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 | 1878.7 | 0.9 | 0.05% |
| Eurostoxx Index | 3185.6 | -0.7 | -0.02% |
| Oil (WTI) | 99.38 | -0.4 | -0.36% |
| LIBOR | 0.23 | 0.002 | 0.88% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 80.09 | -0.002 | 0.00% |
| 10 Year Govt Bond Yield | 2.78% | 0.03% | |
| Current Coupon Ginnie Mae TBA | 104.9 | -0.1 | |
| Current Coupon Fannie Mae TBA | 103.7 | -0.2 | |
| RPX Composite Real Estate Index | 200.7 | -0.2 | |
| BankRate 30 Year Fixed Rate Mortgage | 4.53 |
Markets are flattish this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are down.
Mortgage Applications fell 1.2% last week. Purchases were up slightly, but refis fell.
The ADP Employment Change is forecasting 191k nonfarm payrolls this Friday. This has not been a very accurate predictor as of late, so take it with a grain of salt. Estimates are all over the board, with some as low as 100k and some as high as 275k. A lot of it will be due to weather, and the big question will be whether we had some pent-up hiring demand that got caught up in March.
Ellie Mae’s Encompass system went down for 24 hours yesterday. Apparently it was some sort of malicious attack. Things seem to be back on track, though. Lots of originators were unable to close loans yesterday. Imagine if it had happened a day earlier – end of the month and end of the quarter.
Filed under: Morning Report |
All Things in Moderation 
SC overturns campaign contribution limits. Cue the Koch caterwauling..
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Fuckin A! Now these politicians can stay bought.
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from SCOTUSblog: Justice Thomas has a separate opinion, agreeing that limits are invalid, but he would overrule Buckley v. Valeo.
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The WaPo article on the ruling. Not too much except the fact that it happened. And, of course, an idiotic quotation from Chuck Schumer.
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end of fairness? oh. my. god.
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The end of fairness = omg you mean shadowy union- and Soros-funded groups, Tides, MoveOn, etc. won’t be able to suck up billions and dominate the debate on TV?!
McCain predicts there will be rain, sometime, somewhere:
“I was deeply disappointed, but it is what it is,” McCain said shortly after the ruling was announced. “I predict again, there will be major scandals in campaign finance contributions that will cause reform.”
Yes, the 40-year era of no campaign finance scandals is surely ending now. Horrors. What a doofus.
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Tempest in a teapot. While the money levels may influence (consciously or subconsciously) the positions certain politicians take, they don’t buy elections. We are already well above the level where cash makes a huge difference in the outcome of an election.
It’s handy to have the money to really pimp a particularly juice gaffe your opponent makes, but that’s about it. You can spend a hundred billion dollars advocating for lower taxes for rich people or whatever, and change no more minds than you would spending a few million. Indeed, saturation is often counter productive: me doth think he protests too much!
Political speech is already permanently hamstrung by a collective unwillingness of politicians unwilling to say anything that might piss off their base or (usually) moderates and swing-voters. Trying to restrict campaign contributions is just another meaningless effort where, if accomplished, the folks could pat themselves on the back for having accomplished exactly nothing. Except perhaps helping a few incumbents in shaky positions.
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KW, I dissent in part. In 2012, the Forces of Obamapression succeeded in defining Romney by early summer through saturation bombing, while he was financially hamstrung. The election was over then. We don’t know the but-for world, but it was fairly clear that was what happened.
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anytime we get a win from SCOTUS, i basically think of this from the Simpsons episode where Lisa lives in a tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_the_Tree_Hugger
Rich Texan: [after the runaway tree destroys Hemp World] Yeehaw! Score one for the bad guys!
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@qb: “the Forces of Obamapression succeeded in defining Romney by early summer through saturation bombing”
You think a cap on campaign spending would have prevented that?
You think less spending would have changed that? I just don’t. Heck, barely compensated grass roots efforts and a cooperative media would have been enough to do that. And it isn’t like Romney wasn’t a ripe target, just by being super rich and white and having pushed for very liberal-ish stuff while a governor, etc. But I think they could have spent 10% of whatever that cost and accomplished same.
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What politicians fear is losing elections. Money in the hands of opponents = bad. Ergo, money should be prevented from going there. What’s the point of being a politician if you can’t guarantee your own re-election.
This from MF should be our goal:
The way you solve things is by making it politically profitable for the wrong people to do the right thing.
BTW, no responses on my SGR hypothesis last night?
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McWing:
BTW, no responses on my SGR hypothesis last night?
Sounds probable to me.
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Heh, in reference to the Mozilla’s CEO’s Thoughtcrime.
I’ll just say the dude’s a dumbshit. Just like the Whole Foods CEO, if your patrons are Progressives and that’s the world you inhabit, don’t assume tolerance. Progressives cannot tolerate challenges to their views. If you want to keep selling to them, lie or keep you mouth shut.
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Kirsten Powers on the latest feminist absurdity. Apparently schools that have dress codes for girls are promoting “rape culture”.
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McWing:
Progressives cannot tolerate challenges to their views. If you want to keep selling to them, lie or keep you mouth shut.
Did you see Ace’s suggested response to the employees who are calling for his resignation? He should fire them and see what they think then about someone losing their job because of their political views. Heh.
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First of all, choke on it, assholes.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBREA301UR20140401?irpc=932
Second, this is more about Risk Corridor payments then raising rates. Not to worry traitors, Anything for Progressives favorite constituents, health insurance companies.
There will be no rate increases next year. In fact, because Progressives love handing over borrowed money to health insurance companies, there will be a reduction in rates for most people.
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That’s funny!
And racist!
And sexist!
And homophobic!
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KW,
No, my point isn’t that caps or less spending would have changed things. What I was dissenting from was your point that money doesn’t change elections. Romney was limited by caps while the Obama forces were carpet-bombing him. I have always been against caps and restrictions. They are both unconstitutional and stupid, but not because money doesn’t matter.
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Romney didn’t have to accept matching funds. He, not the law, limited himself.
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Actually, teenaged girls should have some respect for themselves AND for teenaged boys by not going around in “yoga pants,” aka constructive nudity as far as the latter are concerned. Guys in high school and college think yoga pants are the best thing ever invented. Girls know it.
Yet again, progressivism just can’t be parodied.
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qb:
Yet again, progressivism just can’t be parodied.
I was thinking the same thing.
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Romney didn’t have to accept matching funds. He, not the law, limited himself.
True, he accepted matching funds, although it was still the law that limited him as a consequence, and as I recall Obama broke his pledge to do likewise, aka he lied, yet again.
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More liberal economics delusions: mandating overtime pay won’t actually change comp, but so what, it makes liberals feel and look good.
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/374804/liberal-economists-are-caught-bind-trying-sell-obamas-overtime-laws-james-sherk
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“no responses on my SGR hypothesis last night?”
I didn’t see it. can you post a link to it?
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“aka he lied, yet again.”
He didn’t lie. It’s just what was Truth changed.
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Here’s what I wrote NoVa,
Whitaker. Motherfucking. Chambers, on April 1, 2014 at 5:05 pm said: Edit Comment
Theory: The Doc Fix was never designed to go into effect. Always designed to be delayed yearly to maximize campaign donations.
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Interesting *and* true point, no?
https://twitter.com/TPCarney/status/451365561369632768
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More grist for SGR, it’s all bullshit.
http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=20C19886-C47B-4A23-81EF-20A07A1232D3
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“. Always designed to be delayed yearly to maximize campaign donations.”
I think one time it resulted in a positive update, and there was much rejoicing. but after that? you might be right.
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or, i think that’s why we’re not seriously pursuing a replacement.
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Look at that Politico article I linked. The 1 year fix was crafted by Reid and Boehner, not through normal order. One could argue that because it’s a divided Congress only a small number of bills get done. However, in the last ten years there have been two different periods where Congress and the President share the same party and there was no fix. The, er, fix was/is in.
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rumor is they didn’t have the votes in the house. hence the voice vote shenanigans.
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For the 1 year fix. Interesting that R leadership pushed it.
#opportunitiesforgraft
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Question should the House be expanded?
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McWing:
Question should the House be expanded?
Most definitely yes. Districts are far to big for reps too be truly responsive/accountable to voters. I want a rep who has to worry about running into any member of his constituency at the grocery store or walking down the street.
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Scott and I agree the House should be expanded, and it can be done so by statute, easy-peezy.
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Mark:
Scott and I agree the House should be expanded, and it can be done so by statute, easy-peezy.
Unfortunately getting politicians to dilute their own power is not so easy-peezy.
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http://www.kcentv.com/story/25146842/reports-of-shooting-on-fort-hood
This SUX.
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I just saw more of Obama’s statement yesterday from Drudge.
The debate over repealing this law is over. The Affordable Care Act is here to stay. … In the end, history is not kind to those who would deny Americans their basic economic security. Nobody remembers well those who stand in the way of America’s progress or our people. And that’s what the Affordable Care Act represents. As messy as it’s been sometimes, as contentious as it’s been sometimes, it is progress.
The hubris, the presumptuous superiority, the authoritarian pretensions of this punk are simply staggering. How typical of a “progressive,” though, to declare public debate “over.”
How in the world can anyone not be deeply ashamed of having voted for this vapid, arrogant clown? Really, how?
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qb:
The hubris, the presumptuous superiority, the authoritarian pretensions of this punk are simply staggering. How typical of a “progressive,” though, to declare public debate “over.”
This. Every single word.
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Not much said by pols makes me truly angry. That statement by Obama made me livid. [Call Michi’s Wingnut Detainment Squad, my head is exploding.]
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More Republican War on Women
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Yet obama still wants to litigate the 2nd amendment…
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Yet obama still wants to litigate the 2nd amendment…
Good point. It’s old Rule No. 7 of Liberalism, which I’ve noted in various forms before. Their legislative and judicial victories, no matter how tainted or transitory and tenuous, are forever inviolate; everything else is up for grabs, as soon as they can grab it, by any means they can concoct.
Gay marriage was so settled for thousands of years that the idea would have gotten you locked up. They used every dirty trick in the book and invented some new ones to jam Obamacare down our throats. The moment it was signed it became a sacred part of the “social contract.”
These people are all insane.
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Awesome!
http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/374755/democratic-senator-tells-gm-car-owners-stop-driving-immediately-jim-geraghty
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Question should the House be expanded?
By most historical metrics, the House should be at least a thousand members. It would be a good start to getting rid of the perceived effects of gerrymandering. The problem is getting enough seats into chamber.
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