Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/oscarrob/a_plague_on_both_your_hou/~3/Nz0gw8x_exY/oscarrob
Monday, February 28, 2011
Brown: 'Everything's on the table' to keep government running
(CNN) - As members of Congress return to Washington Monday to make a last-minute effort to keep the federal government...
Tech Companies Spring Into 'Gray' Market
With the first baby boomers turning 65 this year, companies in the youth-centric consumer electronics business are turning more attention to older customers. This gray-tech trend covers everything from video games for exercising older minds and bodies, such as Nintendo 's (NTDOY) BrainAge and Wii Fit, to Skype video conferencing for seniors to interact with their kids and grandkids. In some cases, general-interest tech products will be marketed 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetTechnologyRss/~3/dskaQhsK2hQ/Article.aspx
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Obama Administration's big move on gay marriage is another small step for candidate Obama
Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement Wednesday that the Justice Department would no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act sent a sudden and unexpected shockwave through the political landscape. Here was a president who campaigned in 2008 by saying that he believed marriage was between one man and one woman, and a Justice Department that had just last month said it would continue to fight lawsuits against the 1996 law. All of a sudden, all bets are off, it seems, and gay rights activists are celebrating. But is it really all that significant a change for the president?
Source: http://feeds.voices.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=0d045db85fe8276abf432eacb3a5e4ed
House Finance committee takes aim at housing rescue programs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Obama administration's key housing market rescue programs have landed on the chopping block as the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committees scheduled a vote next week to terminate them.The panel's Republican leadership said on Thursday it will consider a bill to kill the Home Affordable Modification Program, which it said has failed to help a sufficient number of distressed homeowners to justify its cost.
It also will vote on bills to shut down a Federal Housing Administration refinancing program and a fund to stabilize neighborhoods suffering from heavy foreclosures. A fourth bill would kill a program to provide 12-month emergency loans to homeowners to stave off foreclosures.
Frankly, though the other programs would be a shame to lose, HAMP would not be a great loss. Thus far it's spent just $840 million of the $29 billion earmarked for it. It was created to provide incentives for mortgage servicers to renegotiate lower monthly payments for homeowners. For too many mortgage servicers, it seems like the incentive has been to rack up fees and rip-off homeowners with little or no oversight or sanctions from Geithner's Treasury Department.
There have been dozens of horror stories that reach the blogosphere and occasionally the traditional media, but this one David Dayen chronicles is undoubtedly one of the worst and worth the read to find out how bad a poorly conceived and administered program can be.
Chances are pretty damned good, however, that the House Financial Services Committee is not going to propose something better, something that might actually help stave off future foreclosures or help anybody now currently facing this legal and financial mess. Which, by the way, is still a national crisis. Or at least it is if you can believe Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who forecasts another two million foreclosures this year.
Open Thread
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Friday, February 25, 2011
Media blackout of third court decision upholding health care reform
There's now been three rulings upholding the constitutionality of health care reform, but you'd have to be paying pretty close attention to find that out from the media.
As you can see in the chart at the top of the post, created by the Office of the Democratic Leader based on data compiled by Steve Benen, the media has all but ignored the decision earlier this week by U.S. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler in favor of reform.
There's really no excuse for to have ignored the ruling, especially compared with the coverage given to the two anti-reform rulings. Sure, maybe the first two rulings in favor of reform weren't as significant, but once the anti-reform rulings started getting outsized coverage, don't you think the responsible thing for the media to do would have been to give some ink to this latest ruling, especially given the strength of Kessler's arguments?
As it turns out, even though it was buried on page A14, The New York Times' article on the Kessler ruling was actually quite good at explaining her core rationale:
Judge Kessler adopted the government?s position on whether Congress?s authority to regulate interstate commerce is so broad that it can require people to buy a commercial product. Past Supreme Court decisions have established the standard that Congress can control ?activities that substantially affect interstate commerce.?The judge suggested in her 64-page opinion that not buying insurance was an active choice that had clear effects on the marketplace by burdening other payers with the cost of uncompensated medical care.
?Because of this cost-shifting effect,? she wrote, ?the individual decision to forgo health insurance, when considered in the aggregate, leads to substantially higher insurance premiums for those other individuals who do obtain coverage.?
Judge Kessler added: ?It is pure semantics to argue that an individual who makes a choice to forgo health insurance is not ?acting,? especially given the serious economic and health-related consequences to every individual of that choice. Making a choice is an affirmative action, whether one decides to do something or not do something.?
As you can see, the problem with The New York Times' coverage wasn't that it was bad -- it's that it was buried. Even though the reporter wrote a good piece with compelling information, it got nowhere near the play of the the Vinson ruling, which was granted page A1 prominence. Still, at least The Times covered the ruling, which is more than we can say about the Washington Post.
The bottom line is that the Kessler ruling was at least as important as the Vinson ruling, but the media ignored it. Sure, covering Kessler's ruling might not be as sexy as covering the rantings of a Federalist society nutjob, but it's an important part of the story and it's wrong to ignore it.
GOP-led states skipping payments to governors association
Washington (CNN) - A handful of Republican governors are declining to pay their annual dues to the National Governors Association...
Funniest Wisconsin Protest Signs
See a roundup of some of the best protest signs from the Wisconsin union protests against Governor Scott Walker's controversial budget bill. Related:
� Funniest Protest Signs Ever
� Ridiculous Tea Party Signs
� Rally to Restore Sanity Signs
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Source: http://politicalhumor.about.com/b/2011/02/23/funniest-signs-from-the-wisconsin-protests.htm
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Chart Of The Day II
Yglesias adds a few wrinkles: Of course ups and downs in the volume of strikes can mean more than one thing. The strike spike in the 70s seems to me to have been driven primarily by real negative shocks to...
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/andrewsullivan/rApM/~3/fJ_OU9GQPnA/click.phdo
Apple Can Continue To Guard Its Plans For CEO Succession
CUPERTINO, CALIF. -- Apple's closely guarded succession plan for its ailing chief executive, Steve Jobs, will remain under wraps, despite a move by a shareholder group that called for openness. Most of Apple's (AAPL) investors sided with management on the issue and rejected the proposal Wednesday at the company's annual meeting of shareholders. Jobs was a no-show at the meeting, held at Apple headquarters. Apple's charismatic and 
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/InternetTechnologyRss/~3/Cn5CB38PWrA/Article.aspx
What Do Americans Think Of Unions?
Nate Silver decodes Wisconsin polls: The public might not be enamored of public sector unions, but by about a 2:1 margin, they think they have the right to exist. I suspect, then, that the near-term political risks to Wisconsin Gov....
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/andrewsullivan/rApM/~3/T-o1pHFqQeY/click.phdo
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