-
Blame-Shifting and the latest CRA paper
Since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008, one of the hotly debated topics was whether the mortgage banking industry as a whole made systematically bad business decisions because they looked to be profitable, or because the government made them do it. The first study out the gate to claim the government made them do it was flawed in ( Read more... ) -
Of Recency And Search Engines
Back around 2005-2006, Google was excellent at what I think of as serious research. I could enter fragments of a hazily remembered idea from school 30-40 years ago, and the first page of results would be full of useful information, either fleshing out the idea, or explaining why that idea was no longer accepted by specialists in the field. Then, ( Read more... ) -
An Update
So, it seems I've done most of my online posting on Facebook for, oh, most of the last year or so ( Read more... ) -
Thoughts in the Middle of the Night
Some thieves steal by stealthily sneaking into places they don't belong, and removing things they don't own. Some thieves steal by using a club, knife, or gun, and either attacking their victims, or threatening violence, to obtain things they don't own. These people are almost universally reviled, and their punishment generally involves long ( Read more... ) -
Zoning
So, in my quest to replace a condo with a minifarm, I've come across a couple of pieces of land up for auction. Problem is, they're zoned for other stuff. Does anyone have any experience with having a piece of property rezoned? -
Debt Ceiling Thoughts
Pondering the debt ceiling arguments, something occurred to me. If the debt ceiling is not raised by the time that Geithner runs out of smoke, mirrors, and the sorts of minor accounting frauds he's willing to commit, the Obama Administration will be in a bind. You see, the Federal budget is legally binding: if the money Congress directs the ( Read more... ) -
Full-of-Manure Watch, Corporations Not Paying Taxes Edition
MoveOn.org has a poster of corporations that allegedly don't pay their income taxes up. If you've not seen it yet, here's the link ( Read more... ) -
The Saga of Bjorn
Old Bjorn only wants one thing in life. Will he get it?
[And yes, I know they've got the theology all wrong, but let's go with it, eh?] -
Common Sense Doesn't Scale Well
One thing that those who like to talk about "common sense solutions" often don't seem to grasp is that some things don't scale well. You can't drive a semi rig the same way you would a motorcycle; if you try, you'll either roll over the semi going around a curve, or take a curve on a motorcycle so slowly that you'll be plowed into by someone in a ( Read more... ) -
Why the thumb on the scale, Governor Snyder?
This week, Governor Snyder released a report titled "Dollars and Sense: How State and Local Governments in Michigan Spend Your Money." I looked through it, and found it interesting that, in this period of economic hardship, Governor Snyder had an outside think tank/expert witness firm produce the analysis cited under every chart and in every ( Read more... )
Click to view