From Reason TV we have an excellent display of the union thuggery and economic illiteracy that prevents Walmart from opening in places like Washington D.C. and New York City. Of all the outrageous claims made to deny citizens the right to choose where they spend their money - not to mention their private property rights - this one is the hands down winner:
Walmart will make criminals of our children, argues Washington D.C. commissioner Brenda Speaks, because "kids are kids" so they'll shoplift and then "security will grab them."
I don't think I've ever heard a defense of moral bankruptcy used as a political argument or a business being vilified for "making criminals" out of criminals who steal their property. But I guess if you listen to the left long enough, they can rationalize anything if it fits their agenda.
The share of renters who spend more than half their income on housing is at its highest level in half a century and it’s no longer just low-income tenants who are feeling the pain, according to a Harvard University study scheduled for release Tuesday.
About 26 percent of renters — or 10.1 million people — spent more than half their pre-tax household income on rent and utilities in 2009. That’s because incomes slipped dramatically from their peak at the start of the decade even as rents kept rising.
Normally, this would be good news for sales as high rents should induce people to buy. Interest rates and home prices are low and there is no significant building of new rental housing. But the government and its cronies have devastated the housing market to such an extent that we still don't where the bottom of the sales market is or when it will reach that point. Millions of homes are still waiting to be put on the market as the system slogs through an unprecedented quagmire of foreclosures. Uncertainty kills markets.
And the recent implementation of the ironically named Dodd - Frank financial bill that is now increasing the cost and reducing the incentive to lend, will only prolong the agony.
It also doesn't help that the economy is still bouncing along the bottom on a path to stagflation.
The combination of rising gasoline prices and the steepest increase in the cost of food in a generation is threatening to push the US economy into a recession, according to Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners.
Johnson looks at the percentage of income consumers are spending on gasoline and food as a way of gauging how consumers will fare when energy prices spike.
With gas prices now standing at about $3.90 a gallon, energy costs have now passed 6 percent of spending—a level that Johnson says is a "tipping point" for consumers...
"The combined increase in the necessities of food and energy creates a harsh double whammy for already stressed consumers," Johnson said. The last time this happened was in the recession that lasted from 1973 to 1975.
Johnson estimates that food and energy eat up about 15 percent of consumer spending at today's prices, compared with about 12.7 percent two years ago.
Of course, at lower income levels, these percentages are much higher.
Yes they are. Inflation is the most regressive tax there is when it's caused by rampant government spending paid for in phony dollars hot off the Fed's printing press. The people hurt most are those who voted in the highest percentages for a hopey changey world run on unicorn farts.
Jonah Goldberg describes this as "So, so, much stupid crammed into such a small space. Might create a blackhole of dumb," Yes, but more to the point, this gathering of frighteningly ignorant "students" is actually a meeting of the brightest lights of government school indoctrination. It takes true dedication and determination to empty your head of all critical thinking skills while convincing yourself that you're really smart, hip and cutting edge. Their masters in academia have successfully wrapped the brutal and colossal failure of collectivism in the guise of "justice", be it social, economic, environmental or whatever. These blindly idealistic students are technically adults, but are really gullible children that are being take advantage of by cynical, power hungry tyrants who will throw them to the wolves as soon as they stop being useful idiots. And all of this is brought to you by the Democrat party.
Reason T.V's list places the Paul Ehrlich's Malthusian population bomb drivel at number one, although I would give the nod to their runner up: Rachel Carson's pesticide scare that led to tens of millions of deaths stemming from the ban of DDT and other chemicals that were well on their way to wiping out malaria and other mosquito borne illnesses. Most of those killed from first world junk science were third world children and pregnant women.
When somebody says that that top 1 percent saw its income go up by X in the last decade, they are not really talking about what happened to actual households in the top 1 percent. Rather, they are talking about how much money one has to make to qualify for the top 1 percent. All that really means is that the 3 million highest-paid Americans in 2010 made more money than did the 3 million highest-paid Americans in 2000, the 100,000 highest-paid Americans this year made more money than did the 100,000 highest-paid Americans made in 2000, that the 50,000 highest-paid Americans made more money this year than did the 50,000 highest-paid Americans made in 2000, that the 1,000 highest-paid Americans this year made more money than did the 1,000 highest-paid Americans made in 2000, etc., which is not shocking. But, as the Treasury data show: They are not the same people.
• Deficits and debt. Perhaps the most bizarre complaint is that Mr. Ryan's blueprint would worsen the U.S. fiscal imbalance compared to current law. So the House Budget Chairman has proposed supposedly hideous cuts to popular entitlements at great political risk for . . . the fun of it?...
• Medicare "cuts." The Mediscare machinery is grinding into gear, and the same people who say Mr. Ryan is imposing too much pain on seniors by requiring them to pay a larger portion of their health costs also claim that he's a coward for exempting everyone in or near retirement. In other words, the soup is terrible and the portions are too small...
TAMPA — Jani Salonen says he wishes he had never reported that a family of ospreys had taken residence atop a crane he owns at the Port of Tampa.
"It's probably one of the bigger mistakes I've made," Salonen said Tuesday after port officials told him he could not move the osprey nest without federal approval.
Salonen now estimates he is losing $8,000 a day because of the nest, and his dilemma has reached the governor's office in Tallahassee.
Salonen said he has 12 employees who are idle because of the nest. If the delay continues, he may have to send some home...
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved the plan to move the nest but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied the permit.
So a bunch of useless bureaucrats are once again standing in the way of the country's economic health; this time to protect a stupid bird who chose a crane to build a nest. This is one of countless stories that depict the real costs of an overbearing regulatory state that doesn't give a rip who they hurt as long as their rules are followed. Remember that the next time some dopey politician says we need more regulations.
The National Fair Housing Alliance, along with other Fair Housing agencies, is investigating whether the upkeep of REO homes in minority neighborhoods receives inadequate care in comparison to REOs in predominantly neighborhoods.
"HUD has issued regulations saying the failure and delay of maintenance or repairs on REO properties because of racial composition of a neighborhood" is an actionable offense under the Federal Housing Act, Steve Dane, an attorney with Relman, Dane & Colfax, said in a recent press conference held by NFHA and other fair housing organizations leading the probe.
In the investigation, the agencies are comparing REO properties in predominantly minority and white neighborhoods in Connecticut, Maryland, Ohio, and Virginia, and evaluating the neighborhoods using a scoring system that rates the REO properties on upkeep, maintenance, and curb appeal.
The overwhelming number of failing scores were identified in primarily African-American areas in Dayton, said Jim McCarthy, president and CEO of the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center in Ohio, another agency also conducting the investigation.
I'm sure they would find a much stronger correlation if they looked at it from the standpoint of neighborhood income and home values rather than race. But that would mean less money and influence for the racial grievance industry. Minority neighborhoods have disproportionately high crime rates as compared to white neighborhoods overall. That means higher rates of burglary and vandalism that make it harder and more expensive for banks to maintain those homes. If a comparison were made between similar white and minority neighborhoods, I have no doubt their would be little or no difference in the condition of those REO's.
The Florida House voted Thursday to strip government oversight of more than a dozen professions, including auctioneers, yacht brokers and talent agents.
Some of the regulated professions generate thousands of consumer complaints annually.
The bill, HB 5005, would dump licensing, surety bonds and other consumer safeguards required of telemarketers, travel agents/vacation-package sellers and auto-repair shops.
Those industries ranked first, fourth and fifth, respectively, on the 2010 Top 10 Consumer Complaint List compiled by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. There were 8,599 filings on telemarketers alone.
I guess we know the reporters opinion, but that's for another day. Professional licensing is mostly pushed by the industries themselves to reduce competition, increase profits and add false prestige and credibility through a state stamp of approval.
As a result, we have dozens of boards, departments and a plethora of arcane rules that mostly serve to employ regulators and don't really do much to protect the public while making it expensive and time consuming to enter numerous professions. And there's no evidence whatsoever that licensing reduces consumer fraud or abuse. In fact, it gives the public a false sense of security since the state doesn't and can never have enough resources to police all these businesses as promised.
This vote was passed along party lines with Democrats predictably voting against economic freedom. Of course, the usual hysteria followed:
“Should we stop registering sex offenders because that’s all we do is register them?” asked Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek. “There comes a time when registration is critical.”
Leave it to a liberal to liken yacht brokers and interior designers to child molesters. That's how they view the private, productive and - gasp! - for profit private sector.
Watch the video and think about the larger issues beyond the trillions in capital that would leave this country because the IRS wants to use extra legal means to report foreign, non resident investment income to foreign governments. Besides the breathtaking economic stupidity, one has to ask why the executive branch wants to do this. In Europe and elsewhere, statist high tax governments and their cheerleaders have carping for years about 'tax competition"
They don't like the fact that certain countries have more favorable tax structures that attract capital away from high tax and/or corrupt countries, making it harder to impose a worldwide financial regime.
New Hampshire, in fact, has become a kind of mini-Switzerland for wealthy Northeast families. Trust assets under management by banks and trust companies up north have jumped 70% over the past five years, to $311 billion in 2010, from $184 billion in 2005, according to the New Hampshire Banking Department. State.
The Boston Herald says trust companies are “cropping up like tax-free liquor stores in southern New Hampshire.”
Can we blame them? Of course not.
No, we can't.
"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands."- Judge Learned Hand
Let's hope that years from now we don't look back on this say "If only..." This is what we're facing and there's not much time. And it's wont be like the 70's or even the 30's - it'll be much worse and will last for generations.
Gee, what a surprise. This would be a more accurate headline if it were prefaced by "As Predicted:" Inflation and a devalued currency is the tax that Obama and his leftist crew are imposing on every American to pay for their statist utopian vision financed by a 24/7 money printing operation. But the problem, according to WAPO, is those damn third world folks trying to raise their standards of living:
Although unique factors have contributed to the latest price shocks, such as turmoil in the oil-rich Middle East and a weak Russian grain harvest this year, there’s a common, more fundamental cause. As people in poor nations become wealthier, they develop middle-class tastes. They wish to eat more beef instead of just rice, for example, and drive cars rather than bicycles. Those rising living standards in developing nations have left suppliers struggling to grow enough feed grain, mine enough iron and pump enough oil to keep prices near the lower levels of recent decades.
Yes, blame it on the billions of people living without running clean water or electricity for wanting some protein in their diet and a better way to get around than pedal power. Cruel condescension mixed with a touch of racism and an "I got mine, screw you" attitude is a hallmark of the self important left.
The Post also doesn't see any link to our recently increased burning of food for fuel through the Ethanol scam as another cause of rising commodities prices, nor does it consider this administration's hostility to domestic energy production as having anything to do with rising prices. No, shutting down deep water drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, pulling previously approved permits and other dictatorial edicts from an out of control Energy Department and EPA has nothing to do with skyrocketing energy costs, according to the Post.
The Democrat's base in the dependency class along with government workers and union members will see their income keep pace through automatic cost of living increases, but most of the people who pay the bills will really feel the pain.
Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, proposed a bill Thursday that would phase out government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in five years or privatize them.
Will we finally see the end of government distortion of the real estate and mortgage markets through these two entities? Maybe, but not without a fight from the rent seekers and the economically ignorant. The NAR qualifies on both counts and weighs in with a "yeah, but:"
The National Association of REALTORS® urged Congress this week to not move too fast in reforming Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“NAR strongly agrees that the existing system failed and that reforms are needed. However, redesigning a viable secondary mortgage model that will protect taxpayer dollars and serve the country’s home owners today, and in the future, can only be achieved through a methodical, measured effort,” 2011 NAR President Ron Phipps said in testimony before the House Subcommittee on Capital Markets this week.
In other words, the NAR doesn't want its customers and members to compete for capital based on the merits of the deals they create and still want taxpayers to assume the risk for private mortgage transactions. Politically motivated government manipulation of the mortgage market through Fannie and Freddie caused an unprecedented nationwide collapse of the real estate market, and the NAR just wants to tinker around the margins lest they lose their influence and have to play on a level field.
