2:00PM Water Cooler 4/25/2017

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1. TK421 April 25, 2017 at 2:12 pm

   “Everything Obama believes in”? Has he forgotten about foaming the runway with HAMP, standing between bankers and the pitchforks, preserving the insurance companies at the cost of human life?
   1. Marley's dad April 25, 2017 at 3:19 pm

      Obama stands for & supports only one thing . . . himself.
      1. different clue April 26, 2017 at 1:48 am

         And his owner sponsor backers. He believes in them, too.
   2. Arizona Slim April 25, 2017 at 3:36 pm

      I remember Obama saying that we needed a public option in order to keep the insurance companies honest.
      1. Jeff W April 25, 2017 at 5:41 pm

         And I recall that President Obama reassured a joint session of Congress that the public option would be “only be an option for those who don’t have insurance” and that “less than 5 percent of Americans would sign up.” So much for keeping the insurance companies honest. (And, speaking of honesty, all that more than a month after the White House and hospital/Big Pharma lobbyists had made behind-the-scenes deals that assumed that there would be no public option.)
         1. Adamski April 26, 2017 at 5:30 am

            Thx. Reminders of this need to be posted every time this comes up.
      2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 2:20 am

         Nobody needs the so-called public option. And it sets a terrible precedent for, say, Social Security. Imagine a “retirement marketplace” with a bunch of heavily marketeted 401k plans, with Social Security as the “public option” for retirement. It’s a neoliberal wet dream.
         1. Marina Bart April 26, 2017 at 2:27 am

            My stars, Lambert! I thought this was a family blog.
         2. Adamski April 26, 2017 at 5:34 am

            And you are right too… I think it was on NC I saw an article with the history of the “public option” policy. From being the size of Medicare, pre-loaded with millions of people who were on Medicaid or uninsured, and able to cut deals with providers from day one, it turned into something tiny with no hope of getting off the ground by enrolling anybody or being able to organise their coverage. Maybe it’s a good thing it died in case 1% of ppl ended up in it by 2016, with no admin savings, its failure being used as a cudgel against single payer.
2. Jim Haygood April 25, 2017 at 2:20 pm

   Gimme shelter:

   [Real estate agent David] Fogg listed a three-bedroom, two-bathroom, 1,240-square-foot home in Burbank for $789,000 and had three offers before the first open house Sunday. In the Los Angeles-area market, that is considered an entry-level home. The open house drew more than 100 potential buyers, most of them already weary of the competition.

   Properties sold in March were on the market for an average 34 days, down from 45 in February and 47 in March 2016.

   In order to compete, buyers are coming in with cash and dropping contingencies. That is because in such a hot market, homes are appraising well below the sale price. That makes it even harder for first-time, mortgage-dependent buyers to succeed.

   http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/24/spring-housing-strongest-sellers-market-ever.html

   Still time to move out of your parents’ basement and get in on the ground floor with a $789K starter home, if you’ve got the dosh.

   If it wasn’t apparent, that was sarcasm. :-0
   1. Jim Haygood April 25, 2017 at 2:47 pm

      An unpleasant notion keeps tugging at me: that Bubble III may reach its apogee as a twin bubble, combining “Party like it’s 1999” stock prices with the “Home $weet Home,” “Real Estate Never Goes Down” house prices of 2006.

      With popular sentiment still subdued, we’re at the stage where rank envy over our peers’ paper profits on their stocks and houses kicks in, and the gains go parabolic as a collective cry echoes across the land: “WAIT FOR ME-E-E-E-E-E!!!!!!“
   2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef April 25, 2017 at 3:01 pm

      You build them, then rich foreigners will come.

      “When you visit or migrate to America, do as you do at home. Open minded Americans respect cultural diversity, unlike the French.”
   3. Marco April 25, 2017 at 3:12 pm

      In a perfect world how much should a middle class starter house cost? 3x yearly income? 5x? Personally I gave up long ago ever affording a home of my own.
      1. Arizona Slim April 25, 2017 at 3:38 pm

         The historic metric goes like this: In any given market, the median home price should be 3x the median income. If it’s a rental house for sale, it should go for 100-120x the monthly rent that you can expect to collect in that area.
         1. LT April 25, 2017 at 4:51 pm

            But how does a society get out of the “fantasy finance” speculation about housing?
            That is deciding a house purchase reflects what they aspire to make or continue to make.
            Or on the other end, it’s just a mortgage to create other financial products to fund the casinos(excuse me…banks).
            1. Adamski April 26, 2017 at 5:38 am

               Steve Keen suggests PILL, property-income limited leverage. Limit a mortgage to n times the annual rental value. While it will be possible to pay more than the PILL amount for a home, you won’t be able to get a mortgage for that amount, and would have to pay more of your own cash. A negative feedback instead of a positive one.
         2. MyLessThanPrimeBeef April 25, 2017 at 5:04 pm

            The trickle-down theory works like this:

            1 Making housing unaffordable
            2.So unemployed homeowners can take out loans to spend.
            3.You will get a job
            4. And in 100 years, you can save enough to buy that unaffordable house.

            The distance between 1 and 4 is elastic, so it could 200 years or 300 years.

            Luckily, thanks to science, and luck, you too can live 300 or 400 years.
      2. Jim Haygood April 25, 2017 at 3:48 pm

         Depends on what “middle class” means. A 1,200 sq ft house (enough for a typical American family in the 1950s) would cost $150,000 to build at a construction cost of $125/sq ft ex land. Lots are cheap in rural areas (some under $20,000); costly in cities.

         S&P’s Case-Shiller national home price index has exceeded its July 2006 peak. But adjusted for inflation, it’s 16% below it. If inflation carries on rising at 2.0% annually and house prices at 5.8%, a new real record would be set in less than 5 years.

         Hate to say it, but the inexorable logic of Bubble III as the long-awaited MOAB [Mother of All Bubbles] almost demands that stocks and housing crest together, in twin peaks of wild, heedless euphoria.

         Currently we’re right at the flashover point where rank envy of our peers’ fat, unjustified profits from asset inflation provokes a collective wail — “WAIT FOR ME-E-E-E-E!!!!” — sending Bubble III on its final parabolic rocket ride into Nightfall.

         Didn’t Trump say “It’s glorious to be rich”? One forgets … but it don’t matter.
      3. clinical wasteman April 25, 2017 at 4:51 pm

         In a perfect world — or even a far from perfect one like Cuba until lately or some of the self-organized South African ‘shack settlements’ [http://abahlali.org/] — zero. Or in an even partly functional ‘social democracy’ in a world center of capital accumulation, no-one in that income bracket or below should ever have to think about ownership (or hyperindebted ‘ownership’.) This has worked in various ways in various places, but it wasn’t a figment of anyone’s imagination. Two very different examples that I’ve witnessed personally: in the UK until around the time I arrived (mid 1990s, but the breakdown started with Thatcher’s selloff of housing to its tenants from 1979 or ’80), you would have had to wait on a list for a while, maybe a few years, but as a low-to-moderate-income working person you would eventually be offered permanent tenancy at a rent fixed way below ‘market’ levels then, let alone now, in a small but not squalid apartment somewhere near where you already lived. (Subsequent systematic running-down of these buildings is another matter.) This system also kept private rents for those waiting relatively low. Much lower, though, were those in Montreal around the same time, where a universal system of severe rent controls had been applied to the private sector for decades and the standard of housing available to ordinary people (or sub-ordinary in all senses like me and my friends there) was unlike anything I’ve seen in a mid-size or bigger city before or since. Because the power — or at least a reasonable amount of it — was on the tenants’ side, landlords were sometimes even somewhat civil. They were still getting their money after all, they just weren’t tormented by the thought that they might get 10 times as much from someone else, or at least not without selling up and buying into the Manhattan East Village theme park, which at the time was what London, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Auckland and Sydney are today in terms of ‘lifestyle’ pricing for housing.
   4. ewmayer April 25, 2017 at 8:40 pm

      Here in NoCal where I live in the heart of Apple-bubble country, Cupertino, on my way in the door of my [shared 2-BR] apartment just now I pulled a stiff, glossy 6″ x 12″ advert from one of our local Realtor™s out of the mailbox. The flyer features a photo of said realtor, the quite-fetching Ms. Annie Liou, whose named is rendered in both English and Chinese characters, above a list of around 20 recently-sold local homes, listed in descending price order. Top item is a 3,730-ft^2 6-br 4|1-bath home on a 10,450-ft^2 lot: ask $2.998M, sold for $3.15M, days on market: 8. Bottom item is a 1,142-ft^2 2-br 2-bath home on a 1,440-ft^2 lot: ask $1.098M, sold at same, days on market: 7.

      Things are even wilder a few miles north on the peninsula in Palo Alto, to say nothing of tony elite enclaves like Atherton and Menlo Park, the epicenter of NoCal Dem-establishment-fundraising, which are strictly in the “if you have to ask about the price…” category.
      1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 2:28 am

         > the epicenter of NoCal Dem-establishment-fundraising

         I wish I had a map of Ossoff’s California money by zip… Though Bay Area contributions were significant.
   5. Tom Stone April 25, 2017 at 8:40 pm

      Jim, I’m a Real Estate Broker in the Wine Country and this market reminds me of 2005.
      And I’m not the only one who sees this as a top, it’s a view shared by every honest Realtor I know who has a lick of sense.
      I don’t expect the correction to be as severe in Sonoma County this time, but 30% over the next 3-4 years wouldn’t surprise me at all. It was 50% in the last go around…it’s time to shear the next quintile.
      1. Jim Haygood April 25, 2017 at 8:54 pm

         Interesting; thanks.

         In 2005, someone shared with me his retirement plan: since his house was going up $100K a year, his plan was simply to do a cash-out refi every year and have a $100K income for life. Sweet and simple!

         Whether it’s 2003 or 2005 in analogous year terms may depend on whether true belief in permanent property appreciation once again leads to 125% LTV, no income verification mortgages.

         As ol’ P. T. Barnum used to say, “This way to the egress!“
      2. Renter April 25, 2017 at 11:45 pm

         Here in Chicagoland, housing prices have been increasing rapidly sice 2012. Since 2015, the norm has been multiple offers on decent properties. The number of offers per property have increased month over month. Now there are often more than 10 offers for the same property. More cash offers with no contingencies, including no appraisal, are becoming more common. A local banker conceded that laundered money is, in part, fueling the action. Real estate agent describes current resale market as crazy and says it is telling that the market for mortgage reselling is shrinking as prices escalate. Same agent told me that an investor she knows rents 80 single family residences in a luxury suburb, Wilmette. Definitely a supply vs demand problem as facilitated by the elites. Buyer fatigue here in the midwest.
         1. andyb April 26, 2017 at 3:10 pm

            Ah! Chicago. Where the annual property tax will soon be equal to the yearly 80% LTV mortgage cost. It’s all about the unfunded pension liabilities, dontcha know.
   6. vidimi April 26, 2017 at 6:30 am

      i think we are heading towards the greatest destruction of wealth ever seen. all we need is for trump to drop one of the many matches he has lit to ignite the conflagration.
3. gsinbe April 25, 2017 at 2:25 pm

   In addition to the cited good qualities of dandelions, they are a great source of nectar/pollen for bumblebees, other natives, and occasionally honeybees at a time when there’s not a whole lot else in bloom. The leaves can be boiled and eaten as a green (maybe not too regularly, though) – they’re pretty mild in flavor, or added to salads. The flowers can be used to make a tea, but you’ll have to use a lot to get any flavor.

   For an exotic species, one of my favorites…
   1. jo6pac April 25, 2017 at 2:46 pm

      I bought some seeds this year for just that purpose salads and tea.
   2. Marley's dad April 25, 2017 at 3:29 pm

      One of my aunts used to make dandelion wine that was very good. Don’t know what part she used.
      1. cm April 25, 2017 at 4:04 pm

         The flowers are used for wine. The root can be used for tea.
   3. HotFlash April 25, 2017 at 3:53 pm

      Four or five dandelion leaves furnish the green stuff in my morning miso and tofu soup, plus a couple of flowers for pretty, season permitting. Right now I am only getting a few small leaves, so I am filling in with daylily shoots. In the winter I use microgreens (don’t need much space or light) and in a pinch, boughten baby bok choi. I keep a row of dandelion plants in my front yard garden — my neighbour said, wonderingly, “I’ve never seen anybody transplant dandelions before.”

      I gather the flower heads for salad garnish and wine (takes two years or more to clear, but worth it) and the buds are a nice nutty texture in pasta sauces. The roots, roasted and ground, make a cocoa-like beverage, but it’s a lot of work if you only have a few roots, and I like them better as greens.

      So, Lambert, if you really want to show those dandelions who is boss, eat ’em.

      BTW, you have any purslane or chickweed?Edible, tasty, nourishing and *free*.
      1. jo6pac April 25, 2017 at 5:22 pm

         So, Lambert, if you really want to show those dandelions who is boss, eat ’em.

         Thanks for todays LOL
   4. DJG April 25, 2017 at 3:58 pm

      Dandelions are good in early spring as a kind of tonic for the body. Good on their own. Tasty chopped up and cooked with rice.

      See Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray for some dandelion ideas. She insists that these early-spring greens are good for sprucing up the liver and other internal organs after the rigors of winter.

      And then later in the season there’s purslane, which grows out of the cracks in the sidewalks in Chicago.
      1. Annotherone April 25, 2017 at 5:44 pm

         Reading these comments brought to mind something my grandparents (back in England) used to tell me when I was very young: “You mustn’t pick or smell a dandelion or you’ll pee the bed”.

         I’ve Google-searched and found that there’s some basis for this – not quite, but near:
         “BOTH NAMES for this plant are descriptive of its properties. Dandelion = dent de lion (French for lion’s tooth) i.e. the jagged leaves; and piss-in-the-bed (the same in French, too: pissenlit) on account of its diuretic effects when eaten.”
         ~Roger Townsend (rtownsend@btinternet.com),
         More here:
         https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2265,00.html
   5. RUKidding April 25, 2017 at 6:12 pm

      In Ye Olden Days of Yore, my grannie used to pick dandelion leaves and make a great and tasty salad with them. Sometimes she made a hot bacon dressing for them. I think you can still find dandelion salad with hot bacon dressing in some restaurants in Amish Country in eastern PA.

      Yummy and nutricious. Weeds are often very nutricious, but it helps to know which ones to pick and how to prepare them.
      1. Oregoncharles April 26, 2017 at 12:35 am

         Don’t mistake water hemlock for parsley.
4. allan April 25, 2017 at 2:38 pm

   Orrin Hatch Says He Can Accept Temporary Tax Cuts That Raise Deficit [NYT]

   The powerful chairman of the Senate finance committee said Tuesday he was prepared to support President Trump’s plan to cut corporate tax rates to 15 percent even if it added to the budget deficit.

   Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the Republican finance committee chairman, is a critical voice on tax issues in Congress and support from him could make the difference in whether members of Congress fall in line and support the president’s proposal.

   Republicans in Congress have generally been against tax cuts that add to the deficit. …

   File under Our Famously Free Press Will Write Beat Sweeteners for Cash.
   1. RUKidding April 25, 2017 at 3:36 pm

      Hatch is more than willing to accept HIS CUT of the tax cuts for corporations that will raise the deficit.

      Hatch will ensure that he gets HIS. Screw the nation, screw “his” state, screw everyone and everything except for himself.

      Isn’t that the “law” in Wash DC these days??

      Thanks, Trump!
   2. Jim Haygood April 25, 2017 at 4:04 pm

      Let’s win one for the Gipper! Oh wait, his budget director David Stockman disagrees:

      Owing to the Fed’s systematic falsification of financial asset prices for three decades now, households at the top of the economic ladder have reaped enormous windfall gains on their business and investment endeavors. They have had all the “incentives” imaginable to swing for the fences.

      At the same time, such a huge share of the work force has been excused from the Federal income tax that little labor is being withheld from production on account of personal income tax rates, if any at all. The Donald can pretend to “pivot” all he wants, but it will be to no avail because Democrats become deficit hawks whenever there is a Republican in the White House.

      The Donald’s most recent tax plan will be DBA (dead before arrival) before even the vaunted 100 Day mark has been reached. And, besides, it would be an absolute fiscal disaster if by some miracle it were actually enacted into law.

      http://davidstockmanscontracorner.com/the-biggest-tax-cut-ever-some-lessons-for-the-donald-part-2/

      Erm, I dunno, Dave. As the old joke goes, we all know what they are; now it’s just a question of price. With OPM [Other Peoples Money[, why can’t enough votes be purchased to push this through?
      1. MyLessThanPrimeBeef April 25, 2017 at 5:20 pm

         This part is interesting:

         The Donald can pretend to “pivot” all he wants, but it will be to no avail because Democrats become deficit hawks whenever there is a Republican in the White House.

         Interesting because the same polar reversal occurs to Republicans as well.

         Sound tools like fiscal deficit spending and taxation become ulterior-motive instruments. Conflict of interest there? On top of that, the hypocrisy of looking only at Trump’s conflicts of interest.
5. sixpacksongs April 25, 2017 at 2:54 pm

   Dean Baker helps Noah Smith crack his labor share of GDP mystery
   1. Uahsenaa April 25, 2017 at 4:58 pm

      Noah and I were in grad school at the same time at Michigan (different programs, though). He is not a terribly creative thinker.
   2. Oregoncharles April 26, 2017 at 12:59 am

      I took a look at the graph. The highest point is in 1980. After that there’s a net downward trend; most obvious if you look at the valleys. Even the peak in 1999 is below 1980’s.

      As another commenter there said, the net decline looks like about 3%. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but it’s a large portion of the peak-to-valley range and, as he says, a big hit to people’s incomes – maybe enough to explain the stagnant economy.

      Although I think the root cause is resource restraints. That turns the economy back into a zero-sum game, which explains the predacious behavior.
   3. Marco April 26, 2017 at 6:46 am

      Went to the comment thread there and saw the argument break out about what is “Labor” and what is “Capital”. Dean’s response:

      “…you’re welcome to develop your own definitions of labor and capital income. I am using the standard ones used by the statistical agencies”

      juat a layperson here but isn’t that part of the problem of economists waving away obvious widespread hardship with a “la-la-la I can’t HEAR you” attitude? Is the economics profession so warped or obtuse that there can be confusion over basic foundational concepts like how to define labor and capital?
6. MyLessThanPrimeBeef April 25, 2017 at 2:57 pm

   Structure for the DNA published in 1953.

   I have a story to tell.

   I understand the idea of the DNA structure came while the discoverers were feasting on Rotini spaghetti on a spiral staircase.

   “As above, so below. A human fetus journeys through our evolutionary story. It’s a fractal world.”
7. Reify99 April 25, 2017 at 3:01 pm

   Are Wisconsin and Pennsylvania changing color?

   I think it has more to do with whether one colors within the lines, er, moves the lines or not. The fight against Repub gerrymandering in Wisconsin is statistically based which indicates it might have a chance at the SCOTUS. Justice Kennedy has said he’d be interested in looking at the issue if there was rigorous evidence.
   http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN13H0SV

   https://thinkprogress.org/one-of-the-biggest-legal-guns-in-the-country-is-coming-for-partisan-gerrymandering-4e6d3a0385fe
   1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 25, 2017 at 3:54 pm

      The fight against Republican gerrymandering should have started in 2000, after Jebbie tried to steal Florida using the felon’s list, and Scalia selected the President. Voter registration should have been a core party function, and the base should have been expanded.* The billion bucks Clinton flushed down the crapper of her campaign, for example, would have bought a lot of people IDs who didn’t have them. So, instead, and as so often, Democrats rely not on a democratic process but on the courts, which their base of meritocratic professionals loves.

      * Of course, that would raise awkward questions, like what the Democrats would actually deliver for them.
      1. PhilM April 25, 2017 at 5:21 pm

         Why is gerrymandering even worth your attention? Are we not all agreed that the pyramid is so acute that gerrymandering is nothing more than intra-class squabbling among the corporations who run Washington DC, and therefore the empire?

         That’s actually not sarcasm; it is a serious question. Why does anything about the dumb-show of the so-called “federal” elections matter except to that small set of corporate clients who profit by having their government-based patron win? Surely that is nobody here?
         1. Marina Bart April 25, 2017 at 8:10 pm

            That was my first thought, as well.

            The Democrats demonstrably want to select the voting pool just as much as the Republicans do; they merely use different metrics and mechanisms to do it.

            They literally gave away their governing power throughout Obama’s administration. Hillary was demonstrably trying to gain the presidency while ensuring she’d have a Republican Congress. This gift to the Republicans facilitated a lot of the gerrymandering. So does the Democratic policy preference for colonizing the interior and only supporting certain industries in certain concentrated locations via direct delivery of fiat currency. That’s also going to concentrate voters both by attracting more people inclined to back the party to those limited urban areas, and drive voters unable or unwilling to move to those limited urban areas away from voting for that party, which does nothing for them.

            And then there’s the problem of Dems refusing to allow non-corporatists to run for Congress and block them from funding and support if they win the primary.

            I realize gerrymandering is bad, but it doesn’t seem like the first, second, or even third thing to worry about right now — if you’re a leftist who wants leftward change.
            1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 2:48 am

               > They literally gave away their governing power throughout Obama’s administration

               One of the goals of the 2008 Democrat platform was to restore the Republican party as an interlocutor; Obama’s faction wrote that into the preamble using this language:

               “A great nation now demands that its leaders abandon the politics of partisan division and find creative solutions to promote the common good. A people that prizes candor, accountability and fairness insists that a government for the people must level with them and champion the interests of all American families. A land of historic resourcefulness has lost its patience with elected officials who have failed to lead.”
               1. Marina Bart April 26, 2017 at 2:58 am

                  Man, that is painful to read.

                  I interpreted all that verbiage very differently back then.
               2. PhilM April 27, 2017 at 9:32 am

                  When I go to hell, I will hear a sound track consisting of presidential speeches since 1964.
         2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 2:37 am

            > Why is gerrymandering even worth your attention?

            Mr. Information always answers questions.

            > Why does anything about the dumb-show of the so-called “federal” elections matter…

            So far as I can tell, it’s the only way forward (even if it’s an ugly way). When you think about it, it’s rather remarkable at the most popular active politician in America is an avowed Socialist. That’s a good start for more serious efforts.
      2. Reify99 April 25, 2017 at 8:00 pm

         Agreed about the democrats. In the 2016 races, the WI democrat party did not allow “Insurgents”, (their word), running against incumbents, like Monsanto democrat, Ron kind, to have access to the voters’ info. A bunch of Debbie Wasserman Schultz protégés. They need to be run out of town.

         But whatever party rises to fight needs a deck that isn’t stacked. They will rise and fight within the same district footprints.

         Incumbents in 40% of Wisconsin state races are running unopposed.

         http://wisconsingazette.com/2016/06/09/40-percent-of-state-uncompetitive-due-to-gerrymandering/
   2. Gareth April 25, 2017 at 6:18 pm

      The Democrat party in Wisconsin is pretty much an empty shell right now. Even if they win the gerrymandering lawsuit the odds of taking back the assembly are low. They are also having a difficult time finding someone of substance to challenge Walker. The problem is that prospective candidates are finding there isn’t much of a party organization to back them up. They sure could use that money that the Hillary Victory Fund sucked out of the state under false pretenses. I’m afraid they will revert to the time worn tactic of nominating a millionaire who can self fund, although a progressive populist would do quite well. Anyone?
      1. John k April 25, 2017 at 10:18 pm

         Unfortunately a wealthy progressive seems to be a contradiction of terms. I think the opportunities for progressive candidates are huge, though a modest amount of money helps… Townsend couldn’t scrape up 20k for a mailer.

         Seems progressive candidates should memorize and deliver Bernie’s stump speech… is anybody doing that? Why not? Is it patented?
      2. Stillfeelinthebern April 26, 2017 at 12:23 am

         There is a progressive populist. Mike McCabe, founder of blue jean nation. He could give Walker a real run. He would ignite the grassroots activists in Wisconsin. He is well respected. If he runs, it will mean a whole new era.
         1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 2:50 am

            More on McCabe. Any Wisconsin commenters care to share their views?
            1. Left in Wisconsin April 26, 2017 at 1:36 pm

               I’m late to this party. Mike McCabe is very good guy with what I would call “good guy” politics. He was one of the first to call out the Wisconsin Dems for not having a rural strategy. That said, I think he is super-naive in that he doesn’t really have a class analysis or economic program at all. OTOH, his approach to politics is very similar to the complaints one often hears about politics in Wisco: no one looking out for the little guy, the only ones who benefit are the ones with connections, etc. So perhaps a campaign based on such would resonate.

               McCabe is now involved with Our Wisconsin Revolution, the Wisconsin branch of the post-Bernie “keep hope alive” effort. It would not at all surprise me if he turns out to be the OWR candidate for Gov. In fact, the more I think about it, I think I will be surprised if he isn’t. One thing his (former?) outfit, Blue Jean Nation, allowed him to do is spend a year or two traveling the state. But I’m not sure he won’t get trounced by some personal injury lawyer in a Democratic primary.
8. jsn April 25, 2017 at 3:20 pm

   Like Matt Yglesias, I started following Noah Smith when he began blogging right out of school.

   Like Matt, I’ve watched him grow blinder and blinder to simple obvious realities as the lures of finance journalism draw him down their remunerative sewer.
9. Eureka Springs April 25, 2017 at 3:32 pm

   Banning a Medicare For All banner… Seriously?

   I’m sooo Green.
   1. tegnost April 25, 2017 at 4:44 pm

      clearly the dem party plans to die on that hill…
      1. John k April 25, 2017 at 10:09 pm

         I’d settle for it dying on any hill.
         1. Marina Bart April 26, 2017 at 2:36 am

            Yes, please.

            I have a birthday coming up…
   2. clarky90 April 25, 2017 at 5:42 pm

      All of our precursors dodged the “Serpentine Ramp” that meanders “peacefully” to the killing floor.

      Looking at modern genocides, there is some commonality. (1) Marginalize the target (Deplorables, Yids, Kulaks…), (2) confiscate their homes. (3) Raise tax rates to 100%. (Report to the town square, with ALL of your valuables, for transport, by railroad, to your new homes in the East). (4) The now docile, targeted group is then killed by bullet (Nazis, Soviets), gas (Nazis, Soviets), freezing (Nazis, Soviets), starvation (Nazis, Soviets), alcohol poisoning (Soviets, USA), drug abuse (Nazis, USA), absence of basic medical care (every murderous maniac does this), absence of basic public health (clean water etc)

      IF 50% of us will get cancer at one point in our lives, AND we are members of families and extended families that number in the tens or even hundreds, THEN every single one of us is going to repeatedly face the dilemma of a child, parent, sibling … with cancer, or an infection, or a catastrophic injury or even intestinal parasites. If a simple drug that costs $5 in the UK, costs $850 in the USA……. and helps, primarily, children? This is intentional genocide…….

      https://www.ft.com/content/f0080fe4-c3ad-11e6-9bca-2b93a6856354

      (A simple order halting noncompetitive behavior could fix this, but NOTHING)

      This is not “market driven”, but, rather this is 100% taxation. This is exactly how Stalin killed millions in the Ukraine in the early 1930s.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Spikelets

      I am watching, from afar, this American Genocide unfold before my eyes. It seems that it has been so incremental that Americans do not fully grok what is being done to them. Even the very wealthy could not survive a few cases of protracted illness/injury in their families, without losing everything. Only the 1% and their agents are immune.

      During the Holodomor, the “tax collectors”, feasted. Much of the collected grain rotted. It was left in guarded piles, exposed the rain and rats.
10. Altandmain April 25, 2017 at 3:39 pm

    Interesting, but not surprising, apparently Clinton endorsed anti-abortion activists:
    https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/clinton-feminists-ignore-hillarys-endorsements-of.html

    Goes to show that they are willing to sacrifice their social issues to oppose Sanders.

    Nathan Robinson on Bush – he belongs in jail:
    https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/04/i-dont-care-how-good-his-paintings-are-he-still-belongs-in-prison

    Pretty much nails it. Cut the fluff and social issues. These people belong in jail.
    1. shinola April 25, 2017 at 4:37 pm

       Thanks for the links Alt.

       Nathan Robinson’s rant absolutely nails it! I would suggest that anyone who might be taking med’s for high blood pressure avoid reading the article.
       1. Altandmain April 25, 2017 at 5:22 pm

          Yep. What’s sad is that the Clinton Liberals have rehabilitated George W. Bush. The man ought to be locked up. Cut the useless fluff like his painting skills. The man went to war for dishonest reasons and played a big part in crashing the US economy.

          As far as Clinton’s “feminists”, there’s a solid rebuttal:
          https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2017/04/a-feminist-millennial-explains-feminism-to-a-femin.html
          1. RabidGandhi April 25, 2017 at 5:33 pm

             After publicly fornicating with war criminal Henry Kissinger, is smooching GWB really that far of a stretch?
          2. JustAnObserver April 25, 2017 at 7:49 pm

             IIRC there was some kind of trial rehabilitation of Dick “Darker than the deepest black” Cheney. Seems even the deaf dumb and blind, bought and paid for, Clintonoids realised that was a smooch too far.
          3. polecat April 25, 2017 at 9:54 pm

             The Dishonorable Nancy Pelosi should be thrown in the stammer, with George, and Hillary as well, as cell mates … they all deserve each other !

             2 despicable women …. and a punk, enter

             No one leaves
    2. Ptolemy Philopater April 26, 2017 at 2:20 am

       Until there are war crimes trials, this country, the world, cannot “move on”. Until these people, and I include Bill and Hillary Clinton, Barry Obama, George Tenent, Judith Miller, David Ignatius etc etc are tried and executed there can be no justice, no morality and the whole world is indicted for their crimes.

       This is no joking matter. The murderers and assassins are starting to feel the rage of the world’s peoples, they are getting nervous, their crimes are being exposed, hence the George W. Bush hagiography. They know their time is coming and are desperately trying to deflect justice, but justice must be done or we cannot call ourselves civilized beings and place ourselves above animals, “red in tooth and claw”.
11. Tim April 25, 2017 at 3:45 pm

    For the foreseeable future, Level 3 appears to be the most realistic objective for industry and regulators to focus on. At that level, drivers can, at their discretion, turn over control of all safety-critical functions under certain traffic or environmental conditions. However, drivers are expected to remain in the vehicle and to be ready to take over its operation if necessary.”

    Psychologists have proven this is not a reasonable expectation. Therefore if we continue to proceed down this path it is clear that the desired outcome is not safety, but consumer convenience and 100%shifting of liability from the automakers to the individual.
    1. Disturbed Voter April 25, 2017 at 10:50 pm

       The whole point is to enslave, and shift responsibility. The ruling class has always been psychotic and malicious.

       I have studied AI, and know what a fraud it is. I will die before anyone puts me in an autonomous cattle car to Auschwitz.
       1. different clue April 26, 2017 at 2:10 am

          And I, in the meantime, will walk or bicycle or take the human-driven bus or take the human-driven train before anyone puts me in an autonomous cattle car to Auschwitz.
    2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 2:58 am

       > be ready to take over

       So, the human has to be attentive at all times without actually doing anything (like driving). For hours at a time, whether on a commute, or a long haul.

       That doesn’t seem like the greatest design choice from a usability engineering standpoint. For example, with trains:

       “There are a number of hypotheses that can be made on why conductors or engineers are indulging in texting on duty : mental underload if the tasks are too repetitive and boring can push operators to look for outside stimuli, isolation can also push the operators to search for contact, excessive confidence can lure operators to think they can divide their attention successfully. […]

       In our view simply banning cellphones from train operations does not resolve the issue of safety and attention. Cell phone usage on duty, should alert us to the fact that isolation, long shifts, repetitive tasks are not sustainable and that they have serious consequences on operators’ alertness, vigilance and safety.”
12. LT April 25, 2017 at 3:46 pm

    Re: Trade

    Hopefully, this can be a beginning of driving a stake through the heart of the hysterical meme “anti-trade” – applied to anyone who questions, dislikes, or suggests an alternative to current global trade policies.
    Other than that, the devil’s in the details.
    1. RabidGandhi April 25, 2017 at 6:11 pm

       Can you be more specific? If you’re referring to the Politico article, I read it as saying “Trump and Mexican Officials looking for way to turn NAFTA (eg “modernizing*” and “an opportunity* to address e-commerce and digital economy”) into the TPP and then sell it to their respective constituencies as improvements”.

       Even stakes don’t work with these ones, you have to kill them with fire; and El Donaldo ain’t no tinderbox.

       *BS tells
13. lyman alpha blob April 25, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    Thanks for more Nina Illingworth – she’s spot on again.

    Mother Jones is another that has gone way downhill. Kevin Drum’s articles during the campaign were absolutely puke-worthy in their fawning over Clinton and disparaging about the only current politician Mother Jones might have actually favored.

    I remember reading the actual magazine back in the day. Her slogan “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living” used to be featured prominently on the cover – go to their website now and it’s nowhere to be found.

    No more fight – just watered down neoliberal pablum is all that remains. I would have said “is all that’s left” but there’s nothing left about the current incarnation of the once proud publication.
    1. JustAnObserver April 25, 2017 at 4:57 pm

       Personally, in a huge wealth of choices, I think this one line has me cheering in my seat:

       “ … like a lawn sprinkler hooked up to a septic tank – once Jeffrey starts firing off trash-fire tweets; it’s only a matter of time before everyone in the immediate area is covered in pure, unadulterated bullshit.”

       Priceless.
    2. robnume April 25, 2017 at 9:27 pm

       Damn right, lyman alpha blob. I got rid of “The Nation,” as well as MJ for those very reasons. And the formerly great blog “The Smirking Chimp.”
14. Anonymous April 25, 2017 at 4:19 pm

    We are about to go to war with North Korea and you lead with trade????
    Really???
    1. tegnost April 25, 2017 at 4:49 pm

       went to the major local rag to see if there is something I’m missing re war with korea and there’s nothing there, do you have some info that no one else has? I think water cooler has been leading with trade for quite a while, but I could be mistaken…
    2. RabidGandhi April 25, 2017 at 5:39 pm

       Well, the Grey Lady’s doing her part as usual:
       Dwindling Time for U.S. Action as North Korea Hoards Bombs
       1. Massinissa April 25, 2017 at 8:35 pm

          OH NO THEYRE HOARDING BOMBS! Like they have been doing since the 1950s!!!

          QUICK LETS ALL PANIC! /sarcasm

          Grey Lady is so facepalm now…
       2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:06 am

          I’ve gotten to the point where the first thing I look for are the weasel words and the sourcing. Here are the first two paragraphs from the Times story:

          Behind the Trump administration’s sudden urgency in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis lies a stark calculus: a growing body of expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude the country is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks.

          That acceleration in pace — impossible to verify until experts get beyond the limited access to North Korean facilities that ended years ago — explains why President Trump and his aides fear they are running out of time.

          It’s certainly odd that no sources from the administration are cited, either. Who exactly is feeling this “sudden urgency” and “fear”? Nobody quoted, in fact no sourcing at all.

          Not to say there’s no problem, but (the usual) warmongering garbage from the Times doesn’t help.
    3. Huey Long April 25, 2017 at 5:48 pm

       We’re not about to go to war with NK for a wide variety of reasons including:

       1. They’re in possession of nuclear weapons. This means they can wipe out Seoul, RoK/US bases, a CBG, you name it. I don’t see the DPRK wasting a nuke on Japan/Okinawa/HI though, as their ballistic missile tech just doesn’t seem to be there yet.

       2. They have a functioning, if antiquated, air defense network, in mountainous terrain, which will give us fits if operated even somewhat competently. Remember kids, even ancient tech like SA-2 SAMS can take out slow prop driven drones.

       3. They have a large enough army and enough ammunition and fuel stockpiled to, in concert with the RoK’s massive army, turn the entire Korean peninsula into an unmitigated humanitarian disaster.

       4. They possess enough submarines, mines, and anti-shipping missiles to keep USN amphibious assets far off shore, although I’m fairly certain they’d have a difficult time attacking a CBG. The logistics train of a CBG is a different story however.

       5. China has no desire to have the Korean peninsula united under the RoK government, now nuclear armed following their conquest of the north.

       6. The US does not want a nuclear armed RoK (see 5).

       7. The RoK does not want to undergo “Die Wende” in the north, especially on its own dime. Inner reunification is a whole ‘nother ball game entirely, which I foresee as being very difficult considering how isolated the North has been since the 50’s and how westernized the South has become over the same time period.

       So yeah, don’t expect the Korea situation to heat up anytime soon, and if I’m wrong I can assure you that a US victory will be Pyrrhic. North Korea is just the hobgoblin du jure, to scare the masses and divert their attention from elsewhere, namely our operations in the Middle East and North Africa.
    4. Darius April 25, 2017 at 6:07 pm

       Read the site much? Really???
    5. Massinissa April 25, 2017 at 8:34 pm

       This is an economic website. We talk about economics here.
       1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:07 am

          Well, economics includes a concept called “political risk.” And there seems to be rather a lot of that about, right now.
    6. Ptolemy Philopater April 26, 2017 at 2:49 am

       There will be no war in Korea or invasion of Syria. The corruption of the Military Industrial Complex is all show and no muscle. The Russian Air Force can fly rings around the F-35. Of the 50 or so Cruise Missiles fired into Syria only 14 hit! If the US instigates mass murder on the Korean peninsula again, game over for the American hegemon. The US is great at murdering innocent women and children, but a determined army, forget it.

       This is all a dog and pony show for domestic consumption. The lower Trumpenstien’s polls go the more he will bluster and bellow, but when all is said and done the US will be shown to be a toothless tiger. Korea is not a former US client with a demoralized army as was Iraq. Korea has once before been drowned in a sea of blood by our blood thirsty politicians. The Koreans are determined that this will never happen again. They are motivated by a deeply held desire for revenge. Hell, we’ve been in Afghanistan for 15 years and haven’t been able to defeat the rag tag Taliban.

       US politicians have a history of murder to impress their subjects, as in Bill Clinton rushing to Arkansas to murder a mentally challenged man child, the Roman circus in Arkansas today. Your not considered a serious politician in this country unless you can kill. One must prove their psychopathic credentials to get elected in this country.
       1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:10 am

          It would have been really nice if the response by the political class, Democrats included, to Trump’s Syrian strike hadn’t been adulatory.
       2. fajensen April 27, 2017 at 4:21 am

          Your not considered a serious politician in this country unless you can kill.

          I could sort-of go along with the utility of that concept if these “serious politicians” would dare to pick up a sword, axe, rapier or perhaps the spear and put some of their own skin in the game against an equally equipped opponent.

          Murdering by Proxy requires Zero “balls”, just a solid disconnect between action and consequence that anyone living in the sheltered 1% lala-bubble-land can quite easily achieve.

          That is another way that “the rich” are different: For normal people we may employ specialists in white lab coats to reconnect them with reality when they “loose it”, but, in the case of our “leadership” “we” instead pay for media, analysts, consultants and communication experts to maintain and enforce the disconnect so “rational decisions” can be made.

          Our collective leadership is clinically insane, I.O.W. Psychotic, basically. Why would a psychotic not attack North Korea should The Voices demand it!?
    7. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:00 am

       You must be a new reader; there’s a structure, a template, and Trade comes first. North Korea was given plenty of coverage (by me) in Links this morning. Go there. Or farther away.
15. ChrisAtRU April 25, 2017 at 4:20 pm

    The Bernie & Garfunkel Tour – Avian Update!

    But is that why Perez was there?

    No.
16. cripes April 25, 2017 at 4:53 pm

    Here’s a couple of stray thoughts:

    I keep reading about how it’s the creative, educated liberal class that populates the coasts and gentrifies inner cities, displacing those destructive (un-creative?), illiberal, RACIST, lower income types…

    But, like Bernie Bros, fake Russian news, Sarin Gas Attacks, Disruption and 9/11, is any of this true?

    First, I’ll venture that plenty of college-educated types are debt saddled and working in lower wage jobs; once I read a million MA’s and Phd’s are collecting food stamps, probably higher now…so maybe it’s not education that’s the key, it’s privilege, of which education is just a single cog.

    But that doesn’t play as well in the Atlantic or the NYT.

    As for diversity, which the rarefied liberal elites exhort us to practice in out daily lives, anyone care to venture what percentage of $100,000 plus zip codes are diverse, and what percentage of $30,000 zip codes are diverse? Maids don’t count.

    Living on the LES answered that one for me, or Amsterdam Ave compared to Riverside Drive.

    I wonder what the actual rates of racial intermarriage are within various incomes quintiles, but my interracial partner and I are too busy working low paid jobs and staying one step ahead of condo conversions to sift through the census data right now.

    Maybe one of the educated creatives with plenty of spare time can bang out some snazzy graphs for me.

    These are the same shits that forced school busing on low income blacks and whites and tsked-tsked from their penthouses at the predictable mess that ensued.

    “White liberals are (like) foxes, who also show their teeth to the Negro but pretend that they are smiling. The white liberals are more dangerous than the conservatives”

    –Malcolm X
    1. JustAnObserver April 25, 2017 at 5:03 pm

       Back then we had Malcom X, now we get Deray “Taco Bell” Mckesson.
       1. PhilM April 25, 2017 at 5:26 pm

          Don’t forget Marvel’s new Captain America. He’s diverse. That ought to teach the racists a lesson they won’t soon forget.
          1. cripes April 25, 2017 at 6:24 pm

             PhilM:

             You’re right.

             Oddly, the first volume, “Truth: Red, White And Black” was inspired by the Tuskegee experiments. I was high school friends with the writer, Bob Morales, who passed away in 2013. He was a scathing critic of liberal BS.
          2. Massinissa April 25, 2017 at 8:33 pm

             To be fair Phil, Sam Wilson was Cap’s sidekick-of-sorts for years back in the 60s and 70s. Was the first African American superhero, actually (Not the first black one: Black Panther did that, but hes an African native). So its exactly the same as some of the other ‘diverse’ superheroes they are pushing down peoples throats right now.

             Oh yeah, and Sam isn’t the first person to take up the mantle of Cap from Steve. When Steve Rogers ‘died’ for like a year and a half, Hawkeye took up the mantle temporarily.
          3. fajensen April 27, 2017 at 4:26 am

             “Guardians of the Galaxy” is way more diverse. And fun too.
    2. jo6pac April 25, 2017 at 5:27 pm

       Thanks for the quote by Malcolm X
    3. Huey Long April 25, 2017 at 6:08 pm

       maybe it’s not education that’s the key, it’s privilege, of which education is just a single cog.

       It was never about education; it was and still is all about social class. Education is but one of many class markers, including where you buy your clothes, what clothes you wear, how you talk, what your parents do for a living, where they went to school, what clubs they’re members of (country or otherwise), if you “summer” and if so where and with whom, etc.

       The narrative of “Work hard, get an education, and class ascendancy is yours for the taking” is something concocted by Madison avenue to keep those of us on the bottom chasing our tails.

       Or as the late, great, George Carlin would say:

       “It’s a big club and you ain’t in it”
    4. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:11 am

       > plenty of college-educated types are debt saddled

       I would bet the distribution of winners and losers from credential acquistion is not a bell curve, but a power curve. It’s the few “winners” that cause the problems…
17. Plenue April 25, 2017 at 5:32 pm

    Regarding the Jimmy Dore video from the SallyTomatoPi tweet. Dore has been really good of late on drawing attention to just how much nothing the Democrats have to offer. Yves has said pretty regularly that that Obama’s solution to every problem is better propaganda. Now the Democrats have made that explicit: they won’t stop talking about how they need ‘better messaging’. Certainly it’s good to have messaging; you need to inform the public about what your stance on issues is. But the Dems have nothing to message, other than vague platitudes. “Lead with our values”. But they have no values (or at least no values they want to advertise). It’s not even really trying to put lipstick on a pig, or polishing a turd. The Democrats have no pig or turd to begin with.
    1. Adamski April 25, 2017 at 7:37 pm

       And a higer percentage of voters think the party is out of touch now than before the election. The “resist” message and TrumpRussia is not working.
    2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:12 am

       On Democrat values and Obama’s $400K: “Now we’re just talking about price.” ‘

       I wonder if he’ll end up donating it to charity, or to the Obama Foundation, or whether he’ll brazen it out?
18. Grumpy Engineer April 25, 2017 at 5:35 pm

    Boiling frogs, indeed. De-cashing is a terrible idea, and it will hurt the poor far more than it will hurt the rich. After all, it’s wealthy people who walk around with multiple credit cards and a payment-enabled smart phone all the time. But what will happen to the poor person who can’t even scrape up a photo ID for voting purposes? Who doesn’t even have a bank account? How the heck are they supposed to obtain the credit/debit cards and smart phone necessary to navigate a cashless society?

    Virtually every argument that applies to votor ID laws applies to de-cashing. Except this time the risk isn’t “mere” disenfranchisement. It could end with *homelessness* if the inability to pay bills is severe enough.
    1. Allegorio April 26, 2017 at 3:10 am

       What do you want to bet that as soon as society becomes cashless, negative interest rates will proliferate!
    2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:17 am

       > will happen to the poor person who can’t even scrape up a photo ID for voting purposes

       Your question is answered by Rule #2 of Neoliberalism.
19. Jason Boxman April 25, 2017 at 5:41 pm

    Unless something has changed in the past few years, that staff of 10,000 is comprised of contractors who must review search query results and are allocated about 60 seconds per query. Those that can’t keep up the pace obviously aren’t kept on. So the hourly wage in practice can be broken down as a payment per query reviewed. From what I saw, it’s a mind numbing occupation where extremely high accuracy is required, hour after hour, with a minimum hourly quota per month. And yeah, no health benefits. But it’s a “work from home” opportunity, so hooray.

    And there was a manual for determining content “quality”. It was all the kind of stuff I assume everyone here does, like checking for freshness of content, whether there’s a webmaster link, if it looks like a link farm or if there’s actual legitimate content, and so forth. Somewhat subjective, of course.

    I assume the approach used for hoax content and such will be similar, but much more subjective.

    And this will probably still all need to be completed in 60 seconds, 60 times an hour.
    1. Disturbed Voter April 25, 2017 at 10:58 pm

       Google and Wiki have always been organs of the CIA. Their intent was to encourage the dissidents to self identify, so that they can be rounded up, or turned into controlled opposition. The enemies of humanity, are both human, and not fooling around.
    2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:18 am

       > there was a manual for determining content “quality”.

       Hmm. Do any readers have a copy of that manual? Care to throw it over the transom?
20. Adam Eran April 25, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    It just occurred to me that the preferred method of repatriating dollars is to get foreigners to buy homes. This prices the natives out of secure housing and give foreigners an unmovable asset within our borders (no messy business purchase like the port of New Orleans are permitted!). …further crushing the middle class and making home ownership something to which no heavily-indebted student can aspire.

    Brilliant!

    It even props up the value of all those foreclosures Wall Street bought in the wake of Lehman’s bankruptcy! A two-fer!

    Stick the hot money with the depreciating asset, then run off to find the next deal!
21. LT April 25, 2017 at 6:18 pm

    Re: “Consumer wealth” term in FHFA article…

    Since they are using the term in the context of housing, could it be a new code for “home as ATM machine”?
    “Consumer wealth” could be money they expect to be spent or other forms of extraction will be activated.
22. jerry April 25, 2017 at 6:19 pm

    I’m sure this has probably been documented, but did you all realize Ontario is piloting UBI program?

    The obvious (economically ignorant) argument against it is the deficit hysterics and that people will not work or do anything productive if they don’t have to, both of which are false in reality.

    If the rise in domestic demand/GDP is enough to prove the value of this program in an ever unemployed and automated economy then we could be in for a breakthrough!
    1. Yves Smith April 25, 2017 at 6:59 pm

       No, the argument against is it winds up subsidizing business and drives wages lower. Why do you think all these Silicon Valley squillionaires are pumping for it?
       1. Massinissa April 25, 2017 at 8:28 pm

          How will it drive wages lower though if they already have a decent min wage in place?
          1. Stephanie April 25, 2017 at 9:15 pm

             I would think the argument from business would be that a minimum wage isn’t necessary with UBI though. It would be framed as a win/win: businesses can pay lower wages in the name of competitiveness, and workers would get the UBI to make up the difference.
             1. jerry April 25, 2017 at 11:53 pm

                Yea really depends how its structured. One program I saw reduced the UBI benefit by 50 cents for every dollar of other income you had, I suppose you could increase or decrease that ratio to whichever level you wanted in order to influence the business subsidy/incentive to work aspect of it.
    2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:19 am

       See Links this morning.
23. hush / hush April 25, 2017 at 6:27 pm

    Re: Corruption

    Has Yglesias always referred to mainstream corporatists as the “center left”? Or have Bernie and like minded movements successfully moved the Overton window further to the left than it has been in a long time?

    Also, I’m sick of the way a lot of the punditry will trot out a vague concept like “ethics rules” then offer a deceptive definition of it (from Yglesias: “Nobody can ever work in the private sector before or after joining the government”) … and then use that as an intellectual straw man while explaining why we can’t have nice things. It’s lazy and transparent.
24. Jeff W April 25, 2017 at 6:36 pm

    …so the fee is also Obama’s upraised middle finger to the “little single payer advocates.”

    I dunno—the way I see it, from President Obama’s point of view, the “little single payer advocates” don’t even rise to the level of being dissed in that way by him. He would obviously have to care about what they—or the US public—thinks to do that and he doesn’t. The opposite of any sort of regard, positive or negative, is indifference and even that might assume too much.
    1. Allegorio April 26, 2017 at 3:19 am

       “little single payer advocates’ can’t offer $400K speaking fees, that is why they are “little”. Careerist murdering scum. Definitely destined for a bullet proof glass booth at his war crimes tribunal.
    2. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:20 am

       > don’t even rise to the level of being dissed in that way by him

       If you’ll look at the link, “little single payer advocates” is a direct quote from Obama, dissing them.
       1. Jeff W April 26, 2017 at 3:53 am

          I remember the exact quote. And I remember the post you linked to at Corrente. (And, even so, I did look at the link.)

          The “dis” I was referring to was the one you were referring to: “the upraised middle finger” of taking money at a health care conference. I doubt the guy gave a moment’s thought to single payer advocates at all as he pocketed the fee.
25. dcblogger April 25, 2017 at 6:42 pm

    speaking for myself, I LUV The Young Turks. It is one of the few places that interview Green Party candidates. Their coverage is wonderful. Give them a try.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks/videos
    1. Adamski April 25, 2017 at 7:23 pm

       I would call them commentary (political advocacy) rather than “news”, the category they’re in. Whereas the Real News, another Youtube channel, has actual journalism and is substantial. That said I do enjoy the Young Turks
26. ewmayer April 25, 2017 at 7:08 pm

    “Published #OnThisDay in 1953: A structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid” — and scarcely a mention of Rosalind Franklin’s crucial X-ray-crystallographic work, nor of Franklin’s trio of resulting DNA-double-helix articles in press at the same time (2 to Acta Crystallographica, 1 which appeared in the same issue of Nature as Watson/Crick but was placed so as to make it look like the X-ray data “conformed” Watson/Crick’s model, when in fact the latter relied on a sneak peek at the former and was otherwise evidence-free. Alas, Franklin died at 37 only a few years later, and thus by the inane Nobel rules was ineligible for sharing the resulting prizes, 1 to Watson/Crick/Wilkins in 1962, one in 1982. The latter ineligibility-due-to-death was arguably more cruel than the former; as Wikipedia notes:

    “Franklin’s colleague and principal beneficiary in her will, Aaron Klug was the sole winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1982, “for his development of crystallographic electron microscopy and his structural elucidation of biologically important nucleic acid-protein complexes.”[208] This work was exactly what Franklin had started and which she introduced to Klug, and it is highly plausible that, were she alive, she would have shared the Nobel Prize.[209]”
    1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:23 am

       Thanks for mentioning Rosalind Franklin. James Watson’s The Double Helix is, among other things, a narrative of how to avoid giving credit, if not outright theft.
27. LT April 25, 2017 at 7:15 pm

    Re: Vox on Obama’s $400,000 speech…

    I read the article to see if the speech would be released to the public. Any word on that?
    Anyone going to hold their breath for it?
    1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:23 am

       What a good question!
28. Adamski April 25, 2017 at 7:21 pm

    Re Russia, the Harvard-Harris poll was interesting. Only Democrats and liberals are buying it. GOPers and conservatives mostly think the Trump camp is innocent, moderates are split, and independents think they’re innocent by ten points.
29. duck1 April 25, 2017 at 7:36 pm

    Decashing society:
    We visited some early adopters of the decashing project living under a freeway overpass nearby. Talked to “Jim” who obligingly turned out his pockets to prove his cashlessness. Probably the holes in his pockets didn’t help, either. According to Jim studying MMT in early life convinced him of the uselessness of circulating currancy and from there was no turning back. He said the mission that he relies upon for food accepted payment in prayer. He felt his life was a victory, as he looked out at his neighbors who were late to cashlessness, and didn’t fit under the protection of the overpass.
30. allan April 25, 2017 at 7:40 pm

    Cherokee Nation Sues Wal-Mart, CVS, Walgreens Over Tribal Opioid Crisis [NPR]

    The Cherokee Nation is suing top drug distributors and pharmacies — including Wal-Mart — alleging they profited greatly by “flooding” communities in Oklahoma with prescription painkillers, leading to the deaths of hundreds of tribal members. …

    When reached for comment, one of the defendants, Cardinal Health, sent a statement to NPR saying the suit was a mischaracterization of facts and a misunderstanding of the law. “We believe these lawsuits do not advance the hard work needed to solve the opioid abuse crisis — an epidemic driven by addiction, demand and the diversion of medications for illegitimate use.” …

    Nowhere has the country’s opioid crisis hit harder than in Indian Country. Compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., American Indians have the highest rate of drug-induced deaths in the country. The use of OxyContin by American Indian high schoolers is double the national average. …

    “Hard work” is the new “innovation”.

    File under Class Warfare and Native American Injustice Tipping Point.
    1. bob April 25, 2017 at 8:26 pm

       “Nowhere has the country’s opioid crisis hit harder than in Indian Country.”

       http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news-health/20161217/drug-firms-poured-780m-painkillers-into-wv-amid-rise-of-overdoses

       “The unfettered shipments amount to 433 pain pills for every man, woman and child in West Virginia.”
       1. allan April 25, 2017 at 8:46 pm

          From the article:

          Oklahoma, where 177,000 tribal members live, leads the nation in opioid abuse. Almost a third of the prescription painkillers distributed in that state went to the Cherokee Nation.

          Population of OK: 3.911 million. Population of Cherokee nation within OK: 177,000
          = 4.5% of OK pop., not 33% of OK pop.

          You left out the

          Compared with other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., American Indians have the highest rate of drug-induced deaths in the country.

          Or is your point that some victims of the opioid scourge are more deserving of our empathy?
          1. bob April 25, 2017 at 10:27 pm

             “Or is your point that some victims of the opioid scourge are more deserving of our empathy?”

             “Nowhere has the country’s opioid crisis hit harder than in Indian Country.”

             It’s the FUCKING POINT of the article you quoted from. This is kindergarten level writing. I bet it sounds great when read. Maybe with an english accent, for authority and added cynicism.

             “Compared with other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S., American Indians have the highest rate of drug-induced deaths in the country.”

             It also seems to be the point to deliberately mix up “Indian Country” with “American Indians”, whatever the fuck those two terms mean. It also slides from opiates, to “drug induced death”. Given that there are more drugs than just opiates, it doesn’t follow that all of the deaths are from opiates.

             This is the worst sort of liberal sermon- Speak up about a glaring, glad-handing, nonsensical statements, get shouted down as a bigot and force fed straw.

             Now sit down and take your NPR medicine. Nice Polite Republicans. The sermon will resume after a message from your betters.
    2. Jim Haygood April 25, 2017 at 8:42 pm

       The “hard work needed to solve the opioid abuse crisis” is much like the American Hospital Association’s diligent work on “tools for better price transparency.”

       Having price transparency without posted prices is a subtle and elusive quest, which is occupying the finest minds among American health care managers.

       Likely the breakthrough will be a variant on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, such that you can know the procedure code, or you can know the price, but you cannot know both simultaneously.

       What is the sound of one hand clapping?
       1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:27 am

          > such that you can know the procedure code, or you can know the price, but you cannot know both simultaneously.

          Could any medical billing experts comment on this? I think Haygood meant this as a joke, but I can envision aggregating procedure codes in such a way that mapping price to code really was literally impossible. Is that done? There would seem to be every incentive to do so.
31. allan April 25, 2017 at 9:58 pm

    Trump Plans to Seek Tax Rate of 15% on Owner-Operated Companies [WSJ]

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday is planning to unveil a proposal to cut corporate taxes on U.S. companies’ foreign profits and to slash the top tax rate on so-called pass-through businesses,
    including many owner-operated companies, to 15% from 39.6%, said White House officials familiar with the planning. …

    So, he can technically fulfill his promise to get rid of the carried interest scam while, due to the self-incorporations that will bloom like mushrooms in the night, effectively doing nothing.

    File under One Hundred Days of Potemkin Populism.
32. freedeomny April 25, 2017 at 11:51 pm

    ” I don’t like dandelions because I think they are a sign of neglect (and even though I have no lawn, I still have dandelions!). But I dig them up. Don’t use pesticides! Anyhow, this link has lots of interesting information about the dandelion, which I just maligned so unfairly.”

    Yes – the dandelion is dissed in so many ways…and yet it is so delicious! I foraged up some ramps (only take the leaves), mustard garlic and some dandelion greens in my local woods this past weekend. It made a lovely fritatta with some mushrooms and cheese. The leftover ramp leafs were dehydrated in the oven, ground in the coffee grinder and mixed with sea salt. The aroma is swoon worthy….:)

    So–please give dandelions and other wild growths another chance! There is stuff to be eating in your own backyard!
33. Oregoncharles April 26, 2017 at 12:25 am

    The original Permaculture books, by Mollison, have most of a book dedicated to a list of useful plants, with their uses.

    Dandelions have the longest single listing, with the most uses. There is a reason they were introduced. Not only are they edible, they can be used as a source of rubber.

    And an anecdote: During WWII, the US made a serious effort to grow dandelions for rubber. I had a chance to talk with a man who participated in that research; he said that as soon as you set out a large monoculture of dandelions, you were dealing with a great many pests and diseases.

    And: as you may have noticed, digging them out doesn’t kill them. They grow back from tiny bits of root. You can keep a lawn fairly clear of them that way, but it will take many hours of labor – so yes, they’re a sign of neglect.

    After many years of digging them out, I’ve decided they’re very pretty. Don’t actually eat them, though. I’m told they make a good winter green, as they’re evergreen here.
    1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:30 am

       As a bonus, as I’ve improved the soil, I get enormous dandelions! Which are, however, easier to detect and root out.
34. bob April 26, 2017 at 12:35 am

    “At that level, drivers can, at their discretion, turn over control of all safety-critical functions under certain traffic or environmental conditions. However, drivers are expected to remain in the vehicle and to be ready to take over its operation if necessary.” ”

    This point is never analyzed properly- All of the techno-utopians claim that “self driving cars will result in much more organized, orderly traffic management. They’d be “networked” is the handwave.

    Where are the cars that can speak with each other, and THEN be able to analyze and network with each other? That might POSSIBLY result in sort of gain. But, that’s not proof. Or even anywhere near reality.

    The current state of the art is barely capable of running protected, pre-progammed routes with HUGE resources dedicated to keeping one vehicle on the road, tire-side down. The next version will worry about pedestrians.

    “we’ll be much better with LOTS of them”

    Didn’t the banks pull this one too?
    1. Lambert Strether Post authorApril 26, 2017 at 3:31 am

       And as the trucker asks today, “What happens when a tire blows out?”
       1. funemployed April 26, 2017 at 4:07 am

          They could probably handle this. Bit more concerning to me is what happens when a bored teenager figures out how to hack the system and disable 10 million cars’ autopilots at once.
35. different clue April 26, 2017 at 1:46 am

    Around SE Michigan there live numbers of Canada geese. In late spring-early summer, I have seen in suitable parkland area goose-groups of two or three adults together with 40 or more goslings loosely packed in a semi-tight herd. I watched the goslings very carefully to see what in the lawn they were feeding on. They all, to a gosling, were pulling up or biting off dandelion plants and eating them.

    Dandelions have deep roots and can drag nutrient minerals up from deeper soil to the surface and incorporate these minerals into their own leaf and stem tissue. Perhaps the goslings sensed the value of this dandelion nutrition.
36. Musicismath April 26, 2017 at 4:44 am

    Always good to see Mark Fisher’s “Exiting the Vampire’s Castle” essay linked. As always with Fisher, it’s a rigorous, thoughtful, clear-headed and above all original piece of writing. Of course, he was utterly pilloried and effectively blackballed by the social-media “left” for writing it, and I can’t help but see the whole affair in the context of his tragic suicide earlier this year.

    The way the knives came out for Fisher; the way certain Twitter users greeted news of his death with glee. The same sorts of people who might have happily voted for Blair and Brown but couldn’t countenance a vote for Corbyn due to his “managerial incompetence,” but who nevertheless still see themselves as being so, so left. The sorts of people who “should have known better,” but excuse their bad behaviour on the basis that they just *care so much* and let their feelings run away with them sometimes, and that’s not bullying or abuse, is it?

    The sorts of people who went to Oxford, but we shouldn’t hold that against them because they sympathise so very deeply for all those trauma victims and marginalised people in countries and communities far, far way. (But not, oddly enough, for any of the homeless people clustering around the entrance to the local tube station. They’re just obstacles to be stepped around, mainly.)

    It couldn’t be that their eagerness to denounce and silence a working-class man with an East Midlands accent who’d gone to Hull and Warwick but still presumed to occupy the same discursive spaces as them, and what’s worse, actually say something, had anything to do with class, could it?
    1. Swamp Yankee April 28, 2017 at 12:30 am

       Yes, Fisher’s “The Vampire’s Castle” is a splendid essay. I remember reading it one bright November morning in 2013 looking over a beautiful kettle pond and experiencing that wonderful uncanny feeling of someone expressing exactly what you’d been thinking for quite some time but had never quite articulated.

       His passing has been very sad. I had no idea about the twitter reaction, but while horrified am not exactly surprised. Neither, I think, would Fisher be surprised — indeed, it proves precisely his point, I would think.

       I’m very glad to see NC bring attention to his work.
37. Victoria April 26, 2017 at 7:32 am

    Dandelions are the first food most bees get when they wake up from their winter nap! Do not dig up your dandelions–eat the greens for a healthy wild salad!

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