The Housing Bubble

No-benefits, no office, make the worker use his own computer

I see a huge # of temp IT jobs advertised as 3 to 6 month contract gigs. And the hourly rate is no better than the pay for a regular, full time job. Of course, since you don’t get bennies you are actually paid less than the full timer.

a conversion from full-time employee to pay-by-the-minute freelance contracting. No-benefits, no office, make the worker use his own computer.

Which might not be a bad thing- assuming we have universal health care coverage and secure Social Security. Businesses can be more flexible, and people can move where the work is, without fear of losing their bennies. Start-ups would be much easier to do.

That’s the irony- ’socialist’ things like universal health care coverage and Social Security are not only not impediments to a capitalist economy, they actually help create and maintain (a most important part) a capitalist economy.

We’re seeing a slowdown in orders here. Had a small layoff about a week ago.

universal health care coverage

Commie talk!

Real rugged individualists, American exceptionalists, don’t live off the nanny state. They die younger (and broke) from easily preventable or treatable conditions.

USA! USA! USA!

We’re seeing a slowdown in orders here. Had a small layoff about a week ago.

Once upon a time employers only had layoffs as a last resort. Now they do them to prop up profits.

I still remember explaining this to my retired in-laws, who asked me if HP, my employer back then “was in in trouble” because they heard about the layoffs. When I told them that HP was enjoying record profits they were utterly befuddled.

One problem with a company as small as the one I’m at, is that things can go badly wrong really fast. Our profits will definitely be down at the rate we’re going and we could even lose money. Even with just a “slowdown” that would barely budge the needle at a big diversified company. So I can see why they act quickly here. But that also means that profits skyrocket in a good year. We’re not public so we don’t have to deal with the stock market ramifications of that…

’socialist’ things like universal health care coverage and Social Security are not only not impediments to a capitalist economy, they actually help create and maintain (a most important part) a capitalist economy.

When that is explained well to a right-winger they almost get it. Really. Try it. After it’s explained they pause, look confused, scratch their heads and start nodding their head in agreement.

(But then a light goes off in their brain an they call you a commie.)

I think there should be more layoffs of the deadwoods from the corporate world. Too bad, most of the deadwoods are in the middle and upper mgmt.

Too bad, most of the deadwoods are in the middle and upper mgmt.

Those are the last guys to get the axe. There’s a reason for the pointy haired boss in Dilbert.

Growing here in Beantown. Senior exec at my day gig was walking by talking to an HR person recently… topic of discussion was “How can we squeeze more developers into this space?”… “Well OSHA rules state that we can’t block here and here, but we can squeeze more in over there.”

I think there should be more layoffs of the deadwoods from the corporate world. Too bad, most of the deadwoods are in the middle and upper mgmt.

And that was true in every job I had. Every one.

And even worse, those middle and upper management make the most money. One axe in management could save five joe six packs.

“they call you a commie”

If the label fits, why get upset?

LOLZ, where’s the list of countries that switched from “socialized” medicine to the American style employer based system?

Dennis Kucinich was the only one pushing for this. Hillary, Obama, the other corporatists are all FAIL.

Um, you don’t compare medians (50% wait less, 50% wait more) to statistical outliers (the 5% of patients who waited the longest).

Those statistics fall into the ‘damned lies’ category.

And in America, how many people have these problems but are too poor to even ask for a consultation? What would that do the median wait time?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-19138872

Possible that the wait for SURGERY is 2 to 3 years, while the wait for a consultation is only 9 to 21 weeks?

Hey Doc, this lump you were gonna cut off my neck in nine weeks turned into a basketball in week 18. HELP!

Shut the fuqe up we`re doing the best we can.

The number of people waiting in the Belfast Health Trust for knee and hip operations has increased by almost 100% in the past two years.

Figures obtained by the BBC show a dramatic rise in those having to wait for the procedures.

Under the NHS constitution in England it is a legal right for people to wait no longer than 18 weeks for an operation.

In Northern Ireland however that figure is 36 weeks.

‘Unacceptable’

The trust is under tremendous pressure to meet its targets.

The Department of Health told the BBC: “Long waiting times for appointments are unacceptable and that’s why the minister (Edwin Poots) has set targets that people should be seen within acceptable time scales.

“For patients waiting for an outpatient appointment, he expects that at least 50% of patients wait no longer than nine weeks, with no-one waiting for longer than 21 weeks, increasing to 60% by March 2013.”

|12/19/2011 @ 3:24PM |48,025 views

The Ugly Realities Of Socialized Medicine Are Not Going Away

Take the case of David Evans, a 69-year-old farmer living in Cornwall, in southwest England. About a year ago, he developed a hernia and needed an operation. Despite government requirements that he receive treatment within 18 weeks of diagnosis, he still hasn’t been treated.

Recently, he had to use his own ultrasound equipment — typically used to examine pregnant sheep — to check the hernia himself and determine if it was getting worse.

“I was in quite a lot of pain,” explained Evans. “There will be many more people like me who are suffering and are now being forced to wait quite a long time.”

The law furnishes all Britons — Evans included — with health insurance. But he might as well not have coverage at all — because he’s certainly not getting any care.

A report released in October by Britain’s health regulator found that a stunning 20 percent of hospitals were failing to provide the minimum standard of care legally required for elderly patients.

As part of the study, inspectors dropped by dozens of hospitals unannounced. They found patients shouting or banging on bedrails desperately trying to get the attention of a nurse. At one hospital, inspectors identified bed-ridden patients that hadn’t been given water for over 10 hours.

The upcoming austerity measures will only amplify maladies like these.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypipes/2011/12/19/the-ugly-realities-of-socialized-medicine-are-not-going-away-3/ - 92k

The NHS is making sure that you are seen as soon as possible, at a time that is convenient for you. Under the NHS Constitution you have the right to access services within maximum waiting times, or for the NHS to take all reasonable steps to offer you a range of suitable alternative providers if this is not possible, when you ask for this.

The NHS Operating Framework for 2011/12 makes it clear that patients’ rights to access services within maximum waiting times under the NHS Constitution continue.

What are maximum waiting times?
You have the right to start your consultant-led treatment within a maximum of 18 weeks from referral, unless you choose to wait longer, or it is clinically appropriate that you wait longer. This includes treatments where a consultant retains overall clinical responsibility for the service or team, or for your treatment. This means the consultant will not necessarily be present for each appointment, but will take overall responsibility for your care. The setting of your consultant-led treatment, for example whether hospital-based or in a community-based clinic, will not affect your right to treatment within 18 weeks.

If it is not possible to be seen within the maximum waiting time, the primary care trust (PCT) or strategic health authority (SHA) that commissions your treatment must investigate and offer you a range of suitable alternative hospitals or community clinics that would be able to see or treat you more quickly.

However, you will need to contact the original hospital, clinic or PCT first before alternatives can be investigated for you. Your PCT or SHA must take all reasonable steps to meet your request

Patients with urgent conditions such as cancer and heart disease, will be able to be seen and receive treatment more quickly. For example, you have the right to be seen by a specialist within a maximum of two weeks from GP referral for urgent referrals where cancer is suspected.

http://www.nhs.uk/choiceintheNHS/Rightsandpledges/Waitingtimes/Pages/Guide%20to%20waiting%20times.aspx

The facst are your entitled to start treatment within 18 weeks of being referred; if you don’t you need to complain; if you don’t you may well wait.

” Good grief!”

You got that right Bro.

Some Veterans’ Hospitals in Shocking Shape

Fourteen years ago, an ABCNEWS hidden-camera investigation ignited a firestorm about conditions and competence inside Veterans Administration hospitals.

Recently, there have been new stories of misdiagnosis, disastrous management and deficient care at some of the nation’s 162 facilities.

At a hospital near Cleveland, an ABCNEWS hidden-camera investigation found bathrooms filthy with what appeared to be human excrement. Supply cabinets were in disarray, with dirty linens from some patients mixed in with clean supplies, or left in hallways on gurneys.

At a neighboring facility, examining tables had dried blood and medications still on them. In several areas, open bio-hazardous waste cans were spilling over. Primetime obtained internal memos documenting that the equipment used to sterilize surgical instruments had broken down — causing surgical delays and possible infection risks.

With 130,000 young American men and women putting their lives at risk in Iraq today, these conditions are particularly relevant. While current soldiers are treated in military hospitals, when they leave the service and need treatment, many will seek care at Veterans Affairs (as the Veterans Administration is now known) hospitals.

“Once you come back to be a veteran, it’s like a black hole, you know — nothing,” former Army Sgt. Vannessa Turner told ABCNEWS.

Turner was stricken with a mysterious illness while on duty in Iraq this past year. She retired from the military on medical grounds, and when she reported to a VA hospital for treatment, doctors scheduled her for an appointment six months later.

Not a Point of Pride

Veterans who responded to a survey by the American Legion in 2003 said it took an average of seven months to get a first appointment at a VA hospital. In some hospitals, patients have waited as long as two years.

In 1999, Jack Christensen, a former army sergeant who served in the Korean War, was admitted to the VA hospital in Temple, Texas, with pneumonia, and ended up staying three years.

Christensen’s wife, Pat, says the attitude of some of the practical nurses was shocking. Some of the patients were forced to beg for food and water, she says. Instead of helping her husband go to the bathroom, she said, “they would put a towel under his hips and tell him to use the towel.”

Pat Christensen said her husband’s condition worsened over several months — so badly that at one point he developed horrific bedsores and dangerous infections, and she says his doctors said they would have to amputate his legs.

Pat moved her husband to a private facility, where his infection healed and he underwent extensive physical therapy. She sued the VA, and then used the money to pay for private care for her husband. The VA denied liability but paid a settlement.

http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132383&page=1

Some Veterans’ Hospitals in Shocking Shape…..Fourteen years ago,

Your anecdotal evidence is cherry picked but statistically meaningless.

VA Outranks Private Sector in Health Care Patient Satisfaction

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=14560

Veterans continued to rate the care they receive through the Department of Veterans Affairs health care system higher than other Americans rate private-sector health care for the sixth consecutive year, a new annual report on customer satisfaction reveals.

For VA Secretary R. James Nicholson, the news is affirmation of what he called “the greatest story never told,” that the VA offers top-quality care for its patients.

VA medical services received high marks during the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index, which has ranked customer satisfaction with various federal programs and private-sector industries and major companies since 1994.

Is this BS too?

comments from

Some Veterans’ Hospitals in Shocking Shape

2EDDUNN7:17 PM EDT
Aug 03, 2012

ABC news should check out the treatment of patients by physicians, nurses, and other staff members at the VA Medical Center in Richmond, VA. Patients are treated worse than POW’s and the care that is being given at this institution is substandard.My primary care physician even told me that she would not order Durable Medical equipment to treat my condition as she felt it was too expensive for a patient. I had mentioned to her that I had tried this equipment out at a therapists office and received excellent results for using it. Patients are just numbers in a hat to be dealt with until they die or leave the VA system.There seems to be a hierarchy of quality of care with those having insurance receiving better care than those who don’t have insurance. Favoritism and misuse of funds are rampant within the system and the taxpayers pay for it. As a veteran with a 90% service connected disability, I highly suggest that one reserve treatment at a VA facility till all other resources have been depleted.Ed Dunn August 2012RioGregT8:51 AM EST

Dec 09, 2011

nice campaign to make americans think the Vets are getting great treatment, just a smoke screen, I’m a vet, I’ve been thier recently and it still sucks, if I had the money I’d chose Kaiser, but I’m still unemployed and living on a friends couch. so don’t believe what you hear these days, especially towards voting time.patriciaandwesley1:45 PM EST

Nov 11, 2010

My father-in-law has been a patient at the VA hospital in Lake City Florida for 30 plus years. For the past year we have been trying to get them to diagnose severe pain he has been experiencing in his ear, jaw, and mouth. We got several (somewhat ridiculous) diagnosis’. They refused to give him anything stronger than Tylenol 3 for his pain (which as time progressed became blood curdling excruciating for him). Finally on October 23, after approximately one year since it started, my husband had had enough and made yet another trip (of countless two hour one way drive trips) to the ER.He laid the smackdown and finally the doctor said he had a mouth infection, prescribed Cephalexin (anti-biotic) and Tramadol (anti-imfammatory/pain reliever). This is the strongest pain meds he’d had for his pain.Well, on Tuesday 10/26, they were back again and my husband was ready to go to jail this time. The triage nurse ordered an X-ray of his neck and ear area. A couple of hours later he and my mother in law were told they saw a lump and Pa was being transferred to the VA in Gainesville FL. The next day 10/27 we got the news that is was cancer and it was bad, but they did begin giving him morphine. On Friday 10/29 we were told that they had done a biopsy and he was being sent home with Hospice and he wouldn’t have to go back to the VA. We have been waiting for his death since. Yesterday, with Pa laying on his death bed, we got a call from the VA in Gainesville. They said they had “clipped the wrong area” while getting the biopsy and want us to take him back to Gainesville (a four hour drive) for them to do another.They are asking us to take him off his death bed (and it won’t be long either), load him in Ma’s SUV, and drive him four hours to Gainesville just so they can try to get the biopsy right this time? Please help us, this nightmare with the VA has gone on way too long and we need someone to help bring attention to the way our Veterans are being treated.

Fighting journalism with anecdotes. Are you sure these people really exist and that if they are real and not planted are you sure this is an accurate representation of the VA community at large. I’d say no. The VA system produces good outcomes at a lower cost, just like European systems, but keep up the good work.

“Some Veterans’ Hospitals in Shocking Shape…..Fourteen years ago,”

“Recently, there have been new stories of misdiagnosis, disastrous management and deficient care at some of the nation’s 162 facilities.”
——————————————————————-
Posted June 25, 2012

Suspension doesn’t stop VA doctor from practicing medicine on veterans

Yet another Department of Veterans Affairs doctor licensed through Pennsylvania has been accused of malpractice. Though, this doctor committed malpractice BEFORE being hired by the VA while on suspension.

VA Doctor Frank Zimba, a 57-year-old Texas native, was suspended in Oklahoma in 2010. The reason for the suspension was that he operated on the wrong part of a patient’s spine. Despite the suspension, the VA hired Zimba to work in Albuquerque.

Because of a federal law, Zimba is allowed to practice in any state while working with the VA so long as he is licensed in at least one state. Zimba is licensed in 4 states: Oklahoma, New York, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

According to records, several years before the Oklahoma mishap, Zimba operated on the wrong side of two other patients’ spines. He failed to discloses the mishap to two of the three patients affected by the error.

While Zimba is not competent by Oklahoma standards for citizens, he is competent for veterans, judging from the actions of the VA to ignore his priors.

Here is why the VA is allowed to get away with hiring substandard medical practicioners. The VA explains that its current system is designed to protect the practicioner and the patient, according to a VA spokesperson. The in-house system used by the VA requires the supervisor to investigate. Substantiated claims get reported to the facility ledership.

The VA states that it is only required to report to the state board whenever an action “so significantly faled to meet generally accepted standards of clinical practice… as to raise reasonable concern for the safety of patients.” Examples rising to this standard are patient neglect, medication errors, and abuse of patients.

However, states like New Mexico have never received such a report, despite numerous instances of malpractice settlements nationwide.

At the Marion IL VA Medical Center, another unnamed physicial, referred to as Physician A in an investigation, was linked to the deaths of 5 veterans from October 2011 to March 2012. It took the probing of a US Senator to inspire the VA to investigate the matter.

Accordign to insiders, the doctor in question there is believed to have not worked regularly as an active doctor for over 10 years prior to being hired by the VA. It was further asserted that this same doctor was placed in charge of the ICU where those same veterans died.

The VA is using questionable methods to fill the deman for qualified doctors. Unfortunately, it is not choosing from the cream of the crop. Instead, VA recruiters appear to be selecting doctors with questionable pasts to work on veterans, to the shame of our nation.

https://www.disabledveterans.org/2012/06/25/weekly-qb-va-hiring-bad-doctors-voc-rehab/ - 110k

UNKNOWN TENANT Your anecdotal evidence and comments from blogs are statistically meaningless.

We could come up with 10 times more anecdotes damning America’s health-care system but it would be statistically meaningless as well.

Party on Rio

Say hi to the Unknown Comic for me if you see him.

I hate to tell you that I know someone that needs a eye operation right now in the USA medical system and they have to wait 6 months to get this operation ,in spite of this person losing their eyesight more and more every week .

I knew a person who 15 years ago had the same operation
and got in within one month to get it done .

Could it be that we have a shortage of Doctors World wide
as being part of the problem ,rather than it being racked
off as socialized medical care verses private medical care ?
Could it be that all medical systems have become increasingly less efficient ? Is it taking longer for approval for operations with all the red tape ? Are the emergency rooms blogged down with people who should be going doctors office ?

I was seeing medical patients getting quicker service than
private care patients on private plans when I hung around a hospital for about 12 weeks about 4 years ago .No doubt the private insurance companies were stalling .

The sad reality is socialized medicine, to include the VA system can’t overcome the simple economics of supply/demand/pricing interaction.

Why are there such long wait times in the UK? Why are there so many examples of sub-standard care in the VA system?

I had a good laugh when the latest report out of Massachusetts regarding the Universal Health Coverage was that it has done nothing to actually reduce costs over the past year. The best argument politicians could come up with was that “Costs would have grown faster had we not implemented Universal Coverage”. Right…

At least as a state program, residents of MA can always opt out by moving to another state. With the Federal law, the only option is to comply or pay the tax.

The sad reality is socialized medicine, to include the VA system can’t overcome the simple economics of supply/demand/pricing interaction.

Most of them do a better job than America’s “system”.

“Most of them do a better job than America’s “system”.”

You are so full of it. My private health care kicks a$$, no waiting lists and can see a specialist any time I desire.

My private health care kicks a$$, no waiting lists and can see a specialist any time I desire.

Probably not true, anecdotal and statistically meaningless.

We are separated by a common language!

“Still think your a diamond geezer Bear.”

Currently of the UK variety; soon enough to morph into the US version.

“We are separated by a common language!”

Why can’t the British learn to speak?

– Professor Henry Higgins, My Fair Lady

the big food companies have to label the GMO foods .These big companies have a big campaign going now trying to discourage people from wanting this labeling

My gosh. How does a PR campaign like that go?

“Your Family’s Food…..You Don’t Wanna Know What’s In It”

That’s what’s crazy about it Rio . The food industry has been getting away with shit for so long they think that their BS is accepted .

They say things like they will have to raise the food costs in order to tell you what your eating . They try to convince people that the genetic altered food is the same as non GMO foods . They suppress studies ,they get Expert shills that rah rah those altered foods .They control the mainstream news in even disclosing the issues .The corn and soy crops are the greatest GMO crops and they put corn and soy is many products ,especially processed products . I have actually stopped eating corn because of the studies I have read about the GMO foods that are scary . People wonder why the Americans are getting sicker and sicker and there has been a sharp increase in digestive problems . It appears that the human body has not evolved into being able to digest that shit .

And here I was assuming organic rice was good for my kids

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/arsenic-rice-report-finds-worrisome-levels/story?id=17267872#.UFtjL1RGb5A

They are attacking organic food right now big time as part of the PR campaign to make people believe that GMO foods are more safe . No doubt so many toxins are in the food supply now . They also lable products as organic ,when they really aren’t totally organic .

Let me put it this way ,the gene to kill the insect is built into the GMO food ,therefore it’s like having something that kills bugs built into the food ,that goes into you as a
person who is a big bug also .

They say things like they will have to raise the food costs in order to tell you what your eating .

Yeah, they delayed Country of Origin Labeling for the same reason, saying that they didn’t feel they had to tell consumers anything just because the consumer had a notion of “perceived value.” F-em. I go to the farmer’s market, or to the farm itself, the natural foods store, or, Trader Joes.

I used to work with a lady who made a point of taking the stairs. Always. She was fond of announcing that if we wanted to step outside in the hall to talk, well, it was time to join her on the stairs for some exercise.

I walk up the stairs and take the elevator down. Walking down stairs or downhill is bad for some knee conditions.

Bingo! I take the stairs except when my knees are bothering me.

Any 300+ pounder is putting a lot of stress on their knees. They should start out with swimming or some other low impact activity. I shudder when watching Biggest Loser (motivation for my weight control efforts) and see Jillian Michaels pushing some 300+ pounder to run on a treadmill.

You’re welcome

Oh Mark, I am SO sorry for your loss.

f I can raise my kids to adulthood without ever once setting foot in Disneyland, then I will consider my parenting career a success.

Not sure how old your kids are, but mine are 8 and 6 and they’ve been begging to go for years.

It’s about the kids’ experience, not the adults… we’re just there to pay for it and take pictures.

It’s about the kids’ experience, not the adults… we’re just there to pay for it and take pictures.

My oldest went when she was 9. A family friend took her. I paid, but stayed home.

I paid, but stayed home.

What’s the fun in that? I’m looking forward to seeing the expression on my wife’s face after going down “Summit Plummit”… if I can convince to her to actually go down it.

Not sure how old your kids are, but mine are 8 and 6 and they’ve been begging to go for years.

When we were at Legoland a few years ago I asked my son if he wanted to take a day and go over to Disneyland. No interest. I was surprised…

f anything, I would say that Disneyworld caters to upper middle people.

To put things in perspective, we’re planning a Disney trip for the kids the first week in October. Between Hopper Passes, Disney Halloween, Seaworld, Water Parks, Dolphin Experience, air travel, car rental, etc. we’re into this trip for $4, 500. Lodging is free as my parents employer has a time-share condo on-site that we can use. Still have to pay for food and incidentals. I could easily see the trip costing upwards of $6,000 without lodging.

I don’t know any average middle-class families can afford to spend 10%+ gross salary on a vacation… upper middle to lower upper income it is.

I’m with youall on this one, but my wife would live in any Disney park if she could. And I knew this before I married her too . . .

With wages suppressed and prices supported, perhaps the USA is already one big company store.

Perhaps?

Fed needs to do is send out checks every month to households in the country ??

Don’t we do that already ?? Romney says 47% of us get victim checks…

All I get is Reality Checks.

Some of us have never really been “victims” until the last 3-4 years shouldn’t we be put at the top of the list for temporary help?

At the risk of sounding like our good friend DJ, if they really want inflation, all the Fed needs to do is send out checks every month to households in the country. They money will get spent, pushing up demand.

And this deejay has Pink Floyd’s song “Money” cued up on CD-1!

“All I get is Reality Checks.”

All I get are bad reality checks.

Stats from Breitbart article:

95% of food stamp recipients are black, brown, muslim, and/or gay.
75% of food stamp recipients drive Cadillac Escallades.
65% of food stamp recipients drive Lincoln Navigators.
100% of food stamp recipients are Obama voters.
Food stamp recipients receive an average annual total of $80,000 of food stamps, section 8 vouchers, Earned Income Tax Credits, and low-income heating assistance.
The rate of fraud among food stamp recipients is 95%.
The 9/11 hijackers were all on food stamps.
100% of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s congregation receive food stamps.
Food stamps cause blindness, kidney failure, and anal leakage.
Food stamps want to wipe Israel off of the map.
Food stamps cost U.S. taxpayers $2 Trillion annually.
Food stamps attacked us because they hate our freedoms.
Timothy McVeigh used food stamps to pay for the explosives used in Oklahoma City.
Amy Winehouse overdosed on food stamps.
Food stamps are why the Beatles broke up.
Et cetera…

I’m not on the fence, but rather a bitter, priced-out renter.

Actually the Japanese got wiped out after swooping in to snap up CRE deals in the early-1990s, but the same principle applies: Encourage a group of international real estate investors to voluntarily become the falling-knife bagholders in a U.S. real estate market collapse.

The length of the growing season didn’t mean much in southern Ontario this year. Crops failed before they matured.

Not enough Ontario corn to supply our Ethanol plant in NY, so I’ve heard. Isn’t that a great program? We pay more for crappy fuel to keep farmers rich, in another country!

Curiously, Skye, that happened to me down here in Central CA as well. My corn crop dried up and died around late August just before it started to ripen. Popped up on schedule, grew just fine as the ears set. Good bees, good water, good heat and light, just…no corn. Heritage seed stock, too.

Woo-woooo.

True, but if you can toss aside that million dollar mortgage it’s worth it to lose your SUV and Snowmobile.

Unless blue you can hide them effectively…swiss banks were noted for this…

Or make all your assets income producing…makes it hard for them to take away, if they ever want to get paid in a ch 13.

Interesting twist dj. If I ever have to do BK, I’ll rent my boat to my sister!

I thought about this..if you have ikea Craigslist furniture but all your main assets is say in records cd’s dj equipment take it away and there goes the income stream.

I think your right that it’s a banking cartel problem also,but the Politicians should be having the discussions about what
are the real problems because they have the power to
form policy and tax to change the stacked deck .I think Ron Paul is one of the only ones that talks about the FED ,and a few others called for the auditing of the Feds .
it’s clear that the bulk of Politicans are supportive to the Banking Cartel .Many USA Citizens think that the FED is a government entity ,when it really isn’t .

Romney’s elk

Wow, I knew about the horse…

You can’t vote in or out Bernanke.

But would you want the position to be decided by direct election?

Romney’s elk

Wow, I knew about the horse…

This is funnier that what I was about to post about his elk.

Elk …….Romney is like a big dumb deer ,but give me a break ,I write my posts fast, if you know what I mean ,but I think you knew what I was saying .

“Romney’s elk”

Rafelka?

Romney’s elk

Wow, I knew about the horse…

And I know about the car roof dog!

“Elk …….Romney is like a big dumb deer ,but give me a break ,I write my posts fast, if you know what I mean ,but I think you knew what I was saying .”

You’re forgiven by me. I also note your habit of putting a space before your punctuation. I’ve come to enjoy it, because I have always liked your posts, and I think you have a lot of valuable stuff to say.

meant to have two “really’s” in both points.

he would have been laughed at and ridiculed by the left

How do you figure? Who watches Snooki more, the educated or uneducated?

Do you think a lot of liberals watch Snooki? I think Mitt was playing to what he probably smugly considers his base’s base intellect.

“Liberals are far better educated than other groups (48% college graduates, compared with an overall average of 27%”.
Pew Research

they would use it as an illustration of him being “out of touch” with mainstream merkians’.

i agree…it doesn’t make sense…but that’s what would happen.

they would use it as an illustration of him being “out of touch” with mainstream merkians’.

IC. Maybe so.

The very fact that both he and McCaine claimed to like Snooki suggests that this line was fed to them by some pollster, atleast I hope that’s the case.

i literally stopped listening to anything mcain says when he supported paying other people’s mortgages because foreclsoures hurt the property values of everyone in the neighborhood.

i swear it was on youtube but i can’t find it anymore…it was back when he was running against obama.

She’s a character on South Park.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IGAcp0kptA

It has also been cut several times and may be cancelled.

It is also thoroughly audited and Lockheed must deliver results according to their contract.

Can we say them same for ANY government program???

“It has also been cut several times and may be cancelled.”

That’s the first I’ve heard of that. If it’s cancelled, there’s nothing else in the pipeline to take its place.

“It is also thoroughly audited and Lockheed must deliver results according to their contract.”

Not quite. They will be forced to bear some of the cost overruns, but not all.

The overruns are built into the bids. Then doubled.

Section 8 LLs are cleaning up around here.

“Section 8 LLs are cleaning up around here.”

Ha! My (very liberal) retired dad showed me his investment portfolio recently. Part of it is invested in a low-income (presumably Section housing development, and it has been returning a steady 6% a year over the past few years — much better than the ridiculously volatile stock market or penuriously paltry CD returns.

My “eight” came out like a smile wearing sunglasses…looks just like the way I felt when I wrote the post.

That’s because 8 and ) together is the “cool” emoticon. Happens a lot. I always separate 8 and ) with a space.

The difference is that back then, the Fed’s claim was “no bubble here — just a bit of froth.”

Now they are openly and emphatically engaged in a housing bubble reflation effort. What a difference seven years makes!

And I don’t get his “union goon” rants if he lives in NC.If he lived in those high tax states and couldn’t leave then maybe I would have some sympathy, but if taxpayers in California, New York or Illinois are too stupid or lackadaisical to deal with their public unions, what do I care? They’re gonna go down in flames eventually. Not everyone will be able to pull off a Poway deal. Eventually the pension funds will go bust and there won’t be any money to make them whole again.

Heck, Colorado’s PERA is careening towards insolvency, and because of TABOR it won’t get bailed out.

But America’s 1%ers are the happiest 1%ers in the world, that’s what matters

LOL

Little known fact: During the recession, American solar panel mfg companies were doing excellent export business. However, most of them were eventually bought by Chinese companies and moved to China.

I know that fact about China now producing the solar units . That seems to be the way it goes with any industry that attempts to manufacture something here .

You would think that this gutting of our production base and job base would be the main topic of conversation with the Politicians .

So happy we don’t have TeeVee, been subjected to a grand total of less than 10 minutes of political advertising this election cycle.

Yeah, but you’re missing the latest season of “The Voice”…

All kidding aside, I’m looking forward to new seasons of The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and The Newsroom. Best shows of TV, period.

Yeah, but you’re missing the latest season of “The Voice”…

And Honey Boo Boo.

My partner’s father said at one point (with respect to similar discussions of redistribution in the UK before Thatcher), that he must have missed the first distribution.

“I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level, to make sure that everybody’s got a shot” - Obama 1998

Yawn. All that does is fire up the Rebub’s base. Nothing more. 70% of Americans believe in redistribution when they believe in progressive taxation. Every government in the world redistributes wealth. Dang. You don’t know that? Really?

“If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” - Obama 2012

That shows how dumb and disingenuous the leaders of your Repub party have become. They actually themed an entire day of their Convention on the lie that Obama wasn’t talking about government funded infrastructure in that quote. It makes Repubs look like liars.

Seems only fair. After, he doesn’t care about half of the US population.

Nope, Obama and his chicago seven are the looters.