Year: 2009

What Krugman Said

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I’ll just quote his last ‘graph:

If the Democrats lose badly in the midterms, the talking heads will say that Mr. Obama tried to do too much, this is a center-right nation, and so on. But the truth is that Mr. Obama put his agenda at risk by doing too little. The fateful decision, early this year, to go for economic half-measures may haunt Democrats for years to come.

Actually, I am not entirely sure that this is true. There is a pat of me that believes that Obama’s agenda has always been very minimalist.

Just read the whole thing.

Here’s The Deal, Because You’re Sorry, You Get a Better Cell*

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John Reed, who was the architect of the merger between Citicorp and Travelers Group, has now admitted that he was wrong:

John S. Reed, who helped engineer the merger that created Citigroup Inc., apologized for his role in building a company that has taken $45 billion in direct U.S. aid and said banks that big should be divided into separate parts.

“I’m sorry,” Reed, 70, said in an interview yesterday. “These are people I love and care about. You could imagine emotionally it’s not easy to see what’s happened.”

He then makes a very good analogy:

“I would compartmentalize the industry for the same reason you compartmentalize ships,” Reed said in the interview in his office on Park Avenue in New York. “If you have a leak, the leak doesn’t spread and sink the whole vessel. So generally speaking you’d have consumer banking separate from trading bonds and equity.”

(emphasis mine)

I am tempted to quote Admiral David Beatty, “There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today,” when the Invincible and Queen Mary blew up in short order at Jutland

*Originally, I was going to say a nice long drop and a tight knot to ensure that your end is quick, but then I remembered that I oppose the death penalty….Drat.

Put a Fork in Frank Kratovil (DINO MD-1), He’s Done

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So, he has officially come out against healthcare reform:

Kratovil, a freshman Democrat from the Eastern Shore, ended months of uncertainty by announcing that he would vote against the House plan, which would extend health insurance to an estimated 36 million Americans who lack coverage. The Marylander, among the most vulnerable House members in the country in next year’s election, has long been skeptical of his party’s proposal but had left open the possibility of supporting it.

He already had a tough row to how, seeing as how Wayne Gilchrest’s endorsement won’t mean anything next time around, and now he’s going to discover that Harry S Truman’s old adage, “Given the choice between a Republican and someone who acts like a Republican, people will vote for the real Republican all the time,” is true.

What’s more, there was a lot of support from outside the district that will not be getting as a result of this decision.

If you are looking for where to put your time and money in the 2010 elections, look elsewhere.

Kos Owns Tom Tancredo

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Markos “Kos” Moulitsas slaps down Tom Tancredo.

When Tancredo claims that all the veterans hate the VA, and would much rather have vouchers, Kos responds, “I’m a veteran, I did not get a deferment because I was too depressed to fight in a war that I supported in Vietnam.”

Tancredo stormed off the set when Kos was not forthcoming with an apology.

Awww….Kos hurt his widdle feewings….Poor Tom Tancredo….He had to go off and cry.

It starts at about 2:50 in the video.

H/t What Would Jack Do for the vid.

They No Play-a daGame, They No Make-a da Rules*

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So, in order to pacify the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops which has been completely captured by the right-wing and hostile to Democrats for something approaching two decades, the House has agreed to a allow an amendment to be voted that would effectively ban all health insurance policies that pay for abortion services:

Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services, congressional sources said. It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions.

No doubt about this: by excluding these plans, it will cause their extinction, because it effectively bans such plans from the new insurance exchanges.

I think that the House Leadership should have told Bart Stupak (D-Vatican) to go Cheney himself, and perhaps a fuller application of criminal conspiracy laws, against people like, for example, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who actively conspired to conceal child abuse by clergy is in order too.

[update]

That piece of sh$# amendment passes, 240-194, a little bit after 10:00pm.

*I’m paraphrasing Nixon administration Secretary of Agriculture, and notable bigot, Earl Butz, and yes, I can understand how it’s potentially offensive, but far less offensive than members of the clergy attempting to dictate policy.

Economics Update

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Click for full size

Perspective from the Wall Street Journal:
Falling Hours & Wages Drove Productivity Numbers Up


Long Term Unemployment


Unemployment vs. the Stress Tests, H/T Calculated Risk


Employment:Population Ratio, H/t Calculated Risk


Average Weekly Hours, h/t The Big Picture

Well, I already mentioned that unemployment (U3) broke 10%, with non-farm payrolls falling by 190,000, (better than September), so the next thing is the productivity number, where, “Non-farm business sector labor productivity increased at a 9.5 percent annual rate during the third quarter of 2009.” OMFG, that is a huge number.

Normally, this would be good news, but soaring productivity means fewer workers needed for a task, so in the short term it would tend to stall any recovery in the labor markets.

On the brighter side, we are now getting reports that hiring of temporary workers are increasing, which might presage a more general hiring increase, as temps tend to be hired earlier, because they are easier to get rid of.

On the other hand, US consumer credit fell for the 8th straight month in September, which indicates that the consumer is continuing to deleverage an pay down their debts.

It appears that wholesalers are deleveraging too, as wholesale inventories fell in September, though less than anticipated, and retail sales did rise, but inventories are at an all time low, 1.18 months.

In any case, the unemployment numbers drove a flight to safety, which drove Treasuries up, and their yields down.

This flight to safety has also drive both the dollar and the Yen up, while concerns about recovery has driven oil down.

I Say 72 Hours Before the “Stalin Show Trial” Type Recantation

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So, Republican Whip Eric Cantor (VA-7) has criticized Rush Limbaugh for his divisive languate:

“The Republican Party in its roots is a party of inclusion and we ought to be promoting that and making sure that voices are heard,” Cantor, of Virginia, said in an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt,” airing today.

Cantor, when asked about Limbaugh’s comments that “Adolf Hitler, like Barack Obama, also ruled by dictate” and his comparison of the administration’s health-care logo to a swastika, said his comparisons were wrong.

“Do I condone the mention of Hitler in any discussion about politics?” Cantor said. “No, I don’t, because obviously that is something that conjures up images that frankly are not, I think, very helpful.”

Mr. Cantor will be groveling at Rush Limbaugh’s feet before Monday evening, mark my words. We’ve seen this happen again, and again, and again, and again….