Often I get the feeling that something just ain’t right.
You Know What This IS
You see it, hear it and then someone even tells ya about it. And you’re just like….”um, yeah….nah. That, right there, is horseshit.”
And ya call ’em on it.
And ya got nothin’ right? ‘Cause really, the only thing ya got is your gut.
Well, now, we got somethin’ for ya….
Posted in Economy, Liberty, Politics: National
Tagged Abuse of Power, Leftist, Politics
Last month I posted about the minimum wage and it’s impact on teens. Back then, I commented on how a post by Mark Perry over at Carpe Diem pushed me to finish my data analysis.
The results were drastic. And now, I wanna show the same analysis but for black teens in America.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Employment, Minimum Wage, Unemployment
For the 23rd consecutive month, the NY Fed says that the chance of recession in the next 12 months is under 1%. However, for only the second time in 8 months has that value gone up.
The Twins have a better chance of winning the, um, of winning the, jeez, of winning the Division than we have of going into recession in the next 12 months.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
The idea that the State should care for us and our retirement more than we ourselves care about our retirement is slowly coming to an end; thankfully.
For many folks, Social Security has become “Retirement”. They plan on it, rely on it and use it as their only means of income after retirement. And THAT’S a mistake. Both for the individual and for the government.
Last month, I posted the NY Fed’s “Chance of Recession” spread. It’s a fun little chart that shows the chance that our economy will be in recession in the next 12 months. It’s SUPER fun now because the value is about as low as it’s ever been; 00.041%.
TJIC called shenanigans:
So you think that the chance of a recession is 200:1 against?
Tell you what, I’ll offer you great odds – 100:1 (that’s twice what the data suggests).
Good point.
There is an old story about Milton Friedman.
It goes roughly like this:
Milton Friedman was being escorted past a large construction project by a government finance minister. Friedman observed that all the workers were using shovels and he asked the finance minister why there were no bulldozers or excavators. The minister said “Because, Mr. Friedman, our goal is JOBS.” to which Friedman responded, “If your goal is jobs, give them spoons.”
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Leftist, Milton Friedman, Stimulus, Unemployment
In this morning’s News and Observer, Opinion writer Alexandra Forter Sirota from the N.C. Budget & Tax Center had this to say:
Late last week the U.S. Senate failed to move a bill that would extend essential fiscal relief to states, as well as fund temporary unemployment insurance provisions passed under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
As a result, the Employment Security Commission estimates that 20,000 North Carolinians will lose unemployment benefits that they would spend quickly and close to home, boosting the local economy and helping local businesses avoid layoffs.
In addition, North Carolina won’t receive more than $340 million in federal assistance, forcing even deeper spending cuts than we’ve already endured in the face of an unprecedented drop in revenues brought on by the recession.
Basically what she’s saying is that it’s good economic policy to continue to remove money from the hands of people with jobs and continue to shovel into the hands of people who’ve been out of work for more than 99 weeks. Now, I’m not saying that these aren’t good folks. That they don’t deserve the money or wouldn’t appreciate the help. All I’m saying is that Ms. Forter Sirota thinks it continues to make sense to shift money from “A” to “B”.
Further, she mentions in the 3rd paragraph, that she feels it’s wise to continue to tax people in States other than North Carolina to help the state of North Carolina pay our bills. I, for one, resent having my tax money sent to California for them to continue to spend foolishly. I imagine that somewhere, someone feels the same about their money and our State.
If we don’t have the money, then we need to cut our spending.
Period.
When, Ms. Forter Sirota, will enough spending be enough for you?
Math is great; don’t let anyone tell ya differently. 
When kids say “When am I EVER gonna use this in real life?” you can now say “When it comes to keepin’ your house”.
I’ve always said that math, the kinda math that we teach in high school–not Mathematics that we teach in college Math degree courses– is more of an exercise in thinking than really providing deep insightful understanding into the science, indeed art, of mathematics. In much the same way we would never expect a football player to encounter a line of old auto tires and have to step through ’em in a game, I never would expect someoone to encounter the need to demonstrate that triangle A is congruous to triangle B in real life.
But the ability to get from here to there is a skill that is most useful in life; even to the point of getting and keeping a home.
For years I’ve argued that the minimum wage was a wrong minded philosophy. 
This has gone back for at least 14-20 years. For much of that time, my arguments were more along the line of “There are many people in this world how aren’t WORTH the minimum wage.” Parallel to that argument, I would challenge people I knew who supported the idea with finding 10 jobs [I lived in Seattle at the time] that actually DIDN’T pay the minimum wage.
The point is; I’ve long opposed the idea that businesses should have t pay people more than they’re worth.
Posted in Economics, Economy, Politics: National
Tagged Employment, Minimum Wage, Unemployment