...and have some pissant like Timothy Geitner tell you how you should run your economy – bluntly, no less?
European gov'ts, ECB must team up on crisis: Geithner | Reuters
(Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner bluntly told European governments on Saturday to eliminate the threat of a catastrophic financial crisis by teaming up with the European Central bank to boost the continent's bailout capacity.
...and women of the better sort (apologies to H. G. Wells) is Major Pettigrew's Last Stand, by Helen Simonson. New to our reading list (and also recommended by Charlie from Wisconsin), Major Pettigrew tells the story of a retired British army officer and his budding friendship (and perhaps more?) with Mrs. Ali, the Pakistani owner of the local convenience store in one of those quirky, out-of-the-way little villages the Brits seem to have in such abundance, and is the very book for which the descriptive "delightful" was invented.
NRA claims ‘massive Obama conspiracy’ not to ban guns | Raw Replay
In the eyes of National Rifle Association (NRA) executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, President Barack Obama’s decision not to pursue gun control legislation is a “massive conspiracy,” and just another reason not to give him a second term.
Wait. What?
House approves spending measure opposed by Senate; shutdown possible - The Washington Post
Washington lurched toward another potential government shutdown crisis Friday...
What.
House unexpectedly defeats spending bill | Reuters
(Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly defeated a bill that would fund the federal government past September 30 on Wednesday as dozens of Republicans broke with their party to push for deeper spending cuts.
(And you thought it was only about the "Buffett Rule" and the Death Commision? Really?)
News from The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Call it the recession's lost generation.
In record-setting numbers, young adults struggling to find work are shunning long-distance moves to live with Mom and Dad, delaying marriage and buying fewer homes, often raising kids out of wedlock. They suffer from the highest unemployment since World War II and risk living in poverty more than others - nearly 1 in 5.
When I was self-employed I always most appreciated clients who paid their bills promptly.
Obama Raises Money in New York - Washington Wire - WSJ
Hours after delivering a White House speech that called on wealthy Americans to pay higher taxes, President Barack Obama dined with some of these very Americans in New York. He was expected to raise more than $2 million for his reelection campaign.
TV's Still the Best Way for Marketers to Burn Ads into Your Brain - Business - The Atlantic Wire
A study published Wednesday in the Journal of Neuroscience, Psychology, and Economic offers insight into how our brains respond to advertisements. Regardless of the message, the study says, the most effective ads are the ones that appeal to our non-rational impulses, like emotions and sex drive.
Quelle surprise.
There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there—good for you! But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn’t have to worry that maurauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory, and hire someone to protect against this, because of the work the rest of us did. Now look, you built a factory and it turned into something terrific, or a great idea—God bless. Keep a big hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along.
–Elizabeth Warren
Click the link (above) for more, with video.
Thisis what Fox Business calls upbeat news about housing?
Upbeat Housing Data Lift Stocks Ahead of Fed | Fox Business
"While the number of home sales remains depressed, "the lack of further weakness does play into our general thesis that the worst of the housing market decline is certainly behind us..."
U.S. to build new massive prison in Bagram - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
As the Obama administration announced plans for hundreds of billions of dollars more in domestic budget cuts, it late last week solicited bids for the construction of a massive new prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. Posted on the aptly named FedBizOps.Gov website which it uses to announce new privatized spending projects, the administration unveiled plans for "the construction of Detention Facility in Parwan (DFIP), Bagram, Afghanistan" which includes "detainee housing capability for approximately 2000 detainees."
A Perry Tale about the Prince of Privilege | NationofChange
Strangely, this prancing prince of privilege would not be where he is without the steady “intrusion” of big government into his life. From elementary school through college, his education was paid for by local, state, and federal taxpayers. Also, as cotton farmers, he and his family were supported with thousands of dollars in crop subsidies from the pockets of national taxpayers.
Then, after a brief stint as a government-paid Air Force transport pilot, the perfidious prince hit the mother lode of government largesse: political office, where he’s been for 27 years and counting. In addition to drawing more than a quarter-century’s worth of monthly paychecks from Texas taxpayers, Prince Rick also receives full health coverage and a generous pension from the state, plus $10,000 a month to rent a luxury home, a flock of personal aides, and even a state-paid subscription to Food & Wine magazine.
New to the book list: The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan, free from Project Gutenberg. The Thirty-Nine Steps, a novel of only 92 pages, published in 1915 (and movies in 1935 and 1978, plus a recent production of Masterpiece Theater) is the template for every ordinary-guy-gets-caught-up-in-desperate-plot book you've ever read and the ones you haven't, as well. Plus, it's a terrific yarn. And did we mention free?
Everything is Obvious Once You Know the Answer is, well, pretty obvious once you know where it's going, which is straight into fond memories of bull sessions in Sophomore dorm rooms. I didn't finish reading it, but you might. Who knows.
I didn't finish Reckless Endangerment either, but for another reason. The story of the flim-flam that led up to the recent mortgage debacle is enormously depressing, all the more so because the people responsible are still very much at large. Fortunately, this is straight reportage – easy to follow and easy to put down and pick up again later, which I still may do.
And some short stuff: The GOP War on Voting, by Ari Berman at Rolling Stone; "He Never Had Nothing and He Always Wanted Something," by Ben Montgomery at the St. Petersburg Times; and if you follow Matt Taibbi you may have already read "Is the SEC Covering Up Wall Street Crimes."
Read on.
How Fast Can China Go? | Business | Vanity Fair
Half a dozen of these beasts were lined up beside one another, raring to go, like greyhounds at the starting gate waiting for the rabbit. One snubbier-nosed CRH3C engine was huddled between the others—German-engineered, slower, but (as one English-speaking man on the platform remarked to me, boastfully) still faster than anything known in America today.
(Click the link for more.)
The Man from Nowhere
A former secret agent takes the law into his own hands to save a young girl with subtitles.
Or then again...
