Saturday, December 17, 2022

Friday, December 16, 2022

Bring back the firing squads

 USA botched 35% of execution attempts...

Foreign ownership level of US Treasury securities fell 6.2% year over year in October

 The level contracted to a point approximately last seen in May 2021.

As reported levels in the table are subject to revision in future monthly tables. My graph shows as reported levels in May each year. 

The drop probably does not reflect actual selling, but falling market value of UST because of the bond rout.




Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Surprise, surprise, right on schedule progressive Robert Kuttner attacks the 2 percent inflation target in favor of 4 percent

 It all sounds very persuasive, as long as you forget how inflation impoverishes the lower classes and keeps them down so that the elites can continue to milk them like slaves year after year. 4% just does it twice as fast as 2%.

The little people are an afterthought to the left.

This is the "inflation is actually good" talk you hear from lefties from time to time.

Story here.


Sweden: Still not the model

 


Tuesday, December 13, 2022

Another inflation report is out, the data are bad, but they're trying to spin it that inflation is moderating

 The government's chief inflation measure, so-called core inflation which excludes food and energy (third graph), ticked down to 6% in November. Big whoop. Core inflation has now averaged 6.3% throughout 2022, and was actually slightly lower year over year for two months in the summer than it was in November.

The Fed is failing in its effort to bring inflation down, plain and simple.

Higher prices are the new normal.

Meanwhile food inflation is up 12% year over year after peaking above 13% in the summer. Under Trump food inflation was practically non-existent, but Americans have been forced to cope with it month after month for over a year now, with no end in sight.

And energy inflation year over year has been north of 13% for 21 consecutive months. Go ahead. Count 'em. Under Trump we actually had energy disinflation because his administration, unlike Biden's, enthusiastically supported fracking.

Rising food and energy costs are absolutely core, especially when they deliver a one-two punch to the gut like this.

The people hardest hit don't have a voice, however. They never do. The chattering classes are doing just fine, and all they want to talk about is nonsense. Their lot is with the profiteers from inflation, not with the bottom half of the country.

The poor get poorer.

Same as it ever was.





The Department of Energy has fired Sam Brinton according to The Daily Beast last night

 


Monday, December 12, 2022

Saturday, December 10, 2022

The thing on the right is now facing two charges for luggage theft

 That's some weird fetish :

Sam Brinton [is] the deputy assistant secretary for spent fuel and waste disposition at the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy.



The 39 House Republicans Who Voted for the Same-Sex Marriage Bill, annotated

 The New York Times :

  • Representative Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota

  • Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska [re-elected 2022 with 51.3% of the vote]

  • Representative Ken Calvert of California [re-elected 2022 with 52.3% of the vote]

  • Representative Kat Cammack of Florida

  • Representative Mike Carey of Ohio

  • Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming [voted to impeach Trump, defeated in 2022 primary]

  • Representative John Curtis of Utah

  • Representative Rodney Davis of Illinois [defeated in 2022 primary by fellow Republican in redistricting-forced battle]

  • Representative Tom Emmer of Minnesota [House GOP Majority Whip]

  • Representative Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania

  • *Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin [flipped from Nay in summer to Yea now]

  • Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York

  • Representative Mike Garcia of California

  • Representative Carlos Gimenez of Florida

  • Representative Tony Gonzalez of Texas

  • Representative Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio [voted to impeach Trump, retiring]

  • *Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington [voted to impeach Trump, defeated in 2022 primary, flipped from Nay in summer to Yea now]

  • Representative Ashley Hinson of Iowa

  • Representative Darrell Issa of California

  • Representative Ch[r]is Jacobs of New York [retiring after flipping position on guns after Buffalo mass shooting and angering supporters]

  • Representative David Joyce of Ohio [leader of House Republican moderate caucus]

  • Representative John Katko of New York [voted to impeach Trump, retiring]

  • Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina

  • Representative Nicole Malliotakis of New York

  • Representative Peter Meijer of Michigan [voted to impeach Trump, defeated in 2022 primary]

  • Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa

  • Representative Blake Moore of Utah

  • Representative Dan Newhouse of Washington [voted to impeach Trump]

  • Representative Jay Obernolte of California

  • Representative Tom Rice of South Carolina [voted to impeach Trump, defeated in 2022 primary]

  • Representative Mike Simpson of Idaho

  • Representative Elise Stefanik of New York

  • Representative Bryan Steil of Wisconsin

  • Representative Chris Stewart of Utah

  • Representative Mike Turner of Ohio

  • Representative Fred Upton of Michigan [voted to impeach Trump, retiring]

  • Representative David Valadao of California [voted to impeach Trump, re-elected with 51.5% of the vote]

  • Representative Ann Wagner of Missouri [Republican phony of the year LOL: “This district is home to me, and there is no better feeling than representing our conservative, Midwest values in Congress.”]

  • Representative Tim Waltz of Florida [LOL: NYT has Democrat Tim Walz, Minnesota Governor, on the brain; the actual name is Republican US Rep. Michael Waltz, who ran unopposed in FL-6 and was re-elected in 2022; the newspaper of record smdh]



Thursday, December 8, 2022

If you haven't saved enough for an emergency, it's on you, and borrowing money for an emergency when you have it is another stupid thing which is on you

Two stupids don't make a smart.

 

“It’s a terrible idea to take money out of your 401(k),” said Ted Jenkin, a certified financial planner and co-founder of oXYGen Financial, based in Atlanta. ...

Households should weigh all their options for cash before resorting to tapping a 401(k) plan, said Jenkin, a member of CNBC’s Advisor Council.

For example, households without an emergency fund might be able to free up money for a relatively small short-term cash need by canceling or reducing membership plans, or by selling little-used or unneeded items on Facebook Marketplace or a garage sale, he said. A short-term loan or home equity line of credit would generally also be better than tapping a 401(k).

More.

There's nothing like paying a steep price for a mistake to keep you from making it again. Only morons pay twice.

 

What else would you expect someone to say who makes his living selling retirement products?


 

Only morons borrow money for weddings

 

39 House Republicans join 12 Senate Republicans to pass Democrat bill overthrowing the Defense of Marriage Act

 The Respect for Marriage Act passed the Democratic-led House in a 258-169-1 vote, as 39 Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting it. It also won bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled Senate in late November: 12 GOP senators crossed party lines to vote for the legislation. ...

The Respect for Marriage Act formally repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which was signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. That bill denied same-sex couples federal benefits and permitted states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.

The Supreme Court would later go on to invalidate the key provisions of DOMA in two watershed rulings, United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges in 2013 and 2015, respectively.

Roberts, Scalia, Thomas and Alito dissented in Windsor against Kennedy in 2013, same in Hodges in 2015.

There's always a minority of Republicans who exist only to advance the Democrats' godless agenda. 

It's never the other way around, unless it has to do with money.

Story.