Posts
Get the Mortgage Industry out of Taxpayers' Pockets | Cato Institute: "If we simply let Fannie and Freddie disappear, we will still lead the world in mortgage subsidies."
"By 1969, the national home ownership rate reached 64.3 percent. At this time, the percent of mortgages securitized was in the low single-digits and the secondary market was irrelevant. Since the growth of Fannie and Freddie, the long run home ownership rate has been unchanged. The cost of the 30-year mortgage relative to Treasuries has actually increased as their market presence grew."
"Ultimately, Fannie and Freddie are vehicles for banks to dump their bad bets onto to the taxpayer."
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?
WOULD BANNING FIREARMS REDUCE MURDER AND SUICIDE?
"where firearms are most dense violent crime rates are lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are highest"
"In 2004, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences released its evaluation from a review of 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some original empirical research. It failed to identify any gun control that had reduced violent crime, suicide, or gun accidents. The same conclusion was reached in 2003 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s review of then-extant studies."
"The vast majority of persons involved in life‐threatening violence have a long criminal record with many prior
contacts with the justice system."
"Although there are many domestic homicides, such murders do not occur frequently in ordinary families, nor are the murderers ordinary, law‐abiding adults. “The day‐to‐day reality is that most family murders are prefaced by a long history of assaults.” One study of such murders found that “a history of domestic violence was present in 95.8%” of cases."
" “the most common victim‐offender relationship” was “where both parties . . . knew one another because of priorillegal transactions.” "
"the National Institute of Justice surveys among prison inmates find that large percentages report that their fear that a victim might be armed deterred them from confrontation crimes. “[T]he felons most frightened ‘about confronting an armed victim’ were those from states with the greatest relative number of privately owned firearms.” Conversely, robbery is highest in states that most restrict gun ownership."
"in nations that have experienced high and rising violent crime rates, the legislative reaction has generally been to enact increasingly severe anti-gun laws. This is futile, for reducing gun ownership by the law‐abiding citizenry—the only ones who obey gun laws—does not reduce violence or murder. The result is that high crime nations that ban guns to reduce crime end up having both high crime and stringent gun
laws, while it appears that low crime nations that do not significantly restrict guns continue to have low violence rates."
"it cannot be shown consistently that a reduction in the number of guns available to the general population has led to fewer deaths"
"Per capita, rural African‐Americans are much more likely to own firearms than are urban African‐Americans.94 Yet, despite their greater access to guns, the firearm murder rate of young rural black males is a small fraction of the firearm murder rate of young urban black males."
"There is simply no relationship evident between the extent of suicide and the extent of gun ownership. People do not commit suicide because they have guns available. In the absence of firearms, people who are inclined to commit suicide kill themselves some other way."
"where firearms are most dense violent crime rates are lowest, and where guns are least dense violent crime rates are highest"
"In 2004, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences released its evaluation from a review of 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some original empirical research. It failed to identify any gun control that had reduced violent crime, suicide, or gun accidents. The same conclusion was reached in 2003 by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s review of then-extant studies."
"The vast majority of persons involved in life‐threatening violence have a long criminal record with many prior
contacts with the justice system."
"Although there are many domestic homicides, such murders do not occur frequently in ordinary families, nor are the murderers ordinary, law‐abiding adults. “The day‐to‐day reality is that most family murders are prefaced by a long history of assaults.” One study of such murders found that “a history of domestic violence was present in 95.8%” of cases."
" “the most common victim‐offender relationship” was “where both parties . . . knew one another because of priorillegal transactions.” "
"the National Institute of Justice surveys among prison inmates find that large percentages report that their fear that a victim might be armed deterred them from confrontation crimes. “[T]he felons most frightened ‘about confronting an armed victim’ were those from states with the greatest relative number of privately owned firearms.” Conversely, robbery is highest in states that most restrict gun ownership."
"in nations that have experienced high and rising violent crime rates, the legislative reaction has generally been to enact increasingly severe anti-gun laws. This is futile, for reducing gun ownership by the law‐abiding citizenry—the only ones who obey gun laws—does not reduce violence or murder. The result is that high crime nations that ban guns to reduce crime end up having both high crime and stringent gun
laws, while it appears that low crime nations that do not significantly restrict guns continue to have low violence rates."
"it cannot be shown consistently that a reduction in the number of guns available to the general population has led to fewer deaths"
"Per capita, rural African‐Americans are much more likely to own firearms than are urban African‐Americans.94 Yet, despite their greater access to guns, the firearm murder rate of young rural black males is a small fraction of the firearm murder rate of young urban black males."
"There is simply no relationship evident between the extent of suicide and the extent of gun ownership. People do not commit suicide because they have guns available. In the absence of firearms, people who are inclined to commit suicide kill themselves some other way."
Feds: More Americans selling their food stamps for cash | Fox News
Feds: More Americans selling their food stamps for cash | Fox News: "About 10.5 percent of all authorized SNAP stores engaged in trafficking, the study found, compared 8.2 percent in the 2006-2008 review."
"Small grocery or convenience stores, for example, accounted for about 15 percent of all redemptions but 85 percent of trafficking redemptions.
In addition, trafficking was more likely to occur in privately owned stores compared to publicly owned shops and was more likely among retailers in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates."
"Small grocery or convenience stores, for example, accounted for about 15 percent of all redemptions but 85 percent of trafficking redemptions.
In addition, trafficking was more likely to occur in privately owned stores compared to publicly owned shops and was more likely among retailers in neighborhoods with higher poverty rates."
Friday, August 16, 2013
New rule bans Georgia drivers from paying toll of next driver | Fox News
New rule bans Georgia drivers from paying toll of next driver | Fox News: "A new rule from the State Road and Tollway Authority bans drivers from paying the toll for the person behind them in line.
That became something of a local tradition over the last 20 years. But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that some drivers had recently complained that cashiers were pocketing the extra 50 cents when they didn't see their money being tossed into the coin basket for the driver behind them.
The deputy executive director of the State Road and Tollway Authority, Bert Brantley, says a driver might not see the extra money being thrown into the change basket because the next motorist sometimes declined the money, allowing it to be passed to another driver."
So ban something good because there were some issues?!?
Update: The ban has been reversed.
That became something of a local tradition over the last 20 years. But The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that some drivers had recently complained that cashiers were pocketing the extra 50 cents when they didn't see their money being tossed into the coin basket for the driver behind them.
The deputy executive director of the State Road and Tollway Authority, Bert Brantley, says a driver might not see the extra money being thrown into the change basket because the next motorist sometimes declined the money, allowing it to be passed to another driver."
So ban something good because there were some issues?!?
Update: The ban has been reversed.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
Obama: I Had To Violate The Constitution Because Republicans Are Such Partisan Hacks (Or Something) - Downtrend.com
Obama: I Had To Violate The Constitution Because Republicans Are Such Partisan Hacks (Or Something) - Downtrend.com: "No, he didn’t have the authority to change the law by executive authority. The fact that he even discussed changing it by the normal legislative process if the “political environment” was more favorable demonstrates that even he believed that Congressional involvement was necessary to change the law."
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Obamacare as Big Brother | Cato Institute
Obamacare as Big Brother | Cato Institute: " a new government bureaucracy will be in possession of these people’s financial, employment, and health information — everything from their income last year to the prescription drugs they take. What could possibly go wrong?"
"If you are among the millions of Americans forced to purchase insurance through an exchange, these navigators will have access to such sensitive information as your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account number, place of employment, and medical history. Some of the funds needed to hire and train the workers aren’t expected to be released until the end of August. This means that, in the 34 states where the federal government is running the exchanges, there will be just a month to hire and train thousands of workers. In a rush to have sufficient numbers of navigators in place by the October 1 deadline, the administration has reduced the amount of training required from 30 hours to just 20. Three training courses will be conducted online."
"late last month, HHS’s Office of the Inspector General reported that the Obama administration has missed repeated deadlines for testing, reporting, and correcting security risks for the hub. HHS does not even expect a final security-control assessment until ten days before the hub is scheduled to begin operations, and it won’t certify the program’s security until September 30 — the day before it goes into effect."
"If you are among the millions of Americans forced to purchase insurance through an exchange, these navigators will have access to such sensitive information as your Social Security number, date of birth, bank account number, place of employment, and medical history. Some of the funds needed to hire and train the workers aren’t expected to be released until the end of August. This means that, in the 34 states where the federal government is running the exchanges, there will be just a month to hire and train thousands of workers. In a rush to have sufficient numbers of navigators in place by the October 1 deadline, the administration has reduced the amount of training required from 30 hours to just 20. Three training courses will be conducted online."
"late last month, HHS’s Office of the Inspector General reported that the Obama administration has missed repeated deadlines for testing, reporting, and correcting security risks for the hub. HHS does not even expect a final security-control assessment until ten days before the hub is scheduled to begin operations, and it won’t certify the program’s security until September 30 — the day before it goes into effect."
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work | Cato Institute
Welfare Can Make More Sense than Work | Cato Institute: "a mother with two children in Connecticut would have to earn $21.33 per hour for her family to be better off than they would be on welfare. That’s more than the average entry-level salary for a teacher or secretary. In fact, it is more than 107 percent of Connecticut’s median salary."
Monday, August 12, 2013
Why Are We At War In Yemen? - Campaign for Liberty
Why Are We At War In Yemen? - Campaign for Liberty: "The US claims that everyone killed was a “suspected militant,”"
Only "suspected"?!?!?
Only "suspected"?!?!?
Family films as lightning strikes car, recharges phones | Technically Incorrect - CNET News
Family films as lightning strikes car, recharges phones | Technically Incorrect - CNET News: "they also had a number of gadgets in the car that had dead batteries.
However, after the strike, all these cell phones and gaming devices were fully charged."
However, after the strike, all these cell phones and gaming devices were fully charged."
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Fighting Dirty to Save Affirmative Action | Cato Institute
Fighting Dirty to Save Affirmative Action | Cato Institute: "its�Top-Ten Percent Plan�— by which the top 10% (since changed to eight) of graduates in every high school in the state are guaranteed admission — had already created a campus with some of the highest “diversity” in nation"
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)