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RedditWhile most of official Washington was all hot and bothered about health care reform last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was paying attention to a far more serious concern.
The unemployment rate had spiked, moving into double digits for the first time in more than a quarter century.
Reid's response was the right one.
At this week's meeting of Senate Democrats, the majority leader announced plans to take up a new job-creation bill.
The Nevada Democrat has not yet made a formal announcement of the initiative, but senators who were present say that Reid outlined plans to move quickly to make passage of a jobs bill "one of the priorities" of the caucus.
Senators can walk and chew gum at the same time -- well, most of them can -- so it is possible to have more than one priority. Passing a better health care reform measure than the weak and in some cases profoundly-flawed bill that came out of the House must be one of them.
But, while health care reform is essential, the No. 1 issue in the country today is jobs. With unemployment officially at 10.2 percent, and realistically closer to 17 percent (when people who have given up looking for work or who are under-employed are added to the total), there is no more serious social, economic or political concern for congressional Democrats.
Reid read the results of the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, as did other savvy Democrats. They noted that voters in both states rated "jobs and the economy" as the top issue in the 2009 off-year election cycle, and that Republican candidates proved to be abler than expected at capturing the votes of those who were concerned about unemployment, factory closings and the general toll of a recession that may be easing on Wall Street but is still very real on Main Street.
Reid's not yet talking about a specific proposal.
But he is on the right track when he talks about making a jobs bill a priority. Indeed, it should be the top priority.
What kind of bill?
A big bold transportation infrastructure bill is one prospect. Reid could borrow a page form Congressman Pete De Fazio, the chairman of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. De Fazio voted against the $787 billion stimulus measure that the Congress passed earlier this year, warning that it contained too little funding for actual job creation -- and too much funding for tax breaks for wealthy Americans.
De Fazio has continued to press for passage of a meaningful measure that would have as its priority the repair of aging infrastructure and massive job creation. And he has developed smart, budget-friendly financing schemes for it.
Reid should also consider proposals to provide a tax credit for each new hire that businesses make, an approach that has attracted some favorable comment from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California.
Congress gives away so much money to corporations that tax credits are usually suspect. But the idea of establishing a credit targeted to job creation and strictly regulated so that it will not be abused has attracted the interest of Democratic senators from hard-hit industrial states.
"The Dow has broken 10,000, but unemployment is (over) 10 percent," says Senator Russ Feingold, D-Wisconsin, whose hometown of Janesville recently lost a General Motors plant and thousands of jobs. "(Jobless claim figures) reflect a growing level of unemployment that Congress should address... Some have floated the idea of a jobs tax credit as part of a package of proposals. I've discussed the idea of a jobs tax credit with a number of Wisconsin businesses and generally got a positive reaction. I'm open to considering this and other proposals that will help get people back to work."
Feingold's tougher on corporations than other senators, and that toughness is appropriate.
But Feingold, like Reid, recognizes that unemployment is the No. 1 issue in America. And the federal government needs to get serious - and creative - about addressing the human side of what for tens of millions of Americans remains a scorching recession.
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John Nichols
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So, after Reich, as the first prominent Lib to sound the obvious, then Newsweek, then Bob Shrum of the NYT.....now Harry Reid GETS IT.....ROTFLMAO!
Our oh-so-smart Magic and his team of Chicago whiz-kids, are just so eager to prove my favorite saying is the gospel of YOUR time:
Time is the Conservatives' friend!
Anybody seen the Gallup AND Rasmussen polls.....
Hopey and changey, have it your way!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 09:52am
An exercpt from Rand Simberg at Pajamas Media today, on the economy and jobs:
"The only problem with it is that Barack Obama is incapable of doing anything so smart, either as a campaigner or a president. Unlike Bill Clinton, Obama is a committed ideologue -- a man raised by Marxists and mentored as a youth by a communist, who sought out similar types in college by his own admission in the autobiography he may or may not have actually written himself. He's a man who ran on the ticket of an avowedly socialist party in the 1990s. He's a man who sat in the pew of a racist, anti-Semitic, America-hating demagogue for two decades with no objection, until he discovered that it was becoming inconvenient to his political goals. He's a man who has willfully marinated his entire life in an ugly stew of socialism, racialism, victimology, class warfare, and other "progressive" tropes fashionable in academia and elite America but abhorrent to many of the rest of us.
So it should be no surprise that Obama has no sensible solutions for stimulating the economy, and will brook none. He is no more capable of stimulating an economy than was Mao Tse-tung, the hero of one of his close advisers. And for exactly the same reasons."
===============================
Unless Magic repudiates who he is/was, his policies simply won't succeed! All he knows is redistribution and printing money!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 09:57am
He gets what? The fact is his policys KILL jobs and will not grow anything in the economy except debt and govt jobs is the thing he should "get"!!!
Instead, I believe in 2010 he will "get" his...
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 09:57am
UE for bachelor's degree or better: 4.7%...stay in school, kids!
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 09:57am
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 09:57am |
Overlooking the 'policies' of Gramm, Greenspan, and Bush aren't we?
All these unemployed folk HAD jobs before last year.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:02am
Some more Hopey and Changey jobs `stuff'....from the WSJ:
Pfizer (which I unloaded at $18 quite a few months ago) plans to eliminate 19,500 jobs (15%) after its acquisition of Wyeth and close 6 of 20 R&D sites. It has already closed its Ann Arbor site which developed Lipitor.
Merck & Co. closed its purchase of Schering-Plough last week and plans to cut 16,000 jobs (15%) in the next year or so.
Eli Lilly & Co. plans to drop 5,500 jobs (14%).
Johnson & Johnson (the only name-brand pharma I still own direct shares) said last week it plans to pare 8,200 jobs (7%).
All this should be good news for Libs as the hated pharma sector shrinks! My gift today.....as gold heads into another all-time high....yipee!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 10:16am
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 10:16am |
Gotta pay these salaries somehow...surely we can't ask our (former) equity holders to bear these costs:
John Lechleiter - Eli Lilly - $13M
Richard Clark - Merck - $14.5M
Jeffrey Kindler - Pfizer - $12.5M (piker!)
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:24am
The fact is his policys KILL jobs and will not grow anything in the economy except debt and govt jobs is the thing he should "get"!!!
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 09:57am
you finally understand reaganism!
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:24am
as gold heads into another all-time high....yipee!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 10:16am
humans are really dumb. gold is a useless, shiny rock.
http://blogs.ft.com/maverecon/2009/11/gold-a-six- thousand-year-old-bubble/
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:27am
This health care bill and "Cap-and-trade" are both huge job-killers. This is where to start the turn-around. You cant have it both ways!
Posted by balataf at 11/11/2009 @ 10:29am
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:27am |
So no fiat(sco) currencies...and no fiat commodities either.
On what WOULD you base an economy, Frosty?
-
Water?
-
Electrical energy?
-
Hugs?
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:34am
Food for thought:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/ 2009/game-theory.html
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:43am
Economic aid and loan guarantees for Israel offering some respite for some Americans - an expense free holiday in Israel, subsidized by the US taxpayer. Nice!
'U.S. Jews turn to Israel to escape bleak job market By Sangwon Yoon Sangwon Yoon Wed Nov 11, 7:17 am ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters Life!) – Jewish American math teacher Goldie Burdetsky never expected to find herself working the front desk of a hotel in southern Israel alongside management interns young enough to be her children.
"I mean, for God's sakes, I have a master's degree in education," said the 55-year-old New Yorker. "I expected to be able to find a teaching job in the U.S. without any problems. But I couldn't."
Burdetsky decided to escape the dire economic situation back home, by coming to Israel on a program that offers Jews free housing, Hebrew classes, training, and work experience -- all of which translate into temporary financial respite.
As the unemployment rate in the U.S. climbed to a 26-year high of 10.2 percent last month, growing numbers of young and adult American Jews were arriving in Israel to inexpensively "wait out" the economic lull.
In an attempt to lure diaspora Jews to make Israel their permanent home, the Israeli government and Jewish organizations offer a multitude of scholarships and travel grants, allowing many to spend up to six months in Israel almost for free.
The key aim is to safeguard a Jewish majority in a country where Arab citizens make up 20 percent of the population. In 2008, some 15,400 Jews immigrated to Israel, of whom 3,200 came from North America.
MASA, which means journey in Hebrew, oversees 160 such programs. It has seen the number of participants double and even quadruple this year, especially among those aged 21 to 30.'
Posted by OneVote at 11/11/2009 @ 10:55am
Again, as Happy and Jomama/Maasch will tell us...
if we just give billions in tax cuts to Exxon-Mobil and Bill Gates, we'll create MILLIONS of new jobs for....
uh....er....Windows programmers and gas station attendents, I guess??
Posted by Mask at 11/11/2009 @ 10:56am
you finally understand reaganism!
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:24am
20 million jobs were created under Reagan.
Obama will be lucky if he ever sees a net gain in jobs. His own economic advisors are forecasting any job growth for years to come.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 11:01am
gold is a useless, shiny rock.
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:27am
Perhaps! But if, down the road, I can sell my share of "useless, shiny rock" in GLD for more than I paid for, then it becomes most useful.....LOL!
BTW, same with tulips!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 11:01am
John Lechleiter - Eli Lilly - $13M
Richard Clark - Merck - $14.5M
Jeffrey Kindler - Pfizer - $12.5M (piker!)
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:24am
You've made NO case! Go see the market caps of those companies and tell me those 8-figure compensations are excessive.
How much does Oprah makes? George Clooney? How about bailed-out bankers? Goldman Sach's $20 Billion bonus pool set to go out?
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 11:04am
if we just give billions in tax cuts to Exxon-Mobil and Bill Gates, we'll create MILLIONS of new jobs for....
Posted by Mask at 11/11/2009 @ 10:56am
Do you have any idea of what's the highest paid job coming out of colleges (Bahelors)?
Petroleum Engineering at $110k....followed by Chemical at something like $90k!
Yeah, tax cuts to Exxon PLUS opening up all areas for exploration & production will create lots of high-paying jobs, even roughnecks pulling down $60k!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 11:07am
Harry Reid might "get it" in the narrow sense that he understands that its problematic for unemployment to be this high. But whether or not he "gets it" in the sense that he's proposing an effective remedy is a completely different issue.
Posted by nkurland at 11/11/2009 @ 11:09am
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/11-million-job-buffer-efficiency-and- part-time-workers-even-one-person-needs-be-rehired
eek!
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 11:13am
20 million jobs were created under Reagan.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 11:01am
haha!
Growth in per capita real GDP from 1950 to 1980: 2.2 percent per year Growth in per capita real GDP from 1980 to 2007: 2.0 percent per year
real median family income
Growth from 1950 to 1980: 2.3 percent per year Growth from 1980 to 2007: 0.7 percent per year
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 11:16am
Transportation infrustructure. We can take 10 million people and have them build light rail in the suburbs and then the project is complete (the the workers who built it are out of a job again) and the trains are empty, we can pay the people who built the useless trains to spend their days riding them.
Hoo boy, happy days are here again! Economic productivity here we come!
Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/11/2009 @ 11:31am
Growth from 1950 to 1980: 2.3 percent per year Growth from 1980 to 2007: 0.7 percent per year
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 11:16am
Hey frosty, see if you can find the population growth between 1950 to 1980 and the population growth from 1980 to 2007.
I think you might be surprised by what you find. I'm going to guess that those numbers are close to 2.3% and 0.7%.
Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/11/2009 @ 11:35am
gold is a useless, shiny rock.
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:27am
Not true, it's highly maleable (sp?) so it can be fashioned into jewerly and exchanged for sex.
It also conducts electricity very well.
Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/11/2009 @ 11:40am
John Lechleiter - Eli Lilly - $13M
Richard Clark - Merck - $14.5M
Jeffrey Kindler - Pfizer - $12.5M (piker!)
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:24am
You've made NO case! Go see the market caps of those companies and tell me those 8-figure compensations are excessive.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 11:04am | ignore this person | warn this person
Hap - how about "doing God's work" - as per Lloyd Blankfein - seems like an irrefutable argument.
Posted by OneVote at 11/11/2009 @ 12:02pm
Obama will be lucky if he ever sees a net gain in jobs. His own economic advisors are forecasting any job growth for years to come.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 11:01am
It took Reagan at least a year to start creating jobs after he took office. You haven't even given Obama the same amount of time. Despite the uproar and hoopla people are making about this. They refuse to see the point in all this. Job loss is stabilizing. Under Bush and when Obama first took office job loss was at 600,000 a month. Now we are down to 200,000. Most economists show this as proof that the economy is stabilizing. But not "blame the Democrat", Republicans like to paint this as proof that the policies aren't working. However they can't see two inches in front of their face so how would they know?
Maybe you should give Obama the same leeway you give Reagan.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:13pm
Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 11/11/2009 @ 11:35am
Easy enough.
YoY change in population is an exercise in estimates since the information is only collected every ten years, but you could look at the link below to see it is more or less steady of somewhere between 0.9 and 1.4 from 1960 to 2007.
If you want to run the averages, be my guest, but they aren't going to say what you'd like them to say.
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/09s0002.pdf
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 12:27pm
you finally understand reaganism!
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 10:24am
No, as much as you have no clue about Reaganism, you also have no clue about Obamism...
one needs to have a real job or run a real business to have an entry level understanding...and you are still getting to that step...but are not there yet. Keep playing..since that is what you do here..
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 12:28pm
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:13pm
Not to mention that that Volcker, Chairman of the Fed and appointed by Carter, had already done most of the hard work of tightening the money supply during the Carter administration. That's partly why everyone remembers Carter as being hard times, they were. Carter did the work, and Reagan came along after and claimed credit when he continued the same policies augmented by an enormous increase of government "defense" spending that was essentially a jobs program.
Apparently people like Darin prefer useless strategic missile defense over useless (to him) mass transit.
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 12:34pm
There is no recovery without well paying jobs, but I believe the economic and political establishment haven't get the message.They are pushing contract labor where businesses use workers that are "employed" by temporary agencies. They are still trying to drive down wages, and these wages support 70% of the American economy.
Posted by pjcasey at 11/11/2009 @ 12:34pm
Posted by OneVote at 11/11/2009 @ 12:02pm |
Never mind the tacit assumption that there's no one in the world who could replace those three for a mere 6 or 7-figure compensation package.
Sorry, not buying it.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:35pm
Harry Reid "gets it" because his job is up for filling and his state had over 13% unemployment. In Las Vegas, it's even higher.
I actually hope the lefties put up someone against him in the primary and give him a good scare.
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:38pm
Hopey and changey, have it your way!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 09:52am
I am HAPPY to remind you that it was conservative policies and two unpaid for wars that got us here. Oh, and who was it who gave us all of that? Happy's BFF, George W. Bush.
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:41pm
Maybe you should give Obama the same leeway you give Reagan.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:13pm
Bernanke and the Obama administration disagree with you.
<Unemployment will likely remain at historically high levels well beyond next year, Federal Reserve officials said Tuesday as they forecast a sluggish, jobless economic recovery that will be vulnerable to shocks.
Tight bank credit will make it especially difficult for small businesses to increase their payrolls even as the recovery progresses, the Fed officials said.>
http://tinyurl.com/y9ae6ok
<One of President Obama's top economic advisers warned on Thursday that the nation's unemployment is likely to climb above 10 percent by the middle of next year and that job growth will remain anemic through the end of 2010.
"Unemployment is likely to remain at its severely elevated level" through the end of next year, predicted Christina Romer, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisors, at a hearing of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.
And she warned that the rebound in jobs could actually be even slower than what White House officials and private forecasters are predicting. That was a sharp contrast to the Obama administration's forecast at the start of the year, which predicted that unemployment would not climb much above 8 percent and was widely criticized as unrealistic and too optimistic.
Though Ms. Romer said economic conditions have improved dramatically in the last six months, and that the $787 billion stimulus program had contributed to that improvement, she said the rebound in jobs could actually be even slower than what White House officials currently expect.>
http://tinyurl.com/yhew5c3
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 12:44pm
Posted by pjcasey at 11/11/2009 @ 12:34pm |
Why the push to temps and contractors?
Because they'll never form a union.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:44pm
Never mind the tacit assumption that there's no one in the world who could replace those three for a mere 6 or 7-figure compensation package.
Sorry, not buying it.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:35pm | ignore this person | warn this person
It is just gross. And half these bastards are criminals who put dangerous drugs out on the market, and scramble like criminals to defend against liability. Their tentacles reach into government pockets as well - with their ripoff of government subsidized healthcare such as Medicare and Medicaid - charging exorbitant prices. And, they suck in prostitute doctors who push their drugs.....
I could rant and rave all day.
Take a look at litigation against Merck and Pfizer recently. Happy's Heroes indeed! Man....what a hustler this guy is.
What's that Johnny Winter song? -
Hustled Down in Texas
Yeah!................
Posted by OneVote at 11/11/2009 @ 12:52pm
Hopey and changey, have it your way!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 09:52am
I am HAPPY to remind you that it was conservative policies and two unpaid for wars that got us here. Oh, and who was it who gave us all of that? Happy's BFF, George W. Bush.
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:41pm | ignore this person | warn this person
It's all noise.
No RATIONAL profit-maximizer qualified to make money in any type of environment and who is really doing as well as our friend HAPP would do the nonstop bitching he does on BHO. After 8 years of a dry-drunk former frat boy running the country into war and economic ruin. Not when he's making money off this man.
Again, as a PROFIT MIXIMIZER, what does he care about policy, otherwise? Aesthetics, perhaps?
Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/11/2009 @ 12:55pm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 12:44pm |
1976......7.7 1977......7.1 1978......6.1 1979......5.8 (that evil Jimminy....reducing UE)
1980......7.1 -->Enter RayGun 1981.......7.6 1982......9.7 (you are here) 1983......9.6 1984......7.5 1985......7.2
So...we shouldn't harp on Obama cleaning up the Bush catastrophuck until...late 2011 at the earliest?
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:56pm
MIXIMIZER? I like it. Think I'll keep it.
Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/11/2009 @ 12:57pm
I wonder if The Nation knows that today is Veteran's Day?
Posted by gunslinger1 at 11/11/2009 @ 1:02pm
http://www.history.com/content/wwii-in-hd/?promo2
Check it out.
Posted by gunslinger1 at 11/11/2009 @ 1:06pm
There will be no job creation until we start making products here in the USA again. The "global economy" has created jobs for much of the rest of the world, not for us.
Only the propaganda hucksters like Happy & the corporate oligarchs are satisfied with the present system. We are on a road leading to nowhere.
Curtail most imports now & start the process of rebuilding our economy. Pretending that consumer & capital goods are toxic & are "beneath us" is a continuing recipe for disaster.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 1:36pm
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 11:07am
Okay, HAPP, since "nobody knows energy as much as you"....give Exxon-Mobil a TOTAL tax credit. Zero Federal taxes to be paid from now on.
how many millions of jobs would they add in a year?...two years?....five?
Posted by Mask at 11/11/2009 @ 1:38pm
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:56pm
what you leave out is what it took to break the out of control inflation and high interest rates that Carter brought us. His last year in office the inflation had climbed to nearly 14% from 6.5% when he took office
After 4 years Reagan had inflation back down to 3.5% and we've not seen high inflation return.
http://tinyurl.com/6b5jm
the Prime Interest rate went from just over 6% at the start of the Carter Admin to almost 21% when Reagan took office. 4 years after Reagan took office it was down to about 11%
http://mortgage-x.com/trends.htm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 1:47pm
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 1:36pm
You own/owned a book store, right? For some reason, I read this and thought of you.
http://www.believermag.com/issues/200310/?read=barthelme_syllabus#
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 2:05pm
Whoever bangs the Reagan drum either didn't live through that HELL or was lucky enough to be rich. I moved to an area, because of a job loss, in 1985 and had to take a CUT in salary. Try living on less in an area where the housing is 4X what you were paying previously! His era was the defining moment for the destruction of the Middle Class not to mention what he did to the Poor, Disabled, and Mentally Ill! Please don't forget what Nixon and Ford did to the Nation that Carter had to deal with. Peace with Honor? WIN buttons? Watergate?
Posted by sickoftheright at 11/11/2009 @ 2:20pm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 1:47pm |
That inflation / those interest rates came from:
- LBJ's spending on Vietnam
- Nixon's wage/price control manipulation
- Nixon's letting our currency float
- OPEC
...in increasing order of relevance.
Which of those can you lay at Carter's feet again?
Historical graph of CPI:
http://tinyurl.com/ykgbe2k
Note the obvious spikes each time we have a war.
If you disagree, then what policies of Carter's do you believe were different from Nixon/Ford which led to the inflation?
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 2:22pm
On what WOULD you base an economy, Frosty?
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:34am
me? trees.
but humans are stupid and greedy so they'd want to devalue their currency.
alas.
and so, a basket of say 30 useful commodities.
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 2:35pm
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 12:28pm
oh, fuck off.
you've no clue.
reagan was a farce.
obama is a wannabe reagan.
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 2:37pm
Volcker
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 12:34pm
an american hero.
and now, sidelined by the obamanaughts.
reagan was a doofus.
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 2:39pm
After 4 years Reagan had inflation back down to 3.5% and we've not seen high inflation return.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 1:47pm
hahahahaha!!!!!!!!!
now, that's funny.
Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 2:41pm
and so, a basket of say 30 useful commodities. Posted by frosty zoom at 11/11/2009 @ 2:35pm |
Now you're talkin' my language.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 2:42pm
Yo, Frosty....thought this might give you a laugh; the best part starts at about 1:50 into the vid.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/ Music/11/10/flea.conservatory/index.html
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 2:55pm
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 2:22pm
You won't find me defending Nixon or Ford's domestic policies. Nixon was a Rockefeller Liberal and Ford was really just a caretaker president who didn't do anything to stop the wave of domestic and entitlement spending begun by LBJ.
But Carter defeated Ford based upon his campaign lies (promises) to reform welfare, and control spending. He failed miserably and tripled inflation by the time he left office.
Time Magazine, March 1980
<As Jimmy Carter stepped before the television cameras in the East Room of the White House last Friday, his task was not just to proclaim another new anti-inflation program but to calm a national alarm that had begun to border on panic. Inflation and interest rates, both topping 18%, are so far beyond anything that Americans have experienced in peacetime--and so far beyond anything that U.S. financial markets are set up to handle--as to inspire a contagion of fear. Usually confident businessmen and bankers have begun talking of Latin American-style hyperinflation, financial collapse, major bankruptcies, a drastic drop in the American standard of living. Speaking earnestly and somberly, Carter opened by stating that "persistent high inflation threatens the economic security of our country," and that "this dangerous situation calls for urgent measures." He admitted in effect that the budget he submitted in January, which called for a deficit of $15.8 billion and which he termed at the tune "prudent and responsible," had become obsolete in only seven weeks. But the troubles had been building up for more than a decade, said Carter, and they could be traced largely to "our failure in Government, as individuals and as a society to live within our means.">
continued
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 2:59pm
Carter continued
<Glossing over his own record of rapidly rising spending and huge deficits, both of which contradicted his firm campaign pledges of 1976, he proclaimed his born-again fiscal faith:
For all the urgency of the issue and the careful orchestration of the Administration's response, Carter's actual program followed an all too familiar pattern of hesitant and belated steps toward a worthy goal. And a great deal of it had been too extensively leaked in advance to have much psychological effect.
Even so, the spending cuts apparently do not touch the fastest-growing portion of the budget, the major "entitlement" programs--Social Security, veterans' benefits, unemployment compensation --which are considered politically sacrosanct. Nor will the spending reductions by themselves balance the budget. If Congress and the Administration proceeded on the January plan, the $15.8 billion deficit originally estimated would swell to $25 billion or even $30 billion, according to estimates of the Congressional Budget Office. Main reason: inflation is raising the bills that the Government pays.
Otto Eckstein, a member of TIME'S Board of Economists, declared: "I think the President has made a complete reversal of his economic policy, for the better. He has gone from three years of greatly excessive budget deficits and excessive money supply expansion to a conservative regime of budget balancing and limited credit growth.">
continued
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 3:02pm
Carter continued
<Carter's program is open to serious question on some other grounds. Controls on credit-card debt, in the opinion of many economists, will have only a marginal impact on inflation. The wage-price guidelines have been very ineffective, and there is little reason to think their impact will increase. And the Administration's fee on imported oil will immediately force up further the item that is already rising faster than anything else in the consumer price index. Gasoline prices went up 60% between early 1979 and early 1980 (see chart).>
http://tinyurl.com/5ndqmf
Carter was elected promising to regain control of our country's budget. Instead he increased the deficits, increased govt spending, and created little confidence in govt.
Sounds like Obama
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 3:04pm
Unless Magic repudiates who he is/was, his policies simply won't succeed! All he knows is redistribution and printing money!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 09:57am | ignore this person | warn this person
really hap? the problem is...
OBAMA'S A COMMERNIST!!!!!!
gosh gee golly! good to see the gop is churning out new and relevant stuff these days!!!
"not OUR fault!" they cry, "no!!! its them socialist demoncrats!!! sure we were in power, but you see, the problem is, we never had a chance to implement ALL our brilliant CATO stamped ideas!!!"
goddamned commernists!!! EVERYWHERE!!!!!
Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/11/2009 @ 3:04pm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 2:59pm |
You haven't responded to my argument at all....Carter didn't cause the inflation for which you're blaming him.
Inflation went from 1% in '61 to 11% and then 9.1% BEFORE Carter took office, due to the factors listed above.
You can't blow money out your ass with a MIC jobs program for nearly two decades with loose monetary policy and not expect inflation to skyrocket.
The man was only in office for four f'ing years.
Your revisionist history may be a salve for you since you were as ravaged by the effects of same as my parents were during that time, but it's BS.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 3:09pm
Carter was elected promising to regain control of our country's budget. Instead he increased the deficits, increased govt spending, and created little confidence in govt.
Sounds like Obama"----Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 3:04pm
Doesn't that sound like REAGAN?
Reagan promised to eliminate Carter's "huge deficits"...he did the opposite.
He promised to cut govt spending....he created a NEW Cabinet department, increased Federal employees, and signed a highway works bill to create jobs in 1983.
And with the Grover Norquist "drown it in a bathtub" and "We're from the Govt and we're here to help" jokes.....reduced confidence in the government.
Posted by Mask at 11/11/2009 @ 3:13pm
Posted by Mask at 11/11/2009 @ 3:13pm | ignore this person | warn this person
GUBBAMINT BAD! GUBBAMINT BAD! SOCIALISTS! COMMERNISTS! WE'RE SO SMART!!! STUPID OLD JIMMY CARTER!!!
still not hearing much new from the right yet...
Posted by ibbleblibble at 11/11/2009 @ 3:25pm
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 3:09pm
The 11% inflation was caused by the OPEC oil embargo initiated in October 1973 because of US support for Israel. I live through that time of gas rationing and buying gas on odd or even days depending on your license plate.
OPEC raised prices by 400%
Furthermore, you had a similar scenario again to Carter and Obama. The Oil embargo helped produce a severe recession. Coupled with loss of federal revenue and no spending controls, the deficit climbed quickly to a record high (sound familiar).
As to the MIC, both Nixon and Ford actually reduced defense spending from the LBJ years.
The Defense budget was 449.3 billion in 1968 and 283.8 billion in 1976.
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0904490.html
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 3:28pm
"Do you have any idea of what's the highest paid job coming out of colleges (Bahelors)? "
Proofreader?
Posted by FGFM at 11/11/2009 @ 3:47pm
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 2:05pm
You flatter me Jenkins. Thanks for the article.
As a former bookseller, starting out as not particularly well read & advancing steadily with the years into an adequate acquaintance with the trade & thus alleviating my boredom & long held suffering & in the process developing an independence & a compelling will to live & having met my wife within those bookstore walls, here I stand.
And neither am I what a former girl friend jokingly compared me to once while we were on a nature walk. A crane was standing one-legged, head down, in a shallow inlet, waiting for prey. "That's you," she said. We laughed.
But the treasure hunt has blossomed into more than a mechanism for survival, it has become a thirst for knowledge & art for its own sake & I have become in the process, a political creature in earnest.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 3:57pm
Once more, grateful thanks to all of my fellow Vets and this is especially for those who have fallen in the line of duty to this great country.
http://tinyurl.com/yg2dp2p
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 4:17pm
A jobs tax credit is putting the cart before the horse. The previous stimulus package was less effective than it could have been because it was all ginned up for political reasons. A jobs tax credit is another lame political move that will be a gift to businesses while doing little to stimulate the economy even as it increases the deficit. Trade policies (lopsided), cheap labor policies, wacko tax cuts are the reason Americans went on an unsustainable borrowing spree. And all that irresponsible borrowing was encouraged because it was the only way to sustain economic growth. If Democrats don't confront the causes of the economic meltdown, if they don't reverse the poisonous policies which have systematically undermined middle class wages, who the fuck will?
Posted by Buddy33 at 11/11/2009 @ 4:19pm
Curtail most imports now & start the process of rebuilding our economy. Pretending that consumer & capital goods are toxic & are "beneath us" is a continuing recipe for disaster. Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 1:36pm | ignore this person | warn this person
why not bring back horse and buggy?
this is just an absurd suggestion, and impossible to boot.
Posted by emile duBois at 11/11/2009 @ 4:27pm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 3:28pm |
The embargo caused cost-push INFLATION...not just a recession. EVERYthing in our economy is sensitive to the price of transport which is sensitive to the price of oil...as we saw with the Goldman spike recently.
The harvest failures of '72 and '74 caused demand-pull inflation for imported food.
Nixon caused wage/price inflation by Dicking(tm) with price controls.
He also let our currency float...do you think that was good for inflation?
Why didn't cutting the cap gains rate in '78 make a difference? (the astute will note that this was McCain's idea of a solution during the campaign)
Why didn't deregulation of the airlines and trucking industries help? (it should have)
I'll grant you that Carter's not tightening the fiscal belt may have contributed to minimal demand-pull inflation, but the damage was already done and the alternative would've been unemployment on a scale that would make the depression look like a cakewalk.
You're blaming Carter for a problem he didn't create (or fix all that well, before Volcker's appointment) just like Obama is being blamed for the failures of previous administrations now (and not fixing all that well...thus far).
Sooner or later you'll need to admit that spending money on wars is a recipe for later economic disaster...it was that way with the Continental, the Greenback, and after WWI...each and every time, we let our currency float because we had no choice in the matter.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 4:27pm
antisocialist is a real asshole
Posted by kirquaker at 11/11/2009 @ 4:37pm
Posted by emile duBois at 11/11/09 @ 4:27pm
No horse & buggy. Bring back the flat screen tv & the micro wave oven.
Beats supplying the MICC.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 4:50pm
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 3:57pm
It's posts like these that keep me coming here. Real, personal, a sense of a life in a few short paragraphs. Thank you.
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 4:58pm
antisocialist is a real asshole
Posted by kirquaker at 11/11/2009 @ 4:37pm
who can argue with such a detailed and authoritative response like that?
Why is it so many liberals (not all, there are actually some here who do engage in true debate), like our newest mental midget, begin every argument with a one line ad hominem. At least introduce yourself and explain your position with a reasoned defense (or attack). But come one here like some 13 yr old trying to sound adult and you get laughed off of the board.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 5:08pm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 12:44pm
Maybe the reason they disagree with me is because politically they have to cover their asses unlike economists. Some of the more optimistic economists believe that job growth could start as early as December some are saying early next year.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 5:25pm
Posted by srjenkins at 11/11/2009 @ 4:58pm
SR, You've always amazed me with your analytical depth & fearless delivery. I never fail to read your posts. Thank you.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 5:36pm
Why is it so many liberals (not all, there are actually some here who do engage in true debate), like our newest mental midget, begin every argument with a one line ad hominem. At least introduce yourself and explain your position with a reasoned defense (or attack). But come one here like some 13 yr old trying to sound adult and you get laughed off of the board.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 5:08pm
As opposed to conservatives who end on a line of ad hominiem.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 5:36pm
Why is it so many liberals (not all, there are actually some here who do engage in true debate), like our newest mental midget, begin every argument with a one line ad hominem. At least introduce yourself and explain your position with a reasoned defense (or attack). But come one here like some 13 yr old trying to sound adult and you get laughed off of the board.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 5:08pm
As opposed to conservatives who end on a line of ad hominiem.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 5:36pm
I am HAPPY to remind you that it was conservative policies and two unpaid for wars that got us here.
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:41pm
So, liberal policies and two unpaid for wars under Magic is even faster-acting, nice!
Why don't you Libs acknowledge the obvious. The ONE BIG THING that is ALL OBAMA, is the $787 Billion Pork Fiasco and he blew it....flat out overpromised and grossly, I mean GROSSLY, under-delivered. Sadly for Magic, the American people know this!
You also don't give any credit for folks realizing that Bush's deficits, the worst of which in `08 is but one-third of Magics' first-year, bought something tangible....no domestic attacks since 9/11 and an Iraq that's looking up. What do we get today in the era of Magic? The first terrorist attack under jis watch in just 10 months.....long live Political Correctness!
Know the old saying....quacks like a duck, waddles like a duck....assume it's a duck and PC be damned!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 5:55pm
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/6Economy.htm
This guy seems to disagree with you one the amazing job creation of the Reagan era.
Posted by Cccomfo1 at 11/11/2009 @ 5:58pm
Tax credits? More stimulus to create jobs?
I'll believe Reid and the Senate get it when they fund it. Once again, this is toothless unless you do something about the black hole of a military defense budget and two dumb occupations.
Posted by TheAfterParty at 11/11/2009 @ 5:59pm
....as a PROFIT MIXIMIZER, what does he care about policy, otherwise? Aesthetics, perhaps?
Posted by schnellerheinz at 11/11/2009 @ 12:55pm
While I have my preferences on policy, the key to profit maximizing is consistently able to predict the policies made by those with the power & not those with the brains.
Obama opened himself like a book w/the auto cramdowns of bond holders and spread himself wide open after HIS Congress rammed through the Pork Bill. That set in motion how I intended to Profit Maximize under his watch....so far, it's beautiful! IF Magic stays who he was/is, I might even beat my personal best in 2003...that said, next year's going to be ugly, unless he becomes a supply-sider (which I am not counting on).
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:04pm
We are on a road leading to nowhere.
Posted by Sorelish at 11/11/2009 @ 1:36pm
That "We", do not include me and more and more others.
Your Messiah made a very clear road map and those who know how to map read, took the road less traveled a year ago, beginning Nov. 4th `09....but my road is now increasing crowded as more and more, mostly the Indies and conned Repubs, take leave of the Magic Brick Road.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:08pm
Okay, HAPP, since "nobody knows energy as much as you"....give Exxon-Mobil a TOTAL tax credit. Zero Federal taxes to be paid from now on.
how many millions of jobs would they add in a year?...two years?....five?
Posted by Mask at 11/11/2009 @ 1:38pm
I guarantee that given $787 Billion, Exxon and its peers & near-peers, will create in excess of 1 million REAL jobs.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:11pm
the Prime Interest rate went from just over 6% at the start of the Carter Admin to almost 21% when Reagan took office. 4 years after Reagan took office it was down to about 11%
http://mortgage-x.com/trends.htm
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 1:47pm
Late in 1979, October I think, I had a purchase contract to buy a newly-built house. I had locked my mortgage at 9.875% on application.
At the Closing, the loan docs showed 11.875%! I refused to close and got what I bargained for.
Not long after that, 30-year rates went up & peaked at almost 17%!!!! It's mind-boggling that there were people actually signing those mortgages......but sure made me feel `smart'. I still own that house.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:16pm
Whoever bangs the Reagan drum either didn't live through that HELL or was lucky enough to be rich.....His era was the defining moment for the destruction of the Middle Class....
Posted by sickoftheright at 11/11/2009 @ 2:20pm
You sound like a sick LOSER!
I was making ~$22/$23k when Carter left office. When Reagan left office, I was making ~$60k, gotten married, had my first kid and were solidly Middle Class. Lots of Boomers were just like me....and we consumed a lot of stuff!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:21pm
If Democrats don't confront the causes of the economic meltdown, if they don't reverse the poisonous policies which have systematically undermined middle class wages, who the fuck will?
Posted by Buddy33 at 11/11/2009 @ 4:19pm
The Dems "confront the causes of the economic meltdown" every morning in front of the mirror in the Fannie & Freddie Bathrooms where money are flushed down the toilets. Now, they have the solution......flushing money down the toilet in the FHA Bathroom.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:25pm
Why the push to temps and contractors?
Because they'll never form a union.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 12:44pm
snowball, that's a HUGE issue in the temp industry right now....
However, another point is that the temp companies have to take on paying for the healthcare, etc. for all these contractors and the companies only have to pay a mark-up to the temp agencies. But as jobs are harder to find, even the temp agencies are having issues with trying to keep up with the healthcare costs for what are sometimes itinerant employees at best....
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/11/2009 @ 6:28pm
But come one here like some 13 yr old trying to sound adult and you get laughed off of the board.
Posted by antisocialist at 11/11/2009 @ 5:08pm
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
(looking for Larry.....)
Did it work? Is he gone?
Posted by Stephen_Carver1 at 11/11/2009 @ 6:34pm
The Dems "confront the causes of the economic meltdown" every morning in front of the mirror in the Fannie & Freddie Bathrooms where money are flushed down the toilets. Now, they have the solution......flushing money down the toilet in the FHA Bathroom.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:25pm | ignore this person | warn this person
It is always a real treat to read threads about the leftist Demoncrats job creation "theology" since its a "religion" they know nothing about!
First they spend time social engineering a catostrophic economic collapse of financial, banking, and the mortgage industry for 40+ years that they controled congress until 1994.
Then spend 12 yrs fighting any efforts to correct the impending disaster and when it finally occurs spend all their waking hours blaming republican presidents.
Now they can't clean up the mess they have made being unwilling to admit fault and end the P.C. entitlements that brought on the disaster since it would also destroy their voting base they are losing anyway! They are creating the "perfect storm" of voter rejection of their party for 2010 and 2012!
Posted by BigPasture at 11/11/2009 @ 7:19pm
WPA
Work Projects Administration
The only thing that makes this a small (d) depression and not a big (D) depression is that fact the USA government issues checks monthly to the retired workers who immediately spent it.
Tax credits are the Reagan acolytes' way of wasting money. We need direct hire jobs straight away so the money flows right into the economy.
Teachers are but one example of the hires that can be done directly.
Let's see if you folks can think of the other fifty job categories for direct hire.
Give it a go!
Posted by Scott_ffolliott at 11/11/2009 @ 7:21pm
Posted by sickoftheright at 11/11/2009 @ 2:20pm
You missed the largest economic expansion in the history of mankind?
What the hell do you do for a living?
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 8:41pm
"Teachers are but one example of the hires that can be done directly. "
The union might want to have a chat with you.
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/11/2009 @ 8:43pm
Teachers are but one example of the hires that can be done directly. Posted by Scott_ffolliott at 11/11/2009 @ 7:21pm | ignore this person | warn this person
The federal government does not hire teachers and their funding of state education is almost nonexistent. Just like state governments they pass legislation but don' t fund the required changes leaving the schools holding the bag. That is a dead end street!
Posted by BigPasture at 11/11/2009 @ 9:46pm
With growing recognition of the BIG issue of Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!.....
Could the solution lie in BIG part, on Deport! Deport! Deport!
This Great Recession has cost over 8 million Jobs! Now, isn't it nice that we have somewhere around 12~15 million illegal aliens....what if we Deport half of them?
Only a Dem administration can implement this (like Welfare Reform had to be done by a Dem) and gain Bi-Partisan political points with most Americans; most especially, Black Americans who are most impacted by the overflowing supply of low-skill illegal labor.
Think of it.....a black POTUS who actually took on this enormous task to benefit Black Americans and at the same time, score major points with a large majority of non-Black Americans!
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 10:02pm
Hey, Libs....your man's inaction is getting pretty sickening! From Power Line:
More dithering
November 11, 2009 Posted by Paul (Mirengoff) at 9:12 PM
The AP is reporting...Obama "does not plan to accept any of the Afghanistan war options....pushing instead for revisions to clarify how and when U.S. troops would turn over responsibility to the Afghan government."....Obama has no intention of fighting to win in Afghanistan, as he promised during the presidential campaign. A battle plan that includes provisions for how and when the U.S. can extricate itself from the field is a blueprint for defeat, not victory.
The pretext for Obama's decision to return to the drawing board is a report from...ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, who has expressed misgivings about...the leadership of... Karzai...The success of our troops is not contingent on Karzai's leadership. The Afghan leadership that matters is that of the local leaders...But what matters most is our determination to protect civilians in these areas. Obama, it seems, lacks that determination.
If...Karzai poses the obstacle to success that Eikenberry perceives, Obama should decide not to send in any more troops and should seriously consider bringing home the troops...But, per AP...this is not what the president has in mind. Instead, he reportedly is leaning towards adding 30,000 or more U.S. forces. Half would fight and the other half would train and hold ground. And, as noted, there would be some sort of provision to "clarify" when the U.S. would bug out.
So let's get this straight: Karzai is too pathetic to justify sending in the 40,000 troops Obama's hand-picked commander wants but sufficiently able to justify sending in 30,000.
As weak war leaders go, Karzai takes a back-seat to President Obama.
Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 10:36pm
I expect the Obamanation to use his "Hondurus" diplomatic strategy on Afganhistan soon;.... you know, side with the taliban, Al Queada, and Iran against Karizi demanding they let the Taliban leaders and Osama back in the country to rule with the kind of "demoncratic" rule he and the Demoncrats are exercising in D.C. now!
Posted by BigPasture at 11/11/2009 @ 10:56pm
To all the Reagan fetishists...
It is no longer 1981.
But, that bridge you drive over every day probably hasn't been maintained properly since then...
We got a lot of ships, tanks and warplanes that were never used while our infrastructure was patched, painted over, jerry rigged and neglected.
You can squawk about socialism and evil FDR while that bridge collapses under your feet.
Bedtime for Bonzo.
Posted by koroviev at 11/11/2009 @ 11:39pm
Posted by snowball777 at 11/11/2009 @ 10:02am:
You mean all those folks had jobs 'before' this year. Unless anti-business policies are revoked (the threat of crap -n- tax is just one), this thing will just sink lower and lower. The monster from the house (the health care destroyer bill) is another job killer because it threatens many businesses in the near future, making it unlikely anyone wants to expand. Lets face it, you lefties have really screwed the pooch on the economy. People are getting so pissed off you cannot imagine the retribution heading down the tracks. You should listen to some real business men and women like... oh well, you won't so why bother - you are too blinded by your socialist/Marxist ideology.
Posted by pyeatte at 11/12/2009 @ 12:31am
you lefties have really screwed the pooch on the economy.
Posted by pyeatte at 11/12/2009 @ 12:31am
So, GW Bush and Phil Graham are lefties.
Don't revise history. the downward spiral occurred in the fall of '08; before Obama was elected.
Funny how GM's largess towards the UAW with costly benefit packages made GM a dinosaur that couldn't compete with the Japanese.
But, now govt. health care like the Germans and Japanese have would kill expansion.
Posted by koroviev at 11/12/2009 @ 01:11am
America is borrowing from it's past as well as it's future...
The infrastructure we've inherited is crumbling.
http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/
The work is there, the jobs are there...
We just have to pay for it.
Posted by koroviev at 11/12/2009 @ 01:22am
They are creating the "perfect storm" of voter rejection of their party for 2010 and 2012!
Posted by BigPasture at 11/11/2009 @ 7:19pm
The American public couldn't vote themselves out of a wet paper bag.
Appx. half of them don't even bother to vote let alone care. They are more concerned with their cell phone area coverage or producing a new inane tweet.
Posted by koroviev at 11/12/2009 @ 01:41am
Funny how GM's largess towards the UAW with costly benefit packages made GM a dinosaur that couldn't compete with the Japanese.
yeah, blame the unions, as if Japan did not have unions. it has been reported that the Japanese auto workers have similar benefits and pay as their American unionized counterparts.
we could not compete because our consumers preferred Japanese cars. you put the cart before the horse.
Posted by emile duBois at 11/12/2009 @ 08:15am
Santi and Droopy-Where are the jobs going to come from? Where is our manufacturing base? When did the culture of big money executives start? The real messiah for you two guys started it .The great mouthpiece for "Big" money started the anti middle class train down the hill.That is the difference between Ron And Barack. Ron had a manufacturing sector to fall back on,Barack's is in China.The culture has changed,Ron's savings and loan crisis saw hundreds jailed.Our current banking and housing theft has seen how many prosecutions?We now are too big to fail.What are the great mega corporations doing to help the American economy. Let's see, they are downsizing and gaining a larger profit through effiency. Meanwhile ,the conservatives are clapping their hands at Obama's jobs dilemma.The Dow has gone over 10,000 on the good news unemployment is at 10.2. This mess whether conservatives want to admit it started in 2003. That was when GWB and Dick went all in on 21st century nation building. It was this legacy which helped along our economic drain called war borrowing.It couldn't stop there however, the base had to be pandered to with a tax cut.Now there is the neo-con daily double.I will tell you conservatives that now you can go watch your favorite T.V. show "So who wants to be a Millionaire". Then when it is over you can criticize Obama for not having the "free" trade jobs that started leaving in the 80's and now we are begging for in the new milennium.
Posted by whatozz at 11/12/2009 @ 08:19am
"I guarantee that given $787 Billion, Exxon and its peers & near-peers, will create in excess of 1 million REAL jobs."----Posted by Happy at 11/11/2009 @ 6:11pm
"and its peers & near-peers"....wasn't my question, was it, Happy...and you know it.
How many jobs will hundreds of millions in tax cuts to Exxon-Mobil BY ITSELF....create?
Come on now, remember?
"There isn't anyone on this board that knows more about energy than I do...."----Posted by HAPPY3 at 06/2/2008
Posted by Mask at 11/12/2009 @ 09:00am
The work is there, the jobs are there...
We just have to pay for it.
Posted by koroviev at 11/12/2009 @ 01:22am
Correction! It's not "We", it will be almost entirely be paid for by our children and their children and likely forever as a permanent burden just to keep up with the interests.
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 09:15am
The following article expresses my spot-on predictions of how Obamanomic (aka Magicnomics) is playing out. IF you're serious about your investing future, read it!
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2009/11 /11/more_stimulus_equals_more_unemployment_97 503.html
(remove the two spaces in http)
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 09:18am
Come on now, remember?
"There isn't anyone on this board that knows more about energy than I do...."----Posted by HAPPY3 at 06/2/2008
Posted by Mask at 11/12/2009 @ 09:00am
My results so far this year, only buttresses that `08 statement!
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 09:18am
This is for the idiot who wanted to increase the teachers in the system we now have...
Go union school system!! Its working!!Creating a permament Obam/voting voting class.
"Hunter College, at Lexington Ave.
More city kids are graduating from high school, but that doesn't mean they can do college math.
Basic algebra involving fractions and decimals stumped a group of City University of New York freshmen - suggesting city schools aren't preparing them, a CUNY report shows.
"These results are shocking," said City College Prof. Stanley Ocken, who co-wrote the report on CUNY kids' skills. "They show that a disturbing proportion of New York City high school graduates lack basic skills."
During their first math class at one of CUNY's four-year colleges, 90% of 200 students tested couldn't solve a simple algebra problem, the report by the CUNY Council of Math Chairs found. Only a third could convert a fraction into a decimal.
The lack of math skills means the CUNY students - nearly 70% of which come from city schools - could struggle to keep up with peers, fail classes or even drop out, the professors charged. ....."
Posted by YourJomamma at 11/12/2009 @ 10:02am
Posted by pyeatte at 11/12/2009 @ 12:31am | Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 09:18am |
Note the TIMING of the recession's start...
<The three-month moving average (TMMA) of changes in total employment began a serious decline in FEBRUARY 2007. It went into negative territory two months later. This indicator has now been negative for the PAST 21 MONTHS. During this time, total employment has declined by more than 8 million jobs.>
Now...do our trickle-down faithful truly believe that not passing the stim-u-less and providing tax cuts (like there's anywhere left to cut after Dubya in the first place) will really inspire these corporations to create jobs in the face of NO DEMAND from a nation living off of what is left of its plastic and weighing the decision to hand over their keys and walk away?
Do you think that a collapsed GM and Chrysler would have somehow created jobs?!
<The massive sales of U.S. Treasury bonds to finance "stimulus", bailouts, and other government spending is sucking capital out of the private sector and destroying jobs.>
This is retarded at best...people are hedging against inflation and have no better (read: corporate) place to put their money in light of NO DEMAND.
I'll agree that the stimulus hasn't been rolled out fast enough and that it was mis-targeted to areas of the economy which don't need the most help, but I've yet to hear a sane alternative from across the aisle.
Maybe you guys like being pee'd on with champagne-scented illusions, but I'll pass, thanks.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/12/2009 @ 10:03am
To all the Reagan fetishists...
It is no longer 1981.
But, that bridge you drive over every day probably hasn't been maintained properly since then...
We got a lot of ships, tanks and warplanes that were never used while our infrastructure was patched, painted over, jerry rigged and neglected. You can squawk about socialism and evil FDR while that bridge collapses under your feet.
Bedtime for Bonzo.
Posted by koroviev at 11/11/2009 @ 11:39pm
It's not the fault of Reagan. What is Congress doing with the Highway Trust Fund? Are you telling me that we cannot adequately maintain roads and bridges on 35 Billion dollars a year?
<In common usage, the term Highway Trust Fund normally refers to the highway account. As mentioned earlier, the primary revenue sources for these accounts are the 18.4-cent-per-gallon tax on gasoline and a 24.4-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel. Although there are other sources of revenue for the trust fund, these fuel taxes provide about 90% of the income to the funds.
Therefore, approximately $35.28 billion of FY2008 revenues would be from fuel taxes.>
http://tinyurl.com/yf3qxat
Posted by antisocialist at 11/12/2009 @ 10:05am
Posted by snowball777 at 11/12/2009 @ 10:03am
YOU do know that there are natural cycles to our economy, no?
The growth phase from late `01 to early `07 had been getting long-in-the-tooth and most astute AND SEASONED investors knew that; just as some of them bet against the mortgage-backed securities and made a killing in `08!
You're still young, pay attention to cycles and less on Lib Speak!
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 10:12am
When the FHA Bathroom speaks, it's time to listen:
Cash cushion shrivels - U.S. housing agency Federal Housing Administration's reserve fund drops below 2% ratio required by Congress. Calls increase for revamping lending guidelines.
By Tami Luhby, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: November 12, 2009: 10:23 AM ET
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 10:27am
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 10:12am |
This recession is anything but a `natural' business cycle turn-over, Happy. This is the result of the biggest asset bubble in our history popping.
I liquidated a 401(k) despite the tax hit in summer of '07 on the advice of LIBERAL economists while conservative, no-talent assclowns were still screaming, "Buy!" at their sheep-like clients.
So I'm using my TIPS to play in the stay-puff-marshmallow equities until its time to impersonate Soros again (just like Aug - Nov '08).
Posted by snowball777 at 11/12/2009 @ 10:30am
So I'm using my TIPS to play in the stay-puff-marshmallow equities until its time to impersonate Soros again (just like Aug - Nov '08).
Posted by snowball777 at 11/12/2009 @ 10:30am | ignore this person | warn this person
Read an interesting article the other day that basically said that the Fed's inflation fighting strategy ( a real risk given all the funny money pumped into the economy) is to keep unemployment high! With high unemployment, the Fed can continue to keep interest rates at zero to prop up balance sheets. High unemployment keeps downward pressure on costs such as wages, salaries, goods, services, etc.
Kind of a high wire act.
And you are right SB - there is nothing cyclical about this recession. Unless we come up with some miracle structural changes in our economy (and I don't have the foggiest)we are going to have permanent high unemployment.
Posted by OneVote at 11/12/2009 @ 10:53am
This recession is anything but a `natural' business cycle turn-over, Happy.
Posted by snowball777 at 11/12/2009 @ 10:30am
This recession is most certainly natural but accentuated by the MBS blow up. World-wide, there was a commodities boom (China & India, you know, and an `08 Olympic in Beijing) that inevitably, leads to a bust.
The fact that the MBS balloon popped at the worst time, for John McCain, merely deepened what was happening anyway!
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 2:55pm
Posted by Happy at 11/12/2009 @ 2:55pm |
Commodities started unwinding in '06...I know there's lag (why stop digging once you've sunk so much capital into a mine, right?), but I don't buy that as the major driver of this misery; the MBS fiasco dwarfs the effects of the commodities correction and banks wouldn't be acting like Scrooge if that were the case...they'd just keep their tankers parked and wait it out.
Besides, China is still making the Aussies quite happy buying all the ore they can scrounge, if not whole companies like Rio Tinto, as LRJones will emphatically tell you...their `stimulus' is getting spent (although they probably overestimated what was required).
Posted by snowball777 at 11/12/2009 @ 4:05pm
we could not compete because our consumers preferred Japanese cars. you put the cart before the horse.
Posted by emile duBois at 11/12/2009
I'm not stating that GM is bad or anything... The Republican Noise Machine kept blaming the unions and the cost of labor for the reason GM couldn't compete.
I was just trying to say that they can't have it both ways...
Stating that public option healthcare will kill the American businesses, now that healthcare reform is in the legislature. Yet, when GM bailouts were being debated, they said that American Autoworkers' pay and benefits were the cause of GM being creamed by the Japanese.
Posted by koroviev at 11/12/2009 @ 11:33pm
we could not compete because our consumers preferred Japanese cars. you put the cart before the horse.
Posted by emile duBois at 11/12/2009
I'm not stating that GM is bad or anything... The Republican Noise Machine kept blaming the unions and the cost of labor for the reason GM couldn't compete.
I was just trying to say that they can't have it both ways...
Stating that public option healthcare will kill the American businesses, now that healthcare reform is in the legislature. Yet, when GM bailouts were being debated, they said that American Autoworkers' pay and benefits were the cause of GM being creamed by the Japanese.
Posted by koroviev at 11/12/2009 @ 11:33pm