Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktVital Statistics:
Stocks are higher this morning after another benign inflation report. Bonds and MBS are down small.
Personal incomes rose 0.3% MOM in July, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. This was 0.1% above expectations. Consumption rose 0.5% MOM, which was in line with expectations.
The PCE Price Index rose 0.2%, in line with expectations, but was above May and June. The core rate, which excludes food and energy rose 0.2%, which was flat with June and in line with expectations. On an annual basis, the headline number rose 2.5% and the core rate rose 2.6%.
Bonds sold off slightly, and the Fed Funds futures now handicapping a 70% chance of a 25 basis point cut and a 30% chance of a 50 basis point cut. The strong spending number probably means the Fed will choose the less aggressive option.
Pending Home Sales fell 5.5% in July, according to NAR. The index fell to the lowest level on record, which goes back to 2001 when the index first started. “A sales recovery did not occur in midsummer,” said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. “The positive impact of job growth and higher inventory could not overcome affordability challenges and some degree of wait-and-see related to the upcoming U.S. presidential election. In terms of home sales and prices, the New England region has performed relatively better than other regions in recent months,” added Yun. “Current lower, falling mortgage rates will no doubt bring buyers into market.”
Affordability did improve somewhat in July, according to the MBA. The national median payment for purchase applicants fell from $2,167 to $2,140. “Homebuyer affordability conditions improved for the third consecutive month as rates below 7 percent and rising housing inventory continue to bode well for prospective homebuyers,”,” said Edward Seiler, MBA’s Associate Vice President, Housing Economics, and Executive Director, Research Institute for Housing America. “MBA is expecting that slower home-price appreciation, coupled with lower rates, will ease affordability constraints and lead to increased activity in the housing market.”
Filed under: Economy |
All Things in Moderation 
I hope Trump and the Republicans stay neutral/agnostic on this. Let the Democrats defend it.
The smart play would be to support this. But the party isn’t that smart.
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I hate it when they try and “finger” Harris
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Interesting read:
“This is, to me, a Rosetta Stone for early 21st-century liberal politics, an impossibly perfect symbolic object. A bunch of young idealistic Millennials who tweeted all day about intersectionality and dismantling patriarchy worked for an organization that thought nothing of exploiting its internal culture of immense professional pressure to compel vulnerable interns to drink piss.”
https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/you-dont-have-to-be-a-try-guy
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I don’t know why any dude would put up with the cultural dhimmitude required to be a liberal man in good standing.
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The only thing that makes sense is because they think it will get them laid.
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I think they crave approval.
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I think his point about Millenials being the first generation to grow up with social media and having to construct an online persona makes a lot of sense:
I use social media to keep in touch with people I know in real life and that’s it. I don’t feel a need to project my “values” on it and I certainly don’t use it to comment on politics.
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It sounds like mating rituals. Females do it because they see it as a way to set themselves apart from their female cohorts and to project the “good girl” image and males do it to get laid by those females.
Just like how elaborate prom invites have become, as a way to differentiate.
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Really good read:
“The Canary
Michael Lewis on Chris Mark of the Department of Labor
By Michael Lewis
September 3, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. EDT”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/interactive/2024/michael-lewis-chris-marks-the-canary-who-is-government/
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Really fascinating piece J, thanks for linking it. It reminds me of the kinds of articles the Wall Street Journal would have, usually the middle column of the front page, almost daily, year after year. This was all pre-Murdoch. The WSJ was this country’s finest paper, in my opinion, for decades.
Also, I would love to have talked to the reporter about their thoughts on this paragragph:
He didn’t say much more, and I set it aside and returned to a list of questions I had about government service. How had he felt on the several occasions the federal government was shut down and he was sent home without pay? (He’d secretly kept working and even gone into mines.) What were his feelings in 1995 when Newt Gingrich closed the Bureau of Mines and his little mine safety unit had been the only one spared? (“Any bureaucracy once it exists will continue to grow absent exogenous forces. I never heard someone say I wish so-and-so at the Bureau of Mines was still here,” Chris said.) How much had it mattered that he’d been moved into the Energy Department, then into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and finally into the Labor Department? (“Not much.”) The role played by his managers in Washington was to give him the space to work. “What the government job gave me was the freedom to do these things,” he said. “No one told me to do it. No one could have told me to do it.”
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I don’t know why they’re worried, she’s going to win.
https://lite.cnn.com/2024/09/04/politics/biden-administration-accuse-russia-election-influence-efforts/index.html
It is however, hilarious.
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I also wonder if some true, damaging information for Harris/Walz ticket is incoming.
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It is just an excuse to start censoring social media. That is all this is about.
I suspect Kamala will struggle in the debate. Her experience in running for office is pretty thin.
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If New Hampshire is a lost cause for Trump, why does Harris feel the need to campaign there?
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/04/new-hampshire-donald-trump-shrinking-electoral-map-00177390
it’s voted blue for the last, what? Six cycles? But it was in play? Hilarious framing.
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Love the change in tone:
“Not a healthy environment’: Kamala Harris’ office rife with dissent
There is dysfunction inside the VP’s office, aides and administration officials say. And it’s emanating from the top.
By Christopher Cadelago, Daniel Lippman and Eugene Daniels
06/30/2021 05:05 PM EDT
Updated: 06/30/2021 05:08 PM EDT”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/30/kamala-harris-office-dissent-497290
vs
“Kamala Harris ran her office like a prosecutor. Not everyone liked that.
After a difficult first year as vice president, Harris has grown into her role — and found staff who respond better to her style, allies say.
By Dan Diamond and Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
September 6, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/09/06/harris-veep-boss-management/
“Now everybody, do the propaganda
And sing along to the age of paranoia”
Green Day: American Idiot (2004)
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Her Presidency will be fun to watch, especially after the scorned Biden admin people write their books. I’m sure Gavin, Gretchen and J.B. will support her admin wholeheartedly, selflessly suppressing their own personal ambitions.
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looks like news coverage of this shooting is about to end.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2024/09/06/colt-gray-trans-acceptance-n2644425
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Remember, The Great Replacement Theory is just pure, wingnut conspiracy.
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All of the job gains are due to statistical adjustments. Births / deaths, all that shit.
The number of people employed as of Aug 23 was 161.5 million. As of Aug 24, that number is 161.4 million. The number of people collecting paychecks fell by 66k over the past year.
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Thanks Brent!
So, zero job growth as replacements fill retiree openings.
Figuring there is perhaps 5-10 million illegals (is “wetback” still frowned upon?) are they not working or, factoring negative native born birth rate, illegals are getting the lion’s share of the jobs? Or is it all lies, damned lies and statistics?
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Ultimately these things are largely done by sampling. A huge assumption is that they are reaching random samples of people. People that are here illegally are not about to participate in a study by the government.
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This made me laugh.
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Near as I can figure, homie blames Reagan.
But since California has the 5th largest economy in the world, it is not, by definition, a “hellhole”, unlike the paradises of China (#2) and India (#5).
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Accountability is kryptonite to the left.
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In my mind’s eye, this is how I see myself.
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I can’t think of anyone in the 70s thinking they want to look like Jeff Lynne.
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My assumption has always been that she, or more likely her campaign, will claim Trump called her a bitch or a cunt during the debate.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/09/07/nbc-dishes-some-hilarious-details-about-what-harris-is-planning-for-the-debate-n2179043
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I think they would not do that, concluding correctly that it might improve his poll numbers.
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Welp, that’s the nail in the Trump coffin. Tens of millions of voters were hanging on a Romney endorsement.
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Yes, he’s going to support the party that accused him of literally WANTING TO REINSTITUTE SLAVERY.
At least he doesn’t hold a grudge.
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