Recent comments

  • The deadline is today. A deadline with almost chance of being met.

    Today's the deadline for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature to close a $24.3 billion deficit so the state controller can get emergency loans to help California avoid running out of cash next month.

    But the budget deficit remains far from being solved, and without a solution the state will probably be forced to delay payments to local governments, vendors and others at the end of July.

    So expect the California economy to take another hit in 6 weeks or so.
    Also, California is taking another useless step at kicking the real estate bust down the road.

    California is imposing a 90-day moratorium on housing foreclosures under a new law that takes effect Monday.
    ...
    But supporters acknowledge the California Foreclosure Prevention Act won't stop thousands of foreclosures from eventually happening.

    The bill passed in February is similar to the Obama administration's Making Home Affordable Program that began in March.

    You might remember the Obama Program for completely failing to work.

    Reply to: Sunday Morning Comics - You're Welcome California Edition   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • I know enough about XHTML that some of depends on the browser and display settings. With that in mind I'm using Vista and Firefox.

    1) The gaps in the upper-right are distracting. I'm hoping that this is on your agenda to be fixed.

    2) The colors clash too much. Granted, I'm slightly color-blind, but to my eyes is just isn't pretty.
    The background color looks fine - in fact, better than the old color. But the window colors for Instapopulist, and New Blog Posts are too dark for the overall background color.

    Anyway. That's my $0.02

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • Can you be more specific?

    I might be able to quickly add one change to this version, which is to let you do "your own colors" (let's do our colors! I am "fall"! - anyone remember that from Michael Moore's Roger&Me?)

    Anywho I might be able to quickly get that written up.

    The structure is another story. but let's hear the specifics.

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • At the risk of being banned (again), I would say the colors aren't that bad. Couple of questions:

    1) Since we're going to a voting system akin to other sites, which is understandably for quality control issues, does this not make Instapopulist redundent now?

    2)What kind of voting system will you be implementing, recommendations like Daily Kos or something with tips jars?

    3) Everything looks too close, any chance of spacing things out or moving some stuff?

    4) Will you also fix the comments section? It seems that as the discussion progresses, the box or space in which they appear gets more "smushed."

    --------------------------------------------

    www.venomopolis.com

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • I'm sorry, but the color and design looks horrible right now. Hopefully Robert's final product is better.

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • Reply to: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Gets House Majority   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • you might be ready to take the plunge as a blogger. I noticed BlackRock too and that would make a very good topic.

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • I don't think the federal government is competent to be a mega-regulator- or should be.

    What we need is a breakup- 50 independent state FEDs coining money under the approval of state governors.
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    Maximum jobs, not maximum profits.

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • For those of us who like to keep track from work, at least the less color looks more businesslike.
    -------------------------------------
    Maximum jobs, not maximum profits.

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • I can put something together quickly that reflects the details of the agreement.

    To put it truly in perspective would need to include a global response timeline and G8/G20 economies effected by the credit crisis. That will take a bit more time and research.

    Also, we'll have the full details of the U.S.  castration response by Thursday.

     

    My apologies for hijacking your thread, but a few other things I have rolling around:

    I'm extremely curious about BlackRock. The company is getting preferential treatment by the gov. Ay least one of their board members was a member of the Fed. What is the back story? Whose money are they representing? Do they have ties to JPM or MS?

     

    Also, from Calculated Risk  Krugman: "Risk for long stagnation is really high" , I have been searching for probability models that would determine the most likely outcome for U.S. economy. I would think a "Game Theory" would be applicable as the economy tends to pool toward the path of least resistance.

    I throw these out for anyone to pick up.

     

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
  • Can you flesh out the details of this "Lecce Framework" and write it up either as a blog post or Instapopulist (forum)?

    It looks like you're already in the hunt and considering the constant "global regulatory agency" hints we've heard and upcoming regulation, making us all aware of the details would be really informative.

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • Honestly I'm just not sure for the current agencies, i.e. the SEC, FDIC, etc. seem to be dependent on who is appointed.

    If they could figure out to put together something where the integrity cannot be bought, politicized, compromised, no loopholes, backdoors, that's what I would like to see.

    I'm wondering about the GAO model, in terms of power and integrity. They report to both Congress and the administration but the head Comptroller is appointed by the President for 15 year terms. But of course they report, they do not endorse, which makes it more political, more power.

    So that would be a "super regulator" but reporting to both branches of government.

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • So, who do you trust to be the Mega-Regulator?

     

    My point is that I think you are looking at a tree and possibly missing the forest.

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
  • which already has little oversight is beyond belief frightening to me. So, one thing I hope Congress does is nix that entire idea.

    If you (others) see any policy details help out in amplifying them. I'm swimming through a lot of testimony and various proposals but this week is going to be a windstorm and I seriously doubt I can comprehend/catch all of it, not by a long shot.

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • The G8 announced The Lecce Framework on Saturday and the BRIC summit begins next week.

    It will be interesting to see how reform is implemented in the U.S. In spite of the strength of the lobbyists, the international strong arm may be tougher.

     

    Unless, that is, the U.S. system is so short-sighted as to choose short-run self-interests and greater loss of international viability.

     

    Reply to: The Battle of the Regulators   15 years 4 months ago
  • is crashing down.

    Reply to: Six Flags files Bankruptcy   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • It's a quick fix because the coding I have to do for the real upgrade is a lot of work, but glad you like it. While I hate giving up all of the color, I thought this looked more readable and navigable.

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • Great job, Robert.

    Reply to: Site change, Blog posts must now be promoted to front page by users   15 years 4 months ago
  • The irony of the current arrangement is that these fancy incentives intended to align executive pay with shareholder interests were meant to solve a principal-agent problem. That is, the concern was that CEOs would take advantage of their position and pay themselves well but not work very hard, hence they needed equity based incentives to make sure they did a good job. That view means that the CEOs were presumed to be less than trustworthy.

    Yet who was in charge of recommending the compensation packages to the board? Well, outside comp consultants, engaged by the HR department, which of course means the fees are paid by the company. And even if the board hires a comp consultant, the board is nominated by management and the fees of the consultant are still paid by the company. In other words, the people whose possible abuses were supposed to be curtailed are still ultimately in charge of the pay packages. The foxes still are in charge of the henhouse, but with a few intermediaries in between to make it a tad less obvious. So it is any wonder pay skyrocketed?

    Who would have guessed the parasite chain in determining the actual packages and also a method to hide the inside game.

    Entire article: Geithner's Plan on Pay Performance Sorely Lacking.

    Reply to: Why are the same people still in charge of banks they destroyed?   15 years 4 months ago
    EPer:
  • But a long way to go.

    Reply to: Bill To Audit Federal Reserve Gets House Majority   15 years 4 months ago

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