They Lost Me With 'Hello'

Glenn links to Stacy Mccain, who is fired up about this new Harvard/Berkekey study on income inequality and intergenerational economic mobility. I will revert to Mr. McCain momentarily but first let me deplore the lead sentence to the NBER working paper:

The United States is often hailed as the "land of opportunity," a society in which a child's chances of success depend little on her family background.

Says who? This is certainly a convenient definition for a team of economists who are embarking on a measurement of outcomes and hoping to pass it off as a measure of opportunity, but who really believes that parents have no influence on the success of their kids? Just by way of example, one might suspect that financial success is influenced by some combination of intelligence, good looks, height, good health, and high energy. All of these factors are subject to genetic inheritance, so one would not be surprised to see the child of successful parents having a bit of a head start. Other traits, such as self-discipline (aka impulse control) or a love of learning can be taught, but are more likely to be exemplified by parents who already possess those traits.

So, to pick an example almost at random, one might expect Sasha and Malia Obama to become successful women based on the genetic gifts and cultural values passed on by their parents. Who among us will attribute any of their future success merely to their parent's high income?

Gary Becker has lots on this; a snippet:

The relation between intergeneration mobility and meritocracy becomes still more complex after we recognize that earnings in a meritocracy would depend not only on cognitive abilities, such as IQ. For it depends also on investments in education and other human capital, on getting to work on time, on being able to take criticism, and on many other psychological characteristics. Families that are more educated and have high earnings tend to invest a lot in their children’s human capital, and in various non-cognitive traits. In a merit-based economy where earnings depend on the totality of abilities and skills, children of high earning parents would also tend to be high earners because their parents would pass on both cognitive skills and investments in various forms of human capital.

Even after including parental investments in education, non-cognitive traits, and other human capital of children, an economy where success and failure are determined by merit would still have low intergeneration mobility. To be sure, investments in education and many other types of human capital are not only determined by parents, but also by government policies and by philanthropists. To the extent that governments and philanthropists invest more in the human capital of children with less successful parents (as appears to be the case for governments in Scandinavian countries), a merit-based economy could have relatively high intergenerational mobility since children from poorer and less educated families might have high levels of human capital investments.

Nevertheless, a big jump is still required to make inferences from the intergeneration mobility in a country to the role of merit in determining success and failure in that country. In particular, although the United States has considerably lower intergeneration mobility than many Western European countries, this does not imply that merit is a less important determinant of success in the American economy than in these other economies.

And all of that said, I further dispute that "the American dream" was ever a claim that one parent's were irrelevant. This is James Truslow Adams, no relation to the Oresidential family:

Adams coined the term "American Dream" in his 1931 book The Epic of America. His American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."

By way of contrast with a Europe of landed nobles and hereditary guildsmen, America was notably lacking in barriers to self-improvement and advancement.

Now to pick up on Stacy McCain's point - he is deeply dubious of a study that tells us that West Virginia is more of a land of opportunity than, say, Silicon Valley or New York City. Good point!

By way of illustration, here are San Jose, NYC and a few beacons of opportunity from West Virginia:

San Jose

California

12.9%

New York

New York

10.5%

Spencer

West Virginia

14.7%

Buckhannon

West Virginia

12.6%

Welch

West Virginia

16.0%

These results reflect the probability that a child who was "raised" in the locale above in the lowest economic quintile (really, living there at about age 15 regardless of prior or subsequent movement) will eventually rise to the top quintile *of their age cohort* by about age 30. Parts of West Virginia have it all over the Big Apple or the biggest city in Silicvon Valley, which activates Mr. McCain's BS detector:

Stipulating that the data in the study is complete and accurate, and that everything in the analysis is legit — well, why is there a bright spot on the resulting map in the vicinity of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, but no corresponding bright spot near Athens, Georgia? Why does rural Arkansas look like a beacon of upward mobility, while the bustling economies of Atlanta and Charlotte produce no such effect?

Most of all, why does the map referenced by O’Brien show that impoverished Appalachia offers more opportunity for advancement than any of the more prosperous surrounding flatlands?

To use a social science term: Your data is obviously fucked up.

Well, that's as maybe. Eric Mertz commented over there with a follow-up on his blog, noting that the decision to fix children to one locale based on where they were at approximately age 15 is fraught with implications.

I will say this: the authors attempt to check the validity of that assumption and conclude that all is well. I am a non-buyer and suspect that a deeper dive into the data would unearth trouble in paradise. But first, their comments in anticipation of this objection:

We permanently assign each child to a single CZ based on the ZIP code from which his or her parent led their tax return in the first year the child was claimed as a dependent. We interpret this CZ as the area where a child grew up. Because our data begin in 1996, location is measured in 1996 for 95.9% of children in our core sample. For children in our core sample of 1980-82 birth cohorts, we therefore typically measure location when children were approximately 15 years old.

For the children in the more recent birth cohorts in our extended sample, location is measured at earlier ages. Using these more recent cohorts, we nd that 83.5% of children live in the same CZ at age 16 as they did at age 5. Furthermore, we verify that the spatial patterns for the outcomes we can measure at earlier ages (college attendance and teenage birth) are quite similar if we define CZs based on location at age 5 instead of age 16.

So that is reassuring. This, however, is far less so:

Importantly, the CZ where a child grew up does not necessarily correspond to the CZ she lives in as an adult when we measure her income (at age 30) in 2011-12. In our core sample, 38% of children live in a different CZ in 2012 relative to where they grew up.

That is a lot of movement, so they offer a bit of a breakdown:

44.6% of children who grow up in rural areas live in urban areas at age 30. Among those who rose from the bottom quintile of the national income distribution to the top quintile, the corresponding statistic is 55.2%.

So the poor move even more than the average. This final test reassures them but not me:

In row 8 [of Table V, p. 68], we assess the extent to which the variation in intergenerational mobility comes from children who succeed and move out of the CZ as adults vs. children who stay within the CZ. To do so, we restrict the sample to the 62% of children who live in the same CZ in 2012 as where they grew up. Despite the fact that this sample is endogenously selected on an ex-post outcome, the mobility estimates remain very highly correlated with those in the full sample. Apparently, areas such as Salt Lake City that generate high levels of upward income mobility do so not just by sending successful children to other CZs as adults but also by helping children move up in the income distribution within the area.

"Apparently"?!? As best I can follow, they looked at the aggregated data for Commuting Zones ("CZ") both large and small and and concluded that dropping the kids who eventually moved didn't change the results much. But that means that CZs with a large population, such as New York, will drive the population-weighted result and swamp whatever story the data might be trying to tell about Spencer, West Virginia.

So when they write that "apparently" Salt Lake City is seeing a combination of kids succeeding in the area and kids succeeding after moving away, my not-so-unreasonable question is, what did the data actually show for Salt Lake City specifically, as opposed to the aggregate? In the data tables all I can find is that without weighting for population the result for "8. Children who stay within CZ" has a correlation of 0.87 with the baseline estimate. However, when they re-weight by estimated population, the correlation rises to 0.95. That makes me think that rural areas are showing a much weaker correlation than urban areas. That overlaps with their comment that rural areas show a lot more movement, but the overall impoact is not to reassure.

And I am not at all sure what to make of this. Are we to conclude that Welch, WV is a great place to be born because it is easier to leave and prosper elsewhere? Or that being poor in Atlanta is dreadful but not so dreadful that people actually leave? Baffling.

GO AHEAD - MAKE MY DAY. Ask about Denmark.

Comments

[Account Deleted]

"I am still trying to figure out how there is no income mobility, unless you go from the bottom to the top and you do it by the age of 30, without going through the second quintile, third and so forth."

boricuafudd,

I call foul on that. If you're going to insist on watching both hands then you can't play with Harvard studies any more.

They actually do track movement across all quintiles but their projections of income from 30 yos (and even 26 yos when they feel the need) is just precious when you remember that 45-55 is when the measure should be made. They are also imputing higher income to 26yos due to possession of a Moron Credential. In twenty years, when the 26 yo enters what used to be the high earning years, a Moron Credential may have to have been printed on absorbent paper to have any residual value. There are already more BAristas than needed.

[jimmyk on iPhone]

"Most economists agree that there is room to increase the minimum wage without any dramatic impact on unemployment."

As Beasts pointed out: Typical vagueness designed to elicit agreement. How much "room"? What is "dramatic"? I could agree that a 5 cent increase would not have a dramatic effect, if dramatic means a full percentage point.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

TomM-- a word of advice. stick to fisking Krugman, and avoid athletic genetic/enviro analysis. But how 'bout those Yanks! major sabremetrician has them winning 85 games this year. $500M+ in contracts doesn't buy what it used to I guess.

[narciso]

Of course, that wouldn't serve the narrative;

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/27/ed-henry-to-carney-if-the-president-wants-to-use-his-pen-so-badly-why-not-approve-keystone-xl/

[Beasts of England]

Cooper played in a game with us a few years back at The Honors Course near Chattanooga and could move the ball a mile, JiB. I think he shot a 78 on a track that Tiger fired an 84 on and later cried in his mother's arms in the only US Amateur in which he played and not win.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

JimmyK-- furthering that thought. 'Dramatic'... for whom? what if you're the kid desperate to get their first paying job, and you can't because the job goes away with the min wage hike. what if you're the leagal hiring small employer, who gives up and goes out of business because of the next minimum wage hike? It's pretty dramatic for those 2 people. Stalin said every death is a tragedy... 1,000,000 deaths is a stat. Shrewd guy that Stalin.

[bgates]

Most economists agree that there is room to increase the minimum wage without any dramatic impact on unemployment.

All economists are free to pay as much above the market wage for a job as they like.

[matt]

Athletics is largely a meritocracy with the exception of rhythmic gymnastics, ice dancing, and figure skating, which are AA/Title IX inclusions for the ladies (I eagerly await men's rhythmic gymnastics) and the ratings. Otherwise it would be us Neanderthals watching Luge and Hockey and Biathlon.

Peyton and his evil younger brother who dissed the Chargers have tremendous eye/hand coordination, height, and physicality that is bestowed not by man but by nature. They also have Archie.

But once they step on the field or into the training zones, it is they who bear the load. They have facilitators, but take 1.1 million kids playing HS ball and 3-4% make college teams and 254 or so who get drafted by the NFL and you get some very long odds. another

So is it nature or nurture. Or both? Hut!Hut!Hut!

[386J-I-B289]

Was Richard Sherman born on 3rd base?

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

OMAHA!!!

[Stephanie Yes I'm in how bout you?]

I am a native Atlantan, but I also have common sense about driving. Plus I took a really good defensive driving seminar at Road Atlanta that taught how to drive through skids. Same applies in snow.

[Stephanie Yes I'm in how bout you?]

Altamahah!

Are we calling out faux Indians today? You'd think Goodell would ban those words as offensive to injuns.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

In Coastal Ct the major problem is 4WD (or fancy pants AWD) vehicle drivers who drive as if the conditions are no different because their 4WD. They somehow believe that 4WD suspends the laws of Newtonian physics. Much hilarity follows.

[narciso]

they found an exceedingly dim sample,

http://hotair.com/archives/2014/01/27/wapo-poll-52-support-obama-using-executive-orders-to-bypass-congress-on-his-legislative-goals/

like the zombies in Helix.

[Stephanie Yes I'm in how bout you?]

Same here as if a 4wd doesn't also slide on ice. I have been known to go find a nice empty parking lot to do some fun donuts and stuff. Who needs a sled when an SUV is available?

[Beasts of England]

Yeah, but a 4WD slides on all four wheels!

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

...and with ABS, the 4WD vehicle wheels are still rolling as it skids. I've seen that perplexed look on housewife and teenage drivers in town as they slide on by.

[narciso]

Well she might be Wendy's jersey twin;

http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2014/01/27/zimmer-under-oath-in-july-why-no-i-dont-keep-a-diary/

[386J-I-B289]

In the UP around Marquette, Negaunee and Ishpeming the body shops are affectionately called Collision Shops for a reason. Even with all those Finns you get some pretty bad bang ups.

They also do not try to get the snow down to the pavement but rather leave a nice layer to allow the tires to bite into instead of sliding willy-nilly on black ice. IOW's give those mandatory snow tires a nice surface to utilize.

[narciso]

Well that could induce coma;

http://twitchy.com/2014/01/27/greg-gutfeld-proposes-a-state-of-the-union-drinking-game-video/

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

The Hoboken mayor crap-- tangled webs sort of stuff. She jumped on top of the media dog pile with some BS... what could possibly go wrong?... I hope the town loses a big damage award because of her lying mouth.

[Extraneus]

I have been known to go find a nice empty parking lot to do some fun donuts and stuff.

I used to do that, too, every first snowfall, but I was at my best with rear-wheel drive. Not great for going up hills, but much more intuitive when it came to deciding on gas v. brake while sliding.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

JiB-- tire chains and snow tires dig into that surface and stop promptly.But you need to be in 'lake effect' snow country to get that kind of road surface.

[Janet - the districts lie fallow, while the Capitol gorges itself]

All economists are free to pay as much above the market wage for a job as they like.

That's what I think too, bgates.
Hand the cashier an extra $10 when they check out. Give some cash out when they pick up their dry cleaning.
Nobody is stopping them. Do it.

[Danube on iPad]

Thanks for the link, Gmax. I will read it when I get a chance, and post my thoughts if I have any.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

SNOW DO-NUTS-- my first car was great for those. '68 VW fastback, rear wheel, rear engine drive. Amazing car, on dry surfaces over 40 mph UNDERsteer. In the wet/snow, under 40 mph, OVERsteer. There was a sweet spot right around 40mph where the thing was inherently unstable like an F-18E. German engineered and built.

[henry]

Lake effect not needed... Just a partial melt then hard freeze (polar vortex maybe?) followed by more snow. My driveway is an ice sheet all winter. Snow helps with the little things: walking to the truck, starting, stopping, steering, getting speed up to blast through wind blown drifts, etc.

[GMax]

Drift driving or donuts, I propose you decide!

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Waaay OT-- my older border collie is a namesake of this WW2 Royal Navy aircraft carrier, HMS Indefatigable.Fun navalfact, this class of Brit 'Fleet carrier' incorporated several design features that didn't become standard on US carriers until the Forrestal 'super' carrier class-- hurricane bow (enclosed), armored deck, steam powered catapult: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Indefatigable_(R10)

[henry]

If you get the freezing rain deal, fire up some popcorn and scan the online traffic cams for quality entertainment.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

freezing rain... never again will I walk or drive in that. The worst.

[Steve]

GLOBAL WARMING UPDATE: Winter Storm Advisories as far South as Florida and Southern Texas

http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/01/global-warming-update-winter-storm.html

[Danube on iPad]

The Brits were real pioneers in naval aviation. They also came up with the Martin-Baker ejection seat, which we promptly adopted.

[narciso]

And yet Jen Rubin was missing the point, today,
but that's just a day ending in y;

http://weaselzippers.us/white-house-obama-wont-pay-gops-ideological-ransom-for-dehttp://weaselzippers.us/white-house-obama-wont-pay-gops-ideological-ransom-for-debt-ceiling-hike/bt-ceiling-hike/">http://weaselzippers.us/white-house-obama-wont-pay-gops-ideological-ransom-for-debt-ceiling-hike/bt-ceiling-hike/">http://weaselzippers.us/white-house-obama-wont-pay-gops-ideological-ransom-for-dehttp://weaselzippers.us/white-house-obama-wont-pay-gops-ideological-ransom-for-debt-ceiling-hike/bt-ceiling-hike/

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Martin-Baker -- 0/0 seat. My F-I-L's second engineer's job was quality control on the Republic Aviation plant floor in Farmingdale LI. He got some on the job training on the F-105 'Thud' line when a production worker checked the bird's electrical systems, without safing the Martin Baker seat he was sitting in. One rocket engine launch later, they had to take his remains off of the plant ceiling, bad scene.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

progress of sorts- the Media IDs a corrupt pol as 'Democratic'--- http://news.msn.com/crime-justice/lawmaker-accused-of-ghost-employee-scam

[386J-I-B289]

NK,

Are you stating the obvious to me?

I spent two tours of 4 years each in the UP. At Sawyer then came back to build Presque Isle 7,8 and 9 for CCI. I was there when the Fitzgerald went down. You guys in CT have no idea of what snow fall amounts are in terms of months. It starts in late September and you don't see grass again until late April sometimes May. My last year (1979) Marquette totalled 156" but that was nil compared to Calumet which was over 300".

Never used chains and don't know anyone except the loggers who did. Chains are for mountainous or slopey terrain mostly and heavy ice.

[amirite on]

This has NOTHING to do with ACA. It's just the fucked up medical institution we have.

http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/01/26/man-found-dead-er-after-waiting-8-hours-doctor

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I've never lived in snowmaker world like the UP... and I don't think I want to at this point.

[matt]

Went to the Grand National Hot Rod show on Saturday. This is the big one. What surprised me was that in the "outrageous - insane" category the pickings were very slim.

Very few of the Boyd Coddington or Chip Foose or Trepanier level $200K+ over the top cars.I

They did a special exhibition of Bonneville racers. They had them from back to the 30's. One of them was a F-104 with the wings removed and a J-78 jet engine that has gone up to @ 500MPH so far. They're hoping for 800MPH eventually.It still had the Martin Baker ejection seat in it, but it was disabled. Livin' La Vida Loca in those things.

[boricuafudd]

Steph

I used to enjoy doing as you said until I was driving home from Hartford, CT hit a patch of black ice on I-95 did a 1080 doing about 55 mph. Luckily for me there was a least 10 ft. of plowed snow on the embankment as I slammed into it, saving me and the car leaving both without a scratch. I think I drove nothing more that 25 mph until I got back to NYC.

[Account Deleted]

NHS Universal ProleCull Works Perfectly

In the sense she never actually knew what killed her.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

I did between an 810-900 degree spin on Rte 112 on LI -- a 2 lane road, opposing traffic. I can still see the Bell telephone Co ID plate on the telephone pole I almost hit-- twice. I still eel bad for the drivers of the oncoming traffic I missed... they had no control over what was about to happen to them.

[Janet]

pagar linked this yesterday - http://datechguyblog.com/2014/01/22/what-you-have-to-believe-to-be-pro-slavery-abortion/

Slavery -
1. Deny the Humanity of the slave
1a. Admit the humanity of the slave but maintain it is inferior.
2. Emphasize the slave as property not as a person.
3. Insist that the alternative is worse:
4. Maintain it’s none of our business:
5. Insist It’s settled law
6. And finally maintain we can’t really do anything about it anyways
Abortion -
1. Abortion doesn’t kill a person
1a. The Unborn are humans but not “people”
2. My Body my choice
3. Do you want more poor children in the world?
4. Don’t want an abortion? Don’t have one.
5 & 6 Roe v wade is settled law and it’s a waste of time and resources to fight abortion.

I pulled out the points for a FB post & link. Anyway...I thought it was pretty interesting.

[Beasts of England]

I hit a patch of black ice on the way to the office many years ago. Spun around out of a curve and shredded a barbed wire cattle fence. In a rag top. A few of the cattle wandered over and just stared at me, like 'Dumbass'.

And they were right.

[386J-I-B289]

In Re: Drones. From Ace Jewell (Google him).

"Drones will not ...be late to briefings, start fights at happy hour, destroy clubs, attempt to seduce others' dates, purchase huge watches, insult other Services, sing "O'Leary's Balls," dance on tables, yell "Show us your tits!!!" or do all of the other things that we know win wars!!"

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

Where did Brady get his juice?

I think there is an even split between nurture and nature. So you have some guy who has a lot of potential which will go nowhere if someone doesn't activate the drive.

A better question would be the Seahawks Sherman guy. He sure as hell overcame terrific odds.

For some people, me included, the odds were not the least bit relevant. If you had a chance you took it.

NK, cool it with the advice, or start your own blog.

[El Baradei]

I was at Costco today and they had filet of Mahi-mahi which had white veins within the flesh looking like the marbling found in prime beef. This is Fuked-up shit.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoalaska/11342524263/in/photostream/

[boricuafudd]

RB about the Harvard study, sorry I sometimes get technical like that.

On the NIH matter, she was 48 years old and brain surgery is expensive and may leave her as a burden for the rest of the community.

[narciso]

that may be an outlier, boricua, but it does unconfortably match other NHS protocols,

[boricuafudd]

Narc
That is the scary part, though they would never really admit to it driving the decision.

[DrJ]

Brett Stephens is worth reading tomorrow:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304691904579346523830566300?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304691904579346523830566300.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

Let's do the time warp again!

[narciso]

Taranto points out how Krugman or his wife,don't read their own columns;

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304007504579346871772434330?mod=trending_now_5

[Beasts of England]

That ain't mahi-mahi in the photo.

[peter]

Let's face it, if Jayson Collins and Reggie Love start winking at each other tomorrow, our nation has a problem.

[El Baradei]

No shit shylock.

[Janet]

How odd & pathetic is it to have someone invited as a special guest of the President of the United States for the kind of sex they want?

Good Lord...

[Account Deleted]

boricuafudd,

The technical answer to your question can be found in Table III (page 66). It's actually the only thing I found to be interesting within the study. It's only slightly more difficult to move from bottom to top (10.9%) than top to bottom (7.5%).

I doubt that result fulfilled the hopes of the researchers any more than did the last Harvard study results on ER use by new Medicaid recipients. That study confirmed the intelligence of Medicaid recipients who rejected "care" within the "free" ProleCull clinic system and ran for their very lives back to ERs where the chance of survival is higher within one year of enrollment.

[narciso]

Start with Romans 1:21 and work forwards from their Janet,

[Rob Crawford]

How odd & pathetic is it to have someone invited as a special guest of the President of the United States for the kind of sex they want?

Probably started with Clinton.

[narciso]

Carlos Slim's has a piece about Hillary, I mean Christina Kirschner's new braintrust, Acirloff (sic) he uses Marxist analysis of Keynes, in his economic policy, the reporter Simon Romero says it as if it were a good thing,

[narciso]

Speaking of missing the point;

http://www.timesofisrael.com/livni-israeli-officials-not-talking-with-pa-in-good-faith/

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

How odd & pathetic is it to have someone invited as a special guest of the President of the United States for the kind of sex they want?

Gays will have made it when they get invited for their success and not their orientation. If I was that guy, I'd be terribly offended.

I'm always amazed at how few people in this community remember that the resident lesbian or her wife are gay. At this point, no one seems to notice, because their contributions to the community are so great, so varied and so untied to anything having to do with their sexual orientation.

I'm pretty sure they never think of it either.

[Jim Miller]

I think they should have invited Collins's former fiancee, Carolyn Moos, instead. The two were a couple, for years and years, and he apparently never bothered to tell her that she might not be his type, if you know what I mean.

That was pretty rotten of him, in my opinion.

(Incidentally, since we are mostly adults here -- not counting a troll or two -- I'll add that the relationship shows us that Collins is not gay, but bisexual.)

[Beasts of England]

You posted and labeled it, sweetheart. Not me.

[Captain Hate]

A sign of the apocalypse. Just saw an ad on the tube from a law firm:

'Have you ever suffered a concussion from an NCAA sport?'

I suffered a concussion playing basketball. Basketball is an NCAA sport. I wonder if these ambulance chasers are better at conning a jury than they are at putting together a coherent question. Since I hate the NCAA with the heat of a gazillion supernovas, I ain't got a dog in this fight.

[narciso]

Well that would interfere with 'the narrative', whatever that is this week,

[Beasts of England]

You should have been playing flag-basketball, Captain!

[Jack is Back! (Instigator-in-Chief)]

Jane,

Have no idea who you are talking about but you're right, I don't give a carp as long as they are on the right side of truth, justice and the American way:)

[Jim Miller]

BTW, since some of you were discussing nature versus nurture, you may want to look at my latest post, which gives you a very simple intro to "epigenetics".

[matt]

think with one's nether regions is really the dumbest sort of politics. To be defined as a human being by one's sexuality is pretty damn pathetic.

But this makes up a good portion of the Democratic Party Left in this country. Single issue voting has never been more evident.

We must subject them to mockery and ridicule.

Argentina is flaming out fast now. FC reserves are crashing, and this is after some of the strictest currency controls in the world were implemented.

What makes me chuckle is that the Argies are still trying to unravel the credit issue which led to the seizure of their training ship in the middle of all of this. Their only out is to borrow enough money to stave off the next generation of debt.

Lemme see here. I'm a foreign banker in a top hat and Snidely Whiplash moustache; hmmmm, loan them money or stick pencils in my eyes? What oh what should I do?

[Janet]

Well at the end of the long thread I suggested they invite Rep. Slaughter's friend that didn't have teeth...so she could show up smilin' in her new dentures from Obamacare.

She could hold up a picture of her deceased sister & everyone could have an "Awwwwww" moment.

'I'd just like to thank my dead sister for lending me her dentures, until Obama came along & saved me. I can even eat rhubarb now. Grow, rhubarb, grow!'

[Captain Hate]

If I was a homo, having to claim solidarity with a lurching goof like Jason Collins would keep me in the closet forever.

[narciso]

I never heard of Jason Collins, or Clews, before, admittedly I am not that informed on the subject,
but I gather his record is nowhere that of Byrd, or Majic, or name any other set of luminariesl

[Jane-Rebel Alliance1]

Have no idea who you are talking about but you're right, I don't give a carp as long as they are on the right side of truth, justice and the American way:)

Obama invited some ABA player to the SOTU because he is gay. Otherwise I'm talking about my business partner.

[Jim Miller]

narciso - I had heard of Collins only because he and his twin brother played together at Stanford.

(Don't know whether they are identical twins or not.)

[clarice]

Janet, thanks for the false teeth reminder..one of my favorite appeals to LIVs.

[Captain Hate]

NBA GMs go crazy over big men. For example, Portland drafted Greg Oden instead of Kevin Durant which is almost equal in witlessness to them drafting Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan.

[narciso]

This was a more realistic assessment of Team Cristina's rolling disaster;

http://blogs.blouinnews.com/blouinbeatbusiness/2013/11/19/kirchners-children-play-with-argentinas-economic-future/

[Captain Hate]

Has teh Krugtard weighed in on the woes of Argentina? That should stabilize the peso.

[narciso]

He handled the Repsol matter, recognized by most everyone as a disaster;

http://voxxi.com/2013/12/04/axel-kicillof-argentina-minister-economy/

[narciso]

Godwin violation on the thirty yard line;

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2014/01/27/austin-american-statesman-suggests-that-james-okeefe-and-osama-bin-laden-have-something-in-common/

[Captain Hate]

Until I read a more detailed slattering of the Senate alternative to 404Care, I'll defer to Kristol, particularly when he said that it should help in the repeal. I don't agree with Bill on everything but he's usually pretty good at not giving squishes undeserved cover. At some point the GOP has to run on something other than not being for 404Care.

[boricuafudd]

RB,
Saw that chart which was my point, only 1 out 3 stay within the same bracket. Almost 1 out 5 reach the top 2 quintiles. But the bottom line is that 2/3 move up into the next quintile.

[narciso]

Well what current problem occasioned by Obamacare, does it solve,

Maybe they should start with baby steps like any;

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/116363/obamas-2014-state-union-should-resurrect-full-employment

[Captain Hate]

Well what current problem occasioned by Obamacare, does it solve,

It wisely offers a tax credit to help end the tax code’s unfair treatment of health insurance purchased in the individual market. Like an upcoming alternative that will soon be released by the 2017 Project, it also makes those tax credits age-based. This is a feature that has previously been lacking in GOP proposals, but it’s an important one. Obamacare artificially hikes the cost of health care for the young, but in the real world—the world in which Obama, Kathleen Sebelius, and congressional Democrats don’t get to set the prices—actuarial tables suggest that those in their 20s should be able to get health insurance for roughly a sixth the price of those in their 60s. To avoid their being unduly skimpy or excessively costly, tax credits should reflect that reality.

[Captain Hate]

Godwin violation on the thirty yard line

Has there been a single nanosecond in her campaign where Wendy Davis and her supporters haven't gone full retard? I'm asking for a friend...

[narciso]

No, not that I'm aware. and her district is Tarrant Cty, which has less propensity for stupid gestures like that,

[peter]

Any chance that Argentina's currency problems will lead to cheaper wine?
Seems as if Spain has some great bargains right now.

[Truthbetold]

Clarice

This one still makes me laugh out load!

What President Bush Should Do about Plamegate
http://www.americanthinker.com/2006/08/what_president_bush_should_do.html

[narciso]

Lando said it was a great deal"

http://therightscoop.com/deal-farm-bill-keeps-food-stamp-spending-at-quadrupled-levels/

[narciso]

On the other end of things, Tom Perkins 'chose poorly, with regards to his letter in the Journal.

[narciso]

Well his learning curve is not an Immelman;

http://dailycaller.com/2014/01/27/romney-breaks-silence-on-candy-crowleys-debate-interference/

[Beasts of England]

From narciso's link:

...it’s something it can only impact in the long-term with certain kinds of background investments.

Background investments? What in the world does that mean? Or is it just a trial-balloon for another lefty buzz word that's gonna catch my hair on fire for years to come?

[Rob Crawford]

So... Dinesh D'Souza's arrest, and CBS edits out Cruz condemning Obama's abuse of power.

Related?

(Oh, and via Insty, the feds just arrested the founder of BitCoin. They accuse him of money laundering.)

[Captain Hate]

Has the JEF's DoJ arrested more domestic businessmen than Putin?

[Danube on iPad]

"...which is almost equal in witlessness to them drafting Sam Bowie instead of Michael Jordan."

Bob Knight says he talked with that GM before the draft and told him "draft Jordan." The guy says, "but I need a center." knight told him "draft Jordan and play him at center."

Somebody else went ahead of Jordan in that draft. Without googling, I'll guess that it was LaRue Martin, for whom I once named a cat.

[narciso]

Keep a bucket handy, Konczal is the head of the Roosevelt institute, so practical and effective economic policies are not expected from him,

However, it is striking how he doesn't see the forest at all.

[DrJ]

sfgate's snarky reply to Kleiner's WSJ letter:

http://blog.sfgate.com/cwnevius/2014/01/27/how-can-tom-perkins-be-so-smart-about-money-and-so-dumb-about-public-relations/

[Danube on iPad]

Early Alzheimer's. Ol' LaRue was drafted (by Portland, natch) ahead of Bob McAdoo and Julius Erving. Hence the name of the cat (who of course was pre-Jordan).