Category: Money
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It shouldn’t surprise you…
…that the man leading the party that has ascribed an insignificant fluctuation in worldwide temperatures to mankind, packaged the phenomenon as a crisis, and crowned a failed Presidential candidate (don’t miss the link – it’s Al Gore – 100 lbs. ago!) and hypocrite as it’s King… …would blame the failure of a private financial services…
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The Chicken and the Egg
By now everyone is buzzing about the federal government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Riddle me this: Whose idea was it? Was it smart? Was it necessary? Could it have been prevented? How did this happen? The answers to these questions are easy. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson Yes Yes Yes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac knew…
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You own your house…and now mine too
Congratulations America. You just bought half the homes in America. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Federal officials on Sunday unveiled an extraordinary takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting the government in charge of the twin mortgage giants and the $5 trillion in home loans they back. Under conservatorship, the government would temporarily run Fannie…
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The Obama Stimuless
This Week on ABC is featuring an interview with Barack Obama. When asked by George Stephanopoulos about tax cuts and the economy, Senator Obama spoke to the differences in the economic theories of his strategy versus Senator McCain’s. Obama’s plan, tax cuts to the middle class is a bad idea, and an ill-advised one based…
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You Can’t Produce Your Way Out Of Scarcity…
…in the same way that you can’t exercise your way to better health. And the idea that you might try to (along with demand dropping at the end of summer) certainly looks like it’s starting to kick in: Oil prices sank to a five-month low of just more than $105 a barrel on Tuesday as…
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Recession Interuptus
Obama: “So I ask you, ladies and gentlemen; fellow Americans, are you better off – “ Aide walks to podium, whispers in his ear “spssss sps spssss spssss” “uh, where was I?” “Yes, uh, Change! Hope! Et cetera!” It would appear that, at least until the election, our nation has averted an economic contraction and has…
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Obama’s economic recovery plan fails…to exist
And now, back to the issues. “It’s the economy, stupid” (silence) “Hello, is this thing on?” A continued and unpopular (but successful) war, high gas prices, increasing unemployment levels, weakness in wages and an economy on the brink of recession, Obama should be doing better than what was characterized on CNN last night as a…
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Things I Shall Never See
One: Tom Swift and Mark Gisleson discussion the fine-point pros and cons of Hayek over a bottle of Chilean Pinot Grigio. Two: The Cubs winning the World Series. Three: Any of the Twin Cities’ deep-pocketed leftyblogs showing the faintest shred of knowledge about economics. UPDATE: Oops. Wrote too soon. Chalk it up to basic economics…
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The Value Of Crappy
I spent yesterday working at a Habitat for Humanity project. It was fun; I hadn’t done contruction work of any sort (beyond the odd bit of inept homeowner handimannery) in over twenty years. Most of the day was wrapped up in building things (and I did finally get the whole “hanging drywall” thing straight, thank…
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Tastes Great, Less Taxes
An analysis of the purchase of Anheuser-Busch, producer of America’s most iconic brew, by the Belgian firm InBev reveals there was more to the deal than a handsome payday for shareholders. According to the Tax Foundation, Belgium’s corporate tax rate is 33%, but the effective tax rate can be half the nominal rate thanks to…
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When Math Spins Into Semiotics
Jeff “Not The Gun Guy” Rosenberg is a regional leftyblogger who, like most regional leftybloggers, writes at a couple of dozen blogs. I’ve met him, he’s a good guy. Which doesn’t mean I can’t respond to this post, “Conservative Math”, over at (checks list) The Daily Liberal. Turns out there’s more to “liberal math” than…
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I Wonder if Fran Tarkenton is Available?
As everyone knows by now, the Packers have offered Brett Favre $20,000,000 to stay home (I put the zeros there for emphasis instead of the customary $20M or $20 Million to illustrate how unbelievably absurd the NFL has become). It serves further to illustrate how asinine it is to allow franchise owners to hold major…
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Dog Licks Dog.
Sun Rises. Ice cream falls from cone to ground. Labor leader writes a misleading and blatantly-omissive article about the push against the “Employee Free Choice Act”. Look, I’m not anti-union. Indeed, unlike most DFLers, I’ve actually been a union member. I’m a firm believer in collective bargaining – and the right of people to opt…
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Master of Disaster
I have been accusing Obama of economic illiteracy for some time now as our nation’s impending financial crisis should by far be our chief concern for the future of our nation and voters would be well advised to consider this before conferring their will in November. Obamanomics Is a Recipe for Recession …despite his obvious general…
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State of Affairs
Slate
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If you pay taxes…
It looks like you are getting screwed, even without Obama in office and even if you borrowed responsibly while everyone around you went all in. It would appear the White House, reportedly run by a Republican Administration, has better things to do than protect taxpayers from covering losses taken by people that either (1) Should have…
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At least for now…
Plymouth, Minnesota: Money Magazine’s #1 Best Place to Live, August 2008 Issue Some selected stats, however, may not bode well… Plymouth, MN vs. Best Places Average Sales Tax: 6.65 vs. 6.60% (Baseball in the freezing rain anyone?) State Income Tax Rate: 7.85% vs. 5.17% (Highest Bracket) State Income Tax Rate: 5.35% vs. 2.43% (Lowest Bracket) (That’s…
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Cap (And Trade) It’s A**
Via GeeEminem, Kudlow notes that Mac seems to have abandoned his support for “Cap and Trade”. After writing favorably about Sen. McCain’s recent economics speeches, where he clearly shifted toward the supply-side both on tax cuts and producing more energy, I went back last evening and carefully read his 15-page policy pamphlet called “Jobs for…
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Notes From Someone Who Was In The New Economy Before You Were
I don’t normally fisk bloggers – and, indeed, I don’t want to “fisk” this, per se. There’s just so much in this piece by Charlie Quimby that deserves an answer from someone who’s had to get comfortable with the “new economy” back when most of this nation was still well within the “old economy” [*].…
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Psychology
Over at Loophole – the blog of MPR’s In The Loop series – Sanden Totten notes the apparently-peculiar power of the word “because”: A study found that “because” is a powerfully persuasive word. The Economist blog lays out the experiment like this: In the study, a stranger approached someone waiting in line to use a…
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Failure Is An Orphan
And it doesn’t get any orphannier than when your father abandons you. We’ll get back to that. Let’s talk history: As this presidential campaign continues, the candidates’ comments about health care will continue to include stories of their own experiences and anecdotes of people across the country: the uninsured woman in Ohio, the diabetic in…
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$2
A few weeks ago, Rep. Michele Bachmann – the biggest lighting rod for derangement in the entire Minnesota Congressional delegation – predicted that opening up domestic drilling could drive gas down to $2 a gallon sooner than later. “Haw haw haw haw“, tittered the local Sorosphere. But – oh, boy. A bunch of actual experts…
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He Skipped Econ 101 That Day
The Wall Street Journal on Obama’s economics flub: The “psychological impact” to which McCain refers is quite simple: The expectation of greater oil supplies in the future would make it more attractive to sell oil now, when supplies are restricted and prices are high, thereby bringing prices down in the short term. Is Obama really…
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Bought And Paid For
Politicians – mostly Democrats, in this IBD poiece on the subject – have been on the take from mortgage companies for years. There’s method, naturally, to the madness: A number of top Democrats have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, suggesting corruption in the party linked to the recent home-mortgage meltdown. Will…
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Running The Numbers
First things first: I’m a free market guy. One of the arguments I’ve been having for years with my tax-hawk friends is over mass transit. These friends – David Strom, among others – argue correctly that transit, especially light rail, is a money pit. And as of the last time anyone checked, they were; a…