The Daily DOOM

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This meretricious, misleading, smug piece of crap on Social Security has already made my short-list for one of the worst op-ed pieces I've read this year. All the usual tropes are there: that the program is solvent (a lie); that it doesn't add to the deficit (a lie); that it's trivial to fix (a lie). In fact, Miller actually agitates for an expansion in Social Security. As I noted in an email I sent out: the smug is strong with this one. I'll bet he sniffs his own farts.

So, the new jobs numbers: good or bad? Teh Krugman: Good, but with caveats. A lot of people are pointing out that the number doesn't account for the drop in labor-force participation, which takes some of the bloom off the rose. My own take? The press is in full-on "ALL IS WELL!" mode, and are hyping the latest report as the greatest thing EVAR!, but it's at best a lukewarm report -- some of the growth is real, but the labor-force participation shrinkage is also real, and presents an ominous long term trend. If we can maintain the job growth through another quarter I might accept it as a trend rather than an outlier. We'll see.

[EDIT] On the jobs front: American Airlines may lay off 13,000 as part of its bankruptcy. It may also lay off its pension benefits onto to the PBGC, which is itself nearly broke.

It's the makers versus the takers, and the takers are winning. Atlas Shrugged was not a novel; it was prophecy.

If you think your tax rate is high, just consider James Ross. His tax rate is 102%! I'd think that certainly qualifies as a "fair share", even under the strictest definition of the term.

Quote of the day: "This shift of power from owners and innovators to state officials is the antithesis of capitalism."

What's another $40 million to the NYT when it can act as herald to the brave new Socialist Utopia? It's a bargain, really.

How much money does an A-list actor make...and spend? Answer: a lot.

Bootblack, chimneysweep, gator wrangler, pimp, bounty hunter...

"Rich" is only bad when applied to Republicans. Democrats get a pass because they care about the poor. They don't give any actual money to the poor, usually, but they care, so that makes it okay somehow.

Have the "Masters of the Universe" been deposed? The schadenfreude latent in a lot of these liberal thumb-suckers makes me laugh; if the financial center of the world shifts to London or Shanghai, New York would be in a very tough crack indeed...and yet the liberal punditocracy in that city continue to assume that Wall Street (and its hold over the financial universe) is eternal. They're in for a rude shock when they learn that isn't so. (New Yorkers: You know who funds your city's huge welfare state, generous public pensions, and infrastructure? It's not the guys out in Yonkers.)

A proposed new code of ethics will require economists to disclose their financial ties. I was a little surprised to discover that there wasn't already a code of conduct covering this.

Hiring, firing, and "naming the puppy". Firing underperforming employees is no fun for most people, and the notion that big companies take a perverse pleasure in laying people off for no reason is just not true in most cases.

posted by Monty at 08:58 AM

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