The black African has never had a greater benefactor the colonel Gaddafi. He has championed there cause for generations. Nelson Mandela claims his movement had no greater friend during the ANC’s darkest hour then Gaddafi. Gaddafi has earned the enmity of racist Arab and Berber tribesmen when he places pan African interests above nativists interests.
Gaddafi threatened the interests of usery when he was able to build Lybia with out debt. His central bank made interest free loans to the Lybian government. He was in the process of endowing an African bank with funds which would make it independent of the IMF and the western creditors it represents.
Obama a self identified black man is now using depleted uranium munitions to destroy Gaddafi, and the infrastructure of Lybia based on the claims that Gaddafi might hurt some of his people if we do not bomb him.
Remember the Wisconsin “Union busting bill”? Well the early reports are coming in and at least two school districts are showing savings.
“Cost savings from worker contributions to health care and retirement, taking effect today as part of the new collective bargaining laws, will swing the Kaukauna School District from a $400,000 budget deficit to an estimated $1.5 million surplus, the Post-Crescent in Appleton reports. The district tells the Post-Crescent that it plans to hire teachers and reduce class size.” (My bolding) From here: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/124727554.html and “Marshfield School District expects to save $850,000 for the upcoming school year in health insurance costs by dropping Security Health Plan as a carrier and switching to WEA Insurance Trust.” From here: http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/article/20110701/MNH0101/107010602/Insurance-change-gives-school-districts-savings and “The Hartland-Lakeside School District, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee in tiny Hartland, Wis., had a problem in its collective bargaining contract with the local teachers union. The contract required the school district to purchase health insurance from a company called WEA Trust. The creation of Wisconsin’s largest teachers union — “WEA” stands for Wisconsin Education Association — WEA Trust made money when union officials used collective bargaining agreements to steer profitable business its way….
It’s going to save us about $690,000 in 2011-2012,” says Schilling. Insurance costs that had been about $2.5 million a year will now be around $1.8 million. What union leaders said would be a catastrophe will in fact be a boon to teachers and students.
Anthony Watts has his very own Google debunked set of pages. Maybe all the sources of the debunking are Soros funded. Maybe none of those sources are popular. There are a long list of debunkers. Something is less than objectively fact based about Mr. Watts’s work given the great many critics that he has.
I find it interesting that you, CoRev, seem to be gloating over the fact that education budgets in Wisconsin have benefited at the expense of the teachers of Wisconsin. Yes, a system save money by reducing the compensation package of the employees that work in that system. So Wisconsin teacher compensation has been reduced and Wisconsin tax payers will thereby not have to pay for any improvements to their school system budgets. The average Wisconsin teacher earns about $45,000-$50,000. That’s an average. Some make a lot less and some make a lot more, but not a great deal more. High salaries in Wisconsin are in the $65,000 range. Starting salaries are around $25,000. I guess that’s a tax plan that soaks the wealthy Wisconsin teacher. So how is that a fair approach to budgetary planning, simply paying the employees less so that the tax payers can avoid paying for the education their children get?
Jack I went to the first page of your debunking references before giving up. Several were about a video produced by guy in his basement in Midland, MI. He put out a handful, and I haven’t seen any since. He might have been threatened with a law suit or gotten to some other way. The bottom line was his videos were not scientifically based just attacks.
Several others were about a preemptive report put out by NOAA, when Watts announced he was writing a paper for peer reviewed publication. Much ado about nothing in the end, with the exception that both papers showed essentially the same results, but the bottom line there was Watts was assuming a big difference, up til the publication.
Be careful of think Progress sites (Climate progress). they are hard over PT and not scientifically based. There is no open discussion.
Tamino’s site is better than that, but he also edits and eliminates comments that do not confomwith his beliefs re: GW.
I much prefer the AB format to discussions over the alternative versions you have found in googling.
BTW, Watts has been voted the number 1 science site. All that actually proves is he has a lot of loyal readers.
There’s an old joke: uh, two elderly women are at a Catskills mountain resort, and one of ‘em says, “Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.” The other one says, “Yeah, I know, and such small portions.” Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life. Full of loneliness and misery and suffering and unhappiness, and it’s all over much too quickly..
Much of Roy Spencer’s argument in the video is of the food-is-terrible-and-such-small-portions variety. Especially the bit about how dreadful and short human life was/is without the consumption of carbon-based fuels. MOST of that suffering human population has occurred in the industrial era and indeed the numbers can be attributed to the uneven distribution of the fruits of carbon-fueled industrialization. So does this film present an argument for more equality of income distribution? Hardly.
It is smug to acclaim the benefits of carbon-fueled industry without acknowledging the costs. But it is hypocritical to pretend that those costs accrue to a pre-industrial way of life when they are in fact the underbelly of industrialization.
I doubt any president could implementcheaper energy unless they came off of fossil fuel. Do nnot be silly.
Hartland is not a small community. iding on the backs of labor who make medin household income is great bravao. I am impressed that Walker can beat up on labor who can not strike by law. Such a win . . .
The ATF’s gun-running disaster was funded in the stimulus bill. Think about all the criminal and drug cartel jobs saved or created. And our attorney general once bragged to a Mexican audience about implementing it.
Right there in the stimulus bill that no one in Congress bothered to read is $10 million for Project Gunrunner (aka Operation Fast and Furious), which resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and increased drug cartel violence.
Right there in the “shovel ready” stimulus, no black humor intended, is a provision for $40 million for “state and local law enforcement assistance” along our border with Mexico and in high drug-trafficking areas, “of which $10 million shall be transferred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, salaries and expenses for the ATF Project Gunrunner.” http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/577800/201107081902/The-Stimulation-Of-Murder.htm
Run, I think you missed the point that the health insurance was mandated to be that owned and operated by the union. More expensive and less coverage than they got on the open market .Labor beating up on the tax payer.
I’m saying the video is a crock. There is a “grain of truth” in almost every statement, thoroughly ensconced in ideologically-charged innuendo and speculation presented as fact. The howler was the faux comparison of pre-industrial living conditions with the standard of living that we enjoy as a result of our consumption of carbon-based fuels. It’s called comparing only the positive features of “A” with only the negative features of “B,” misrepresenting some negative features of “A” as being features of “B” and concluding that “A” is vastly superior to “B.” That’s true believer analysis for you, though.
But the video was only one bit of a great many refutations of Watts’s work. Obviously there is a great deal of controversy about climate change, warming, what ever you may call it. It is, however, of that kind of argument, which we hear much of lately thank goodness, concerning natural selection/evolution and religious belief. It is fact arguing with belief. Often the belief is said to be supported by evidence that the scientific community has rejected as being unreliable or not valid. That’s what one come away with in the debate over climate change. There are a great many scientists that seem convinced of the phenomenon and there is a well funded counter argument provided by Watts and others like him, but not too many others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mTPEuFcWk&feature=related Look at the peregrine’s beak. There is a notch on both sides of it into which prey birds’ necks fit perfectly. The force of the falcon’s strike stuns the prey, but the peregrine’s specially designed beak kills its prey instantly with a single snap. Incidentally, regarding the speed of the peregrine’s dive (also called its “stoop”) I have read about some European swifts which can dive at higher speeds. But, ornithologists agree that the peregrine is the fastest and most manoeverable (sp?) falcon on earth.
Jack, if we did not pay teachers at all, we could reap enormous savings! Wow! Just think, not educating our kids would cost practically nothing! True, you’d still have to have buildings or at least tents, porta-potties, bologna sandwiches for lunch, and guards that sort of minimum subsistence needed to keep American kids from dismembering their tormenters. But, you could pitch the tents in Walmart parking lots and herd the kids into the store after school to perform such menial functions as they were able. That way, we could not only save money on staff salary but also make a profit on the kids’ labor. It’s a modest start on a new model for American Society. /snark/ NancyO
Nancy You’re on to something. Leave out your reference to kids and learning and you’ve described our penal system.
We are on a race to the bottom and people like CoRev are each a mall part of the engine driving us down that hill. He, and they, have what they earned and need from their life’s work. Maybe they are continuing in some way to pad their own accounts with the fruits of their distortions and misrepresentations. Does he not recognize that his glee is over the fact that in order to balance a school system budget the key performers in those systems have been told to sacrifice their compensation, to take less and do more. if that is appropriate why not appy the same logic to the general population. Take less, ie pay more tax, and do more in what ever way seems appropriate. Fairness doesn’t count in CoRev’s analysis of the budget issues that pervade political discourse currently. He acts the role of the shill, the sychophant that takes what may be offered by the holders of great wealth that he seems to so admire in return for his fealty and obedience in spreading their deceptive messages.
I just had to kill my favorite little bantam rooster. It was all fun and games when he would attack all my friends, but yesterday he attacked a lady walking down the street. She ended up falling down and hurt herself.
I sit here and listen to Yves Montand perform Les Feuilles Mortes on You tube, but it’s not working its magic this morning.
The article that Coberly refers to in the Financial Times is worth the read if you’re thinking that Rick Perry is some kind of gubenatorial wunderkin. The link to the whole article is below, but this section having to do with the Texas approach to the education of its children is a qualitative highlight. What’s with the so-called “conservative” governors of these United States? Do they think children learn by osmosis?
“But that’s about to change. While the state used its oil surpluses to recreate its rainy day fund, Perry and the Republican legislature slashed over $5 billion from state education budgets in order to avoid raising other taxes. The result has been a wave of announced teacher and other school employee layoffs for the fall. A spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association said as many as 50,000 out of 333,000 teacher jobs could be eliminated in the next two years. “The Texas Workforce Commission has started a website to help relocate teachers into new jobs,” said Dax Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Texas Association of School Boards, who added the state expects to add 80,000 new students to its 4.8 million pupil population next year. The coming education cutbacks have alarmed some regional leaders, including Richard W. Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Board. He noted in the board’s quarterly publication Southwest Economy that a recent study ranked Texas “dead last in the percent of the population age 25 and older that graduated from high school, 37th in percent of population enrolled in degree-granting institutions, 35th in academic research and development, and 41st in science and engineering degrees awarded. We can’t be happy that we are lagging behind in education,” he wrote.”
“He acts the role of the shill, the sychophant that takes what may be offered by the holders of great wealth that he seems to so admire in return for his fealty and obedience in spreading their deceptive messages”
I have a couple of pit boxers. The female will roll over and submit when ever she encounters another dog. The male however will not submit. I guess there is a difference between seamen and Marines as well. One will roll over for authority and one will not.
I have a brother in Afghanistan. One of the many things he hates is when an enemy combatant he is interrogating, rolls over and starts to cry. Nobody has any respect for a man who submits to the strong, but attacks the weak.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ChangestoS The link shows selected testimony from the July 8, 2011 Subcommittee Hearing on SS’s finances. Pretty much the usual “TF Armageddon Near!” from Blahous and a number of others bemoaning the 2036 TF gap. You will note that no one from NASI or SSA itself testified. Notable for his absence was SSA’s Chief Actuary, Stephen C. Goss. Also notable was the remark by a committee Member, R-ND, that he didn’t know where the money comes from to pay SS benefits now. Speaks for itself. NancyO
Only statisticians and peer reviewed economists need reply!!!!
Much is being made of the Trustees Report entitled, “Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs.” Note that that title encompasses several distinct programs that are not actually linked financially on to the other in spite of the slovenly nature of the reporting on the “findings” described in that report. One salient and brief paragraph jumps off the page for me, and it has been repeated in almost all references to the report both as a warning of dire things to come and the opposite, as an assurance that all is stable and as it shuld be with little more than tweeking that needs be done. That short and widely read pair of setences: “While the combined OASDI program continues to fail the long-range test of close actuarial balance, it does satisfy the conditions for short-range financial adequacy. Combined trust fund assets are projected to exceed one year’s projected benefit payments for more than ten years, through to 2035. However, the Disability Insurance (DI) program satisfies neither the long-range nor short-range tests for financial adequacy. DI costs have exceeded non-interest income since 2005 and trust fund exhaustion is projected for 2018; thus changes to improve the financial status of the DI program are needed soon.”
So in the first case, more widely quoted, its a 25 year out prediction. In the second, much less frequently cited, it is only seven years to financial perdition. So my question to the numbers guys, and I’m only asking those who knnow the difference between a parametric stat and the other kind. And please be sure that you take the assumptive error factor into consideration when answering. What the devil has economics been able to predict even just two years into the future? How seriously should we be taking these two decades long predictions regarding economic events and their concomitant fiscal results ten and twenty years out to the future?
Jack, the DI Trust Fund got into trouble in the 80’s (IIRC). The RSI TF transferred bonds to the DI TF and it rocked along fine until now. The number of DIB claims being filed now is about 100% greater than when I retired in 2003 and this increase accounts for the faster rate of depletion of the DIB TF than the RSI TF. The number of pending DIB hearings is in the 650-700K range. I believe that Bruce Webb has addressed this issue in articles published here on AB in the past. He’s the closest thing to an expert on this subject I can refer you to. Otherwise, there has been Congressional testimony on the DIB program in the recent past. Yep, the DIB TF is in trouble. NancyO
TWalker said: “ It’s called comparing only the positive features of “A” with only the negative features of “B,” misrepresenting some negative features of “A” as being features of “B” and concluding that “A” is vastly superior to “B.”” Actually I saw little comparison, but I did see a claim that ~1/3 of the world population still lives with no electricity, no clean water, no refrigeration and must gather wood and dung for heat and cooking, (conditions that are dirty, low on food, smelly and short lived.) The one thing that is different from those still living that poor life is energy.
You may disagree, but what he is contending is a comparison between those with and those without energy. Moreover, those conditions can be seen today.
So your review is flawed, and he is actually in that portion of the video comparing today’s societies with and without energy. He definitely did not compare as you say: “ It’s called comparing only the positive features of “A” with only the negative features of “B,” misrepresenting some negative features of “A” as being features of “B” and concluding that “A” is vastly superior to “B.”
jackl, the video refuted Watts’s work? Which of his works and how? do you even know for what he is famous? That is other than having the number 1 science blog last year.
But it would really suck to have prisoners live better than teachers. Ar leeast they are assured their meals and housing and at least minimal medical care, often for more years than a teacher holds tenure. 🙂
One of the things that makes me laugh is that one of the main productust of UNICOR, the federal prison industries, is systems furniture, otherwise known as cubicles.
I’m glad they gave Fisher voting rights. He is better then the rest of the Fed lackeys.
I don’t like Perry. He represents the Bilderberg crowd, but you cannot blame Texas educational short comings on him. I am a product of the Texas public schools. It’s tough to educate Texans. We have been first in football and last in math for a long time. I dont think all the money in the world would make third grade math anything but long and hard for some of my compatriots
cursed, a postscript. I also have a boxer terrier mix, as they are called here. When I went to pick her up from the person that found her abandoned, she was about 4 weeks old and too weak to walk. The first thing she did when I petted her that day is bite my finger. She is not inclined to be submissive. I’m glad at least one of yours will cooperate with your program. I’m not so lucky. NancyO
Moreover, those conditions can be seen today. Well, CoRev, those without energy are not without because they voluntarily abstain from it or because they are ignorant of it but because they are denied access to it by those who control it. There is enough energy consumed in the world each year to give everyone alive today a decent, if not comfortable, standard of life. Many people who are “without energy” were driven off the land by those who control the energy. So their energylessness is a result of condition “A,” not of “B.” Of course in your imagination the only exploitation or expropriation that ever occurs is government taking away the hard-earned tax dollars of rich folks. Poor folks are poor because they’re stupid and lazy, not because they have been oppressed. So I’m pissing in the wind here.
TWalker, yes you are pi$$ing the wind. How can you make this claim: “ those without energy are not without because they voluntarily abstain from it or because they are ignorant of it but because they are denied access to it by those who control it.” Denied access?Tell you what, go ahead and share your high usage with the appropriate of African “denied access.” Since you are so willing to share, there shouldn’t be any logistical problems.
saying that it’s “in trouble” aids the Liars. DI is still running on its savings. it’s savings will run out in less than ten years… that’s what “short term actuarial insolvency” means. At least up to last year DI could be put into permanent solvency with a one tenth of one percent increase in the payroll tax this year, another next year, and one in about 2050, if I remember. That is about 80 cents a week this year and next for the average worker, and another 80 cents per week about 40 years from now. That is not “in trouble.”
Unless of course the liars can use it as an excuse to CUT Social Security. You see, when our possible costs from becoming disabled increase, the only thing we can do about it is to cut our insurance.
btw… the numbers i used here are from memory, they might be a little off. but not much.
one: it is often taught badly. just as often taught badly by the best trained modern teachers as it is taught badly by some old fashioned person who understands neither arithmetic or children.
two: there are lots of people with PhD’s in accounting who can’t do third grade arithmetic… in the sense of applying it competently to the problem at hand.
from my brief encounter with Texas culture, I suspect the kids there have a special difficulty understanding third grade math, because Texas culture encourages the attitude that if something is hard, hit it.
The words “Cost savings from worker contributions to health care and retirement” mean “cuts in compensation” but sound much better. At the federal level, how about “cost savings from seniors’ contributions to health care and retirement” (achieved by slashing SS and Medicare payments)? Or “cost savings from soldiers’ contributions to lifestyle amenities” (by slashing military pay)? Think anybody would object?
The “Texas Miracle” is not that they have the #1 education system. It is that they have provided 43% of the new jobs, despite having only 8% of the GDP.
How can I make the claim? I ignore the directives from the central committee of News International and the consortium of ExxonMobil think tanks and do my own research. Ever hear of Ken Saro-Wiwa?
A few days ago I posted a piece on my blog called “Texas, the jobs engine? Or Texas, the jobs-laundering engine?”, which responded to an LA Times op-ed by liberal-leaning Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, in which Wartzman buys into the claim that Texas’s anti-taxation and anti-business-regulation policies—and, weirdly, its products-liability “tort-reform” laws and its statute limiting medical-malpractice non-economic-damages awards—have contributed to Texas’s outpacing of other states in job growth in recent years. My blog piece is at http://annarborist.blogspot.com/2011/07/texas-jobs-engine-or-texas-jobs.html.It notes first of all that the applicable tort law in products-liability cases is the law of the state where the product was bought or used, or where the injury occurred, not the state where the product was made, and that there’s probably no indication that doctors are moving their practices to Texas because of the malpractice law and hiring a lot of employees. But the piece also emphasizes that the job-creation issue nationally concerns, well, the aggregate job creation nationally, not the number of jobs that one state can attract from other states as the Wartzman article suggests. Anyway, Merrill Goozner now has a terrific in-depth deconstruction of the so-called Texas Miracle at TheFiscalTimes, at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/08/Perrys-Texas-Miracle-Less-Than-Meets-the-Eye.aspx?p=1.
It is absolutely undeniable that Texas has outperformed the nation in employment growth. And while it is true that Texas benefits from its Oil & Gas industry, this performance has encompassed several boom & bust periods.
And it is also true that being right next to Mexico, Texas employment has borne the brunt of NAFTA employment dislocation. Being right to Mexico probably explains a lot of the low rankings on education scores.
Finally, there are many more states that have Oil/Gas/Coal resources that are effectively off-limited by the Federal Government. If Texas’ oil & gas industry explains their superior economic performance, maybe we should learn from that, and remove the stupid restrictions.
Little Willie was the smallest rooster I have ever seen, but he would not tolerate loiteres. He would pretend to peck at the ground until the person turned their back, then Willie would race up and spur um. Willie had recently been deposed, by two other roosters, and he was not happy about that. Seemed to make him even more agressive towards people.
I’m sorry to her about your boxer/terrier mix.
I have had mine since they were born. Their mother was my dog till they were five weeks old. Unfortunately she bite the tire of a speeding vehicle. I keep the most incorrigible male out of a sense of obligation to the mother, as well as the little female, because she was so adorable.
I would never recomend keeping two littermates. It has been a nightmare. I have structured there lives after Marine bootcamp. I have been very strict from the start and frequintly employ corporal punishment, particularly with the male. Unlike the Marines however, I have also given them a lot of love, and good food.
I socialized them with people and dogs, in such a way that they expect everybody and everything to be their friend. Burglers can have there way with anything, as long as the dogs get a pat on the head
These two are incredibly rugged and distructive. They can eat a whole cooked chicken and a block of cheese, and did not even leave a smudge of grease all in less then ten minutes.
With such a plucky vital breed, of dog I would be very carefull if one came to me that was messed up in the noodle. My view is to never love something that cannot love you back.
Before she died the Momma dog used to line her pups up and give them a good licking every night. One pup never went along with this program, so the momma would give this one a good bite. Soon the momma started biting all of them before she even started licking, but she would always bite the recalcitrant one particullary hard. Pups need tough love sometimes, and some pups need some real tough love. Don’t be afraid dish it out.
If you don’t understand the point then you are ignoring the facts. What part of reduced compensation is so difficult to understand? Reduce the compensation of all of the workers in a specific class and certainly you reduce the costs of the system served by that class. In this case we are discussing the relationship between Wisconsin teachers having to accept a reduced compensation package so that Wisconsin school systems can reduce their budget costs. What is then done with the money not paid in compensation is not the point. An entire, but specific, class of workers have borne the burden of the savings to the system. The Federal budget is in the red. Should the Congress immediately increase patient fees at the VA hospital systems and cut military retirement benefits by ten percent? That would help to balance the Federal budget. Or is it only other people that should be forced to bear an unfair share of such compensation reductions?
You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit? Your servile attitude is all the more striking because you choose to focus on the sacrifices that can or should be made by others. You deserve the scorn that you detect from others. Step up and describe the sacrifice that you have made.
“from my brief encounter with Texas culture, I suspect the kids there have a special difficulty understanding third grade math, because Texas culture encourages the attitude that if something is hard, hit it”
Look at the guys who died at the Alamo. They are all a bunch of Scots-Irish. Every Scotsman knows that his perfidious cousins from Albion have stick us in the back at any given oportunity. Today academia has created conditions that have made the social siences a no go zone for rednecks. So the knee jerk Scotsman response is screw the academician and the volvo they drove in in.
It’s true we have set a pretty piss poor example for the blue gums, but they have more crosses to bear. They have a culture that demonizes education because it is associated with acting white. Most black kids live with a single parent, which is not as conducive for kitchen table learning as is a traditional nuclear family, and last but certainly not least blacks as a whole suck at math, and you can’t blame Rick Perry for that.
Sammy nationally the failure to add net jobs is attributable to declining state/local government employment. So a question (not rhetorical): has Texas been keeping its government employees, unlike most states?
PJR, I think a rephrase of your question might better be: nationally the failure to add net jobs is attributed to too few private sector jobs created to offset the anticipated government losses.
Stimulus was ill defined to create a sustainable recovery. Too much attention to keeping government jobs, too much attention on short lived “shovel ready” infrastructure projects created a jobs environment that had a clear ending with the end of stimulus.
Stimulus needs to be aimed at producing sustainable private sector jobs. This one was not.
People don’t realize how much personality chickens have. My first pets were two hens I called Bitty and Chick. Taught them to sit to get picked up and come when I called them. If it weren’t for my dog, I’d get some little banty hens like yours. Competition among roosters causes lots of problems for them and the hens too. Knew someone whose rooster actually broke the hip of one of her hens. He joined the heavenly band shortly after that.
Sure am glad you kept the pups. People take one look at them and think all they’re good for is fighting. Fighting dogs here have short, brutish lives. End up dead or thrown out a lot. She was just too little and weak to sell so got pitched.
Now, she’s not tall but weighs 60lbs. Strong with a low center of gravity in BB’s case means I don’t take her on walks–my knees are so bad there’s no words. The guy that cuts my grass and does other handyman chores takes her a couple of times a week. She’s nuts about him. The main problem with her behavior is she will knock you down to lick you to death. On the good side, she won’t let anyone into the yard and is the bane of the UPS and the Fed Ex guy. I’m sorry about that but I don’t particularly having to climb into small trees to get packages.
But, unfortunately, I got sick just after we got her and couldn’t deal with her energy the way I would have 10 years ago. So, not a lot of discipline and impossible to socialize to other animals. She’d just as soon kill them as look at them. So, no nice kitties for NancyO! But, BB’s saved and that’s the point. You’re on the right track with yours. Sounds like their mama had the right idea, too. Just as soon as I figure out how, I’ll apply her psychology, if not the bites. I’ll keep you informed of any new BB adventures, should any occur. NancyO
Anthony Watts Is a local weather guy here in Chico, CA. Here Anthony is just seen as a crackpot and all in all not a very nice man in his daily dealings. He actually holds a great many odd thoughts but no one who knows him gives him much credibility and just let him revel in his minor celebrity
Sorry to hear about the knees Nancy O. A painful gait makes things tough.
Coberly
Boxers are one solid muscle spasm. It’s tough to get through to them. Breeding them with a pit bull doesn’t help. The other day I came home and the male greeted me at the gate with chicken feet sticking out of his face. When I smacked him it reinforced my messege that it was not all right to chase and chew on chickens. The female seldom gets spanked and she is spoiled and manipulative.
The male is dumb, and cannot control his enthusiasm. He wants to rush all my guests and jump up on them. I cannot get his attention, and make him stop jumping on people without getting physical with him.
Doctor Spock might have argued that we are not supposed to spank, but I’d like to see him train these dogs not to dig for gophers with out putting a little fear in them.
Experts in the numerical science, where are you? I need the issue addressed. How do we take seriously a prediction concerning economic events 25 years into the future? Has the “science” of economics shown itself to be that capable? Is the math that is being used up to the task? What is the validity of such prognostications?
It appears Texas has NOT shed a lot of government jobs, instead grown them slightly. I don’t know what is significant about this. State and local governments shed employees because they have to with declining revenues. Because of their relatively healthy economy Texas, funded by sales (not income) taxes has been able to keep them.
Unions in Wisconsin can’t strike and they had already made the concessions Walker wanted. He was all for union busting and did not care about the concessions. I did not miss any point. You whined about Soros above. Why not whine about the Koch Bros?
Superb sleuthing, Sammy! I see the relevant chart inside the document that you linked. I asked because it should make a difference in interpreting the “Texas Miracle” and any lessons from it. Most of the US appears to be increasing private sector jobs but offsetting this with cuts in government jobs (as my linked graphic shows). The data indicate that the “Texas Miracle” is, at least in part if not in whole, that its political leaders have been sane enough to maintain and even slightly increase government employment while private sector jobs grow.
Had your data shown declines in Texas government employment, like the US as a whole, it would make Texas look even more impressive. In that case, one could argue more convincingly that Texas is a private-sector jobs machine, and one might even claim (as some do at a theoretical level) that cutting government jobs feeds private sector employment.
Goozner’s article says that Texas actually has increased the number of public sector jobs during the recession, but that it is about to have to start reversing that.
The point of my article on my blog is that what matters for national job creation is not whether one state’s policies have managed to attract jobs from other states, or attract jobs that would have been added in another state—which I call jobs laundering, in the context of national jobs numbers—but instead whether that state has created jobs that were not taken from another state and that would not have been created at all if that state hadn’t created them.
Maybe Texas is leading because of the number of low paying jobs? Maybe, Texas is leading because of its proximity to Mexico . . . duh! Think there is a wage discrepancy there . . . duh? Maybe Texas is leading in job growth because it doesn’t have healthcare insurance for over 1 in 4 of its population?
its political leaders have been sane enough to maintain and even slightly increase government employment
It is the other way around: a healthy private economy is what allows the public sector to grow or be maintained. Without the revenues generated by a healthy private sector, you have to reduce government, no matter how sane or insane the political leaders are.
Beverly,
You make a valid argument that some Texas jobs would have been created in other states except for the favorable business climate there. But what Rick Perry and others are saying is that if we implement the policies that ostensibly are responsible for Texas’ exceptional employment growth- low taxes, low regulation, right-to-work, tort reform to ALL THE STATES, we will attract business to the US as opposed to other countries, the same way Texas attracts businesses from other states.
Excuse me, Sammy, but regarding products-liability tort reform, how exactly would it matter whether the product was made in China or instead in Michigan? States’ tort laws apply the same to products made in China as they do to products made in Michigan.So why would a company want to manufacture its products in China rather than Michigan because Michigan refuses to enact a tort “reform” statute similar to Texas’s? And about Texas’s medical malpractice non-economic-damages cap, I think’s, um, unlikely that doctors would move from China to Michigan and start hiring employees if only Michigan would adopt the came cap that Texas has. And as for the rest of the argument you say Perry and others make, it’s certainly true that if we eliminated all business regulation, taxes and union representation throughout the U.S., we’d attract businesses that now operate in Bangladesh.It’s also true that we’d soon have a standard of living similar to Bangladesh’s.Sounds delightful.Rick Perry for president!
it’s certainly true that if we eliminated all business regulation, taxes and union representation throughout the U.S., we’d attract businesses that now operate in Bangladesh.
At least we have an admission of the obvious – that taxes, regulation, and unions hurt employment growth. Hooray!
It’s also true that we’d soon have a standard of living similar to Bangladesh’s.
However, this is not true. There are many factors that influence the decision s to where to locate a business. In addition to wages, taxes, and regulation there is proximity to markets, quality of workforce, political and legal stability, infrastructure, etc. The US has many advantages relative to other countries, so if we lower taxes, regulation, and tort risk we can still attract businesses in spite of higher wages due to our advantages in these other areas.
Sammy you could argue that Texas has had a healthy economy, explaining why it hasn’t cut government jobs, but I’m not sure that works well. Certainly Texas never had the housing bubble–so no housing bust–and it had oil, and both helped mitigate the recession. On the other hand, unemployment rose to 8.2 percent in 2010, from 4.1 percent in 2007, and Texas GDP did fall 1.5 percent in 2009 when US GDP fell, so I wouldn’t say the economy has been all that healthy compared to everyone else. And now I understand the state faces a roughly $25 billion deficit for a $95 billion state budget, which shouldn’t happen if the economic situation is so good and GDP has been growing for two years.
Regardless, the growth in employment in Texas (the miracle) is private sector growth, plus a little bit of government sector growth; elsewhere it is private sector growth minus government sector contraction. Explanations of why Texas employment is growing faster must begin with the missing minus term. Again, thanks for finding that data point.
You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit? Your servile attitude is all the more striking because you choose to focus on the sacrifices that can or should be made by others. You deserve the scorn that you detect from others. Step up and describe the sacrifice that you have made.
CoRev (Countering what revolution?) You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit? Your servile attitude is all the more striking because you choose to focus on the sacrifices that can or should be made by others. You deserve the scorn that you detect from others. Step up and describe the sacrifice that you have made.
Jack, this is a fair question: “You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit?”
For deficit reduction? Not a whole lot outside trying to get candidates elected that I think are on the track of reducing the deficit. There isn’t much an individual citizen can do, unless they choose to donate to the Govt.
Since we are mentioning donations, we have sent well over 1K boxes to troops in the field, (Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and the several Stans). Those are at our costs, contents and shipping. Most have done nothing, especially if they have family and friends in the field. We have met and take to dinner many of our recipients. So we are supporting our military members in as many ways we cn. In many instances, especially for those really remotely deployed, these boxes are supplying some fundamental needs. Which BTW, saves our DOD some expense.
That’s a short list, not including our detailed charitable contribution, of how we are supporting … You? Your list?
Sammy addendum because I found BLS data despite myself. Unless I’m reading the tables wrongly, Texas lost 570K private sector jobs in the recession (from a high of 8,853K in Nov 2008) and has regained 421K. From it’s low point in Jan 2010, it has gone up 5.08 percent. Government jobs increased 7K during the drop in private sector employment and increased 54K during the recovery period to date.
To compare, I looked at NY. It lost 519K private sector jobs (from a high of 7,358K in June 2008) and has regained 317K. From it’s low point in Jan 2010, it has gone up 4.64 percent. Government jobs decreased 32K during the drop in private sector employment and increased 2K during the recovery to date. I also looked at California, which lost over 1.5M private sector jobs–since then, a 3.42 percent rise in the private sector; much larger cuts in government employees (129K drop).
So Texas deserves some credit for growing private sector jobs a bit faster than other states, but the performance isn’t eye-popping. Texas looks miraculous when looking at total employment increases because it grew government jobs while NY and others cut them.
I ask about your sacrifice and you describe a bit of individual charity. No sir. I’m asking when you will campaign for a reduction in military retirement benefits for current recipients. I’m asking about when you will campaign to increase tax rates in your income bracket. I’m asking when you will ask conservative of all stripes to accede to tax increases for the wealthiest Americans. I ask this only because you are demanding that public servants accept lowered compensation for the work that they do that is crucial to their localities. And if you don’t think that teaching is a crucial aspect of the quality of life in your community then you are oblivious to reality. And I ask when you will be willing to share the sacrifice because you gloat over the sacrifices demanded from those others.
Just in case you missed my reply up stream I repeat it here. To CoRev, countering a nonexistent revolution.
“I ask about your sacrifice and you describe a bit of individual charity. No sir. I’m asking when you will campaign for a reduction in military retirement benefits for current recipients. I’m asking about when you will campaign to increase tax rates in your income bracket. I’m asking when you will ask conservative of all stripes to accede to tax increases for the wealthiest Americans. I ask this only because you are demanding that public servants accept lowered compensation for the work that they do that is crucial to their localities. And if you don’t think that teaching is a crucial aspect of the quality of life in your community then you are oblivious to reality. And I ask when you will be willing to share the sacrifice because you gloat over the sacrifices demanded from those others.”
Jack, ole buddy, how many times do I have to repeat that in nearly all my deficit plans proposed to your inane commenting, that the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to end.
I also realize that I am one of the few who on occasion will joust with your liberal proposals. In particular I have asked several times for you to do the math on what you proposed, just to show how far short were your proposals.
Perhaps my charity is not enough for you, but the bottom line was you did not answer my request to list your own. Are you like so many liberals all talk about what the government should do while ignoring your personal responsibility for helping when you can?
Finally, we must thank Obama for showing just how bad were the liberal proposals. We said, when proposed, the stimulus was poorly designed. History now shows that to be true. We have said that the constant attacks on business communities, can you list any other than “Green” businesses that have not been attacked, but you folks still write articles of why/if there is uncertainty. Month after month we get lackluster and worse employment reports, and we get questions why? For an answer refer to the stimulus and business attack comments. War policy a disaster. Budget policy worse than his war policy. Legislation, too large, complex, and unworkable (stimulus and Obama care.) He loves his leisure time and appears to dislike the hard work required to actually make progress. he can not act in a bipartisan manner while blaming the other party. And, he is a far, far better campaigner than a president. When did he leave campaign mode?
It looks like we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t. To keep government employees you have to raise tax rates = jobs lost. If we don’t raise tax rates have to lay off government employees = jobs lost.
So we have to grow the pie. How do we grow the pie? Bring businesses/capital back to the US by cutting the highest corporate tax rates. Cut burdensome regulations. Develop our own oil/gas/coal. Pretty much what Texas is doing, and the opposite of what Obama is doing.
Sammy, add create tax incentives for starting new or expanding businesses and for creating new jobs. A simple formula lost on the Dem/liberal business hating crowd.
oh… yes about the big O. but the problem with his “stimulus” was that it gave (gives) money to people who are already sitting on their money. and yes that includes even the poor but employed.
i have heard that boxers are manipulative, and smart. i believe it. i am a little afraid of pit bulls myself, because of the way they are bred, and handled. but with my own dogs i have learned that a soft voice is all that is ever needed… they would die to please me. but i have to find a way so they can understand what i want. do i always succeed? no. am i convinced that the gentle way is the better way? yes.
i am not so sure of myself that i would condemn your methods. but i have seen enough of people who say about what you say, who just aren’t as smart as their dogs.
dogs were designed by God and Darwin to dig for gophers. I can avoid the situation. I would never scold them for doing it.
Thanks for pointing out our friend’s major inconsistency. Frankly I don’t recall that CoRev had been advocating an end to the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy, but I was giving him the benefit of the doubt on that score. You are on point to point out that you can’t support the current Republican leadership and in the same breathe claim to be in favor of discontinuing the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy. But inconsistency seems to be a characteristic of the Republican Party policies.
Jack, I have supplied for you specifically several deficit reduction plans, maybe as many as five, and nearly every one has had tax increases. Several, the first two IIRC, specifically called out letting the Bush tax cuts expire.
The fact you do not remember does not surprise me, as you responded with emotion with deficit proposals of war ending and Bush tax cut foolishness. From those proposals, I see you have still not done the math.
PJR – “Sammy addendum because I found BLS data despite myself. Unless I’m reading the tables wrongly, Texas lost 570K private sector jobs in the recession (from a high of 8,853K in Nov 2008) and has regained 421K. From it’s low point in Jan 2010, it has gone up 5.08 percent. Government jobs increased 7K during the drop in private sector employment and increased 54K during the recovery period to date.”
PJR, I am interested in knowing which tables you referenced at BLS to collect your numbers. I reviewed two different sets of data, laus and sae. Sae doesn’t go back far enough, so I settled on laus.
Here’s the summary of what I found:
It appears that Texas is ahead of its Nov 07 private employment by 76,000 or behind by 24,000 depending on which month’s subsequent rollup data one selects for Nov 07 data.
It appears that Texas is ahead of its Nov 07 state and local government employment by 115,400 or 135,400, depending on which monthly data for Nov 07 is selected.
Texas – Government employment May 2010 – Nov 2007 1,863.6p or 1,863.6p -1,748.2 -1,728.2 115.4 or 135.4
Texas private employment May 2010 – Nov 2007 8,699.7p or 8,699.7p -8,623.1 or -8,723.7 76.6 or -24.0
MG I used the One Screen Data Search button at http://www.bls.gov/sae/data.htm (it brings up a pop-up with 7 selections to select SAE data of different kinds by state).
MG possibly you didn’t check the exact same 7 boxes. I looked at private and government (and checked to make sure they added up correctly) for each state, and raw rather than seasonally adjusted (which wasn’t always available). I didn’t focus on Nov 2007 because private employment increased for NY and Texas until well-into 2008; instead I identified the month when private employment levels peaked before falling, and the month that they hit bottom (Jan 2010 for both states). Tables provided monthly data up to May 2011.
I am like counter the non rev (CoRev) a federal civil service annuitant, I also spent a number of years in military reserve status, so I am, like buff, a military retiree.
Best deal in the world, either one.
And the only money of mine is in the OPM side which I have about 3% cash input covering my annuity and benefits, the 97% coming from the tax payer each year.
On the military retirement 100% taxpayer funded.
Both represent about $1.2T in special treasuries, 97% or more filled by special obligations that create the treasuries, but no cash, the deficit effect comes in the checks to retirees.
Your real question should be: how come ‘they’ worry about SS going broke in 2042 or 37, when the fed and military retirement funds have a large chunk of treasuries that are broke now?
If you must know about my dedication to charitable giving I estimate that my wife and I give about 5% of our total gross incomes from salaries which is well into the top 5% tier. Granted that my wife writes most of the checks, but they come out of our check books.
I am pleased that you are in favor of letting the Bush tax holiday expire. It isn’t clear from your earlier comments. End the wars in the middle east and we’re on the fast track to a reasonable deficit. Correcting the broken corporate tax system would be a welcome change.
Equally important, however, is to recognize that local government employment is equally as important to meeting the needs of our society as any private sector employment. Working in a school system isn’t a charitable effort. It’s an important labor task. the cost must be determined by the need for the service, not by the community’s willingness to pay for the service that it requires.
As a note, Its no longer teh Bush tax cuts. They are now the Obama Tax cuts since he and teh Dems took over that mantle last Nov. You guys should really keep up with current events.
Co You’re losing sight of the point Coberly and I are focused on. If your budget recommendations include tax increases that are focused on discontinuance of the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy (granted that it has been supported by Obama over the past two years) how can you continue to support the Republican recalcitrance on this same issue? Tax holiday for the wealthy, tax increase in order to address the budget deficit and Republican Party leadership are all conflicting factors stalling a resolution to the deficit issue. You position seesm to be at the center of the conflict. Which is it, tax increase or Republican Party demand?
ilsm In fact I have no bone to pick with military, or any other, pension or benefit paid to workers. I do not distinguish the value of the work done by public and private employees. I do not differentiate the right to compensation as negotiated between employers and employees.
What I find particularly galling is the rampant and rabid focus on the compensation of public employees in general and those of employed union members as though those workers owe their societies some form of fealty not required of private employees and especially the executive class. Cutting back on one class of workers’ compensation is tantamount to increasing their taxes. In either case the reduction to their take home pay is the same. If one is fighting against tax increases that are intended to meet budget costs then one cannot insist that public employees give up compensation in order to reduce those same costs. It is unfair and it is inconsistent. What is consistent about such a stance is that the resistance to tax increases are aimed at protecting the wealthiest Americans and demands to reduce public worker compensation is an attack on the middle class. The tried and true Republican Party strategy which is now unfortunately a possible neo-Democratic Party approach. The DLC may be defunct, but its rotten aroma still pervades Democratic Party policies.
Jack, “Which is it, tax increase or Republican Party demand?” Yes,! For you which is it? More of the same which has been shown to fail or party demand/talking points?
Apparently you’re not willing to address your own conflicting commentary. The answer isn’t yes to opposing points. The Republican Party leadership has been holding the budget process hostage and persistently opposing any increase in taxes, even in the form of reforms to tax loopholes and abuses. No, I don’t hold the Democratic Party up as an example of political virtue, and Obama is proving himself to be more of a modrate Republican than a progressive Democrat. Still the Republican Party leadership can’t find a way to agree to a responsible plan and you can’t agree to make a choice. Your answer, “Yes,” is an example of your own insincerity. You seem to specialize in false equivalence.
it would be tedious to always say the Bush-Obama tax cuts. I’ll grant you that Obama owns them now, but they are “the bush tax cuts” because that’s where they came from.
jack they are not predictions, they are projections. “if things keep going the way they are, that’s where they will be in X years.
as for “mathematical science,” in a sense there is no such thing. as Bertrand Russell pointed out, “math is the subject in which we don’t know what we are doing, or ever know if we are right.”
anyone who claims “it’s just math” is a liar. it’s never “just math.” the numbers have to mean something to start with.
Maybe not as good as NanO’s animal movies, but perhaps more meaningful.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/07/07/a-mini-movie-in-blackboard-form-why-the-lefts-global-warming-agenda-is-wrong/#more-42882
SP500 Rallye of 15-20%!
http://astrofibo.blogspot.com/2011/06/sp500-daily-two-months-rally-of-15-20.html
The black African has never had a greater benefactor the colonel Gaddafi. He has championed there cause for generations. Nelson Mandela claims his movement had no greater friend during the ANC’s darkest hour then Gaddafi. Gaddafi has earned the enmity of racist Arab and Berber tribesmen when he places pan African interests above nativists interests.
Gaddafi threatened the interests of usery when he was able to build Lybia with out debt. His central bank made interest free loans to the Lybian government. He was in the process of endowing an African bank with funds which would make it independent of the IMF and the western creditors it represents.
Obama a self identified black man is now using depleted uranium munitions to destroy Gaddafi, and the infrastructure of Lybia based on the claims that Gaddafi might hurt some of his people if we do not bomb him.
Remember the Wisconsin “Union busting bill”? Well the early reports are coming in and at least two school districts are showing savings.
“Cost savings from worker contributions to health care and retirement, taking effect today as part of the new collective bargaining laws, will swing the Kaukauna School District from a $400,000 budget deficit to an estimated $1.5 million surplus, the Post-Crescent in Appleton reports. The district tells the Post-Crescent that it plans to hire teachers and reduce class size.” (My bolding)
From here: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/124727554.html
and
“Marshfield School District expects to save $850,000 for the upcoming school year in health insurance costs by dropping Security Health Plan as a carrier and switching to WEA Insurance Trust.”
From here: http://www.marshfieldnewsherald.com/article/20110701/MNH0101/107010602/Insurance-change-gives-school-districts-savings
and
“The Hartland-Lakeside School District, about 30 miles west of Milwaukee in tiny Hartland, Wis., had a problem in its collective bargaining contract with the local teachers union.
The contract required the school district to purchase health insurance from a company called WEA Trust. The creation of Wisconsin’s largest teachers union — “WEA” stands for Wisconsin Education Association — WEA Trust made money when union officials used collective bargaining agreements to steer profitable business its way….
It’s going to save us about $690,000 in 2011-2012,” says Schilling. Insurance costs that had been about $2.5 million a year will now be around $1.8 million. What union leaders said would be a catastrophe will in fact be a boon to teachers and students.
From here: http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2011/07/wisconsin-schools-buck-union-cut-health-costs#ixzz1RXppXOQf
So in its first week it is already saving millions in health insurance costs for school districts.
What’s worse is it shows how the bargaining was used to deepen union profits.
Just some more of that ole class warfare.. oops union fraud in action.
So, what happens next on the economic front?
http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-cover-up
Let’s see what happens with the debt ceiling talks.
After that’s settled lower taxes and cheaper energy are two big economic incentives, althought I doubt Obama could implement them.
Not the most popular book. DeSmog Blog is a Soros funded blog run by a PR firm.
Anthony Watts has his very own Google debunked set of pages. Maybe all the sources of the debunking are Soros funded. Maybe none of those sources are popular. There are a long list of debunkers. Something is less than objectively fact based about Mr. Watts’s work given the great many critics that he has.
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=anthony+watts+debunked&aq=4&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=anthony+watts
Why would anyone assume that his own site, wattsupwiththat, is any more objective or fact based than that of any of his critics?
I find it interesting that you, CoRev, seem to be gloating over the fact that education budgets in Wisconsin have benefited at the expense of the teachers of Wisconsin. Yes, a system save money by reducing the compensation package of the employees that work in that system. So Wisconsin teacher compensation has been reduced and Wisconsin tax payers will thereby not have to pay for any improvements to their school system budgets. The average Wisconsin teacher earns about $45,000-$50,000. That’s an average. Some make a lot less and some make a lot more, but not a great deal more. High salaries in Wisconsin are in the $65,000 range. Starting salaries are around $25,000. I guess that’s a tax plan that soaks the wealthy Wisconsin teacher. So how is that a fair approach to budgetary planning, simply paying the employees less so that the tax payers can avoid paying for the education their children get?
Jack I went to the first page of your debunking references before giving up. Several were about a video produced by guy in his basement in Midland, MI. He put out a handful, and I haven’t seen any since. He might have been threatened with a law suit or gotten to some other way. The bottom line was his videos were not scientifically based just attacks.
Several others were about a preemptive report put out by NOAA, when Watts announced he was writing a paper for peer reviewed publication. Much ado about nothing in the end, with the exception that both papers showed essentially the same results, but the bottom line there was Watts was assuming a big difference, up til the publication.
Be careful of think Progress sites (Climate progress). they are hard over PT and not scientifically based. There is no open discussion.
Tamino’s site is better than that, but he also edits and eliminates comments that do not confomwith his beliefs re: GW.
I much prefer the AB format to discussions over the alternative versions you have found in googling.
BTW, Watts has been voted the number 1 science site. All that actually proves is he has a lot of loyal readers.
Alvy Singer in Annie Hall:
Much of Roy Spencer’s argument in the video is of the food-is-terrible-and-such-small-portions variety. Especially the bit about how dreadful and short human life was/is without the consumption of carbon-based fuels. MOST of that suffering human population has occurred in the industrial era and indeed the numbers can be attributed to the uneven distribution of the fruits of carbon-fueled industrialization. So does this film present an argument for more equality of income distribution? Hardly.
It is smug to acclaim the benefits of carbon-fueled industry without acknowledging the costs. But it is hypocritical to pretend that those costs accrue to a pre-industrial way of life when they are in fact the underbelly of industrialization.
CoRev:
I doubt any president could implementcheaper energy unless they came off of fossil fuel. Do nnot be silly.
Hartland is not a small community. iding on the backs of labor who make medin household income is great bravao. I am impressed that Walker can beat up on labor who can not strike by law. Such a win . . .
Who says the Stimulus didn’t do anything?
The ATF’s gun-running disaster was funded in the stimulus bill. Think about all the criminal and drug cartel jobs saved or created. And our attorney general once bragged to a Mexican audience about implementing it.
Right there in the stimulus bill that no one in Congress bothered to read is $10 million for Project Gunrunner (aka Operation Fast and Furious), which resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry and increased drug cartel violence.
Right there in the “shovel ready” stimulus, no black humor intended, is a provision for $40 million for “state and local law enforcement assistance” along our border with Mexico and in high drug-trafficking areas, “of which $10 million shall be transferred to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, salaries and expenses for the ATF Project Gunrunner.”
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/577800/201107081902/The-Stimulation-Of-Murder.htm
T Walker, what are you trying to say? That was confusing and convoluted.
sammy
if you are stilli interested in the texas miracle, Fiscal Times says there may be less than meets the eye. Fiscal Times is not a liberal rag.
i don’t claim to evaluate the claim. just thought you might like to see what an “argument” looks like that has some middle terms.
Run, I think you missed the point that the health insurance was mandated to be that owned and operated by the union. More expensive and less coverage than they got on the open market .Labor beating up on the tax payer.
I’m saying the video is a crock. There is a “grain of truth” in almost every statement, thoroughly ensconced in ideologically-charged innuendo and speculation presented as fact. The howler was the faux comparison of pre-industrial living conditions with the standard of living that we enjoy as a result of our consumption of carbon-based fuels. It’s called comparing only the positive features of “A” with only the negative features of “B,” misrepresenting some negative features of “A” as being features of “B” and concluding that “A” is vastly superior to “B.” That’s true believer analysis for you, though.
But the video was only one bit of a great many refutations of Watts’s work. Obviously there is a great deal of controversy about climate change, warming, what ever you may call it. It is, however, of that kind of argument, which we hear much of lately thank goodness, concerning natural selection/evolution and religious belief. It is fact arguing with belief. Often the belief is said to be supported by evidence that the scientific community has rejected as being unreliable or not valid. That’s what one come away with in the debate over climate change. There are a great many scientists that seem convinced of the phenomenon and there is a well funded counter argument provided by Watts and others like him, but not too many others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3mTPEuFcWk&feature=related
Look at the peregrine’s beak. There is a notch on both sides of it into which prey birds’ necks fit perfectly. The force of the falcon’s strike stuns the prey, but the peregrine’s specially designed beak kills its prey instantly with a single snap. Incidentally, regarding the speed of the peregrine’s dive (also called its “stoop”) I have read about some European swifts which can dive at higher speeds. But, ornithologists agree that the peregrine is the fastest and most manoeverable (sp?) falcon on earth.
Jack, if we did not pay teachers at all, we could reap enormous savings! Wow! Just think, not educating our kids would cost practically nothing! True, you’d still have to have buildings or at least tents, porta-potties, bologna sandwiches for lunch, and guards that sort of minimum subsistence needed to keep American kids from dismembering their tormenters. But, you could pitch the tents in Walmart parking lots and herd the kids into the store after school to perform such menial functions as they were able. That way, we could not only save money on staff salary but also make a profit on the kids’ labor. It’s a modest start on a new model for American Society. /snark/ NancyO
Nancy
You’re on to something. Leave out your reference to kids and learning and you’ve described our penal system.
We are on a race to the bottom and people like CoRev are each a mall part of the engine driving us down that hill. He, and they, have what they earned and need from their life’s work. Maybe they are continuing in some way to pad their own accounts with the fruits of their distortions and misrepresentations. Does he not recognize that his glee is over the fact that in order to balance a school system budget the key performers in those systems have been told to sacrifice their compensation, to take less and do more. if that is appropriate why not appy the same logic to the general population. Take less, ie pay more tax, and do more in what ever way seems appropriate. Fairness doesn’t count in CoRev’s analysis of the budget issues that pervade political discourse currently. He acts the role of the shill, the sychophant that takes what may be offered by the holders of great wealth that he seems to so admire in return for his fealty and obedience in spreading their deceptive messages.
I just had to kill my favorite little bantam rooster. It was all fun and games when he would attack all my friends, but yesterday he attacked a lady walking down the street. She ended up falling down and hurt herself.
I sit here and listen to Yves Montand perform Les Feuilles Mortes on You tube, but it’s not working its magic this morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWfsp8kwJto
The article that Coberly refers to in the Financial Times is worth the read if you’re thinking that Rick Perry is some kind of gubenatorial wunderkin. The link to the whole article is below, but this section having to do with the Texas approach to the education of its children is a qualitative highlight. What’s with the so-called “conservative” governors of these United States? Do they think children learn by osmosis?
“But that’s about to change. While the state used its oil surpluses to recreate its rainy day fund, Perry and the Republican legislature slashed over $5 billion from state education budgets in order to avoid raising other taxes. The result has been a wave of announced teacher and other school employee layoffs for the fall.
A spokesman for the Texas State Teachers Association said as many as 50,000 out of 333,000 teacher jobs could be eliminated in the next two years. “The Texas Workforce Commission has started a website to help relocate teachers into new jobs,” said Dax Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Texas Association of School Boards, who added the state expects to add 80,000 new students to its 4.8 million pupil population next year.
The coming education cutbacks have alarmed some regional leaders, including Richard W. Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve Board. He noted in the board’s quarterly publication Southwest Economy that a recent study ranked Texas “dead last in the percent of the population age 25 and older that graduated from high school, 37th in percent of population enrolled in degree-granting institutions, 35th in academic research and development, and 41st in science and engineering degrees awarded. We can’t be happy that we are lagging behind in education,” he wrote.”
Read the entire article here: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/08/Perrys-Texas-Miracle-Less-Than-Meets-the-Eye.aspx
“He acts the role of the shill, the sychophant that takes what may be offered by the holders of great wealth that he seems to so admire in return for his fealty and obedience in spreading their deceptive messages”
I have a couple of pit boxers. The female will roll over and submit when ever she encounters another dog. The male however will not submit. I guess there is a difference between seamen and Marines as well. One will roll over for authority and one will not.
I have a brother in Afghanistan. One of the many things he hates is when an enemy combatant he is interrogating, rolls over and starts to cry. Nobody has any respect for a man who submits to the strong, but attacks the weak.
Jack, NanO, we can always tell we are winning the argument(s) when the counter points are ridiculous or ridicule or nonsensical as are Jack’s.
Jack, if you have a point in your comments, please, make it and then provide support. Too often you just meander down the train of conscientious path.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/ChangestoS
The link shows selected testimony from the July 8, 2011 Subcommittee Hearing on SS’s finances. Pretty much the usual “TF Armageddon Near!” from Blahous and a number of others bemoaning the 2036 TF gap. You will note that no one from NASI or SSA itself testified. Notable for his absence was SSA’s Chief Actuary, Stephen C. Goss. Also notable was the remark by a committee Member, R-ND, that he didn’t know where the money comes from to pay SS benefits now. Speaks for itself. NancyO
Only statisticians and peer reviewed economists need reply!!!!
Much is being made of the Trustees Report entitled, “Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs.” Note that that title encompasses several distinct programs that are not actually linked financially on to the other in spite of the slovenly nature of the reporting on the “findings” described in that report. One salient and brief paragraph jumps off the page for me, and it has been repeated in almost all references to the report both as a warning of dire things to come and the opposite, as an assurance that all is stable and as it shuld be with little more than tweeking that needs be done. That short and widely read pair of setences:
“While the combined OASDI program continues to fail the long-range test of close actuarial balance, it does satisfy the conditions for short-range financial adequacy. Combined trust fund assets are projected to exceed one year’s projected benefit payments for more than ten years, through to 2035. However, the Disability Insurance (DI) program satisfies neither the long-range nor short-range tests for financial adequacy. DI costs have exceeded non-interest income since 2005 and trust fund exhaustion is projected for 2018; thus changes to improve the financial status of the DI program are needed soon.”
So in the first case, more widely quoted, its a 25 year out prediction. In the second, much less frequently cited, it is only seven years to financial perdition. So my question to the numbers guys, and I’m only asking those who knnow the difference between a parametric stat and the other kind. And please be sure that you take the assumptive error factor into consideration when answering. What the devil has economics been able to predict even just two years into the future? How seriously should we be taking these two decades long predictions regarding economic events and their concomitant fiscal results ten and twenty years out to the future?
I am so sorry, cursed. It is their nature to patrol their territory, but what a pity it ended this way. NancyO
Jack, the DI Trust Fund got into trouble in the 80’s (IIRC). The RSI TF transferred bonds to the DI TF and it rocked along fine until now. The number of DIB claims being filed now is about 100% greater than when I retired in 2003 and this increase accounts for the faster rate of depletion of the DIB TF than the RSI TF. The number of pending DIB hearings is in the 650-700K range. I believe that Bruce Webb has addressed this issue in articles published here on AB in the past. He’s the closest thing to an expert on this subject I can refer you to. Otherwise, there has been Congressional testimony on the DIB program in the recent past. Yep, the DIB TF is in trouble. NancyO
TWalker said: “ It’s called comparing only the positive features of “A” with only the negative features of “B,” misrepresenting some negative features of “A” as being features of “B” and concluding that “A” is vastly superior to “B.”” Actually I saw little comparison, but I did see a claim that ~1/3 of the world population still lives with no electricity, no clean water, no refrigeration and must gather wood and dung for heat and cooking, (conditions that are dirty, low on food, smelly and short lived.) The one thing that is different from those still living that poor life is energy.
You may disagree, but what he is contending is a comparison between those with and those without energy. Moreover, those conditions can be seen today.
So your review is flawed, and he is actually in that portion of the video comparing today’s societies with and without energy. He definitely did not compare as you say: “ It’s called comparing only the positive features of “A” with only the negative features of “B,” misrepresenting some negative features of “A” as being features of “B” and concluding that “A” is vastly superior to “B.”
jackl, the video refuted Watts’s work? Which of his works and how? do you even know for what he is famous? That is other than having the number 1 science blog last year.
But it would really suck to have prisoners live better than teachers. Ar leeast they are assured their meals and housing and at least minimal medical care, often for more years than a teacher holds tenure. 🙂
One of the things that makes me laugh is that one of the main productust of UNICOR, the federal prison industries, is systems furniture, otherwise known as cubicles.
I’m glad they gave Fisher voting rights. He is better then the rest of the Fed lackeys.
I don’t like Perry. He represents the Bilderberg crowd, but you cannot blame Texas educational short comings on him. I am a product of the Texas public schools. It’s tough to educate Texans. We have been first in football and last in math for a long time. I dont think all the money in the world would make third grade math anything but long and hard for some of my compatriots
cursed, a postscript. I also have a boxer terrier mix, as they are called here. When I went to pick her up from the person that found her abandoned, she was about 4 weeks old and too weak to walk. The first thing she did when I petted her that day is bite my finger. She is not inclined to be submissive. I’m glad at least one of yours will cooperate with your program. I’m not so lucky. NancyO
Moreover, those conditions can be seen today. Well, CoRev, those without energy are not without because they voluntarily abstain from it or because they are ignorant of it but because they are denied access to it by those who control it. There is enough energy consumed in the world each year to give everyone alive today a decent, if not comfortable, standard of life. Many people who are “without energy” were driven off the land by those who control the energy. So their energylessness is a result of condition “A,” not of “B.” Of course in your imagination the only exploitation or expropriation that ever occurs is government taking away the hard-earned tax dollars of rich folks. Poor folks are poor because they’re stupid and lazy, not because they have been oppressed. So I’m pissing in the wind here.
TWalker, yes you are pi$$ing the wind. How can you make this claim: “ those without energy are not without because they voluntarily abstain from it or because they are ignorant of it but because they are denied access to it by those who control it.” Denied access?Tell you what, go ahead and share your high usage with the appropriate of African “denied access.” Since you are so willing to share, there shouldn’t be any logistical problems.
Wow!
Nancy
saying that it’s “in trouble” aids the Liars. DI is still running on its savings. it’s savings will run out in less than ten years… that’s what “short term actuarial insolvency” means. At least up to last year DI could be put into permanent solvency with a one tenth of one percent increase in the payroll tax this year, another next year, and one in about 2050, if I remember. That is about 80 cents a week this year and next for the average worker, and another 80 cents per week about 40 years from now. That is not “in trouble.”
Unless of course the liars can use it as an excuse to CUT Social Security. You see, when our possible costs from becoming disabled increase, the only thing we can do about it is to cut our insurance.
btw… the numbers i used here are from memory, they might be a little off. but not much.
cursed
two thoughts on third grade math.
one: it is often taught badly. just as often taught badly by the best trained modern teachers as it is taught badly by some old fashioned person who understands neither arithmetic or children.
two: there are lots of people with PhD’s in accounting who can’t do third grade arithmetic… in the sense of applying it competently to the problem at hand.
three
from my brief encounter with Texas culture, I suspect the kids there have a special difficulty understanding third grade math, because Texas culture encourages the attitude that if something is hard, hit it.
The words “Cost savings from worker contributions to health care and retirement” mean “cuts in compensation” but sound much better. At the federal level, how about “cost savings from seniors’ contributions to health care and retirement” (achieved by slashing SS and Medicare payments)? Or “cost savings from soldiers’ contributions to lifestyle amenities” (by slashing military pay)? Think anybody would object?
Jack/coberly,
The “Texas Miracle” is not that they have the #1 education system. It is that they have provided 43% of the new jobs, despite having only 8% of the GDP.
How can I make the claim? I ignore the directives from the central committee of News International and the consortium of ExxonMobil think tanks and do my own research. Ever hear of Ken Saro-Wiwa?
A few days ago I posted a piece on my blog called “Texas, the jobs engine? Or Texas, the jobs-laundering engine?”, which responded to an LA Times op-ed by liberal-leaning Rick Wartzman, executive director of the Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University, in which Wartzman buys into the claim that Texas’s anti-taxation and anti-business-regulation policies—and, weirdly, its products-liability “tort-reform” laws and its statute limiting medical-malpractice non-economic-damages awards—have contributed to Texas’s outpacing of other states in job growth in recent years.
My blog piece is at http://annarborist.blogspot.com/2011/07/texas-jobs-engine-or-texas-jobs.html. It notes first of all that the applicable tort law in products-liability cases is the law of the state where the product was bought or used, or where the injury occurred, not the state where the product was made, and that there’s probably no indication that doctors are moving their practices to Texas because of the malpractice law and hiring a lot of employees.
But the piece also emphasizes that the job-creation issue nationally concerns, well, the aggregate job creation nationally, not the number of jobs that one state can attract from other states as the Wartzman article suggests.
Anyway, Merrill Goozner now has a terrific in-depth deconstruction of the so-called Texas Miracle at TheFiscalTimes, at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/07/08/Perrys-Texas-Miracle-Less-Than-Meets-the-Eye.aspx?p=1.
Beverly,
The link you provided that shows Texas as “less than advertised” uses highly cherry picked data: YOY employment growth since Feb 2010? It’s better to use a longer time period, don’t you think? It’s also better to you an unbiased source. Here is the Dallas Fed’s study of the employment growth since 1998: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://dallasfed.org/research/update-reg/2008/images/0804c2.gif&imgrefurl=http://dallasfed.org/research/update-reg/2008/0804.cfm&usg=__PFMHuQzGjM0IeexYTbvpLUqOF6M=&h=383&w=435&sz=14&hl=en&start=11&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=s6YYWlDpn79lqM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=126&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dtexas%2Bemployment%2Bgrowth%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-SearchBox%26rlz%3D1I7GGLL_en%26biw%3D1259%26bih%3D584%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnsu&ei=KZwYToqQK4TiiAKe1uzSBQ
It is absolutely undeniable that Texas has outperformed the nation in employment growth. And while it is true that Texas benefits from its Oil & Gas industry, this performance has encompassed several boom & bust periods.
And it is also true that being right next to Mexico, Texas employment has borne the brunt of NAFTA employment dislocation. Being right to Mexico probably explains a lot of the low rankings on education scores.
Finally, there are many more states that have Oil/Gas/Coal resources that are effectively off-limited by the Federal Government. If Texas’ oil & gas industry explains their superior economic performance, maybe we should learn from that, and remove the stupid restrictions.
Sammy, I whole heartedly agree.
Little Willie was the smallest rooster I have ever seen, but he would not tolerate loiteres. He would pretend to peck at the ground until the person turned their back, then Willie would race up and spur um. Willie had recently been deposed, by two other roosters, and he was not happy about that. Seemed to make him even more agressive towards people.
I’m sorry to her about your boxer/terrier mix.
I have had mine since they were born. Their mother was my dog till they were five weeks old. Unfortunately she bite the tire of a speeding vehicle. I keep the most incorrigible male out of a sense of obligation to the mother, as well as the little female, because she was so adorable.
I would never recomend keeping two littermates. It has been a nightmare. I have structured there lives after Marine bootcamp. I have been very strict from the start and frequintly employ corporal punishment, particularly with the male. Unlike the Marines however, I have also given them a lot of love, and good food.
I socialized them with people and dogs, in such a way that they expect everybody and everything to be their friend. Burglers can have there way with anything, as long as the dogs get a pat on the head
These two are incredibly rugged and distructive. They can eat a whole cooked chicken and a block of cheese, and did not even leave a smudge of grease all in less then ten minutes.
With such a plucky vital breed, of dog I would be very carefull if one came to me that was messed up in the noodle. My view is to never love something that cannot love you back.
Before she died the Momma dog used to line her pups up and give them a good licking every night. One pup never went along with this program, so the momma would give this one a good bite. Soon the momma started biting all of them before she even started licking, but she would always bite the recalcitrant one particullary hard. Pups need tough love sometimes, and some pups need some real tough love. Don’t be afraid dish it out.
If you don’t understand the point then you are ignoring the facts. What part of reduced compensation is so difficult to understand? Reduce the compensation of all of the workers in a specific class and certainly you reduce the costs of the system served by that class. In this case we are discussing the relationship between Wisconsin teachers having to accept a reduced compensation package so that Wisconsin school systems can reduce their budget costs. What is then done with the money not paid in compensation is not the point. An entire, but specific, class of workers have borne the burden of the savings to the system. The Federal budget is in the red. Should the Congress immediately increase patient fees at the VA hospital systems and cut military retirement benefits by ten percent? That would help to balance the Federal budget. Or is it only other people that should be forced to bear an unfair share of such compensation reductions?
You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit? Your servile attitude is all the more striking because you choose to focus on the sacrifices that can or should be made by others. You deserve the scorn that you detect from others. Step up and describe the sacrifice that you have made.
“from my brief encounter with Texas culture, I suspect the kids there have a special difficulty understanding third grade math, because Texas culture encourages the attitude that if something is hard, hit it”
Look at the guys who died at the Alamo. They are all a bunch of Scots-Irish. Every Scotsman knows that his perfidious cousins from Albion have stick us in the back at any given oportunity. Today academia has created conditions that have made the social siences a no go zone for rednecks. So the knee jerk Scotsman response is screw the academician and the volvo they drove in in.
It’s true we have set a pretty piss poor example for the blue gums, but they have more crosses to bear. They have a culture that demonizes education because it is associated with acting white. Most black kids live with a single parent, which is not as conducive for kitchen table learning as is a traditional nuclear family, and last but certainly not least blacks as a whole suck at math, and you can’t blame Rick Perry for that.
Sammy nationally the failure to add net jobs is attributable to declining state/local government employment. So a question (not rhetorical): has Texas been keeping its government employees, unlike most states?
From Fed via http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/07/08/263718/public-and-private-employment/:
PJR, I think a rephrase of your question might better be: nationally the failure to add net jobs is attributed to too few private sector jobs created to offset the anticipated government losses.
Stimulus was ill defined to create a sustainable recovery. Too much attention to keeping government jobs, too much attention on short lived “shovel ready” infrastructure projects created a jobs environment that had a clear ending with the end of stimulus.
Stimulus needs to be aimed at producing sustainable private sector jobs. This one was not.
People don’t realize how much personality chickens have. My first pets were two hens I called Bitty and Chick. Taught them to sit to get picked up and come when I called them. If it weren’t for my dog, I’d get some little banty hens like yours. Competition among roosters causes lots of problems for them and the hens too. Knew someone whose rooster actually broke the hip of one of her hens. He joined the heavenly band shortly after that.
Sure am glad you kept the pups. People take one look at them and think all they’re good for is fighting. Fighting dogs here have short, brutish lives. End up dead or thrown out a lot. She was just too little and weak to sell so got pitched.
Now, she’s not tall but weighs 60lbs. Strong with a low center of gravity in BB’s case means I don’t take her on walks–my knees are so bad there’s no words. The guy that cuts my grass and does other handyman chores takes her a couple of times a week. She’s nuts about him. The main problem with her behavior is she will knock you down to lick you to death. On the good side, she won’t let anyone into the yard and is the bane of the UPS and the Fed Ex guy. I’m sorry about that but I don’t particularly having to climb into small trees to get packages.
But, unfortunately, I got sick just after we got her and couldn’t deal with her energy the way I would have 10 years ago. So, not a lot of discipline and impossible to socialize to other animals. She’d just as soon kill them as look at them. So, no nice kitties for NancyO! But, BB’s saved and that’s the point. You’re on the right track with yours. Sounds like their mama had the right idea, too. Just as soon as I figure out how, I’ll apply her psychology, if not the bites. I’ll keep you informed of any new BB adventures, should any occur. NancyO
cursed
i have been teaching myself the opposite principle since i first became aware there was a choice. it seems to work better.
Sammy
have you ever looked at the rate of growth of the Soviet Union between 1917 and 1957?
Anthony Watts Is a local weather guy here in Chico, CA. Here Anthony is just seen as a crackpot and all in all not a very nice man in his daily dealings. He actually holds a great many odd thoughts but no one who knows him gives him much credibility and just let him revel in his minor celebrity
Sorry to hear about the knees Nancy O. A painful gait makes things tough.
Coberly
Boxers are one solid muscle spasm. It’s tough to get through to them. Breeding them with a pit bull doesn’t help. The other day I came home and the male greeted me at the gate with chicken feet sticking out of his face. When I smacked him it reinforced my messege that it was not all right to chase and chew on chickens. The female seldom gets spanked and she is spoiled and manipulative.
The male is dumb, and cannot control his enthusiasm. He wants to rush all my guests and jump up on them. I cannot get his attention, and make him stop jumping on people without getting physical with him.
Doctor Spock might have argued that we are not supposed to spank, but I’d like to see him train these dogs not to dig for gophers with out putting a little fear in them.
Experts in the numerical science, where are you? I need the issue addressed. How do we take seriously a prediction concerning economic events 25 years into the future? Has the “science” of economics shown itself to be that capable? Is the math that is being used up to the task? What is the validity of such prognostications?
PJR,
It took some digging, but I found it here: http://socrates.cdr.state.tx.us/iSocrates/Files/RDA%20Global%20Detailed%20Forecasts%202012%20report.pdf
It appears Texas has NOT shed a lot of government jobs, instead grown them slightly. I don’t know what is significant about this. State and local governments shed employees because they have to with declining revenues. Because of their relatively healthy economy Texas, funded by sales (not income) taxes has been able to keep them.
CoRev:
Unions in Wisconsin can’t strike and they had already made the concessions Walker wanted. He was all for union busting and did not care about the concessions. I did not miss any point. You whined about Soros above. Why not whine about the Koch Bros?
Superb sleuthing, Sammy! I see the relevant chart inside the document that you linked. I asked because it should make a difference in interpreting the “Texas Miracle” and any lessons from it. Most of the US appears to be increasing private sector jobs but offsetting this with cuts in government jobs (as my linked graphic shows). The data indicate that the “Texas Miracle” is, at least in part if not in whole, that its political leaders have been sane enough to maintain and even slightly increase government employment while private sector jobs grow.
Had your data shown declines in Texas government employment, like the US as a whole, it would make Texas look even more impressive. In that case, one could argue more convincingly that Texas is a private-sector jobs machine, and one might even claim (as some do at a theoretical level) that cutting government jobs feeds private sector employment.
Goozner’s article says that Texas actually has increased the number of public sector jobs during the recession, but that it is about to have to start reversing that.
The point of my article on my blog is that what matters for national job creation is not whether one state’s policies have managed to attract jobs from other states, or attract jobs that would have been added in another state—which I call jobs laundering, in the context of national jobs numbers—but instead whether that state has created jobs that were not taken from another state and that would not have been created at all if that state hadn’t created them.
Sammy:
You and CoRev keep trying.
Maybe Texas is leading because of the number of low paying jobs? Maybe, Texas is leading because of its proximity to Mexico . . . duh! Think there is a wage discrepancy there . . . duh? Maybe Texas is leading in job growth because it doesn’t have healthcare insurance for over 1 in 4 of its population?
http://dallasfed.org/research/swe/2010/swe1001c.cfm “Dallas Fed” also . .
Bev:
Is it a net gain of jobs overall or not? Anything less is BS.
PJR,
its political leaders have been sane enough to maintain and even slightly increase government employment
It is the other way around: a healthy private economy is what allows the public sector to grow or be maintained. Without the revenues generated by a healthy private sector, you have to reduce government, no matter how sane or insane the political leaders are.
Beverly,
You make a valid argument that some Texas jobs would have been created in other states except for the favorable business climate there. But what Rick Perry and others are saying is that if we implement the policies that ostensibly are responsible for Texas’ exceptional employment growth- low taxes, low regulation, right-to-work, tort reform to ALL THE STATES, we will attract business to the US as opposed to other countries, the same way Texas attracts businesses from other states.
Exactly, run. THAT was my intended point.
Excuse me, Sammy, but regarding products-liability tort reform, how exactly would it matter whether the product was made in China or instead in Michigan? States’ tort laws apply the same to products made in China as they do to products made in Michigan. So why would a company want to manufacture its products in China rather than Michigan because Michigan refuses to enact a tort “reform” statute similar to Texas’s?
And about Texas’s medical malpractice non-economic-damages cap, I think’s, um, unlikely that doctors would move from China to Michigan and start hiring employees if only Michigan would adopt the came cap that Texas has.
And as for the rest of the argument you say Perry and others make, it’s certainly true that if we eliminated all business regulation, taxes and union representation throughout the U.S., we’d attract businesses that now operate in Bangladesh. It’s also true that we’d soon have a standard of living similar to Bangladesh’s. Sounds delightful. Rick Perry for president!
Bev,
it’s certainly true that if we eliminated all business regulation, taxes and union representation throughout the U.S., we’d attract businesses that now operate in Bangladesh.
At least we have an admission of the obvious – that taxes, regulation, and unions hurt employment growth. Hooray!
It’s also true that we’d soon have a standard of living similar to Bangladesh’s.
However, this is not true. There are many factors that influence the decision s to where to locate a business. In addition to wages, taxes, and regulation there is proximity to markets, quality of workforce, political and legal stability, infrastructure, etc. The US has many advantages relative to other countries, so if we lower taxes, regulation, and tort risk we can still attract businesses in spite of higher wages due to our advantages in these other areas.
Sammy you could argue that Texas has had a healthy economy, explaining why it hasn’t cut government jobs, but I’m not sure that works well. Certainly Texas never had the housing bubble–so no housing bust–and it had oil, and both helped mitigate the recession. On the other hand, unemployment rose to 8.2 percent in 2010, from 4.1 percent in 2007, and Texas GDP did fall 1.5 percent in 2009 when US GDP fell, so I wouldn’t say the economy has been all that healthy compared to everyone else. And now I understand the state faces a roughly $25 billion deficit for a $95 billion state budget, which shouldn’t happen if the economic situation is so good and GDP has been growing for two years.
Regardless, the growth in employment in Texas (the miracle) is private sector growth, plus a little bit of government sector growth; elsewhere it is private sector growth minus government sector contraction. Explanations of why Texas employment is growing faster must begin with the missing minus term. Again, thanks for finding that data point.
You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit? Your servile attitude is all the more striking because you choose to focus on the sacrifices that can or should be made by others. You deserve the scorn that you detect from others. Step up and describe the sacrifice that you have made.
CoRev (Countering what revolution?)
You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit? Your servile attitude is all the more striking because you choose to focus on the sacrifices that can or should be made by others. You deserve the scorn that you detect from others. Step up and describe the sacrifice that you have made.
Jack, this is a fair question: “You are too ready and willing to sacrifice the compensation and benefits of others. What sacrifice are you willing to make in that regard? What have you given up in support of your cherished concept of a reduced deficit?”
For deficit reduction? Not a whole lot outside trying to get candidates elected that I think are on the track of reducing the deficit. There isn’t much an individual citizen can do, unless they choose to donate to the Govt.
Since we are mentioning donations, we have sent well over 1K boxes to troops in the field, (Iraq, Afghanistan, Djibouti, and the several Stans). Those are at our costs, contents and shipping. Most have done nothing, especially if they have family and friends in the field. We have met and take to dinner many of our recipients. So we are supporting our military members in as many ways we cn. In many instances, especially for those really remotely deployed, these boxes are supplying some fundamental needs. Which BTW, saves our DOD some expense.
That’s a short list, not including our detailed charitable contribution, of how we are supporting … You? Your list?
Interesting interview with former GM vice chairman Bob Lutz at http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/bring-home-no-excuse-not-manufacuture-u-bob-130200387.html#more-id.
Sammy addendum because I found BLS data despite myself. Unless I’m reading the tables wrongly, Texas lost 570K private sector jobs in the recession (from a high of 8,853K in Nov 2008) and has regained 421K. From it’s low point in Jan 2010, it has gone up 5.08 percent. Government jobs increased 7K during the drop in private sector employment and increased 54K during the recovery period to date.
To compare, I looked at NY. It lost 519K private sector jobs (from a high of 7,358K in June 2008) and has regained 317K. From it’s low point in Jan 2010, it has gone up 4.64 percent. Government jobs decreased 32K during the drop in private sector employment and increased 2K during the recovery to date. I also looked at California, which lost over 1.5M private sector jobs–since then, a 3.42 percent rise in the private sector; much larger cuts in government employees (129K drop).
So Texas deserves some credit for growing private sector jobs a bit faster than other states, but the performance isn’t eye-popping. Texas looks miraculous when looking at total employment increases because it grew government jobs while NY and others cut them.
I ask about your sacrifice and you describe a bit of individual charity. No sir. I’m asking when you will campaign for a reduction in military retirement benefits for current recipients. I’m asking about when you will campaign to increase tax rates in your income bracket. I’m asking when you will ask conservative of all stripes to accede to tax increases for the wealthiest Americans. I ask this only because you are demanding that public servants accept lowered compensation for the work that they do that is crucial to their localities. And if you don’t think that teaching is a crucial aspect of the quality of life in your community then you are oblivious to reality. And I ask when you will be willing to share the sacrifice because you gloat over the sacrifices demanded from those others.
Just in case you missed my reply up stream I repeat it here. To CoRev, countering a nonexistent revolution.
“I ask about your sacrifice and you describe a bit of individual charity. No sir. I’m asking when you will campaign for a reduction in military retirement benefits for current recipients. I’m asking about when you will campaign to increase tax rates in your income bracket. I’m asking when you will ask conservative of all stripes to accede to tax increases for the wealthiest Americans. I ask this only because you are demanding that public servants accept lowered compensation for the work that they do that is crucial to their localities. And if you don’t think that teaching is a crucial aspect of the quality of life in your community then you are oblivious to reality. And I ask when you will be willing to share the sacrifice because you gloat over the sacrifices demanded from those others.”
Jack, ole buddy, how many times do I have to repeat that in nearly all my deficit plans proposed to your inane commenting, that the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to end.
I also realize that I am one of the few who on occasion will joust with your liberal proposals. In particular I have asked several times for you to do the math on what you proposed, just to show how far short were your proposals.
Perhaps my charity is not enough for you, but the bottom line was you did not answer my request to list your own. Are you like so many liberals all talk about what the government should do while ignoring your personal responsibility for helping when you can?
Finally, we must thank Obama for showing just how bad were the liberal proposals. We said, when proposed, the stimulus was poorly designed. History now shows that to be true. We have said that the constant attacks on business communities, can you list any other than “Green” businesses that have not been attacked, but you folks still write articles of why/if there is uncertainty. Month after month we get lackluster and worse employment reports, and we get questions why? For an answer refer to the stimulus and business attack comments. War policy a disaster. Budget policy worse than his war policy. Legislation, too large, complex, and unworkable (stimulus and Obama care.) He loves his leisure time and appears to dislike the hard work required to actually make progress. he can not act in a bipartisan manner while blaming the other party. And, he is a far, far better campaigner than a president. When did he leave campaign mode?
PJR,
It looks like we’re damned if we do, damned if we don’t. To keep government employees you have to raise tax rates = jobs lost. If we don’t raise tax rates have to lay off government employees = jobs lost.
So we have to grow the pie. How do we grow the pie? Bring businesses/capital back to the US by cutting the highest corporate tax rates. Cut burdensome regulations. Develop our own oil/gas/coal. Pretty much what Texas is doing, and the opposite of what Obama is doing.
Sammy, add create tax incentives for starting new or expanding businesses and for creating new jobs. A simple formula lost on the Dem/liberal business hating crowd.
CoRev
funny as hell you vote for politicians who say they want to reduce the deficit… by cutting taxes.
oh… yes about the big O. but the problem with his “stimulus” was that it gave (gives) money to people who are already sitting on their money. and yes that includes even the poor but employed.
cursed
i have heard that boxers are manipulative, and smart. i believe it. i am a little afraid of pit bulls myself, because of the way they are bred, and handled. but with my own dogs i have learned that a soft voice is all that is ever needed… they would die to please me. but i have to find a way so they can understand what i want. do i always succeed? no. am i convinced that the gentle way is the better way? yes.
i am not so sure of myself that i would condemn your methods. but i have seen enough of people who say about what you say, who just aren’t as smart as their dogs.
dogs were designed by God and Darwin to dig for gophers. I can avoid the situation. I would never scold them for doing it.
Coberly
Thanks for pointing out our friend’s major inconsistency. Frankly I don’t recall that CoRev had been advocating an end to the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy, but I was giving him the benefit of the doubt on that score. You are on point to point out that you can’t support the current Republican leadership and in the same breathe claim to be in favor of discontinuing the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy. But inconsistency seems to be a characteristic of the Republican Party policies.
Jack, I have supplied for you specifically several deficit reduction plans, maybe as many as five, and nearly every one has had tax increases. Several, the first two IIRC, specifically called out letting the Bush tax cuts expire.
The fact you do not remember does not surprise me, as you responded with emotion with deficit proposals of war ending and Bush tax cut foolishness. From those proposals, I see you have still not done the math.
PJR – “Sammy addendum because I found BLS data despite myself. Unless I’m reading the tables wrongly, Texas lost 570K private sector jobs in the recession (from a high of 8,853K in Nov 2008) and has regained 421K. From it’s low point in Jan 2010, it has gone up 5.08 percent. Government jobs increased 7K during the drop in private sector employment and increased 54K during the recovery period to date.”
PJR, I am interested in knowing which tables you referenced at BLS to collect your numbers. I reviewed two different sets of data, laus and sae. Sae doesn’t go back far enough, so I settled on laus.
Here’s the summary of what I found:
It appears that Texas is ahead of its Nov 07 private employment by 76,000 or behind by 24,000 depending on which month’s subsequent rollup data one selects for Nov 07 data.
It appears that Texas is ahead of its Nov 07 state and local government employment by 115,400 or 135,400, depending on which monthly data for Nov 07 is selected.
Texas – Government employment
May 2010 – Nov 2007
1,863.6p or 1,863.6p
-1,748.2 -1,728.2
115.4 or 135.4
Texas private employment
May 2010 – Nov 2007
8,699.7p or 8,699.7p
-8,623.1 or -8,723.7
76.6 or -24.0
—–
For Release: January 18, 2008
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_01182008.htm
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
Nov 2007
10,371.3 Texas total employment
-1,748.2 Texas government employment
8,623.1 Texas private employment
OR:
For release: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_03112008.htm
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
Nov 2007
10,451.9 Texas total employment
-1,728.2 Texas government employment
8,723.7 Texas private employment
—–
For release: June 17, 2011
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_06172011.htm
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
Apr-May 2011
10,554.5 10,563.3p
-1,859.8 -1,863.6p
8,604.7 8,699.7p
For release: June 17, 2011
Table 5
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t05.htm
SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
Apr-May 2011
10,554.5 10,563.3p
-1,859.8 -1,863.6p
8,594.7 8,699.7p
Sources:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.t05.htm
http://www.bls.gov/schedule/archives/laus_nr.htm
MG I used the One Screen Data Search button at http://www.bls.gov/sae/data.htm (it brings up a pop-up with 7 selections to select SAE data of different kinds by state).
PRJ, I looked at that option but couldn’t find all of matching supporting data.
MG possibly you didn’t check the exact same 7 boxes. I looked at private and government (and checked to make sure they added up correctly) for each state, and raw rather than seasonally adjusted (which wasn’t always available). I didn’t focus on Nov 2007 because private employment increased for NY and Texas until well-into 2008; instead I identified the month when private employment levels peaked before falling, and the month that they hit bottom (Jan 2010 for both states). Tables provided monthly data up to May 2011.
Jack,
I am like counter the non rev (CoRev) a federal civil service annuitant, I also spent a number of years in military reserve status, so I am, like buff, a military retiree.
Best deal in the world, either one.
And the only money of mine is in the OPM side which I have about 3% cash input covering my annuity and benefits, the 97% coming from the tax payer each year.
On the military retirement 100% taxpayer funded.
Both represent about $1.2T in special treasuries, 97% or more filled by special obligations that create the treasuries, but no cash, the deficit effect comes in the checks to retirees.
Your real question should be: how come ‘they’ worry about SS going broke in 2042 or 37, when the fed and military retirement funds have a large chunk of treasuries that are broke now?
If you must know about my dedication to charitable giving I estimate that my wife and I give about 5% of our total gross incomes from salaries which is well into the top 5% tier. Granted that my wife writes most of the checks, but they come out of our check books.
I am pleased that you are in favor of letting the Bush tax holiday expire. It isn’t clear from your earlier comments. End the wars in the middle east and we’re on the fast track to a reasonable deficit. Correcting the broken corporate tax system would be a welcome change.
Equally important, however, is to recognize that local government employment is equally as important to meeting the needs of our society as any private sector employment. Working in a school system isn’t a charitable effort. It’s an important labor task. the cost must be determined by the need for the service, not by the community’s willingness to pay for the service that it requires.
As a note, Its no longer teh Bush tax cuts. They are now the Obama Tax cuts since he and teh Dems took over that mantle last Nov. You guys should really keep up with current events.
Cheers
Islam will change
Co
You’re losing sight of the point Coberly and I are focused on. If your budget recommendations include tax increases that are focused on discontinuance of the Bush tax holiday for the wealthy (granted that it has been supported by Obama over the past two years) how can you continue to support the Republican recalcitrance on this same issue? Tax holiday for the wealthy, tax increase in order to address the budget deficit and Republican Party leadership are all conflicting factors stalling a resolution to the deficit issue. You position seesm to be at the center of the conflict. Which is it, tax increase or Republican Party demand?
ilsm
In fact I have no bone to pick with military, or any other, pension or benefit paid to workers. I do not distinguish the value of the work done by public and private employees. I do not differentiate the right to compensation as negotiated between employers and employees.
What I find particularly galling is the rampant and rabid focus on the compensation of public employees in general and those of employed union members as though those workers owe their societies some form of fealty not required of private employees and especially the executive class. Cutting back on one class of workers’ compensation is tantamount to increasing their taxes. In either case the reduction to their take home pay is the same. If one is fighting against tax increases that are intended to meet budget costs then one cannot insist that public employees give up compensation in order to reduce those same costs. It is unfair and it is inconsistent. What is consistent about such a stance is that the resistance to tax increases are aimed at protecting the wealthiest Americans and demands to reduce public worker compensation is an attack on the middle class. The tried and true Republican Party strategy which is now unfortunately a possible neo-Democratic Party approach. The DLC may be defunct, but its rotten aroma still pervades Democratic Party policies.
Jack, “Which is it, tax increase or Republican Party demand?” Yes,! For you which is it? More of the same which has been shown to fail or party demand/talking points?
Apparently you’re not willing to address your own conflicting commentary. The answer isn’t yes to opposing points. The Republican Party leadership has been holding the budget process hostage and persistently opposing any increase in taxes, even in the form of reforms to tax loopholes and abuses. No, I don’t hold the Democratic Party up as an example of political virtue, and Obama is proving himself to be more of a modrate Republican than a progressive Democrat. Still the Republican Party leadership can’t find a way to agree to a responsible plan and you can’t agree to make a choice. Your answer, “Yes,” is an example of your own insincerity. You seem to specialize in false equivalence.
Buff
it would be tedious to always say the Bush-Obama tax cuts. I’ll grant you that Obama owns them now, but they are “the bush tax cuts” because that’s where they came from.
jack
they are not predictions, they are projections. “if things keep going the way they are, that’s where they will be in X years.
as for “mathematical science,” in a sense there is no such thing. as Bertrand Russell pointed out, “math is the subject in which we don’t know what we are doing, or ever know if we are right.”
anyone who claims “it’s just math” is a liar. it’s never “just math.” the numbers have to mean something to start with.