Typically, there is an uptick due to repairs and construction activity. Unless something happened caused a particular location to stop being viable (New Orleans comes to mind but Katrina only sped up economic forces already happening), but in general they help.

I agree. To use a much smaller scale event as comparison, south central Pennsylvania had a small tornado with an accompanying damaging hail storm in the spring of 2011. In my neighborhood, 75% of homes had their roofs replaced, and we had our siding replaced as well. There was similar damage throughout this (mostly) rural county. Great business for roofers and body shops repairing hail damage.

A certain level of property damage is a good thing for the economy. If the tornado had been more powerful, if there had been long lasting (weeks) and widespread power outages, if many homes were destroyed, then certainly that would probably be viewed as an economic detriment. Some businesses would have ceased or curtailed operations for a time and individuals displaced would have been forced to spend money on temporary shelter.

It’s certainly way too early to predict which side of the economic scale (stimulative or depressive) this particular storm will fall. County by county, we’ll likely find some of both before it’s over.

I was working my first job when Reagan “tweeked” Social Security. That tweek doubled the payroll tax, and raised my retirement age from 65 to 67.

More disturbing, is the President’s continued support for Bowles-Simpson, when that plan would essentially convert the program from social insurance to welfare. You can read more about that here (pdf):

Bowles-Simpson would end Social Security As We Know It

I noticed something odd recently, here in south central PA. Our local TV stations are based out of York and Harrisburg. While I’ve seen plenty of Republican and Democratic Super PAC ads, as well as those from the Obama and Romney campaigns, I have yet to see an ad either for or against our incumbent Senator Bob Casey, Jr or his Republican opponent, Tom Smith.

Presidential ads have been prominent both on local stations, and cable (local ad inserts, which are several minutes per hour).

I realize beating a Casey in PA is an uphill battle. Given that the Republicans won most if not all statewide races in ’10, though, you’d think the RSCC and their buddies would be a little more aggressive going after Casey. Maybe both campaigns are dumping all their ad $ in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and the Northeast. I just find it strange both Presidential campaigns and their allies are spending heavily here (a red part of the state aside from the city of Harrisburg), and the respective Senate campaigns have completely ignored the region.

Maybe things will change after Labor Day, but I’m not really expecting it. Maybe Republicans are conceding the state. Casey is up double digits against an opponent few have ever heard of.

Jon, is there a path to the Presidency for Romney where he doesn’t win Florida? I don’t think there is.

Conversely, I can think of a couple for Obama that don’t include Florida.

Just saying I believe the state, like Ohio, is a MUST WIN for Romney and a clincher for Obama.

Here in Pennsylvania, it is illegal to use any semi-automatic rifle or handgun to hunt. Semi-auto shotguns, with strict limits on rounds they hold, are legal for hunting small game (rabbits, fox, etc) and waterfowl (ducks and geese).

My feeling is if Wisconsinites need an AR-15 or AK-47 to kill a deer, they must be pretty terrible hunters.

I was surprised to see many Obama and Obama PAC ads running here, in south central Pennsylvania. They began running in May on TV stations based in Harrisburg and York, and as local inserts on Comcast cable.

What’s interesting is this region of PA tends to vote Republican by a significant margin.

I have no personal knowledge if the ads are working. The two ads I’ve seen the most recount Bain Capital buying out companies, laying off workers and eliminating their retirement and health benefits. Told, ostensibly, by former workers, I find the ads powerful and difficult to ignore.

For the first month they ran, there were few if any pro-Romney or anti-Obama ads. The ratio now is closer to 1:1 but the volume from both sides is not that significant. In May, there was an obvious Obama ad blitz but that seems to have tapered off.

Govt agency blows $800K on a conference
* is outraged

Govt contractor can’t account for a billion $ in cash flown into Iraq
* mistakes happen

* is US Congress

If lack of an individual mandate purchase insurance would send plans into a “death spiral”, as the Obama administration and others suggest, why hasn’t that happened in Pennsylvania?

Blue Cross / Blue Shield (still a non-profit here) offers guaranteed issuance individual health insurance polices across the state of Pennsylvania. There are no limitations on coverage of pre-existing conditions. For a 40 year old, non-smoking male, an 80% coverage policy (most diagnostic and preventive care is covered at 100%) with an annual out of pocket maximum roughly in line with ACA requirements the monthly premium is around $400. 100% coverage plans are also available, but cost as much as 50% more.

While this insurance is expensive, and out of reach for many with modest incomes, it is available to all and premium increases in the last decade are comparable to increases to all individual policies nationally.

If the “death spiral” of only only the very sick signing up for individual plans was a real, demonstrable possibility, why hasn’t it happened in Pennsylvania with individual plans available for a decade or longer?

If the lack of a mandate would send the individual insurance market into a “death spiral”, as some critics and the insurance industry suggest, why hasn’t that happened in Pennsylvania?

Here in PA, anyone can purchase an individual (or family) health insurance policy from Blue Cross / Blue Shield. The non-profit even offers some level of community rating, with slightly different rates in several geographic areas. While insurance is expensive, and out of reach for many modest wage earners (a plan covering 80% of health care costs up to an out of pocket max for the year is around $400/month for a 40 year old), the rates haven’t risen substantially faster than health insurance rates for individuals in other states without guaranteed issue.

David,

Not related to this post, but you might want to let your admins know that http://firedoglake.com is popping with a Malware warning when using Google Chrome.

The personhood amendment defeated on a ballot initiative last year was in Mississippi, not Missouri, if that’s what you were referring to, David.

Oh, looks like this won’t effect Mom, since it’s only on people with incomes above $250K/year.

My general feelings, however, are that capital gains should be taxed at the same rate as interest and dividends. It’s all unearned income, or in the case of professional house flipper, income that should often be discouraged.

More than a third of my 83 year old mother’s income is from dividends. The rest is social security ($800/month) and a federal retirement annuity ($500/month). Last year, she made around $30K gross.

Taking dividends isn’t going to hit just the 1%, not by a long shot. It’s going to hit people solidly in the middle class, especially the retired and those near retirement age.

Smart investors don’t try and make a lot from the market on sale of individual stocks (profit from taxed at capital gains rates) as they near retirement. They do invest in stocks that have decent rates of return, typically small to regional sized banks, utilities companies, and REITs (real estate investment trusts).

Given that conventional savings accounts, money markets, and certificates of deposit are effectively paying 0 to 1% interest for years, there’s more than a few people who went the dividends route to get some return on their retirement savings. My mother isn’t one of those, she inherited her stock 20 years ago and has been holding it.

A surtax on dividends is going to hurt, and not the people making bank on the carried interest exemption.

If such a law lead to Christina Aguilera never singing the national anthem again, I could probably support it.

Could do without the unflattering photo and thinly veiled reference to “fembot” at the end of this piece. As someone who heard, read, and saw all the “Hitlery” bullshit during Clinton’s presidency, I don’t like attacking politician’s spouses whether it’s someone I support or oppose.

This afternoon I opted to pay for a full blood panel on my sick cat – $150. I didn’t take the time to shop around to find out if that was a good price or not. From what we can tell, it seems nothing too serious other than an infection which will hopefully respond to antibiotics.

He also got sub-cutaneous fluids, an antibiotic injection, and more oral antibiotics to be taken over 2 weeks.

The thing I was most impressed about was they could run a full blood panel right there in the office in less than 30 minutes. That’s something you can’t get as a human being in this world, unless you’re admitted to a hospital.

The Fannie Mae lobbying / advising / whatever it was is just the tip of the iceberg. The guy has been in politics for 30 years, and therefore is an easy target for a “swift-boating” by any random PAC with untraceable contributions.

How many times did Newt vote to increase taxes? How many times did he change his position on Libya?

Shooting fish in a barrel.

With news that evil Fannie Mae paid Newt $1.6M+ during the housing bubble, I feel it’s safe to say we’ll see his poll numbers dropping in another week or two.

The cycle of new front-runner / challenger to Romney emerging, getting a little bit of media scrutiny, and then dropping continues. Maybe Santorum will get his turn next. Pawlenty would have had his shot at the cycle if he hadn’t dropped out so quickly.

That hasn’t been, and I severely doubt there will be, any serious challenger to Romney’s nomination. Mitt will win NH easily, do “better than expected” in SC, and cream everyone left on the day of the first multi-state primary.

Romney doesn’t need to poll high nationally today to win in a walk. He just needs to win half of the first 10 states. Unlike the Democratic Party, I believe the Republican primaries and caucuses are all “winner take all”. He’ll be the nominee by the ides of March.

The people who are defending a man who clearly put the reputation of himself and the university above the considerations of finding out the truth of McQuearys accusation, and thereby protecting any future victims, had, either knowingly, or unknowingly, empowered and shielded Sandusky, are the ones who need to be ashamed.

If Joe Paterno was involved in covering this up, why didn’t he hang McQueary out to dry in his grand jury testimony? Assuming what you suggest is true, he could have said he didn’t remember. He could have said McQueary told him something but that it wasn’t of a sexual nature.

Paterno testified he told Athletic Director Curley that McQueary reported something sexual. Curley denied being told that by anyone.

I suppose you could suggest Joe Paterno lied in telling enough the truth to cover his own ass. However, that would be pure speculation. The truth is, we don’t know exactly what McQueary testified he told Paterno. We will probably never know unless the grand jury transcript is unsealed. Certainly, we will not know anytime soon.

We do know that soon after the grand jury presentment was accidentally, according to the Attorney General, PSU President Graham Spanier issued a statement of “unconditional support” for Curley and Schultz, the two senior officials charged with perjury. Spanier threw Paterno and McQueary under the bus in that moment to the impartial view of anyone who read the presentment.

I think Paterno had a moral responsibility to do more than he did. Personally, I cannot imagine what it would be like to be told someone I’d known for over 40 years did something sexual to a child. I’d like to believe I would have done things differently than Paterno.

That said, I’m happy the Board of Trustees is going to appoint a special committee to investigate what happened at Penn State. I’m significantly less happy the committee is being led by current Trustees. Given they oversee the actions of university administrators, I don’t see how they can be expected to impartial, especially should evidence surface that one or more trustees had knowledge of allegations against Sandusky.

Unlike many commenters, and many more still media pundits, I am not sure what I would do. In the minds of many, the alleged nature of Sandusky’s crimes is not even a passing thought. A presumption of innocence is saved only for those accused of less wicked things than a crime against a child, or less wicked than a sex crime. Many people, including day care workers, members of the Duke Lacrosse team, Dominique Strasse-Kahn, and Anwar Al-Alaki, have been pronounced guilty by media, prosecutors, and governments, and that is apparently good enough.

I understand the media witch hunt and suggestions of guilt by association. I have been surprised to see people of like political mind as me, generally, on twitter, blogs, and sites like FDL join voraciously in the same. While some condemn Joe Paterno and others on less than hearsay (that’s what a presentment is, by the way), but more pure conjecture, the Mayor of Oakland is trying to use an apparently unrelated shooting as rationale for kicking the Occupation out of Oscar Grant Plaza. That anyone can be blind to the equivalence astounds me.

There’s a lesson here for the Obama administration, though. And the Department of Defense, CIA, Homeland Security, and Mayors Quan and Bloomberg. The next time they want to commit an extra-judicial assassination, or send in the shock troops to beat down some hippies, they should simply claim the targets raped children.

Emptywheel has already answered all your questions. She has all the quotes and the whole timeline and who testified to what, based on the grand jury presentment.

Joe Paterno is Crucial Witness Against PSU

I don’t disagree that Joe couldn’t continue to coach at Penn State, because he should have done more. Personally, I think him retiring at the end of the season was enough. That became moot pretty quickly because CNN was going to be camped out in Happy Valley. Assuming no spectacular new revelations or riots this weekend, with Paterno fired and McQueary on permanent leave, CNN will likely be off campus by lunch on Monday.

Fair or not, the university HAD to fire him. I think it was in poor taste to do it over the phone, but you may have your own opinion.