The Current Events, News, and Politics Thread
08-05-2013, 12:09 PM
#4621
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my hometown got a shout out this weekend:
OFA Attracts One Person for ObamaCare Event
OFA Attracts One Person for ObamaCare Event
The Centreville event’s lone attendee, Lynn Duvall of Fairfax, Va., told POLITICO that it was her family’s own medical burdens that fueled her passion for Obamacare. Duvall’s son Logan has Crohn’s disease and under the law’s provisions can stay on her health plan until he turns 26, next January. Then he’ll be able to get coverage in the health exchange, despite his pre-existing condition.
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08-05-2013, 12:46 PM
#4622
"The Most Efficient Office in the World"
Slate article about a very well-run and efficient government office that is customer-facing: New York's Hudson Street Passport Office.
Slate article about a very well-run and efficient government office that is customer-facing: New York's Hudson Street Passport Office.
A few months ago, we had lunch with a friend who is a management consultant. He arrived at the restaurant raving about the fantastic experience he’d just had at the passport office on Hudson Street in lower Manhattan, where he’d gone for a need-it-by-tomorrow expedited passport. Having booked an appointment by phone, he arrived to have his application materials checked by a greeter (lest his papers be out of order, which might hold up others later in the process), who then handed him a number and sent him to a waiting room. Five minutes later, his number was called, and he was asked to hand in his paperwork. Then he was on his way; he had his new passport the next day. There was nothing that McKinsey, Accenture, or any other workflow consultant could have done to improve his experience.
They point out some reasons for the success of this branch, compared to LA for example, and talk about the importance of management - including but not limited to promoting excellent employees and firing bad ones ("Yes, while it isn’t easy, it is in fact possible to fire federal employees.").Was this to balance out the story that said veterans wait an average of 273 days for their initial disability rating?
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08-05-2013, 06:09 PM
#4623
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For my turbro, Braineack:
Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates - WSJ.com
Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates - WSJ.com
Get Ready for Inflation and Higher Interest Rates
The unprecedented expansion of the money supply could make the '70s look benign.
Arthur Laffer
[...]But as bad as the fiscal picture is, panic-driven monetary policies portend to have even more dire consequences. We can expect rapidly rising prices and much, much higher interest rates over the next four or five years, and a concomitant deleterious impact on output and employment not unlike the late 1970s.
[...]
When reserve constraints on banks are removed, it does take the banks time to make new loans. But given sufficient time, they will make enough new loans until they are once again reserve constrained. The expansion of money, given an increase in the monetary base, is inevitable, and will ultimately result in higher inflation and interest rates. In shorter time frames, the expansion of money can also result in higher stock prices, a weaker currency, and increases in commodity prices such as oil and gold.
[...]
It's difficult to estimate the magnitude of the inflationary and interest-rate consequences of the Fed's actions because, frankly, we haven't ever seen anything like this in the U.S. To date what's happened is potentially far more inflationary than were the monetary policies of the 1970s, when the prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% and inflation peaked in the low double digits.
The unprecedented expansion of the money supply could make the '70s look benign.
Arthur Laffer
[...]But as bad as the fiscal picture is, panic-driven monetary policies portend to have even more dire consequences. We can expect rapidly rising prices and much, much higher interest rates over the next four or five years, and a concomitant deleterious impact on output and employment not unlike the late 1970s.
[...]
When reserve constraints on banks are removed, it does take the banks time to make new loans. But given sufficient time, they will make enough new loans until they are once again reserve constrained. The expansion of money, given an increase in the monetary base, is inevitable, and will ultimately result in higher inflation and interest rates. In shorter time frames, the expansion of money can also result in higher stock prices, a weaker currency, and increases in commodity prices such as oil and gold.
[...]
It's difficult to estimate the magnitude of the inflationary and interest-rate consequences of the Fed's actions because, frankly, we haven't ever seen anything like this in the U.S. To date what's happened is potentially far more inflationary than were the monetary policies of the 1970s, when the prime interest rate peaked at 21.5% and inflation peaked in the low double digits.
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08-06-2013, 10:41 AM
#4627
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LAUSD Teacher Suspended After Sending Letter to Parents of Kid Who Called Him '------'
This senseless apathy is a malignant sore, a cancer on the energy and morale of the whole class. This is dismal, pathetic, self-absorbed and destructive. You and your kid are part of a family and you are partly responsible you’re your kid’s behavior. In terms of rule breaking or disturbing behavior in schools your kid does it it because they want to. Its not impulsivity, its not bad home situations, its not a broken family, its not bad economics or poverty, its not anything else except their decision to do it because they like to indulge themselves....Please do not respond to this letter by staging a conference to come dribble and whine like many do about you or your kid’s personal difficulties or your hard life.
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08-08-2013, 10:00 AM
#4633
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In case you see it around, there is a commonly repeated but inaccurate (or straight-up false) factoid that says Reagan's administration and the associated Congress created "a million" jobs in one month.
In reality, about 700k union workers went on strike the month before and then returned to work the next month.
In reality, about 700k union workers went on strike the month before and then returned to work the next month.
Last edited by Braineack; 10-08-2019 at 09:48 AM.
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08-08-2013, 11:01 AM
#4635
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You just have to know what numbers to look at. When someone says "the unemployment rate" it's like talking about "the tax rate." Which tax rate? Marginal? Effective? Capital gains? Etc.
For unemployment, you have the "headline" number which is the U-3 number. That's the one most commonly reported. The most broad measure of un- and under-employment is the U-6 measure.
Bureau of Labor Statistics most recent data.
Alternatively, you can look at other measure like the employment-population ratio:
Or the labor force participation rate:
I like to look at them all.
Last edited by Braineack; 10-08-2019 at 09:48 AM.
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08-08-2013, 11:05 AM
#4636
I'm well aware these numbers exist Scrappy. It was just a sarcastic comment because the number used by the media and politicians is the U-3 number and its complete **** if used as the only KPI for unemployment. Too bad the general population is too retarded to understand this.
EDIT: I find it ironic that you posted the graphs of the other two numbers that I have seen you analytically destroy for their context issues involving cherry picking a specific time frame in order to fit a particular agenda. I know you were just using them as an illustration but it still made me chuckle.
EDIT: I find it ironic that you posted the graphs of the other two numbers that I have seen you analytically destroy for their context issues involving cherry picking a specific time frame in order to fit a particular agenda. I know you were just using them as an illustration but it still made me chuckle.
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08-08-2013, 12:02 PM
#4637
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EDIT: I find it ironic that you posted the graphs of the other two numbers that I have seen you analytically destroy for their context issues involving cherry picking a specific time frame in order to fit a particular agenda. I know you were just using them as an illustration but it still made me chuckle.
That's why I included a longer time-frame; in this case a somewhat arbitrary 30 years.
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08-08-2013, 12:06 PM
#4638
I think you might have me confused for Joe Perez, who destroyed arguments about those numbers (LFP rate and empl/pop ratio). That is, people were critical that the recent numbers were so poor relative to their positions prior to the Global Financial Crisis.
That's why I included a longer time-frame; in this case a somewhat arbitrary 30 years.
That's why I included a longer time-frame; in this case a somewhat arbitrary 30 years.
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