Sorry, but it's time to reform some public pensions

Sorry, Colorado public workers, but, yes, your pensions need adjusting. Getting a guaranteed 3.5 percent hike every year, no matter the inflation rate, just doesn't fly.

That said, neither does the state structuring its pension system so that they replace, not supplement, Social Security, especially if state jobs in Colorado don't offer 401s, either.

Why Douthat is afraid of economic pessimism

Earlier this week, I noted that, in his most recent column, Ross Douthat claims that too much pessimism in an economic downturn can be as bad as too much optimism in a bubble.

True, at one level.

But, not at another, not at all.

To riff on Tolstoy, bubbles are all alike in their giddiness, but burst bubbles each have their own separate sadness.

But, to go beyond whether there's currently the right level, too much, or even not enough pessimism, whether in the general public, or the punditocracy, let's look at why Douthat is worried.

Douthat's real, ultimate, objective, I believe, is to tamp down fear, not amongst Tea Party types, but among moderate-conservative, normally dependably Republican voters who might be antsy about the "crazy Tea Partiers" but who share their fear, if not their anger.

Could they bolt? Could a few vote libertarian? Could some of them just not vote? All are possible.

Could more Republicans get more Tea Partyish on chasing those voters? That, too.

Now you understand what Douthat is afraid of too much pessimism.

Part of how NYC burnishes its crime stats; other cities?

Instructing police officers to downgrade crimes, like robberies to stolen property or rapes to misdemeanor sexual assaults, is certainly one way of doing that.

It also means you can justify having fewer police officers (hence the incredibly slow response times in this would-have-been-downgraded rape), because, well, because there's not a lot of serious crime!

That said, New York City was the metropolis that got busted, because it was a journalist who was sexually assaulted. Especially during the ongoing recession, I wonder how common this is elsewhere.

The new poor and a slow recession recovery

For people who believe economic recovery is "just around the corner," an in-depth piece by the New York Times says, "think again."

Various reasons mentioned include institutional investors short-term profits focus:

“The pace of job growth has been getting weaker in each expansion,” Lakhshman Achuthan said. “There is no indication that this pattern is about to change.”

As well as a thinner social net, thanks to the Clinton era welfare "reforms."

“We have a work-based safety net without any work,” said Timothy M. Smeeding, director of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. “People with more education and skills will probably figure something out once the economy picks up. It’s the ones with less education and skills: that’s the new poor.”

Remember, at the time, many of us progressives said, let's see how this plays out in our first real recession, after late-'90s successes were touted? Well, we're now seeing.

The recession generation

Newsweek has a great, if chilling, special report on what the fallout from the "great recession" might mean in the longer term. I'd agree that it could well mean more cynicism, and, finally, a disillusionment with the myth of upward mobility in American, which, the story notes, simply isn't true, and, compared to a number of "class-laden" European countries, even, hasn't been true for more than 30 years.

And, in some ways, the worst proponents of the myth aren't the captains of industry, or even nutbars within the GOP or on Faux News. Rather, it's the New Agers and the peddlers of the Christian success gospel. Both of them, in various ways, will blame "lack of faith," not "bad luck," when people fail to succeed. Look for a massive guilt trip ahead.

The hypocrisy of Paul O'Neill

The former BushCo treasury secretary, without any hint of remorse for his part in the financial meltdown, his silence about the debt and deficit bombs Bush rang up, etc., has the audacity, yes, pun intended, to suggest a jobs program to President Obama.

That said, the jobs program he suggests is actually not half bad.

Obama small biz recovery plan sounds good

Focusing on small business and real infrastructure development should have been the idea nine months ago, with the "stimulus" bill. But, late is definitely better than never in this case, so here's hoping Obama follows through on his new recovery plan.

He will have to fight Republicans who claim you can't use TARP money for this; he will have to battle a filibuster in the Senate if legislation is needed. He'll have to battle the eventual desire of his own party to "pork it up."

But, maybe he will pull it off.

Fed slightly more optimistic about 2010

The Federal Reserve has gotten slightly more optimistic about 2010 economic growth and unemployment rates, but says unemployment could remain fairly high into 2012.

Light at end of economic tunnel in three-five months?

Possibly so, according to the National Associaton of Business Economists.

Obama kowtows to China on Fox News

That about says it all, doesn’t it? Apparently afraid after a Beijing lecture, US President Barack Obama talked to what he used to consider The Dissed Network to turn into a deficit hawk, even to the point of warning about a double-dip recession if he doesn’t act like a deficit hawk, which is precisely what many liberal hawks think will cause a second dip into recession.

Why not stimulus money for the Small Biz Admin?

Big Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, is the latest person Washington mahatma to rue the lack of bank lending to small businesses. So, why not give the SBA a bunch of stimulus money?

Reid plans Senate jobs bill

While I wish the Senate would move more quickly on a climate bill, I understand indeed that something like this is both a social and a political reality and need. Let’s hope that, unlike Obama’s stimulus bill, it’s not watered down.

Obama shifts targets on stimulus

Now, with the economy officially out of recession by economic growth definition, the Obama Administration says, thank the stimulus bill. Well, of course. That lets the administration ignore how many or how few jobs have been created so far, how many companies are overstating job creation and more.

And with the end or ending of some stimulus items, like cash for clunkers and the housing tax credit, we may well have a “W”-shaped double recession.

Passivity adding to pain of economic problems?

Bob Herbert says many Americans’ passivity, stemming from a refusal to accept personal responsibility for many things in recent years, is part of why the current recession, H1N1 flu worries, etc. all feel so painful..

Being an American has become a spectator sport.

I’d say that’s more on the right, tea-party activism aside, than on the left. You re-elected the guy who rang up massive deficits, who presided over the housing and other booms and bubbles, and who then initiated much of the government-funded set of bailouts for which you blame President Obama. (I have no doubts Bush would have bailed out GM, at least; less sure about Chrysler.)

Will Chrysler be dead in a year?

If the economy stays this bad off, it’s quit possible Fiat is struggling itself and can only pond so much money down Chrysler’s sandhole.

Mission NOT accomplished on recession

Paul Krugman, anticipating Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke imitating flyboy George W. Bush from summer 2003 and declaring the recession, like the Iraq war, as “over,” pre-emptively takes him to the woodshed. He then pounds the drums for more federal stimulus, even citing the deficit-averse IMF in his favor.

Of course, the dishonest conservatives who claim FDR made the Depression worse (not true, he cut unemployment in half his first term, only to THEN worsen it again by trying to balance the budget) don’t want to listen.

Income gap increases with recession

Well, so much for fatuous reporting a month or two ago, about how the top 10 percent bracket, or even the top 1 percent, was taking such a “haircut.”

Nope, everybody BUT the top 10 percent has gotten that buzz cut.

Recession in US? Try Spain

A whopping 3 million unsold residetial properties may lead to 25-30 percent unemployment and massive debt, which,
depending on what the European Central Bank does, could have fallout throughout the European Union.

Will 2011 be the new 1937?

Jim Jubak worries that all the talk about "green shoots" will lead to a "W" style recession, for reasons similar to 1937 being the second trough of the Depression.

He notes that FDR and his brains trust reacted quickly when they realized they had made a mistake, though. On something like a second stimulus, he said Obama might find it next to impossible, politically, to do that.

And, elsewhere, Jubak argues we do need to at least consider the possibility of a second stimulus, but an actual, targeted, stimulus bill, not pork.

As for all the worry about debt and deficits, Jubak says the private sector should look in the mirror, and that includes businesses, not just households.

Retail sales growth hits 3.5-year high

The August retail sales growth was the best since before the recession started. Independents, the poll says, remain high in their distrust of both major parties, and that number would include me.