What the housing bubble teaches us about political events

That is because people do not respond to political events; they respond to what trusted sources tell them about political events. This seems especially true when dealing with somewhat complicated subjects like the housing bubble. Conservatives who listen to conservative media heard the frankly absurd story that the government was to blame, that Fannie and Freddie was to blame, and that too much regulation was to blame. These assertions were bolstered within conservative media by the dodgy claims being made by the long-discredited analysis of Wallison and Pinto. Of course, the exact opposite of all of these claims is true.

January 29th
10:19

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Baron Jamie's Films of 2012

Once again guys, here is a link to the ever growing list of films I shall be viewing in 2012. Each title will be highlighted with the link to the review on my blog.

Feel free to bookmark for those times inbetween browsing porn and canihazacheeseburger.

January 24th
12:40

14 notes

Source

Republican debate in Florida – as it happened

Join us as the Republican race moves to Florida, and the four remaining candidates gather for the final debate. Once again, it’s a two-way battle between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

January 20th
08:39

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Source

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president," said the Republicans' senate leader, Mitch McConnell.

Add to that a senate rulebook that allows the Republican minority to filibuster and frustrate every Democratic initiative; a Democratic party as divided and factional as the Republicans are united and disciplined; a Fox News echo chamber that daily demonises the president as a Muslim Marxist foreigner eager to impose totalitarianism on the American republic; and corporate money ready to flood the airwaves and put pressure on the congressmen it funds to ensure its interests are protected. Viewed like this, Obama was only ever a mere mortal taking on an invincible machine – and so was always bound to fail.

Viewed like this, Obama was only ever a mere mortal taking on an invincible machine – and so was always bound to fail.

Read and repeat.

So the liberal disappointment with Obama is real. And yet it may not endure forever. Despite everything, the president has amassed quite a record. The healthcare reform he passed had eluded every president since Teddy Roosevelt; it had been a Democratic goal since Truman. But only Obama did it. The stimulus package has created an estimated 2.4m jobs and prevented the recession turning into a second Depression. While other advanced economies are caught in a downward spiral of deficit fetishism, the US is seeing unemployment come down. And recently, Obama successfully fought for and defended the payroll tax cut, one tax cut that benefits low-income Americans.

Abroad, Obama secured what George W Bush only blustered about: the removal of Osama bin Laden. Under Obama, al-Qaida’s capacity and strength have diminished sharply. He made good on his promise to bring troops home from Iraq and is doing the same in Afghanistan (even if he is not so much ending the war there as simply pulling out). Yes, the US played a crucial back-up role in Libya, but there has been no repeat of Bush’s warmongering.

It is not a bad record and there is every chance that it will represent merely the first half of a long game.

January 13th
17:52

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00:00

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#13 - Firefighters of Ladder Company 4 — which lost seven men on 9/11 — perched together on their aerial ladder, watching a news bulletin in Times Square declaring that Osama bin Laden was dead on May 2.

January 12th
18:16

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And so it begins…

January 10th
12:59

Notes

Source

The 45 Places to Go in 2012

Click the title for the full breakdown.

January 3rd
22:52

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Resolutions are for pussies: This January why not list the things you won’t do?

“Resolutions are just goals people start so they have something different to talk about with their co-workers”.

I hate resolutions.

“I’ll go to the gym five times a week”

“I’ll eat healthier”

Plu-hease.

I prefer CHALLENGES!

So this month I have challenged myself to not doing things as opposed to doing things and they are not easy;

No alcohol: This is actually something I do every year and I usually manage to last for a solid two weeks before I snap like match wood. My personal record is five weeks without alcohol from January the 1st.
No fast food: This is a challenge that will roll over from January and continue for the entire year. This means no Burger King, no McDonalds breakfast menu, no take aways, no Dominos Pizza. Which leads to…
No soda, fizzy drinks or slush puppies: That’s no Diet Coke, no Sprite, no Blueberry and Raspberry Slushies, no Redbull or Lucozade.
No sex or masturbation: This one might just be the hardest of the lot and because I am somewhat in demand at the moment I will have to rely on my incredible willpower. even though my sex drive has been around a 6/10 of late, that is still probably a 19/10 compared to most men. So this is tough.
No less than eight hours sleep a night: Sleep is invaluable, those of you who sleep less than eight hours a night are fools of the greatest kind.
No less than two litres of chilled mineral water a day: This is nearly as important as my new sleep rule.
No more than ten minutes in the shower: People who know me know I love my showers. Long showers running in and around the 45 minute mark are not uncommon so in order to give myself more time, I’m limiting my shower time so I am free to do more productive and awesome activities
No buying confectionary at the cinema: It’s costing you money and rotting your teeth and no matter how many Crunchy M&M’s you eat you’ll never feel full.

I shall update you accordingly and post a list of things that I am going to do in February.

What are your challenges?

January 1st
12:12

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Worst part of 2012 so far;

My friend telling me he didn’t rate Slaughterhouse 5 because he’s not a fan of sci-fi.