The Atlantic: Simpler Taxes.

”It is little wonder that the vast majority of the poorest families must pay a tax preparer to claim these benefits.” My old man used to step down from his usual attorney duties to do taxes for a set of minority cleaning ladies in Princeton. For a pittance. As much as he supported progressive taxation, he felt the implementation was designed to keep revenue high on the backs of the poor and did what he could to personally remedy the situation in his circle of influence.

naked capitalism: Indian Outsourcers Complain Re Difficulty of Finding US Staff.

”US universities are producing too few engineers to meet industry demand, Indian outsourcing companies say, leaving such businesses little choice but to hire foreign skilled workers to fill jobs in America.” Irony never sleeps.

The Atlantic: Mapping Troubled Housing Markets.

Don’t like that yellow and orange in NM. Looks like Santa Fe County is outside those boundaries, however (phew).

The Atlantic: 3 Politically Impossible Fixes for the Economy.

Number three is what will eventually fix us. Though there’ll be a lot of screaming and yelling in the process.

The Atlantic: Flashcard series, 9 Ways to Fix Social Security.

Hopefully Congress isn’t as toothless as the illustration. Better to head off problems now; everyone’s been saying they would do something ... noone has.  Makes ya want to kick ‘em right in their ‘lockbox.’

OnEarth Magazine: Beyond Oil: The Oil Industry and Partisanship.

“… if we’ve got a broken system we should go back to the basics, thinking as a game theoretician would and focusing on punishment and reward. There are abundant carrots to entice politicians to support wealthy polluting companies, and there are few sticks to punish them for it.” We need to start playing grassroots ‘Whack-A-Mole’ with those who wish to foul our nests.

Autistic Disdain: HuluPlus Comparison Chart.

Handy.

ProPublica: A Crib Sheet on Wall Street’s Self-Dealing Money Machine.

“… there was still a lot of money to be made if they kept the CDO market going. So they found a way to do so — artificially. They created fake demand.” CDO’s bought CDO’s. No wonder there was such a huge cascade, falling-house-of-cards effect.

Time: The Government’s New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS.

“Government agents can sneak onto your property in the middle of the night, put a GPS device on the bottom of your car and keep track of everywhere you go. This doesn’t violate your Fourth Amendment rights, because you do not have any reasonable expectation of privacy in your own driveway — and no reasonable expectation that the government isn’t tracking your movements.” The government’s following Facebook Places, Google, OnStar and others.  This is a pretty broad interpretation.  I don’t think it will stand challenge.

NPR: Why Coffee Is Getting More Expensive.

”Smuckers, which sells Folgers and Millstone coffees, recently said it was raising its prices because of the higher cost of beans. Starbucks, on the other hand, said it would absorb the higher cost of beans without raising prices.”

The Atlantic: Home Prices May Drop Another 25%.

”Eyeing the chart, the value looks to have hit around 147 in May. For it to drop back down to 110, home prices would have to decline another 25%. That’s still a pretty long way to fall.” Horrible to contemplate, but forewarned is forearmed.

The Atlantic: How Bad Was July’s Plummet in Home Sales?

Bad. I think there’s an expectation among buyers that home costs should be much lower, while sellers don’t want to accept the fact that there’s been a ‘great reset.’ When folks get desperate enough, the twain shall meet and deals will be cut.  It’ll take some time.

naked capitalism: Credit Card Companies Jack Up Rates Despite Flagging Economy, Super Low Funding Co

The author wisely points out that higher credit card rates squash small business. In this and in so many other sectors, banks and financial institutions should be loosening things up to help the economy move forward. Every neuron in my brain says they’d make zillions by removing their artificial props from under the rates and allowing volume to fill their coffers.

If they loosened credit rates, I’d bet we’d see people slowly begin to take advantage of the historical low mortgage rates as their monthly financial commitments eased. If this happened, America might stop choking in first gear and start building some momentum in second. 

bon appétit: iPad-controlled Beer Keg Unites Jocks and Nerds.

Perfect Friday link.

TheStreet: Weekend Brings New Credit Card Rules.

Just FYI.

The Real Damage: How much does that really cost?

”We show you how much you’d save if you never purchased the item in the first place, and instead used the money to pay down your debt. Reverse the logic, and what we end up with is the amount that purchase truly costs you.”

The Economist: Monetary policy: Joseph Gagnon on monetary policy.

”According to the Federal Reserve’s own economic model, such a policy move would reduce unemployment roughly as much as a 2-year $500 billion fiscal package and yet it would actually reduce the federal budget deficit. And it can be reversed quickly should the balance of risks shift from deflation to inflation.” Author’s got ideas we should run with.

SF New Mexican: Santa Fe on the rebound?

”For the first time in four years, revenues collected from businesses in the city during the month of June were higher than those collected the same month in the prior year.”

FT.com: US matches Indian call centre costs.

”Call centre workers are becoming as cheap to hire in the US as they are in India, according to the head of the country’s largest business process outsourcing company. High unemployment levels have driven down wages for some low-skilled outsourcing services in some parts of the US, particularly among the Hispanic population.” India may choose to outsource here.  Ironic.

The Economist: Housing markets: Checking in on housing.

”In hard hit markets, the boost provided by the tax credit only barely managed to halt rapid decline. More bad news may be on the way, if the latest numbers are any indication.” Ugh.

Lifehacker: Master the Art of Low-Effort Cooking.

Yeah, but everything you do in these cookers tends to come out the consistency of baby mush.

The Atlantic: Why Don’t Record Low Mortgage Interest Rates Matter?

”Mortgage interest rates continue to break record lows. Last week, they hit an incredible 4.44%, according to Freddie Mac. Yet, not many Americans are taking advantage of these rock-bottom rates. [snip] But Fortune reports that banks’ new strict requirements are also preventing many refinance applications from being accepted ...” I would theorize that the many of us who are self-employed will no longer qualify for the mortgages we already have, given the new requirements.

Santa Fe’s Haciendas: A Parade of Homes starts today.

I always have a blast seeing what our homebuilders do each year. It’s my favorite afternoon occupation after Indian Market (next weekend). I’ve never seen natural materials used in more creative ways. Given the economy, I’m astonished the homebuilders have been able to come up with such an array of homes for the tour.

So, if you want to drool over what’s possible (and likely get really dissatisfied with your own home, and start those home remodeling projects you’ve been putting off) go see the Parade.

NY TImes: How the West Won Me.

“In Dubois, we live in the high (7,050 feet) alpine desert. Our low, wide house is surrounded by red-painted badlands on one side and the Wind River and its snow-capped mountain range on the other. Like the scenery, the sound track is right out of a John Ford movie: whistling wind, bawling cattle and neighing horses (our subdivision is zoned for equines). Shopping or any sort of living it up requires a drive of seven to 80 miles on Route 26, a section of which is Ramshorn Street, our town’s main drag.” They’s gonna be burning a crapload of wood to keep that huge building envelop warm in the winter ... and is that one of those industrial heaters hanging from the ceiling there?

NY Times: How to Spot an A.T.M. Skimmer.

Didn’t realize thieves have gone this high-tech.