Folks, I just got an email by a notorious spin machine, corporate funded lobbyist organization to write up their "white paper".
Just a reminder, NEVER use a "white paper" from some special interest/lobbyist group. You must ALWAYS read the assumptions the fine print and data missing...
this is true from Academic research too but it gets even worse when dealing with special interest groups, lobbyists because they have their agendas and damn the macro econ stats and theory!
Seriously, watch out and always read the details, looking for that subtle statistical spin, usually buried and sometimes you have to figure it out for yourself to find the fatal logic/assumption/statistical/theoretical flaw.
While I don't disagree with you per se, it is important to consider the entire package.
With fewer and fewer legal rights remaining to us, when President Obama mentioned tort reform in his State of the Union Address, taken with his reframed "public option" at that time, one had to perform a careful analysis on everything he said in that regard.
Firstly, he mentions that the citizenry will be legally mandated to purchase private health insurance, while lauding the achievement of forbidding those same private health insurance companies from denial of coverage (please note I said coverage, nothing was ever mentioned about denial of treatment).
Legally, they can't mandate the universal purchase of private insurance while at the same time allowing for prejudicial denial of coverage. The first legally cancels out the second, so the second should never be able to stand up in court.
Next, President Obama mentioned tort reform. Why indeed in that context and sequence. Because after the citizenry are legally mandated to purchase private health care insurance, they will wish to sue after they are denied treatment under that mandated medical coverage (insurers love those premiums, and even love denial of treatment -- claiming noncoverage of said medical processes -- even better).
But tort reform would alter that equation considerably, thus removing that legal right as the defrauded insured would have to sue for the right of sueing, a most egregious and ever expensive process and undertaking.
And President Obama has his very own insurance policy: Justice Sotomayor, whose record, regardless of all those useless talking heads who falsely proclaim themselves "dems" and "progressive" -- historically has favored the insurance companies over the insured.
The one or two exceptions: when she was on a panel of judges, and the senior or chief judge found in favor of the insured (so, in a good career move, she followed the lead of the chief panel judge). Mighty big exception, that!
This is just unbelievable and more and more i think this is all about preserving and even expanding these fictional derivatives which are glorified casino gambling chips. By themselves they have no value, but tied to a corporation and the game at hand....they can be exchanged.
I mean what a friggin joke that Citigroup would plain on crisis derivatives. They are the crisis.
There are rumors of them being broken up and that's a good idea too because they are the last TARP fed Zombie, and instead they are going to create yet another derivative class?
I swear, frankly if we don't have another one of these financial crises in the next 5 years, I will be shocked and this time.....it's going to bring the global economy to it's knees and to the guillotine.
Here we are with Senators flying the coop, and still we have jack shit in terms of reforms, even worse, derivatives reform isn't even mentioned as of late! That's the damn problem!
May I just note the ones making out are the attorneys. Most financial wrongs attorneys will not take on because there is no payout for them. They charge $300/hr and so all of these situations of financial screw jobs, below at least $100k but more like $500k, they won't even touch.
There needs to be some sort of cheaper way to get financial justice beyond just requiring some long, dragged out lawsuit involving attorneys that goes on for years and is all one big legal game.
Small claims court, many increased their maximum amounts but it needs to be higher still.
I mean frankly you must be able to sue for many gross negligent things but there needs to be much more in place to plain stop these errors and negligence in the first place.
For example, MDs rarely lose their license and practices, hospitals vary widely in terms of errors, conditions, costs (this is huge!) and efficiency.
So, I agree with you the attack on civil lawsuits is all about denying even more rights to consumers and patients...
but on the other hand, the system is grossly unfair and the ones pocketing the dough really are the trial lawyers.
But we never heard of any other structures and changes to make it easier for your average Joe to get some justice, or to reduce the insurance costs of Hospitals, Physicians, some sort of system which reigns in insurance companies as well as does something to improve the quality of care, reduce errors and mistakes.
It's clear to me the entire medical and drug system in this country is FUBAR, it's way beyond blaming just one part of the chain and it's also clear the ones getting screwed are the American people, the patients.
But we need to detail out why exactly these medical liability costs are so absurdly high, and what really could be done that doesn't strip away patients rights to get it all back into alignment. Also, I think the entire occupation sector of Trial attorneys needs to be shrunk and I do they these attorneys are in the business.
Just like immigration attorneys, they are in the business and get millions of dollars processing and really trading people, hence they lobby for more guest worker Visas, more immigration, more crap from which they can generate revenues and the labor economic realities or even what's in the best in interest of the foreign guest worker/immigrant....
be damned. They are like modern day slave traders, profiting off of each body they "peddle".
Very insightful, especially including "one must also consider the effects of speculation by those healthcare hedge funds along with the other costs and how much they add to the equation."
To that I would also add the general administrative costs of the predatory layer of interposition between doctor and patient (which offsets some skilled job loss with unskilled job additions) as well as the outrageous salaries of top Health Care Prevention for Profit Executives, and their enormous "political influence" budget outlays.
I think you've hit upon the general cost factor of 3rd party predation which has become the hallmark of the American economy. Aside from the ubiquitus speculation layer of predation, you have the general theme of predatory interposers.
Lawyers get in between the doctors and the patients on the TORT side. HMO's get in between the doctors and the patients on the payment side. Credit counselors get in between the patient and the lender on the credit side. Now we've even got former IRS agents getting in between the patient and his tax refund on the "maybe I can fund this with my tax refund" side.
And nothing of any great value get's built, produced, invented, cured or discovered--just predatory layers of paper-pusher-profit.
This post is from last summer, but there's a link in there from the AHA about the legislative "shoehorn" for these LBO's.
Those who have studied the American jurisprudence system over the past thirty years will realize that tort reform is simply yet another ploy to extend the power and greed of corporations, removing the last bastion of legal rights afforded to American citizens and workers.
Over the preceding thirty years, laws have been changed and nullified, allowing that which was once illegal to now be legitimate, thus allowing the highest financial echelon to plunder and pillage the rest of us to their heart's content.
By the same token, that which was once legal, has now been made illegitimate, thus many American have yet to realize they can be arrested for virtually any reason; that habeas corpus is now ancient history, and that the corporation now enjoys rights of absolute supremecy.
An interesting, and crucial, item which is little understood (for obvious stealth reasons) about companies when they offer lower and lower costing medical health plans to their employees (meaning more money paid, and on medical payouts, at the individual employee level), is that those companies and corporations enjoy a sizable tax break for offering such plans.
Thus, they play the "spread" --- enjoying a given tax break, even though they've offered worse and worse medical plans to their employees.
Also, many citizens are still unaware of the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) having privatized "eminent domain" with their decision (was it 2004 or 2005) to allow developers to force them to sell their land for commercial development purposes (ostensibly operating through the good graces of the local corrupt politicians). This was decided on the people of Connecticut vs. a developer, who was building for Pfizer -- which had promised jobs from said development -- but eventually pulled out of that neighborhood -- hence ZERO jobs produced -- but the privatization of eminent domain now set in law.
Either way they profit, while screwing the rest of us.
As to Tort Reform, Texas has it from what I understand. The Republicans there pushed it through and it hasn't helped at all. Texas still has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country with poor outcomes. I think its similar to the Administrations proposal that taxing "Cadillac" medical plans will drive up wages. Supposedly, forcing companies to choose lower cost medical plans will mean they'll then decide to pay their workers more...
Once they convince people they have a "fix" they know they can extend their looting for a few more years while the "savings" works its way through the system. Worst case scenario they have to come up with some new "fix" to appease the masses. Trickle down economics and all that...
FWIW, I thought Ray was perhaps a troll too. In any event, no harm, no foul. I would like to add one name to your list of economic realists. And that would be the late, great (and vastly overlooked) economist E.F. "Fritz" Schumacher. His humanitarianism is self evident in the title of his collected essays, Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered. It is truly sad that proponents of his ideas in the early 70s were just shrugged off as DFH. Hmmm, not that much has changed in 40 years, has it?
I admit I have become used to N.A.M. trolls; witness that one a little while back who quoted a former National Association of Manufacturing president!
They have numerous call centers throughout North America, where they troll call-in radio shows as well as web sites with inane and trivial questions.
I admit to my frustration, just as I admit to a thirty-some year buildup of fatigue at having individuals still want to argue with me about the detrimental economic aspects of offshoring jobs - regardless of what country or society we are discussing.
Your three points are common talking points at faux organizations, which come into existence simply to confuse, bewilder and divert.
My suggestion to enhance one's knowledge of economics is to pay attention to those with an actual track record in economics. Those Nobel prize winners in economics (Exception: Ms. Ostrom) in the past have usually been more politicians than economists, who frequently reposition themselves continuously politically as those winds change.
Therefore, while lately I find Krugman (generally speaking), Stiglitz and Robert Reich in agreement with me, it isn't because I have changed my way of thinking on economics; they have simply repositioned themselves again, or removed their heads from their collective posteriors, finally.
I WOULD recommend Michael Hudson, Steve Keen, James K. Galbraith, Ravi Batra in the realm of econ, as they have been consistently brilliant in various aspects of it.
I would likewise recommend the writing of finance types-turned-journalists like Nomi Prins, Pam Martens, etc.
My previous posts at this blog are specifically structured to clue one in to the socioeconomic/political operations allowing for economic meltdowns and massive wealth transferral upwards. (Please see below.)
Again, my humble apologies, but you have to understand, the disassembling of the American economy has been going on for a period of thirty to forty years now. Many Americans appear to those of us who have been paying attention; who have been politically active, as rather a pathetic lot with negligent to nonexistent citizenship responsibility.
When people over the age of 40 don't realize that the minimum wage should be $22 to $25 dollars per hour, but that the connection between productivity and the minimum wage was discontinued during the Bush I administation, that individual is both economically and citizen-wise negligent.
When people in the 40s and 50s wonder why employment is so difficult to find in this country, where a recent and long-overdue BLS report reported that effectively the private sector has created zero new jobs over the past ten years; one has to wonder on what planet these people have been existing. Your very own comments with regard to social security were highly suspect.
But I take you at your word for the time being, sir.
I'm not surprised. Now that it's coming out Greece sold off major public assets for short term cash which still imply loan term debt and are hidden through various swaps and derivatives structures, per our usual suspect friendly hands of derivatives peddlers, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs...
I know there are tons of these deals at the State and City level in the U.S. Some of them made headlines, such as the securitization/privatization of the Indiana toll road, but many never did...
So, how many of these things are "off the books" on States, cities?
This is only going to get worse. If housing prices do not drop another 15% (and notice how while we picked up on the lack of solutions on the housing crisis, just today the MSM is starting to) I will be shocked and so many cities, counties are based on property taxes.
Meanwhile Harry Reid guts any direct jobs program in the Senate AND we're going to move from frying pan to fire with Congress.
We're seeing a host of retirements but we're going to get that corporate Republican agenda....which is worse than the corporate Democrat agenda....
and we cannot get uncorrupt politicians even on the ballot as a choice. What is this country going to do? I guess just vote 3rd party as long as that person isn't a complete crazy incompetent who is running?
Bloomberg put together a flash presentation on how the unemployment rate is affects by the population survey (birth-death model) and thus is giving us major inaccuracies in the unemployment rate.
I've amplified a host of these but this is a good graphic explanation.
The key thing to remember is the unemployment rate is a ratio. Recall I do my best to dig around to discover the actual number of jobs and the actual increase, or decrease in the real number of workers available (civilian population rate) and also focus on how many fell off the count.
But if Bloomberg is nailing it, well, this ain't no conspiracy theory on trying to obtain accurate statistics.
(In response to Mr. Woolley): Rather, I was genuinely interested in your take on those three items. A request for further information does not equate to a position of support. I would think this site and its principal contributors should welcome its use by people who have an open mind and wish to educate themselves. Therefore, I don't quite understand all the viciousness towards people who have less knowledge than yourself. I had to laugh about being with N.A.M., as I am a retired high school teacher of French and German. I am learning much about economics from this site. (In response to Mr. Oak): Not everyone who disagrees with you is so dense they cannot balance a checkbook. Just for the record, in case you were implying that in relation to my question, my admittedly modest math skills are not even beginning to be challenged by balancing my checkbook.
Some people really are that economically disabled and they honestly believe the policies, rhetoric and crap coming from the corporate GOP and FAUX news, they cannot add two numbers together and they seriously just believe what is every pounded into the table as "the cure".
I'm not kidding. So, it would help to just run some numbers in a reply and state succinctly and clearly why this is incorrect.
Seriously, they believe discovery of online government websites and some pieces of information you would think everyone knows, is "breaking news".
Bear in mind in this country a lot of people cannot balance a check book and many cannot even write a check. (Check cashing services pray off of this fact, how hard is it to open a free checking and thus cash your paychecks for free...yet a huge percentage of people do not do it because they cannot add two numbers together or understand how to write a check, I'm not kidding!)
For example, "TORT reform", i.e. you cannot sue your Doctor when he kills you by his incompetence, is estimated to reduce medical costs by 0.001% overall. A better way would be to have a regulatory body to actually screen their own MDs and we do not have that currently.
and it could be one is brewing right offshore....sovereign default.
But no, not a damn thing has changed from the days of corporate raiders to the dot con insider pre-IPO guaranteed profit scam to the accounting scandals of Worldcom, Enron to the clearly obvious housing bubble...
and we're not only not getting any reforms, never mind anything which targets the real problem, i.e. securitization and derivatives (along with ratings triggers) ...
they cannot get any reform!
Now, the Senate is bailing so because of public outrage plus the way politics works...we're going to get even worse reps. next election cycle than this one.
(i.e. parties put up candidates but those are chosen by corporations who fund them and then, we have the GOP truly with the most corporate driven messed up policy endorsements and they are going to win because Democrats are bought and paid for by these same corporations...lovely).
Folks, I just got an email by a notorious spin machine, corporate funded lobbyist organization to write up their "white paper".
Just a reminder, NEVER use a "white paper" from some special interest/lobbyist group. You must ALWAYS read the assumptions the fine print and data missing...
this is true from Academic research too but it gets even worse when dealing with special interest groups, lobbyists because they have their agendas and damn the macro econ stats and theory!
Seriously, watch out and always read the details, looking for that subtle statistical spin, usually buried and sometimes you have to figure it out for yourself to find the fatal logic/assumption/statistical/theoretical flaw.
While I don't disagree with you per se, it is important to consider the entire package.
With fewer and fewer legal rights remaining to us, when President Obama mentioned tort reform in his State of the Union Address, taken with his reframed "public option" at that time, one had to perform a careful analysis on everything he said in that regard.
Firstly, he mentions that the citizenry will be legally mandated to purchase private health insurance, while lauding the achievement of forbidding those same private health insurance companies from denial of coverage (please note I said coverage, nothing was ever mentioned about denial of treatment).
Legally, they can't mandate the universal purchase of private insurance while at the same time allowing for prejudicial denial of coverage. The first legally cancels out the second, so the second should never be able to stand up in court.
Next, President Obama mentioned tort reform. Why indeed in that context and sequence. Because after the citizenry are legally mandated to purchase private health care insurance, they will wish to sue after they are denied treatment under that mandated medical coverage (insurers love those premiums, and even love denial of treatment -- claiming noncoverage of said medical processes -- even better).
But tort reform would alter that equation considerably, thus removing that legal right as the defrauded insured would have to sue for the right of sueing, a most egregious and ever expensive process and undertaking.
And President Obama has his very own insurance policy: Justice Sotomayor, whose record, regardless of all those useless talking heads who falsely proclaim themselves "dems" and "progressive" -- historically has favored the insurance companies over the insured.
The one or two exceptions: when she was on a panel of judges, and the senior or chief judge found in favor of the insured (so, in a good career move, she followed the lead of the chief panel judge). Mighty big exception, that!
This is just unbelievable and more and more i think this is all about preserving and even expanding these fictional derivatives which are glorified casino gambling chips. By themselves they have no value, but tied to a corporation and the game at hand....they can be exchanged.
I mean what a friggin joke that Citigroup would plain on crisis derivatives. They are the crisis.
There are rumors of them being broken up and that's a good idea too because they are the last TARP fed Zombie, and instead they are going to create yet another derivative class?
I swear, frankly if we don't have another one of these financial crises in the next 5 years, I will be shocked and this time.....it's going to bring the global economy to it's knees and to the guillotine.
Here we are with Senators flying the coop, and still we have jack shit in terms of reforms, even worse, derivatives reform isn't even mentioned as of late! That's the damn problem!
May I just note the ones making out are the attorneys. Most financial wrongs attorneys will not take on because there is no payout for them. They charge $300/hr and so all of these situations of financial screw jobs, below at least $100k but more like $500k, they won't even touch.
There needs to be some sort of cheaper way to get financial justice beyond just requiring some long, dragged out lawsuit involving attorneys that goes on for years and is all one big legal game.
Small claims court, many increased their maximum amounts but it needs to be higher still.
I mean frankly you must be able to sue for many gross negligent things but there needs to be much more in place to plain stop these errors and negligence in the first place.
For example, MDs rarely lose their license and practices, hospitals vary widely in terms of errors, conditions, costs (this is huge!) and efficiency.
So, I agree with you the attack on civil lawsuits is all about denying even more rights to consumers and patients...
but on the other hand, the system is grossly unfair and the ones pocketing the dough really are the trial lawyers.
But we never heard of any other structures and changes to make it easier for your average Joe to get some justice, or to reduce the insurance costs of Hospitals, Physicians, some sort of system which reigns in insurance companies as well as does something to improve the quality of care, reduce errors and mistakes.
It's clear to me the entire medical and drug system in this country is FUBAR, it's way beyond blaming just one part of the chain and it's also clear the ones getting screwed are the American people, the patients.
But we need to detail out why exactly these medical liability costs are so absurdly high, and what really could be done that doesn't strip away patients rights to get it all back into alignment. Also, I think the entire occupation sector of Trial attorneys needs to be shrunk and I do they these attorneys are in the business.
Just like immigration attorneys, they are in the business and get millions of dollars processing and really trading people, hence they lobby for more guest worker Visas, more immigration, more crap from which they can generate revenues and the labor economic realities or even what's in the best in interest of the foreign guest worker/immigrant....
be damned. They are like modern day slave traders, profiting off of each body they "peddle".
Crisis derivatives to the rescue....
Great site, BTW.
And today, we have Citi with their crisis derivatives.
Will wonders (and absolute corruption) never cease!
Very insightful, especially including "one must also consider the effects of speculation by those healthcare hedge funds along with the other costs and how much they add to the equation."
To that I would also add the general administrative costs of the predatory layer of interposition between doctor and patient (which offsets some skilled job loss with unskilled job additions) as well as the outrageous salaries of top Health Care Prevention for Profit Executives, and their enormous "political influence" budget outlays.
I think you've hit upon the general cost factor of 3rd party predation which has become the hallmark of the American economy. Aside from the ubiquitus speculation layer of predation, you have the general theme of predatory interposers.
Lawyers get in between the doctors and the patients on the TORT side. HMO's get in between the doctors and the patients on the payment side. Credit counselors get in between the patient and the lender on the credit side. Now we've even got former IRS agents getting in between the patient and his tax refund on the "maybe I can fund this with my tax refund" side.
And nothing of any great value get's built, produced, invented, cured or discovered--just predatory layers of paper-pusher-profit.
This post is from last summer, but there's a link in there from the AHA about the legislative "shoehorn" for these LBO's.
http://letthemfail.us/archives/900
-WM
http://letthemfail.us
Those who have studied the American jurisprudence system over the past thirty years will realize that tort reform is simply yet another ploy to extend the power and greed of corporations, removing the last bastion of legal rights afforded to American citizens and workers.
Over the preceding thirty years, laws have been changed and nullified, allowing that which was once illegal to now be legitimate, thus allowing the highest financial echelon to plunder and pillage the rest of us to their heart's content.
By the same token, that which was once legal, has now been made illegitimate, thus many American have yet to realize they can be arrested for virtually any reason; that habeas corpus is now ancient history, and that the corporation now enjoys rights of absolute supremecy.
An interesting, and crucial, item which is little understood (for obvious stealth reasons) about companies when they offer lower and lower costing medical health plans to their employees (meaning more money paid, and on medical payouts, at the individual employee level), is that those companies and corporations enjoy a sizable tax break for offering such plans.
Thus, they play the "spread" --- enjoying a given tax break, even though they've offered worse and worse medical plans to their employees.
Also, many citizens are still unaware of the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) having privatized "eminent domain" with their decision (was it 2004 or 2005) to allow developers to force them to sell their land for commercial development purposes (ostensibly operating through the good graces of the local corrupt politicians). This was decided on the people of Connecticut vs. a developer, who was building for Pfizer -- which had promised jobs from said development -- but eventually pulled out of that neighborhood -- hence ZERO jobs produced -- but the privatization of eminent domain now set in law.
Either way they profit, while screwing the rest of us.
As to Tort Reform, Texas has it from what I understand. The Republicans there pushed it through and it hasn't helped at all. Texas still has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country with poor outcomes. I think its similar to the Administrations proposal that taxing "Cadillac" medical plans will drive up wages. Supposedly, forcing companies to choose lower cost medical plans will mean they'll then decide to pay their workers more...
Once they convince people they have a "fix" they know they can extend their looting for a few more years while the "savings" works its way through the system. Worst case scenario they have to come up with some new "fix" to appease the masses. Trickle down economics and all that...
I'm guessing those cost increases are due to the massive cost efficiency brought about by all those health sector leveraged buyouts.
Of course, I could be mistaken....
...for the memory lapse of forgetting The Schumacher.
Truly an unforgivable breach, and I agree with your sentiment.
FWIW, I thought Ray was perhaps a troll too. In any event, no harm, no foul. I would like to add one name to your list of economic realists. And that would be the late, great (and vastly overlooked) economist E.F. "Fritz" Schumacher. His humanitarianism is self evident in the title of his collected essays, Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered. It is truly sad that proponents of his ideas in the early 70s were just shrugged off as DFH. Hmmm, not that much has changed in 40 years, has it?
And here be the complaint against JPMorgan for similar stuff.
CLICK TO ENLARGE
I do agree, just wonder about.....
I admit I have become used to N.A.M. trolls; witness that one a little while back who quoted a former National Association of Manufacturing president!
They have numerous call centers throughout North America, where they troll call-in radio shows as well as web sites with inane and trivial questions.
I admit to my frustration, just as I admit to a thirty-some year buildup of fatigue at having individuals still want to argue with me about the detrimental economic aspects of offshoring jobs - regardless of what country or society we are discussing.
Your three points are common talking points at faux organizations, which come into existence simply to confuse, bewilder and divert.
My suggestion to enhance one's knowledge of economics is to pay attention to those with an actual track record in economics. Those Nobel prize winners in economics (Exception: Ms. Ostrom) in the past have usually been more politicians than economists, who frequently reposition themselves continuously politically as those winds change.
Therefore, while lately I find Krugman (generally speaking), Stiglitz and Robert Reich in agreement with me, it isn't because I have changed my way of thinking on economics; they have simply repositioned themselves again, or removed their heads from their collective posteriors, finally.
I WOULD recommend Michael Hudson, Steve Keen, James K. Galbraith, Ravi Batra in the realm of econ, as they have been consistently brilliant in various aspects of it.
I would likewise recommend the writing of finance types-turned-journalists like Nomi Prins, Pam Martens, etc.
My previous posts at this blog are specifically structured to clue one in to the socioeconomic/political operations allowing for economic meltdowns and massive wealth transferral upwards. (Please see below.)
Again, my humble apologies, but you have to understand, the disassembling of the American economy has been going on for a period of thirty to forty years now. Many Americans appear to those of us who have been paying attention; who have been politically active, as rather a pathetic lot with negligent to nonexistent citizenship responsibility.
When people over the age of 40 don't realize that the minimum wage should be $22 to $25 dollars per hour, but that the connection between productivity and the minimum wage was discontinued during the Bush I administation, that individual is both economically and citizen-wise negligent.
When people in the 40s and 50s wonder why employment is so difficult to find in this country, where a recent and long-overdue BLS report reported that effectively the private sector has created zero new jobs over the past ten years; one has to wonder on what planet these people have been existing. Your very own comments with regard to social security were highly suspect.
But I take you at your word for the time being, sir.
The sites which explain everything!
And yes, I am actually a humble fellow.
I'm not surprised. Now that it's coming out Greece sold off major public assets for short term cash which still imply loan term debt and are hidden through various swaps and derivatives structures, per our usual suspect friendly hands of derivatives peddlers, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs...
I know there are tons of these deals at the State and City level in the U.S. Some of them made headlines, such as the securitization/privatization of the Indiana toll road, but many never did...
So, how many of these things are "off the books" on States, cities?
This is only going to get worse. If housing prices do not drop another 15% (and notice how while we picked up on the lack of solutions on the housing crisis, just today the MSM is starting to) I will be shocked and so many cities, counties are based on property taxes.
Meanwhile Harry Reid guts any direct jobs program in the Senate AND we're going to move from frying pan to fire with Congress.
We're seeing a host of retirements but we're going to get that corporate Republican agenda....which is worse than the corporate Democrat agenda....
and we cannot get uncorrupt politicians even on the ballot as a choice. What is this country going to do? I guess just vote 3rd party as long as that person isn't a complete crazy incompetent who is running?
Bloomberg put together a flash presentation on how the unemployment rate is affects by the population survey (birth-death model) and thus is giving us major inaccuracies in the unemployment rate.
I've amplified a host of these but this is a good graphic explanation.
The key thing to remember is the unemployment rate is a ratio. Recall I do my best to dig around to discover the actual number of jobs and the actual increase, or decrease in the real number of workers available (civilian population rate) and also focus on how many fell off the count.
But if Bloomberg is nailing it, well, this ain't no conspiracy theory on trying to obtain accurate statistics.
(In response to Mr. Woolley): Rather, I was genuinely interested in your take on those three items. A request for further information does not equate to a position of support. I would think this site and its principal contributors should welcome its use by people who have an open mind and wish to educate themselves. Therefore, I don't quite understand all the viciousness towards people who have less knowledge than yourself. I had to laugh about being with N.A.M., as I am a retired high school teacher of French and German. I am learning much about economics from this site. (In response to Mr. Oak): Not everyone who disagrees with you is so dense they cannot balance a checkbook. Just for the record, in case you were implying that in relation to my question, my admittedly modest math skills are not even beginning to be challenged by balancing my checkbook.
Some people really are that economically disabled and they honestly believe the policies, rhetoric and crap coming from the corporate GOP and FAUX news, they cannot add two numbers together and they seriously just believe what is every pounded into the table as "the cure".
I'm not kidding. So, it would help to just run some numbers in a reply and state succinctly and clearly why this is incorrect.
Seriously, they believe discovery of online government websites and some pieces of information you would think everyone knows, is "breaking news".
Bear in mind in this country a lot of people cannot balance a check book and many cannot even write a check. (Check cashing services pray off of this fact, how hard is it to open a free checking and thus cash your paychecks for free...yet a huge percentage of people do not do it because they cannot add two numbers together or understand how to write a check, I'm not kidding!)
For example, "TORT reform", i.e. you cannot sue your Doctor when he kills you by his incompetence, is estimated to reduce medical costs by 0.001% overall. A better way would be to have a regulatory body to actually screen their own MDs and we do not have that currently.
and it could be one is brewing right offshore....sovereign default.
But no, not a damn thing has changed from the days of corporate raiders to the dot con insider pre-IPO guaranteed profit scam to the accounting scandals of Worldcom, Enron to the clearly obvious housing bubble...
and we're not only not getting any reforms, never mind anything which targets the real problem, i.e. securitization and derivatives (along with ratings triggers) ...
they cannot get any reform!
Now, the Senate is bailing so because of public outrage plus the way politics works...we're going to get even worse reps. next election cycle than this one.
(i.e. parties put up candidates but those are chosen by corporations who fund them and then, we have the GOP truly with the most corporate driven messed up policy endorsements and they are going to win because Democrats are bought and paid for by these same corporations...lovely).
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