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  • Scientists plan $1b Ghost Town

    A scientific ghost town in the heart of southeastern New Mexico oil and gas country will hum with the latest next-generation technology — but no people.

    A $1 billion city without residents will be developed in Lea County near Hobbs, officials said Tuesday, to help researchers test everything from intelligent traffic systems and next-generation wireless networks to automated washing machines and self-flushing toilets.

    via Fox News.

    I can’t help but think of the good we could do in this town with one billion dollars.  Google’s testing self driving cars on public streets.  Self-flushing toilets can be tested anywhere.  I’m skeptical as to why someone — maybe taxpayers — would spend a billion on what is nothing more than a big toy for a few scientists.

  • B of A’s Mortgage Reduction Insanity

    Bank of America has started sending letters to thousands of homeowners in the United States, offering to forgive a portion of the principal balance on their mortgages by an average of $150,000 each.

    The reduction for qualifying homeowners could amount to monthly savings of up to 35 percent on mortgage payments, Bank of America said in a news release on Monday evening.  …

    To be eligible for the principal reductions, however, homeowners will have to meet certain criteria, including: having a loan owned or serviced by Bank of America; owing more on the mortgage than their property is worth; and being at least 60 days behind on payments as of the end of January.

    via NYTimes.com.

    What craziness is this?  Just curious, what is B of A doing for all the folks who (a) bought a house they could afford, and (b) make all the payments on time even when times get tough.  Some folks have cancelled vacations, stopped eating out, shopping at cheaper grocery stores, walking instead of driving, and all sorts of other things.  What’s being done to help the responsible?

    When you give something away to those who don’t deserve it the rest suffer by default.  We’ve been doing that for far too long in this country.  It’s one of the reasons we’re in the state we’re in.

  • China Enters U.S. Banking Market

    The United States on Wednesday opened its banking market to ICBC, China’s biggest bank, for the first time clearing a takeover of a US bank by a Chinese state-controlled company.

    Just days after high-level US-China economic talks in Beijing, the Federal Reserve approved an application from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to buy a majority stake in the US subsidiary of Bank of East Asia.

    The transaction will make ICBC the first Chinese state-controlled bank to acquire retail bank branches in the United States.

    via Yahoo! News Canada.

    An interesting development.  Curious why so little coverage of this in the U.S. MSM.

     

     

  • Frederick Douglass: Do Nothing With Us!

    In regard to the colored people, there is always more that is benevolent, I perceive, than just, manifested towards us.  What I ask for the negro is not benevolence, not pity, not sympathy, but simply justice.  The American people have always been anxious to know what they shall do with us…. I have had but one answer from the beginning.  Do nothing with us!  Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.  Do nothing with us! If the apples will not remain on the tree of their own strength, if they are worm-eaten at the core, if they are early ripe and disposed to fall, let them fall! … And if the negro cannot stand on his own legs, let him fall also.  All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs! Let him alone! …  Your interference is doing him positive injury.

    via Frederick Douglass – African American Quotes.

    Your doing with us has already played the mischief with us.

    Simply amazing.  When will the modern left learn their lesson?

  • Self Defense Now a Federal Issue

    House Democrats said Tuesday they will offer an amendment to push to overturn stand-your-ground self-defense laws in states like Florida.

    The amendment, which would withhold some grants from states that have such laws, will come as part of the House’s debate on the Commerce Department spending bill.

    “‘Shoot-first’ laws have already cost too many lives. In Florida alone, deaths due to self-defense have tripled since the law was enacted. Federal money shouldn’t be spent supporting states with laws that endanger their own people,” said Reps. Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the two Democrats who are offering the legislation. “This is no different than withholding transportation funds from states that don’t enforce seat-belt laws.”

    Florida’s law, which allows residents to use force in response to an attack without first having to retreat, has come under scrutiny after the nationally-polarizing death of teenager Trayvon Martin. George Zimmermann, a neighborhood watch volunteer, has been charged with murder in the case.

    via Washington Times.

    Surely they jest!  I guess Reps. Grijalva and Ellison would rather have dead victims.

    I have some news for these guys, our right to self-defense comes from our creator — not from the government.  If you think otherwise go put yourself between a mama bear and her cub.

  • Ron Paul vs. the #HonestMistake

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hONl8bAhRGI?rel=0]

  • Labor Force Participation Rate Messes with Unemployment Rate

    Exactly a month ago I wrote about the bogus employment numbers claimed for the Chicago area.  I claimed that there were no actual jobs “created” and that the only reason the employment rate went down was because people simply left the job market.

    Didn’t have this at the time… but my theory has real support.

    Changes in population and the participation rate can significantly impact the unemployment rate. If the Civilian noninstitutional population (over 16 years old) grows by about 2 million per year – and the participation rate stays flat – the economy will need to add about 94 thousand jobs per month to keep the unemployment rate steady at 8.2%.

    However if the population grows faster (say 2.5 million per year), and/or the participation rate rises, it could take significantly more jobs per month to hold the unemployment rate steady. As an example, if the working age population grows 2.5 million per year and the participation rate rises to 65% (from 63.8%) over the next two years, the economy will need to add 227 thousand jobs per month to hold the unemployment rate steady.

    via Calculated Risk.

    Wanna see a chart of the Labor Force Participation Rate?

    US Labor Force Participation Rate Chart

    US Labor Force Participation Rate data by YCharts

    Pretty wild?  That fall off represents millions and millions of people who are simply no longer working, looking for work, claiming unemployment benefits, or are new grads who can’t find work.

    It’s no wonder that more and more people are eating at McDonald’s.

  • FYI, You CAN Cheat on Your Property Taxes

    Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Assessor Joe Berrios on Tuesday urged state lawmakers to give them more power to go after property owners who improperly claim tax breaks, saying they could recover more than $150 million in three years with the new authority.

    Under legislation pending in Springfield, counties could go after back taxes from people who have wrongly received homestead exemptions. The tax break should only be applied to a property owner’s primary residence, but people often also claim it for rental properties, vacation homes and secondary residences. Other property owners get inappropriate property tax reductions for being a senior citizen, disabled person or disabled veteran.

    People who claimed multiple improper homestead exemptions also would be fined a percentage of their unpaid taxes, and the county could place liens on the properties to try to compel property owners to pay up.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    Wha?!

    So let me get this straight… right now, I could file for a homestead and senior freeze exemptions on properties I own but don’t live at and despite the fact that I’m not a senior?

    How stupid are the politicians in Springfield?  They grant all these exemptions but provide no way to enforce them.  This would be funny if not so sad.

    Of course, there is someone who can do something about it; two in fact.  Both women… both lawyers… both elected to put bad people — like people who lie on government documents — in jail and fine them.

    So rather than pushing for new laws, why doesn’t the county just ask Anita Alvarez to file charges against these people?  And if she’s too busy, Lisa Madigan could take some of the cases.

    Of course both Alvarez and Madigan are too busy doing nothing.
    So instead Preckwinkle and Berrios are asking for another new law so they can hire more government workers to police this new law.

    $50 million a year in new revenue… $50 million a year in new expenses for staff and pensions.  The taxpayer will end up with nothing.

  • Chicago Aldermen: White Collar Criminals

    An analysis of pension fund documents for 21 aldermen who retired under the plan shows they are in line to receive nearly $58 million during their expected lifetimes, though contributions and assumed investment returns are predicted to cover just $19 million, or a third of that sum.

    The pension deal was inked more than two decades ago, but the costs began to kick in recently. Most of the 21 aldermen in the Tribune/WGN-TV analysis have retired within the past five years, and there are 53 more in the pipeline.

    Former Ald. Thomas Allen is a prime example. After retiring from the City Council in 2010 at age 58, Allen went on to become a Circuit Court judge while also collecting roughly $90,000 a year from his city pension. During his lifetime, he stands to receive more than $4.2 million in benefits, though contributions and assumed investment returns are expected to cover only $1 million.

    via Chicago Tribune.

    We’re doomed.  Chicago will not be able to sustain itself under this kind of dead weight.  The taxpayers are going to be asked to provide more and more payments for services they will not receive.

    Glad the Tribune is on the story now… but where has it been for the last 20 years?  Where’s the Sun-Times (the “Bright One”) on this?

    We’re going bankrupt and no one cares.

  • Rooting Out Bad Cop

    Cops are people.  Some are going to be trouble no matter how hard you try to keep them out.  However this is just nutty:

    Of 441 police misconduct lawsuits that led to city payments between January 2009 and November 2011, nearly a third—or 145—involved the “repeaters,” shows a Reporter analysis of federal and state court records. This small group—140 in all—proved costly. Despite making up 1 percent of the police force, they accounted for more than a quarter—or $11.7 million—of all damage payments incurred from police misconduct lawsuits. The city defended a good number of those officers in additional cases as well; nearly a third of the 140 officers were named in at least five misconduct lawsuits since 2000.

    via The Chicago Reporter.

    Looks like our politicians need to stand-up to the police union on this one.  Bad cops are also bad for the good cops.  Give the whole department a reputation.  The goods ones don’t want the bad ones around.

    Seems like a no brainer.