My afternoon train reads:
• Stock Outlook 2013 (Barron’s)
• Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves the Drug War is a Joke (Taibblog)
• Three Big Lies About the Volcker Rule (The Nation)
• The Devolution of Social Mood (Minyanville)
• Apple’s Valuation Metrics Are Much Lower Than Other $500 Billion Market Cap Companies (Forbes) see also Apple Analysts Grow More Bearish on Rising Samsung Threat (Bloomberg)
• Finance Mythology (Interloper)
• Fifth Giant Planet May Have Dwelled in Our Solar System (Scientific American)
• Master computer controls universe? (The Times of India)
• Why Americans Think Bush Is To Blame For The Economy (Investopedia) see chart below
• Firearms Research: Homicide (Harvard School of Public Health)
What are you reading?
How Big Deficits Became the Norm
Source: WSJ
Category: Financial Press
Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.
Boehner Invokes ‘Plan B,’
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/politics/backing-off-deal-boehner-invokes-plan-b-on-taxes.html
Did Obama not where a rub last night when he did him? This should get some respect for women’s health from the GOP leadership.
Essays in Fragility: Our One-Off Economy–Charles Hugh Smith
( Interesting points on money velocity)
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec12/one-off-economy12-12.html
Reading:
- Instagram’s response to the backlash: “Thank you, and we’re listening”
- http://blog.instagram.com/post/38252135408/thank-you-and-were-listening
More on the Instagram brew-hah-ha:
- Instagram Back Peddling on New Privacy Rules to Quiet Angry Mob</b.
- http://allthingsd.com/20121218/instagram-back-peddling-on-new-privacy-rules-to-quiet-angry-mob/
Of the articles on the list above most likely to appear in a Steven Colbert parody: Why Americans Think Bush Is To Blame For The Economy
Good grief. Is anyone seriously arguing that Obama made the recession worse?
Oh, that’s right. Mitt Romney is. Though one may wonder whether “seriously arguing” can apply to a sociopathic liar.
I deal with usage for images all the time. Instagram knew exactly what they were doing and threw a trial balloon up that went over like a turd and took it back down. I was a latecomer to Instagram and used it for filters and ease of sharing images on various sites. Flickr though dumb luck released a great redesigned app that does the same thing just before this controversy. I’ll just stick with Flickr even though Instagram backed off. Wondering how many other design, photography and illustrating professionals will do something similar.
For what it’s worth, my stream on FB is mainly art directors, illustration and design professionals. There were zero shares from Instagram today.
Well, apparently even $400K won’t cut it.
Boehner Invokes ‘Plan B,’ Dismissing Obama’s Offer
http://goo.gl/9ShPF
And this despite an administration that was supposed to have all the bargaining cards and a solemn promise not to budge on $250K:
Obama Vows Veto for Full Extension of Bush Tax Cuts – July 9
“In an interview tonight with New Orleans CBS affiliate WWLTV, President Obama vowed to veto any bill that extends the Bush-era tax cuts “across the board,” including for individuals earning more than $200,000 and families above $250,000.”
http://goo.gl/bYNoh
honey we nationalized the mortgage market?
http://www.propublica.org/article/weve-nationalized-the-home-mortgage-market-now-what
not sure why we think that the private sector really wants to be in mortgages after their debacle in it the last time. and doing away with F&F would end the 30 year mortgage and lead us back to that 10 year one, that might or might not be renewed. if not renewed you paid it off or lost the house
NY Times
December 18, 2012
After Recession, More Young People Living on Street
SEATTLE — Duane Taylor was studying the humanities in community college and living in his own place when he lost his job in a round of layoffs. Then he found, and lost, a second job. And a third.
Now, with what he calls “lowered standards” and a tenuous new position at a Jack in the Box restaurant, Mr. Taylor, 24, does not make enough to rent an apartment or share one. He sleeps on a mat in a homeless shelter, except when his sister lets him crash on her couch.
…
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/19/us/since-recession-more-young-americans-are-homeless.html
Many including Obama are jawboning how some kind of “change” is needed to deal with gun violence. Here’s on area to focus on. Anyone care to bet that nothing changes with the ATF? That the NRA is too powerful? That we all forget about this massacre in two weeks, the same as we have with each prior event?
———–
Washington Post
ATF, charged with regulating guns, lacks resources and leadership
By Sari Horwitz, Published: December 17
Amid an intense debate over gun control in the wake of the mass shooting in Connecticut, the federal agency at the heart of firearms regulation in America is so beleaguered and under-resourced that it has not had a confirmed director in six years.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a division of the Justice Department, is supposed to regulate the nation’s gun industry. But many within ATF say it is the industry that dominates the agency.
The gun lobby, concerned about government regulation of firearms ownership, has taken steps to limit the resources available to ATF and to prevent the agency from having a strong leader, according to former and current ATF officials.
For decades, the National Rifle Association has lobbied successfully to block all attempts to computerize records of gun sales, arguing against any kind of national registry of firearms ownership. And despite the growth of the gun industry and the nation’s population, ATF has fewer agents today than it did nearly four decades ago: fewer than 2,500.
…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/atf-charged-with-regulating-guns-lacks-resources-and-leadership/2012/12/17/ef280abc-4877-11e2-b6f0-e851e741d196_print.html
More ‘conservatives’ get government benefits than ‘moderates’ or ‘liberals’, survey shows
http://newyork.newsday.com/news/health/more-conservatives-get-government-benefits-than-moderates-or-liberals-survey-shows-1.4348552
ROFL!
Re: Indian Master Computer Research
I thought they already knew it was turtles all the way down.
Looks like Joe Lieberman has figured out why a nut with a bunch of guns and lots of bullets is dangerous. His retirement can’t come soon enough.:
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/12/18/lieberman-calls-for-action-on-violent-video-games-after-connecticut-murders/
I liked Taibbi’s article. Isn’t it nice that the DoJ feels comfortable to share with the general public that it is coddling banks and ignoring massive fraud and laundering of drug money in the name of fiscal expediency and protection of their interests. Makes me want to chuck a brick through the window of the local branch, though I doubt if I will be extended the same courtesy of a small fine by the local police.
One wonders if the next dealer that gets busted and has the DEA seize all of their assets will be able to cite this as case law.