Re: Math
 

Vat tax.
Gas tax. Say 5 bucks a gallon. It's amazing that when you are forced to curtail your driving (by let's say lack of supply of gas versus demand) that you can. I live in the burbs and found myself walking to the store, combing trips and not driving for the purpose of driving.

Re: Math
 

Vat's hard to implement and super complex, however, isn't it?

The gas tax is politically and practically impossible. We'll overuse oil until either the environment is so fucked up it will become a national security emergency, or supply runs out.

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

"What's your stance on abortion, Candidate?"

"Well, it should be illegal."

"Except in the case of rape or health of the mother, like the GOP general platform, right?"

"I differ from the party a bit there."

"Really? Do tell... In regard to which exception?"

"I think in terms of rape, that's not - well, not an exception I fully support."

"So you'd compel a raped woman to carry the child."

"Well, when you say it that way--"

"Is there another way to say it?"

"Well, yes. I'd say a child of rape is a child as any other and--"

"So you'd force a woman to carry the child to term."

"I think it's God's will that--"

"God's will?"

"Well, you know -- there's legitimate rape and then there's..."

"Please, go on."

"I think I've stated my position."

"No, no. I interrupted you. Please, please go on." For the love of God, please keep digging this hole. The ratings on this are going to get me out of this podunk market and onto a national network. Keep talking, you fucking rube. Please, keep talking!

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

Pro-tip, when responding to the post making a snarky comment on your intelligence, read carefully enough so you don't prove the point.

My point was more on the focus of health care entities in the south and north, and the perceptions each had of the law. Here, there was little credence given to the constitutionality argument out in the healthcare community, among non-lawyers.

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

I truly enjoyed this tweet from God election night: "You're welcome."

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

No, I want to see if Obama can shake the brick wall of the GOP and see if any come loose. Alternately, he can let the party further marginalize itself.

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

Serious question -- was that just Texas or regional wishful thinking? Or is the nature of your work such that you are seeing this more nationally?

The Atlantic article that someone posted (here or on Facebook -- I get confused) really nailed it. The Rs have built up such a bubble (which stared with Rush, Rove, and W) that they no longer see reality.

(Note to Sebby, who may point out that I said yesterday that I wasn't certain of the outcome, was nervous, etc. That's true. But if I had been cheering for Mitt I would have been a lot more than nervous. There were days when I went from anxious to cautiously optimistic as an Obama supporter. As a Romney supporter, I'd have hovered between depressed, seeing the faintest glimmer of hope, and the occasional bout of "well, it COULD happen")

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

The answer shouldn't be "fuck you". But it probably should be "if you are living paycheck-to-paycheck such that even a two-week disruption in your income would leave you unable to pay this mortgage, you should either rent or look for a cheaper place."

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

I agree with this but it's a very long process. Despite all the effort we've put into teaching people to think before they have sex, teen pregnancy and STDs remain a huge problem.

Part of that is because of pushback -- the biggest problems seem to be in regions where the notion of teaching sexual responsibility is anathema, because The Baby Jesus says you should teach abstinence.

But if you think Christ-o-crats can push back hard, wait until you see how the banks and credit card issuers and so forth can push misinformation.

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

Yeah. Both you and Sebby are correct. In a bubble atmosphere, when everyone from the Borrower to the mortgage broker to the local bank to the investment bank to the ultimate cdo investor believes that real estate values will never decrease, it is understandable for Borrowers to take on more than they would normally. And, even though Sebby views this with the benefit of hindsight, people should have understood that you shouldn't borrow huge amounts of money just because you can. I just think that if you look at both sides, it makes more sense to regulate the assholes paying themselves huge bonuses to pass risk along to the next guy than to think ordinary people will educate themselves into not taking easy money being offered to them.

TM

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

Note to Sidd: I'd never stoop to trying to gotcha you like that. Those sorts of exchanges are dull. And I'd hope you think enough of me to realize I understand that how people recall things, or describe past views/perceptions, change from day to day, memory being anything but perfect.

I see no inconsistency with anything you said today and anything you said in the past, have never thought there was any lack of clarity in your general views on the topic at hand, and even if there were, it would be so minor, or so attributable to human nature, there'd be no point in noting it. Unless, of course, I wanted to bore people, or gift myself a pointless, self-congratulatory "gotcha."

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

We absolutely need to regulate the banks. My thinking was, why not at the same time make an effort to educate consumers?

I think we need a new form of "home economics" in schools. Kids need to be taught about finance and economics early in their educational careers. This will go a long way toward helping them make better decisions on things like borrowing more than they ought to in student loans and for housing, both of which are a big part of the debt overhang vexing demand.

That and Adder's suggestion: Make the borrowing contracts idiot simple. Warren's suggestions in that regard are well made. That's one area where I think she has been valuable.

ETA: Where we disagreed was my view that banks should be lightly regulated in regard to transactions between each other. I see your point about how allowing a carve out for sophisticated parties invites disasters involving pension funds, etc. I think ours is a difference in terms of degree. I don't know where the line should be exactly, but I favor light regs, increasing if/as events dictate necessity. My guess is, you favor strong regs now to avoid having the problems that would lead to a need for enhanced regs.

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

What does this mean? Letting them fail would have flushed the entire banking down the toilet (big banks and small). And there were plenty of good loans. But once the disaster struck (and we talked about this ad nauseum in 2007/2008), loans that were packaged could not be sold no matter how strong they were. There was no market and therefore those loans had no value (which, if you remember was another problem for the bank's reserve requirements since they couldn't value assets that clearly had value but-for the inability to sell them right then and there). I'm kind of getting sick of people talking about 2007/2008 like we had a bunch of alternatives. I hate the fact that we had to step in to save these banks, but the alternative was to move to a system of bartering.

TM

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

I do not understand, with all of our knowledge of recent political history, why you think this would work. I truly don't.

TM

Re: Pepper sprayed for public safety.
 

This can't be an honest question. They came up because lunatic republicans have been pushing to end Roe for decades. Each year they take another step in curtailing that right. And they've been so successful at the local levels, and feel so fucking emboldened by their idiot Tea Party candidates, that they have pushed too fucking far again and again. That, plus their idiotic religious views, which necessarily put them in a position of saying that everything God does is justifiable, means they are going to say and propose stupid, insane shit all the time.

TM