Link to entire article appears below:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/insurance/story/2012-01-04/homeowners-insurance-rising/52367258/1
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Homeowners Insurance Rates on the Rise in 2012
Link to entire article appears below:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/insurance/story/2012-01-04/homeowners-insurance-rising/52367258/1
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Bowl Attendance Dips to 1978 - 1979 Carter Malaise Level
“Tuesday night's Sugar Bowl was the 30th of this season's 35 games, each of which also was played last season. The total attendance for those games is more than 2.5% lower this season than it was last season. If this trend holds for the remaining five games, the average bowl attendance for the season would fall to 50,542. That would be the lowest since 1978-79, when the number of games expanded to 15 from 13 and the average was 48,404. (In 2002-03, when the number of games expanded to 28 from 25, the average was 50,575.)” - usatoday, 01/04/2012
Link to the entire article appears below:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/story/2012-01-03/college-football-bowl-attendance/52368758/1
And About Those Vehicle Sales Trends
Truck sales, which includes pickups, vans, and SUV’s amounted to 51.2% of total new vehicle sales during 2011. During December 2011 the rate was even higher at 54.8% of total vehicle sales. (1)
Hence those third parties, your betters, those with the elite-knowing vision who know exact what is best for you are going to be very disappointed.
Meanwhile, back on the sub-compact gas mileage frontier, a small-claims court is about to hear a case regarding a hybrid buyer’s complaint that gas mileage is not as advertised:
“She alleged that Honda misrepresented the $25,400 car because it initially got 20% less than the 49 miles per gallon in the city and 51 mpg on the highway promoted on its window sticker and in promotional materials. She says the mileage worsened as the battery deteriorated — and a software update only exacerbated the problem. She sought compensation for her lost gas mileage, the premium she paid for a hybrid and diminished resale value.” (2)
One may find Honda’s counter to the allegation of interest. Honda merely is taking the wonderful government regulations that always accompany the notional visions of elites through their particular politico enablers, and stating:
“A Honda representative, however, countered in court that Honda followed government rules regarding gas mileage and that the automaker clearly states that fuel economy will vary depending on how owners drive the car.
"We have no choice," said Neil Schmidt, a technical specialist for American Honda, who brought in a blown-up copy of the car's window sticker. "We have to put these numbers on the label." He noted the small type on the label, which gave a listing of 41 to 57 miles on average, saying, "This is more toward the real world." He said the software update was aimed at extending the life of the battery and should not have affected gas mileage.”(3)
Ah, the evil of it all!
Notes:
(1) Truck sales revving despite high gas prices, us today, James R. Healey, 01/05/2012
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/story/2012-01-04/truck-sales/52381866/1
(2) Honda goes to small-claims trial over gas mileage claims, us today, Chris Woodyard, 01/04/2012
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2012/01/honda-taken-to-small-claims-court-over-gas-mileage-claims/1
(3) Ibid.
Upon Further Review: The 01/06/2012 Jobs Report and the Rise of the Discouraged Worker
Has the employment/unemployment picture become brighter? Has the unemployment rate fallen? Are current unemployment rate statistics reliable measurements?
The problem [illusion] with the current unemployment rate statistic lies in the labor participation rate. That is, the labor participation rate is at a historical low of 64%. That is to say, in recent job reports more and more discouraged workers, workers giving up on job seeking and hence leaving the work force all together, has increased. Specifically, 120,000 more people left the work force in the last jobs report and 50,000 more left the work force in the current jobs report of 01/06/2012. Hence in the last two jobs reports 170,000 people have left the work force. (1) (2)
Why is the labor participation rate causing an illusion? Imagine all things being equal but reducing the size of the total labor force:
Formula for the unemployment rate is:
Unemployment Rate = Number of Unemployed / Total Labor Force * 100
Hence as the denominator shrinks, as people become discouraged and leave the work force, even if the number unemployed remains constant, the unemployment rate falls as the total labor force shrinks. Moreover, an absolute standing army of millions of discouraged workers exists and this standing army is receiving more recruits. That is, the rise of the discouraged worker. (3)
If the economy is growing at a robust pace, then the army of discouraged workers are encouraged to reenter the work force. That is, a robust economy attracts workers. Hence the unemployment rate should rise as the economy improves as the standing army of discouraged workers reenter the work force causing the denominator, in the formula above, to be flooded by new participants.
The robust economy, counterintuitively, would display a rising unemployment rate, for an extended period of time, until which time the newly repatriated workers [the standing army of discouraged workers] are absorbed into the employed.
UPDATE: CNBC, Is Strong Jobs Data Sending a 'Sell' Signal?
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000066189
UPDATE TWO: CNBC: Santelli: Jobless Rate Not as Good As It Looks
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000066200
Notes:
(1) What is the Labor Force Participation Rate? About Economics.
http://economics.about.com/od/unemploymentrate/f/labor_force.htm
(2) Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject, BLS, 01/06/2011
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11000000?output_view=net_1mth
(3) 8.5% Unemployment: Why 2011's Best Jobs Report Still Isn't Good Enough, The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/85-unemployment-why-2011s-best-jobs-report-still-isnt-good-enough/250980/
Monday, January 2, 2012
Dupery Under Nitwitery and in Government Mysticism We Trust: The Head Start Program.
"Alice laughed:
"There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible
things."
"I daresay you
haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I
always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as
six impossible things before breakfast."
- Alice in Wonderland.
Crony capitalism, economic rent seekers, and special
interests are many times depicted as exogenous entities, exogenous from the mechanism
of government, seeking politico enablers from within the mechanism of
government. However, special interests can and do exist within the greater
mechanism of government. Politicos rewarding politicos.
North Carolina governor Bev Perdue (D) issued a newsletter
on 12/21/2011 with the lead story: NC Wins $70 Million Early Childhood Grant.
The newsletter states:
Gov. Bev Perdue
announced that North Carolina won a $70 million Race to the TopEarly Learning
Challenge grant from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services.
North Carolina was
among nine winners chosen from 37 applicants competing for a share of $500
million.
U.S. Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan told McClatchy Newspapers that North Carolina's
application was the best in the nation.
"It was literally the best application we received from any state in the country," Duncan told McClatchy.
North Carolinas grant
will allow the state to strengthen efforts to ensure that all children are able
to start kindergarten with a strong foundation for future learning.
"All children in a classroom benefit if everyone starts kindergarten ready to succeed," Gov. Perdue said. "North Carolinas early childhood system is a national leader, and this grant will allow us to take dramatic steps forward toward the goal I have set of assuring that every child has the chance to succeed in school and life."
Quality early childhood programs have proven to produce better education, health, family and economic outcomes. Effective early education from birth to age five correlates with school readiness, academic achievement, college graduation, good citizenship and a productive workforce.
North Carolinas application was based on rigorous requirements of the federal grant competition, and the grant will benefit children and families across the state. It cannot be used to simply increase capacity in existing services such as the NC Pre-K program but, rather, is designed to add value to those investments and increase their impact and effectiveness.
This summer, the General Assembly made extreme cuts to Smart Start and NC Pre-K. In the wake of those cuts, Superior Court Judge Howard Manning ordered the state to offer the NC Pre-K program to all eligible at-risk 4-year-olds who apply. Gov. Perdue has outlined a prudent and responsible first step for the General Assembly to fund 6,300 more slots in the program without raising taxes or cutting other vital services. The General Assembly leadership has not acted on that proposal.
"This grant shows
how successful North Carolina has been in executing our vision for putting all
of our children on a path to a bright future," Gov. Perdue said. "Its
time for the General Assembly to follow the courts order and do the right thing
for North Carolinas children." (1)
There you have it, a greater politico authority granting a
secondary politico authority an economic rent seeking prize [taxpayer dollars]. The receiving
politico notionally legitimizing the funds as needed, necessary and required. The
“grant” is in no way framed in reality i.e. taxpayer funds [your tax dollars as
well as others’ tax dollars]. The “grant” merely being magical pixie dust appearing
from the heavens. Finally, the “grant” aka rent seeking prize will in this case
be used for political constituency building exercises.
Why would the grant be considered rent seeking? Is the grant
rent seeking through political constituency building? Isn’t early childhood
education a noble cause directly benefiting and enhancing the human capital of
young children?
One must keep in mind that early education initiatives is
one of many, many notional propositions brought to you through “The Great
Society” of Lyndon B. Johnson. Yes, early education is among other "winning" propositions
such as model cities, the war on poverty, Medicaid and Medicare and many other
absolute losing propositions of “The Great Society”.
Empirical evidence of early education dating back to the
Westinghouse Study of 1969, the 1987 study of the University of Delaware and
the 1987 study of Copple, Cline, and Smith, to the 1990 study by the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Resources [Sharon McGroder study]….which took studies from
all over the nation and analysed the studies as a group…the result of the afore
mentioned studies and especially the McGroder study is: early education either has no benefit or a small benefit that fades out
by the third grade. (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources initiated yet another study: The Head Start Impact Study. The Head Start Impact Study final executive report, dated January 2010 concluded $150 billion of taxpayer dollars have been “invested” in Head Start since 1965 yielding no lasting benefits for participating children. (9)
Why continue spending taxpayer money on a program with
massive costs and little if any benefit? Why does a politico such as Perdue trumpet
a $70 million dollar grant? The answer likely is found in the program
continuing not based upon economics, rather the program continues as it’s a political
creation. Politicos through the mechanism of government build a constituency of
Head Start workers, Head Start suppliers, and associated Head Start special
interest groups through the use of taxpayer dollars ($150 billion to be exact).
Hence we have politicos rewarding politicos who then use
taxpayer dollars as political constituency building exercises regarding a known
cost-benefit loser. The cost-benefit, being a clear loser as defined by the
same mechanism of government being manipulated [The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Resources multiple studies], must be depicted as necessary, needed,
and required by other rent seeking enablers. That is, dupery must have its nitwitery.
An excellent example of dupery having its special nitwitery to cover up the known cost-benefit loser and consequential political constituency building exercises appears here:
GREENSBORO -- The
Guilford Education Alliance released its 2011 School Readiness Report Card,
Tuesday. The Alliance called it a snapshot of the status of the county's young
children and the community's progress in preparing them for school.
The report card draws several conclusions. The organization's executive director said the primary finding was that children needed appropriate nurturing, nutrition and stimulation in their first years to succeed in life.
"That is forever
the foundation,” said Margaret Arbuckle. “And the road map of children's brain
development is founded in those first years of life."
Arbuckle said some children weren't receiving the attention they needed, but the county had made progress since the alliance's first report in 2007.
"So, the
importance of having well trained, educated early childhood professionals in
our childcare programs and our preschool programs, that's critically
important,” she said. “And our universities and colleges have responded to
that."
Another key to the school readiness equation, said Arbuckle, was Guilford County Schools, which called early education an investment.
"We know that our
pre-K program is for children who are at risk of not succeeding on the first
day of kindergarten and so by them being able to participate in the
pre-kindergarten program they have an opportunity to have those building blocks
in place," said Kelly Hales, executive director of federal and special
programs.
The report's conclusions were drawn from information assembled by the Guilford County Partnership for Children. The partnership said it takes money to pay for programs and services for pre-school children, to be sure. It also takes commitment.
"The other thing
is just the community will, but the resources will be there when the community
has the will to pull it all together," said Jean Goodman. (10)
Hence Head Start covers all the bases: the notional proposition supported by the do-gooder, a cost-benefit loser perpetuated by the politico for political constituency building hence functioning as the internal rent seekers of yet other politicos, the supposed beneficiary of the notional proposition gaining nothing….all done at taxpayer expense. Dupery Under Nitwitery and in Government Mysticism We Trust!
Notes:
(1)NC Wins $70M Early Childhood Grant, Office of Governor
Bev Perdue.
(2) Massive Study Finds Pre-School and Early Child Education Initiatives Show No Benefit, Free Republic, 08/31/2007.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1889686/posts
(3) Early Education Shows No Benefit, HSLDA, 02/04/2008
http://www.hslda.org/docs/nche/000000/00000028.asp
(4) Head Start: What Do We Know About What Works? Sharon McGroder,
US Dept. of HHS, 03/29/1990.
(5) Expanding Head Start: Is the Obama Administration
Serious about Using Empirical Evidence to Inform Policymaking? 10/27/2010, The Heritage
Foundation.
(6) Does Head Start Make a Difference, ULCA Department of
Economics, 06/1995.
(7) Head Start Earns an F: No Lasting Impact for Children by
First Grade, By David Muhlhausen, Ph.D. and Dan Lips, 01/21/2011.
(8) Head Start Impact Study Final Report, executive summary,
01/2010, U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources.
(9) Does Head Start Make a Difference? Stalking The Wild
Taboo.
(10) Group issues school readiness report card for Guilford County, 09/13/2011, News 14 Carolina
http://triad.news14.com/content/top_stories/646732/group-issues-school-readiness-report-card-for-guilford-county
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Upon Further Review: “the aristocracy of labor”.
If ninety percent of private sector labor is not associated with a union, what about that ninety percent? Why not an argument about the economy of the ninety percent? Why is the argument always about the economy of the ten percent that is unionized?
Consider the following from William Graham Sumner:
A trades-union raises wages (aside from the legitimate and economic means noticed in Chapter VI.) by restricting the number of apprentices who may be taken into the trade. This device acts directly on the supply of laborers, and that produces effects on wages. If, however, the number of apprentices is limited, some are kept out who want to get in. Those who are in have, therefore, made a monopoly, and constituted themselves a privileged class on a basis exactly analogous to that of the old privileged aristocracies. But whatever is gained by this arrangement for those who are in is won at a greater loss to those who are kept out. Hence it is not upon the masters nor upon the public that trades-unions exert the pressure by which they raise wages; it is upon other persons of the labor class who want to get into the trades, but, not being able to do so, are pushed down into the unskilled labor class. These persons, however, are passed by entirely without notice in all the discussions about trades-unions. They are the Forgotten Men. But, since they want to get into the trade and win their living in it, it is fair to suppose that they are fit for it, would succeed at it, would do well for themselves and society in it; that is to say, that, of all persons interested or concerned, they most deserve our sympathy and attention. (2)
Now consider the public sector unions and their particular associated unionized labor as “the aristocracy of labor”. In the public sector the rate of unionization is 36.2% [three and one-half times the rate of private sector labor]. (3) As the argument goes, no one wants to be a public sector employee, hence as the argument goes there would be no excluded class of labor as exogenous labor, as well as current public employees, loath and despise, in the main, employment in the public sector. Stated alternatively, considering the highly used talking point of “no one ever entered a public sector job to get rich”, then logically the talking point argument is that the public sector is an employer of last resort.
Why a three and a half times larger unionized work force in the public sector than private sector? Why unionize if, as the argument goes, the union need not exclude potential workers [the forgotten man] as no one really wants the public sector job? Merely unionizing against a straw man?
In the public sector union arrangement the forgotten man is transposed. The forgotten man is not the excluded laborer who would like the job, the forgotten man is the taxpayer. The highly diffused , unorganized, and largely unrepresented taxpayer who pays for this particular brand of “the aristocracy of labor“. (4)
Notes:
(1) Free to Choose, PBS 1980, "Free To Choose 1980 - Vol. 08 Who Protects the Worker?"
(2) What Social Classes Owe to Each Other, 1883, William Graham Sumner, chapter nine, pages 78 and 79.
(3) Bureau of Labor Statistics, Union Members Summary, 01/21/2011.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
(4) Wisconsin is coming to a state capital near you!, 02/19/2011.
http://thelastembassy.blogspot.com/2011/02/wisconsin-is-coming-to-state-capital.html#!/2011/02/wisconsin-is-coming-to-state-capital.html
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Journalistic Sun Stroke - IowaHawk
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2011/12/journalistic-sun-stroke.html
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