Links and Minifeatures 08 07 Monday

Carnival of Personal Finance Recommended: Roth and Company (some good observations on the tax code)



RINO Sightings



Carnival of Real Estate



Carnival of the Capitalists Recommended: David Maister

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After 17 straight rate hikes, Fed weighs a pause



This is about a percent and a half too late. But Bernanke, like Greenspan and the rest of the Fed's Board of Governors, are bankers first. Bankers have a phobia about inflation. It has a rational reason, but they still over-react to inflation threats almost religiously. If I were a senator sitting in judgement on a BOG nominee, I'd want to be convinced that the nominee wouldn't overreact to inflationary pressures. That seems to be the number one problem the fed has.



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Feds ordered BP to inspect pipeline. As bad as a planned shutdown is, can you imagine how bad an unplanned shutdown would have been? Not to mention the ammunition a pipeline failure would have given the anti-exploration and anti transporting and just plain anti-everything wing of the environmentalists? Even though this has caused about a $2 per barrel price hike, this is not just an ecological disaster aborted, but political and economic as well.



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I've been waiting for this: Condo conversions turn into reversions



People are buying conversions to rent them out, and others that were bought or built as planned conversions are being delayed.



With a local rental market that has a 3.4% vacancy rate, expect demand for rental properties to rise, as well as rentals. This is going to have two effects: Stabilizing the purchase market, and raising rental rates as people need to cover those mortgages charge more. With a 3.4 percent vacancy rate, be assured that they can. The time to buy is now, before rents start rising and while there are still 36 sellers for every buyer.



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How bad is the fiscal state of our country? USA Today tells is something closer to how it really is.



I have long said that if this nation were required to produce audited annual financial statements like most corporations, we'd have an armed rebellion. Lest you think that's a bad thing, it's not. The sooner we get away from the ideas infesting our current spending policies, the sooner we can stop digging this hole we're in deeper.



HT: Balloon Juice



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Tomorrow is the Connecticut primary that doubles as the battle for the soul of the Democratic party. Joe Lieberman, a left winger willing to vote with centrists when clearly in the best interests of the country, or Ned Lamont, who like most of the NutRoots™, basically hates George Bush, or at least is willing to pretend that he does. I've said all along that if Lamont wins, it will be indicative of the impending failure of the Democratic party to be able to compete on a national basis. Last report was that Ned Lamont was up by six points, but due to Lamont being caught in several obvious untruths, Lieberman was coming up fast.



Scrappleface has the optimum strategy.