Don't Quit Your Day Job…

Well, Newt Gingrich took down previous favorite Mitt Romney in a shocker in South Carolina. What can we say about the upset? These exit poll posts will continue until morale improves!

You can read the cross-tabs here.

Welcome to the Weekender, the highlight of everyone’s week! (And isn’t that what really disappoints you during the week- the fact that DQYDJ is so far away from posting another Weekender?)

Wikipedia, substituting for a dictionary, defines a longitudinal study as “a correlational research study that involves repeated observations of the same variables over long periods of time”. Contrast that with a cross-sectional study, which everyone’s favorite encyclopedia terms “a class of research method that involve observation of all of a population, or a representative subset, at one specific point in time.”

From Occupy Wall Street to Bank Transfer Day it seems like every time I turn on the TV there is another protest. Occupy Wall Street began in New York City and has gone viral around the globe.

A guest post from Paul at The Frugal Toad, the newest featured link on DQYDJ!

Last week, we gave you an interesting chart on political donations from Wall Street firms by election cycle, dating back to 2004. This week, we’ll follow it up with an equally interesting chart on the amount of investments in Wall Street firms (again, ‘Securities & Investments‘ from Open Secrets) by Democrats and Republicans. Read on to find how much the two parties invest in Wall Street!

Of note: an interesting report from Cumberland Advisors. An ETF that tracks the KBW Banking Index is up a whopping 145% since March 9. It consists mainly of bigger, national banks. With their ‘bigness’ also comes ‘too big to fail-ness’ and political connections. Smaller, regional banks are a totally different story.

The problem with the current rabble in the health care debate is the shift from talking about the actual facts to shooting at the straw men that Democrats and Republicans find easiest to negate. When the Speaker of the House calls a number of citizens Brooks Brothers wearing swastika-brandishing paid protesters instead of keeping on point, it really makes me question the aptitude of our current legislative branch. Yes; some protesters may be going too far in carrying out their dissent at town halls. The reason isn’t that they are nazis, Congresswoman Pelosi, it’s that they have a legitimate fear: that Government is going to step in and ruin something that is working well for them.

Got cash sitting on the sidelines? It may be time to move some of that cash into play, according to Mark Hulbert writing on Marketwatch.com. “Believe it or not, the stock market performs much better than average when Congress is not in session.”

Congress goes into recess on Friday; this could be your opportunity.

Nature is a fickle host. Between hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis and other natural disasters, she throws plenty of challenges at mankind. I’ve written previously about the false belief that a public option in health care reform won’t quickly crowd out private companies from the insurance market. I present to you a cautionary tale from the other side of the fence… a Republican Governor (and possible Presidential candidate in 2012) who is playing pickle with nature.

Next month, the minimum wage in America is going to raise from $6.55 an hour to $7.25 an hour. The $6.55 to $7.25 jump is the last of the increases to the minimum wage under the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. The minimum wage is a sexy law; politicians can stand hand in hand with the lowest income workers and say, “I’m fighting for you!”. Unfortunately, the low income workers are holding the hands that hold them down.