Hm. Via Atrios, a story of how Massachusetts teenagers are losing their licenses faster than ever before because of a 2007 state law that suspended teens’ licenses for 90 days after a single speeding ticket; teens must also pay a $500 fee to have the license reinstated.
Draconian? Teens - and their parents - think so:
They complain […]

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So, look, I prefer Obama over McCain for a host of reasons, I like his rhetorical abilities and the fact that having a black (or half-black) president would say to the world that the U.S. actually practices what it preaches when it comes to notions of equality, etc.
But as Matt Taibbi details in Rolling Stone, […]

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As illustrated, today, in the Wall Street Journal by Holmes W. Jenkins Jr., who rips into T. Boone Pickens’ energy plan.
Some of the points are valid: Pickens’ claim that we should power cars with natural gas, however great that might sound, fails to mention that we lack a “practical theory of how to get there” - meaning the […]

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Up by nearly $3 per barrel so far today. Could reverse by the end of the day, of course, but the up-and-down nature of the market this week generates its own set of questions. Does a decline from the high of $147 per barrel to roughly $20 less constitute the bursting of a bubble? Or […]

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This sort of goes hand-in-hand with the economics discussion we’ve been having ’round these parts, the new housing/”mortgage relief bill” signed by The Decider this morning:
“We look forward to put in place new authorities to improve confidence and stability in markets,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. He said the Federal Housing Administration would begin […]

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Daniel Larison, posting over at Sullivan’s place (but more and more becoming a daily read in his own right, at Eunomia), riffs on a recent Limbaugh comment endorsing Chinese fuel subsidies - and what that says about this particular type of “conservatism”:
Limbaugh offers here the absurd spectacle of “conservatism” as the embrace of endless consumption […]

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Hm. Gotten a lot of feedback on last week’s bit about the credit crunch, including some from a guy who teaches international relations at a local college, who said this:
It is elementary in history that a society focused on consumption is easier to rule. Why should we expect our government to be any different?
That in […]

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Wow. Numbers significantly worse than expected; and now the company will retool and refocus on smaller vehicles:
Ford also announced that it will bring six European small car models to North America by the end of 2012 as it deals with a market shift from trucks to cars brought on by high gasoline prices.
When I drive […]

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Because that’s what your getting, even - or maybe especially - if McCain wins the White House.

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Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on how Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders sent out a notice on his office’s e-mail list asking constituents to tell him what was going on in their lives economically. He expected a few dozen responses - but got 700, from people “reduced to eating ‘cereal and toast’ for dinner, from a […]

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With Coors, Miller and Anheuser-Busch now all owned by foreign conglomorates, asks Travis Daub, what’s a patriotic beer-drinker to do?
Answer: Drink PBR. Sort of.
Believe it or not, Pabst Brewing Company is now the largest American-owned brewer. But Pabst doesn’t even brew its own beer anymore. All 29 Pabst beers, from Schlitz, to Lone Star to […]

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Wow. Things look to be moving faster now.
Regional banks look to be on the bubble throughout the country - including possibly Wachovia. The dollar dropped to a record low against the Euro; and today comes a report that wholesale inflation was up 1.8 percent last month, and has risen 9.2 percent over the past year […]

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Kunstler, uplifting as usual. Or not.
There’s a particular moment known to all Baby Boomers when Wile E. Coyote, in a rapture of over-reaching, has run past the edge of the mesa and, still licking his chops and rubbing his front paws in anticipation of fricasseed roadrunner, discovers that he is […]

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Don’t look now, but the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history happened in California yesterday afternoon.
But I suppose to even mention is it just more whining.

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This is just stone amazing, but I’m with Atrios - I hope conservatives continue to pound this very drum from now through November.
In fact, I’ll help them.
Which is to say that in today’s Washington Post, Amity Shales has a piece titled, “Phil Gramm is Right.” In other words, we are whiners - because whatever’s happening […]

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Holy smoke.
Dunno if you’ve been following the market plunge today, and how it all related to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As of right now, the government is not going to take over the two struggling agencies; but according to the NYT, there’s been discussion about doing just that:
Under a conservatorship, the shares of Fannie […]

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Phil Gramm’s comment continues to be batted around, and rightly so. McCain has ditstanced himself from the comment - but I get the idea that this is really what the right-wingers think; that the economy is doing just fine, and even if not it’s just a temporary bump, you live in the best country in […]

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Saw this piece (via Americablog) over at MSNBC about how frugality is “the new black,” and while it’s a decent/valid piece, I’m just sort of amazed at the tone. Which maybe only reflects the tone of our society:
“Being frugal is not anything to be ashamed of. It’s just the way of life,” he said.
The entire […]

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Amazing. Had this very conversation with a wingnut yesterday, who claims the economy is not in a recession or, if it is, it’s just because people have shirked the old “culture of personal responsibility” and, you know, gotten cell phones when they can’t afford them.
Not to discount the degree to which “people,” whomever they might […]

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Or, how high gas prices could be good for your small town:

Many stores in rural towns — from small independent shops to local chains — are starting to enjoy a little life after years of seeing customers bypass them for distant malls. While it may not reverse the decades-long decline of small-town shopping, it could […]

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