On September 26th, October, 7 and 15 for the presidential candidates, and Oct 2 for the Veeps.
Author: Matthew G. Saroff
FTC Institutes New Regs Requiring Written Opt-In for Robo-Calls
This, of course, will effectively kill the odoriferous putrescence that is robo-calls.
By December, all Robocalls must have a key or voice activated opt-out, and by the following September, robo-calls are prohibited, unless the marketer has “the prior express written agreement of the recipient to receive such calls.”
Prior business relationships have been eliminated as an exception, though medical calls related to HIPAA, and calls by non-profits to members have an exception, though the latter requires automated opt-out.
Note that political campaigns can still inundate you with robo-calls though.
Just When You Thought that Zimbabwe’s Path Could Not Get Any More Twisted
Well, it appears that Robert Mugabe has stated his intent to reconvene the Zimbabwean parliament, because it seems that Arthur Mutambara splinter faction holds the margin for a majority, even though yjr MDC-Tsvangerai is very clear that this will jeopardise the power sharing talks.
As if this was not Mugabe’s goal in the first place.
For what it’s worth, I rather like this article, The bullying black Englishmen, and how it adds a new layer to the already complex interactions going on here.
Basically the authors thesis is that the bad actors in this drama, Mugabe, Mbeki, and Matambara, all of whom were educated in the West, see Tsvangerai, who was not, as unworthy of power by virtue of this:
With his humble origins and poor school record, Tsvangirai lacks not only the lofty Western educational qualifications that his three opponents display in their wordy speeches, witticisms and articles, but their sartorial style.
Bulging out of his cheap suits, Tsvangirai seems uncomfortable alongside the three Savile Row dandies, who are said by some close to the negotiations to despise the former trade unionist and principal Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader.
It appears that every society has its despised minority, and in southern Africa, it’s Africans.
Hans “der Novotenfuhrer” von Spakovsky Hired by Civil Rights Commission
No, this is not The Onion.
He has been hired by Civil Rights Commissioner Todd Gaziano has hired him as a consultant.
A man whose entire life has been dedicated to keeping N*gg*rs from voting.
Surprise, Commissioner Todd Gaziano works for the Heritage Foundation.
Banks Object to Credit Card Regulation
There’s a big surprise, they want to continue to treat their customers like garbage.
This bill is pretty mild:
- Requires 45 days’ notice of interest rate increases
- prohibits companies from changing the terms of the contract at any time for any reason, so called “Universal Default”.
- Makes issuers mail billing statements 25 days before the due date, instead of the current 14-day minimum.
- Require that payments be applied to all balances proportionally, as opposed to the lowest (often introductory) rate first.
But even this very weak tea is too much for the banks.
McCain Owns Too Many Houses to Keep Track Of
He was asked how many houses he ownsin an interview and re replied that he would have a member of his staff get back to him.
He does not know how many homes he, well, really Cindy, owns, but as I’ve mentioned before, they also neglect to pay the property taxes in a timely manner.
The quip of the day, though goes to Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, who suggested that the reason that McCain could not answer the question was because, “He Couldn’t Count High Enough.”
Heh.
BTW, in the, “It didn’t take very long,” department, the McCain campaign is already going the noun, verb, and POW route
He [spokesman Brian Rogers] also added: “This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years — in prison,” referring to the prisoner of war camp that McCain was in during the Vietnam War.
It’s amazing how quickly they move to self parody….I just hope that the American public does not buy it.
John Sidney McCain is truly a pathetic old man.
Economics Update
Ummm….This is not a day for pleasant economic news.
First, the Leading Economic Indicators indicate a bigger slowdown than anticipated, dropping 3x more than expectations, and then the Philly Fed index fell for the 9th straight month.
Employment isn’t good either. While new unemployment claims fell, the 4 week rolling average rose, and in any case at 432,000 claims (seasonally adjusted, which is the elephant in the room), it’s still too damn high.
If you are a monetarist, then we have more bad news, because the growth rate for M3 has dropped off a cliff (chart pr0n below):
Note that this is a graph or the rate of growth, not the money supply, so the effect on the overall money supply is less than it appears, but, “As a rule of thumb, the data gives a one-year advance signal on economic growth, and a two-year signal on future inflation.”
The chart is a rolling 3 month average of the annual rate, and the rate for May-July is 2.1%, indicating a contraction of the M3 money supply in real terms, which would suggest downward pressure in housing and financial markets.
We also have the Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of commodities making the biggest weekly jump in over 30 years and oil up by 6 bucks, along with the dollar falling which seems to indicate that the past few weeks might just have been profit taking…a breather before an ascent to the summit, though
gasoline is down over a dollar today.
UK Court Rules that British Government Must Provide Gitmo Defendant With Evidence of His Own Torture
This is good news from a legal perspective, but it bothers me, because the circumstances are so Kafkaesque:
A British court ruled on Thursday that the government must disclose evidence to a defendant being held at Guantanamo Bay, a decision that carried with it implicit criticism of U.S. government detention policies.
In its ruling, the High Court said Britain’s Foreign Office must provide Binyam Mohamed, a British resident detained in Pakistan in 2002 and now held at Guantanamo, with information relating to his time in detention.
His lawyers say the material supports his claim to have been “extraordinarily rendered”, tortured and forced into a confession on terrorism charges.
A Washington Pundit Uses the “L” Word
And I don’t mean in a conversation about Rachael Maddow’s new job at MSNBC.*
I mean that Jonathan Alter just called John McCain a liar
His final graph:
But when he resorts to these kinds of falsehoods, and casts such aspersions on his opponent’s patriotism, John McCain is no longer putting his country first. If he were, he would recognize that the interests of the nation require a relatively truthful campaign. To fulfill his image of himself, McCain should stop lying about his opponent. For a man with his claims to honor and integrity, that’s not too much to ask.
This is a word that you never see in political writing. Ever.
I’m beginning to think that the sick old man is losing his base, the Beltway pundits…..Please make this so.
*No offense intended toward the talent Ms. Maddow. She has been out, and proud, for years.
Report: U.S. and Iraq Set Troop Deal
It’s not much slower than Barack Obama’s timetable, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
The Bush admin is still maintaining that it does not have to go to Congress, but it does have to go before the Iraqi parliament.
Me, I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.
MoveOn.org Targeting Liddy Dole
Looks like they will be dumping around $½ million into the Senate race.
If they were smart, they would go after the fact that she refused to test blood for HIV when she was head of the American Red Cross, and killed a significant portion of the hemophiliacs in the US as a result, as clotting factor is made from blood.
Go after her strength.
Ratings Agencies Begin to Upgrade Government Bonds
For years, corporate debt has been rated higher than equivalent government debt, and once the monoliner insurers started to implode, municipalities realized how much of a racket it was, with the ratings agencies using a stricter standard, so that the government debt had to use insurers where the rater’s brother-in-law worked.
Took long enough, and I’m sure that the fact that various Attorneys General were looking into this, and that there was a bill in congress, had nothing to do with the change.
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (R-OH) Dead
Anurysm.
Friends Don’t Let Friends Read Amity Shlaes
Seriously, this analysis of the housing crisis is hacktacularly incoherent.
I’m just saying.
Amity Schlaes: Missing the forest for the tapioca pudding since 1982.
Comcast to Throttle Web Access During Times of Heavy Use
In response to a spanking from the FCC regarding throttling users based on applications 24-7, Comcast will start throttling heavy internet users during times of high network utilization, which is what they should have done in the first place.
There now, that wasn’t so hard, was it.
Their real problem, of course, is an architecture that is inadequate, but we know what cable companies do when there is a choice between screwing the customer, and fixing the real problem.
FedEx Faces Massive Judgements on Misclassified Employees
FedEx has been classifying its drivers as independent contractors for years, despite the fact that it, “tells its ground-service drivers when to work, what to charge customers and what kind of socks and shoes to wear,” and it looks like a federal judge is about to rule against them opening them up to billions of dollars in compensatory and punitive damages, and possibly even more in back taxes.
What’s more, it’s likely to see successful unionization efforts once reclassification is completed.
This is an increasing problem nationwide, and one would hope that there will be a crackdown soon.
Cuomo Hints that Brokers are in Crosshairs of Auction-Rate Investigation
Now New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is strongly implying that he will be going after brokerages, in addition to his already having gone after investment banks, on misleading investors as to the nature, and risk, of auction rate securities.
It’s depressing that when scandals break out in the financial system, that the Federal government seems to be completely uninvolved, and that state authorities have to enforce the law.
What Chris Bowers Said
In reswsponse to the news that Lieberman would speak at the Republican convention, Mr. Bowers noted:
I believe this is what some Senate Democrats were waiting for before deciding to strip Lieberman of his committee chair next year. I still remain skeptical that they will actually strip him of his committee chair, since it will demonstrate self-respect and a willingness to stand up to conservative Democrats. This just isn’t something you see much of from our representatives in Congress, particularly the latter.
I agree. If I would argue that not only should he be stripped of his committee chairmanship, but of his seniority too.
Of course, that would require a spine, an unlikely event.
Penny Pritzker Needs to STFU
Ms. Pritzker, Barack Obama’s campaign finance chairwoman was, as I’ve noted earlier, chairman of the board for Superior Bank of Chicago, the bank that pioneered the subprime and predatory loans as a business model, that collapsed in 2001.
It’s likely that at some point this will become an issue, but to the degree that she invites reporters to cover her, as she clearly does here, she makes it even more likely.
The article is innocuous enough, it really is quite favorable, but it raises her public profile, which makes her a more likely target.
Given the current state of affairs in banking and housing, I cannot imagine anyone, in any campaign, who would not use her background against any campaign with which she was associated.
She needs to keep her head down.
John McCain Endorses Reintroducing the Draft
There hasn’t been a correction or clarification yet.
Of course, the “completely fair” Andrea “Bubbles” Mitchell, and the rest of the Beltway bunch will figure out a way for it not to be him being confused, or actually suggesting that he would restart the draft.