Pat Caddell was one of Bill Clinton's principal pollsters. A more partisan Democrat you are not likely to find.
So when he and his colleague, Douglas E. Schoen, also a Democrat pollster, join forces to publish an essay like this, in Saturday's Washington Post, it says several things:
1. It admits the obvious, that Obama is a fraud, a self-dealing narcissist who will say anything, and do anything to anyone, to further his own agenda. He would rather poison the well of the culture than not get his own way, or exercise even a touch of the humility required to be an effective leader.
2. Obama's contempt for the nation extends to even the Presidency itself. Caddell and Schoen have been around a while, and they cannot remember a more disastrous Presidency since Richard Nixon, as in a President who so thoroughly degraded the office. And that's with Carter and Clinton intervening! Whoddathunk we'd have someone who literally stained the office more than Bill Clinton?
3. The Washington Post is no longer willing to carry the water for Obama. The honeymoon is over. He has abused even them past the point of tolerance. For this essay to even appear in their pages, this iconic institution of the Left, means that the publisher has had enough. The publisher has a duty to keep his doors open long after the Clown Circus has left town. If he destroys the paper's credibility by looking the other way as Obama burns the country down, he destroys the business. He has a duty to his shareholders and employees, and is finally locating his spine.
4. The Yew Nork Times was cited in the essay. They won't be far behind, ya'll.
Here's a smattering of what Caddell and Schoen had to say. OS never thought, in his lifetime, he'd see Caddell say this about any Democrat:
In a Univision interview on Monday, the president, who campaigned in 2008 by referring not to a "Red America" or a "Blue America" but a United States of America, urged Hispanic listeners to vote in this spirit: "We're gonna punish our enemies and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us."
Recently, Obama suggested that if Republicans gain control of the House and/or Senate as forecast, he expects not reconciliation and unity but "hand-to-hand combat" on Capitol Hill.
What a change two years can bring.
We can think of only one other recent president who would display such indifference to the majesty of his office: Richard Nixon.
We write in sadness as traditional liberal Democrats who believe in inclusion. Like many Americans, we had hoped that Obama would maintain the spirit in which he campaigned. Instead, since taking office, he has pitted group against group for short-term political gain that is exacerbating the divisions in our country and weakening our national identity.The culture of attack politics and demonization risks compromising our ability to address our most important issues - and the stature of our nation's highest office.
We are also disturbed that the office of the president is mounting attacks on private individuals, such as the founders of the group Americans for Prosperity. Having been forged politically during Watergate - one of us was the youngest member of Nixon's enemies list - we are chilled by the prospect of any U.S. president willing to marshal the power of his office against a private citizen.
The president is the leader of our society. That office is supposed to be a unifying force. When a president opts for polarization, it is not only bad politics, but it also diminishes the prestige of his office and damages our social consensus.
Moreover, the divisive rhetoric that Obama has pursued can embolden his supporters and critics to take more extreme actions, worsening the spiral.
Caddell and Schoen are saying, in effect: As far as we're concerned, stick a fork in him, he's done. We won't be identified as his supporters anymore.
OS is cynic enough to know that they are trying to prop up another run by Hillary. God help us, we'd be going from the frying pan into the fire, from one creep to another. Bill would be back in the White House, bangin' babes and creating chaos.
No, no, no, no.
No!
Here's hoping, for the good of the Republic, that Heath Shuler runs for the Democrat nomination. He's one of the first Democrat House members who called for MizNancy to step aside, and that he won't vote for her, in any case. OS may not vote for him in 2012, but he wouldn't lay awake at night if Shuler won.
We need grownups, on both sides of the aisle.
We desperately need them at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Maybe this essay from Caddell and Schoen will start the process.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Illinois Is BROKE, Ya'll! So Now They Demand Bi-lingual Education For Preschoolers
File under 'You just can't make this stuff up!'
From the Chicago Tribune, 13 September 2010:
As the school year begins, Illinois becomes the first state to mandate that public schools with preschool programs offer a bilingual education to 3- and 4-year-olds who don't speak English.
Under the new regulations, school officials must determine whether students speak another language at home and measure how well they speak and understand English. They then must offer those who need it a seat in a bilingual preschool class, where they study basic academic skills in their native language as they learn English.
But from Carpentersville to Champaign, local school districts are hurrying to comply with the requirements that come without additional funding, even as they brace for another year of dwindling reserves and funding delays.
What are they thinking?
Or, are they assuming, like Kuhlifornia, that no matter how outrageous the behavior, TheOneWe'veBeenWaitingFor will bail them out?
Please, ya'll. If you're registered to vote in Illinois, vote these clowns out.
We don't have any money to send your way, and even if we did, we wouldn't.
From the Chicago Tribune, 13 September 2010:
As the school year begins, Illinois becomes the first state to mandate that public schools with preschool programs offer a bilingual education to 3- and 4-year-olds who don't speak English.
Under the new regulations, school officials must determine whether students speak another language at home and measure how well they speak and understand English. They then must offer those who need it a seat in a bilingual preschool class, where they study basic academic skills in their native language as they learn English.
But from Carpentersville to Champaign, local school districts are hurrying to comply with the requirements that come without additional funding, even as they brace for another year of dwindling reserves and funding delays.
What are they thinking?
Or, are they assuming, like Kuhlifornia, that no matter how outrageous the behavior, TheOneWe'veBeenWaitingFor will bail them out?
Please, ya'll. If you're registered to vote in Illinois, vote these clowns out.
We don't have any money to send your way, and even if we did, we wouldn't.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
The Spin Ceases, And The Anxiety Attacks Begin: Robert Reich On The Tea Party
It's dawned upon Robert Reich that all them ig'nrant, gun-totin', Bahble-thumpin, never-went-to-Harvard-but-can-read-the-Constitution, AstroTurfin, TeaBaggin', 8/28-attendin', tri-corner-hat, hand-lettered-sign-totin' people, and their friends and families, are alllllll showing up to vote on Tuesday, and that Tuesday is just the beginning, not the end, of the process.
His contempt for all those little people is unabated, but his dismissiveness has, well, turned into open worry.
What if those cretins actually reassert the rights of the states, because they will also be voting in state legislators from their own ranks?
What if they disassemble the IRS?
And the welfare state?
What if they decide that (OMG! OMG! OMG!) they need not pay the salaries of academics at state universities who despise them, like Robert Reich, who assume that the legislature will just keep sending money, no matter how badly they act? What if they decide not to spend money on degree programs in Wimmen's Studies, Queer Sociology, Ethnic History Studies, Ebonics, or any of the plethora of useless/politically-correct liberal arts offerings and special offices that have supplanted useful things like Classics, Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, etc. OMG! OMG!
What if they disassemble the IRS? (Oops, did that one already, but it's worth repeating. If you take away the money and power from the ruling elites, they have to find honest work out in the real world...)
What if they break the umbilical cord between the large corporations and the Federal Government, especially the large banks?
What if they insist the Supreme Court be comprised of justices drawn from schools other than Harvard or Yale?
What if they insist that we face the reality that we can't have a viable government if we have porous borders?
What if they insist that people who aren't citizens can't vote? Or that felons shouldn't vote?
Reich attempts, one final time, to explain it away:
Under normal times ideas like these wouldn’t gain much public traction. Why are they now? Because of the continuing effects of the Great Recession. History has shown that people threatened by losses of jobs, wages, homes, and savings are easy prey for demagogues who turn those fears into anger directed at major institutions of a society, as well as individuals and minorities who become easy scapegoats – immigrants, foreign traders, particular religious groups. Were it not for their ongoing economic stresses, Americans wouldn’t be receptive to abolishing the Federal Reserve and the IRS, or believe government and big business were conspiring against them, or turn nativist and isolationist.
It's the old 'ignorant rabble' theory. No need to worry, after all, right?
Robert Reich has reason to worry. The world he has inhabited, where everyone holds at least an M.A. from an Ivy, where everyone transitions seamlessly from government to academia to corporate boards and back again, an endless life of influence and cash flow, with almost no accountability, is now about to change, irrevocably.
He thought Obama would finally set it in stone for him and his tribe.
He didn't count on another tribe getting itself organized, without permission.
His contempt for all those little people is unabated, but his dismissiveness has, well, turned into open worry.
What if those cretins actually reassert the rights of the states, because they will also be voting in state legislators from their own ranks?
What if they disassemble the IRS?
And the welfare state?
What if they decide that (OMG! OMG! OMG!) they need not pay the salaries of academics at state universities who despise them, like Robert Reich, who assume that the legislature will just keep sending money, no matter how badly they act? What if they decide not to spend money on degree programs in Wimmen's Studies, Queer Sociology, Ethnic History Studies, Ebonics, or any of the plethora of useless/politically-correct liberal arts offerings and special offices that have supplanted useful things like Classics, Ancient Languages, Modern Languages, etc. OMG! OMG!
What if they disassemble the IRS? (Oops, did that one already, but it's worth repeating. If you take away the money and power from the ruling elites, they have to find honest work out in the real world...)
What if they break the umbilical cord between the large corporations and the Federal Government, especially the large banks?
What if they insist the Supreme Court be comprised of justices drawn from schools other than Harvard or Yale?
What if they insist that we face the reality that we can't have a viable government if we have porous borders?
What if they insist that people who aren't citizens can't vote? Or that felons shouldn't vote?
Reich attempts, one final time, to explain it away:
Under normal times ideas like these wouldn’t gain much public traction. Why are they now? Because of the continuing effects of the Great Recession. History has shown that people threatened by losses of jobs, wages, homes, and savings are easy prey for demagogues who turn those fears into anger directed at major institutions of a society, as well as individuals and minorities who become easy scapegoats – immigrants, foreign traders, particular religious groups. Were it not for their ongoing economic stresses, Americans wouldn’t be receptive to abolishing the Federal Reserve and the IRS, or believe government and big business were conspiring against them, or turn nativist and isolationist.
It's the old 'ignorant rabble' theory. No need to worry, after all, right?
Robert Reich has reason to worry. The world he has inhabited, where everyone holds at least an M.A. from an Ivy, where everyone transitions seamlessly from government to academia to corporate boards and back again, an endless life of influence and cash flow, with almost no accountability, is now about to change, irrevocably.
He thought Obama would finally set it in stone for him and his tribe.
He didn't count on another tribe getting itself organized, without permission.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Spin, Spin, Spin--Until The Spin Stops Working: Memphis TN-9 Congressional Race
It appears that Charlotte Bergmann, the GOP candidate for TN-9, the Congressional seat for Memphis, may truly be poised to upset Steve Cohen, the Democratic incumbent.
Charlotte is the Democrats' nightmare: She's black, she's accompished, she's conservative, she's a church lady, and she's--well--a she. And she ain't skeered of nobody.
Memphis has been a virtual Democrat plantation for decades, dating back to its founding by Andrew Jackson, one of the founders of the Democratic Party, and Boss Crump, who ran the place for nearly four decades. He was succeeded by the Ford family, famous for its mortuary and funeral business, and its curious habit of voting the dead. Wonder how that happened, huh? The patriarch, John, is still serving out his sentence for selling his office of State Senator to undercover FBI agents with a briefcase of cash. They had him on video for the trial. He also raised eyebrows when he emptied his 9mm into a lorry that pissed him off one day on I-40, if memory serves.
It is also one of America's most blighted, violent, and racially divided cities. Portions are just fabulously beautiful, but so many who could escape to the eastern suburbs did just that. Memphis is a place unto itself, its own state of being.
It may be just about to wake up to what the welfare state has done to it.
This from The Memphis Commercial Appeal from last week.
It doesn't take a degree in political science or expertise in demography to understand the challenge Democrats find themselves facing after the first four days of early voting: Matching the energy and motivation of traditional Republican voters for the Nov. 2 elections is again proving difficult after an August election that was disastrous for local Democrats.
This time around, the results could reverberate well beyond Shelby County borders to the respective Capitol Hills in Nashville and Washington.
The data made available by the Shelby County Election Commission from the first three days of early voting (Wednesday through Friday) show that of the 15,600 people who cast early ballots, 8,623 were categorized as registered white voters, or 55.3 percent of the overall total -- a stunning number considering that white people make up just 29.8 percent of the county's 603,070 registered voters.
Compare that to ballots cast by 3,033 registered black voters, or just 19.4 percent of the total for the group that records show account for 34.4 percent of the county's electorate.
Hmmm....and a goodly number of those black voters could well be voting for Ms. Bergmann!
Soooo...the Machine has really ratcheted up the ground game, and Himself has dispatched Cabinet members to campaign in Memphis. Nobody used to bother, 'cuz Memphis was a Democrat plantation. In other words, they have reason to worry.
Now, remember the spin? How this election isn't about Obama? Well, let's check in with the Dems campaigning in Memphis:
The big Republican numbers came despite a week of strong Democratic organizing, according to county chairman Van Turner. Democrats had a big rally Tuesday night in conjunction with President Barack Obama's political arm, Organizing for America, that included popular Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and two top White House cabinet-level officials -- Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter also greatly increased his presence here last week, including participating on phone banking Saturday.
Turner acknowledged that "the energy is on the Republicans' side," which he ascribed to "hatred and fear" of national Democratic leaders.
"We're trying to tell people that they went to the polls in record numbers in 2008 and they should not sit this one out," Turner said. "We say that a vote from you this election is a vote for the president."
Did ya'll catch that last line?
"We say that a vote from you this election is a vote for the president."
That first pronoun of the sentence is in the plural, ya'll.
'We'.
As the day approaches, the veneer begins to slip away. The spin jest won't pass the sniff test no moh'.
If you're a registered voter in Memphis, and you love your city, this is the best opportunity in years to break the back of the machine that has victimized your town for so long. It's a way to break the back of the racial polarization that the machine has fed and exploited in order to remain in power.
Even if Charlotte doesn't win, but has a good showing, your vote for her sends the message that timez iz changed, and bizness az uzual jest won't do no moh'.
Howz'at foh sum Hope-n-Change, ya'll?
Charlotte is the Democrats' nightmare: She's black, she's accompished, she's conservative, she's a church lady, and she's--well--a she. And she ain't skeered of nobody.
Memphis has been a virtual Democrat plantation for decades, dating back to its founding by Andrew Jackson, one of the founders of the Democratic Party, and Boss Crump, who ran the place for nearly four decades. He was succeeded by the Ford family, famous for its mortuary and funeral business, and its curious habit of voting the dead. Wonder how that happened, huh? The patriarch, John, is still serving out his sentence for selling his office of State Senator to undercover FBI agents with a briefcase of cash. They had him on video for the trial. He also raised eyebrows when he emptied his 9mm into a lorry that pissed him off one day on I-40, if memory serves.
It is also one of America's most blighted, violent, and racially divided cities. Portions are just fabulously beautiful, but so many who could escape to the eastern suburbs did just that. Memphis is a place unto itself, its own state of being.
It may be just about to wake up to what the welfare state has done to it.
This from The Memphis Commercial Appeal from last week.
It doesn't take a degree in political science or expertise in demography to understand the challenge Democrats find themselves facing after the first four days of early voting: Matching the energy and motivation of traditional Republican voters for the Nov. 2 elections is again proving difficult after an August election that was disastrous for local Democrats.
This time around, the results could reverberate well beyond Shelby County borders to the respective Capitol Hills in Nashville and Washington.
The data made available by the Shelby County Election Commission from the first three days of early voting (Wednesday through Friday) show that of the 15,600 people who cast early ballots, 8,623 were categorized as registered white voters, or 55.3 percent of the overall total -- a stunning number considering that white people make up just 29.8 percent of the county's 603,070 registered voters.
Compare that to ballots cast by 3,033 registered black voters, or just 19.4 percent of the total for the group that records show account for 34.4 percent of the county's electorate.
Hmmm....and a goodly number of those black voters could well be voting for Ms. Bergmann!
Soooo...the Machine has really ratcheted up the ground game, and Himself has dispatched Cabinet members to campaign in Memphis. Nobody used to bother, 'cuz Memphis was a Democrat plantation. In other words, they have reason to worry.
Now, remember the spin? How this election isn't about Obama? Well, let's check in with the Dems campaigning in Memphis:
The big Republican numbers came despite a week of strong Democratic organizing, according to county chairman Van Turner. Democrats had a big rally Tuesday night in conjunction with President Barack Obama's political arm, Organizing for America, that included popular Memphis Mayor A C Wharton and two top White House cabinet-level officials -- Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and U.S. trade representative Ron Kirk.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike McWherter also greatly increased his presence here last week, including participating on phone banking Saturday.
Turner acknowledged that "the energy is on the Republicans' side," which he ascribed to "hatred and fear" of national Democratic leaders.
"We're trying to tell people that they went to the polls in record numbers in 2008 and they should not sit this one out," Turner said. "We say that a vote from you this election is a vote for the president."
Did ya'll catch that last line?
"We say that a vote from you this election is a vote for the president."
That first pronoun of the sentence is in the plural, ya'll.
'We'.
As the day approaches, the veneer begins to slip away. The spin jest won't pass the sniff test no moh'.
If you're a registered voter in Memphis, and you love your city, this is the best opportunity in years to break the back of the machine that has victimized your town for so long. It's a way to break the back of the racial polarization that the machine has fed and exploited in order to remain in power.
Even if Charlotte doesn't win, but has a good showing, your vote for her sends the message that timez iz changed, and bizness az uzual jest won't do no moh'.
Howz'at foh sum Hope-n-Change, ya'll?
Dear Messrs. Fincher And Herron: TN-8 Congressional Race
It seems presumptuous to write an open letter from behind the screen of a non-de-plume, but honestly, this writer's identity doesn't matter.
He and Mrs. OS, very reluctantly, voted for Mr. Fincher. They met the man during the primary at a restaurant where he was glad-handing, and had a conversation with him. To his credit, he sat down and talked, and was attentive. It was difficult to talk with him on the most basic subject of all, the true overriding ethical issue of our age, which is the public debt, and the fact that we will hand our children and grandchildren a country that resembles Argentina under the Peróns unless this is addressed. He wanted to talk about being pro-gun/pro-life/pro-military/pro-family, etc., the entire talking points list of the Religious Right, as well as the entire talking points list of the RNC. Here's what we couldn't get him to address directly that day:
(HT to Denninger at Market Ticker--look to your right, and you'll find him, America's Jeremiah of the 21st century.)
We're not even certain Mr. Fincher knows where Argentina is, or who Juan and Evita Perón were, or the damage they did to a once-great country. And, we asked the restaurant owner last week: Mr. Fincher has never made a return visit to our humble town, here on the outskirts of TN-8.
The only reason Mr. and Mrs. OS voted for Mr. Fincher is that we cannot survive as a country with Barack Obama in the White House and a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives.
Period.
So, here goes.
Gentlemen:
You are both very good men in your own way, and arrive to next Tuesday from very different paths. Both of you are family men, and are as morally upright as they come. Honestly, we're probably in good hands with either one of you.
But, as admirable as all that is, and as pious Christians we know you both to be, unless the problem posed by that graphic above is addressed, the other questions could become moot: Family life is already falling apart, the marriage rate will plummet, the military could be put in a position of having a much greater role than the Constitution ever contemplated; and yes, we'll be armed to the teeth, out of necessity.
It's not about Liberal/Conservative or GOP/Democrat. It's about math. We cannot continue this way, and survive. The entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security, and the effects of the health care 'reform' that will kick in beginning 2014 will swamp the culture and economy. The money must come from somewhere, and even this economy cannot generate the revenues to sustain the system in place. That's not even accounting for emergencies, such as major hurricanes, earthquakes, oil spills, a major terrorist hit, a major war, or some other outside event like Europe melting down.
It's about math. We need sober grownups in charge. Obama and company do not qualify. Neither did his predecessors post-1989. It will be up to whomever of you wins, sitting on your back bench, shuttled off to obscure committees dealing with issues with which you have no experience or interest. You'll have to stand up and scream 'NO' when the Speaker wants to spend the next 40 billion on a pile of pork on a voice vote at 10 p.m. on a Friday night. It's about math, and courage.
An old friend tells a wonderful joke, with a proverb imbedded. Goes like this:
A young man asks for the following Monday off from work, telling his boss he's the best man at a Polish wedding in another city. Boss agrees, and wishes him safe travels.
A week late, the young man returns to work, looking like he has been run over by a truck--hung over, bloodshot eyes, exhausted, and relieved to be home. The boss demands--'You're a week late! What happened!
Young man replies: It was a Polish wedding. I had no idea. They hold a raffle at Polish weddings, and I won second prize.
Boss: Second prize?
Young man: Yeah, second prize is I get to take the bride out on the honeymoon, the cruise, the bedroom, the whole nine yards. It was exhausting. It was traumatic. I'm so grateful to be home, even if you fire me.
Boss: So, if that's second prize, what's the Grand Prize?
Young man: A canned ham.
Best wishes to the winner. If you lose, consider that Providence has done you a favor.
If you win, print up that graph, frame it, and set it on your desk. It's the only thing that deserves your undivided attention at work.
OS
He and Mrs. OS, very reluctantly, voted for Mr. Fincher. They met the man during the primary at a restaurant where he was glad-handing, and had a conversation with him. To his credit, he sat down and talked, and was attentive. It was difficult to talk with him on the most basic subject of all, the true overriding ethical issue of our age, which is the public debt, and the fact that we will hand our children and grandchildren a country that resembles Argentina under the Peróns unless this is addressed. He wanted to talk about being pro-gun/pro-life/pro-military/pro-family, etc., the entire talking points list of the Religious Right, as well as the entire talking points list of the RNC. Here's what we couldn't get him to address directly that day:
(HT to Denninger at Market Ticker--look to your right, and you'll find him, America's Jeremiah of the 21st century.)
We're not even certain Mr. Fincher knows where Argentina is, or who Juan and Evita Perón were, or the damage they did to a once-great country. And, we asked the restaurant owner last week: Mr. Fincher has never made a return visit to our humble town, here on the outskirts of TN-8.
The only reason Mr. and Mrs. OS voted for Mr. Fincher is that we cannot survive as a country with Barack Obama in the White House and a Democrat majority in the House of Representatives.
Period.
So, here goes.
Gentlemen:
You are both very good men in your own way, and arrive to next Tuesday from very different paths. Both of you are family men, and are as morally upright as they come. Honestly, we're probably in good hands with either one of you.
But, as admirable as all that is, and as pious Christians we know you both to be, unless the problem posed by that graphic above is addressed, the other questions could become moot: Family life is already falling apart, the marriage rate will plummet, the military could be put in a position of having a much greater role than the Constitution ever contemplated; and yes, we'll be armed to the teeth, out of necessity.
It's not about Liberal/Conservative or GOP/Democrat. It's about math. We cannot continue this way, and survive. The entitlement programs of Medicare, Social Security, and the effects of the health care 'reform' that will kick in beginning 2014 will swamp the culture and economy. The money must come from somewhere, and even this economy cannot generate the revenues to sustain the system in place. That's not even accounting for emergencies, such as major hurricanes, earthquakes, oil spills, a major terrorist hit, a major war, or some other outside event like Europe melting down.
It's about math. We need sober grownups in charge. Obama and company do not qualify. Neither did his predecessors post-1989. It will be up to whomever of you wins, sitting on your back bench, shuttled off to obscure committees dealing with issues with which you have no experience or interest. You'll have to stand up and scream 'NO' when the Speaker wants to spend the next 40 billion on a pile of pork on a voice vote at 10 p.m. on a Friday night. It's about math, and courage.
An old friend tells a wonderful joke, with a proverb imbedded. Goes like this:
A young man asks for the following Monday off from work, telling his boss he's the best man at a Polish wedding in another city. Boss agrees, and wishes him safe travels.
A week late, the young man returns to work, looking like he has been run over by a truck--hung over, bloodshot eyes, exhausted, and relieved to be home. The boss demands--'You're a week late! What happened!
Young man replies: It was a Polish wedding. I had no idea. They hold a raffle at Polish weddings, and I won second prize.
Boss: Second prize?
Young man: Yeah, second prize is I get to take the bride out on the honeymoon, the cruise, the bedroom, the whole nine yards. It was exhausting. It was traumatic. I'm so grateful to be home, even if you fire me.
Boss: So, if that's second prize, what's the Grand Prize?
Young man: A canned ham.
Best wishes to the winner. If you lose, consider that Providence has done you a favor.
If you win, print up that graph, frame it, and set it on your desk. It's the only thing that deserves your undivided attention at work.
OS
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Remember That Truism About Free Lunches?...House Purchase Tax Credits
As OS noted before, if you pull demand forward now, it caves in later.
With the expiration of all those car-dealer-like 'incentives' from Congress, e.g. 'Buy a house and we'll throw money at you.', demand has made a dramatic decline, and prices are not far behind. OS's good buddy the realtor, who is one hell of a great realtor, now finds himself with plenty of time for golf. 'Cuz ain't nobody buyin' no houses.
Don't take OS' word for it--he's just a know-nuthin' rube who don't know what's good fer 'im, cuz he harbors suspicions that ThePeopleInChargeOfSuchThings are clueless, and completely uninterested in learning. Hey, they got doctorates. They must be smart!
This from today's Economist:
THE storm clouds have been gathering for months. Almost immediately after the expiration of the government's tax credit for homebuyers, it became clear that American housing market stability had been remarkably dependent on the generous subsidy. Data on mortgage applications for purchase and new and existing home sales attested to a striking contraction in housing market activity. And eventually prices began to follow. In July, both of the national home price indexes published by S&P/Case-Shiller ticked downward after rising for much of the previous year. Data released this morning indicated that declines accelerated in August.
OS's other buddies who used to build all the houses they could say grace over are now scrambling for remodel and maintenance jobs. One hasn't built a house in two years. He'll be painting OS's old pickup this winter, and the other will be doing some overdue work here on the house. The inventory of really fine houses on the market stretches for months, and there's a lot more mediocre and unsalable inventory behind that.
And what about those 'lucky' homebuyers who bought a house at a price inflated by a tax subsidy that pulled them forward into the purchase? The tax credit is a one-time hit on the crack pipe. The mortgage lasts thirty years, and the house will be well underwater this time next year. The job goes away, or relocates, or, or, or...
There is no free lunch. Never has been. Never will be. Because math is math. Only when the free market freely sorts out valuation will a recovery begin in housing. Until then, buyers are taking out thirty-year mortgages on a crap shoot. Appetite for risk, anyone?
We have a government full of people who either lied or were self-deluded, claiming they could create The Free Lunch, like the alchemists of old creating gold from straw, or the Bernie Madoffs of today, creating 10% returns for years on end, when everyone else was scrambling for 6%.
As OS's British friends say: This will end in tears.
With the expiration of all those car-dealer-like 'incentives' from Congress, e.g. 'Buy a house and we'll throw money at you.', demand has made a dramatic decline, and prices are not far behind. OS's good buddy the realtor, who is one hell of a great realtor, now finds himself with plenty of time for golf. 'Cuz ain't nobody buyin' no houses.
Don't take OS' word for it--he's just a know-nuthin' rube who don't know what's good fer 'im, cuz he harbors suspicions that ThePeopleInChargeOfSuchThings are clueless, and completely uninterested in learning. Hey, they got doctorates. They must be smart!
This from today's Economist:
THE storm clouds have been gathering for months. Almost immediately after the expiration of the government's tax credit for homebuyers, it became clear that American housing market stability had been remarkably dependent on the generous subsidy. Data on mortgage applications for purchase and new and existing home sales attested to a striking contraction in housing market activity. And eventually prices began to follow. In July, both of the national home price indexes published by S&P/Case-Shiller ticked downward after rising for much of the previous year. Data released this morning indicated that declines accelerated in August.
OS's other buddies who used to build all the houses they could say grace over are now scrambling for remodel and maintenance jobs. One hasn't built a house in two years. He'll be painting OS's old pickup this winter, and the other will be doing some overdue work here on the house. The inventory of really fine houses on the market stretches for months, and there's a lot more mediocre and unsalable inventory behind that.
And what about those 'lucky' homebuyers who bought a house at a price inflated by a tax subsidy that pulled them forward into the purchase? The tax credit is a one-time hit on the crack pipe. The mortgage lasts thirty years, and the house will be well underwater this time next year. The job goes away, or relocates, or, or, or...
There is no free lunch. Never has been. Never will be. Because math is math. Only when the free market freely sorts out valuation will a recovery begin in housing. Until then, buyers are taking out thirty-year mortgages on a crap shoot. Appetite for risk, anyone?
We have a government full of people who either lied or were self-deluded, claiming they could create The Free Lunch, like the alchemists of old creating gold from straw, or the Bernie Madoffs of today, creating 10% returns for years on end, when everyone else was scrambling for 6%.
As OS's British friends say: This will end in tears.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Work, Work, Work, Work/Love, Love, Love, Love
Quickly, got much work to do today, so can't sit around and chew the fat.
But this is really a fabulous article posted at Acton Institute.
Enjoy, share, and tell yoh' friends how you found it.
But this is really a fabulous article posted at Acton Institute.
Enjoy, share, and tell yoh' friends how you found it.
TN-8 Congressional Race: Q & A From Each Candidate
An interesting Q & A article with responses from each candidate.
Fincher is a Tea Party endorsed GOP nominee.
Herron is a classic Blue Dog Democrat.
Two independents, who also add food for thought.
If reading from overseas, it's worth exploring to get a sense of the debate and the local flavor. The questions are pretty clear and specific, so everyone had to behave like a grownup and submit some clear and specific answers.
OS hopes this is helpful.
The thing is, ya'll, whoever wins is in for one hell of a bad time in his new job. If Roy wins, the left-edge socialists who run the place will make him a pariah, and have in fact already. Roy knows how to do math, and they'll despise him for it if he attempts to do it in D.C. They just think Uncle Ben will print up a bunch of fresh money for them any time they need it.
If Fincher wins, he'll have to learn how to say 'Hell, no' when John Boehner cooks his next side of pork, and he'll end up as a pariah as well. And he's got all the nut-job Religious Right fundamentalists all over his ass, demanding he spend his time beating up Disney or some other such nonsense. Good luck with that, bubbah Steve.
Either way, the BIG issue is the fact that our government has pointed our culture over the fiscal cliff over the past fifty years, and has floored the accelerator.
Argentina, move over, unless enough people in Congress act like grown-ups, finally.
It's gonna get painful, no matter what.
Fincher is a Tea Party endorsed GOP nominee.
Herron is a classic Blue Dog Democrat.
Two independents, who also add food for thought.
If reading from overseas, it's worth exploring to get a sense of the debate and the local flavor. The questions are pretty clear and specific, so everyone had to behave like a grownup and submit some clear and specific answers.
OS hopes this is helpful.
The thing is, ya'll, whoever wins is in for one hell of a bad time in his new job. If Roy wins, the left-edge socialists who run the place will make him a pariah, and have in fact already. Roy knows how to do math, and they'll despise him for it if he attempts to do it in D.C. They just think Uncle Ben will print up a bunch of fresh money for them any time they need it.
If Fincher wins, he'll have to learn how to say 'Hell, no' when John Boehner cooks his next side of pork, and he'll end up as a pariah as well. And he's got all the nut-job Religious Right fundamentalists all over his ass, demanding he spend his time beating up Disney or some other such nonsense. Good luck with that, bubbah Steve.
Either way, the BIG issue is the fact that our government has pointed our culture over the fiscal cliff over the past fifty years, and has floored the accelerator.
Argentina, move over, unless enough people in Congress act like grown-ups, finally.
It's gonna get painful, no matter what.
OldSouth 's Economic Epiphany: DaFed Undertakes QE Round 2
Epiphanies arrive uninvited, unexpected, and sometimes resemble a good ole-fashioned slap upside da head.
Today's WSJ coverage of DaFed's newest effort to save civilization was one of those moments. An epiphany.
The Federal Reserve is close to embarking on another round of monetary stimulus next week, against the backdrop of a weak economy and low inflation—and despite doubts about the wisdom and efficacy of the policy among economists and some of the Fed's own decision makers.
The skies opened, the angels sang, the sun peeked above the eastern horizon, bathing OS in the light of revealed wisdom:
Damn! So THAT's how it's done! (Sound of palm slapping forehead in amazement.) I just sit at my computer, and CREATE money to go buy stuff with! Silly me...
Today's WSJ coverage of DaFed's newest effort to save civilization was one of those moments. An epiphany.
The Federal Reserve is close to embarking on another round of monetary stimulus next week, against the backdrop of a weak economy and low inflation—and despite doubts about the wisdom and efficacy of the policy among economists and some of the Fed's own decision makers.
The skies opened, the angels sang, the sun peeked above the eastern horizon, bathing OS in the light of revealed wisdom:
Damn! So THAT's how it's done! (Sound of palm slapping forehead in amazement.) I just sit at my computer, and CREATE money to go buy stuff with! Silly me...
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