I have been tracking the whole Brett Favre thing; especially in Vegas and then on Intrade. And while I was there this morning I stopped by the Midterm Senate race page and saw this:
The Number of seats expected to be held by the Republicans that clears 50% has gone up 1 from 47 to 48. The market is clearing at 48 seats!
Excellent news on a Wednesday morning. Almost as good as seeing the chances of Brett Favre playing again at 96%.
Posted in Elections 2010, Fun, Politics: National, Senate
Tagged Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings, Politics, Senate
I rediscovered The Sports Economist the other day. And was immediately impressed with their post on Brett Favre.
Basically, the Sports Economist was saying that the Vegas odds changed when Favre “announced” his retirement on August 3rd.
On August 2nd, odds showed the Vikings with a 38% (+130) chance of winning the NFC North, with that number dropping to 32%(+175) by the morning of August 4th.
With those reports being largely ignored, the Favre numbers in Vegas were at:
Vikings at +150 as of August 16th.
Now that reports have Favre coming home, we are at:
Minnesota Not Being Shown
It would appear that Vegas doesn’t wanna show the odds of a Minnesota NFC North Championship or ANY NFC North chance at all until Favre announces Wednesday!
Go #4.
Just as I uploaded my most recent post to Twitter, I saw that Cato referenced a post by Jeffrey Miron, an Economics Professor at Harvard.
He basically says the same thing I do:
On several occassions over the past few weeks, I have expressed the view on TV/radio that unemployment insurance is one factor that keeps unemployment elevated.
Not that a Sr. Fellow at the Cato Institute needs any backup, he brings it with an article from the NY Times:
Struggling to keep its budget under control after the financial crisis, the government in June cut into its benefits system, the world’s most generous, by limiting unemployment payments to two years instead of four. Having found that recipients either get work right away or take any job as their checks run out, officials are also redoubling longstanding efforts to move Danes more quickly out of the safety net.
It would appear that this long hair isn’t stewing alone in his own juices.
Posted in Economics, Politics: International, Politics: National, Welfare
Tagged Recession, Unemployment
So, grabbin lunch yesterday. Stopped into the local McDonald’s for a quick [and icky] lunch.
They have a really cool series of Happy Meal toys for boys right now; Marvel Super Heros. So, I picked one up for Tyler:
Cool huh? Guess what else I saw?
I suppose there’s nothing illegal about this. And maybe it’s even natural that someone who’s spent a umber of years building experience and contacts would make a career move that makes sense.
In fact, it happens in Corporate America all the time.
But still, this rubs me wrong:
Raleigh, N.C. — Tom Shaheen, who has headed the North Carolina Education Lottery since its inception four years ago, has resigned his post to take a job with a company involved in the sale of lottery tickets through ATMs.
Lottery officials said in a statement Monday that Shaheen will be vice president of business development for Linq3, which has developed solutions for the sale of lottery tickets through automated teller machines and other point-of-sale terminals for distribution both in the U.S. and abroad. His last day at the lottery will be Sept. 17.
Good work if ya can get it!
Posted in Lobby/PAC, Politics: North Carolina
Tagged Abuse of Power, Lottery, North Carolina, North Carolina Politics, Politics
Recent analysis of changes to Hong Kong are getting press in the Economist. A new law is going to be passed setting a wage floor in Hong Kong. For years, the city has managed to grow, thrive even, without the common law known as Minimum Wage.
The legislation is set to impose a minimum wage between $3.00 and $4.00 American. Not much by our standards, but then again, perhaps our standards are a bit exaggerated.
Posted in Economics, Liberty, Lobby/PAC, Politics: International
Tagged China, Hong Kong, Leftist, Minimum Wage, Politics, Unintended Consequences, Unions
We are now running at 23 months* of consecutive sub 1% Chance of Recession as predicted by the New York Fed.
And, like last month, I have kept up my new expanded metrics. For 35 consecutive months, my four leading indicators of Recession risk have been zero. Not one of ’em has signaled a recession. For the first time in just under 3 years, I have hit a signal; 2 out of 4 running months with a rising chance of recession.
Wake County Schools is huge, massive. It ranks in the top 50 districts in the country and may be in the top 45 this year. Compounding the challenge is the fact that the district encompasses the entire county; it’s large in terms of population and in terms of geography.
When faced with such a challenge, it’s the savvy manager that will set aside all preconceived notions of “how” and investigate all potential tools in the tool box.
And so it is that WCPSS embraced the “Diversity” policy.
Posted in Education, Politics: North Carolina
Tagged Busing, Race, Wake County, WCPSS
Even if you’re against gay marriage, the time has come to move on.
No one wants to run on this, and they shouldn’t. It’s a loser.
So this just makes us look dumb:
RALEIGH, N.C. — A national group touring the country to show support for traditional marriage is holding a rally in North Carolina.
…
The event is one of more than 20 stops on the organization’s summer bus tour.
But there is hope:
North Carolina is the only Southeastern state that hasn’t approved a state constitutional amendment restricting marriage to between one man and one woman.
Carolina may be resisting the dark side.
I am a new comer to politics. And economics. While it’s true that I’ve always resonated with Republicans and Conservatives, I’ve never really been all that serious about it.
This has been true all the way through Bush vs. Gore; I just really didn’t care.
I guess marriage, home ownership and parenthood will do that to ya huh?
With that said, I’ve never really understood the trade deficit. Am guessing many others don’t either.
Posted in Economics, Politics: International, Politics: National
Tagged Deficit, Economy, John Stossel, Leftist, Lou Dobbs, Politics