Thursday

Its Thursday!

- The Feds have announced no increase in Social Security benefits this year, just like last year! Social Security benefits are by law tied to the Consumer Price Index, and so when inflation goes up (say 4%, which is healthy) recipients get their COLA fix (cost of living adjustment.) This year and last year there was no inflation (may have been deflation) and so they get no increase. This is something that occurs independently of Congress, but I suspect many elderly voters won't get that. I suspect that because I interned at a Senator's office last year and we had old people calling us constantly demanding their COLA increase, and not being satisfied with the explanation I just provided. With typical irony, they will probably exercise that anger by voting in a party (Republicans) who have been against Social Security its entire life and will likely seek to begin dismantling it under the guise of deficit reduction (which as Dean Baker or Paul Krugman routinely point out, is bullshit. Medicare might swallow the federal budget, Social Security is completely fine and with minor adjustments will be fine for a long time.)

- McDonald's hamburgers can last at least 12 years without decay, a woman's experiment shows. Not even the bread gets moldy, which is pretty fucking disturbing. If I said it once I'll say it again, never eat fast food, ever.

-The Afghan "Peace Council" is opening talks with the Taliban. Seems like the me like a smart idea; the war is not going to be won militarily and these types of conflicts are never hurt by negotiation.

-The trade deficit widens, and yet Obama seems set against penalizing China (ala tariffs) for their illegal currency manipulation, which is tantamount to subsidies on their exports, which leads to things like our big trade deficit. I wonder if post-health care he is going to fight for anything? I wonder if he really cares (though he did say he wanted to double US exports in five years. How is that going?)

- Hillary wont be VP in 2012 because Biden says Obama asked him first. Is Obama running in 2012?

Look Who's Defending the Banks (again)

After the disclosures in mass amounts of fraudulent foreclosures by banks across the country; after Attorneys General from both parties from nearly every state in the country called for a foreclosure moratorium in their states; after 2.5 million homes foreclosed upon and 6.5 million currently in foreclosure; President Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner have come out again a foreclosure moratorium. While they may make some good technical arguments, the timing and dare I say audacity of the President is still quite shocking.

Subway Rules

On my way to work this morning, the Red Line T stop at Central Square (where I board every morning) was extremely crowded. I had come in just as a packed train was leaving, and dozens of commuters had stayed on the platform because they were unable to get on the train.

When the next train did arrive, it was one of those usual free for alls when people had no regard for etiquette and basically push and shove, cut you off and push you down so they can get in the train (and everyone does this, even old women.) What is striking about this is that while this behavior is very rude and discomforting, its entirely rational. That is because you need to get to work, and if you don't get on that train you will be late. I have been in situations where the train was just so goddamn crowded I literally could not fit in, and have been late to work for it. So when you see an opening you just kind of go for it and hope you don't fall down in the process.

It made me wonder, are there any rules pertaining to traveling around on the T? I think there are some unspoken rules of the road that decent people go by, and others need to learn:

1. Give Up Your Seat: If there is an old person or pregnant lady, give up your seat for them. Incidentally I see this happen very frequently, and its not one type of person that gives up their seat for an old person/prego lady but people of all stripes. Sometimes assholes don't do it, but usually someone will volunteer, and it is always nice to see.

2. Who Gets the Open Seat: While I don't think its necessary to give up your seat for a woman (who is young and perfectly healthy), when a seat opens on a crowded train, she should get first dibs. I see people do this a lot too, they kind of motion toward the seat, and the woman either says "Oh no thank you I am getting off at the next stop", or "Are you sure? Oh, thank you!"

3. Move Your Shit: If there is a crowded train and you have a seat next to you, and your back pack is on it, don't wait for someone to ask you to move it. Either put it on the floor, or if you think that the floor is too dirty (which it is) then put it on your lap. And sticking head phones in your ears doesn't mean you can't see that people are standing and would like that seat.

4. Move In or Stand Up: This pertains to the Green Line trains, where the seats are arranged in pairs of two perpendicular to the wall (like a bus or airplane), as opposed to lined along side the wall on most other trains. If the train is empty, you can take the aisle or the window seat. If the train is crowded, or a big crowd is coming on because you are at Park Street or some other busy stop, and you are already sitting in the aisle seat, then move in. Its obnoxious when someone says "Excuse me" or "May I sit there" and the person in the aisle seat just brings their legs in so you can step over them to get to the window seat; rather than just moving in. There is no need for you to sit in the aisle seat; if you are the next stop then just stand up and wait. If you aren't, then move in.

5. Big Backpack Bumper: If you have a huge back pack that sticks out three feet, fine, we have all been there. But the rule is, on a crowded train, once you get into the spot where you are standing, then stand still dammit! Don't move around, turning left and right or all around, because you wind up hitting people with your back pack and you may not even be able to feel it.

6. Move Over: If there are several empty seats and you have positioned yourself in one such that I have to either sit right next to you, or right next to someone else, whereas if you moved over one then I could be in between two empty seats, then you should move over. These seats are small and nobody likes to sit directly next to someone.

7. Turn Down Your Music: Its an ipod and I can hear it blasting. You will go deaf, but in the meantime I don't want to listen to your crap songs.

8. Shut the Fuck Up: A. If its a crowded train, don't speak on your phone, its rude and annoying, B. Talk in a normal voice and don't scream swears; you aren't the only person on the train. Loud, obnoxious people that scream and swear, or laugh, are annoying.

9. This Is Not a Bathroom: So don't clip your fingers or toes, don't clean your ears, and for the love of God please don't spit phlegm on the floor.

10. Relax: We are all on the same T, people will be rude or obnoxious and not everyone will know subway rules. Just get from A to B and try not to let the kind of people who violate the edicts above bother you too much, hopefully some day they will learn.

Friday Jobs Report

New York Times today:

Cuts in Government Led U.S. Economy to Lose 95,000 Jobs

Yes the economy shed 95,000 jobs, according to the government's tracking numbers. The private sector added 64,000 jobs (which I am sure the Obama Administration will emphasize) but the government (federal and local) shed 159,000.

I really have no patience for hearing the president or his proxies tout the private sector adding jobs, then Obama saying "But its not good enough." No shit its not good enough.

The article notes that:

A broader measure of unemployment, which includes people who are working part-time because they cannot find full-time jobs and people who have given up looking for work, rose to 17.1 percent from 16.7 percent in August.

So that is the real unemployment rate, which measures people who are unemployed; not people who are unemployed and actively seeking work. We are basically at depression era levels of unemployment and I really think figures like this shed light on the strength of the Tea Party movement. People are furious, they are broke, they are losing their homes; and it really seems like the Administration only half-cares. People are mad because when the financial system was collapsing the government (Bush and Obama) treated it like it was a massive emergency calling for unprecedented action. But high, persistent unemployment and sluggish "growth" calls for...patience?

It calls for massive urgency. TARP was passed to avoid a kind of "worst case scenario" for the country. But if you have lost your job, your unemployment has run out, you are worried about feeding your family and your house is about to be foreclosed upon; that is a WORST CASE SCENARIO.

What we need is a massive stimulus package, as any economist with their head on will tell you (Krugman, Baker, Stiglitz, DeLong). I know the Congress wont pass it, but it would be nice to see the President (and his party) fight for it; even if they lose. That would be something that the base could rally around.

The Man Who Never Was

Todd Purdom has a bio-article on John McCain in Vanity Fair this month. I kind of like these articles that focus on a particular personality, Vanity Fair recently had one on Sarah Palin, the New York Times Magazine had one on Glenn Beck.

Its a good read, the underlying thesis being that John McCain was never really a maverick but rather pragmatic (I agree) and that he doesnt really have any principles (I agree) which is a contrast to the narrative that he had principles but sold them out for 2008 and beyond.

Purdom recounts McCain's asinine "suspension" of his campaign in 2008, with some assitance from Johnathan Alter's recent book

McCain’s stagy “suspension” of his 2008 campaign to return to Washington to deal with the Wall Street financial crisis is a classic case in point. As related in Jonathan Alter’s book The Promise, at a bipartisan White House meeting—called solely because McCain had asked the Bush administration to hold it—he sat sullen and silent, saying “I’ll just listen” as Obama showed a detailed command of the situation. When he finally spoke, 43 minutes into the meeting, McCain acknowledged that he had not even read the Treasury secretary’s three-page outline of a proposed bank-bailout plan.

There is also a though experiment that I had never considered, in lieu of my anger and frustration with the Obama Administration and Senate Democrats:

There would probably have been no stimulus bill, and the country’s economic condition would be no better (and probably worse). General Motors and Chrysler would have been allowed to go bankrupt rather than helped to emerge into a state of healthiness, as they may well be doing. There would have been no significant new regulation of the financial industry. The Bush tax cuts for those Americans with the highest incomes—something McCain had opposed before reversing himself—would have been extended. There would have been only modest health-insurance reform, at best—McCain’s proposals were Republican boilerplate and meant for use in the campaign, never a serious program. Perhaps there would have been greater progress on immigration, though McCain had already abandoned that issue, and it’s easier to imagine his taking the more nativist stance he has since adopted. There would be no Supreme Court justices Kagan and Sotomayor, but there would likely be two more conservative justices, and the days of Roe v. Wade would be numbered. There would be no troop drawdown in Iraq. The United States might well have bombed or blockaded Iran in response to that country’s flawed election last year, or in response to its nuclear program. There would have been serial feuds between aides to the president and vice president, but the fact that Vice President Palin had an independent power base, far larger and more enthusiastic than McCain’s own, would have limited what President McCain could do about it.

I have never really had respect for John McCain, I think his maverick mantle was a media invention. He has always been a conservative republican and just took one or two stances that 20 years ago would have not garnered any attention (the Republican Party used to be filled with moderate and liberal Republicans, now there are zero.)

Furthermore I never understood the media's contention that his captivity during Vietnam made him an expert on foreign policy. With due respect, fighting in a war doesn't make you a foreign policy expert. It gives you insight, surely, that someone who has never been in battle cannot have. And fighting in a war is very brave and I commend him for that. But going off to bomb North Vietnam, getting shot down and held in captivity for five years does not give you credentials to opine expertise on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Lastly I think I got nothing but disgust and disdain for McCain in the 2008 re-election. Its not that he sold out this great integrity he had previously, its that he just really sold out any integrity any decent human being would have at a minimal standard. Insinuating Obama was a terrorist, via your Palin-proxy, the campaign suspension, the campaign rallies where people would chant "Kill him". McCain fanned the racial flames that feigned hurt when John Lewis called him out on it. Well if it walks like a duck, its John McCain.

AS THE WORLD BURNS

Ryan Liza has a great article in the New Yorker up on their site right now. It details the rise and fall of last year's Kerry-Graham-Lieberman Climate Change bill that President Obama had promise he would find the votes to get.

If you are unaware of the background, basically the three senators put together an ok climate change bill (had a lot of bad things in it, some good) that was going to eventually be reconciled with the House's Waxman-Markey bill passed a year earlier. The significance of this was it would be the first climate change bill ever passed, that it would begin to address what I think is arguably our biggest threat, and that would give the President more negotiating power to bring to the next climate summit (in Mexico.)

But things went down hill. The bill became watered down and then eventually lost one of its co-sponsors, Lindsay Graham, after Harry Reid declared that the Senate would tackle immigration reform before climate change (they did neither.) Graham said thats a bullshit move; it helps Harry Reid's re-election but makes Graham look bad. Kerry and Lieberman went searching for other Republican votes, which were of course elusive, and the bill faded away.

The article sheds more light on other reasons the bill failed. The Obama Administration was not really co-operating at all. They repeatedly announced give aways to the Republicans (ie off-shore drilling) that KLG had planned to give in negotiations so the Republicans would have to concede something. It also seemed some leaks were being done to undermine Lindsay Graham.

The bill wasnt that great to begin with, but not having it was unfortunate. It remains to be seen if the Obama Administration will have the balls to regulate carbon emissions via the EPA instead of legislation. But I think it sheds light on their hands off attitude, and aloofness, ended up hurting the bill. Another strike against Obama.

Good Reading

Two good articles that I've read recently. One was Matt Taibbi's excellent (per usual) writing in Rolling Stone, this time on the Tea Party. Taibbi does a good job in not simply denigrating tea partiers to racist hicks, but trying to understand the underlying forces behind them (aside from the Koch Brothers.)

You look into the eyes of these people when you talk to them and they genuinely don't see what the problem is. It's no use explaining that while nobody likes the idea of having to get the government to tell restaurant owners how to act, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the tool Americans were forced to use to end a monstrous system of apartheid that for 100 years was the shame of the entire Western world. But all that history is not real to Tea Partiers; what's real to them is the implication in your question that they're racists, and to them that is the outrage, and it's an outrage that binds them together. They want desperately to believe in the one-size-fits-all, no-government theology of Rand Paul because it's so easy to understand. At times, their desire to withdraw from the brutally complex global economic system that is an irrevocable fact of our modern life and get back to a simpler world that no longer exists is so intense, it breaks your heart.

I will post a full review tomorrow, along with a review on Ryan Lizza's article in the New Yorker on the Senate Climate Change bill (and how it all went wrong.)

Infrastructure Initiative

The New York Times this morning is reporting that the Obama Administration is going to propose a vast infrastructure project that will call for

as $50 billion in government spending to start up a long-term public works plan emphasizing transportation projects – roads, rail and airport runways – over the next six years.

It further reports that this will be just a piece of his larger economic vision to be laid out at a speech in Cleveland tomorrow. Which is good, because I was under the impression that his Cleveland speech was going to just be about a Research Tax Credit.

In any case, the initial reports of his infrastructure project, which includes an Infrastructure Bank, seem to be quite good (including building vast new stretches of rail.) I just hope the Administration, long known for not getting it, gets it. This will not pass. It may pass the House, though thats iffy because the House is in a tight battle for which party will control it and wavering Democrats will not wish to add one ounce to the deficit; but either way it will be filibustered in the Senate. Or it will be threatened to be filibustered and that will mean it wont even be brought up for a vote.

So if the Administration gets it, they will see to it that they make the aims of this bill known (and by that I mean they emphasize not the infrastructure part but the Jobs, Jobs, Jobs it will create) then move heaven and earth to emphasize and overemphasize the Republicans blocking it.

Because this is unlikely to pass (though I think it is much needed) the only way this can be used for a win is to present the case, the narrative, to the electorate that the Obama Administration has a great jobs bill, one that will rebuild America, and the Republicans are blocking it. They should call it a jobs bill and not an infrastructure bill. The Republicans are on message in that everything they say is Jobs Jobs Jobs, for some reason the Democrats are not. That is all the American public cares about at this point, even more than the deficit.

So if the Obama Administration can define this as a jobs bill, and can shine a light on Republican obstruction, which always goes without attention, then it can be a winner. But I have lost all faith in this Administration and predict this goes no where.

Econmetrix

taking a cue from Krugman i was looking at back data on US treasury yields, since everyone is obsessed with an immediate need to cut the deficit;

Ten years ago we were looking at 6.58% on the 10yr, 6.94% on the twenty yr, 6.61 % on the 30 yr

Twenty years ago, 7.98 % 10yr, 20 yr N/A, 8% on the 30 yr

Here are what those yields were as of yesterday: 2.97% on the 10 yr, 3.75% on the 20yr, 3.91% on the 30yr

Short term is even better, in 1990 the 3 yr bond was 7.9%, ten years ago it was 6.43%, today...1.00%. Investors are willing to take on US debt for 1% return.

Meanwhile the consumer price index shows us down 0.2% month over month.

Long term unemployment at record highs, investors jumping over each other to buy US debt that offers barely any returns, and the specter of deflation begins to take hold. im no econometrist, but are those pressing calls for fiscal contraction? a need to cut back spending and reduce short term deficits?

the icing on the cake will be when obama's deficit commission releases its report after the elections and announces an immediate need to slash social security, with its trust fund overflowing with surplus at the moment, or we will see the end of america as we know it.

on a last note I was going over polling on the issue of debt. its a huge concern with voters, except when offered to rank it against "jobs" or "job creation" at which point it pales in comparison. bring on the republican majority

Liberal NYT

Glenn Greenwald highlights a media study by Harvard that studies 4 major papers (NYT, LA Times, USA Today, WSJ) and examines how they have treated the subject of "waterboarding" over the last 100 years.

The so-called liberal (to the point of treason) New York Times, in 54 articles that spoke of waterboarding between 1930s and 2004 characterized it as torture 81.5% of the time, 96.3% of the time for the LA Times.

From 2002-2008, "the studied newspapers almost never referred to waterboarding as torture. The New York Ties called water boarding torture or implied it was torture in just 2 out of 143 articles (1.4%). The Los Angeles Times did so in 4.8% of articles (3 of 63)"

For the WSJ it was 1.6%, for USA Today zero.

2002 is of course when the Bush Administration began using waterboarding on its prisoners in Guantanamo, later to become public and unabashedly defended by the Bush people. The Bush Admin declared that waterboarding was not torture. Suddenly the newspapers, the free (liberal) press, stopped referring to it as torture. As far as I can see, they did this because Bush said so.

Monday Morning

News broke just before midnight last night that Elena Kagan would be Obama's nominee to the US Supreme Court.

I assume this is the administration leaking it before announcing it in order to control the news cycle. Either way I am in agreement with Glen Greenwald and his very good summaries on why she should not be the nominee. Yet another great missed opportunity.

I suspect the Republicans will bloody her up as best they can, paint her as a radical, and highlight her having done some work for Goldman Sachs

Then probably confirm her. But still, I would've preferred Diane Wood.

In other news, the EU has quite a big bailout package. Should help those French and German banks holding all that Greek debt.

The Legal Debate about that efin Mandate

Listening to the House debate HCR as I type away at a paper due tomorrow and heard Nathan Deal (R-Georgia) say when he becomes governor of Georgia he will challenge the constitutionality of the "individual mandate" in the health care bill (I assume directing the Georgia AG to sue?)

As this seems to be a big thing among Republicans, that its unconstitutional for the federal government to mandate individual citizens to purchase anything (Orrin Hatch and some others had an op-ed in the WSJ about this) its struck me that there is an easy way around the Constitutionality of it.

The government could simply announce a "health care tax" or "health care fee" on all Americans then give a tax credit of the same amount to all Americans who have health insurance. The effect of this is that every American who doesn't have health insurance (but can easily afford it) will pay a small fee; exactly the same thing that would happen with this mandate. Its completely Constitutional, there are tax credits for everything under the sun and tax credits as a concept are used in large part to create incentives to certain types of behavior; ie a tax credit to "retrofit" your home for energy efficiency.

So its basically the same thing; and depending on the language in the bill may be the same thing. Either way it can be interpreted as the same thing on a legal basis and therefore could hold up as Constitutional depending on the judge/justices. I say that because justices on all sides of the spectrum allow their biases to affect how they rule and might find legality (or illegality) in vague language depending on what they personally prefer the outcome to be; even if it goes against legal logic/precedents you've argued for for many years (see Scalia, Atonin in Bush v. Gore.)

CBO Scores Final Bill

And its good!

I dont care what anyone says, I like Nancy Pelosi. I think she pulled this off well. There was a dearth of leadership and she stepped up. I also give serious credit to Harry Reid who had to deal with a nightmare of people in the Senate. The biggest disappointment was President Obama, who was such a failure on so many levels its worth considering whether he deserves to get my vote in 2012 (if I am in a blue state.)

For the Record

I think the House passing Health Care via Self-Executing or whatever the hell its called is... awesome

Harold Ford needs to just shut the fuck up.

And the New York Times needs to stop giving him print space.

Harold considered running for the New York senate because he moved here from TN a couple of years ago in order to work for Wall Street. He fancied running to the right of Kristen Gilibrand, President Obama and the New York Democratic Party, in the New York Democratic Party Primary.

He was so incompetent in his exploratory stage that he shot himself in the foot in interviews talking about being driven around in a town car, helicoptering over Staten Island and sudden revelations on being gung ho about gays.

He never stood a chance and everyone knew this, apparently even he because he never entered the race. But after a NYT Op-Ed a few months back talking about why he think he might run, now he has one saying he thinks he might not run now. Who cares? Why are you getting op-eds in the NYT about non-existent hopeless campaigns?

Oye vey.

Gym

There is a guy at my gym who is always on his cell phone, and is really loud. This is usually between 7-9am. Who is he always talking to at 8am? Why is he so loud? What the hell is wrong with him?

It really annoys me. I needed to get that out

Schlitz!

http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/massmarkets/2009/10/21/schlitz-brings-its-old-more-full-flavored-formula-back-to-the-boston-market/

Apparently Schlitz used to be delicious beer, but "fell victim to the industry trend in the 1970s when breweries accelerated the brewing process and used cheaper ingredients – all with the goal of cutting costs." Which I am guessing is part of the reason so many American beers suck.

But in a sign of good times to come, Schlitz decided to go back to the old formula it used from decades back. However, like NASA's moon plans, the original recipe had been lost and/or destroyed. Hope was ebbing as people worried they may never again taste the delicious 60's Schlitz.



But fear not. "Schlitz brewmaster Bob Newman needed to interview people who were Schlitz brewers back in the day to re-create the formula: “He literally sat for hours on the phone, talking to these guys.”"

Now its back baby.

So the new Schlitz is the old Schlitz, and it’s being rolled out in locations in Boston and other watering holes in Eastern Massachusetts. Wortham says the price will be comparable to Bud (an actual increase, believe it or not, from the bargain-basement prices that Schlitz used to sell for). A ceremonial delivery is planned for Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Eire Pub in Dorchester to herald the formula’s return to the Boston market.

Slow Day at the Globe

Springfield or Boston?

Vikki Backs Kirk?

Boston Globe reports that Vicki Kennedy, along with Patrick and Joe, have expressed support for Paul Kirk (Kennedy "family friend", former DNC, oversees JFK Library) for late Sen Kennedy's seat.

Meanwhile Huffington Post reports, going off a Fox News scoop, that Patrick has chosen Paul Kirk.

It leads me to believe that Governor Patrick's office may have intentionally leaked the news that Vicki Kennedy wants Kirk (the lead headline on the Globe's website for more than an hour is "Victoria Kennedy Backs Kirk"). Thus the people of the Commonwealth can sit on this for a while and let it saturate into the news; perhaps a day or two ahead of Gov Patrick actually making the appointment.

Why ? My guess is because a string of governors (Blagojavich, Paterson) have fumbled with Senate appointments and Patrick, with low approval numbers and an election next year, wants to avoid any misteps. So let the people of Massachusetts first know that Vicki Kennedy, who is immensely popular and adored and a close connection to the late Ted, prefers Kirk. Then a day or two later when Patrick appoints Kirk it is seen as being done with the blessing of the beloved Vicki, so everyone (minus angry Republicans) is happy and can focus on other things.

How is this man not more popular?

From the NYT CityRoom:

Gov. David A. Paterson showed up to a meeting of state leaders meeting on Wednesday morning determined to trim the budget, but there was one immediate trim that everyone noticed: his mustache.

...It remains to be seen whether the clean-shaven look will improve the governor’s standing in the polls, or with President Obama and his administration.

...

The governor, answering questions after he met with state leaders to discuss the budget, was first asked what happened to his mustache.

“Additional deficit means additional cutting,” he said, “and it’s likely before the end of this process you will see me bald.”