US debt clock runs out of digits
And, no, this is not a Michael Grant Smith story. (via ze)
Typos I like: Ain’t we got fun!
In the United States, the Federal Open Market Committee may lower the federal fun rate, currently at 2%, to fire up the economy. But Cardillo of Avalon said that wouldn’t have much impact.
(Via CNN)
the prison mackerel economy
Since cigarettes have been banned from prison commissaries, tins of mackerel have become the currency of choice.
Unlike those more expensive delicacies, former prisoners say, the mack is a good stand-in for the greenback because each can (or pouch) costs about $1 and few — other than weight-lifters craving protein — want to eat it.
WaMu has a twisted sense of humor.
Aptera
The world’s first 230 mpg vehicle?
House Sells for $1.75 on eBay
(insert mortgage crisis joke here.)
the financial crisis
Tyler Cowen lists his thoughts on the financial crisis.
11. If someone is pushing conclusions and not identifying the potential weak points in his or her arguments, be suspicious. Also beware of anyone pretending to offer you simple answers.
Today’s tea leaves
- TIME Magazine: “Let em fail!”
- The Wall Street Journal quotes Eliot: “This is how the world ends…”
- Bush and Obama are urging passage of the same bill.
- At this hour, the Dow is up sharply.
I can’t even pretend to understand this stuff anymore.
transgender in the workplace
What happens to female-to-male and male-to-female transgender people in the workplace?
We use the workplace experiences of transgender people – individuals who change their gender typically with hormone therapy and surgery – to provide new insights into the long-standing question of what role gender plays in shaping workplace outcomes. Using an original survey of male-to-female and female-to-male transgender people, we document the earnings and employment experiences of transgender people before and after their gender transitions. We find that while transgender people have the same human capital after their transitions, their workplace experiences often change radically. We estimate that average earnings for female-to-male transgender workers increase slightly following their gender transitions, while average earnings for male-to-female transgender workers fall by nearly 1/3. This finding is consistent with qualitative evidence that for many male-to-female workers, becoming a woman often brings a loss of authority, harassment, and termination, but that for many female-to-male workers, becoming a man often brings an increase in respect and authority. These findings challenge the omitted variables explanations for the gender pay gap and illustrate the often hidden and subtle processes that produce gender inequality in workplace outcomes.
Good morning America!
Just some music to lighten you up in your financial crisis.
Death in Vegas, Soul Auctioneer.
Sorry, Mike Dresser
While the bail-out may be neccesary that doesn’t mean it isn’t effectively putting money into “companies’ shareholders and boards” since many of the bankrupties are arguable predicated on the greed of the executives:
Henry Paulson, who in his current role as Treasury Secretary is pushing for a bank bailout, accounts for $82 million of the total. That was his pay for three years (2003 to 2005) as CEO of Goldman Sachs. DeBoskey included the pay of 57 different individuals, pulling the data that companies report on their top 5 officials to the Securities & Exchange Commission, to get to the $2.1 billion total.
Now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers, the smallest of the five companies, was tops in pay. It doled out $743 million in compensation for all its top officers from 2003 through 2007. Next was Goldman Sachs with $726.5 million, then AIG at $336 million, Fannie Mae at $207.2 million and Freddie Mac at $90 million.
Applying the same analysis to a broader universe of banks, financial firms, insurers, mortgage brokers and others who DeBoskey identifies as the companies likely to benefit from the proposed bailout and the total executive pay comes to $27 billion.
LaBruzzo considering plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have tubes tied
Worried that welfare costs are rising as the number of taxpayers declines, state Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, said Tuesday he is studying a plan to pay poor women $1,000 to have their Fallopian tubes tied.
“We’re on a train headed to the future and there’s a bridge out, ” LaBruzzo said of what he suspects are dangerous demographic trends. “And nobody wants to talk about it.”
LaBruzzo said he worries that people receiving government aid such as food stamps and publicly subsidized housing are reproducing at a faster rate than more affluent, better-educated people who presumably pay more tax revenue to the government. He said he is gathering statistics now.
(via Beezies & Bankrolls )
The bail-out may not be crazy
To quote martyrstwotunas, this is the “first thoughtful article I’ve read concerning the bail-out:”
Spending a sum of money that could buy you a war in Iraq should not come easily; and the notion of any bail-out is deeply troubling to any self-respecting capitalist. Against that stand two overriding arguments. First this is a plan that could work (see article). And, second, the potential costs of producing nothing, or too little too slowly, include a financial collapse and a deep recession spilling across the world: those far outweigh any plausible estimate of the bail-out’s cost.
The Importance of Libor
Libor (London Interbank Offered Rate) is a “is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks offer to lend unsecured funds to other banks in the London wholesale money market.” And, apparently in May of this year, the WSJ was critical of Libor’s worth arguing banks may have been “underreporting” borrowing rates to make the credit crunch sound healthier than it was.
Read more
How much money can you make if you REALLY fuck up?
CEO pay: What those involved in the financial meltdown made
As Congress considers a $700 billion bailout for Wall Street and the banking sector, there are calls to restrict the pay and severance packages for CEOs at investment houses, banks and mortgage lenders poised to be benefit from the plan put forward by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
Executives from some of the major investment and commercial banks involved in the financial upheaval and bailout earned hefty paychecks last year, according to proxy statements outlining their salaries, bonuses and stock options:
compulsive buying
A new test rates a person’s propensity for compulsive shopping.
The new test includes six statements, for which individuals answer on a 7-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree:
My closet has unopened shopping bags in it.
Others might consider me a “shopaholic.”
Much of my life centers around buying things.
I buy things I don’t need.
I buy things I did not plan to buy.
I consider myself an impulse purchaser.Respondents who score 25 or higher would be considered compulsive buyers.
Um
When I took the banking files out of the cabinet before putting the cabinet in the pod before the floors were done so if anyone stole the pod I wouldn’t lose the files does anyone remember where I put them?
in other Alabama news
Up to $50,000 is being offered to attract Jewish families to an Alabama town.
Launched in June, the Blumberg program has put advertisements in Jewish newspapers in Boston, Miami, Providence, R.I., and Washington, and it plans to expand the campaign.
“I think it’s important that we try to find young people that we could use in our religious school, our Sunday school and help in the way of trying to create more of a family-type atmosphere in our temple,” Blumberg said.
Groups offered financial aid for Jews to return to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Jewish organizations around the country offer moving assistance for relocating families. A congregation has loans and other benefits for Jewish families moving into an area near Boston.
“Our program is distinctive because it’s Dothan, but it’s also distinctive because of the type of financial assistance,” said Rob Goldsmith, executive director of Blumberg Family Jewish Community Services, which will screen applicants and administer the grant program.
Trying to lure Jewish families to a quiet Southern town in a state with a reputation for hard-right politics and racial intolerance might be difficult. About 20 Jewish families have sought information about Dothan, though none has made the move.
Fishing for Cover on the Floor of the Stock Exchange
“What’s the matter with you people! Look at these deals! I don’t know about you but I’m gettin in on this shit. That’s it, yeah. There you go. Way to go…Okay SELL! SELL! SELL!”
When I’m Rich
When I’m rich I will be the same person but a lot wealthier and shallower. Read more
Petty moguls, we
I have this theory. It’s no doubt unoriginal, but I can’t recall hearing it explicitly stated anywhere. It goes like this:
The greatest pacifying device the rich, ruling class ever came up with, was common stock.
Financial Tip
Now would be a good time to invest in companies that manufacture domestically sold ammunition and packaged vegetable seeds.
Celebrities Struggling to Make Ends Meet
Some of the most prominent and glamorous celebrities are now forced to order their domestic staff to serve frozen creamed orphan on toast points or canned poached breast of bald eagle instead of fresh.
Meanwhile, average Americans who are not famous or popular or attractive are subsisting on diets of wienie water, dust bunnies, and grass clippings.
sign of the times
A Vegas Hummer dealer is switching to SMART.
fiscal responsibility
Pretend for a moment I’m Governor of a small state. Also, pretend I was elected on a platform of reform and fiscal responsibility. Now pretend I spent 300 nights of my first year and half in office at home and I billed the state a per diem for each of those nights. Do I have any credibility left?