Saturday, March 12, 2011

SAR #11071

Economic forecasters don't have to be perfect, but they ought to be right once in a while.

Testing 1, 2, 3: The Federal Reserve spent several months investigating mortgage and foreclosure practices and is proud to report that no homeowners – not a one - had been wrongfully foreclosed. Best argument yet for doing away with the Fed.

Let Them Eat iPads: William C. Dudley, president of the New York Fed, says that things are getting better and better. If you can't afford food, he said, buy an iPad. The increase in commodity prices is temporary he said. As soon as enough folks stop buying food, prices will come down.

Turn About:They laughed when Meredith Whitney sat down to play the municipal bond market, said she had a tin ear. Now that municipal bond king Jeff Gundlach has likened municipal bonds to subprime mortgage bonds does she sound any better?

Don't You Sass Me! Saudi Arabia reminded its restless citizens the “any finger lifted in the face of the Kingdom will be cut off.” Cuts down on dissent.

The Other Foot: Wall Streets TBTF say that the government has to pay for their losses even though it might smack of “moral hazard” because they are, after all, too big to fail. Homeowners are different, they say. Forcing the banks to write down billions in unrealistic loan balances would not be right. “It’s not that we don’t want to help troubled borrowers,” but “it’s a moral hazard issue."

Inconvenient Factoid: , the average member of the country’s largest public-sector union “earns less than $45,000 a year and receives an annual pension of roughly $19,000.”

Report Card: US Education Secretary Duncan says that 82% of public schools are expected to 'fail' the No Child Left Behind standards this year. While schools may need improvement, NCLB needs major repair. "We should get out of the business of labeling schools as failures and create a new law that is fair and flexible, and focused on the schools and students most at risk."

Malice In Wonderland: Republicans claim that Obama's efforts at preventing climate change have caused the price of gasoline to rise. They say that increasing domestic production would solve the problem and the government must give gas and oil companies more than the paltry $41 billion a year in tax breaks they now get. Let's face it, $100 a barrel simply isn't motivation enough.

Strip Poker: House Republicans have voted to strip the EPA of the power to regulate greenhouse gasses, appointing a committee of experts from the fossil fuel industries to police themselves.

Jiggle The Handle: Rand Paul (R-Ky) says he doesn't like saving water, doesn't want to save energy and really doesn't like those curly light bulbs. The senator doesn't understand the difference between leading and holding up the line.

See No Evil: Scott Garrett (R-NJ) says it is not enough to impede the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by cutting its budget by 30%, he thinks more stringent rules should be delayed until the financial markets figure out how they are going to get around them.

My Hero: PIMCO's Bill Gross thinks he and other wealthy Americans are not being taxed enough and should pay higher taxes. “I think high-income earners would work well into the 50% tax rate up from the mostly not effective 36% top rate,” he said. He also thinks it would be a good idea to make corporations actually pay taxes.

Feelings: Only 1 American in 7 can sincerely recite the party line that an economic revival is underway. They keep believing their own eyes instead of CNBC and the government.

Sticks and Stones: Former Royal Bank of Scotland CEO Sir Fred Goodwin – who drove the bank into the ground when he was in charge - went to court and got an injunction barring the media from calling him “a banker.” Then he went to another, supersecret court and got an injunction forbidding the media from reporting on the previous injunction. He'd pretty well proven he really wasn't a banker. You can call him 'sir'. He likes that.

Porn O'Graph: Warmed by Ancient Sunlight.


Anonymous said...

RE: Report Card

What we are really taking about is the failure of inner city schools. No amount of money will fix the situation as the failure is a reflection of the society in which the schools exist.

RE: My Hero

No one is stopping Mr. Gross from sending in any amount above what he owes to the Feds. Let him pay more voluntarily and then come back and talk. Then he'll be a hero.


Anonymous said...

Re: Jiggle the handle -- it isn't only leading when it imposes on people the things YOU think they should do. Fighting that sort of encroachment on personal choice and common sense is also leadership, and Rand Paul is providing it.

San Francisco has currently spent $114 million and dumped $14 million of bleach into their sewers (which lead to the bay) in order to attempt to unclog the mess stinking up the entire city and causing health hazards. The toilet is only the start of the voyage of the sewage, and their sewage isn't pushed through the pipes due to mandated low flow toilets.

No one died and made the Federal government toilet God.

kwark said...

RE: Jiggle the Handle Seems more to me like an opportunity for Rand to, once again, make an issue out of nothing. Good strategy though to distract people from anything important. And this passes for "leadership". Between Obama and his feckless Democrats the likes of Rand and his hypocritic pals no wonder we're in such a mess.