Wednesday, December 17, 2008
First up, news we are pretty sure is important but can only loosely explain why: The Federal Reserve cut its target interest rate to historic lows between zero and a quarter percentage points. I am pretty sure that this means that banks can borrow money from the Federal Reserve and pay essentially no interest on it. That, hypothetically, means that banks will lower the rate at which they lend money to households and businesses. However, since no one is investing anyway, it doesn’t appear that this is going to work.
Dana Milibank, a Washington Post columnist, is complaining that we are trading a “sports-obsessed president who doesn’t like tough questions,” for “another sports-obsessed president who doesn’t like tough questions.” His evidence for this is that at Obama’s press conference naming his new Secretary of Education, he avoided the media’s questions about Gov. Blagojevich. Is this the beginning of a trend of stories saying that Obama isn’t open enough with the media? Almost certainly, but keep in mind that he is already having a press conference every few days and demonstrating a refreshing amount of openness in going around the media to talk to the public directly.
Tom Friedman has a great column asking the question, “What is really the difference between Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and the totally legal subprime deals?”
Finally, Time has named Barack Obama person of the year. This reminds me of Jeff and I debating who would be person of the year last year (I thought Obama until Jeff said that would be next year after he had won the election, kudos ). Man, can you believe that “You” was two years ago? How lame was that!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
The National Bureau of Economic Research has officially declared that the United States is in a recession, news which sent the Dow Jones industrial average plunging nearly 680 points, or 7.7 percent. Government officials are saying they will do everything possible to turn the recession around. Who knows if they will be successful. I had no idea what officially makes it a recession; thanks to Slate’s Explainer, I do now:
One widespread definition of a recession—the one used by newspapers—is a decline in the gross domestic product for two or more consecutive quarters.
President-elect Obama yesterday announced who will be in his national security team. Leading the team will be Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as Secretary of State and President Bush’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates as, well, Defense Secretary. Two key takeaways from this are that I am sick to death of hearing the phrase “team of rivals” and that THIS is the best news ever.
After being panned last week for taking three separate corporate jets to ask for bailouts, the heads of the big three automakers will be most likely driving to Washington for a series of meetings with Congress. The head of Ford will be taking Ford’s new hybrid car while the other two haven’t decided how they will get there. Here is a thought: book coach tickets and skip this bullshit. That, or really have fun with it and road trip in an old VW bus.
Finally, if you get paid to run for a living it is probably not a good idea to carry around a loaded gun. It is probably a worse idea to try to unload it while drinking wine and shoot yourself in the leg.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Well, the economy still stinks. Yesterday the stock market fell to its lowest point in 6 years. The drop was fueled by fears of deflation, which is when the costs of goods and services actually go down. Why is deflation bad? It represents the fact that consumers arn’t spending money. Companies will begin to take in less money and react by slowing production and cutting jobs, which causes consumers to scale back spending even more. Deflation is often an indicator of a depression, but you know what else it is an indicator of? BARGAINS! With goods and services costing less, you paycheck (or unemployment checK) will spread further. But what should you spend your money on?
A shopping guide including Gay Marriage, Missouri, Childhood Obesity, Joe the Plumber, and Guns N Roses after the jump.
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Friday, November 7, 2008
So what do I write about now? I mean… is there still news? I heard Barack Obama went to the gym yesterday. That’s news right? So cold… so very cold…
What’s that? A light at the end of the tunnel? Could it be? Could it possibly be useless bullshit coded as culture wars that I can get outraged about again? When all hope fails, turn to BIll O’Reilly. Last night, Bill O’Reilly kicked off his annual War on Christmas, or, his war on the War on Christmas? I am not sure how it works exactly but I am pretty sure it is coded hate speech of SOME kind. The Christmas arms race escalates this year with bumper stickers.
I am not the only person feeling a little empty after this election. Both David Brooks and Paul Krugman use their columns to project their fervent wishes onto the incoming administration. Krugman wants them to think big while Brooks just sort of awkwardly bares his soul and says “think Republican.”
Unemployment, Georgia, and Hope after the jump
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Thursday, June 19, 2008
The Iraqi Oil Ministry is negotiating a series of no-bid contracts with a collection of Western oil companies. This would be the first major commercial oil development to take place since the US invaded Iraq in 2003. More than 40 companies from a variety of countries including Russia and China submitted proposals, and it is unusual for oil companies to get no-bid contracts (Only one country, however, has more than 100,000 troops in Iraq). There is a lot going on here and many ways you could look at this. You could argue that this supports the idea that the US went to war in Iraq for oil (an idea that has a lot of credence in that Arab world). You could also argue that this is a very favorable turn of events because the sooner oil production can start the sooner Iraq will have money to begin investing in infrastructure. You could also argue that no-bid contracts in general are a bad idea. However, you really don’t have to argue anything since no one will be talking about this at your office. Unless you work at Shell.
In the face of skyrocketing oil prices, Americans are driving less. Specifically, drivers have cut back by 30 billion miles over the last 6 months. This is the largest decrease since the fuel crisis in the late 70s. It’s weird to see market forces at work.
Senator Obama has opted out of Public Financing. We had mentioned he was considering it before, but now he has actually pulled the trigger. If he had gone with public financing, he would have been limited to spending $84.1 million for the general election campaign. Contrast that with the fact that he raised $95 million in February and March alone. See our previous coverage of the issue for the proper way to discuss this at the office.
A runoff election in Zimbabwe is planned for June 27th, and prominent international and African groups are escalating their rhetoric against President Mugabe. Since losing the initial election (but not by enough to prevent a runoff), President Mugabe has launched a terror campaign against the opposition party that has included beatings, murders, threats of civil war should he lose and multiple imprisonments of the opposition leader. “Every sign” that it “will never be free nor fair” indeed.
Because I didn’t post the news yesterday, some people might have missed that the Celtics won the NBA championship. Just an FYI that Boston rules.
