Can Chile stop Brazil or will the absence of three of Chile’s defenders make them the first South American team to go home?
Archives for June 2010
Netherlands v Slovakia open Thread
Can Slovakia continue the Cinderella story or will it be Dutch treat?
Add It Up
According to the Houston Chronicle, BP saved $5 million by taking shortcuts while drilling the Macondo well in the Gulf.
Byrd’s Passing
The WaPo has an extremely long obit:
Robert C. Byrd, 92, a conservative West Virginia Democrat who became the longest-serving member of Congress in history and used his masterful knowledge of the institution to shape the federal budget, protect the procedural rules of the Senate and, above all else, tend to the interests of his state, died at 3 a.m. Monday at Inova Fairfax Hospital, his office said.
I honestly have no idea how good the chances are of a Democrat replacing him. One of the weird thing about West Virginia is that Rockefeller and Byrd loomed so large that there sort of seems to be a vacuum of politicians of any stature on either side of the aisle at the state level. I’d imagine that if Gov. Manchin ran, he would have a very good chance of replacing him, because he is quite popular and connected and seems to fit in with the sensibilities of WV voters. The state has been trending Republican for a while, so I’m sure with the absence of a strong Democratic candidate, no matter who the Republicans run, it would be a toss-up.
I actually wouldn’t be surprised to see Mac Warner, the man who lost to McKinley in the Republican race to unseat Mollohan, try to run for the seat. Likewise, I can see Capito deciding it is time to move up. We’ll see. I just don’t know how this will play out.
This is also the first time in my life that Robert Byrd was not one of my Senators.
Now There is a Hot Scoop
Still, Republicans have settled on a strategy of painting Kagan, who has never been a judge, as a politically driven ideologue. They insist they haven’t ruled out a filibuster, though that seems highly unlikely.
I’m sure you are shocked by this.
Housing
Following up on Krugman’s pessimism, here’s some housing market analysis from Hal “Bondad” Stewart at 538:
What does all this mean?
1.) The existing home sales market has farther to fall. There is simply far too much inventory on the market for prices to remain stable.
2.) During the recession, the economy lost a total of 7,281,000 million jobs. Of these, 2,102,000 or 28% were construction workers. Given the massive inventory overhang in the existing home sales market it is highly doubtful that we’ll see large construction employment gains in the near future.
3.) Housing wealth is one determinant of consumer behavior. If housing prices continue to move lower, expect lower consumer spending to follow.
This weekend, I talked with someone who works for a big property management firm here in Rochester. He said that lending is still tight, their rental units are full, and his company is building large units (2-3 bedroom townhomes) for rent. I’ve know this guy for years, and I consider his business “smart money”. The smart money in this town is making a long-term bet that more families who used to be buyers will be renters, at least until they save up for bigger downpayments.