Saturday, June 11, 2011
Saturday morning avoiding-the-DMV tab dump
Among my tasks this morning: Sitting in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles to change the registration on the household cars and get them inspected. So, naturally, I'm in Starbucks reading on line and sharing links with you, my ever more stalwart brilliant and loyal readers.
Whatever his awesome union-busting cred, this seems like a reason to vote against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. This is the sort of corporate favoritism and job-killing regulation routinely pushed by the Obama administration. No Republican ought to sign any such nonsense law.
Two editorial judgments of the Los Angeles Times, compared. Reuters says "no bombshells."
Speaking of the Palin emails, the WaPo shows (not unsympathetically) that the rumors regarding Bristol Palin and Trig long pre-dated John McCain's designation of Sarah as his running mate, and were thought to originate with an Alaska Republican who opposed Palin. Is there any American politician who has had to endure such attacks on her children? Where is the outrage?
Who is the number one target of "hate crimes" in Canada? Answer: Nothing ever really changes. In Canada, Jews are number one target of hate crimes in absolute terms. In the United States, in per capita terms, which is obviously a less severe disparity. Yale, however, shuts its program to study anti-Semitism, appearing to cave to an Iranian boycott.
The Saudis turn against OPEC.
A history of political posturing over the federal debt-ceiling. Yes, it is bi-partisan nonsense that goes back more than 70 years. That said, if it can be used to cut federal spending -- and I struggle to think of federal spending I would not happily cut -- I suppose it has value as a parliamentary device.
Sell in May, go away! Stock markets have been down six weeks in a row, the longest multi-week decline since 2002. Worse, if you are a chartist (click through) it looks like the declines have just begun. Since the stock market is about the only thing going well in the economy, this is extremely bad news for Barack Obama, because his moneyed donor base will feel a bit less hope and changey this time around.
Related: GroupOn, by some measures the fastest growing company in the history of the world, has timed its IPO badly, and will not top-tick the market.
"Strategic defaulters," the next entitlement class. If you owe money and can pay it you ought to whether or not there is a defect in the underlying documents. You may not like your mortgagee, but that does not make you any less a thief.
More links at Maggie's Farm, including this bit of invigorating news.
TTYL, unless I die of old age at the DMV.
10 Comments:
By 
, at
Sat Jun 11, 10:01:00 AM:
Heh. No standing in line to change registration where I live. You just walk into the county treasurer's office at the court house and they take care of it. None of those stupid inspections either, but they are closed on Saturday.
Life in an empty county in an empty state does have it's compensations.
By , at
Sat Jun 11, 10:01:00 AM:
Glenn Reynolds links to analysis suggesting the evidence against Gov. Walker re the craft beer measure is rather slim.
http://pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/122281/
Which doesn't mean, I suppose, that he can't/shouldn't now oppose it.
By , at
Sat Jun 11, 10:38:00 AM:
Cheer up, if the Kenyan has his way you'll be able to save a trip or two when you register/inspect your cars, register and pay tax on all your other personal property and have all the medical issues authorized for your specific age, class and racial group looked at in the same visit.
By , at
Sat Jun 11, 12:35:00 PM:
How many of us would be embarrassed – or worse – by a hard look at what’s on our hard drive? Sarah’s once again going through the equivalent.
Whatever you think of Sarah, realize that any Republican nominee will get savaged. If they can’t find stuff, they’ll make it up.
With Mitt, they won’t have to make it up. Whatever you think of Mitt, realize that his business experience won’t be an asset in the general. Quite the contrary.
Last Thursday night, Colbert went after Mitt. Direct link follows. It starts at around the 3:00 minute mark. It’s lame until around 5:30, but starts hitting hard at around 7:00 when it gets into Bain Capital. “President Gekko!”
No Republican will use the full Ted Kennedy playbook on Romney during the primaries. Were I Obama, he’s the Republican I’d most want to run against.
http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/thu-june-9-2011-tom-ridge
[Sidebar: Later on the same show Colbert has ex-PA governor Tom Ridge on to talk up fracking for natural gas. Sometimes Stewart-Colbert really do the right thing, and to an audience none of us will ever reach]
By , at
Sat Jun 11, 12:58:00 PM:
Response to another item above: Mortgages-Foreclosures-HomeValues-FannieFreddie.
Together with “Private Sector Jobs”, it’s our biggest near-term problem. “Energy” and “Entitlements” and “Health Care Spending” are probably longer-term problems.
I don’t know that demonizing defaulting home owners is the answer. For individual cases, I’d agree with you. But there’s a big systemic problem here. If we insisted on rapid court proceedings to throw out deadbeats, for example many of our biggest banks might go broke. [From what I hear, doing a mark to market on BAC’s home equity loans alone would knock out a huge chunk of their equity.]
I’ve come to the view that we should have let our Big Banks fail back in 2008, painful as that would have been. We’ve since shoveled trillions at the Big Banks – it’s not just TARP – it’s our entire fiscal policy – with dick to show for it.
The Big Banks bear a lot of blame for the mortgage debacle. Don't get me going on Congress's contribution.
O&Co have mostly ignored the “Mortgages-Foreclosures-HomeValues-FannieFreddie” issue and let it fester.
ps what do Mitt Romney and Donald Trump have in common? A: They’re both strategic defaulters.
By 
Steve, at
Sat Jun 11, 02:28:00 PM:
The DMV is a government 'service' that can be cut. Most of its functions can be handled online. No one would miss waiting in line.
By victoria, at
Sat Jun 11, 02:47:00 PM:
You mean you can't go to AAA and have that done? New Jersey, go figure. When i was a child I remember having to sit in the car, waiting in line to have the car inspected every year. Di they still do that? In California, the car has to be inspected for smog checks every other year. Get the car smog checked, pay the fee and go to AAA to pay your registration. No muss, no fuss. You can even change title in a AAA office if both parties are there.
Better living in Cali
Vicki from Pasadena
By Michael, at
Sat Jun 11, 10:07:00 PM:
NJ DMV is pretty efficient. I have not been there more than a half hour for any registration or license renewal!
By bobby, at
Mon Jun 13, 05:18:00 AM:
Here in Minnesota, I buy tabs by going to https://www.mvrenewal.state.mn.us/ , filling in my plate number and last four VIN numerals, and my credit card number. I print out the receipt, which acts as temp new tabs until they arrive via mail. Maybe four minutes.
By bobby, at
Mon Jun 13, 05:45:00 AM:
Oh, yeah, almost forgot: the internet tab option was supposed to be a large money-saver, potentially causing a decrease in daily DMV staffing.
It's been very popular, and widely used.
DMV staffing levels increased that year, and every year since.
