12/18/14 Today's Inquiries

It's flu season.


The Links:

If you're wondering what life is like in Pikeville, here's a great example:

Yes, it's in a parking lot. Yes, the location is exactly as described .

Good news, lynching is a thing again.

Georgia leads the nation in school shootings.

Jeb's bubble.

Actually, this would have been silly even if Florida had a well-founded boom — governors don’t matter that much. But in any case, we now know something about the other “Bush boom” — as you can see from the attached chart, it was all about a monstrous housing bubble. Bush the other didn’t cause that bubble — but all his alleged success involved taking a ride on it.

Comments on the FOMC meeting yesterday. More easy liquidity for the banks. Wall St. loved it.

Elizabeth Warren was right about the links between government and Citigroup.

Related: Obama insulated banksters who donate to democrats.

Jeff Bezos defends his profitless corporation.

The 11 richest people have all received government subsidies. Obviously. Afterall, rent seeking is the quickest way to the top.

New Jersey corruption: State money paid to Christie's family. Son and Wife. I'm shocked, SHOCKED!

Wealth inequality and the marginal propensity to consume.

Inequality in the US is worse than in apartheid South Africa, slaveholding colonial US, and ancient Rome. Holy hyperbole.

The "sharing economy" must share the risks.

It also requires platforms such as Uber to take greater responsibility for the quasi-employees they keep at a distance in order to minimise their liabilities and costs. The alternative is a highly fragmented and insecure workforce that cannot support itself.

The poor appear to face higher inflation than the middle class. This makes me think of the link about cost of living yesterday. We tend to measure things like inflation and cost of living broadly but there are numerous smaller economies at work in any city.

Law school enrollment is at a 40 year low.

Wall St. is a black hole for our best and brightest.

1.2 Million Teachers aren't covered by Social Security. Scary.

The 2 minute OED.

Web 1.0 online religious cults were a thing. Vice looks them up to see how they're doing now.

Hyperrealistic cartoon eyeballs.

Goodbye Colbert Report. It was a lovely ride.


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