Afternoon Update: The Final Debate Begins, Abortion Compromise Reached, Stupak: “We Have An Agreement”, “We’re Well Past 216″, Odds At 97%
by ilene - March 21st, 2010 4:36 pm
Afternoon Update: The Final Debate Begins, Abortion Compromise Reached, Stupak: "We Have An Agreement", "We’re Well Past 216", Odds At 97%
Courtesy of Joe Weisenthal at Clusterstock
It’s begun folks! Congress is in chamber debating healthcare reform.
Passage odds on InTrade are over 95%.
On MSNBC, Pat Buchanan called it a done deal.
There’s chatter that a final deal with the anti-abortion Democrats is in the works. (Update: According to reports there’s still no deal on this front)
The GOP’s opening pitcher is boy wonder congressman Paul Ryan, who is talking about the nonsensical CBO score and the deficit.
There will be several procedural votes today. A final vote may come sometime around midnight.
If you’re not near a TV, you can watch the debate on C-SPAN here.
Update: According to The Hill, the Democrats are definitely still short!
2:57: The White House just blasted out the following to liberal activists. Probably not worth reading into one wary or another
As today’s historic healthcare vote is near, I ask that you do not let up and continue pushing.
Anything you can do in these final hours to promote and publicly call for support is much appreciated and timely.
Do not let up – do not quit.
Keep everyone in positive thoughts – educate your members – make your voices heard.
We are on the verge of history – but it is just the verge – it has not happened yet.
3:28: Stupak to hold press conference at 4:00 PM announcing his vote. The presumption is that it’s a "YES" but there’s nothing official on that.
3:31: For what it’s worth, here’s how we’d characterize the debate right now. The Republicans have been trying to hammer The Democrats on various points: earmarks, rules, the deficit, etc. Democrats are ignoring the claims, and sticking to rhetoric, not engaging the critics.
3:45: Evidently Stupak will announce that he’s a "YES." POLITICO explains what’s about to go down.
4:00: The Stupak press conference is set to begin any second now.
4:05: Stupak is out on the podum. …
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Mish “Hard Money” Goes Off The Rails
by ilene - October 6th, 2009 1:26 pm
Here’s another installment in the debate between our friends Mish (Global Economic Trend Analysis) and Karl (The Market Ticker). Confession – as a big fan of both Mish and Karl, each makes good arguments, I’m currently undecided. What do you think? Don’t forget, we have a comment section. 
Ilene
Mish "Hard Money" Goes Off The Rails
Courtesy of Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker
I am occasionally stunned when someone who I thought had a good grasp of reality and reason goes entirely off into left field, powered by a thesis that has run out of track.
Mish, unfortunately, has succumbed to this sin in his piece "Fractional Reserve Lending Constitutes Fraud"
He alleges (after waving his arms around):
Fractional Reserve Lending constitutes fraud. The case is irrefutable.
Bluntly: Bullshit.
Let us distinguish between two separate items: Money and Credit.
We shall first define them:
- Money: The product of either growing something, mining something or manufacturing something. "Money" is actual wealth, and comes into being only through creation. Ultimately, all money is traced to the only "free lunch" that exists in this solar system, that is, the power of The Sun, although in many cases (e.g. mining) the activity is in fact discovery of previously-created wealth (by the actions of The Sun) levered through human endeavor.
- Credit: The granting of purchasing power predicated upon a future promise to pay with money.
Mish’s (and others) claim that "all fractional lending is fraudulent" implies that one cannot pledge money to secure credit.
That’s obvious BS; let’s put forward a concrete example.
I walk into the forest (grow) and cut down trees (mine) which I then process into lumber (manufacture.) I dig up some iron ore (mine) and turn it into steel nails (manufacture.) With these two items I now construct a house (manufacture.)
That house (and all the products that I used to make it) are in fact money. They were the product of mining, growing, and/or manufacturing. Each of these acts is in fact the creation of money.
That house, has a representation of money in its utility value. That is, the shelter value that it has for a group of humans – it provides a place to eat, sleep, take a dump and
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.