@16:12, 7/5/13

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1

Business Day

Yes, the Sequester Is Affecting the Job Market

By CATHERINE RAMPELL | Jul 5, 2013

The latest jobs report shows the impact of federal layoffs and furloughs, and a hit to employment in industries that rely heavily on defense funds.

Defense Contracts; Federal Budget (US); Government Employees; Labor and Jobs; Layoffs and Job Reductions; Part-Time Employment; Unemployment; United States Economy; Working Hours; 

Catherine Rampell knows no calculus.

Consider her chart:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Numbers are seasonally adjusted, and change is expressed at an annual rate. May is the most recent month for which seasonally adjusted data are available for the smaller defense-sensitive industries.

This is a chart of first derivatives of growth.

Other industries grow at about 1.75% here.

The defense sample is growing at almost 1% until February of this year.

At that point defense shrinks at 2.5% and continues to shrink at reduced rate to the present time when it has stopped shrinking.

These are hard times.  Inflation is running ahead of growth.

2

Opinion

Using Hands-Free Devices to Chat and Drive

Jul 5, 2013

The heads of automobile and electronics trade groups disagree with an editorial calling for a ban on using cellphones while driving.

Automobiles; Electronics; Cellular Telephones; Text Messaging; 

It is all cognitive distraction and deadly.

You can't be a little bit dead ordinarily.

Fashion is worth more than life.

 

3

World

Hindi Paper Finds Success Going Hyperlocal

By VINAY SITAPATI | Jul 3, 2013

A Hindi newspaper grows after embracing advocacy journalism and hyperlocal editions in small towns and rural India.

Advertising and Marketing; Elections, House of Representatives; News and News Media; Newspapers; Rural Areas; United States Politics and Government; 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pendergast_machine

4

Business Day

Big Companies Paid a Fraction of Corporate Tax Rate

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ | Jul 2, 2013

Profitable American companies enjoyed a 12.6 percent tax rate, far below the federal statutory rate, thanks to legal loopholes, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Corporate Taxes; Federal Taxes (US); Tax Credits, Deductions and Exemptions; United States Politics and Government;

They like it that way.

5

U.S.

Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage May Help Resolve Status of Divorce

By ERICA GOODE | Jul 3, 2013

The Supreme Court’s decision striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act offers hope to people who are stuck in marriages they cannot dissolve.

Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions and Domestic Partnerships; Divorce, Separations and Annulments; Decisions and Verdicts; Defense of Marriage Act (1996);

The GOP is trying to tease people who will not do things their way.

6

U.S.

140 Characters Spell Charges and Jail

By ROBBIE BROWN | Jul 3, 2013

Social media users have faced jail time after the Secret Service saw their threats to President Obama on Twitter or Facebook.

Social Networking (Internet); Threats and Threatening Messages; Freedom of Speech and Expression;

The Secret Service does not fool around. 
Its duties are very limited. 
It is as close as we come to a national police.

7

Health

How Exercise Can Calm Anxiety

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS | Jul 2, 2013

Exercise leads to the creation of excitable brain cells, but it also creates neurons that can quiet parts of the brain and counter everyday stress, new research in mice shows.

Anxiety and Stress; Brain; Exercise;

Gretchen Reynolds presumes Intelligent Design.

The reported research is honest and interesting.

Bookmarked.

8

Business Day

Few Signs of a Taste for Diet Pills

By ANDREW POLLACK | Jul 2, 2013

Qsymia, a weight-reduction drug, had sales of only $4 million in the first quarter. Its manufacturer is trying to jump-start acceptance of the drug.

Obesity; Qsymia (Drug); Diabetes; Drugs (Pharmaceuticals);

This is a surprise.    "The dogs don't like it".
 

9

World

Sri Lanka: Time Magazine Is Banned

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS | Jul 4, 2013

A customs official said that Sri Lanka had banned this week’s issue of Time magazine over its cover story on Myanmar’s sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims.

Buddhism; Muslims and Islam; Freedom of the Press; Censorship; Hate Crimes;

Time is not helping.
 

10

Arts

Spare Times for July 5-11

By ANNE MANCUSO | Jul 5, 2013

A selected guide to walks, talks, exhibitions, readings, celebrations and other events in New York.

Sculpture; Museums; Parks and Other Recreation Areas; Libraries and Librarians; Architecture; Jews and Judaism; Chinese-Americans;

My sister will visit.
 

11

Business Day

Warren Mosler, a Deficit Lover With a Following

By ANNIE LOWREY | Jul 5, 2013

From his home in the Virgin Islands, Mr. Mosler is waging a well-financed academic battle against economists who want to cut government spending.

United States Economy; Economics (Theory and Philosophy); Recession and Depression; Federal Budget (US);

M.M.T. is closer to right than the gold bugs.  It is still not right.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/06/regions-of-derpistan/

"July 6, 2013, 5:35 pm 29 Comments

Regions of Derpistan

Josh Barro has made a very useful contribution to policy discussion by adapting the term “derp” for a certain kind of all-too-prevalent stance in economic debate, which Noah Smith somewhat euphemistically describes as “the constant, repetitive reiteration of strong priors”. In other words, people who take a position and refuse to alter that position no matter how strongly the evidence refutes it, who continue to insist that they have The Truth despite being wrong again and again.
The main locus of econoderpitude these days involves inflation, and more broadly the proposition that deficit spending and expansion of the Fed’s balance sheet will be a disaster, even in a depressed economy. Matt O’Brien documents the continuing prevalence of this form of derp, and tries to characterize the various forms it takes, and I don’t have any quarrel with his details. I wonder, however, whether it might not be useful to think of it a bit differently, using a geographical metaphor.
That is, think of all these economists and wannabe economists as inhabitants of a land we’ll call Derpistan. Everything there is derp; but it’s not undifferentiated derp. Instead, all Derpistan is divided into three parts: Inner Derpistan, Middle Derpistan, and Outer Derpistan.
Middle Derpistan is where most of the country’s inhabitants used to live.It had what looked like highly fertile intellectual soil, easy to cultivate with a few tools taken from the intro textbook: printing money causes inflation! Running deficits drives up interest rates! It’s the 1970s all over again! A lot of people settled in comfortably there circa 2009, and waited for their crops to come in.
It turned out, however, that this wasn’t such a good place to settle down after all. Some of us tried to warn them, on both the interest rate and the inflation front; things aren’t that simple in a liquidity trap. But they didn’t listen; and as inflation and soaring rates kept not coming and not coming, they found themselves like farmers on the Great Plains in the 1930s, watching their chosen ground turn into dust.
Despite this, a few oblivious types have refused to move; Michael Kinsley comes to mind. But for the most part, what we’ve seen is emigration. A few, like Larry Kudlow (!!!) have packed their belongings on top of the pickup truck and left Derpistan altogether. Most, however, have migrated only a short distance in or out.
Some have moved to Outer Derpistan, a land of utter intellectual barbarism; here we have Erick Erickson declaring never mind the facts, he has feelings, and Niall Ferguson declaring that we really do have inflation, but the feds are spiriting it away in their black helicopters and burying it in Area 51.
For the most part, however, we’ve seen a migration to Inner Derpistan — the region that borders the civilized world, also known as the reality-based community, and has picked up some of its customs. The migrants to this region — the Bank for International Settlements, Martin Feldstein, and so on — seem to be conceding, at least implicitly, that their inflation warnings didn’t pan out. Instead, they’re now all talking about financial stability. But they haven’t left Derpistan, because they’re still demanding the exact same thing — higher rates and an end to quantitative easing — despite having been wrong about everything so far.
And I have to say that these are the people who worry me. The refugees of Outer Derpistan are sad cases, but they don’t have any real influence, even if the BBC thinks they should give prestigious lectures and stuff. But the Inner Derpistanis are the barbarians at the gate; they are, I believe, already having a seriously malign effect on policy."

12

N.Y. / Region

In Case of Big Yale v. Tiny Yale, Victor Kept the Name

By ARIEL KAMINER | Jul 3, 2013

Little Yale Academy, which helps students study for college entrance exams, said it didn’t mean for its name to infringe on the trademark of Yale University.

Suits and Litigation (Civil); Colleges and Universities; Tests and Examinations; Names, Organizational; Private and Sectarian Schools; Trademarks and Trade Names;

Lawyers gone mad.
Defense of copy right, trademark and reputation.
 

13

Opinion

Data Mining, Without Big Brother

By LEONARD H. SCHRANK and JUAN C. ZARATE | Jul 3, 2013

Preventing terror doesn’t require violating privacy.

Civil Rights and Liberties; Privacy; Terrorism; Surveillance of Citizens by Government; Data-Mining and Database Marketing;

There is no way to prevent terror and live a full life.
 

14

Business Day

Sequester Hits the Long-Term Unemployed

By CATHERINE RAMPELL | Jul 2, 2013

Federal unemployment insurance benefit programs have been pared back over the last year and a half, and are now undergoing major cuts as a result of the budget cuts known as the sequester.

Budget Control Act (2011); Federal Budget (US); States (US); Unemployment Insurance;

Yes . . .
 

15

Technology

Rich Payday for New Zynga Chief

By NICK WINGFIELD | Jul 3, 2013

In a filing, Zynga said that Don A. Mattrick, its new chief executive, will receive a compensation package worth around $50 million over the next several years, and perhaps more.

Bonuses; Computer and Video Games; Executive Compensation; Xbox (Video Game System);

Bribery.
 

16

Business Day

The Economics of Mad Geniuses

By CATHERINE RAMPELL | Jul 3, 2013

Is it possible that mental illness could, in some cases, be good for worker productivity?

Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Mental Health and Disorders; Productivity;

Fluff.
 

17

Opinion

Diagnosis: Insufficient Outrage

By H. GILBERT WELCH | Jul 5, 2013

Medical care is intended to help patients, not enrich providers. But the way prices are rising, it’s beginning to look less like help than like highway robbery.

Health Insurance and Managed Care; Doctors; Hospitals; Prices (Fares, Fees and Rates); Medicare;

It is crime when it is prosecuted.

18

U.S.

Texas Republican Personifies Challenge for Immigration Bill

By ASHLEY PARKER | Jul 4, 2013

Representative Blake Farenthold, who is wary of a path to citizenship but may be open to other changes, represents a district that is half Hispanic but is considered a safe Republican seat.

United States Politics and Government; Immigration and Emigration; Tea Party Movement; Illegal Immigration; Redistricting and Reapportionment;

No surprise.

19

U.S.

Farm Bill Defeat Shows Agriculture’s Waning Power

By RON NIXON | Jul 3, 2013

Although a number of factors contributed to the defeat of the bill, analysts said the vote also illustrated the shift in the American population and political power to more urban areas.

Farm Bill (US); Agriculture and Farming; United States Politics and Government; United States Economy;

Staying elected looks like a more immediate problem.
 

20

N.Y. / Region

Time Warner Intends to Move to Planned Skyscraper at Hudson Yards

By CHARLES V. BAGLI | Jul 2, 2013

The company has a tentative deal to relocate its headquarters from Columbus Circle to a skyscraper to be built in the Hudson Yards project.

Real Estate (Commercial); Relocation of Business; Area Planning and Renewal;

Building over the Hudson Yards is a bad idea.


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