Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics
| Last | Change | Percent | |
| S&P Futures | 1433.4 | 5.0 | 0.35% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 2492.4 | 5.3 | 0.21% |
| Oil (WTI) | 92.14 | 0.1 | 0.08% |
| LIBOR | 0.334 | -0.006 | -1.76% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 79.61 | -0.161 | -0.20% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 1.68% | 0.01% | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 194.4 | 0.1 |
Stocks are higher this morning after positive earnings out of JP Morgan and Wells Fargo. Mortgage banking drove revenues and profits. The Producer Price Index came in higher than expected, although it was lower ex-food and energy. Bonds and MBS are flattish.
Was the debate last night market moving? Of course not. Best headline to sum it up: GOP and Dems agree: Our guy won.
It turns out yesterday’s unexpectedly large drops in unemployment claims was due to a large state mistakenly reporting its claims.
Frank Blake of the Home Despot sees a full blown housing recovery as a year or two away. He points to customer attitudes – do homeowners consider a home improvement as an investment to be recouped when the house is sold, or simply an expense. I would agree – considering a granite countertop an “investment” is definitely bull-market thinking.
What is the role of the CFPB? It was sold as an agency dedicated to more transparency and ensuring consumers are fully informed when making financial decisions. But to the people that work there, the mission is to force financial service providers to give consumers a better deal. The Mortgage Bankers Association warns of unintended consequences.
Filed under: Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
It turns out yesterday’s unexpectedly large drops in unemployment claims was due to a large state correctly reporting its claims.
More generally, an instareport that CA screwed up nicely fits into the narrative of not trusting any data that doesn’t fit into one’s narrative. These numbers bounce around quite a bit, which is why the rolling four week average is a far more useful statistic. If the original claim about CA is correctly, the numbers will bounce back up or be corrected. If not, they’ll stay down. More likely, they’ll continue to bounce around and those who have picked sides will see what they want. It’s like a printout with multiple embedded stereograms. Squint your eyes the right way and you see what you want.
BB
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On the debate note, unlike the Presidential debate where the moderator “lost control” but the candidates had a civil and respectful discussion, when the moderator lost control of the VP one, Biden took inturrupting and talking over to an annoying level.
On a different note, the EU winning the Nobel Peace Prize – they continue to outdo themselves, year after year, striving to make this prize irrelevent…
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On the debate note, unlike the Presidential debate where the moderator “lost control” but the candidates had a civil and respectful discussion, when the moderator lost control of the VP one, Biden took inturrupting and talking over to an annoying level.
I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder, Dave. I haven’t watched it start to finish yet, as I was doing other stuff last night, but from the pieces I’ve seen Martha Raddatz didn’t lose control of the debate. She allowed both of them to talk while keeping them on point with the occasional interjection, which is what Lehrer didn’t do.
Also, I didn’t think that what Biden did was any more or less annoying than Mitt Romney last week.
I’m with you on the NPP; I kind of understand their “logic”, but their timing absolutely, positively couldn’t be worse. Unless it was to give it to President Obama right after he’d increased troops in Afghanistan.
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On the debate, my own take was that JB’s laughing and alligator smiling were annoying, but watching the sweep second hand on my watch most of his interruptions were time constrained – Ryan was hogging the “discussion” time.
There were fact free zones for both of them. There was no real plan for anything from either. They agreed on a lot of stuff they pretended to disagree about. As theater, I thought JB won, but I like him. Proverbial pol I’d like to take to Scholzgarten for a beer.
I also thought Ryan did nothing to hurt himself and unlike SHP he does not frighten me for lack of knowledge.
Here is an example of actual agreement but plan free and fact free argument: JB says we will be out of AFG in 2014. We will not be. Instead our combat troops will be out, but we have a ten year support commitment that includes Special Forces. Ryan says WMR likes 2014 but not a hard line for withdrawal. Both ignore the ten year commitment. They have the [phony] hard line debate: enabling the ally’s weakness vs. tipping off the enemy.
That was all misdirection by both, and they agree, in fact. Took 10 minutes, JB gets in a zinger about Ryan wanting to put more Americans in harm’s way in the east after we have trained up Afghanis. All for nothing. Essentially, they agreed.
Addendum – Ryan missed some opportunities when JB was in fact free no plan land but JB did not miss his when Ryan was. Examples: JB had no plan to save SS/Medicare beyond “trust us” and Ryan never seized that moment. Ryan could not tell what deductions WMR would have on the table and JB buried him.
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“Dave!, on October 12, 2012 at 10:05 am said:
…
On a different note, the EU winning the Nobel Peace Prize – they continue to outdo themselves, year after year, striving to make this prize irrelevent…”
Agreed. They actually managed to outdo the awarding of the prize to President Obama for winning the 2008 election when it comes to absurdity.
Mark – Hope you make it to the ACL Festival this year. I couldn’t make it due to family obligations and I’m bummed.
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jnc:
They actually managed to outdo the awarding of the prize to President Obama for winning the 2008 election when it comes to absurdity.
I disagree. As absurd as granting the award to the EU is, I don’t think it even approaches the stratospheric levels of absurdity attained when they granted the award first to Gore and then later to Obama.
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“Also, I didn’t think that what Biden did was any more or less annoying than Mitt Romney last week.”
I don’t recall Romney consistently yelling over Obama and not letting him finish sentences…I think equating the two is…well…a bunch of malarky 🙂 I also thought that they could have spent more time discussing certain topics (not the things they actually agreed on mind you) but Raddatz had to move on….sometimes Mark is right, they spent an inordinate amount of time on the hard line for withdrawl at the expense of discussions on the economy. But the tax discussion could have used more moderation. As it was, she let it deteriorate literally into “Yes it will/No it won’t”.
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“As absurd as granting the award to the EU is, I don’t think it even approaches the stratospheric levels of absurdity attained when they granted the award first to Gore and then later to Obama”.
Nah, had to be when Yasser Arafat got it.
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Arafat. +1.
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McWing:
Nah, had to be when Yasser Arafat got it.
I considered that, but ultimately decided that Arafat’s award was less absurd than it was insulting to our intelligence. It is one thing to project fanciful dreams onto someone who hasn’t actually done anything. It’s quite another to try to present a terrorist as someone to be admired as a fount of peace.
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It’s quite another to try to present a terrorist as someone to be admired as a fount of peace.
Arafat was Kafkaesque, Orwellian, Lewis Carroll, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut absurd!
BHO was only Sesame Street absurd.
EU is we don’ got nuttin absurd.
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No, awarding it to the EU is more absurd than Obama. The EU doesn’t have a “powerful luminosity, a unique high-vibration integrity”, nor will it “help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment.” Clearly those traits are more Nobel worthy than an unelected bureaucracy whose main purpose these days is sovereign debt bailouts.
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/morford/article/Is-Obama-an-enlightened-being-Spiritual-wise-2544395.php#page-1
I’d love to see a follow up article from that guy this year.
Edit: I found it:
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“…this has been, unfortunately, the Obama we’ve always had.”
Because I never waxed lyrical about BHO and only decided to vote for him at the end after giving a decent amount to the McC campaign, I missed the hype from folks like the sfgate blogger. I would have gagged.
I had always thought conservatives were making up straw men or jokes when talking about BHO calming the seas, or whatever. I guess I missed a lot of funny shit.
Oh well, his FP has suited me and is similar to Bush 41’s. Of course, I am not voting for him this time. If he wins I hope he keeps Petraeus and the SecDef. I hope he does not make Kerry SecState.
I now wonder if WMR would really appoint Bolton SecState. Honestly, I have no idea who WMR is, but I thought his dad was terrific. He was gonna be my guy in ’68.
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mark:
I guess I missed a lot of funny shit.
I can only guess you must have been deliberately avoiding coverage of the campaign. The hero worship was both ubiquitous and sickening. My personal favorite was Chris Matthews:
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Scott, in 2007-2008 I was still doing trial work. No TV entered my life most of the time, certainly not cable news. I read The Economist and listened to Morning Edition. My life changed after my last jury trial in January 2009, which I won, or I would have had to try another one until I did. I cannot tell you how much happier I am that I have time for colloquy like this. I was attentive to local politics because a lot of it affected the courthouse. But I got my info AT the courthouse. It was very different.
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I caught about 5 minutes of the debate. I really liked how Lehrer handled it, but obviously can’t speak to this one. I did see Biden laughing and smirking — and just attributed it to “crazy uncle Joe”
but then I saw this over that the Daily Beast —
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/12/joe-biden-s-rude-debate-laughter-the-joke-s-on-him.html
based on the coverage he was either flat out rude or passionate.
was he just rude?
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“Troll McWingnut or George, whichever, on October 12, 2012 at 12:48 pm said:
…
Nah, had to be when Yasser Arafat got it.”
Had he actually made peace ala Anwar Sadat it might have been merited.
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“markinaustin, on October 12, 2012 at 1:26 pm said:
I had always thought conservatives were making up straw men or jokes when talking about BHO calming the seas, or whatever. I guess I missed a lot of funny shit.”
Nope, just quoting Obama directly.
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Worth a read courtesy of Shrink2 at PL:
“Inequality and the world economy
True Progressivism
A new form of radical centrist politics is needed to tackle inequality without hurting economic growth
Oct 13th 2012 | from the print edition”
http://www.economist.com/node/21564556
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I read this yesterday, JNC, and I certainly agree with it, but beyond my favorite recipe of strong anti-trust law to encourage competition and better public schools it mainly laments the growth of the welfare state without offering an alternative road to opportunity for all. This was of course where Jack Kemp shone, but I don’t know whether this writer would even know who Jack Kemp was.
I agree that no entrenched party is for this kind of agenda. Cannot think of anyone who is elected to public office who is.
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“markinaustin, on October 12, 2012 at 2:08 pm said:
…
My life changed after my last jury trial in January 2009, which I won, or I would have had to try another one until I did.”
Mark, are you familiar with the character of Denny Crane on Boston Legal?
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Mark, are you familiar with the character of Denny Crane on Boston Legal?
No, unless the clip you attached is descriptive. That is William Shatner. Was he doing a Joe Biden type?
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Call me heartless, but I don’t feel a need to pay higher taxes to subsidize the healthcare of a Harvard graduate who decides to stop working due to a midlife crisis and read books for a year and also decides against getting insurance or going to the doctor and then gets cancer.
“A Possibly Fatal Mistake
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Published: October 12, 2012 ”
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J, didn’t Rep. Pelosi tout Obamacare as a benefit for those that want to engage in this type of lifestyle? I think she used the example of someone now being able to quit there job and become an artist. I found the idea breathtaking in it’s indulgence of mine, and other taxpayers money.
There are those that support the idea however, as alien as that seems to me.
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New counter intuitve GOP theme of the day:
Biden scared off women voters, by strongly defending the things that women voters care the most about, health care, reproductive rights, Social Security and education spending.
Tomorrow’s theme will be Romney improves among Latinos voters, by promising more self-deportation.
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Scott:
The hero worship was both ubiquitous and sickening
Both sides of the aisle, dude; have you forgotten Rich Lowrey and Sarah Palin?
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Interesting Fast and Furious update.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2012/10/12/atf_whistleblower_fired_in_dennys_parking_lot
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“markinaustin, on October 12, 2012 at 6:14 pm said:
Mark, are you familiar with the character of Denny Crane on Boston Legal?
No, unless the clip you attached is descriptive. That is William Shatner. Was he doing a Joe Biden type?”
William Shatner played him as a lawyer on Boston Legal. Denny was proud of the the fact that he claimed never to have lost a case at trial.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Legal
Your comment about having to keep trying cases until you went out on a victory reminded me a bit of him.
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Nah, had to be when Yasser Arafat got it.
I’m late to this party, but I think awarding it to Le Duc Tho is in the competition for most absurd. Of course, Le had the “decency” to decline the award …
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