Just a quick one:
- US plans full Afghanistan pullout (BBC) — Interestingly, both the Beeb and The Guardian are leading with this, but U.S. outlets are not…
- No charges in Columbia police probe (thestate.com) — But will we ever know what happened between those top cops?
- House GOP tax plan would lower rates but add surtax (WashPost) — MEGO, but I suppose it’s important.
- Infighting Hurts Ukraine Efforts to Form a Government (NYT) — Man, it sure would be nice if things would settle down over there. And in Venezuela. And in Thailand, where my daughter is…
- Bitcoin Site Mt. Gox Halts Transactions (WSJ) — You know, I’d ‘splain this to y’all, but first I’d have to be surer than I am that I understand what bitcoin is and how it works. Money, of course, is an abstraction based on aggregations of belief regarding value. Bitcoin seems to be more so. But I get lost after that…
- Bill blocking abortions after 20 weeks heads to SC House (thestate.com) — So I guess we’re headed for a big Kulturkampf fray.
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Bitcoin is a misguided dream of libertarians to create a currency free of the ‘mischief’ of the federal government. The theory behind it is that it will not be subject to devaluation since the “trustworthy” creators of the system will not print any more than is necessary to maintain stability. But we only have these folks word for that. As it turns out the system is no more secure than Target or anything else that relies on the internet and perhaps less so than since there is no government oversight. Todays news underscored the false promise of Bitcoin.
In reality this was a solution in search of a problem. Despite all the dire predictions the good ole American dollar has functioned pretty damn well for 2 centuries to serve as a stable medium of exchange. And if you really want a safe store of value buy some gold. That has worked just fine for many centuries. Bitcoin is probably toast. I for one will shed no tears.
3. Lets be honest about something. Reducing the number of tax brackets doesn’t do anything to simplify the tax code. I’m all for eliminating loopholes, ESPECIALLY the lower rate for capital gains, carried interest and other perks for the wealthy. I also think it’s time to consider the mortgage deduction. But I don’t see any value in reducing the number of brackets in exchange for some mysterious wealth surtax. Isn’t that a new complexity?
Yes on the brackets, loopholes, and mortgage deduction. I used to be quite strongly against eliminating the mortgage deduction, but now I’m OK. Mortgage rates are low, and if we raised the standard minimum deduction, then many middle-class homeowners could just choose the standard. I say raise the standard minimum to federal poverty level.
I don’t know what the right thing is regarding capital gains. I like what Paul Krugman suggests on things to tax — new higher bracket(s) to reach the 0.1% and a tiny (perhaps 0.1%) fee on financial transactions. I think the brackets should make more sense, something like this: 0-10K: 8%, 10-40K: 14%, 40-100K: 20%, 100-400K: 26%, 400K-1M: 32%, 1-4M: 38%, 4-10M: 44%, 10M and above: 50%.
Interesting that Brad left off the Arizona bill that would allow businesses to refuse service on the basis of religious beliefs. Odds are that Gov. Brewer will veto the bill. If so she’ll earn a bit more respect from me.
I didn’t even run across that. I think it was more of a story yesterday…
1. It’s about time, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
3. It’s about time, but I’ll believe it when I see it.
2. I think we know as much as anyone can know who wasn’t there about what happened. Navarro made up a silly story when he got canned, and refused a lie detector test and otherwise was uncooperative with law enforcement investigating his tale.
The city manager, no friend of the chief, chose the opponent of a sitting council person to run the chief search and somehow the investigation of the chief got handed off to said opponent’s good buddy, the Greenville solicitor. Even so, the solicitor could not find enough evidence to file charges.
House of Cards?
Oh, and the mayor and the Richland county solicitor are known to be, um, not BFFs, and the mayor and the city manager are on the outs.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
Kathryn,
The people are dysfunctional because the system is dysfunctional. It is not the other way around.
The system was not particularly dysfunctional when grownups were in charge, like Steve Gantt. The city runs very well, for the residents. Sorry if it is not so great for nonresidents…
Things are done by people. Either system works well with the right people in charge. In the current case, there is an inexperienced “city manager”…who actually does a decent job of delivering city services, just not so hot in politics. The actual politicians are a fairly preening bunch, right now, and there is a lot of turf battling….
Gantt’s the guy who paid off the last chief’s retirement (in a most unusual manner), saddling both the city and the state with decades of additional costs – regardless of whether the guy had worked out as the chief.
It is very true that the current city council is proving itself to possess limited leadership abilities. BTW – Did Tameika Isaac Devine really say that “If the city has a loss, that’s what insurance is for” when asked about her incompetent handling of a loan closing – while sitting on city council? Is this the second time she has run afoul of US Commerce Dept lending; was this the same program that she used to take out a loan for herself (and subsequently was forced to repay)?
She did not handle her explanation well at all. A security agreement is hardly tantamount to a mortgage, either. I assume she was saying her malpractice insurance would cover the loss, which seems true. She is being hung out to dry in the press by the mayoral bloc, b/c she supported TW and opposed strong mayor.
She needs to come clean about exactly what was done or omitted and take the air out of their sails. Her explanations so far don’t add up.
I agree that the airing is political payback.
That does not, as you say, absolve her of responsibility for her actions. Her choices are i) admit incompetence, or 2) admit malfeasance. Of course she will continue with option 3) and hold to the lies and obfuscations…
She may be limited by her insurance co. As to what she says, but what she did say was no good. Her best defense is that she was a very young lawyer and did not realize it at the time….
Yes, I am only coming down hard on her because of what she has said about her actions – and particularly in light of the fact that this is the second time she has had issues with this lending program. Not notarizing is an error and omissions item; but then also not recording the mortgage is raising things to a whole other level.
As a sitting elected council member, looking out for the City of Columbia should have been her number one responsibility as she went about her job.
Allegedly:
Failure to properly execute, failure to record, AND failure to issue title insurance? Jeez.
Also, did she close this loan while a city council-member? If so, that seems like a conflict of interest if the lender is the city.
I’ve seen plenty of lawyers end up in the Advance Sheets for far less.
Who could have possibly foreseen this misadventure with giving my actual money to a stranger online for fake money?
I heard on NPR today while driving that one Bit Coin is “worth” $504. I about spit my Bo Tea…
What part of Thailand is your daughter in? My wife just got back from two weeks in Thailand, but entirely in the north, Chiang Mai etc., and said that up there nobody seems to care too much or feel bothered much by the recent unrest, political turmoil, it’s perceived as a distant thing going on mostly centered around Bangkok. Maybe your daughter is in a place that is feels similarly insulated from the goings-on in the capital.
She’s in Suphan Buri province. I don’t know the situation there, because she can’t say anything about politics. She was in Bangkok a few days ago, which worried me a little.
As long as she avoids hanging out with Mr. Chow, she should be just fine.