Vox advocates raising the minimum wage ...

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... as a means to protect America:

As a general rule, the Swiss are among the sanest of nations. If you are asking if they have gone insane, that is a good reason to assume you are missing something. Americans who are interested in salvaging any vestige of traditional America should push hard for raising the minimum wage to at least $20 per hour.

He notes that the immigration battle is to allow low-skilled (and therefore low-wage) workers into the US. If the minimum wage is $20 or higher,then those individuals won't even bother.

We're damned if we do and damned if we don't!

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A remembrance ...

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... of Daddy Hugh:

They believe that in future householders may choose to pass on a house with an outstanding mortgage to their children, who will pay off the rest. ‘In Japan, the 40-year mortgage is the norm,’ said one Government source.

If you were ever suffering under the delusion that bankers are your friends, allow me to disabuse you.

To a bank, a mortgage is nothing more than a product to be sold; first to you (as the home buyer) and then to someone else (who actually holds the debt). The bank is just a middleman - he takes his cut and moves on to the next buyer in line. And as long as mortgage loans can be had by those who have no business getting into that kind of debt, there will be loans tailored to that person.

So what if the term is 40 (or 50 or 60!) years?

My dad, at the ripe old age of 72 bought a new house and got a 30 year mortgage for it. But he also had to roll his old house into that loan. 'No problem' said his 'banker'; we'll tailor a loan just for you.

Daddy Hugh, I feel certain, would never have done that to my dad.

Daddy Hugh was one of the first people my parents met when they moved to the town where I grew up. He was a member of the church where my dad played the organ, and he also worked at the local bank (back when there was such a thing as a local bank). Daddy Hugh was our banker. I feel quite sure that he was involved in helping my parents get their first mortgage, and I'm sure that the bank held him a bit responsible for the repayment.

If you had a problem with the loan, you went to Daddy Hugh. If you were going to be a little late with a payment, you could talk to Daddy Hugh. If you forgot to take your payment to the bank, you could give it to Daddy Hugh at church.

Because Daddy Hugh was our banker.

Nowadays, you have to have some serious scratch to get that kind of service at a bank, assuming it's available at all.

I remember Daddy Hugh helping me and my brother open our first savings account, and telling me how important it was that I keep up with my passbook. This was how people growing up in my time learned financial responsibility - with the help of your banker.

God bless you, Daddy Hugh.

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Could this be ...

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... what bursts the education bubble?

Starbucks’ 95,000 baristas have a competitor. It doesn’t need sleep. It’s precise in a way that a human could never be. It requires no training. It can’t quit. It has memorized every one of its customers’ orders. There’s never a line for its perfectly turned-out drinks.

Vox says it's at least the end of the liberal arts major (what the hell is a liberal arts major good for, anyway?!).

The more I live my life, the more I believe that economic laws of supply and demand are what actually rules the world ...

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Someone ...

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... has tracked AR-15 prices:

What’s really interesting is how there are two peaks in the price; one a few weeks after the panic started and another after president Obama announced his support for an assault weapons ban during the SHOT Show. In general, though, the trend is a downwards one. People seem to be running out of money and supply is starting to catch up with demand. The incoming flood of tax refund checks will keep things hairy for a bit, but the worst may well be over.

That's good news.

I've noticed in my post-Dandy Hook Shotgun News that there doesn't seem to be any real lack of lowers. Some of my connections are finding it hard to find uppers, however.

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The best distillation of ...

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... Keynsian economic tomfoolery I've seen yet:

Actually, I could have written in in a single sentence: More public debt and more government spending is the solution to this economic depression because government spending is capable of creating the jobs necessary to produce economic growth, while the resulting public debt is not a problem because any country with its own central bank can issue an infinite amount of it without any long-term costs.

It's a shame that folks these days don't know what a scratched record sounds like ...

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Here we go ...

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... these life-forms are not reality based:

Among the commandments of life under the Obama administration: thou shalt not speak ill of Obamacare. Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter was hammered with Twitter abuse after informing shareholders and franchisees in August that implementing Obamacare would necessarily increase costs of running the business.

Ah, to live life in ignorance and complete faith in the righteousness of your cause ...

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But ... but ... but ...

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... you only have to put gas in it once a month:

General Motors plans to idle the plant where it assembles the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid for four weeks starting next month, two people familiar with the plans said.

Union thugs hardest hit.

You reckon that nobody's buying these pieces of shit? You can do a lot of things in business, but the market will NOT be denied!

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As Vox notes ...

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... The Greatest Economic Speech Evah!

In conclusion, it is my belief that from start to finish the Fed is a failure. I believe faulty methodology is used, I believe that the justification for the Fed, to bring price and economic stability, has never been a success. I repeat, prices since the start of the Fed have climbed by 2,241% and there have been over the same period 18 recessions. No one seems to care at the Fed about the gold supposedly backing up the gold certificates on the Fed balance sheet. The emperor has no clothes.

Can I get an Amen?!

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The snark ...

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... is strong with this one:

One rather gets the idea that Sheila has a certain lack of confidence in Ben Shalom's ability to successfully extricate the U.S. economy from the 30-year debt bubble the Fed created. The frightening thing is that her Swiftian solution differs only in its degree from the strategy that Bernanke is actually utilizing.

RTWT ... the idea sounds promising!

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Oh Noez!

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They're trying everything they can:

General Motors will suspend Chevrolet Volt production from March 19th to April 23rd in order to bring supply of the plug-in hybrid car in line with demand, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Chevrolet sold 1,023 Volts in February, which up from 603 in January, but far from the 60,000-unit annual output originally planned for when the car was launched in December, 2010. Less than 8,000 Volts were sold in all of 2011.

I don't understand ... Obama is upping the amount of money he'll give you of you buy one. What the hell?!

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I need to ...

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... try to keep up with internet memes:

You just got told bitch … welcome to the real internet check kotaku in 2 weeks when they are reviewing free PS3 Avengers we send them as well as G4 and all the other majors hell yeah , don’t forget to check Amazon, gamestop.com, play n trade , Myers , Frys and a ton of other local stores coming your way you think you speak for billions son your just a kid you speak for yourself no one cares what you think that’s why were growing and moving 20-50 thousand controllers a month.

That was Ocean Marketing CEO Paul Christoforo as he was on his way to internet meme-dom.

This is the kind of stuff I'd expect to hear from a 20-something, not a 38 yr old "PR" exec. h/t Ace's sidebar.

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This ...

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... is kinda scary:

And so, to the very unpleasant crux of the matter. The futures and options markets are no longer viable. It is my recommendation that ALL customers withdraw from all of the markets as soon as possible so that they have the best chance of protecting themselves and their equity. The system is no longer functioning with integrity and is suicidally risk-laden. The rule of law is non-existent, instead replaced with godless, criminal political cronyism.

RTWT, if you dare. It's about a fund manager closing her company, and why.

Vox Day has been beating this drum for years, and so far, I see no evidence that he is wrong.

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Greece is screwed ...

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... is this our fate, too?

It therefore becomes clear that any bailout package by the EuroZone just delays and amplifies the inevitable default.

The true intent of the bailout package itself also comes into question. Is the EuroZone trying to save Greece, who has clearly rejected the terms of salvation, or is it trying to save its own financial institutions that have invested heavily in debt that will never be repaid without some sort of bailout package?

Can you say ... TARP II? I thought you could. h/t proteinwisdom

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Please ...

... don't ask me how I got here:

Marijuana’s fibrous cousin hemp has a long history with auto makers. in 1941 Henry Ford unveiled a car body made primarily out of organic fibers, hemp included. seventy years later, the world’s first production-ready biocomposite electric car—with hemp as the “bio”—will finally hit the streets. The Kestrel, a three-door hatchback, is made of a “hemp composite as strong as the fiberglass in boats, yet incredibly lightweight,” says Nathan Armstrong, the president of Motive industries, Kestrel’s manufacturer.

I find it hard to try to retrace my steps!

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Yeah, this is good!

Definitely NSFW!



h/t Ace

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This is a good move ...

... getting out from under:

In an extreme example of the frustration felt by many bankers as regulators toughen their oversight of the nation's financial institutions, Main Street's chairman, Thomas Depping, is expected to announce Wednesday that the 27-year-old bank will surrender its banking charter and sell its four branches to a nearby bank.

Doesn't sound that extreme to me ... sounds like that's what more banks should start doing.

Also note a recurring phrase in the article ... "FDIC ordered". Having the government 'order' me to do anything just rubs me the wrong way.

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Going Galt ...

... or 'How to stop economic growth':

What’s the use? I see these guys—I see them with tears in their eyes—looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So…basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you.

Video at the link.

I can't say I blame this guy ... the more the government gets involved, the more things get fucked up.

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Tax the poor?

I say yes:

The situation is even bleaker once we consider another unfortunate feature of the current system. A large number of Americans are incentivized to either support or tolerate tax increases on the rich. Why? It is a lot easier to vote for increases in government spending when all the additional costs are borne by other individuals.

The article is about a flat tax, which has been beaten to death. It's just my unlearned opinion that the income tax should be flat, and should probably be no more than 5% on your income. I don't believe that business income should be taxed because it will end up as income to someone, eventually.

And then I wake up ...

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You don't say ...

... cities are running out of money:

In a scene that is going to play out in scores of cities across the nation, unions are going to come to grips with the fact that pensions are not sacrosanct.

The headline I saw was '50% of something or 100% of nothing.'

Indeed. h/t Ace's headlines sidebar

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This is good perspective

From Mr Doom! at AoSHQ:

The biggest fallacy of the modern fiat-money age is that citizens and politicians alike think we can raise our “income” any time we want by printing currency. In effect, there is a belief that we can bring real-world wealth into being ex nihilo via the printing-press, or avoid insolvency by issuing yet more debt.

There's much more, in easy-to-understand language ... I jut pulled a juicy quote to tease you. RTWT.

Remember that Wall Street doesn't produce anything; their reason for being is to make money, essentially by gambling (remember Trading Places?). If that involves breaking the country in the process, oh well.

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