Scott Walker began his tenure as Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011. In this month and a fortnight he has ginned up a fiscal crisis, driven off his dedicated opponents and now promises devastations of Mubarak-esque extremity, all the while tending a jaunty little moustache of a style not seen since 1947. This is the publicly expressed view of the larger throng demonstrating lately in Madison. It is in many regards complimentary of the Governor as it implies that he has powers of pursuasion and deception on the scale of some comic book telepath. And maybe he does? He’s looked pretty good on TV. Maybe he is exercising supernatural or technological powers. We at least owe it to the numerous people of Good Faith thronging the Capitol to take their concerns and views seriously.

So the criminal Walker has cooked the books. He must have used some recent innovation given the speed and thoroughness of the deed as he has also taken in his Democratic predecessor who sat in his chair up until January 2. Also we might well have a more-or-less explicit admission by Walker as he has never once claimed that he “inherited” this fictive deficit (claimed to be $3.6b over a two year budget) allegedly so terrible and immediate. This is the deafening silence of a dog that didn’t bark. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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Now the line is that of course the teachers are glad to make concessions, even those as large as Walker asks for, they just want their dignity. They just want a voice. They just want to have a right to input into these decisions. That is all. As stated this all sounds quite, as the Walkerism goes, “modest” but the sweet, empty innocence of this bleat reveals that either these people have never been employed out in The World or perhaps they were and ran off screaming in afright of it. My fellow K&S veterans, current and retired might recall all the input and voice and dignity occurring two years ago come March the Tenth. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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The Greek Tragedy has become Comedy, then Absurdity and somehow has come full circle to Normality… Our New Reality; which evidence says is the repetitious behavior emblematic of Insanity. All the things the “bailout” was meant to avert are at the door. All the things it was meant to promote have whithered. Of course the prescription can only be more of the same. More borrowing. More spending. More taxing. It is far from over and it is far from just Greek. The Greeks are merely carrying the banners in this parade. Every nation whose name you know is on the program. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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The current White House occupant triumphantly reigns over the United States like no other. He succeeded in accomplishing his agenda while simultaneously leaving his opponents dazed, confused, and delusional. Is there anything that can stop him now? It seems unlikely. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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Tags: money, politics & government by Alexander Thorburn Hoffman
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Sadly, Bernie Madoff loses the top spot for Swindler of the Era. That’s right, there’s someone out there who lies, cheats, and steals more than him. Who? It is the modern socialist who populates every corner of public discourse from the United States Congress and White House to the European Parliament and beyond. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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For a spurned ex-fiance, is there any better revenge than hitting your former partner in the wallet?

I almost laughed through my bleary eyes Thursday morning when I woke up and saw Lemondrop.com link to this story about a Chicago woman suing her former life partner-to-be for almost six figures to recover costs from a wedding that was cancelled at the last minute. It’s not the first tale of its kind, but the dollar amount close to $100k drew my attention.

Without a doubt, Dominique B is doing the right thing. Nuptials are serious business with major financial ramifications for those footing the bill. If her man was getting cold feet, he owed it to her to end the relationship before expenses mounted and Dominique’s monetary investment grew to a level close to her emotional one. You’ll be hard pressed to find a better argument in favor of small, quaint ceremonies (read: inexpensive ones).

These kinds of situations should go both ways. If a woman pulls the ‘Runaway Bride’ act, men should drop the legal hammer if they see fit. It’s important for people, regardless of gender, to hit the brakes long before the big day spirals out of control. If their feelings are in doubt, they probably care more about the dollars anyway.

Tags: his & hers, money by Glenn Giangrande
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The lame duck Congress took flight last week. Man, it’s going to be hard for the country to soar with the eagles if it has to flutter with this bunch of turkeys. To be fair, some of the big players are promising title fights between now and Christmas. Let’s hold back judgment on this bit of trash talk as we review two important measures they took up since the election. Oh, they were busy, alright. Critical legislation hit the floor to honor Penn State’s Joe Paterno and Yankees announcer Bob Shepperd. Holy Toledo! The government means business! [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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Tags: money, politics & government by Alexander Thorburn Hoffman
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It’s rapidly becoming one of my biggest pet peeves, angling for a second place finish close on the heels of hair in the shower drain.  The term “predatory lender”, and the closely related “predatory lending institutions”, makes for a very interesting distortion of reality.  By attempting to fix the blame for the subprime mortgage crisis solely on the banks who were lending money, the people who use these terms ignore part of the overall problem.

And if we ignore parts of the problem, we will never get it solved.

[Read more →]

Tags: money by Mike McGowan
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Sure, we all know that Ben Bernanke is the head of the federal reserve. But did you also know that he’s a tool? That’s just one of the many things I discovered while compiling my list of little known facts about him! Read on for some more!

Ben Bernanke was the inspiration for the Marvel Comics villain “The High Inflationary.” In the upcoming film “X-Men: First Class,” he will be portrayed by actor Ray Park!

Ray Park as the villain The High Inflationary in a promotional shot from the upcoming film “X-Men: First Class.”

[Read more →]

Tags: ends & odd, money by Ricky Sprague
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After an abnormally cheerful take-off announcement and a smooth landing on an early morning flight from Knoxville to Chicago, I couldn’t help but wonder: why do we tip certain professions and not others? Why hairdressers and not auto mechanics? Why appliance delivery and not UPS? Why tour guides, bellhops, valet parking, bathroom attendants, and not grocery baggers, librarians, bank tellers, or movie store clerks? [Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, money by Tyler Samien
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The number-crunchers in Washington, D.C. might want to put down their abaci and direct their attention to the wisdom of Alexei Kudrin.

Mr. Kudrin, Russia’s finance minister, wants his fellow countrymen to chain smoke and drink to excess.

Those were not his words, exactly. But one can read between the lines.

[Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by David A. Brensilver
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There was a flash one day, and another a few days later and the war was over. Millions of Americans and Japanese that had just had their date with death cancelled turned around and went home. In Europe the fighting had stopped with Hitler dead, but the squabbling had begun already. Germany had been reduced to ashes in some precincts and barely touched in others. The Soviets were digging in and laying the chaulklines for the Iron Curtain which of course split Germany just as Berlin herself was split into a sector for each of the Allies. British, American and French sectors were Free Berlin. The Soviet sector, less so. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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I recently sent this e-mail to an automaton who works in the marketing department at the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company:

Hi Nxxxx,

I’m writing ask if we might have an informal conversation about a marketing partnership that could, potentially, be mutually beneficial. While it might seem a bit unconventional or “outside the box,” it’s something that I’m sure has been done, and, at very least, would present the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company with an opportunity whose risk is negligible compared to the potential reward. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, money by David A. Brensilver
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Recently, as I sat in a booth at my favorite luncheonette — Mr. G’s at 12th and Callowhill — waiting for my lunch to arrive, I did something I actually don’t do very often: I read the City Paper.

The big piece seemed to be one written by someone named Jeffrey C. Billman suggesting that we get serious about the national debt. One of the sub-heads caught my eye: “Spending cuts are not the answer.”

To be fair, the article itself does say that “spending cuts may be part of the equation.” That still didn’t strike me as being especially serious. After all, one sure way to cut down on debt is to stop spending so much. It’s not just part of the equation; it’s the essential part. [Read more →]

Tags: money, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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The world moves on a woman’s hips, says David Byrne, or maybe it was the Weymouths but we know what they are talking about. That taper, swell and taper is hypnotic, notoriously it is used in advertising and product design to subliminally trip primordial triggers. Is it no more than vestigal reproductive instincts? Science seems to demonstrate this geometric construct to be nearly a bedrock of reality; not quite as solid as the speed of light but close enough to earn the name Normal or Standard Deviation.

And it isn’t just solar intensity or SAT scores that follow this template. Like so many other aspects of finance and economics, a Standard Deviation is historically demonstrated in the relationship between tax rates and tax revenues. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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I understand the nature of a changing economy enough to appreciate that some people are thrown out of work and have a difficult time getting back on their feet. The government doesn’t make it any easier no matter what they say because Washington only encourages continued unemployment by effectively paying people not to work. Therefore, I thought about an alternative system, one that would provide a cushion and yet not be a drag on the taxpayer. In fact, my idea provides greater flexibility and much greater potential for those who behave responsibly. No, it’s not perfect but it’s better than what we have. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Daniel Putkowski
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According to Nancy Pelosi and plenty of other Democrats who get their paychecks signed by Tim Geithner, the source of all this consternation, or at least that which pulsates within their own party, is due to the glacial slowness the Progressive Reform Agenda has taken. Why, we have gone nearly a week without an unread thirty-pound piece of legislation being passed without debate so they do have a point. But when you consult the tea leaves, meaning the polls, there is scant interest in what the Dems are actually proposing. Their hoped for hot buttons have cooled, even among their own electoral base. The time is ripe then to toss a hand grenade, an incendiary, into their tent. I propose here a program based on stated Republican principles addressing the thorny topic of cash reparations to our african-american citizens for slavery. [Read more →]

Tags: money, on the law by Ken Watson
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By Carter Era standards it is not really that bad. Of course by Carter Era standards Carter wasn’t that bad either. Those who remember “double-digit” unemployment remember poorly. The nation has never clocked a year with unemployment over ten percent and those two years that were close to that were ’82 and ’83, the shank of the Reagan Revolution. Inflation did hit murderous levels under Carter but of course we are not experiencing anything like that today. Four percent inflation has been the norm for decades and we have had some recent deflation though that was brief. Now we are about two percent, a quite good number giving us a misery index in the elevens which historically is not miserable at all. [Read more →]

Tags: money, politics & government by Ken Watson
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