The Big Picture

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• FDIC Bank Failures
• Open Source at NASA
• James Grant: Consuelo Mack WealthTrack Interview
• Trulia Report: Mapping Home Price Reductions
• Generation M2: Media in the Lives of Kids
• Terje Sørgjerd: The Mountain
• Balancing the Budget w/o Spending Cuts or Tax Increases
• Senate Report on Financial Crisis: Video Issue

FDIC Bank Failures Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:00 PM PDT Bank Failures reported weekly by FDIC since mid-2008. ~~~ Cumulative Bank Failures reported weekly by FDIC for 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Open Source at NASA Posted: 17 Apr 2011 12:00 PM PDT Interesting: 2011 NASA Open Source Summit – Terry Fong View more presentations from NASA Open Source Summit

James Grant: Consuelo Mack WealthTrack Interview Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:30 AM PDT Financial Thought Leader James Grant explains why he believes the Federal Reserve’s easy money policies will wreak havoc on the economy and markets. The dangers of inflation creep and how to protect yourself against it are the focus of this week’s Consuelo Mack WealthTrack.

Trulia Report: Mapping Home Price Reductions Posted: 17 Apr 2011 09:00 AM PDT Trulia’s Home Offer Report is a a remarkable map — it shows the result of negotiation between homebuyers and sellers. The reveal shows how strong or weak the real-estate market is in every zip code of the country. The three key metrics: 1) How long a house typically goes before the owner cuts the price; 2) The size of that price reduction; 3) The likelihood that there will be another reduction in price Fascinating stuff that was not even possible just a few years ago: > click for larger interactive map Hat tip Fast Code Design

Generation M2: Media in the Lives of Kids Posted: 17 Apr 2011 05:30 AM PDT A national survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that with technology allowing nearly 24-hour media access as children and teens go about their daily lives, the amount of time young people spend with entertainment media has risen dramatically, especially among minority youth. Today, 8-18 year-olds devote an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes (7:38) to using entertainment media across a typical day (more than 53 hours a week). And because they spend so much of that time ‘media multitasking’ (using more than one medium at a time), they actually manage to pack a total of 10 hours and 45 minutes (10:45) worth of media content into those 7½ hours. Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds is the third in a series of large-scale, nationally representative surveys by the Foundation about young people’s media use. It includes data from all three waves of the study (1999, 2004, and 2009), and is among the largest and most comprehensive publicly available sources of information about media use among American youth. Generation M2

Terje Sørgjerd: The Mountain Posted: 17 Apr 2011 05:30 AM PDT Absolutely amazing (see TSO Photography) : The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo. Hat tip boingboing

Balancing the Budget w/o Spending Cuts or Tax Increases Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:18 AM PDT Bruce Bartlett points out that Americans want a balanced budget, so long as it does not require cutting entitlement programs or raising taxes. If that sounds, well absurd, it reflects the lack of willingness of voters/taxpayers to engage in any shared sacrifice. This does not bode well for the future of fiscal prudence. Consider these recent polling results: An April 6 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 61% of people favor a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, down from 71% in 1995. Support falls to 27% when people are told that this would require a 20% cut in entitlement programs. An April 4 YouGov poll found that an overwhelming majority of people favor large budget cuts. However, majorities also favor increased spending for education and medical research, and a strong plurality favor increased spending on clean energy technology. An April 1 CNN/Opinion Research poll examined peoples' knowledge of how the federal government spends its money. It finds that most really have no idea what percentage of the budget goes to various programs. A March 31 Pew poll asked people which among these programs the federal government spent the most on: Medicare, education, scientific research, or interest on the debt. Only 29% of people correctly said Medicare, 7% said education, 7% said scientific research, and 36% said interest. On March 9, the Harris poll found strong opposition to cutting Social Security or Medicare benefits to deal with the budgetary problems of those programs. People are also opposed to raising taxes to fund them. On March 2, a NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found strong opposition to cutting spending for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, K-12 education, heating assistance for the poor, college student loans, Head Start, and unemployment insurance. There was majority support only for cutting nuclear power subsidies, aid to state and local governments, the EPA budget, and spending on transportation and infrastructure projects. The poll also found that 81% of people would support a surtax on millionaires to help reduce the budget deficit, and 68% would support eliminating the Bush tax cuts for those earning more than $250,000. On March 1, the Tarrance Group issued a poll which found that 63% of voters incorrectly believe that the federal government spends more on national defense and foreign aid than it does on Medicare and Social Security. Also, three-fifths of voters believe that the budget can be fixed just by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Bruce has posted a full run of polls, and their surprising conclusions, at The Fiscal Times. > Source: Recent Polls on Taxes and Spending BRUCE BARTLETT, Fiscal Times, April 15, 2011 http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Blogs/Bartletts-Notations/2011/04/15/Bartletts-Notations-Recent-Polls-on-Taxes-and-Spending.aspx

Senate Report on Financial Crisis: Video Issue Posted: 17 Apr 2011 04:00 AM PDT The Senate Committee Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs report | Permanent Investigations (C/Span): Senator Carl Levin(D-MI) and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) spoke to reporters and answered questions about a report on the causes of the 2008 financial crisis and recommend additional changes to financial laws. Among the findings, the report alleged fraudulent mortgage practices at the defunct Washington Mutual Bank, as well as failure to act by federal bank regulators despite their documented knowledge of severe problem at the bank. It also alleged conflicts of interest at credit rating agencies, and claimed Goldman Sachs profited greatly by betting against financial products they sold to clients. Hat tip Mark H

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