From HousingWire:
Credit nation? HELOCs up 20.6% year-over-year
A total of 797,865 home equity lines of credit were originated nationwide, up 20.6% from a year ago and the highest level since the 12 months ending June 2009, according to RealtyTrac.
The report also shows HELOC originations accounted for 15.4% of all loan originations nationwide during the first eight months of 2014, the highest percentage since 2008.
“This recent rise in HELOC originations indicates that an increasing number of homeowners are gaining confidence in the strength of the housing recovery and, more importantly, have regained much of their home equity lost during the housing crisis,” said Daren Blomquist. “Nearly 10 million homeowners nationwide, representing 19% of all homeowners with a mortgage, now have at least 50% equity in their homes, according to RealtyTrac data. Meanwhile the percentage of homeowners with severe negative equity has decreased from 29% in the second quarter of 2012 to 17% in the second quarter of this year.
“The rise in HELOCs also reflects a natural evolution for a lending industry looking for products they can offer to homeowners who have already refinanced their first position loan into a low fixed rate,” Blomquist added. “A HELOC enables homeowners to leverage additional equity they may have gained since refinancing while still preserving the rock-bottom interest rate on their first position loan.”
Among the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan statistical areas with HELOC data available, 49 posted year-over-year increases in HELOC originations in the 12 months ending in June 2014. The only metro area with a decrease was Rochester, N.Y., where HELOC originations decreased 1%.
Metro areas with the biggest year-over-year increase in HELOC originations were Riverside-San Bernardino in Southern California (87.7% increase), Las Vegas (85.1% increase), Cincinnati (81.0% increase), Sacramento (65.1% increase), and Phoenix (60.1% increase).
Drove a Subaru for many years, listen to NPR almost exclusively (Car Talk is the best thing on the radio going), even drive an electric car.
Good god, am I a closet liberal? All these years, I just didn’t know it?
NPR? Feh. Let us know when your subscription to Jacobin starts.
[1] grim,
Over the years, I have noticed that conservatives don’t live in their own echo chamber as much as the lefties think. We will drive “liberal” cars, follow “liberal” media, and even have liberal friends.
Liberals? Not so much.
And it seems paradoxical, but when you think more about it, not so much. What we now brand “conservative” is built on a foundation of liberal (small L) personal freedom in all aspects of life, while “Liberal” is more about communitarian groupthink and the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, or to put it into modern parlance, the rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few.
I could go on at length but I don’t have the time and I think you get the idea.
Bonus Points: What well-known politician (obviously a democrat) said “Wi-fi is a human right”? No googling!
End of previous thread is hilarious. Only a Brooklyn-addled idiot would live in Maplewood.
Great place to get shot in the face, though.
The hype surrounding Maplewood is proof that RE in this area has yet to undergo the scorched-earth purge that would actually normalize the market.
It’s all gonna turn to shit again, folks. There’s still a ghost in the machine.
Grim, this whole identity thing must be catching today. For once, I agree with Mother Jones . . .
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2014/10/jon-stewart-would-have-been-terrible-host-meet-press
As long as 2-3 million brooklynites can sell their cramped, congested and crowded housing for $700,000-$800,000, there will be buyers in S.I and N.J., especially, who will consider a $600,000 pos with a driveway and garage and overnight parking restrictions and useable public schools as a Win, Win, Win….
Maplewood….as many of the burbs around here. Over taxed and in close proximity to places that breed violent crime. What could go wrong?
Now this guy, is Liberal:
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-economy-is-still-failing-most-americans-2014-10
@WSJ:
Larger iPad to be delayed as suppliers struggle to make enough new iPhones to meet strong demand
You call that hazing?
http://www.nj.com/middlesex/index.ssf/2014/10/sayreville_high_school_football_hazing_parent_reveals_sexual_nature_of_locker_room_ritual_exclusive.html#incart_big-photo
Re 10 – bot you a cheerleader for slave labor now?
You can keep your doctor? Heck, you can’t even find A doctor!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102071507
11. Another night at chez juice box eh?
[1] grim – If you drive a Subaru you may even be a lesbian liberal.
[1] grim – If you drive a Subaru you may even be a lesbi@n liberal.
[3] Nom – except now we’re at the tipping point where it’s now “the rights of the slim majority (taxpayers) outweigh the perceived
rightsentitlements of thefewalmost half”the rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few.
All I want is for a groundswell to lift the candidacy of President Elizabeth Warren.
If properly timed, I put down a massive short, cash in when the market tanks and capital flees for other shores, and spend the rest of my days sipping fruity drinks on a beach.
I came across this in the comments section of a NY Times article:
Thos. Handy Northern Minnesota 10 May 2014
There is not enough money in the world–or at least the total of the 1%’s assets, which would include mine–to fix the problem through just education. Parenting is way more important, and in woeful short supply. So many kids face bad influences modeled by bad parents (to whom was modeled bad influences, and so on back into history), if anything of value is modeled to them at all. As the aphorism goes, apples rarely fall far from the tree. Some programs that catch the kids early–like one or two years old–can help by providing some ersatz parenting and sorely-needed values the kids aren’t getting at home.
Most values are learned by 5 or 6…right when kids are still learning, but have much of their brain already hardwired to emulate what they’ve seen at home. I don’t know what can keep the deadbeats and losers (sorry, just calling it like I see it) from breeding, but ignorance is the new epidemic. All the money thrown at social programs can only, at best, keep the afflicted from pouring into the streets to beggar the rest of us. Look around; moste[sic] people reading this are already insulated from economic and mind poverty, and it’s the result of conscious choices and our incomes. And maybe that’s part of why social programs are so well funded in the first place. Kind of like an economically gated society.
[16] expat,
We are also at the groupthink tipping point, and getting closer to the Orwellian “thoughtcrime” scenario.
Anyway, enjoy your long weekend for Indigenous Persons Day. Gonna watch some football and hope to see the Washington Expletive Deleteds get pounded.
[18] expat
“Kind of like an economically gated society.”
Or paying the barbarians tribute, like the Romans used to do. Didn’t end well for the Romans.
Anyway, when we are all living in Clot’s dystopian future, when the millenials are streaming out of the cities in search of food, they will come to my area eventually. But I do have a plan. To quote the NVA commander Nguyen Huu An, “kill all they send, and they will stop coming.”
I dont see how Capital Markets will flee the US when we are the largest consumer in the world. Just put tariff on foreign goods and they all come back. Today’s policies,yes it is possible. But once we start complaining they will do something about it. Anybody remember “Peak Oil”
A table of largest consumer countries in the world from 2009.When the US is in a Great Recession. I cant find a new one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_consumer_markets
ExPat [18],
It’s a no-brainer. Of course. It always started and ended in the home. Those claiming to want to help the poor and ignorant by commanding more from those who work are spouting for their own gain. Do you really think the dem0crats care about the plight of the lesser informed? It’s crocodile tears.
The fact that you think liberal and leftist are the same thing proves how intellectually empty your arguments are. Most liberals are actually unwitting tools of the corporate state, just like everyone on the right (aside from TPTB themselves of course). Take a look at Jacobin to see how little leftists think of liberals.
As for personal freedom, I suppose you consider sticking unnecessary metal objects up women’s hoohahs and denying them the right to make decisions for their own bodies to be personal freedom. Or denying gays access to marriage, also freedom. I see no one on the left–liberals or leftists–arguing for such state control. Of course to dim bulbs such as yourself personal freedom means only for corporations, my friend.
[1] grim,
Over the years, I have noticed that conservatives don’t live in their own echo chamber as much as the lefties think. We will drive “liberal” cars, follow “liberal” media, and even have liberal friends.
Liberals? Not so much.
And it seems paradoxical, but when you think more about it, not so much. What we now brand “conservative” is built on a foundation of liberal (small L) personal freedom in all aspects of life, while “Liberal” is more about communitarian groupthink and the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few, or to put it into modern parlance, the rights of the many outweigh the rights of the few.
I could go on at length but I don’t have the time and I think you get the idea.
Bonus Points: What well-known politician (obviously a democrat) said “Wi-fi is a human right”? No googling!
Ottoman,
Of course to dim bulbs such as yourself personal freedom means only for corporations, my friend.
Corporations are what make me money while creating the things that make life enjoyable. Consider me a dim bulb while you’re eating bark off a tree.
The point that you always miss…… take them away and someone else will do it. They are not doing anyone a favor, except themselves. You are blind.
Fast Eddie says:
October 9, 2014 at 9:58 am
Ottoman,
Of course to dim bulbs such as yourself personal freedom means only for corporations, my friend.
Corporations are what make me money while creating the things that make life enjoyable. Consider me a dim bulb while you’re eating bark off a tree.
25- Corporations should be thanking people for buying their junk and at the same time getting these same people to work for cheap creating that product. This all leads to their profit. They profit on the creation and then profit on the sale from the same people. Profiting in every direction. This is how billionaires are created. No other way.
Don’t forget about our military strength in your equation.
yome says:
October 9, 2014 at 9:05 am
I dont see how Capital Markets will flee the US when we are the largest consumer in the world. Just put tariff on foreign goods and they all come back. Today’s policies,yes it is possible. But once we start complaining they will do something about it. Anybody remember “Peak Oil”
A table of largest consumer countries in the world from 2009.When the US is in a Great Recession. I cant find a new one
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_consumer_markets
This is exactly what I have said in the past. Social programs are not trying to solve poverty. It is only trying to contain it. They are basically paying off the poor so that they don’t riot. It’s as simple as that. Nothing more than a giant economic gate to protect the wealthy and their interests. That’s why I find it humorous when wealthy people advocate that we should eliminate social programs and eliminate funding to abbot districts. Do they understand the consequences of what they are advocating for. The social programs are for the rich. They protect you from them.
The Original NJ ExPat says:
October 9, 2014 at 8:39 am
I came across this in the comments section of a NY Times article:
Thos. Handy Northern Minnesota 10 May 2014
There is not enough money in the world–or at least the total of the 1%’s assets, which would include mine–to fix the problem through just education. Parenting is way more important, and in woeful short supply. So many kids face bad influences modeled by bad parents (to whom was modeled bad influences, and so on back into history), if anything of value is modeled to them at all. As the aphorism goes, apples rarely fall far from the tree. Some programs that catch the kids early–like one or two years old–can help by providing some ersatz parenting and sorely-needed values the kids aren’t getting at home.
Most values are learned by 5 or 6…right when kids are still learning, but have much of their brain already hardwired to emulate what they’ve seen at home. I don’t know what can keep the deadbeats and losers (sorry, just calling it like I see it) from breeding, but ignorance is the new epidemic. All the money thrown at social programs can only, at best, keep the afflicted from pouring into the streets to beggar the rest of us. Look around; moste[sic] people reading this are already insulated from economic and mind poverty, and it’s the result of conscious choices and our incomes. And maybe that’s part of why social programs are so well funded in the first place. Kind of like an economically gated society.
28- They protect you from them…..meaning The programs protect the rich from everyone else.
Go ahead….eliminate social security, welfare, unemployment, and public schools. Let the poor fend for themselves. You will be living in the world clot envisions. Total nightmare. It will quickly descend into chaos. There will be no carrot in place to keep these people complacent.
It’s all the corporations’ fault!
http://southpark.cc.com/clips/154822/college-know-it-all-hippies
You can only hurt a loving dog so much until he learns to fight back
That’s why I find it humorous when wealthy people advocate that we should eliminate social programs and eliminate funding to abbot districts.
Once again, I’m not sure why you think any of that money goes into the actual schools. It might go into an overpriced roof or digital sign they put outside of the school. It doesn’t make its way to the teachers or students.
33,
I wonder what % of the money goes to lots and lots of administrators and their benefits. Based on the incentive system of public schools, those most likely to actually care about teaching, seem to make the least. Layers of administrators who nevertheless go out and buy books that suck, make teaching plans that suck, seem to be doing pretty well. I suspect that there are also some very good administrators that actually could reorganize schools to deliver improved education, but also suspect that the incentive system drives them out of the system tarred and feathered, if they threaten to actually implement radically better instruction processes.
Kind of like when chef Jamie Oliver showed up at a public school cafeteria to teach them how to produce real food. The lunch ladies jumped on him like the Sayerville football seniors jump on rosy-cheeked freshmen.
I love the show, “Justified” and the only time I’ve been in Kentucky was to go to the Derby to check that off in my bucket list. Anyone venture down there besides to take the Jack Daniels tour? Reminds me of Clifton.
White poverty exists, ignored
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article2518087.html
As it turns out, our deeply racialized view of poverty bears no resemblance to reality. Though it’s true that African Americans are disproportionately likely to live below the poverty line, it is also true that the vast majority of those in poverty are white: 29.8 million people. In fact, there are more white poor than all other poor combined.
Owsley County (Booneville is the county seat) is the epicenter of that poverty. Median income here is less than $20,000. The obesity rate is 50 percent. Life expectancy: 71.4 years, more than seven years below the national average. With 36 percent of its citizens living below the poverty line and 98.5 percent of its population identifying as white, it is the poorest — and one of the whitest — places in America.
That invisibility is ironic. Although the War on Poverty is generally remembered for what it did and did not do for black people in the cities, it was actually Appalachia Lyndon Johnson had in mind when he launched it. The president was deeply moved when he toured this part of the country. So was his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, who created the modern food-stamp program as a result. Kennedy’s brother, Robert made his own sojourn here when he ran for president in 1968.
[1] That’s funny — NPR is the only radio station I listen to on a regular basis too.
There is a definite liberal bias to their coverage, but I like to hear other perspectives, even if I absolutely disagree with them. Besides, it keeps your debating skill sharp to point out the countless half-truths, biased-language, and hypocrisy from the leftist media establishment.
[36] renter
Bloomberg radio too. Much as I hate using that turncoat’s name (he was a Sox fan who went over to the Dark Side).
[23] otto,
Is there a semblance of actual rebuttal in our future?
36 only way to make an biased judgement. I dont listen to what I know already to confirm but listen to the opposite argument. Maybe, I will learn something.
39 unbiased
always have
Fast Eddie says:
October 9, 2014 at 9:58 am
Ottoman,
Consider me a dim bulb
anon (the good one),
Whatever you say, sweetie.
“As for personal freedom, I suppose you consider sticking unnecessary metal objects up women’s hoohahs and denying them the right to make decisions for their own bodies to be personal freedom. Or denying gays access to marriage, also freedom. I see no one on the left–liberals or leftists–arguing for such state control. Of course to dim bulbs such as yourself personal freedom means only for corporations, my friend.”
Maintaining the voting base Otto. Once in office, the liberal and the conservative (or the lefty and the righty) both suck the corporate cock!
Last I looked Gitmo was still open and United Healthcare was doing better than ever after ACA was passed (some reform this was). Mozillo was still out sunning himself after trading in 40 million in fines, of the 500 million he earned in exchange for the end of the criminal investigation. I suppose the friends of Mozillo preferential low interest rate loans/free points mortgages taken advantage of by the many liberal and lefty Dems including the head of the finance committee and Dem house leader Barney Fage Frank really paid off. And Corporate leaders like Paulson were tasked to cleanup the mess their industries made. Keep on believing that the lefty’s don’t support the corporations. It’s exactly what they want dumb sheep (and even pompous self-proclaimed intellectual sheep) to believe.
I offer you, a piping hot bowl full of Baa.
“As for personal freedom, I suppose you consider sticking unnecessary metal objects up women’s hoohahs and denying them the right to make decisions for their own bodies to be personal freedom. Or denying gays access to marriage, also freedom. I see no one on the left–liberals or leftists–arguing for such state control. Of course to dim bulbs such as yourself personal freedom means only for corporations, my friend.”
Maintaining the voting base Otto. Once in office, the liberal and the conservative (or the lefty and the righty) both suck the corporate skin flute!
Last I looked Gitmo was still open and United Healthcare was doing better than ever after ACA was passed (some reform this was). Mozillo was still out sunning himself after trading in 40 million in fines, of the 500 million he earned in exchange for the end of the criminal investigation. I suppose the friends of Mozillo preferential low interest rate loans/free points mortgages taken advantage of by the many liberal and lefty Dems including the head of the finance committee and Dem house leader Barney Fage Frank really paid off. And Corporate leaders like Paulson were tasked to cleanup the mess their industries made. Keep on believing that the lefty’s don’t support the corporations. It’s exactly what they want dumb sheep (and even pompous self-proclaimed intellectual sheep) to believe.
I offer you, a piping hot bowl full of Baa.
Otto…
You from Sayreville?
The article on Maplewood is pretty funny. Not being familiar with the area, I rather naively inquired about it to this board awhile ago, sensing it had an odd combination of affordable housing and good NYC commute, coupled with super high taxes, a mediocre school system, and high crime.
Seeing how pockets of the city have so rapidly gentrified, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me to see some level of gentrification in a town like Maplewood. But (1) the taxes are insane and unlikely to ever recede and (2) unless they hire Hoboken’s Firemarshall to take care of the problem neighbors, transplants are setting themselves up for a life of nervously looking over their shoulder and guarding their property.
If I wanted to roll those kinds of dice, I’d pioneer in Harlem or Bedstuy. But I drove through Harlem recently and guess what? You can’t gentrify public housing.
Maplewood, much like Montklair, is filled with parents who are Meatheads and Glorias. As much as these lefties want to believe that they are doing their part to end racism by living in a diverse town. They will depart just as rapidly as the closet klansmen they were trying to escape from when they find out their little Chloe and/or Chip have been smoking blunts in the high school bathroom with Liptessa and Trey.
Michael, regarding your wage inflation theory. This is from an article talking about universities.
That’s part of the business model. It’s the same as hiring temps in industry or what they call “associates” at Walmart, employees that aren’t owed benefits. It’s a part of a corporate business model designed to reduce labor costs and to increase labor servility. When universities become corporatized, as has been happening quite systematically over the last generation as part of the general neoliberal assault on the population, their business model means that what matters is the bottom line.
The effective owners are the trustees (or the legislature, in the case of state universities), and they want to keep costs down and make sure that labor is docile and obedient. The way to do that is, essentially, temps. Just as the hiring of temps has gone way up in the neoliberal period, you’re getting the same phenomenon in the universities.
The idea is to divide society into two groups. One group is sometimes called the “plutonomy” (a term used by Citibank when they were advising their investors on where to invest their funds), the top sector of wealth, globally but concentrated mostly in places like the United States. The other group, the rest of the population, is a “precariat,” living a precarious existence.
This idea is sometimes made quite overt. So when Alan Greenspan was testifying before Congress in 1997 on the marvels of the economy he was running, he said straight out that one of the bases for its economic success was imposing what he called “greater worker insecurity.” If workers are more insecure, that’s very “healthy” for the society, because if workers are insecure they won’t ask for wages, they won’t go on strike, they won’t call for benefits; they’ll serve the masters gladly and passively. And that’s optimal for corporations’ economic health.
At the time, everyone regarded Greenspan’s comment as very reasonable, judging by the lack of reaction and the great acclaim he enjoyed. Well, transfer that to the universities: how do you ensure “greater worker insecurity”? Crucially, by not guaranteeing employment, by keeping people hanging on a limb than can be sawed off at any time, so that they’d better shut up, take tiny salaries, and do their work; and if they get the gift of being allowed to serve under miserable conditions for another year, they should welcome it and not ask for any more.
That’s the way you keep societies efficient and healthy from the point of view of the corporations. And as universities move towards a corporate business model, precarity is exactly what is being imposed. And we’ll see more and more of it.
That’s one aspect, but there are other aspects which are also quite familiar from private industry, namely a large increase in layers of administration and bureaucracy. If you have to control people, you have to have an administrative force that does it. So in US industry even more than elsewhere, there’s layer after layer of management — a kind of economic waste, but useful for control and domination.
And the same is true in universities. In the past thirty or forty years, there’s been a very sharp increase in the proportion of administrators to faculty and students; faculty and students levels have stayed fairly level relative to one another, but the proportion of administrators have gone way up.
47 – don’t forget the rise of the adjunct.
professors don’t get tenure for being good at teaching. they get tenure for bringing in grants and being politically savvy.
47,
Highly ignorant and willfully biased essay, something only a lefty professor could think up. Talking out of his ass. Yes, incomes have been weak, but the professor fails to offer a correct explanation.
In general, the US has flatter managerial organizations than other parts of the world, and greater employee “empowerment”. I can say that as a person who has actually compared and contrasted management structures globally. Japanese might have structures for employees to speak up on quality issues, but most have much more hierarchical and rigid management, based mostly on seniority rather than contribution. Similar for many European organizations. Chinese State Owned Companies are terrible.
But why might US companies have more layers of management and bureaucracy than is desirable? A massive increase in regulation, lawsuits over the past 75 years is a very likely answer. The 2013 Federal Register alone contained over 80,000 pages of rules, regulations, and notices from US federal bureaucrats. Federal bureaucracy and regulation breeds corporate bureaucracy to protect and lobby.
This is Ragnar doing his imitation of a Koch Brother :
http://youtu.be/NKkRDMil0bw
This is Ragnar’s dream of anybody that does not drink the wine that Ayn Rand was a godess
http://youtu.be/YQLbwOGT8eM
Grim [1];
People in Wisconsin don’t drive Subarus because they are liberal; they drive Subarus because the live in Wisconsin! Other liberals want to identify with their leading luminaries in Wisconsin, so they too drive Subarus, despite living in suburban California or the coastal southeast — see groupthink mentioned above.
Funny thing about NPR, they had coverage of the financial crisis (including housing meltdown) like no other outlet. Sure, they have their liberal bias — they study capitalism like Jane Goodall studied the gorillas, in their wild environment — “Capitalists in the Mist”. But they were there when everyone else was either ignoring the story or blithely cheerleading NAR press releases.
Out: Quantitative Easing (QE)
In: Verbal Easing (VE)
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/389884/heres-what-fed-planning-replace-qe-latin-patrick-brennan
The obviously think someone out there is stupid enough to believe them, and act as they would like. Unfortunately, someone always seems to come through for them. Race to the bottom?
[23] Otto
““As for personal freedom, I suppose you consider sticking unnecessary metal objects up women’s hoohahs and denying them the right to make decisions for their own bodies to be personal freedom”
No, I’m with JJ on that one. I call it forepl@y.
The NEW and Improved TSA…….
Don’t sneeze on a plane…. skip to 7:30 if you don’t want to wait.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJhWVsx1U8c&feature=youtu.be&t=1m40s
plume (20)-
Die hipster!
“All politicians need to create good paying American jobs with good benefits for American citizens by repealing all sales/consumption taxes & replace the lost revenue with an import tax/tariff on imported labor (India & the Philippines) & manufactured goods (Mexico & Communist China, North Korea & Vietnam). Burn both the federal & state individual income tax codes & give each income receiving American citizen a $50000 standard deduction while keeping current dependent exemptions. Then tax the next $50000 at 2%, the next $50000 at 4%, the next $50000 at 6%, etc. until the federal & state budgets are balanced. Collect impact fees. NO corporate welfare. NO illegal aliens. Increase the minimum wage. Burn USA business & corporate income tax codes & place a “fair tax” (with a standard
deduction of $10 Million) on ALL USA business & corporate sales/revenue including foreign after deducting compensation and benefits for American citizens’ labor; except for CEO’s and their immediate subordinates. Tax the second $10 Million at 1%, the third $10 Million at 2%, etc. All standard deductions & exemptions should be adjusted for inflation. Collect an export tax on natural resources/commodities such as oil, natural gas & grains. These strategies will reduce government spending, inflation, income inequality, declining real median family income and increase demand for “Made in America”.”
yome (32)-
Imagine if dogs had human-level intelligence, thumbs and guns.
“You can only hurt a loving dog so much until he learns to fight back”
2010 (35)-
Jack Daniels is in Lynchburg, TN, pal. And Tennessee Whiskey is not the same thing as Kentucky Bourbon.
“I love the show, “Justified” and the only time I’ve been in Kentucky was to go to the Derby to check that off in my bucket list. Anyone venture down there besides to take the Jack Daniels tour?”
stu (44)-
He is…and he likes it that way.
“Otto…
You from Sayreville?”
[58] clot
I noticed that too. But I’m too lazy and/or busy to call things out anymore.
stu (46)-
Maplewood has a h@rdcore population of garden-variety Carribbean thugs who like to break into vet offices for K#t@mine. They are also heavily armed and prone to brandishing and using their guns frequently.
Somebody ask me how I know this.
moose (51)-
I listen to NPR a lot, too. They, like a lot of liberal-leaning media, sense the problem and articulate the problem correctly. The shitstorm begins when they start proposing solutions.
I like Liz Warren a lot. She is a liberal. She’s also got a fair amount of common sense, which is unusual for liberals, as they’re usually just worthless bags of blood taking up space.
However, G0d help us if Liz gets near the Presidency. Like plume, I’ll get short everything, break out the ’82 Margaux and get ready for the end of civilization.
When did Michael become a bot?
Just saw the Scott Conant Infiniti commercial. I want to strangle the life out of him.
He’s like a Bobby Flay clone, except smug and creepy.
47- Honestly, that theory makes a lot of sense. My feelings remain the same. The economy needs wage inflation. It is inevitable. Believe it or not, wage inflation is a necessary ingredient for an economy based on inflation. You can only devalue a wage for so long before it takes the entire economy down with it.
Why can’t Michael eat pickles?
From a review of Panetta’s book:
Mr. Obama is scored for “failing to lead Congress” out of the sequester. The president’s “most conspicuous weakness” is “a frustrating reticence to engage his opponents and rally support for his cause.” He is “supremely intelligent”—almost ravenously intelligent—but “sometimes lacks fire.” He “avoids the battle, complains, and misses opportunities.”
All this is credible and accords with the testimony of others. But it is fair to ask if he cared so much why he didn’t leave and speak sooner. It is fair to ask how much he left out. One reads and senses: a lot.
Actually the way the president increasingly comes across, and not only in this book, is as eccentric—a person drawn to political power who doesn’t much like politics, or people, and who takes little joy from the wielding of power. Mr. Panetta suggests Mr. Obama isn’t good at rah-rah. He’s good at rah-rah for himself, just not for other causes.
#1 grim
I’m with Anon on this one. People don’t drive Scoobys for their political views. If you live in the north (or south) and need something with solid reliability, it is a great choice. but its not made in the US so that shuts it off from a certain demographic. Also a Brx or WRX is not exactly for the granola set.
I with you on CarTalk. Such a great show, add in RadioLab and StoryCorps.
While I don’t put NPR as biased as others, I don’t think it is out there on the Far left. I don’t think there is a Republican counterpart and I don’ t think there could be a moderate republican talk radio in this media market. If there is no market, there is no show. So what is the choice on the right. Rush, a blowhard talking to himself, Hann1ty and O’Reilly who are just AHoles. The only one I can stand is Laura Ingraham. Talks sense for the most part before she goes off the reservation.
The big issue Ingraham is that when you try and mine that moderate republican base, you get caught in a political pretzel. Laura sounds good up until she has to puts Saint Ronnie under the bus. That is the biggest problem in this space. O and Ronnie are so close in policy and action that you can’t differentiate.
[69] Fabian
Geez, I find myself somewhat in agreement with this. I had better check myself for Ebola or something.