There are two standard answers to this question of who carries the cost of the minimum wage. The first is our one, the one from the economic realists, that the true pain is felt by those who cannot get a job at all as a result of employers economising on the newly higher priced labour. The second is the answer from the woolly dreamers that of course it is the capitalist running pig dogs who just have lower exploitative profits as a result of having to pay for the sweat of the workers' brows.There is a third partial answer as well:The catchy Subway sandwich shop jingle involving a variety of foot-long sandwiches available for $5 doesn't apply in San Francisco.The sandwich-making chain stopped selling the five-dollar footlongs in San Francisco due to the "high cost of doing business," according to SF Weekly.Signs posted at Subway sandwich shops sadly inform San Francisco patrons -- we hear Willie Brown is a big fan -- that "all SUBWAY Restaurants in SF County DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN Subway National $5.00 Promotions," according to the newspaper.Customers can still buy the sub of the month for $5, according to an employee at Subway on Market and Castro streets.Apparently, the city's new minimum wage, raised to $10.24 as of Jan. 1, make $5 footlongs an impossible business model.Yes, it's the consumers of products made with minimum wage labour that bear some of the burden. As it tends to be the low paid who themselves consume the products of minimum wage labour this just makes the poor poorer in consumption terms: the only terms in which poverty ought to be measured.This whole minimum wage malarkey just doesn't look like a very good idea, does it?
Monday, April 2, 2012
Who Carries the Cost of the Minimum Wage?
In addition to keeping unemployed the low-skilled, the minimum wage also hurts consumers. Tim Worstall has an object lesson via the fog confused in San Francisco:
U.S. Cities Where Homes are Selling the Fastest
CNBC is out with a list of the cities where houses are selling the fastest. It's the same old story as the places where the jobs are. It's mostly where newly printed Fed money is flowing: high tech areas, government sectors and oil.
10. (Tied) San Diego---Navy city
Median time to sell: 105 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $335,600
10. (Tied) Washington, D.C.---The heart of the government beast.
Median time to sell: 105 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $302,400
8. (Tied) Vallejo, Calif
Median time to sell: 104 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $186,700
8. (Tied) Santa Cruz, Calif.
Median time to sell: 104 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $451,800
6. (Tied) Austin, Texas---high tech
Median time to sell: 103 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $166,600
6. (Tied) Chico, Calif.
Median time to sell: 103 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $170,200
5. Santa Rosa, Calif.
Median time to sell: 99 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $316,400
4. Honolulu
Median time to sell: 92 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $484,300
3. San Francisco, Calif.--Silicon Valley money flowing up the coast
Median time to sell: 83 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $463,800
2. San Jose, Calif.--Silicon Valley, the heart of where private sector Fed money printing is flowing (via venture capital and IPOs)
Median time to sell: 81 days
1. Midland, Texas---The heart of oil country
Median time to sell: 71 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $154,400
Zillow Home Value Index: $545,500
10. (Tied) San Diego---Navy city
Median time to sell: 105 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $335,600
10. (Tied) Washington, D.C.---The heart of the government beast.
Median time to sell: 105 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $302,400
8. (Tied) Vallejo, Calif
Median time to sell: 104 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $186,700
8. (Tied) Santa Cruz, Calif.
Median time to sell: 104 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $451,800
6. (Tied) Austin, Texas---high tech
Median time to sell: 103 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $166,600
6. (Tied) Chico, Calif.
Median time to sell: 103 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $170,200
5. Santa Rosa, Calif.
Median time to sell: 99 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $316,400
4. Honolulu
Median time to sell: 92 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $484,300
3. San Francisco, Calif.--Silicon Valley money flowing up the coast
Median time to sell: 83 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $463,800
2. San Jose, Calif.--Silicon Valley, the heart of where private sector Fed money printing is flowing (via venture capital and IPOs)
Median time to sell: 81 days
1. Midland, Texas---The heart of oil country
Median time to sell: 71 days
Zillow Home Value Index: $154,400
Zillow Home Value Index: $545,500
The End of Anonymous Comments?
From the web site McIntyre vs Ohio:
Joe Lieberman, it seems, is looking to crank up the anti-terrorism volume a bit further. I would have thought that with Bin Laden killed we’d be heading in the other direction by now.
But a friend of mine in the GPO let me know that Lieberman is proposing an amendment to section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That is the law that gives immunity to information content providers for the conduct of others. In other words, a blogger or forum host isn’t responsible for defamatory comments by anonymous commenters.
This amendment to that law would change that, by stripping out the immunity and leaving web hosts potentially liable. Yuck. A draft of the bill, apparently to be introduced tomorrow, is here: Section 230 Amendment The act as it stands now reads:
The Senator calls this anti-terrorism legislation, in that if web hosts can be held accountable, they won’t let folks like the Taliban uses their services. This disrupts their communications.
(htDGM)
While you might think this is far-fetched, Lieberman (in)famously asked Twitter late last year to kill the Taliban Twitter feed. He has also tried to make First Amendment inroads by stopping the media from publishing leaked documents with the Shield Act.
The effect of this, of course, is that forum hosts and blogs may not be too keen on having anonymous commenters anymore if the hosts might be held responsible for the comments of others, thus chilling the free speech of the internet. We’ve enjoyed a bit of a Wild West since 1996 when the law was passed. This would bring us back to the days of Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy, which preceded Section 230, and held that a publisher might be liable for the conduct of its message board participants under certain circumstances.
Lieberman’s amendment to Section 230 will be referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, of which he is the chairman. I guess that is one of the perks of the job, you can get your bills into and out of committee pretty fast, assuming you have the votes.
Joe Lieberman, it seems, is looking to crank up the anti-terrorism volume a bit further. I would have thought that with Bin Laden killed we’d be heading in the other direction by now.
But a friend of mine in the GPO let me know that Lieberman is proposing an amendment to section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. That is the law that gives immunity to information content providers for the conduct of others. In other words, a blogger or forum host isn’t responsible for defamatory comments by anonymous commenters.
This amendment to that law would change that, by stripping out the immunity and leaving web hosts potentially liable. Yuck. A draft of the bill, apparently to be introduced tomorrow, is here: Section 230 Amendment The act as it stands now reads:
No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.The amendment reads (underline is an addition and strike through is a deletion in legislatureland):
NoA provider or user of an interactive computer serviceshallmay be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
The Senator calls this anti-terrorism legislation, in that if web hosts can be held accountable, they won’t let folks like the Taliban uses their services. This disrupts their communications.
(htDGM)
While you might think this is far-fetched, Lieberman (in)famously asked Twitter late last year to kill the Taliban Twitter feed. He has also tried to make First Amendment inroads by stopping the media from publishing leaked documents with the Shield Act.
The effect of this, of course, is that forum hosts and blogs may not be too keen on having anonymous commenters anymore if the hosts might be held responsible for the comments of others, thus chilling the free speech of the internet. We’ve enjoyed a bit of a Wild West since 1996 when the law was passed. This would bring us back to the days of Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy, which preceded Section 230, and held that a publisher might be liable for the conduct of its message board participants under certain circumstances.
Lieberman’s amendment to Section 230 will be referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, of which he is the chairman. I guess that is one of the perks of the job, you can get your bills into and out of committee pretty fast, assuming you have the votes.
Selected Tweets of a CIA Agent Gone Rogue
In July 2009, Lynnae Williams began work at the CIA’s national clandestine service training program, where she took the “field tradecraft course". Prior to joining the CIA she worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
She was recently fired and has been tweeting up a storm. Here are selected tweets:
#CIA Agent in #Watergate
---
#CIA operates within the United States via their National Resources Office and has an office near you and likely a #psychiatric #prison
---
The ways the #laws are written in our country, only #CIA can #review CIA's decisions. Courts will not hear cases related to CIA #Abuse.
---
If #CIA says a lawsuit would "undermine" national security, Federal Courts will dismiss the suit, regardless of its merits.
---
#CIA and the United States Government routinely invokes the "States Secret Privilege" to hide abuse.
---
#CIA operates above and beyond the law, things that apply to you and me, don't apply to CIA and it's operative and Special Security Forces
---
#CIA views the #Constitution as #toilet paper...they don't care about any of those inconvenient "laws"
---
#CIA doesn't give a comprehensible reason for its assessment that I'm a "security" threat which forms the basis of any clearance revocation
---
#DoJ's response will make good sleeping material, they discuss my purported constitutional rights, among other ludicrousness
---
I'm only now learning that our #Constitutional protections are only purported
---
#CIA's Special Activities Staff thinks they're still fighting the #Cold #War and they've haven't realized the enemy has changed.
---
#CIA's Security wasn't even effective during the #Cold War...Edward Lee Howard
---
Time to apply to the #State for my unemployment benefits, thanks to #CIA.
---
#CIA #specialActivitiesStaff told me Dominion Hospital was in fact a CIA facility
---
Why did #CIA force me to go to #DominionHospital if it's a #private #mental #hospital?
---
Why was my complaint against #CIA redacted to remove the name of #Dominion Hospital if it's a #public facility?
---
#CIA doublespeak as usual. CIA will lie, cheat, steal, drug, whatever it takes to silence someone, injure someone they dislike.
---
We had a "rich"guy of #Iranian descent in our #training class, he was quite a jerk, very full of himself, advocate of #CIA torture.
---
I can't imagine this #Iranian guy #recruiting anyone overseas to spy for the United States. He was a complete asshole.
---
#CIA recruits only the best from underrepresented communities...we were a "diverse" class. #CST26
---
Most of my class were fervent supporters of #CIA #Torture. They viewed my disagreement as disloyal to #USG.
---
Those who questioned #CIA #Torture or whether #USG should torture, were too #cowardly to speak their minds.
---
People who are #tortured will say anything to get their #tortures to stop. #CIA
---
#CIA insists on doing things that are illegal, that don't work, are in opposition to the #GenevaConvention which #USG is signatory.
---
#CIA future spies suffer from #groupthink and believe anything is OK if the #USG does it. How can someone from #Iran say torture is OK?
---
Yet, #CIA found an #Iranian #American #recruit who believes #torture is justified. Who cares about US moral authority, credibility.
---
Looks like #CIA #shrink Dr. Sally A. Urbanczyk, a psychologist practicing without a license had someone else sign her sworn statement to DOJ [about me]
---
#Iranian guy had a white guy #sidekick. Neither of them were qualified to work for #CIA or any job that required opening their mouths.
---
#Iranian #CIA #CST and White sidekick were assigned to #NCS's #Africa #Division. Iranian liked to tell me about #SIGINT and FISA.
---
Stupid #Iranian guy didn't believe I'd worked at #DIA I'm sure. I am very acquainted with #FISA and #SIGINT, worked extensively with them.
---
There was an annoying Latino Man in the suite next door to mine. He was Mexican I think, he couldn't shut up and was full of himself too
---
#Latino dude and #White Side-kick ran away from me at #Metro when they saw me as we were all walking to #CIA's Covert Training Center.
---
#CIA trainees were paranoid because of my previous association with the #intelligencecommunity at #Defense Intelligence Agency.
---
#CIA Trainees all had dreams of being #Non Official Cover spies abroad. They thought I might blow their cover, since all DC new me.
---
Stupid #CIA paranoid #trainees thought all #Foreign Intelligence Services in #DC were trailing, surveillance me. But CIA labeled me paranoid
---
#Foreign Intelligence Services could be trailing me now, that I am #public with my #CIA #Abuse story. Or they could just call me.
---
I hate to say it, but based on my experience with #CIA and its #recruits we are not safe from #terrorists, CIA is incompetent.
---
I attribute any #CIA successes to accidents, not #competence. CIA recruited too many incompetent misfits, it can't be an accident
---
Blend in. Get trusted. Trust no one. Own everyone. Disclose nothing. Destroy everything. Take back the scene.
---
Published article by #CIA #Shrink Sally Urbanczyk, PhD.: The Effect of Availability of Vertical Space on Personal Space: http://tinyurl.com/6wso4xc
---
I'm conducting an #OpenSource Search of #Google #Scholar for article published by #esteemed #CIA #Shrinks
---
#CIA put all of my personal information out in #public, before my #cover was officially rolled back, I wonder how their #staff likes it.
---
#CIA #Shrink Dr. Sally Ann Urbanczyk is a runner as well, results from a 10K she ran when she was 45 years old:
---
#CIA shrinks painted my #running habit as a symptom of #psychosis in my #secret CIA #hospital reports. Yet, their head shrink is a runner.
---
I've never raced in a #10K #CIA, looks like your head #shrink Dr. Sally Ann Urbanczyk has more of a compulsive running habit than me.
---
“Communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism -- by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.” – Ayn Rand
---
#CIA #shrink Dr. Sally Urbanczyk ran in the McLean 5K at 51 years old at 10:21/M. She's in good shape.
---
#CIA #Shrink Dr. Urbanczyk could probably outrun me right now. I've never met Sally in person, she refused to meet with me.
---
#CIA #Shrink Dr. Urbanczyk initially agreed to me meet me, I refused to take anti-psychotic meds, she refused to meet me.
---
#CIA #psychologist Dr. Sally Urbanczyk has never seen me in person, yet she provided a sworn affidavit about me to #DoJ. Nonsensical??
---
She was recently fired and has been tweeting up a storm. Here are selected tweets:
#CIA Agent in #Watergate
---
#CIA operates within the United States via their National Resources Office and has an office near you and likely a #psychiatric #prison
---
The ways the #laws are written in our country, only #CIA can #review CIA's decisions. Courts will not hear cases related to CIA #Abuse.
---
If #CIA says a lawsuit would "undermine" national security, Federal Courts will dismiss the suit, regardless of its merits.
---
#CIA and the United States Government routinely invokes the "States Secret Privilege" to hide abuse.
---
#CIA operates above and beyond the law, things that apply to you and me, don't apply to CIA and it's operative and Special Security Forces
---
#CIA views the #Constitution as #toilet paper...they don't care about any of those inconvenient "laws"
---
#CIA doesn't give a comprehensible reason for its assessment that I'm a "security" threat which forms the basis of any clearance revocation
---
#DoJ's response will make good sleeping material, they discuss my purported constitutional rights, among other ludicrousness
---
I'm only now learning that our #Constitutional protections are only purported
---
#CIA's Special Activities Staff thinks they're still fighting the #Cold #War and they've haven't realized the enemy has changed.
---
#CIA's Security wasn't even effective during the #Cold War...Edward Lee Howard
---
Time to apply to the #State for my unemployment benefits, thanks to #CIA.
---
#CIA #specialActivitiesStaff told me Dominion Hospital was in fact a CIA facility
---
Why did #CIA force me to go to #DominionHospital if it's a #private #mental #hospital?
---
Why was my complaint against #CIA redacted to remove the name of #Dominion Hospital if it's a #public facility?
---
#CIA doublespeak as usual. CIA will lie, cheat, steal, drug, whatever it takes to silence someone, injure someone they dislike.
---
We had a "rich"guy of #Iranian descent in our #training class, he was quite a jerk, very full of himself, advocate of #CIA torture.
---
I can't imagine this #Iranian guy #recruiting anyone overseas to spy for the United States. He was a complete asshole.
---
#CIA recruits only the best from underrepresented communities...we were a "diverse" class. #CST26
---
Most of my class were fervent supporters of #CIA #Torture. They viewed my disagreement as disloyal to #USG.
---
Those who questioned #CIA #Torture or whether #USG should torture, were too #cowardly to speak their minds.
---
People who are #tortured will say anything to get their #tortures to stop. #CIA
---
#CIA insists on doing things that are illegal, that don't work, are in opposition to the #GenevaConvention which #USG is signatory.
---
#CIA future spies suffer from #groupthink and believe anything is OK if the #USG does it. How can someone from #Iran say torture is OK?
---
Yet, #CIA found an #Iranian #American #recruit who believes #torture is justified. Who cares about US moral authority, credibility.
---
Looks like #CIA #shrink Dr. Sally A. Urbanczyk, a psychologist practicing without a license had someone else sign her sworn statement to DOJ [about me]
---
#Iranian guy had a white guy #sidekick. Neither of them were qualified to work for #CIA or any job that required opening their mouths.
---
#Iranian #CIA #CST and White sidekick were assigned to #NCS's #Africa #Division. Iranian liked to tell me about #SIGINT and FISA.
---
Stupid #Iranian guy didn't believe I'd worked at #DIA I'm sure. I am very acquainted with #FISA and #SIGINT, worked extensively with them.
---
There was an annoying Latino Man in the suite next door to mine. He was Mexican I think, he couldn't shut up and was full of himself too
---
#Latino dude and #White Side-kick ran away from me at #Metro when they saw me as we were all walking to #CIA's Covert Training Center.
---
#CIA trainees were paranoid because of my previous association with the #intelligencecommunity at #Defense Intelligence Agency.
---
#CIA Trainees all had dreams of being #Non Official Cover spies abroad. They thought I might blow their cover, since all DC new me.
---
Stupid #CIA paranoid #trainees thought all #Foreign Intelligence Services in #DC were trailing, surveillance me. But CIA labeled me paranoid
---
#Foreign Intelligence Services could be trailing me now, that I am #public with my #CIA #Abuse story. Or they could just call me.
---
I hate to say it, but based on my experience with #CIA and its #recruits we are not safe from #terrorists, CIA is incompetent.
---
I attribute any #CIA successes to accidents, not #competence. CIA recruited too many incompetent misfits, it can't be an accident
---
Blend in. Get trusted. Trust no one. Own everyone. Disclose nothing. Destroy everything. Take back the scene.
---
Published article by #CIA #Shrink Sally Urbanczyk, PhD.: The Effect of Availability of Vertical Space on Personal Space: http://tinyurl.com/6wso4xc
---
I'm conducting an #OpenSource Search of #Google #Scholar for article published by #esteemed #CIA #Shrinks
---
#CIA put all of my personal information out in #public, before my #cover was officially rolled back, I wonder how their #staff likes it.
---
#CIA #Shrink Dr. Sally Ann Urbanczyk is a runner as well, results from a 10K she ran when she was 45 years old:
---
#CIA shrinks painted my #running habit as a symptom of #psychosis in my #secret CIA #hospital reports. Yet, their head shrink is a runner.
---
I've never raced in a #10K #CIA, looks like your head #shrink Dr. Sally Ann Urbanczyk has more of a compulsive running habit than me.
---
“Communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism -- by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.” – Ayn Rand
---
#CIA #shrink Dr. Sally Urbanczyk ran in the McLean 5K at 51 years old at 10:21/M. She's in good shape.
---
#CIA #Shrink Dr. Urbanczyk could probably outrun me right now. I've never met Sally in person, she refused to meet with me.
---
#CIA #Shrink Dr. Urbanczyk initially agreed to me meet me, I refused to take anti-psychotic meds, she refused to meet me.
---
#CIA #psychologist Dr. Sally Urbanczyk has never seen me in person, yet she provided a sworn affidavit about me to #DoJ. Nonsensical??
---
Nine US Cities Where Jobs Are Booming
More evidence that Fed money printing is creating a manipulated boom.
Last week, Gallup released results of its Job Creation Index for the 50 largest metropolitan regions in the United States. The results showed that companies in every city were hiring more often than they were firing. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the nine U.S. metropolitan regions where workers think hiring is strongest.
The Job Creation Index scores assigned by Gallup reflect the difference between the number of workers reporting their businesses were hiring compared to those who believed people were being let go. According to the report, the below nine cities received Job Creation Index scores of 20 or better, meaning the percentage of employees who believed their companies were hiring was at least 20% more than those who believed their employers were looking to makes cuts to the payroll. As you will note, it is all about high technology, government and oil---all sectors that are among the first to experience the flow of newly printed Fed money.
9. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 9.1%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -15.7%
8. San Antonio, Tex.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.3%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -6.4%
7. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Tex.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.6%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -12.6%
6. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 9.2%
> Change in unemployment (Jan, 2011 – Jan. 2012): -10.7%
5. Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla.
> Job creation index: 21
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 9.5%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -15.2%
4. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.
> Job creation index: 22
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.2%
> Change in unemployment (Jan, 2011 – Jan. 2012): -18.2%
3. Richmond, Va.
> Job creation index: 22
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 6.6%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -13.2%
2. Pittsburgh, Pa.
> Job creation index: 22
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.6%
> Change in unemployment (Jan 2011 – Jan. 2012): -6.2%
1. Oklahoma City, Okla.
> Job creation index: 25
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 5.9%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -3.3%
Last week, Gallup released results of its Job Creation Index for the 50 largest metropolitan regions in the United States. The results showed that companies in every city were hiring more often than they were firing. 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the nine U.S. metropolitan regions where workers think hiring is strongest.
The Job Creation Index scores assigned by Gallup reflect the difference between the number of workers reporting their businesses were hiring compared to those who believed people were being let go. According to the report, the below nine cities received Job Creation Index scores of 20 or better, meaning the percentage of employees who believed their companies were hiring was at least 20% more than those who believed their employers were looking to makes cuts to the payroll. As you will note, it is all about high technology, government and oil---all sectors that are among the first to experience the flow of newly printed Fed money.
9. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, Calif.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 9.1%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -15.7%
8. San Antonio, Tex.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.3%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -6.4%
7. Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Tex.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.6%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -12.6%
6. Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, Ga.
> Job creation index: 20
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 9.2%
> Change in unemployment (Jan, 2011 – Jan. 2012): -10.7%
5. Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla.
> Job creation index: 21
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 9.5%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -15.2%
4. Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, Tenn.
> Job creation index: 22
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.2%
> Change in unemployment (Jan, 2011 – Jan. 2012): -18.2%
3. Richmond, Va.
> Job creation index: 22
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 6.6%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -13.2%
2. Pittsburgh, Pa.
> Job creation index: 22
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 7.6%
> Change in unemployment (Jan 2011 – Jan. 2012): -6.2%
1. Oklahoma City, Okla.
> Job creation index: 25
> Unemployment rate (Jan. 2012): 5.9%
> Change in unemployment (Jan. 2011 – Jan. 2012): -3.3%
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Ron Paul: Romney-Paul Ticket Not Happening
Politico reports:
Ron Paul has no plans to end his quest for the Republican presidential nomination - and is shooting down rumors of a possible Romney-Paul ticket.
“I don’t see how that would happen. There’s too many disagreements,” the Texas congressman said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“I like Mitt Romney as a person. I think he’s a dignified person," Paul said. "But I have no common ground on economics. He doesn’t worry about the Federal Reserve. He doesn’t worry about foreign policy. He doesn’t talk about civil liberties, so I would have a hard time to expect him to ever invite me to campaign with him.
(ViaLewRockwell)
Ron Paul has no plans to end his quest for the Republican presidential nomination - and is shooting down rumors of a possible Romney-Paul ticket.
“I don’t see how that would happen. There’s too many disagreements,” the Texas congressman said in an interview aired Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“I like Mitt Romney as a person. I think he’s a dignified person," Paul said. "But I have no common ground on economics. He doesn’t worry about the Federal Reserve. He doesn’t worry about foreign policy. He doesn’t talk about civil liberties, so I would have a hard time to expect him to ever invite me to campaign with him.
(ViaLewRockwell)
Scary
The UK Guardian writes:
Mr. David T emails:
China has unveiled legislation enshrining police powers to hold people at unknown locations, but has removed a controversial secrecy clause after an outcry.
Experts had warned that the original draft would have legalised disappearances by allowing police to hold some suspects for up to six months without informing their families.
Mr. David T emails:
What's really scary is when it is harder for China to pass detention laws that violate America's Bill of Rights than it is for America to pass similar laws.
Now, NBC Caught Creating Distorted Zimmerman Clip
I already reported on CNN's Anderson Cooper editing of a George Zimmerman clip that would have backed up his side of events. Now, NBC has been caught editing a 911 call made by Zimmerman. WaPo reports:
NBC told this blog today that it would investigate its handling of a piece on the “Today” show that ham-handedly abridged the conversation between George Zimmerman and a dispatcher in the moments before the death of Trayvon Martin. A statement from NBC:Looks like MSM wants to start a race war.
“We have launched an internal investigation into the editorial process surrounding this particular story.”
Great news right there. As exposed by Fox News and media watchdog site NewsBusters, the “Today” segment took this approach to a key part of the dispatcher call:
Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.Here’s how the actual conversation went down:
Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.The difference between what “Today” put on its air and the actual tape? Complete: In the “Today” version, Zimmerman volunteered that this person “looks black,” a sequence of events that would more readily paint Zimmerman as a racial profiler. In reality’s version, Zimmerman simply answered a question about the race of the person whom he was reporting to the police. Nothing prejudicial at all in responding to such an inquiry.
Dispatcher: OK, and this guy — is he black, white or Hispanic?
Zimmerman: He looks black.
Occupy Movement Calls for a General Strike on May 1
I doubt they have this much support, but they are using the recent General Strike in Spain as their model. Here's Adbusters', the group that launched the Occupy movement, take on the General Strike:
Spain was hit with a massive General Strike today that shut down shopping centers, roads and transportation hubs. Barricades of burning tires were erected in Barcelona, hundreds of airline flights were canceled across the nation, and an estimated 91% of all employees at large businesses stayed home or took the streets, according to El Pais.
Spain’s General Strike could not have come at a more significant moment from the perspective of the global people’s movement. As ROAR magazine points out, Spain’s General Strike was initially called for by the anarcho-syndicalist CNT union but it was ultimately a success because the call was taken up and powered by the youthful militancy of the indignados whose encampments across Spain in May, 2011 inspired #OCCUPYWALLSTREET. It was the tactical breakthrough of seizing a public square and holding horizontal, consensus-based assemblies that launched Occupy. And now, as the Occupy movement prepares for its own much anticipated General Strike on May 1, the indignados are again showing us the way.
Spain’s spectacular, large-scale and successful General Strike will have a profound influence on our own tactical thinking as our Spring offensive gathers momentum.
Santorum Personally Orders Coalition with Ron Paul
Things are getting crazy in the state of Washington. The Seattle Times reports:
(htLewRockwell)
Mitt Romney won the straw poll at Washington's precinct caucuses March 3, but the fight over who will claim the state's 43 delegates to the Republican national convention is ongoing.Let's hope things not only get crazy at the Washington state convention, but at the Republican national convention. Ron Paul needs to pull a Warren Harding.
The latest twist: Rick Santorum's campaign is teaming up with Ron Paul supporters in an effort to deny Romney delegates, apparently at the direction of Santorum himself.
The strategy has alarmed some top GOP officials who fear it will crack party unity and lead to a nasty scene at the state convention in a couple months. It has also angered some grassroots Santorum supporters.
In an email to Santorum supporters Thursday, state volunteer coordinator Graden Neal laid out the plan:
"Last night, the Washington State Rick Santorum leadership had a conference call with a special guest, the Senator himself. We were surprised and honored that Rick Santorum himself came on our call to help give us direction. And the Senator didn't mince words. In order for us to win the nomination in Tampa in August, we must deny Romney delegates to that convention. If the frontrunner, Romney receives 1,144 delegates before the national convention, it is all over for our campaign. That is the reason why the Senator himself directed us to coalition with the Ron Paul delegates to deny Romney any state delegates."
(htLewRockwell)
Women Troubles for Jackie Mason
NyPo has the details:
Funnyman Jackie Mason loves to entertain an audience of women at his tony Midtown digs — which can get a little meshuggeneh since his longtime wife lives in a separate apartment in the same building, his jilted gal pal told The Post in an exclusive interview.
Dental assistant Kaoru Suzuki-McMullen, 48, said she knew bupkis about Mason’s marriage to his former agent, Jyll Rosenfeld, 59, until about two months ago.
“Me and Jackie are over. We should have been done a long time ago,” she said of their six-month relationship.
She said Mason’s arrangement is every guy’s dream — he dates other women and his wife handles his money.
“What’s the point of dating an 83-year old man who is married? The idea was to gradually separate. I didn’t want to hurt him.”
Suzuki-McMullen apparently delivered several painful blows which left the Borscht Belt comic covered in bruises and scratches Friday.
After she was released without bail yesterday, Suzuki-McMullen waxed that before their violent breakup, Mason would amaze her with his charming shtick.
“He said I was the love of his life. He would call me every day. He would send a driver to pick me up at my house. It all made me feel special,” she said.
In a voicemail played for The Post, Mason is heard thanking her for not rousing him after a night together.
“That was very nice of you. That’s what I like about you. You’re so nice, you’re polite, you’re considerate,” he told her.
“You’re so different from a Jewish girl. A Jewish girl would have woken me up and asked me for something.”
Suzuki-McMullen said Mason blew up when she told him she had a date with another man Friday.
“I knew he was very upset. I have never seen him like that. He said, ‘I’m going to call the doorman to throw you out,’ ” she recalled.
“I tried to stop him. Then he swung the phone at me. So I called the police.”
Police say she accused Mason of roughing her up during a domestic spat when she discovered him sleeping on the couch instead of the bed.
She woke him up and accused him of cheating, police sources said.
Suzuki-McMullen was arrested on misdemeanor assault charges stemming from the 6:30 a.m. fight after he attempted to call a doorman to have her kicked out from his apartment in the Metropolitan Tower.
Mason’s open marriage had been a backstage secret, known to only intimate friends, until the lovers’ spat.
Ginger Reiter, a former gal pal and mother of Mason’s love child, Sheba, a stand-up comic, called the wisecracking lothario “a dynamo.”
“I think it’s amazing he’s still having sex,” she quipped. “And he’s no Robert Redford.”
Failing to Elder-Proof Your Windows May Cost You $1 Million
Iris Mack emails:
Approaching an Apple store in Long Island, New York, an 83-year old woman said she didn’t realize she was heading straight for a wall of glass. She smashed her face against it, breaking her nose.
Approaching an Apple store in Long Island, New York, an 83-year old woman said she didn’t realize she was heading straight for a wall of glass. She smashed her face against it, breaking her nose.
Now this woman is suing Apple for $1 million, saying the company was negligent for not elderly-proofing the store’s see-through facade.
Bush versus Obama
Kyle Johnson emails and declares Obama the winner:
Bush added $4.899 trillion dollars to the national debt in eight years. Obama has added $4.939 in under four years!
A Man, Who Got a Death Sentence, versus Dennis Rodman
By Gary Kaltbaum
Something stuck out for me today.
I have had a relationship with TradingMarkets.com for a number of years. In the early-2000s we had a convention out at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
Our main speaker was Magic Johnson. They asked me to interview Magic Johnson in front of around 600 people. I sat there at a table with him and I just started asking him questions.
I asked him the same kind of questions I ask for me myself:
What are your plans? What are you goals in life?
You may recall he was found to have HIV and obviously he’s beaten as much as you can beat it.
And he had told me that he wanted to make his mark in the business world especially in the areas that have been blighted and since then, he has been the owner of a ton of Starbucks, movie theaters – all kinds of businesses.
And today, he led a group of investors that bought out the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He’s been one heck of an inspiration in the business world and to young kids.
And it wasn’t always that way.
He was very popular, and he went astray. He cheated on his wife and ended up with HIV.
But today, all I know is that he’s nothing but a success story.
He made the decision of who he was and what he wanted to become.
Read up about him. He’s been a great driver of success, especially in the areas that need the most help.
And why do I bring this up?
Because the same day that I’m reading about Magic Johnson, I’m also reading about Dennis Rodman.
Now, here’s the coincidence in this.
The weekend that I interviewed Magic Johnson, I ran in to Dennis Rodman.
I played craps with him. We were in Vegas. And I got into a conversation with him. We were both in a lounge in the spa at the Mirage Hotel. And me being the Budinski that I am…I asked him the same questions.
“So what are you going to do with yourself?”
He said something like, “We’ll see what happens. Right now I’m having a great, great time. You know I’m hosting all these gigs at all these hotels and just hanging out with the women.”
And he was basically on a little bit of alcohol at the time.
And this is a true story.
And the same day that I read about Magic Johnson, I read that Dennis Rodman is broke, can’t pay his child support and his attorney says he’s extremely sick because of alcohol.
I’m not bringing this up for me. I’m bringing this up for me kids because I’m going to talk to them about this.
Two people who were very popular. Made a lot of money. Played in the NBA.
One of them was hit with a potential death sentence.
And what happens?
One makes the decision of who he’s going to be and who he wants to be.
And he planned it out and surrounded himself with the right people.
And he is now a major league, over the top businessman.
And Dennis Rodman owes $808,000 in back child support and on and on.
Read the rest here.
(htVireshAmin)
Something stuck out for me today.
I have had a relationship with TradingMarkets.com for a number of years. In the early-2000s we had a convention out at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas.
Our main speaker was Magic Johnson. They asked me to interview Magic Johnson in front of around 600 people. I sat there at a table with him and I just started asking him questions.
I asked him the same kind of questions I ask for me myself:
What are your plans? What are you goals in life?
You may recall he was found to have HIV and obviously he’s beaten as much as you can beat it.
And he had told me that he wanted to make his mark in the business world especially in the areas that have been blighted and since then, he has been the owner of a ton of Starbucks, movie theaters – all kinds of businesses.
And today, he led a group of investors that bought out the Los Angeles Dodgers.
He’s been one heck of an inspiration in the business world and to young kids.
And it wasn’t always that way.
He was very popular, and he went astray. He cheated on his wife and ended up with HIV.
But today, all I know is that he’s nothing but a success story.
He made the decision of who he was and what he wanted to become.
Read up about him. He’s been a great driver of success, especially in the areas that need the most help.
And why do I bring this up?
Because the same day that I’m reading about Magic Johnson, I’m also reading about Dennis Rodman.
Now, here’s the coincidence in this.
The weekend that I interviewed Magic Johnson, I ran in to Dennis Rodman.
I played craps with him. We were in Vegas. And I got into a conversation with him. We were both in a lounge in the spa at the Mirage Hotel. And me being the Budinski that I am…I asked him the same questions.
“So what are you going to do with yourself?”
He said something like, “We’ll see what happens. Right now I’m having a great, great time. You know I’m hosting all these gigs at all these hotels and just hanging out with the women.”
And he was basically on a little bit of alcohol at the time.
And this is a true story.
And the same day that I read about Magic Johnson, I read that Dennis Rodman is broke, can’t pay his child support and his attorney says he’s extremely sick because of alcohol.
I’m not bringing this up for me. I’m bringing this up for me kids because I’m going to talk to them about this.
Two people who were very popular. Made a lot of money. Played in the NBA.
One of them was hit with a potential death sentence.
And what happens?
One makes the decision of who he’s going to be and who he wants to be.
And he planned it out and surrounded himself with the right people.
And he is now a major league, over the top businessman.
And Dennis Rodman owes $808,000 in back child support and on and on.
Read the rest here.
(htVireshAmin)
Hülsman versus Krugman
Kyle Miller emails:
I couldn't help but notice as I read your article that Krugman must not pay much attention to Guido Hülsmann. In 2003, Hülsmann wrote an article for the Independent Review called "Has Fractional-Reserve Banking Really Passed the Free Market Test?" Hülsmann attacked the logic behind Krugman's proud claim that the market somehow chose our current predicament of fractional-reserve. He explains how Anglo-Saxon legal protection for bankers' whims eventually gave a de facto monopoly to fractional-reserve banking, undoing hundreds of years of Roman legal precedent protecting the depositor. Because government is allowed to break its own laws and suspend specie redemption, it presents a convenient escape for would-be market losers. Hülsmann: "This obfuscation [of terminology] has reached the point of outlawing genuine money titles and of corrupting the language of monetary economists and financial analysts, and it explains the longevity of fractional-reserve banking and its manifold and close ties to government."
Clearly Krugman is more interested in playground-quality zingers than rigorous discussion, or he would have noticed that worldwide fiat currencies enforced by territorial monopolies fall outside of Austrian analysis of an unhampered market.
I couldn't help but notice as I read your article that Krugman must not pay much attention to Guido Hülsmann. In 2003, Hülsmann wrote an article for the Independent Review called "Has Fractional-Reserve Banking Really Passed the Free Market Test?" Hülsmann attacked the logic behind Krugman's proud claim that the market somehow chose our current predicament of fractional-reserve. He explains how Anglo-Saxon legal protection for bankers' whims eventually gave a de facto monopoly to fractional-reserve banking, undoing hundreds of years of Roman legal precedent protecting the depositor. Because government is allowed to break its own laws and suspend specie redemption, it presents a convenient escape for would-be market losers. Hülsmann: "This obfuscation [of terminology] has reached the point of outlawing genuine money titles and of corrupting the language of monetary economists and financial analysts, and it explains the longevity of fractional-reserve banking and its manifold and close ties to government."
Clearly Krugman is more interested in playground-quality zingers than rigorous discussion, or he would have noticed that worldwide fiat currencies enforced by territorial monopolies fall outside of Austrian analysis of an unhampered market.
Will Ron Paul Become the 2012 Version of Candidate Warren Harding?
Will Republicans meet at their convention without a confirmed nominee with the needed 1,144 delegates needed? A Gingrich state campaign director thinks so. A brokered convention is all for the good for Ron Paul. It means that Dr. Paul will have a stronger position than Warren Harding did in the 1920's brokered convention. Read on for NyPo's reports:
Harding went on to defeat Democrat James M. Cox in the largest presidential popular vote landslide in American history (60.36% to 34.19%) since popular votes were recorded in 1824.
With Newt Gingrich unlikely to pick up many delegates in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, his state campaign director, Robert Lorge, said his mission after that vote will be to help the former House speaker persuade what he calls "soft delegates" to support him.
Those "soft delegates" amount to Wisconsin's three Republican National Committee delegates, plus the three delegates from each of the eight congressional districts who could become unbound at the convention.
"Newt is going to be focusing on soft delegates, unbound delegates, and of course all of the delegates are unbound after the second ballot," Lorge told FOX News.And get a load of this from Wikipedia:
Gingrich has said he will remain in the race until Mitt Romney wins the 1,144 delegates that would secure him the Republican nomination. Lorge believes Romney will not reach that threshold, leading to a contested Republican National Convention this August.
"This election is going to be very much like 1920's Warren Harding Republican Convention," he said. "General Leonard Wood went in there with 30 percent of the delegates and thought he had it made. Warren Harding went in with six percent of the delegates. After ten ballots, Harding had 70 percent.
[Harding's] conservativism, affable manner, and "make no enemies" campaign strategy made Harding the compromise choice at the 1920 Republican National Convention. During his presidential campaign, in the aftermath of World War I, he promised a return of the nation to "normalcy". This "America first" campaign encouraged industrialization and a strong economy independent of foreign influence. Harding departed from the progressive movement that had dominated Congress since President Theodore Roosevelt.Who does that remind you of?
Harding went on to defeat Democrat James M. Cox in the largest presidential popular vote landslide in American history (60.36% to 34.19%) since popular votes were recorded in 1824.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)