Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Much Sorry with Delays
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Tuesday, September 4. 2012

Tuesday morning links

Chart via Pirate


Why do people have fewer children as they get richer?


California Loves Banning Stuff


Prop. 32: What really scares California's big unions


Gloria Romero: The Trials of a Democratic Reformer - In California's capital, union officials 'walk around like they're God.' This pro-labor former legislator wants to bring them back to earth.


Unions’ political donations falling as their power fades


Derbyshire: Eat the rich


GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout


Dowd: Cruel Conservatives Throw a Masquerade Ball


Kimball: Feeling Sorry for Maureen Dowd


Related: The Haters


Pro-Abortion Democrats Scream at 11-Year-Old Pro-Life Girl at Convention


EDITORIAL: Obama’s Internet tax


President Obama Slams the ‘Greatest Generation’


With landmark lawsuit, Barack Obama pushed banks to give subprime loans to Chicago’s African-Americans


Driving Ms. Jarrett - Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett enjoys full-time Secret Service detail, NYT reports


What Recovery?… Median Household Income Has Declined 5% During Obama’s So-Called Recovery


Rahe again predicts Romney landslide


Rumor:Celebrate “Empty Chair Day” in Barack & Michelle Obama’s $35 Million Kailua, Hawaii Mansion (being purchased for them by Penny Pritzker and wealthy Chicagoans)


 Elizabeth Warren and the Cab Driver


Enthusiasm of 2008 is Missing From Democratic Convention. Related, Obama struggles to rekindle the affair


The White House Press Office announced today that President Obama will soon be inducted into the Special Forces Association and receive an honorary Green Beret.


 


Graph below via Mankiw:


Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 07:27 | Comments (16) | Trackbacks (0)

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QUOTE:
Unemployment, Then 7.8%, Now 8.3%

When Obama took office, the U.S. was shedding jobs at an alarming rate. Here is the trend:
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/bikini-graph-August-2012-private-sector-Via-Steve-Benen-at-the-Maddow-Blog.jpg

You might complain that the growth is insufficient, but comparing unemployment from January 2008 to now is obvious cherry-picking.
#1 Zachriel on 2012-09-04 07:59 (Reply)
When the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, unemployment was under 5%. That is when the rot really set in. And Bush deserves some of the blame because he signed virtually every irresponsible spending bill they sent him.
#1.1 NJSoldier on 2012-09-04 09:19 (Reply)
NJSoldier: When the Democrats took over Congress in 2006, unemployment was under 5%. That is when the rot really set in.

The housing bubble predates 2006.
http://www.maxgladwell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/house_bubble.gif

The time to have caught the bubble was in the early 2000s.
http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/images/bubble-lifecycle.gif
#1.1.1 Zachriel on 2012-09-04 12:44 (Reply)
So the job of the federal government is to "catch bubbles"?
#1.1.1.1 NJSoldier on 2012-09-04 16:29 (Reply)
It certainly would have been handy, though the heart of the bubble was the unregulated shadow market in mortgage-backed securities.
#1.1.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2012-09-04 18:12 (Reply)
Partially made necessary by their need to get rid of worthless loans the gommint made them write.

You're quite right that the shadow banking system was partially to blame - but not so much because it was unregulated, but because it was opaque. The MBSs and CDOs were not sold on an exchange which would have required more disclosure. Of course, the idiot Dod-Frank legislation doesn't even address that just as it doesn't address any of the ills that inflicted the banking system. Thankfully, they're retiring.
#1.1.1.1.1.1 mudbug on 2012-09-04 22:03 (Reply)
The seeds were planted during Clinton's presidency. Is this another half-truth from the Z-borg?

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/bubba_the_housing_bubble_8cUhYsqNdXVlWjflbbjiUO
#1.1.1.2 Agent Cooper on 2012-09-05 16:17 (Reply)
QUOTE:
It’s an absurd distortion of reality that the Bush-era tax cuts or spending on Iraq were even remotely responsible for the 2008 banking collapse and the Great Recession

They didn't cause the problem, merely overheated the economy, so as to stoke the fire.

QUOTE:
Through rigorous enforcement of housing mandates such as theCommunity Reinvestment Act, and by prodding mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make loans to people with lower credit scores (and to buy loans that had been made by banks and, later, “innovators” like Countrywide).

The toxic securities originated on Wall Street, and GSEs were latecomers. GSEs threw fuel on the fire, but were not the root cause, which was a bubble in demand for mortgage-backed securities.
#1.1.1.2.1 Zachriel on 2012-09-05 19:03 (Reply)
QUOTE:
Percentage of Americans living in a household receiving government benefits

If your mother lives with you and is receiving Social Security, your household is included in that number. If your child has a disability and is receiving government help with that disability, your household is included in that number. If your spouse lost his job, and is receiving a benefit for retraining, then your household is included in that number. If your are unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits, your household is included in that number. If you served in the military and are receiving a pension, your household is included in that number.
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0539.pdf

Some of these payments are due to the downturn. Some due to the recent wars. Most are to the elderly.
#2 Zachriel on 2012-09-04 08:32 (Reply)
Is any of that supposed to be a surprise? I think we all understand what government benefits look like. Did you intend to make a point that, considering all these kinds of benefits, it was neither surprising nor alarming to hear that the percentage of American households receiving government benefits had increased from 30% to 50% in recent years?
#2.1 Texan99 (Link) on 2012-09-04 14:16 (Reply)
Texan99: I think we all understand what government benefits look like.

Well, in many cases, such a household might be an old couple living out their years after a lifetime of work, or a middle class home with the parents paying taxes, but mom living in the spare bedroom.

A more revealing number might be means-tested benefits, which include about ⅓ of American households, but a lot of those are elderly persons too.
#2.1.1 Zachriel on 2012-09-04 14:49 (Reply)
Why did Clint Eastwood use an empty chair as a prop at the RNC?

Because he couldn't find enough starch to make an empty suit stand up by itself.
#3 Jephnol (Link) on 2012-09-04 10:01 (Reply)
Bird Dog, in reference to your last link about Obama's green beret, you need to clearly identify links to the Duffelblog as sarcasm...too many folks are taking those stories as real.
#4 Just some guy on 2012-09-04 12:16 (Reply)
Fair enuf. I often mix the satire with the real. Who can tell the difference anyway?
#4.1 Bird Dog on 2012-09-04 15:08 (Reply)
Obama was a contributor to the subprime meltdown. In 1995 he filed a mortgage discrimination lawsuit against Citibank on behalf of 186 black clients. Half of those have gone bankrupt or received foreclosure notices. Many of his ex-clients now complain against the policy of lending to people who can't afford to repay the loan. “If you see some people don’t make enough money to afford the mortgage, why would you give them a loan?” asked Obama client John Buchanan. “There should be some type of regulation against giving people loans they can’t afford.”

Bad enough. But since taking office, Obama has steadily forced lenders to make, or refinance, loans to the same people who couldn't afford their homes in the first place. This is my main complaint against Obama's economic policies. Even though the policies and practices that caused the economic meltdown were clear when he took office (and against which he campaigned,) his administration has continued or exacerbated them. That's either incompetence or intentional destruction.
#5 wordkyle on 2012-09-04 17:18 (Reply)
I suspect history will decide it's incompetent intentional destruction. He's not even very good at tearing down things. Too ham-handed.
#6 BillH on 2012-09-04 17:31 (Reply)

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