of no open threads.

A week ago I called a tow to take my car to a local garage; turn the key ... no juice; I suspect a short. Just picked it up ... total cost with tow about $210.00 I pay for everything in cash ... no big whoop. Waiting for them to bring my car out and I notice a sign in the office. "We no longer accept personal checks".

Probably won't change for a while.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wp4O7v5320

I think it's been a nice day here, or at least it's sunny right now. But I got caught up in planning a trip around Munich, location of pubs, how the S- & U-bahn work etc etc.

Plus annoyingly there's a well regarded pub that closes for the winter, just before I get there (harumph)

keep to the Fen Causeway

PB :: Board

Sitting minding other peoples business on the Gerrards Cross to London train this morning - I happily read the briefing document of the Treasury man sitting beside me of rise in unemployment anticipated from upcoming Economic Review. 468,000 government jobs are going to go by 2014/15 and 112,000 London jobs will go (3% of total jobs). The "narrative" of the cutting is to try to blame Labour and not to allow any linkage with Thatcher cuts.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

WSJ: Wall Street Pay: A Record $144 Billion

Pay on Wall Street is on pace to break a record high for a second consecutive year, according to a study conducted by The Wall Street Journal.

About three dozen of the top publicly held securities and investment-services firms--which include banks, investment banks, hedge funds, money-management firms and securities exchanges--are set to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, a 4% increase from the $139 billion paid out in 2009, according to the survey. Compensation was expected to rise at 26 of the 35 firms.

The data showed that revenue was expected to rise at 29 of the 35 firms surveyed, but at a slower pace than pay. Wall Street revenue is expected to rise 3%, to $448 billion from $433 billion, despite a slowdown in some high-profile activities like stock and bond trading.

Overall, Wall Street is expected to pay 32.1% of its revenue to employees, the same as last year, but below the 36% in 2007. Profits, which were depressed by losses in the past two years, have bounced back from the 2008 crisis. But the estimated 2010 profit of $61.3 billion for the firms surveyed still falls about 20% short from the record $82 billion in 2006. Over that same period, compensation across the firms in the survey increased 23%.

I question the timing of this news by the WSJ. According to the NYT, Reuters is disputing the numbers in the article.

Why printing money makes sense | Dean Baker | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Beneficent Counterfeiters and Economic Stimulus

President Reagan once famously quipped that everyone who is supports abortion has already been born. In the same vein, it is worth noting that all the policymakers who don't think we should worry about 9.6% unemployment have jobs.

This simple fact cannot be repeated enough times because it explains a huge amount about current economic policy. For the tens of millions of people who are unemployed, underemployed or have given up looking for work altogether, we are in a crisis. The economy is an absolute disaster, ruining their lives and also jeopardising the futures of their children and grandchildren.

But that is not the way that the people paid to contemplate economic policy in Washington see things

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Lessons from the climate fight: `moderate' is meaningless | Grist

The Senate is basically an oligarchic institution, so it's no huge surprise that many senators gave more weight to the interests of fossil-fuel industries than they did to the public interest in mitigating climate change and developing clean energy. Oil and gas groups outspent green groups 7 to 1 -- and that doesn't count Big Coal money. Exxon alone outspent all green groups together.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.

Who ya gonna call?

Ever since I learnt about confirmation bias I've started seeing it everywhere

If you are going to speed, it's probably not a good idea to film the speedometer and post the video online

They are now in jail.

I'm in Rome most of next week...

I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from them Eugene Debs