"As the city’s economy soared and its population grew between 2003 and 2007, something unusual was happening on the streets and in the subway tunnels."
I sympathize because no politician wants to involve his family or put them at risk. Maybe Emanuel should ask Karl Rove or Sarah Palin for advice.
"As the American economy sinks into the deepest recession in a generation — caused in large part by this sort of anti-government and anti-regulatory dogma — it would be folly to allow the ideologues to undermine efforts to pull the country out."
WHEN KIDS ARE FAT, is it because parents are irresponsible?
Poor parents: They’ve got more responsibility, but less authority, than at any time in human history. It’s no wonder fewer people are bothering to have kids.
"Well, surprise and disappointment are the same… There are two big things: First, I was a much bigger fan of anonymity then than I am now. I thought it was cool. And it is, but it turns out anonymity really encourages bad behavior. I’m not in favor of the government tracking everybody and so forth, [but] at least persistent pseudonyms and communities and stuff like that makes everything a nicer place.
It’s like a lot of things. I’m pro choice, but I think abortion is an unfortunate thing. I think the same thing about anonymity: Everybody should have the right to it, but it’s not something one wants to encourage. And that’s not weasel words, that’s the reality of it.
[Anonymity] should be allowed. People should be able to make that choice, and there are many reasons to make that choice. If you live in an oppressive regime, you may well want people to be able to remain anonymous or have secret communications. But at the same time, it should not be encouraged, and it should be acknowledged that it’s a response to a bad situation."
"But previously undisclosed internal documents that are now in Mr. Waxman's possession and that we've seen tell a different story. Memos and emails at the highest levels of Fannie and Freddie management in 2004 and 2005 paint a picture of two companies that saw their market share eroded by such products as option-ARMs and interest-only mortgages. The two companies were prepared to walk ever further out on the risk curve to maintain their market position.
The companies understood the risks they were running. But squeezed between the need to meet affordable-housing goals set by HUD and the desire to sustain their growth and profits, they took the leap anyway. As a result, by the middle of this year, the two companies were responsible for some $1.6 trillion worth of subprime credit of one form or another. The answer to Mr. Waxman's question about their role in the crisis, in other words, is that they were central players, if not the central players, in the creation of the housing boom and the credit bust. Mr. Waxman released some of these documents Tuesday but kept others under wraps."
"This notion that there are some parts of society that are too important to be left to the market naively assumes that whatever the market’s alleged shortcomings, the government will do better.
To believe this, you have to believe that bunch of government bureaucrats and politicians are capable of orchestrating a food delivery system for 300 million people—the same bureaucrats and politicians who never meet a budget, are subject to the whims of politics and the pull of special interests (why do we subsidize corn, but not fruit? cotton, but not tomatoes?), and who are incentivized to fail (government programs that fail get more funding!)."
Jimmy Carter has finally found some terrorists who won’t hug him—because despite his long history of anti-Israel statements and actions, he’s just not antisemitic enough for them.
"...our bailout of Detroit will be remembered as the equivalent of pouring billions of dollars of taxpayer money into the mail-order-catalogue business on the eve of the birth of eBay. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into the CD music business on the eve of the birth of the iPod and iTunes. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into a book-store chain on the eve of the birth of Amazon.com and the Kindle. It will be remembered as pouring billions of dollars into improving typewriters on the eve of the birth of the PC and the Internet."
It's "call in gay" day today. Or, no, the real name is "Day Without a Gay." "Call in gay" equates "gay" with "sick," which isn't the intended message. Well, what is the message? What possible good is done for a cause by a protest that comes in the form of shirking your responsibilities?
Girls will be girls, I guess.
Drezner asks for suggestions as to how Hirshmann could have gotten it so totally, bizarrely, utterly, I-know-why-don't-I-save-time-by-blow-drying-my-hair-in-the-shower? wrong. If you figure it out, please do let me know.
HEH: Hypocrisy: Senator Dodd (D - Countrywide) Wants General Motors CEO To Resign. Boy, it’s sure a target-rich environment out there today.
"I’m curious to see how many people do an about face on issues like judicial confirmations, use of the filibuster, executive power, and similar issues now that an imperial GOP presidency is likely to be replaced with an imperial Democratic one."
Today's editorials from our newspaper of record. Well, I'm ready to start my day....Tortured Justice
The extent of the damage done by the Bush administration to American civil liberties will be told in part by the outcome of two cases in federal court.
State of Fear
A federal appointment could mean that Arizona will lose its most powerful voice of reason in a state that continues to hatch some of cruelest ideas for getting tough on immigrants.
Even Worse for Teens
Any plan that President-elect Barack Obama is devising to put millions of unemployed Americans back to work must include a provision for youthful workers.
Save the Bluefin
Preserving the bluefin tuna species requires sharply reduced quotas or, better, a moratorium on tuna fishing.
"Do you want me to fix your leaky toilet?Here we have the perfect example of the pseudo-intellectual Mr. Egan, ranting away at the potential good fortune of someone who actually has the temerity to work for a living. The fact the our plumber friend does not actually have to be licensed for domestic (non-commercial) work in the state of Ohio is something to be used against him because..... oh yeah - because Egan wants to. Let's license writers, perhaps, and see how far Egan gets.
I didn’t think so. And I don’t want you writing books. Not when too many good novelists remain unpublished. Not when too many extraordinary histories remain unread. Not when too many riveting memoirs are kicked back at authors after 10 years of toil. Not when voices in Iran, North Korea or China struggle to get past a censor’s gate.
Joe, a k a Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, was no good as a citizen, having failed to pay his full share of taxes, no good as a plumber, not being fully credentialed, and not even any good as a faux American icon. Who could forget poor John McCain at his most befuddled, calling out for his working-class surrogate on a day when Joe stiffed him."
