Wikimedia Commons
Nov 20 2009, 4:32PM
Ohio Jumps On The Rating Agency Lawsuit Bandwagon
Ohio's attorney general is suing the rating agencies in an attempt to recoup losses on its state retirement fund. The state's complaint is that the agencies' bad ratings cost it $457 million when securities it purchased lost value. This is not the first civil suit against the agencies and probably won't be the last. I noted a case back in September where a judge appeared more open-minded then usual regarding such a suit. Usually the agencies claim First Amendment protection on their ratings, claiming that they're merely opinions. Ohio alleges something beyond mere negligence, however. Yet, I'm still not convinced its particular complaint will succeed.
Wikimedia Commons
Nov 20 2009, 3:32PM
Fed Audit Legislation Progresses
Yesterday, another interesting amendment (.pdf) to the House's financial regulation bill made it through committee. It would require an audit of the Federal Reserve. The amendment offered by Rep. Mevlin Watt (D-NC) has the spirit of a bill written up by Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) calling for a similar end. Paul has been an outspoken critic of the Fed and offered a companion amendment (.pdf), along with Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), broadening the audit. It also passed. Some people are worried that the amendments could endanger the independence of the Fed. I think that's an exaggeration.
Flickr/dantaylor
Nov 20 2009, 3:19PM
How Inaccurate GDP Figures Can Lead to Inflation
Alan Light / flickr
Nov 20 2009, 2:13PM
Oprah Winfrey Ending the Most Successful Television Show Ever
kyz / flickr
Nov 20 2009, 1:52PM
AppleCare: No Smokers Need Apply
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With F.H.A. Help, Easy Loans in Expensive Areas
Microsoft Office: 106 Tips & Tricks
Calif. Requires TVs To Be More Energy Efficient
Microsoft Offers Public Beta of Office 2010
Seansie / flickr
Nov 20 2009, 1:00PM
State Unemployment Changes Mixed In October
Today, the Department of Labor Statistics released its state-by-state unemployment statistics for October. The national unemployment rate increased significantly in October, rising from 9.8% to 10.2%. But only 30 states (including DC) saw an increase in thier unemployment rates, while 13 saw a decline. The other eight states' rates were unchanged. Some states' results are surprising, but others are more predictable.
Flickr Creative Commons
Nov 20 2009, 12:59PM
Are Fat People Good for America?
So there's this Wall Street Journal column about how we should be nicer to obese people because Winston Churchill was pretty fat, and he did a good job during World War II, and where would we be without Alexandre Dumas' chubby little fingers and Catherine the Great's heft, and so on. It took me a while to see that the piece was written by Joe Queenan, a satirist, and was not meant (I think?) to be a terribly weighty contribution to the obesity-in-America discussion. But I think it inadvertently raises an important point. Those historical fatties were mostly really rich.
WikimediaCommons
Nov 20 2009, 12:34PM
The Media is Wrong about Goldman Sachs, AIG
This week brings us a joint effort from the New York Times and Reuters, reminding us all that Goldman Sachs is the devil incarnate and without the generous AIG bailout, they'd be just as hosed as their more earthly competitors:
Goldman Sachs Group Inc could have suffered dramatic losses if the federal government had not intervened to prop up American International Group Inc , according to a government report.
It was revealed in March that Goldman received $12.9 billion in payments and collateral from AIG. (emphasis mine)
Well, nothing to really hammer home your agenda like rank speculation and utterly horrific summation. The TARP report (or SIGTARP) is 32 pages long, and traces the AIG bailout/credit default swap settlement from start to finish. The NYT article, at 350 words, focuses on a very small, cherry-picked section of the report's contents, and it ignores what I believe is the far more important point: Government (Treasury, Fed) officials failed to embrace their duty to the American people with hasty, and not particularly well-thought-out decision-making. That's right folks, I am defending not just Goldman, but the other banks that were paid "effectively par" (which is the report's language) on their credit default swaps with AIG as well.
Wikimedia Commons
Nov 20 2009, 12:24PM
Is Fox a Real News Operation?
Fox News seems to have a real problem with cutting old footage into new stories. The liberal theory is that this is some sort of concerted conspiracy to imply that 80 million Americans turn out for every Tea Party or Sarah Palin appearance. The conservative line is that they were simply trying to punch up an otherwise dull segment, and/or somehow ran out of footage of the actual event. The latter story makes marginally more sense to me, but only because I cannot imagine that anyone at Fox News--indeed, anyone with a pulse--is stupid enough to imagine that a few shots of excess protesters are enough to marginally improve the chances of Republican victories in 2010 or 2012.
takomabibelot / flickr
Nov 20 2009, 11:48AM
The Other CBO Health Care Report
Shortly after it posted its analysis of the Senate health care bill, the CBO put up a letter to Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) analyzing the House's other health care bill: the $200+ billion dollar "fix" (aka repeal) of the Sustainable Growth Rate.
