Uncategorized Archives - Page 134 of 301

The nation’s budget wars have reduced the deficit by $3.3 trillion

The endless rounds of deficit reduction in Washington in recent years have significantly improved the nation’s budget outlook, reducing projected borrowing by $3.3 trillion through 2024, according to new estimates by Senate Budget Committee chairman Patty Murray (D-Wash.)…As this chart from Murray shows, the discretionary budget, which funds the Pentagon and other agencies, will absorb nearly half of the cuts, or $1.6 trillion…A quarter of the impact comes from the higher taxes on the wealthy that were adopted during the fiscal cliff fight. And another 20 percent comes from not borrowing as much and not having to pay more than $700 billion in interest that otherwise would have accrued. Mandatory programs, which include Social Security and Medicare, were barely nicked, meanwhile, accounting for just 7 percent of overall savings.

Was that 7% worth it? Were cuts to programs that help the people who need help the most really worth it? Considering how much more we can cut defense programs the pentagon doesn’t even want.

MtGox Files For Bankruptcy Protection

Owner Mark Karpeles said, ‘There was some weakness in the system, and the bitcoins have disappeared. I apologize for causing trouble.’“

The freedom loving folks from Mt Gox demand protection from the state to protect them from their incompetence. At what point will they demand bailouts?

A Midwest Republican Senator Crusades Against the Corruption of Money in Politics

“I firmly believe that we are beginning in this country to look like a Russian-style oligarchy where a couple of dozen billionaires have basically bought the government,” Sen. Dale Schultz on why he is leaving politics.

He is leaving because of a primary challenge by a Koch brothers sponsored oligarchy friendly candidate.

What they seek is nothing short of a different definition of American citizenship granted only to highly religious people, and highly religious Christians in particular.

they have made a rather spectacular claim, though not explicitly. What they seek is nothing short of a different definition of American citizenship granted only to highly religious people, and highly religious Christians in particular. They are demanding that our laws stake out for them a kind of Citizenship Platinum, allowing them an exemption from any law or obligation they’d prefer to disregard. They would refashion the First Amendment in their image.

Radical Christians are making America safe for Sharia law by creating legal precedent of religious views being imposed on others by force.

Bitcoin Schadenfreude

Just think about it: billions in value in bitcoins just waiting to be stolen by anybody. Russia and China (and other nations) have huge digital warfare operations that could target those bitcoins, either officially or extracurricularly. No matter how cryptographically safe, systems can be penetrated through hardware or personnel. And no government guarantees! I wonder who will write them insurance knowing this?

Dunning-Krugerrands. Bitcoin looks like a good idea if you know literally nothing about the history of financial regulations. Why those regulations exist and what problems they solved.

Krugman: Germany did less austerity than almost anyone else in the euro area.

There is an almost perfect inverse relationship between austerity and growth. And yet there are those claiming more austerity is needed?

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View my latest photo on Flickr: http://flic.kr/u/RhFpf/aHsjTbz4ND water fall in prospect park

Libertarians who don’t understand liberty

Suppose a gay wedding party goes into a restaurant, sits down, and prepares to order. The restaurant manager comes over and tells them that they must leave because they are gay. Angered by this bigotry, the patrons refuse to leave. Now ask yourself: What happens next? In Carney’s world, what happens is the manager calls the state on the phone and requests that they send some enforcers to the restaurant to physically restrain these people, put them in police cars and then dump them into cages we call jail cells. This is the world of liberty in which the state stays out of things, according to Carney.

The idea that property owners have a right to discriminate is pretty common among Libertarians. I’ve always thought the idea was kind of nuts. No Libertarian I know would admit to supporting a landlords right to prima-nocta on property rights grounds but almost all support the idea of store owners being able to expel people based on the owner’s bigotry.

Can we just start calling them propertarians? It is way more accurate.

I Crashed a Wall Street Secret Society

Kappa Beta Phi was, in large part, a fear-based organization. Here were executives who had strong ideas about politics, society, and the work of their colleagues, but who would never have the courage to voice those opinions in a public setting. Their cowardice had reduced them to sniping at their perceived enemies in the form of satirical songs and sketches, among only those people who had been handpicked to share their view of the world. And the idea of a reporter making those views public had caused them to throw a mass temper tantrum.

I have heard of KBP in passing before so I already knew it existed. I had no idea their annual event was so crazy.

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View my latest photo on Flickr: http://flic.kr/u/RhFpf/aHsjSJMEjX this will be here for a while