yet. And I didn’t expect otherwise. So, please don’t think I’m “gullible” enough to be called such.
Change has to come from the people. Mish’s “job-loss recovery” has to manifest itself before the electorate supports more changes.
Alternative vision: Can you imagine Phil Gramm and Palin running around the White House, giving speeches, influencing policy, and making decisions?
Yep, so call me “gullible”. I’m an idiot for Obama.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
In re: Dr. Housing Bubble link. I had a conversation with a friend last night who has had some “issues” related to personal finances and mortgage struggles. He has had discussions with his GSE lender and they’re working with him. [It actually sounds like they're giving some great deals]. He revealed to me he was more than a few months behind on his mortgage and nobody ever even contacted him. It’s because, according to them, they’re soooo backed up right now they cannot even get to all the assorted paperwork in re: mortgage defaults. It kind of made we wonder if that’s the current disconnect between housing bears and bulls.
Are things “stabilizing” simply because the system is so overwhelmed with defaults that we’re not even getting accurate reporting?
August 16th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Nicely written by Bartlett. Couldn’t have said it better myself and practically did recently here at TBP.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
@AT: If that’s the case, no wonder why we’ve seen a leveling off of economic activity. When many are no longer paying their mortgage, they can afford to spend on other things and keep the economy from completely falling apart. Ah, the irony of ironies. Gotta love it!
August 16th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Email to author Stephanie Rosenbloom of the NYT on the article stating that retailers are seeing lower back-to-school revenues. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/15/business/15school.html?em
I find articles like this interesting. The fundamental premise of the article, and the dogma of the retail industry for that matter, is that retail sales should go up every year. Why?
The U.S. population has not increased much over the past ten years. Median and average household incomes are flat or down since 2000. Why would retail sales go up?
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/histinc/h06AR.html
We now know that to generate those increases in retail sales figures every year, people have over-borrowed and over-spent. This has to correct itself. Just as families over-borrow and over-spend before Christmas and then cut back while they pay the bills in January and February, they will do the same now.
For the retail industry to assume retail sales will continue to go up when incomes are going down is simply delusional fantasy. In fact, it seems to me that the disconnect between the the industry and reality would make quite a good article.
August 16th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
>> Are things “stabilizing” simply because the system is so overwhelmed with defaults that we’re not even getting accurate reporting?
Whenever I consider how the “no bailouts!” strategy might’ve played out (or might still play out if the present anger grows and decides that’s the path forward), I think about how it would ‘ve overwhelmed “the system” to a far greater extent than it has so far. We’ve only seen a taste of what might happen. Would there be enough bankruptcy judges, staff, lawyers, etc. for all the sudden corporate and personal bankruptcies? How long would it take to work those issues thru the system? If credit were frozen and leveraged grocers went under, who would distribute food? What would a much-more-urbanized economy look like while deleveraging from heights higher than 1929? Would Cabbie and Brain be back in business?
August 16th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
@wunsacon: So instead perhaps this fiasco plays out in slow motion but we ultimately get the same or worse results? But hey, at least the elite in our Wall Street, Corp Executive, political classes are happy. If they’re happy, I’m happy too.
August 16th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
This is pretty much what one of my doctor friends here in the Twin Cities is advocating. Non-profit co-operatives/insurers. The idea is intriguing because it takes the whole profit motive out of the mix. Anyone here have any thoughts about its merits?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/17/health/policy/17talkshows.html?hp
August 16th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
“For the retail industry to assume retail sales will continue to go up when incomes are going down is simply delusional fantasy.”
And it’s the same delusional fantasy that’s behind the V shaped recovery foreseen by the likes of Jim Glassman, Brian Wesbury, Birinyi, et al. There’s absolutely no reason to believe that people will be able to continue spending the way they have this last decade. The modest amount of “pent up demand” that exists among the portion of the population that is solvent will not power a recovery.
August 16th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Mannwich
There are a few good models out there for this, like Group Health in Seattle; a cooperative. I don’t really know much about it in detail, but my parents have been with them for 20+ years and are quite happy with the arrangement. Theyr’e mid 70′s and my father has had a lot of health problems in the last several years so it’s not like they haven’t seen the ins and outs of the organization either.
August 16th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
>> plays out in slow motion but we ultimately get the same or worse results
Two thoughts:
- A bomb blast might kill me. But, if the bomb’s ingredients were instead burned off a little at a time, I might survive. “Slowing things down” is a strategy that *can* change outcomes (for worse — like most here think — or better).
- I’m not happy Bernanke slowed down the deflation bomb by giving money to the banks and the rich, the people who invested their time and money in financial engineering. Reflation dollars belonged to everybody. Giving them to the jerks who created the situation? Arrrgh!
August 16th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
For the Obamatrons, http://www.gregpalast.com/obama-on-drugs-98-cheney/
Just saw somewhere that Sibelius has said that the Public Option is not necessary. Obama just want something passed so he can take credit, more like like the Medicare prescription drug bill thats more a subsidy to Pharma than to seniors. My guess is, it’ll wind up like the Massachussets Plan that has skyrocketing costs for taxpayers and will become unaffordable at some point.
August 16th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
The 800 pound gorilla
August 16th, 2009 at 4:50 pm
Kiplinger nor anyone else gives consideration to foreclosures in the existing home sales, there were 396,000 foreclosures in july-which means there is little or no reduction in existing inventory. Majority of sales were either short/distressed.
Foreclosures at this level have to be given consideration
August 16th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
@Mannwich Says:
I support the concept of private c0-0ps, and I think most conservatives would too. The Obamacrats and the MSM love to pretend those who oppose their HC proposals are in the pockets of the HC industry, but this is plain hogwash.
I’d want to see more competition, large pools of buyers, but not via a government controlled “public option”.
August 16th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
From “Retailers Seeing Slowing Sales in Back to School Season”…
“With consumers in such a penurious mood this year, retailers are learning that they can skip aggressive online marketing only at their peril. ”
Good one, newspaper that derives all of its revenue from advertising.
Nobody is buying anything, let’s SPEND MORE ON ADVERTISING PRODUCTS THAT PEOPLE CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY!
August 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
From “The GOP’s Misplaced Rage”…
“Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.”
Obama-hating town-hall mobs? Huh? Speaking up implies anger and hate? Maybe we should outlaw Forensics before somebody gets hurt.
Look — there are two simple concepts that, if accepted, can put a stop to all of this foolishness (though it might put a whole lot of editorial writers out of work):
1. “The Buck Stops Here” — the day Obama and friends took office, they BECAME RESPONSIBLE. No matter who created the mess, it was (and is) now theirs to deal with. To his credit, I have yet to hear Obama blame anything since on Bush (though to be fair, I don’t listen much). The rest of “you” quit-yer-bitchin.”
2. We have (for all practical purposes) a two party system. The minority party is by definition the “opposition.” That’s what they’re doing, opposing, and that’s what they are SUPPOSED to do. So, again “quit-yer-bitchin.”
August 16th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Bush’s economic policies were an abomination but the Rs didn’t say anything until the 9th consecutive record deficit! We had $18 oil when Bush entered office, his ego driven invasion of Iraq drove it up nearly 10-fold, not to mention the trillions wasted occupying it for 6 years. And remember Mr Worldbanker Wolfowitz promise that the war would pay for itself!
My only objection to Barlett’s piece was his observation that the best investment in the Bush era would have been putting cash under the mattress, actually putting money into Exxon and Halliburtone would have been much more rewarding
August 16th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
From whatever article this came from:
“In my opinion, conservative activists, who seem to believe that the louder they shout the more correct their beliefs must be, are less angry about Obama’s policies than they are about having lost the White House in 2008.”
Please go reread my post of 5:56pm. And the 6:07pm one too.
Public service announcement: Nobody that dosen’t believe you in the first place is going to change their minds by constantly harping on a opposing viewpoint. Including you, dear readers.
Since you already know this (after all, it doesn’t work on “you” does it?) enough with the harping.
And this includes the ever longer, ever louder commercials on television. The few channels that aren’t non-stop commercials (MTV, CNBC, shopping channels, public TV (non-stop pledging)), have gone past the threshold of watchability.
Ditto website ad clutter, pop-ups, pop-overs, intros, redirects, etc. Some sites, you need a magnifier to find the content (if there was any to begin with).
When are the dopes that pay for all this clutter going to wake up and realize they are shovelling money into the furnace (oh yeah, they probably won’t — the ads are placed by middlemen (ad agencys) that, like stock exchanges, take a piece off the top, and the soon-to-be-defunct-businesses and their kickback-taking marketing executives neither know nor care where the ad money is going or whether it is all effective).
And thus end my Sunday rants.
August 16th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Barron’s has a good point, but in my opinion there will be a correction in the next couple of months. But the bull market that started in March still remains intact, and unless the correction is more than 15%, we should be able to recover and move higher into the end of the year.
See also: 3rd and 4th paragraph at: http://invetrics.com/?p=4412
August 16th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
ZeroHedge with ‘the other side of the trade’ from a behavioural finance view. Joaquin Andujar said they have a word for it in English, “youneverknow”.
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/forever-blowing-bubbles-moral-hazard-and-melt
August 16th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Woah. A potential boost for recent put buyers:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=a1Qa_Q_PbGWc
August 16th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
wunsacon
I have a very hard time getting through an article once I see Wesbury’s name. It tends to cast a shadow over anything else in the piece when that clown’s name is mentioned.
No surprise that he is wary of FASB actually enforcing accounting standards that may lay bare the insolvency of banks and probably many other companies. We wouldn’t want that, now would we? If we close our eyes to all the bad stuff we can make the market go up and that will fix everything. Just ask Greenspan.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
“the Rs didn’t say anything until the 9th consecutive record deficit!”
Refuting the idea that conservatives “didn’t say anything” is like shooting fish in a barrel:
National Review – 2003
Left Turn Is the GOP conservative?
http://www.nationalreview.com/28jul03/editors072803a.asp
Cato.org – 2002
How Conservative Is President Bush?
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3557
George Will – 2003
Conservative label doesn’t fit Bush
http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/132429_will27.html
Buckley: Bush Not A True Conservative – 2006
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/22/eveningnews/main1826838.shtml
Even Conservatives Are Wondering: Is Bush One of Us – 2004
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040531/press
Righteous Anger – The Conservative Case Against George W. Bush – 2003
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2003/dec/01/00008/
Perry says Bush never was fiscal conservative – 2007
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/region/legislature/stories/12/14/1214perry.html
Conservative Leader Questions Bush’s Fiscal Conservatism – 2006
http://www.gopusa.com/news/2006/february/0201_sotu_reaction.shtml
George Bush, the Fiscal Conservative? – 2004
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/browne4.html
The Buck Starts Here – George W. Bush was never a fiscal conservative. – 2006
http://www.theweeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/012/762fiyke.asp
August 16th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
But hey, at least the elite in our Wall Street, Corp Executive, political classes are happy.
No they aren’t. They may be busy, but they aren’t happy. Greed never begets happy. It only begets more greed(reference the increased interns report above). They are probably gearing up for the next phase of greed which we will pay for of course.
I have been debating whether or not to post this because it is venomous, partisan and ad hominem almost to the point of distraction BUT, if this is a common modus operandi of the democrats this will serve no one well and could harm others. Just be forewarned that this comes from the heart of one side of the aisle
Obama camp plants fake doc, Che fan at Jackson Lee forum
I’m not sure why, but something didn’t smell right. So my colleagues and I did a little digging, and wouldn’t you know it? Roxana Mayer is, like, totally not a doctor.
But she is an Obama campaign volunteer.
Our own David Jennings secured a phone interview, in which Mayer admitted to impersonating a physician, saying — get this — she thought it would help her credibility. (It didn’t.)
Personal comment: like totally? Where did this person learn to write? California? :twisted:
August 16th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
No wonder why it’s party time in the Hamptons, BR. Million dollar bonuses are back for commodity traders. Great. So let me get this straight – - we bailed out Wall Street so they could turn around and speculate on commodities and push up real world prices for the rest of us schmucks. Main Street getting it in both ends. What a country.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=asA.Gnw_R4Tw
August 16th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
whoops. That was supposed to close italics after “happy” on the first line and also start up again before “I’m not sure why” and end again after “(It didn’t.)” :oops:
August 16th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
@common man – Obama camp (?) plants fake doc.
You know what “I” find so depressing about all of this is that everybody, both sides if you like, have given up even the pretense of fair play or being the least bit truthful. The lies aren’t even competent — there isn’t even a shred of effort at deception, and there is no accountability whatsoever — a biased news story comes out about the biased meeting, nobody cares, and in a day nobody remembers because we’re all on to the next scandal in a molehill.
Talk about “moral hazard.”
August 16th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Re:how the crowd might be wrong
That is out of place if you ask me. Volatility and the flight to safety in the VIX isn’t measured by the open interest in the options. The underlying VIX price itself measures volatility by being a derivative of how many puts and calls are being bought on the S&P at a given moment. So why are they concerning themselves with the open interest in the options at all? This doesn’t make any sense to me. All the open interest says is that people expect the put call ratio to change significantly in the September October time period and they plan on selling to those that will come flooding into the VIX market in a leveraged play. That doesn’t imply to me the skewing of the VIX as of yet. In the many years that I have been trading options the dog (options) very seldom tells the leash and master (the underlying security price) what direction the two will take. If the options are to set the price it is usually heavily correlated with purchases of the underlying security and I doubt it is possible on a derivative security like the VIX but I stand to be corrected
Also, assuming they are right in how the VIX is measuring the market, these guys are saying the indicator is putting out a false signal due to less smart money flooding its market. But didn’t we also have ‘experts’ declare false signals in the yield curve before the recession? Why is it the experts are so quick to dismiss a signal when it doesn’t flash their apparent preference?
August 16th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Japan’s economy leaves recession
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8204075.stm
August 16th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
@bergsten
I agree wholeheartedly. Why tell the truth when you can bully your way through with enough firepower? There is a term in the Bible for the time we are in when it comes to our morality:
Everyone did what was right in their own eyes
It usually precedes judgment. I pray that it doesn’t this time but, as a culture, we haven’t even hit bottom yet . :cry:
It is scary that a 2000 year old ‘out of date’ book can better nail the psychological mindset of the culture better than the top media organizations of the world but that is how human nature works
August 16th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
” The GOP’s Misplaced Rage (The Daily Beast) Leading conservative economist Bruce Bartlett writes that the Obama-hating town-hall mobs have it wrong—the person they should be angry with left the White House seven months ago.”
A. Town hall attendees are not connected to the GOP. The GOP can only wish it had that much power and ability to organize… uh, anything at all. The party people are paralyzed.
B. Town hall attendees do not hate Obama. If anyone takes the time to read most of the signs, they can see that the target is Obama-care and massive spending.
C. Town hall attendees were and are angry at GWB’s massive spending policies. Now they are angry and scared at what looks to them (and me) like more of the same, but worse.
D. Town hall attendees sometimes raise their voices because they don’t think their Congressperson has been listening to them. I know mine hasn’t and I’ve called his office several times to share my opinion, in a polite way, of course.
D. Town hall attendees come from all political corners – left, right and center. They are offended to be called mobs, racists and other pejorative terms. They are also offended that the Obama administration is fighting back by busing and paying people to go to the town halls to support Obama-care.
E. If ‘conservative’ economist Bruce Bartlett, and any other of the dainty people who are shocked that ordinary Americans get a little unruly at a Congressperson’s meeting, actually attended a few of the town halls they might get a clue.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
@ Mannwich – re: taking “the whole profit motive out of the mix. Anyone here have any thoughts about its merits?”
My thought: call it anything you want – profit or banana – but if you don’t take in more income than goes out in spending, you go out of business after a while. Period.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
The Quick Buck Just Got Quicker
“The biggest shock? Instead of seeing a greater reliance on long-term incentive programs, the Reda report found that changes in these companies’ plans made short-term incentive pay a bigger part of the compensation pie. Let me say that again: The plans — despite the calamities that short-term profiteering has visited on our economy — made short-term incentives a bigger component of compensation.”
Same old, same old. Nothing’s changed fundamentally. We’ve papered it over and gone back to the same old economy. Until it crashes again.
August 16th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
Investors Should Stop “Worrying” About Consumers: They Don’t Have Any Money
Short blog post by Dean Baker. But to the point. It isn’t really that c0mplex.
August 16th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
@common — I’m too lazy to research whose quote it was, but I once heard someone say that the reason God hasn’t sent another flood is that clearly it didn’t work the first time.
August 17th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Interesting that Bartlett thing on The Daily Beast has been cut down since first posted. In its original version it gave a brilliant comparison of what happened to the economy during Clinton vs. Bush II (e.g., Clinton: GDP growth 34.7%, Bush 15.9% etc. etc.). I guess there was a limit to how much The Daily Beast would allow the supply siders and GOP to be taken to the wood shed.