Essential Economics for Politicians

https://fee.org/articles/hawaii-gov...onfiscation-of-property-without-a-conviction/

Hawaii Governor Vetoes Bill Aimed to End Confiscation of Property Without a Conviction
Hawaii will continue to deny its citizens due process and make a profit in the process.
Friday, July 12, 2019
ige.jpeg

Image Credit: Staff Sgt. Jackie Sanders [public domain]


Carey Wedler


The legislature finds that civil asset forfeiture frequently leaves innocent citizens deprived of personal property without having ever been charged or convicted of any crime. This amounts to government-sponsored theft.
 
Bruddah IZ said:
https://fee.org/articles/hawaii-gov...onfiscation-of-property-without-a-conviction/

Hawaii Governor Vetoes Bill Aimed to End Confiscation of Property Without a Conviction
Hawaii will continue to deny its citizens due process and make a profit in the process.
Friday, July 12, 2019
ige.jpeg

Image Credit: Staff Sgt. Jackie Sanders [public domain]


Carey Wedler


The legislature finds that civil asset forfeiture frequently leaves innocent citizens deprived of personal property without having ever been charged or convicted of any crime. This amounts to government-sponsored theft.
Click to expand...
Dakine
 
Kim Jong Un's Mercedes Limousine Holds an Economic Lesson
People are asking how a Mercedes limousine ended up in Pyongyang. There’s no mystery here. With market goods, there’s no accounting for their final destination.
Friday, July 26, 2019

https://fee.org/articles/kim-jong-uns-mercedes-limousine-holds-an-economic-lesson/?utm_source=ribbon

A few weeks ago world champion Toronto Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. This can’t have pleased his former team once removed in the San Antonio Spurs. When the Spurs traded Leonard after the 2018 season to the Raptors, they did so in order to keep him out of the Western Conference. No doubt the Spurs succeeded, for a time, but they couldn’t control what Leonard would ultimately do with his talents. He’s back in the NBA’s Western Conference.


....................

Snuck Past Luxury Goods Ban
Leonard’s migration to Los Angeles came to mind while pondering a more recent question: “How Did That Mercedes End Up in Pyongyang?” The latter was a front page headline/question in the New York Times last week. The Wall Street Journal similarly featured this seeming news of the weird, noting that Kim Jong Un’s possession of a Mercedes limousine had “stumped outsiders” in consideration of existing UN bans of luxury goods in North Korea.

No one should be stumped. There’s no mystery here. With market goods, there’s no accounting for their final destination. Try as politicians might to cut off individuals and countries from the world’s plenty, the power of politicians to control what we do is thankfully limited. Applied to Korea’s "beloved" leader, attempts to isolate him with sanctions are more than toothless. Though Mercedes can’t sell directly into the Hermit Kingdom, though U.S. companies are barred from trading with “North Korea,” neither Mercedes nor American companies are barred from selling what they produce. That they’re not ultimately means the producers of useful market goods are essentially trading with everyone, including with people from “enemy” countries.
 
And to whom does the unhappy citizen turn when there is only one healthcare provider, one landlord, and one education system? The state monopolies under socialism offer a kind of subjugation and submission far greater than that in competitive markets. The faceless corporate decision makers that trouble professor Robin are far less sinister than government bureaucrats who can block all exit options. Imagine how poorly the Post Office would function without competition from Federal Express and UPS.
 
The Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates for the first time in over a decade — a preemptive move aimed at extending the already record-long economic expansion.

The Fed on Wednesday lowered its target for the key federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point. The move should decrease the cost of borrowing, including for credit cards, auto loans and mortgages.

The rate cut — the first since the Great Recession — had been widely expected, but it marks a turnaround for the Fed. As of late last year, the central bank was expecting to continue raising rates in 2019.

Major stock indexes fell after the Fed's announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 350 points, or 1.3% percent.

The U.S. economy is still growing at a modest pace. And, at 3.7%, unemployment is near a 50-year low. But the central bank is concerned that trade tensions with China and slowing growth in other countries could put the brakes on the economy, just as many Americans are beginning to enjoy the benefits of a slow-moving recovery.


https://www.npr.org/2019/07/31/734060292/fed-cuts-interest-rates-for-1st-time-since-2008
 
Lion Eyes said:
And, at 3.7%, unemployment is near a 50-year low. But the central bank is concerned that trade tensions with China and slowing growth in other countries could put the brakes on the economy, just as many Americans are beginning to enjoy the benefits of a slow-moving recovery.


https://www.npr.org/2019/07/31/734060292/fed-cuts-interest-rates-for-1st-time-since-2008
Click to expand...

The unemployment number, as you know, is totally fiction. If you look for a job for six months and then you give up, they consider you give up. You just give up. You go home. You say, ‘Darling, I can’t get a job.’ They consider you statistically employed. When people look and look and look, and then they give up looking for a job, they’re taken off the rolls, so the number isn’t reflective. I’ve seen numbers of 24 percent, I actually saw a number of 42 percent unemployment—42 percent. And it could be.
 
Booter said:
The unemployment number, as you know, is totally fiction. If you look for a job for six months and then you give up, they consider you give up. You just give up. You go home. You say, ‘Darling, I can’t get a job.’ They consider you statistically employed. When people look and look and look, and then they give up looking for a job, they’re taken off the rolls, so the number isn’t reflective. I’ve seen numbers of 24 percent, I actually saw a number of 42 percent unemployment—42 percent. And it could be.
Click to expand...

The official U.S. jobless rate slid to an 18-year low of 3.8% in May, but even better the so-called real unemployment rate has fallen more rapidly.

That’s good news for millions of Americans who were on the outside of the labor market looking in. They now have a foot in the door.

The official jobless rate, known as U3, only includes people who don’t have a job but have looked for one in the past month. The result is that millions of Americans who want to work are actually left out of the official figure, potentially making the labor market look healthier than it really is.

By contrast, the “real” unemployment rate also includes part-time employees who want to work full time as well as people who haven’t looked recently but are willing to work. It’s typically a lot higher.
MW-GK203_U6RATE_20180601115441_MG.png


In tough times or the early stages of an economic recovery, the real unemployment rate gets a lot of attention from critics who argue the official rate understates the problem. Technically called the U6, the real unemployment rate tends to run about 4 points higher than the official rate. The gap ballooned to 7 points in late 2009 before beginning to decline.


In May, the real unemployment fell to 7.6% from 7.8%. It’s lower now than it was right before the start of the 2007-2009 recession and it’s at the lowest point since May 2001.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-real-us-unemployment-rate-reached-a-17-year-low-2018-06-01
 
Lion Eyes said:
The official U.S. jobless rate slid to an 18-year low of 3.8% in May, but even better the so-called real unemployment rate has fallen more rapidly.

That’s good news for millions of Americans who were on the outside of the labor market looking in. They now have a foot in the door.

The official jobless rate, known as U3, only includes people who don’t have a job but have looked for one in the past month. The result is that millions of Americans who want to work are actually left out of the official figure, potentially making the labor market look healthier than it really is.

By contrast, the “real” unemployment rate also includes part-time employees who want to work full time as well as people who haven’t looked recently but are willing to work. It’s typically a lot higher.
MW-GK203_U6RATE_20180601115441_MG.png


In tough times or the early stages of an economic recovery, the real unemployment rate gets a lot of attention from critics who argue the official rate understates the problem. Technically called the U6, the real unemployment rate tends to run about 4 points higher than the official rate. The gap ballooned to 7 points in late 2009 before beginning to decline.


In May, the real unemployment fell to 7.6% from 7.8%. It’s lower now than it was right before the start of the 2007-2009 recession and it’s at the lowest point since May 2001.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-real-us-unemployment-rate-reached-a-17-year-low-2018-06-01
Click to expand...

These are numbers that are massaged, to make the existing economy look good, to make this administration look good, when in fact, it’s a total disaster.
 
Lion Eyes said:
Speaking of total disaster...your brain must be messaged.
If you have proof of your assertion, please show it....
Click to expand...

There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. Stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly.
 
Booter said:
There is great anger in our Country caused in part by inaccurate, and even fraudulent, reporting of the news. Stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly.
Click to expand...
Unless you have proof of what you claim regarding "messaged" numbers, you are the fraud here bootsie...
Simply post the facts and cite the sources, otherwise you are adding to the "great anger" you speak about.
The source used is a legitimate source...prove the numbers are wrong...prove the numbers are questionable...
Stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly.

PS We did land on the moon, Oswald acted alone, & no votes were changed in the last Presidential election.
 
Lion Eyes said:
Unless you have proof of what you claim regarding "messaged" numbers, you are the fraud here bootsie...
Simply post the facts and cite the sources, otherwise you are adding to the "great anger" you speak about.
The source used is a legitimate source...prove the numbers are wrong...prove the numbers are questionable...
Stop the open & obvious hostility & report the news accurately & fairly.

PS We did land on the moon, Oswald acted alone, & no votes were changed in the last Presidential election.
Click to expand...

I was just yanking your chain. My recent posts on this topic were all quotes from your hero Don The Con. I guess you only swallow that tripe when Trumpy is dishing it out. SUCKER!!!
 
Lion Eyes said:
The Federal Reserve is cutting interest rates for the first time in over a decade — a preemptive move aimed at extending the already record-long economic expansion.

The Fed on Wednesday lowered its target for the key federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point. The move should decrease the cost of borrowing, including for credit cards, auto loans and mortgages.

The rate cut — the first since the Great Recession — had been widely expected, but it marks a turnaround for the Fed. As of late last year, the central bank was expecting to continue raising rates in 2019.

Major stock indexes fell after the Fed's announcement, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down more than 350 points, or 1.3% percent.

The U.S. economy is still growing at a modest pace. And, at 3.7%, unemployment is near a 50-year low. But the central bank is concerned that trade tensions with China and slowing growth in other countries could put the brakes on the economy, just as many Americans are beginning to enjoy the benefits of a slow-moving recovery.


https://www.npr.org/2019/07/31/734060292/fed-cuts-interest-rates-for-1st-time-since-2008
Click to expand...

Hmmm - big-business types have been asking for a rate cut for months. When they get it, the market falls.

I don't get it.
 
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