Republicans about to cave?

Are Republicans about to cave on the extension for the middle class tax cut and unemployment? That’s the word from our highy credible sources on capital hill right now:

(TheNote) — My prediction: House Republicans will soon – probably within 24 hours – cave in and accept the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut passed last week by the Senate. I base this on conversations with House Republicans who know they are losing the public relations battle and losing it badly. They know they are taking the blame for a stand-off that threatens to raise taxes on 160 million Americans. And they cannot let that happen.

Economy recovery really under way?

An analyst in the investment racket once told me “Things don’t usually move as fast as you think they will, but when they start moving they often keep going longer and further than you think they will.” The year was 1994, at the end of a long recession, and boy was he right. Hopefully, last week’s unemployment stats together with this one bode well too: [Read more…]

Eat junkfood, lay on the couch, and get ripped like Adonis

Who wouldn’t want to believe you could lay around all day eating cake and fried cheese and become a healthier, lean-mean muscular god? The idea is so seductive that, despite real world experience to the contrary, variations of it form the basis for weight loss and workout scams to this day. The economic equivalent is the claim that getting rid of annoying rules and cutting the taxes on billionaires leads to a healthier economy and prosperity for all. We know for a recent historical fact that that isn’t true, because we’ve been cutting taxes on billionaires and deregulating for decades and the economy went straight into the shitter. Finally, someone with a megaphone used it to point this out. [Read more…]

Herman Cain has feelings …

Herman Cain has feelings, and he’s discovered those feelings can be hurt by what he calls false accusations and the court of public opinion being fed by the liberal media. On Saturday the former front-runner suspended his campaign, a nifty dodge allowing the zillionaire and his agents to beg struggling middle-class people to pay off Cain’s remaining campaign debt. The hurt ran so deep he decreed it was a loss, for the American People mind you, that we would not have Cain’s ingenious solutions working for our nation. He also promised he would endorse someone soon. Today, we hear rumors it will be Newt Gingrich:

[Read more…]

Black Friday & pepper spray

I’ve always loved Black Friday. Back in my broker days it was the best day of the year to go to work. An old depression era rule decrees the stock market cannot be closed more than three days in a row, the only time it’s been broken was in the darkest days right after 9-11. So the NYSE and NASDAQ dutifully open for three or four hours, junior floor specialists and a handful of market-makers man the exchanges. In hundreds of broker-dealer offices around the country, like the one I worked in for years, a few sales assistants and maybe a standing compliance officer come to work, the sweet odor of margaritas and egg nog have been known to waft delicately through the empty hallways and offices.
But Black Friday for retail is a whole different story. It’s hustle and bustle, the official start of the Christmas shopping season. Later last night at a Walmart in California one neurotic shopper took that way, way too far. And where do you suppose she got this crowd control idea?

(LAtimes) — Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch on Thursday night for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was “competitive shopping.” Lopez described a chaotic scene in the San Fernando Valley store among shoppers looking for video games soon after the sale began.

Newt goes there

Newt Gingrich is being roundly criticized or praised this morning for purportedly showing a heart on immigration. One never knows with Newt, a pretty face or a stack of cash is all it takes for him to break every vow he’s ever made. But there are advantages and disadvantages in what he seems to be proposing on one of the Teaparty’s hot-button issues: [Read more…]

What if we threw a super committee and no one came?

The Super Committee, no doubt meeting furiously in their secret lair which may or may not be affiliated with the Legion of Doom, has reached an impasse.

(ABC News) — The bipartisan 12-member panel is sputtering to a close after two months of talks in which key members and top congressional leaders never got close to bridging a fundamental divide over how much to raise taxes.

[Read more…]