Lock Up The Facts

Jim Treacher has some fun with MSNBC's Chris Hayes, who channeled his inner Fox Butterfield:

“What I find most frustrating is that what we have seen is incarceration go up at the same that crime is going down. And yet the fear level is still stoked, even though what we have is, objectively, less [sic] murders every year, we have less crime, we are living in a safer society, and we are putting more people in prison.”

Oh, keep up! Those talking points are so 2009. From the July 25 NY Times, totally safe even for MSNBC libs:

U.S. Prison Populations Decline, Reflecting New Approach to Crime

By ERICA GOODE

The prison population in the United States dropped in 2012 for the third consecutive year, according to federal statistics released on Thursday, in what criminal justice experts said was the biggest decline in the nation’s recent history, signaling a shift away from an almost four-decade policy of mass imprisonment.

The number of inmates in state and federal prisons decreased by 1.7 percent, to an estimated 1,571,013 in 2012 from 1,598,783 in 2011, according to figures released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, an arm of the Justice Department. Although the percentage decline appeared small, the fact that it followed decreases in 2011 and 2010 offers persuasive evidence of what some experts say is a “sea change” in America’s approach to criminal punishment.

Three years! There will come a day when this prison decline does not come as news to our newsmen. But this is not that day!

Also safe for leftys is this common sense from Kevin Drum:

When Crime Drops, Eventually the Prison Population Does Too

Eventually.

 

Comments

[Steve]

Full Video: Rush Limbaugh goes On The Record with Greta Van Susteren
http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2013/07/full-video-rush-limbaugh-goes-on-record.html

[rse]

I don't know what others are hearing but crime is considered to be bad PR so it goes unreported by the media. It is always astonishing to me to talk to people in law enforcement within the perimeter about what they are actually seeing in areas where everyone assumes they are safe.

Perhaps because with Metropolitanism we are all to be rounded up so we can use all those street cars and bike paths.

[narciso]

Interesting that the provocateur in the previous scandal, Mrs Morgan, was an educrat,
lent to New Jersey, from the neighboring state, this Judy Greer lookalike.

[Jack is Back!]

Well, Rush does need Obama as the perfect foil for his show. But I give him credit for boiling Zero down to what he is - a nasty Marxist thug who likes to rub our faces in his extravagance at our expense.

[bunkerbuster]

Silly. Incarceration rates have skyrocketed. To suggest otherwise, and cite annual statistics, is tendentious in the extreme -- or just flat out dishonest.
from The Atlantic magazine:
``The U.S. incarceration rate has more than quadrupled since 1980. It's now the highest in the world, just ahead of Russia and Rwanda. About 2.3 million Americans are now behind bars. This is about one-fourth of all the incarcerated people on Earth, though the U.S. represents only one-twentieth of the world's population.''

Yet Tom found time in his day to parrot a wingnut misanalysis that suggests the rate is declining.

more from the Atlantic:
``Why have U.S. incarceration rates skyrocketed? The answer is not rising crime rates. In fact, crime rates have actually dropped by more than a quarter over the past 40 years. Some look at these statistics and find confirmation of their view that expanding prison populations reduces crime rates. In fact, however, these same decreases have occurred even in places where incarceration rates have remained unchanged.''

I'm happy to debate the numbers, correlations, etc. but let's first acknowledge that Tom's time shifting of the numbers is just silly, and to what end??

The state of California spends approximately $9,000 per year for each public school student it educates but over $50,000 per year for each inmate it keeps incarcerated.
New sentencing guidelines have been a key factor. They have reduced judges' discretion in determining who goes to jail and increased the amount of time convicts sentenced to jail spend there. A notable example is the so-called "three-strikes" law, which mandates sentences ranging from 25 years to life for many repeat offenders. Though championed as protecting the public, such sentences have resulted in long confinements for many non-violent offenders, who constitute half of all inmates.

Perhaps the single greatest contributor has been the so-called "war on drugs," which has precipitated a 12-fold increase in the number of incarcerated drug offenders. About 1.5 million Americans are arrested each year for drug offenses, one-third of whom end up in prison. Many are repeat offenders caught with small quantities of relatively innocuous drugs, such as marijuana, a type of criminal activity often referred to as "victimless."

Some sentencing laws seem little less than perverse. For example, in the 1980s, crack cocaine received a great deal of public attention. In response, the U.S. Congress passed legislation imposing a 100 to 1 sentencing ratio for possession of crack cocaine, as compared to its powdered form. That is, someone carrying 5 grams of crack cocaine would get the same sentence as someone carrying 500 grams of powdered cocaine. From a medical point of view, this makes little sense.

The costs of incarceration are high. For example, the state of California spends approximately $9,000 per year for each public school student it educates but over $50,000 per year for each inmate it keeps incarcerated. The proportion of the state budget devoted to imprisonment has been increasing at a rate much faster than that for education. Moreover, despite California's huge prison expenditures, its prisons recently held 140,000 prisoners in facilities designed for only 80,000.

Does prison do any good? This is a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Incarceration certainly works to prevent criminals from committing repeat offenses by removing them from contact with the public. It also provides retribution, satisfying some members of the public that the incarcerated are paying for their crimes. Anyone who visits a prison would be hard pressed to say that it does not represent a powerful form of punishment.

[bunkerbuster]

Thanks Steve, for the Limbaugh link. Some great stuff there. Van Sustern looks like she's watching a schoolkid eat his crayons but can't lift a finger to stop him. Hilarious. So many highlights. Here's one in the first few minutes. Talking about the "Limbaugh Theorum''(non-prescription) he says-- ``All these scandals -- they're real -- he likes them because they distract from the reality of what's happening to this country.''
Poor Rush. I hope he doesn't lose his radio show. He's impossibly good publicity for liberals...

[henry]

Fewer in prison? Hmmm... Corzine, Gorelik, the every elected official in IL -- free and clear. More crime, less in prison. No surprise.

[narciso]

Gas prices, food prices out of control, hours down, insurance prices going up on purpose.

[NK]

Narciso@8:04- those are the simple truths of the Obummer 5+ years (I would add in no GDP growth, no jobs and Federal debt exploding out of control.) So I ask Obummer (and his enabler Ben B), why do you hate working families with children so much?

[Dave (in MA)]

Hide the decline.

I wonder if this is Weiner's favorite baseball player:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/dicksjo01.shtml

[NK]

Henry-- Milw. journal article rather polite to Walker regarding his speech at a conference regarding muni finance. The article references young would be fascists trying to prevent him from speaking. Quelle surprise.

[Jane on Ipad hi there NSA]

Hi guys,

We went to Anne Frank's house today. This can be a depressing city between the Nazi take- over in 2 seconds, and the artist who didn't add color to his art until he started trying to kill himself.

It's also beautiful and incredibly old.

This is my last day with Internet. Tomorrow we are off to the fjords.

[NK]

marginal declines in Prisoner #s after crime drops?-- completely predictable. The law enforcemet revolution started in the 80s in Fla, NC, Ariz and other sunshine states-- Truth in sentencing laws, 3 strikes your out, pretrial detention, no parole, and of course the explosion in the prisoner population. Giulani/Pataki brought these to NYC/NYS (plus CrimeStat and 'broken windows') in the mid 90s, and many Northern states followed (plus the abortion explosion has cut off many potential criminals). Result -- the USA has been safer for almost 20 years, and the great crime wave 1965-1985 has mostly been reversed. The main focus of all of these changes was warehousing recidivist criminals. The recidivists were the most violent, and caused a wildly disproportionate number of crimes. As recidivists have ben warehoused away, that criminal pool has been drying up. Hence, the total prisoner population shrinks on the margins. As long as the welfare state produces thugs, warehousing recidivists will remain necessary, but we may have reached a rough equilibrium. Fox Butterfields of the world are all confused by this.

[Danube on iPad]

Second quarter GDP growth 1.7%. First quarter revised downward to 1.0%. Real incomes continue to decline, now down 5% since this hapless fool took office. Income inequality growing faster than under Bush.

Heckuva job, Barry. Heckuva legacy.

[jimmyk]

Why do these lefty idiots always cut and paste huge swaths of other people's writing? Some kind of social disease?

[Neo]

Violent crime rates are almost always pegged to the size of the 16 to 24 year old demographic.
A certain portion of young men (and womyn) are stupid violent dweebs.
And a recession will cause a downturn in new-live births which 16 to 24 years later will show up as a drop in crime rates.

[Jack is Back!]

DoT,

He warned us that this was his plan all along back in '08. He is the political equivalent of "Wreck 'Em Ralph". The only thing keeping him from doing more damage is the 4 hours off the job for his golf game and his extensive vacations.

Jane,

Bon Voyage. Why not buy some minutes on board and keep us informed of the agenda and travels? We can all chip in via paypal or the tip jar at YTC!

[Ignatz]

Follow the lead, Ethyl.

I'm channeling Kim. :)

[NK]

1.7% GDP? couple of things-- I. with Brent/WTI at $100+, and exports flat, US balance of trade will worsen and cut down that GDP#, II. the 'unexpected' 1.7% resulted mostly from inventory build up because consummer purchases were less than expected, that's 'stealing' GDP from the next Qtr-- so 3Q GDP will slow 'unexpectedly'. There's no real growth in the economy-- whatever growth there is results from housing and cars bought with 0% interest rates. ZIRP forever? means NO REAL GROWTH forever. What a disaster Obamanomics and its enabler Ben B have been-- it's 1971-1980 all over again. Don't these government interventionist fools ever learn.

[Neo]

"... the massive U.S. decline in crime rates since 1991 ..."
Let's also consider Roe v Wade (1973). Add 18 years and crime rates go down.

[Marlene]

Jane,the Anne Frank house must be a sad reminder of innocence lost.A commenter on the previous thread asked why are McD's and Walmart always criticized? A little birdie I know is a lobbyist for *big retail*. She once said,we're the biggest and that is the reason. The hate that these lefties have is irrational.

[Ignatz]

--the 'unexpected' 1.7%--

Meet the new normal where 1.7% growth is a surprise....to the upside.

[pagar]

Crime Down?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-boy-16-shot-by-robbers-demanding-bike-man-shot-on-north-side-20130730,0,7377501.story

So that accounts for 7 shot since Tues evening.
Plus later!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/evanston_skokie_morton_grove/chi-officials-two-men-dead-in-evanston-building-20130731,0,2783257.story

Don't think it's down in Chicago.

[Old Lurker]

NK...no.

[NK]

Old Lurker.. well it was a rhetorical question. I mean.. you're a man of a certain age... how is Ben B any better than Arthur Burns, and Obummer is worse than Carter b/c he got socialized medicene through, plus Obummer is hardcore anti American, Carter's a squishy anti-American. But essentially it's 1979 all over again, just played out with different negative consequences, but negative just the same. We need Reagan, we need Volcker, we need Thatcher all over again.

[NK]

Chicago crime... well there are a few hardcore Blue Cities which refuse or can't implement 'stop-frisk,' crimestat, broken windows and other proven urban anti-crime techniques.

[Caro's iPad]

Downtown Amsterdam.

[Caro's iPad]

Our favorite biker.

Scott at Powerline writes some good commentary on Amsterdam.

[Ignatz]

Women's shotput gold to Germany at the 2036 Olympics.

[clarice]

Biy, the notion of Jane and Caro hotfooting it around Amsterdam without me fills me with dread. You'll love the cool, beautiful fjords. I'm frying and suffering from marching up and down granite and limestone stairways --tomorrow and the following day I'll be doing it in Malta. Got a lecture on them earlier today and they do seem chock full of incredible things though. If I don't survive this trip, remember how fond I am of everyone here. If I do survive it, forget what I just said in a weak moment.

[NK]

Carry on Clarice... I'm sure you're loving the blue Mediterranean vistas!

[Caro's iPad]

Wish you were here, Clarice.

[matt]

why is there more crime and incarceration in the US? AS Willie Sutton said, it's where the money is.

[centralcal]

Hello Clarice, Jane and Caro! Love reading little snippets of your travel adventures.

Caro, thanks for posting pics, too.

[NK]

Sutton... there's truth to that but during the 2 decade USA national crime wave, other things besides wealth distinguished the USA, i.e. more freedom than almost everywhere else-- with freedom comes the ability to make bad choices, West Europe was free, but did not have mass immigration yet, so the mass crime effect hadn't hit them yet, 'free' Asia had cultural taboos against UNorganized crime and strong criminal punishment. So there were a number of factors leading to the USA's much higher crime and incarceration rates.

[Ignatz]

More guns = less crime.
Ask Trayvon.

[centralcal]

Jane/Caro - with the gazillion bikes in Amsterdam, is there very much auto traffic?

[James D.]

Don't these government interventionist fools ever learn.

Sure they do. They've learned that there's no political or personal cost to wrecking the economy or making the lives of the citizens who elected them worse.

They've learned that they can continue to amass wealth and power at the expense of the rest of us more or less indefinitely, regardless of their policies or behaviors or how much open contempt they show for us.

Have they learned how to govern in a way that actually grows the economy, or increases national security or otherwise benefits the populace at large? No, but that clearly isn't the point.

[hard tac leeward]

Plenty of unreported crime in our government. No doubt the Prison Guard Unions are chafing from a lack of overtime so this shadow crime could fill a void and keep privatized prisons as flush with cash as Halliburton.

http://killerapps.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/30/congress_will_review_how_the_government_keeps_its_secrets

[jimmyk]

Is there more crime in the US than in Europe? Maybe in certain categories, though the gap has been closing. But I'm not sure that's true for robbery, burglary, or even violent crime short other than murder.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1196941/The-violent-country-Europe-Britain-worse-South-Africa-U-S.html

[Jane on Ipad hi there NSA]

CC,

Caro says she would be embarrassed to drive a car here. It is a bicycle city.

[NK]

jimmyk-- absolutely true, mass immigration throughout europe, and the UK public drunkerd culture have closed the gap with the US as to robberies (the most important crime stat IMO), homicides not so much.

[Rob Crawford]

A commenter on the previous thread asked why are McD's and Walmart always criticized? A little birdie I know is a lobbyist for *big retail*. She once said,we're the biggest and that is the reason. The hate that these lefties have is irrational.

Also, WalMart is almost completely non-union. The unions hate that.

[Rob Crawford]

why is there more crime and incarceration in the US? AS Willie Sutton said, it's where the money is.

The US is also larger in terms of population. At 320 million, we're by far the largest first-world nation around. The next closest would be Japan, with 130 million, then Germany with 80 million.

[Danube of Thought]

I saw a piece a week or so ago (can't find it now) claiming that, among non-African-Americans who are in the country legally, the U.S. crime rate is roughly identical to that of Sweden. Anybody remember where that was?

[Ignatz]

The spike in UK crime coincides very closely with their extremely restrictive firearms laws.

Less guns = more crime.
Ask London.

[Danube of Thought]

Good Lord, what is to be done? This is the incoming EPA Administrator, speaking at the Harvard Law School (no doubt to wild applause):

“Can we stop talking about environmental regulations killing jobs? Please, at least for today,” she said during remarks at Harvard Law School. “We need to cut carbon pollution to grow jobs. We need to cut carbon pollution to strengthen the economy. Let’s talk about it positively. Let’s approach this as an opportunity of a lifetime. There are too many lifetimes at stake.”

The Obama administration long has contended that “green” jobs and wind, solar and other alternative forms of power will propel the American economy, not hold it back.

Doesn't it seem that we have nearly five years of empirical evidence on the validity of that contention?

[boris]

"among non-African-Americans who are in the country legally, the U.S. crime rate is roughly identical to that of Sweden"

The crime rates of various ethnic/race groups in the US is roughly the same as rates in their countries of origin.

[Marlene]

Very true,Rob C. The little birdie showed us the rubble strewn lot in northeast DC where the store would be built. Some other big retail companies have warned the DC city council that they may also put future building plans on hold.

[Extraneus]

What else can she say, DoT? She's got a job to do.

[Patriot4Freedom]

DoT - Does *any* empirical evidence have much weight, when the media and the schools are actively engaged in distorting the "information" they provide?

[JIB]

Jane & Caro,

I think I have mentioned this before but in The Netherlands the most powerful lobby politically is the bicyclist union. Any legislation that disrupts for one second the bicycle and its activity gets shot down.

In Amsterdam and other major cities, it has the right of way over cars, taxis, buses and even the street cars. Want to see the greatest array of bicycles on planet earth outside of China, then go down to the Central Rail Station.

[DrJ]

Just great (WSJ):

The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm President Barack Obama's full slate of five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board, erasing doubts about the validity of the board and its future actions.

...

Mr. Obama recently withdrew the nominations of the two appointees and nominated two others to fill their seats. The swap was part a broader Senate deal to clear the nominations of five other executive-branch nominees. The two new picks for the labor board joined three previous board nominees who have been awaiting confirmation.

[Captain Hate]

According to members of the moron horde, the sooper jeanyusses of the GOP are coming up with new ways to insult the base by sending them "past due" requests for funding, as if they have some right to somebody's hard earned jack. Needless to say, this is not having a positive impact.

Top.Men.

[Jane on Ipad hi there NSA]

JIB,

Been there, done that.

[Old Lurker]

NK 9:56...1979 all over again...

Except this time we have $17T in national debt and many times that in unfunded promises; we have a much lower ration of workers to non-workers; we have a much higher ration of retirees per worker; we have maybe 15M migrants from south of the border vs maybe 2 or 3M; we have a lower percentage of the population that is acceptably educated; and we now have families who have been on the dole for four generations vs the rarity of that in 1979. I would suggest the constitution was stronger, private property rights more secure, and the rule of law more supreme. Finally while politicians are always, well, politicians, a much higher percentage of political leaders then had survived the Depression and WWII and had seen what evil exists and what it can do if unchecked than our population in general and our leaders in particular are today. And last but not least, maybe 25% of the national productivity was taken for the common good vs closer to 60% today, leaving that much less for a Reagan (as yet unidentified) to have available to fix things.

Just sayin.

[Old Lurker]

ration = ratio...

[NK]

OL@12:59-- I can't dispute what you say. In some fundemental ways the economy was more regulated and government was 'bigger' in 1979, but the fundemental problems you cite are all real and dangerous.

[Captain Hate]

In some fundemental ways the economy was more regulated and government was 'bigger' in 1979

WTF?

The only thing that was bigger in 1979 was inflation.

[NK]

WTF?-- what was government regulation like in 1979? Airline fares were only just being deregulated (remember the CAB?) interstate truck rates were just being deregulated (remember the ICC?), MaBell hadn't been broken up (only 1 phone company-- a gov't regulated monoply) gasoline prices were Federally controlled. How soon we forget-- the last 2 years of Carter, then Reagan saw massive deregulation, and we all benefited from that for the next 25 years-- then came TARP and ZIRP and QE and we are right back to Arthur Burns' world-- BUT WITH $17TRILLION in debt and unpaid Entitlements.

[Jeff Dobbs]

So.

In an emergency forecast meeting today because orders have slowed down. Had some field folks do some informal info gathering amongst a sample of our distributors to see what's going on.

There were several common themes that come up every time we see a down-tick. There was this, there was that, and this and that.

Then there was . . . health care reform.

Oh, goodie.

[Ignatz]

While certain industries were effected differently, the overall regulatory burden is much, much greater today than 1979, NK.
That seems indisputable to me.

[Captain Hate]

The EPA by itself is exercising more regulatory powers to negatively impact the economy than all that piecemeal 1979 crap. Add Dodd-Frank and Sarbanes-Oxley as a combo Turd Sammich/Diarrhea Melt Unhappy meal.

[JIB]

Rob C,

And all the Fast Food/Quick Service chains are non-union also and that just rankles the "dues industry". That is basically what unions are "Dues Business". All they want is that total fast food employment paying dues. Its what is all about.

[JIB]

NK,

Don't forget the Railroads and the effect of deregulation via the Staggers Act of 1980 has had. Most profitable transportation business in the world are the Class A railroads of America. Ask Warren Buffet.

[Account Deleted]

"The only thing that was bigger in 1979 was inflation."

CH,

Not so. If we could bring back Reagan, Thatcher, Volcker and toss in Pope John Paul II to boot, it wouldn't come close to replacing the surge in disposable personal income occasioned by the boomers fully entering into their most productive years in 1979.

The US is just about flat lined demographically and that's the real impetus behind the MOAR PEASANTS!!! drive. We're living with the success of the efforts by the progressive gosnels butchering away in the Planned Parenthood Death Huts.

We'll be seeing a lot more 1.7% GDP growth over the next decade.

If we're lucky.

[Captain Hate]

As always, I defer to the wisdom of Mr Ballard.

[2_cathy_f_typepad_sucks_666]

Completely off-topic -- happy feast day, Ignatz!!!

[Captain Hate]

HB Iggy

[jimmyk]

NK, you're right about that specific deregulation, but what has replaced it is many times more, death by a thousand cuts. Look at the size of the federal register. Toilet seats, shower heads, CAFE requirements, the list is endless. Just in the area of education the feds have gone crazy, never mind energy.

[jimmyk]

The US is just about flat lined demographically

That's not a coincidence. Some of it is natural trend and cycle, but it's been accelerated by the Europeanization of our culture and economy. We used to be a cheerful outlier. If we could somehow resurrect Reagan, Thatcher, and John Paul II I suspect the demographics would respond (though it would take a while of course).

[Ignatz]

CH,
That's a reference to St Iggy's feast day.
My birthday is in Dec.

[Danube of Thought]

Here you go:

So let's do the arithmetic: of the 14,612 murders in the U.S. in 2011, about 7,656 were committed by blacks and another 4,380 were committed by illegal aliens. That leaves 2,576 committed by non-black people who are here legally.

In round numbers, there are about 250 million non-blacks in the U.S. legally. So their murder rate is about 1.0 per 100,000, or the same as Sweden's.

A murder rate of 1.0 is in the same league as the Europeans who like to call us gun-crazy cowboys. But it's not the "cowboys" who are doing the killing.

The whole thing is here.

[Old Lurker]

Sadly, I think we are all correct.

[jimmyk]

I suspect some of Sweden's murders are committed by minorities, so their "majority" murder rate might still be lower than ours.

Still, I think Europe is similar to the US in other crime categories, even before separating out blacks and illegals.

[pagar]

"The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm President Barack Obama's full slate of five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board"

Every Republican Senator who supported this insanity should be fired, IMO.

The Senate voted Tuesday to confirm President Barack Obama's full slate of five nominees to the National Labor Relations Board

[Danube of Thought]

From the Mail Online:

A never-before-heard tape of Monica Lewinsky telling then-President Bill Clinton that she could 'take all my clothes off' if he agreed to an illicit meeting with her has reportedly surfaced.

The tape, which records the White House intern desperately trying to lure him into meeting her, was reportedly released to the National Enquirer after it was obtained by a cleaner hired by friends of Lewinsky.

It was long thought that the raunchy four-minute tape, which was recorded in November 1997, had been destroyed after the sexual affair was revealed in 1998, according to the Enquirer.

The recording, made months after their final alleged trust in March 1997, reportedly shows a determined Lewinsky, then 24, pleading with the married president to meet her - and telling him she plans to be persistent because 'I really want to see you'.

Woot!

[pagar]

My 01:29 post didn't have the proper link.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/07/18/the-real-nominations-scandal-isnt-the-filibuster-its-the-partisan-nominees/

[Free State Paul]

We'll be seeing a lot more 1.7% GDP growth over the next decade.

It's wrong to assume that GDP growth automatically equates with greater prosperity.

For example, if instead of mowing our own lawns, you mow my lawn for $50 and I mow your lawn for $50, GDP goes up by $100. But neither of us are any better off.

[NK]

These are great comments, and all make good points about 'MACRO' issues. As to the relative burden of federal intervention 1979 vs. today, it WOULD BE a hard call to make, because of the different nature of the respective federal interventions. That said, when you throw in Obamacare taking over 17% of GDP by socializing healthcare, that's the Big Kahuna, from 2014 on, federal regulation will forever get worse and worse .

[Account Deleted]

DoT,

There's a math failure in the 4,380 were committed by illegal aliens. The GAO report cited will not support more than 1,200 murders per year by illegals and Rep. King's histrionic utterance lacks foundation. I'd also note the disparity in homicide rates between blacks and whites should be of much greater importance to blacks than to whites. The black on black homicide rate is roughly 14. That's close to the Johannesburg rate.

[Danube on iPad]

The AT author said the number was "based on statistics released by Rep. King," but doesn't cite to the statistics. The whole analysis seems a bit soft to me.

[pagar]

" GDP goes up by $100. But neither of us are any better off."

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-07-31/dear-americans-according-todays-data-revision-you-are-all-richer

" We are delighted to advise Americans everywhere that you are all now making some $300 billion more than you were before the 8:30 AM revision."

[Captain Hate]

Taranto running with one of our favorite topics: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324809004578638102720092938?mg=reno64-wsj.html?dsk=y

[rse]

I have no doubt the EPA head said that but the EU's own reports by advocates of green energy acknowledge it diminishes overall growth.

It just grows jobs in politically directed areas. I am starting to feel like the only sucker reading past the executive summary and in the footnotes but there is no question that is what the reports say.

It is why we are being asked to shift to quality of life instead. Economic weakness is just the cost of shifting to a we are the governed polity and economy.

[Ignatz]

--As to the relative burden of federal intervention 1979 vs.--

IN CA a huge part of the growth in regulatory burden has been at the state and local level. Some of it has been imposed from above but a lot hasn't.

[2_cathy_f_typepad_sucks_666]

Besides being St. Iggy's feast day, it also would have been Milton Friedman's 101st birthday.

[NK]

Calif regulatory machnery is out of control, especially with alnd use regs.

happy St Iggy's feast day!

[Ignatz]

This guy estimates around 1500 homicides by illegals per year.

[GMax]

Yet Tom found time in his day to parrot a wingnut misanalysis that suggests the rate is declining.

Yeah can ya believe it? I mean those dastardly wingnuts, have invaded the NYT and are even occupying without a lease the empty space in Kevin Drum's cranium!

OR

More likely Butt Buster did not even read what TM cited in his rush to cut and paste some silly analysis with a very stale date...

Is this guy really a Moby for a troll, cuz he sure is making trolls look rather STOOPID...

[pagar]

Ignatz, IMO, his initial count is low for 2013.
2. I believe many of the illegals are more gang orientated and deadly than they used to be and that they would be the ones most likly to avoid detection.

3. Most of these in the link would not be here to pick lettuce.

http://www.maggiesnotebook.com/2013/07/illegal-aliens-detention-center-in-arizona-has-hundreds-from-yemen-iran-afghanistan-iraq-egypt-pakistan/

[Extraneus]

Who Will Rid Me of This Troublesome Weiner?

Hillary, Fearing a Storyline Mentioning Her Own Tammy Wynette Act, Sets the Democratic Dogs to Weiner & Huma

...

Until this second wave of Weinermania broke, it had been said -- for years -- that Bill and Hillary Clinton consider Huma Abedin to be like a second daughter.

Remember that as you read the following. She was a Second Daughter. Now she's a threat that must be destroyed.

And also remember the Democratic Party is not a party, it is The Collective, and The Collective has a rigid hierarchy, as do colonies of insects and other meaner, lesser creatures and vermin. The Collective protects all member-insects of The Collective, until that member-insect becomes a threat to The Collective, at which point it is repeatedly stung until it is dead or driven away from the hive.

So let's check in with Second Daughter Huma:

...

“The Clintons are pissed off that Weiner’s campaign is saying that Huma is just like Hillary,’’ said the source. “How dare they compare Huma with Hillary? Hillary was the first lady. Hillary was a senator. She was secretary of state.”

Her actions were different because she got higher on the Marry Your Mealticket ladder of success?

No, her actions were the same, if not worse -- well, they were worse, period, but I'll get to that. No, this is explicitly a Status Not Action argument -- Hillary's actions are different because she is Higher Status.

[NK]

Dems?-- I consider them a gangster organization; like the Gambinos, only without the honor.

[Rob Crawford]

Is this guy really a Moby for a troll, cuz he sure is making trolls look rather STOOPID...

Keep in mind there are some paid trolls out there. If BuBu brings the government worker mentality to this job, well....

[Extraneus]

I could imagine that Foo Bar gets paid, but it seems doubtful that anyone else got paid to comment at this site.

[Porchlight]

The only thing keeping him from doing more damage is the 4 hours off the job for his golf game and his extensive vacations.

He doesn't do anything. His people do it. Just as much damage - possibly more damage since his people aren't busy fluffing him - is done while he is off the clock as while he is on.

[Neo]

Jay Carney: "P-h-o-n-y s-c-a-n-d-a-l"

That means that the ultimate phony, Barack Obama, is in fact involved.

[Marlene]

cathy f mentioned Milton Friedman's birthday. rse,you might find this interesting.This fall,one of Maine's first public charter schools will open. The school hosted a luncheon as part of the event,"Friedman Legacy Day." The luncheon featured speakers from conservative groups in Maine. The liberal and wealthy Maine Senate President, Justin Alfond criticized the school for giving the conservative groups a platform. Gov.Lepage called Alfond a hypocrite,reminding him that he had unlimited resources to attend elite private schools. Lepage said..."but you and the union bosses have fought to deny Maine students school choice." Lepage has previously called Alfond "a little spoiled brat." Alfond was last seen on a fainting couch,ha! Our governor is awesome!

[Porchlight]

It's wrong to assume that GDP growth automatically equates with greater prosperity.

Maybe so, but growth is a lot better than flat or negative GDP.

[Porchlight]

Happy birthday, Uncle Milton. We miss you a lot.