Archive for April 29th, 2013

Amazing infographic: Life inside Baltimore’s jails …

April 29, 2013

From the you can’t make this stuff up file …

There’s a notorious gang – the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) —  that is, one could say, well represent in the Baltimore prison population.

Well, court documents have been filed in a massive racketeering case accusing 13 female corrections officers of colluding with the BGF — seven male inmates and several outside gang members.

Colluding may be a gross understatement.

Corrections officers allegedly smuggled  contraband such as cellphones, drugs, and weapons to BGFers, and turned a blind eye on the BGF leaders running the outside gang from prison.

You know, garden variety collusion between guards and prisoners.

But, it turns out that several of the guards are also accused of being literally “in bed” with the BGF inmates.

Four of the officers became pregnant with prison gang leader Tavon White’s baby.

One of them got pregnant twice.

Say, what?

The web of relationships got sufficiently complicated that the Baltimore Sun developed an extraordinary infographic.

Don’t squint, below I’ll walk you through it and give you the link.

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OK, here’s a key to the info graphic …

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Vanguard CEO: “Uncertainty the enemy of the economy” … I disagree”

April 29, 2013

In a WSJ editorial today, Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb says that …

Americans who seek to earn a living and save for the future are confused and discouraged.

Concerns of investors are asking: How does this affect my retirement fund? What about my college savings account? How does this affect my taxes? Would I be better off putting my savings under the mattress?

Firms can’t see a clear road to economic recovery ahead, so they’re not going to hire and they’re not going to spend.

It’s what economists call a “deadweight loss“.

He points to economic research that indicates U.S. economic policy uncertainty has been 50% higher in the past two years than it has been since 1985.

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Source: PolicyUncertainty.com 

The uncertainty revolves around regulatory policy, monetary policy, foreign policy and, most significantly, uncertainty about U.S. fiscal policy and the national debt.

Vanguard estimates that the rise in policy uncertainty has created a $261 billion cumulative drag on the economy … which adds up to more than one million jobs that we could have had by now, but don’t.

Mr. McNabb makes a strong argument.

But, I respectfully disagree.

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