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Neal Rovick

St Anthony, MN
Commenter for
3 years 6 weeks

Recent Comments

Posted on 03/08/13 at 09:31 am in response to Narayana Kocherlakota’s evolution as a central banker

Or, if the processes of automation and computerization have fundamentally altered the number of workers needed to produce what a population needs.

Posted on 03/06/13 at 02:47 pm in response to Boehner pledges (but not really) to stick to 'Hastert Rule'

He's just postponing the day when crazy meets reality.

Good for the future of the Democratic party, bad for America, bad for the Republican party.

Posted on 03/07/13 at 09:05 am in response to Boehner pledges (but not really) to stick to 'Hastert Rule'

The House's actions aren't "budgets and solutions" until they can be passed by the Senate and signed by the President.

The perpetual filibuster in the Senate guarantees that no significant legislation will originate there and that much of what the House does is ultimately pointless.

The perpetual filibuster needs to end.

Posted on 03/06/13 at 09:07 am in response to Dow at a new all-time high: What additional incentives do job creators need?

The human motto?

"Get away with what you can."

Some people run stop signs. Others...

(quote)

The facts are simple. Mitt Romney's blind-trust invested more than a million dollars in a "vulture fund" managed by Paul Singer, a Romney adviser. In 2008, while Delphi Auto Parts was in bankruptcy, Singer's fund bought, for twenty cents on the dollar, Delphi bonds -- lots of them. With Delphi under Singer's control, he threatened to shut it down unless the taxpayer...

Posted on 03/04/13 at 01:21 pm in response to Minnesota GOP must learn social media is a two-way street

perhaps the most indicative issue revealed in the last election was the rejection of polling results that went opposite to Republican desires.

You can "make your own reality" with respect to long-range problems like climate change when nothing overwhelmingly definitive will happen in the near future, but when the real reality will be evident in a couple of days it is just shouts "Delusion !".

Delusion shows up quite quickly in the rapid-fire of social media.

Posted on 02/27/13 at 11:42 am in response to Obama's secret plan for Republican party-cide

It's all a part of the need to whip up apocalyptic fervor.

It wasn't sufficient to call him a godless, socialist, Muslim fascist--he got elected in spite of that. And the Democratic party did reasonably well also.

Well, if you can't broaden the base you might as well deepen the base by throwing down more rhetoric that comes closer every day to inciting insurrection. Look how close the NRA has moved to that line. Look how many Republican members of Congress are openly...

Posted on 02/27/13 at 11:15 am in response to Battle over state GOP leadership is a fight to shape the party

The best outcome for the Democrats will be the conversion of the Republican party into a cult of personality based upon the idea of propelling the 77 year-old Ron Paul into the presidency.

The essentially anarchic message of the right-wing and of the Paulites make it very unlikely that the financial troubles will be effectively addressed.

Posted on 02/26/13 at 12:47 pm in response to Those who say both sides are to blame are to blame?

The battle was whether to let the Bush tax cuts expire.

And it is interesting to remember that the Bush tax cuts were proposed specifically to avoid the "horrible" possibility of the complete repayment of all federal debt by 2011.

And the effect of the Republican denial of the full expiration of the Bush tax cuts?

(quote)

.....Revenue provisions would add a total of $3,638 billion to the deficits for the 2013-2022 period, an average of $364 billion per year. The...

Posted on 02/26/13 at 01:58 pm in response to Those who say both sides are to blame are to blame?

Perhaps a whole brain is required to understand that even with the repeal of a portion of the Bush tax cuts, the deficit and debt problem is still severe enough to require both real revenue increases AND spending cuts.

The recent elimination of just a portion of the Bush tax cuts still means that the remaining Bush tax cuts add $364 billion a year to the debt.

Posted on 02/26/13 at 11:30 am in response to How to make sure housing doesn’t bring down the economy again

Historic 30 year fixed mortgage rates were always well above 5 % until mid-2010. Now they are at an unprecedented 3%

http://www.hsh.com/mtghst/mortgage-rates-by-product/30-Year-FRM

What are the effects of this?

The first and most obvious effect is that houses are more affordable with lower payments.

The second is...