Tuesday, April 1, 2014

STATE OF RACE RELATIONS IN AMERICA:  it's safe to say race relations have never been worse in the US since, well, perhaps since blacks were freed from the curse of slavery in 1863.  This sad state of affairs, and its cause, are detailed in this article from the Jewish Review for all to read and weep.  Clearly the Democrat Party has used race as its primary tool for winning election for many years.  Clinton's claim he was the first "black" President is but one of many examples of the Democrat Party's basic strategy since the 1960's of divide and conquer.  Anyone who thought and voted for Obama because his election would put race to bed in this country was sadly mistaken.  Obama's choice of AG alone put the lie to this thought.  The current epidemic of what was called "wilding" in the '60s, is the latest manifestation of dismal status of race relations in this country.  It is doubtful this state of affairs will ever improve as long as the Democrat Party pursues its election strategy of identity politics which includes setting race against race.

FINANCIAL CRISES II?  One has to wonder whether the current interest rate environment can continue, given the distortions artificially induced depressed interest rates produce.  It seems like Japan has had decades of  depressed interest rates and the performance of its economy has been dismal, to put it mildly.  In the meantime life is good for homebuyers:

By Megan McArdle

Here are words that would warm the cockles of any financial reporter's heart: "It's easier to get a loan these days for a new home or new car than it's been in five years."

I mean, the financial crisis may have been hell on the rest of y'all, but for business journalists, it was the Full Employment for Reporters Program.

OK, so maybe we're not headed into "Financial Crisis II: The Legend Returns." But given all the damage done by loose loan standards, I think this is worth some heavy eyebrow-knitting.

It's also worth thinking about the secondary effects.

The obvious one is on house prices. As the U.S. housing market has slowly inched toward recovery (with a bit of a rocket boost in some areas), there's been one fly in the ointment: interest rates. Right now, they're near rock-bottom. What happens to home prices when interest rates finally, inevitably, start to rise? Any asset that is financed largely on credit is bound to have a little setback when the price of credit goes up.

On the other hand, right now credit has another "price": credit standards for loan issuance. If you can get a mortgage, credit is very, very cheap right now. But only people with very good credit scores can get loans at the moment. For the rest of the market, the price of credit is effectively infinite.

As those less-than-perfect buyers come back into the market, they'll increase demand somewhat. This may be enough to offset the downward pressure on prices from rising interest rates -- especially if higher interest rates make banks more willing to lend to those less-than-perfect prospects. After all, as real interest rates rise, there's more room in your profit margin to lose a few defaults.

For a while now, I've been watching my local housing market the way I watch a horror movie: with only one eye open, ready to shut them both tight when the mayhem starts. But if loosening credit standards go along with rising interest rates, we may have a few more reels before things get gory.

To contact the author of this post:
Megan McArdle at mmcardle3@bloomberg.net.

THERE'S MORE THAN JUST A LITTLE TRUTH IN THIS POINT:

Ted Kennedy, the most destructive leftist in the US government between FDR and Obama, is infamous as the driving force behind the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, an act of treason that has succeeded in disastrously altering America’s demographics by importing millions of Third-Worlders who lack American values and can be counted on to vote for the sort of socialist tyrants they left behind when they came to here to climb aboard the welfare gravy train. Amnesty for illegal aliens would double down on this insanity, almost certainly pushing us past the white minority tipping point that makes any advocate of limited government unelectable, as in California and New York City.

McCain is right that it would be appropriate to name an amnesty bill after Chappaquiddick Ted, if not Benedict Arnold. But appallingly, he means it as a compliment. McCain is fanatically in favor of amnesty, despite having insolently lied to his constituents before the last election that he hadlearned his lesson.

As Hot Air notes, this isn’t the first time McCain has praised the Liberal Lion while trying to shove through amnesty. From HuffPo, January 2013:

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hailed the late Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy on Monday as a bipartisan group of senators laid out new principles for comprehensive immigration reform — perhaps handing opponents a weapon.

Kennedy and McCain led the effort for broad-based immigration reform that failed nearly six years ago, and McCain said this new push was nearly the same.

“If we do succeed, and I think we will, it will be a testimonial to Ted Kennedy’s effort years ago that laid the groundwork for this agreement,” McCain said. “You will find that this agreement has very little difference from that of the legislation that was led by Sen. Kennedy some years go.”

WHO YOU GOING TO BELIEVE, ME OR YOUR LYING EYES?

President Obama is going to make a statement about Obamacare this afternoon. He’s likely to crow about that number that just magically appeared last night.

That number is so raw and unfiltered that it’s meaningless. Supposing that it’s even a real number and not something that this dishonest cabal just made up.

First, there are the cancellations. Fox counted up all the cancellations in each state that are directly attributable to Obamacare and came up with 6.2 million. Subtract that from the 7 million sign-ups and we’re at less than 1 million.

Some number of those who had their insurance killed by the man who promised they could keep it would have been expected to sign-up for a new plan within Obamacare. That RAND study we reported on Monday finds that two-thirds of Obamacare’s “new”sign-ups come from Americans who previously had health insurance. By that reckoning, then, maybe two million sign-ups under Obamacare are actually from people who did not have insurance previously. Then, we have to take into account that of the final number, some unknown number of them have not paid their first premium. The White House has claimed that it doesn’t even keep track of that number — even though it’s the most important number when counting sign-ups. Customers who have not paid have not actually bought the product. They’re not really enrolled. Additionally, some of those who lost their plans because of Obamacare have not been able to buy new plans. They were insured. Now they’re uninsured. Some of those who did pay their first premium failed to pay their second. Will Obama take any of these losses against the claimed 7 million into account?

So whichever way we go, the real number of new sign-ups is far lower than the 7 million goal that Sebelius stated and then denied, and about which the Obama administration is now crowing. President Obama, who is probably the most dishonest man to ever hold the White House, will come out this afternoon and crow about a false and deliberately falsified number. He will know that the number he is bragging about it is false. The media will know it too, but most won’t bother to do the math.

When the Democrats passed Obamacare, they claimed that it would do two things. It would help (or force) the uninsured to get insurance. It would also reduce costs for the average American family. Obama directly promised that it would reduce premiums for American families by as much as $2500 per year.

Judging Obamacare by its original criteria, not the sales job that Obama and his hirelings are using now, Obamacare is a failure. Costs have gone up. The number of uninsured after Obamacare will still be in the tens of millions. And the employer mandate has not even kicked in yet.

THE ABOVE WAS WRITTEN ON APRIL FOOL'S DAY BUT IT WAS SERIOUS.  THIS ADMINISTRATION IS BUILT ON LIES BY CONSUMMATE LIARS.