Beatrix Potter on the Global Economic Collapse

Apparently (0.00 / 0)

some Senate Rs are behind this mortgage plan, which I read about a couple months ago and find appealing.

Bipartisanship?

birch, finch, beech

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by: Dean Barker @ Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 20:33:18 PM CST

Credit (4.00 / 2)

In the 1930s, my grandfather worked in a paper mill in Berlin, NH. For a time, every week when he got paid, his entire check would be brought to the grocery store, because the food bill for six kids had gotten that high.

A different time; now that debt would be on credit cards. I wonder if it was better, having the grocer hold the debt. Certainly there was something more social about it.

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by: JimC @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 09:07:10 AM CST

Also, the grocer probably (4.00 / 2)

didn't charge the 20% or so interest that credit card companies do.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 09:12:22 AM CST

[ Parent ]

No, but their prices were in no way competitive. (4.00 / 1)

The temptation to take advantage of a captive market is always the same.

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by: hannah @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 10:27:40 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Since this is an open thread, (0.00 / 0)

let me refer you to this which I happened to find while looking up my first Community Reinvestment Act endeavor back in 1980.  

This op-ed goes back to 1988 and seems rather timely, considering the military budget is going to be reconsidered.

I am a bit concerned that my thinking seems not to have evolved in the last twenty years.

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by: hannah @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 10:31:44 AM CST

Free Stater Folly (0.00 / 0)

State governors -- looking down the gun barrel of long-term spending forced on them by the Obama "stimulus" plan -- are saying they will refuse to take the money. This is a Constitutional confrontation between the federal government and the states unlike any in our time.

In the first five weeks of his presidency, Barack Obama has acted so rashly that at least 11 states have decided that his brand of "hope" equates to an intolerable expansion of the federal government's authority over the states. These states -- "Washington, New Hampshire, Arizona, Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, California...Georgia," South Carolina, and Texas -- "have all introduced bills and resolutions" reminding Obama that the 10th Amendment protects the rights of the states, which are the rights of the people, by limting the power of the federal government. These resolutions call on Obama to "cease and desist" from his reckless government expansion and also indicate that federal laws and regulations implemented in violation of the 10th Amendment can be nullified by the states.
-snip

New Hampshire's resolution actually references certain federal actions that would be nullified within that state were they pushed by Obama's administration, according to americandaily.com. Among these are "Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press, [and any] further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition.

(h/t kos cites John Cole)

Whack-a-mole, anyone?

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 14:04:05 PM CST

Kind of a big deal (0.00 / 0)

Dick Durbin wants Roland Burris to resign.

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Roland Burris is refusing to resign despite a suggestion from fellow Illinois senator  Dick Durbin to do so. Burris also is refusing to say whether he'll run for the seat in 2010. Burris was appointed by disgraced former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached and driven from office after he was accused of trying to sell the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Durbin, of course, is not just the other senator from Illinois. He is assistant majority leader, the number two man in the Senate.

Burris, so far, is saying no. I imagine other "suggestions" will follow.

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by: JimC @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 15:38:04 PM CST

As usual Bob Herbert is on the money (4.00 / 1)

this about says it all...so plain and simple like why don't people get it...

What Americans need is new employment on a massive scale, and one of the most effective ways to get that started is to invest extraordinary amounts in the nation's infrastructure, to rebuild America in a way that creates a world-class platform for a sustainable 21st-century economy.

President Obama's stimulus package is just a first step in the government's effort to stabilizing the hemorrhaging economy. It contains infrastructure spending, but nothing comparable to the vast amounts it will take to make the desperately needed improvements.

Funds spent on those improvements, which will have to be made sooner or later, are also cracker-jack investments in putting people to work. The idea that the government is spending trillions on wars, bank bailouts, tax cuts, and so on, while still neglecting its infrastructure needs - and at a time when Americans are desperate for jobs - is mind-boggling.

I love Bob Herbert, not just because he justified my Edwards fix on Healthcare and Rewarding Work...

We are hearing again from Felix Rohatyn who ran the Municipal Assistance Corporation that saved New York City after Reagan told them to 'drop dead'.
Felix is all about the stimuli

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02...
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02...
In his address to the governors, Mr. Rohatyn noted that President Obama had asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to come up with a plan for financing high-speed rail projects. He said he hoped that that would be a step toward the eventual establishment of an infrastructure bank.

Speaking about America's competitors in the global economy, Mr. Rohatyn noted, among other things, that China was building 100 new airports and that Spanish trains traveling between Madrid and Barcelona can reach speeds of 300 kilometers per hour.

"We are falling behind on too many fronts," he said.

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 19:36:28 PM CST

From the archives (0.00 / 0)

I was looking for something else, but I found this; pretty interesting.

http://www.bluehampshire.com/s...

Useless, maybe, now. But maybe not, one never knows.

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by: JimC @ Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 13:18:17 PM CST

Hodes demands company return govt money (4.00 / 2)

There's the outrage Bob!

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/s...

snip

Northern Trust Corp. has received $1.6 billion in government money.

Hodes is demanding the bank send the government the amount it spent sponsoring a PGA golf tournament. He said he is dismayed and angry that the bank spent millions on the tournament and parties.

He called it irresponsible and arrogant.

In a letter on its Web site, the bank said the event was paid for using normal operating money and that no government money was used.

Horse manure is fungible too.

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 16:08:35 PM CST

What could possibly go wrong? (0.00 / 0)

http://www.calculatedriskblog....

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by: JimC @ Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 16:26:32 PM CST

Northern Trust eats Crow ? Sheryl that is... (4.00 / 1)

 
and MoDo is none too sanguine...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02...
The entertainment Web site TMZ broke the story Tuesday that Northern Trust of Chicago, which got $1.5 billion in bailout money and then laid off 450 workers, flew hundreds of clients and employees to Los Angeles last week and treated them to four days of posh hotel rooms, salmon and filet mignon dinners, music concerts, a PGA golf tournament at the Riviera Country Club with Mercedes shuttle rides and Tiffany swag bags.

"A rep from the PGA told us Northern Trust wrote one big, fat check in order to sponsor the event," TMZ reported.

Northern No Trust had a lavish dinner at the Ritz Carlton on Wednesday with a concert by Chicago (at a $100,000 fee); rented a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport on Thursday for another big dinner with a gig by Earth, Wind & Fire, and closed down the House of Blues on Sunset Strip on Saturday (at a cost of $50,000) for a dinner and serenade by Sheryl Crow.

snippy snippy snippy

President Obama served them notice on Tuesday night in his Congressional address, saying: "This time, C.E.O.'s won't be able to use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet. Those days are over."

But will they notice?

No Maureen but Paul Hodes noticed.

Annie 2012!

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Feb 25, 2009 at 20:53:39 PM CST