Tea Time

It was on this date in 1773 that the Boston Tea Party took place. Fortunately for the future of America, the populace at that time was not encumbered with Christmas shopping or sports on TV and could pay attention to public affairs.

In 1770, the British Parliament ended the Townshend Duties — taxes on the sale of lead, glass, paper, paints and tea — ended them for all but tea. The tax on British tea and a boycott of it in many of the colonies continued.

Tea was a hot commodity in the colonies, however, and considerable foreign tea was smuggled into America to avoid the tax. Some four-fifths of the tea consumed in America was brought in by smugglers.

In 1773 Parliament, in an effort to both prevent the bankruptcy of the East India Company and raise tax revenue, reduced the tea tax and gave the company a monopoly in the American tea business. The price of tea would be lower than smugglers could match, Americans would buy East India tea, the company would revive, and the tax, though lower, would be paid on vastly more tea. Win-win.

Read the rest of this entry.

December 16th

Born on this date were:

… Jane Austen (1775-1817). Best known for her novels about young women yearning to get married, she was never married.

… George Santayana (1863-1952). “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

… Margaret Mead (1901-1978). “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008). Clarke’s laws:

1. When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
2. The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
3. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

Broadcast journalist Lesley Stahl is 67.

TV producer Steven Bocho is 65.

Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top is 59.

Benjamin Bratt is 45.

Line of the day

“Seriously, we are in very deep trouble.”

Paul Krugman

ZIRP

That’s our acronym of the day: ZIRP.

It stands for Zero Interest Rate Policy.

That’s what the Fed did today when it announced a target range of 0 to .25 percent.

Since the Committee’s last meeting, labor market conditions have deteriorated, and the available data indicate that consumer spending, business investment, and industrial production have declined. Financial markets remain quite strained and credit conditions tight. Overall, the outlook for economic activity has weakened further.

In other words, “the Fed is scared right now. I mean really scared. And they will do anything even remotely possible right now,” says Hale “Bonddad” Stewart.

Put another way, “that’s the equivalent of ‘Abandon Ship! Every man, woman, and child for themselves!’” says Andrew Leonard.

Yank

So, in a comment, Avelino says: “So, no posts today thus far. Is this the appropriate time to start noting the lack of activity?”

Short answer: Yes.

Longer answer: I had a wisdom tooth pulled this morning and the tooth won.

Between pain and drugs this afternoon I am choosing drugs.