Akkam’s Razor

First the return of fafblog, now Billmon?  Does this mean that the Whiskey Bar may re-open after being closed for oh-so-long?

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This post from Pew regarding the Four Middle Classes had me thinking about the historical origins of the term, the formal definitions, the view of the Congressional Research Service, the tale of the middle class in the last thirty-or-so years, recent developments, the current state of affairs (and some subtext as to why it has benefited conservative reactionaries), and some thoughts about the future, particularly the changing perspectives and possible outcomes.

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I’m sure the nativist and xenophobes are quite upset at the loss of American icon Anheuser-Busch to InBev, but fail to notice the contribution of Conservative monetary and fiscal policy - the Belgians were able to purchase AB for 52 billion EUR.  Based on current exchange rates and the weakened dollar, the 52 billion EUR equates to purchasing power equivalent to $82 billion USD.  That’s the equivalent of a 37% discount.  After accounting for the share premium paid to AB (22%), that is still a currency advantage of 15%.

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It goes without saying that given the stream of news through this weekend through Monday (Fannie Mae, Fannie Mac, IndyMac, and National City), the most popular post on Akkam’s Razor is this one, detailing my findings in search for the FDIC’s bad bank list.

bankrun, banks, business, CAMELS, economics, Election 2008, fannie mac, fannie mae, FDIC, finance, government, indymac, moral hazard, national city, news, politics, UBPR

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George Carlin is dead.  In his own words:

I’m getting old. And it’s okay. Because thanks to our fear of death in this country I won’t have to die. I’ll pass away. Or I’ll expire, like a magazine subscription. If it happens in the hospital they’ll call it a terminal episode. The insurance company will refer to it as negative patient care outcome.

I agree that he wouldn’t want to be eulogized, so instead reminisce at some of his bits (with more here with some memorable quotations).

Update: As expected, the Democrats caved, including local Representatives Pat Murphy and Joe Sestak.  The roll call in the House can be found here, and the Senates tally forthcoming.

In the spring of 1987,  the year of the 200th anniversary of the first Constitutional Convention, President Ronald Reagan began calling for another.  Reagan had been frustrated by Congress’ failure to brovide him with a Balanced Budget Ammendment.  Reagan’s solution was to call for a new Constitutional Convention, as described (but never tested) in Article V of the Constitution, where each state would get delegates to propose a balanced budget ammendment, and then pass it on to the individual state legislatures for approval.  Reagan succeeded in getting agreement from 32 of the required 2/3 of the States, but was eventually blocked by an unlikely coalition of Constitutional defenders, fearful of the seismic changes [pdf] regarding preemptive federalism and the erosion of states’ rights.

Uh-oh.  Looks like McCain may have some trouble with the ladies.  Seems his “trollop and cunt” (that would be a great name for a British pub, dontcha think?) remarks about his sugar-momma wife in response to her comment about his thinning hair have started to enter mainstream consciousness.  The following is NSFW, but after all, if a Senator running for President can publicly call his wife one, why can’t you listen to it being repeated aloud? [via]

YouTube Direktvideo link

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One of the prevalent memes circulating regarding John Sidney McCain is that he is his own man, and not like George W. Bush (note, the statistic is that he supports him via Congressional votes 95% of the time). Small problem like that - they are nearly identical, as John Cusack (IMDB) points out in this MoveOn advertisement.

YouTube Direktvideo link

Also curious is how some Bush dead-enders (and McCain supporters) actually maintain McCain will carry on the failed Bush policies, which directly contradicts with the image the kindler, gentler, more moderate candidate McCain desparately needs to project in order to woo independents and hoodwink Bush-Democrats.

McCain lobbyists make HALF-A-BILLION DOLLARS in the last 10-years, as described in this report [pdf] from Campaign Money Watch.  In case you haven’t realized it, the anti-lobbyist McCain currently has 118 lobbyists working for his campaign, some of which are working for free.  Maverick, indeed.

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Via Cryptome - Quite a difference in body language for the Secret Service Agents protecting McCain versus those of Obama. Take special note of the hands.

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