Daily Clips: February 27, 2017
George W. Bush: Media essential to democracy: We live in odd times.
The Treasury is considering 50-year bonds:
Having a liquid market is valuable, but the market is telling other bond issuers that it wants lots more long-term debt. The Treasury should sell more 30-year bonds, and even 50-year or 100-year bonds to meet that demand.
Ireland, Belgium and Mexico have recently sold 100-year bonds. Ford, Disney and Coca-Cola have sold 100-year bonds as well. The Canadian Pacific Corp. sold a 1,000-year bond.
And many governments, such as the U.K., have issued bonds that have no maturity date at all: Called perpetuals or consols, these bonds continue paying a coupon year-after-year until the principal is redeemed. The U.K. recently redeemed the consols that had financed its earlier wars against Napoleon and the kaiser.
The subtle force of Tom Perez: I, for one, I am quite pleased with the Perez selection and I’m on the far-left flanks of the Democratic Party. Justin Miller at American Prospect has a very good piece on the DNC’s new chair:
Perez has proven himself an able handyman, steering a dizzying array of labor rules and regulations through Washington’s often-stymied bureaucracy despite constant political threats and general hostility coming from Republicans and the business lobby. Those include not only the overtime rule, but an expansion of federal labor protections to cover home-care workers; a long-shot crusade to establish new standards in the retirement-advising industry; an executive order to use the federal government’s contracting process to create good jobs; and a stern guidance aimed at stopping rampant worker misclassification.
These Iowans voted for Trump. Many of them are already disappointed: Morons. I’m not apart of the liberal crew that think we need to “level with” Trump supporters. I know this is a contentious position to hold. Charles Blow had a fantastic column the other day which summarized my feelings better than I could ever hope to articulate:
This is why I have no patience for liberal talk of reaching out to Trump voters. There is no more a compromise point with those who accept, promote and defend bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia than there is a designation of “almost pregnant.”
Trump is a cancer on this country and resistance is the remedy. The Trump phenomenon is devoid of compassion, and we must be closed to compromise.
Tweet of the day:
Dozens of new restaurants and bars are opening in the Seattle area. Here's the lowdown: https://t.co/AjW5h5Do5s pic.twitter.com/7GkD3jHLU0
— The Seattle Times (@seattletimes) February 26, 2017
