Dow was down almost 500 earlier today; it’s around -463 now (at 1:10 pm). Mostly about fears of low oil prices ,which 6% to as low as $29.28 a barrel today (remember when it was over $100?) Also China..
Wheeee!
The Dow starts the year in a plummet this morning. Because Asian markets suck apparently. Also international fears re: Middle East. You know…. the usual.
Thursday Morning Schadenfreude
Awwwwww: Martin Shkreli, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur and former hedge fund manager who has been widely criticized for drug price gouging, was arrested Thursday morning by the federal authorities. The investigation, in which Mr. Shkreli has been charged with securities fraud, is related to his time as a hedge fund manager and running the biopharmaceutical company Retrophin — not the price-gouging … Read More
Quote Of The Day
From former Fed chairman Ben Bernanke, in his new memoir, The Courage To Act: [I] lost patience with Republicans’ susceptibility to the know-nothing-ism of the far right. I didn’t leave the Republican Party. I felt that the party left me. That’s a Reagan quote, except Reagan was talking about the Democratic Party. Bernake was nominated for the job by president … Read More
Tales Of The One Percenters
Honestly. What is it going to take for the people and/or the government to throw these rich bastards in jail? No, not for being rich, but for, you know, breaking laws and regulations that effect the lives of actual people…. when?!? Case Study Number One: Volkswagen chief executive Martin Winterkorn resigned Wednesday as a growing scandal over falsified emissions tests … Read More
Rollercoasters Go Up Too
So after a huge “crash” at the beginning of the week, the Dow flies up 619 points yesterday, and today (as 11:18am), it was up almost 280 points. So here’s the question: will all the GOP politicians and pundits who blamed Obama for “Black Monday” give him credit for the recovery of yesterday and today? Don’t hold your breath.
Whheeeee Again!
Nothing like listening to tens of thousands of dollars slip out of your 401(k) in a matter of minutes, which is what I was doing this morning. The Dow dropped 1,082 points. The “circuit breakers” — the 7% dropoff point where trading is automatically stopped (to prevent a crash) — were set to go at a drop of 1,157, which we didn’t … Read More
Rollercoaster DOWN On Wall Street
Wheeeee! Dow dropped over 500 today (and over 300 yesterday). Let’s look at the past six weeks: Nice little dip there at the end, huh? What’s going on? It’s China. It’s always China. They are having hard economic times. So everybody feels it. The people I feel sorriest for are the Chinese workers making our Apple and Samsung products, as … Read More
Pissing On Your Best Friend
Earlier this week, I got in — not one but two — debates with good progressive friends about the wisdom of the BLM movement shutting down Bernie Sanders speaking at a Social Security and Medicaid event last Saturday in Seattle. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but I read something by Hamilton Nolan (whoever he is) at Gawker that … Read More
Are We Under Cyberattack?
Imma just tell this story in Tweets We experienced a network connectivity issue. We are working to resolve and apologize for any inconvenience. — United (@united) 9:43 am – July 8, 2015 Flying United Airlines today? All U.S. flights are currently grounded http://t.co/x849t8AQmH pic.twitter.com/VxxHJ4gtIw — Talking Points Memo (@TPM) 10:39 am – July 8, 2015 (1 of 2) We’re experiencing … Read More
Rand Paul on Taxes and Slavery
Rand Paul recently spoke in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and to draw a line from taxes to slavery: “Now you can have some government, we all need government,” the Kentucky senator said while discussing Thomas Paine and the role of government at the local public library. “Thomas Paine said that government is a necessary evil. What did he mean by that?”Paul said … Read More
Airlines Colluding? I Bet They Are!
Because of bankruptcies and mega-mergers over the past decade, the United States has gone from nine major airlines to four — Delta, Southwest, American and United — and those four fly about 80 percent of all domestic passengers. So 14 years after the 9/11 attacks nearly drowned the airline industry in red ink, the limited competition has helped airlines post some of their biggest … Read More
Fox News Airs “Dehumanizing” Segment On Homeless
This O’Reilly segment on the homeless in Penn Station is… one of the most dehumanizing things I’ve seen on Fox. http://t.co/OHV428A8G1 — Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) June 30, 2015 Yeah, I tend to agree. This segment plays into some of the worst stereotypes about the homeless. This “Watter’s World” guy is Jesse Watters, and his shtick is to interview people on the … Read More
Good Jobs Numbers Again
The Republicans will say it is because of the GOP presidential race contenders, not Obama’s economic policies: U.S. job growth rebounded last month and the unemployment rate dropped to a near seven-year low of 5.4 percent, signs of a pick-up in economic momentum that could keep the Federal Reserve on track to hike interest rates this year. Nonfarm payrolls increased … Read More
Pity The Rich
Monday night, Bill O’Reilly wanted you to know about America’s poor, put-upon rich people. “[Y]ou can see that taxes are through the roof on affluent Americans and business profits.But for the rest of Americans, things are not so bad. The bottom 60% of wage-earners pay just 2.7% of federal income taxes. The bottom 40% actually get money from the feds; … Read More