Delaware
Sunday Open Thread [7.28.13]
The NJ does a long piece today about the red-light camera industry here in Delaware. Most interesting is that Wilmington’s program seems most disconnected to any effort to increase traffic safety, even though safety data is available for analysis. I’m also intrigued by the fact that Wilmington operates its camera on a revenue-sharing basis with its contractors, while DelDOT does not. Revenue-sharing with an entity that is supposed to make money obviously changes the incentives for camera placement and enforcement, and is one more deal that Wilmington was willing to cut that doesn’t look like it was for the benefit of its taxpayers.
The Daily Delawhere for Saturday, July 27, 2013
From Governor Markell’s Flickr feed, here is the Governor and Miss Delaware 2013 Rebecca Jackson in a watermelon eating contest at the State Fair in Harrington.
Carney Votes Against Limits on Spying
Flea-bitten Hound Bites Man: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2013/roll412.xml Of course, the conspiracy theorists among us could, um, theorize that Carney cast his vote to make the Homeland Security job more attractive to Tom Carper, thus creating more political flexibility for John Carney. Me? Naah, it’s just yet another bad vote by an undistinguished, and flea-ridden, congress creature.
The Lottery and Gaming Study Commission = The Fix Is In to Bail Out Casinos
This study commission — created when the GA and the Governor decided to help improve the balance sheets of our local casinos who are being hurt by rising costs (who isn’t, really?) and by a failed competitive stance in a market where we are surrounded by a glut of gaming options. This Commission met for the first time on Tuesday — and tell me if you can spot why I think the fix is in:
The Delaware GOP Is Waiting for What?
The NJ had an article in Tuesday’s paper with this misleading title: Republicans wait as O’Donnell weighs another campaign. That title gives you the impression that there is something weighty and momentous going on here — that party leadership is somehow deferring to their local wingnut welfare grifter to give her first shot at running for the U.S. Senate against Chris Coons.
Carper and Coons Give a Big Thumbs Up to TBTF
And a big thumbs up to letting banks put the money in deposit accounts in the same kind of risky bets that their investment accounts are in. I can’t say that I’m too surprised at this — banks do own the road here — but I’m still appalled at this position. It is a position that is ONLY good for banks — the rest of us with deposit accounts (and who pay taxes) are definitely the losers here. Because the point of a Glass-Steagall 2 is to separate the deposit accounts (the only part of the banking business explicitly guaranteed by the feds), from the investment business (which is not insured). The point of Glass-Steagall 2 is to dismantle one more part of the TBTF scheme — specifically the part where banks get to privatize their profits and get to socialize their losses. Until taxpayers get a say in the risks (and get a cut of the benefits) of the TBTF business, taxpayers should not backstop what the banks do here.
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