Bits Bucket for October 27, 2012
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here.
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
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Name:Ben Jones
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Obama’s ‘bullshitter’ attack sparks ‘rattled’ response
By Stephen Collinson, Ohio
Saturday, October 27, 2012
In a spectacular finale to a 40-hour campaign sprint, US president Barack Obama launched a searing attack on challenger Mitt Romney in Ohio, the state that may decide their election duel, and labelled his challenger a “bullshitter”.
But Romney, rallying Republicans in the state’s aptly named town of Defiance, mocked Obama’s “incredibly shrinking” campaign and stole the president’s 2008 mantra, promising “big change” if he wins on Nov 6.
The closer the election gets, the more the bad feeling between Romney and Obama seems to show.
In a Rolling Stone interview that hit the stands yesterday, Obama told the magazine’s executive editor, Eric Bates, that children had excellent political instincts and could spot a “bullshitter”.
In the largely tongue-in-cheek interview, Obama responded to a question about his popularity with children, saying: “You know, kids have good instincts. They look at the other guy and say: ‘Well, that’s a bullshitter, I can tell.’ ”
The comment was widely seen as a jab at Romney, who Obama has accused of lacking principle and shifting positions for political gain. It prompted an acidic response from Romney spokesman Kevin Madden.
“President Obama is rattled and on the defensive,” said Madden. “He’s running on empty and has nothing left but attacks and insults. It’s unfortunate he has to close the final days of the campaign this way.”
The latest exchanges came as polls showed the White House up for grabs, with Romney ahead by a nose nationally, but Obama firm in the key swing states that could hand him a second four-year term.
Obama won the endorsement of Colin Powell — an African-American Republican who served in both Bush presidencies — sparking controversial remarks by a Romney surrogate who suggested race was a factor.
“When you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being president of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him,” top Romney adviser John Sununu said about Powell, who also backed Obama in 2008.
Sununu later backtracked on the remarks, saying: “I respect the endorsement decision [Powell] made, and I do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president’s policies.”
The remarks by Sununu, who is known for fiery media appearances, could bring race into a campaign Romney has tried to keep focused on the economy.
…
game recognize game
The polls have Obama rattled, that kind of comment will lose more votes than it gains. People that like their president to speak like that aren’t even registered to vote.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 50% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 46%. Two percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and another two percent (2%) are undecided. This is the fifth consecutive day that Romney has been at the 50% level of support. He has enjoyed a three- or four-point edge on each of those days. See daily tracking history.
From a politico story posted yesterday, it compares what Obama’s campaign is claiming and the actual data from Ohio:
I have always been a believer in data telling me the full story. Truth is, nobody knows what will happen on Election Day. But here is what we do know: 220,000 fewer Democrats have voted early in Ohio compared with 2008. And 30,000 more Republicans have cast their ballots compared with four years ago. That is a 250,000-vote net increase for a state Obama won by 260,000 votes in 2008
“Two percent (1%) prefer some other candidate”
Now that’s the whopper of the week. I’m voting for R, but, trust me, I “prefer some other candidate” a heck of a lot more than I prefer Mitt. I’d guess that, if given the choice, a large percentage of the country would prefer someone else. I’d guess that Ron Paul would carry a few states if he stayed in the election, but, IMHO, this country is crying out (well, at least I am) for a real libertarian candidate. Give me back my freedoms and please stop trying to tax/spend/warmonger all of us into serfdom.
“Give me back my freedoms and please stop trying to tax/spend/warmonger all of us into serfdom.”
That pretty much sums it up, doens’t it? I would wager that is true for the vast majority of us on this board.
It’s something we have in common, even with those we think we don’t like.
The 1%’ers have bought both candidates…it doesn’t really matter.
“The 1%’ers have bought both candidates…it doesn’t really matter.”
+1 Refreshing to see that I’m not alone in my thoughts.
That is what is really sad. Just came back from early voting, I had the luxury of voting third party because my vote would not make a difference in NM this year since Obama will win the state partly due to Gary Johnson being on the ballot. If I lived in Ohio, I would pick the lesser of the two evils which this cycle I believe is Romney.
Romney has boxed himself in on China and the Fed. However, while he and his globalists friends might be willing to make a tactical retreat to win the election, they like Obama are still dedicated to the vision of one world government. While Obama may have a different vision of that one world government, it is just that he is more naive about the interests that he does serve.
The multinationals want access to the cheapest labor and a world government that will protect their capital and tax workers in the richest countries to provide the infrastructure for the developing countries to increase their profits. I consider a world wide carbon tax and the creation of the AGW scare to be part of the plan.
Ladbrokes casino odds:
Obama 1 to 3 (bet $3 to win $1)
Rmoney 11 to 5 (bet 5 to win 11)
FiveThiryEight:
74% chance of Obama win
“Obama 1 to 3 (bet $3 to win $1)
Rmoney 11 to 5 (bet 5 to win 11)”
Implied chance of Obama win, consistent with the bookmaker’s subjective probability, lies between 11/(11+5) = 68.75% and 3/(3+1) = 75%. Note this range is inclusive of a 74% chance of an Obama win, though less optimistic for Obama than FiveThirtyEight.
“People that like their president to speak like that aren’t even registered to vote.”
I believe the comment was made ‘off the record,’ in the same sense as were Romney’s campaign advisor’s ‘etch-a-sketch‘ remark and Romney’s comments about what the 47% who won’t vote for him do for personal sustenance, how it would be best to let foreclosures “hit bottom,” and how he would limit the mortgage interest deduction for second homes if he is elected.
My recollection is that all of these comments were made ‘off the record,’ giving them less gravitas than ‘on record’ statements.
Or perhaps Obama is rattled that Romney’s “etch-a-sketch” campaign seems to have evolved into an effort to get elected by stealing Obama’s message.
Who knows: If it worked for Obama in 2008, maybe it will work again for Romney in 2012. After all, American voters are not renowned for their long memories.
Mitt Romney Hope And Change Message Co-Opts Obama, Central To Iowa Speech
Posted: 10/26/2012 2:22 pm EDT Updated: 10/26/2012 2:59 pm EDT
AMES, Iowa — If you listen closely, you can hear it: Mitt Romney is adopting the same “hope and change” message that President Barack Obama ran on four years ago.
Romney, the president’s Republican challenger, isn’t using the specific phrase. But his “closing argument” speech here Friday was a pitch asking America to make 2012 a change election. And Romney is casting himself as a messenger of clear-eyed optimism while arguing that the president is consumed with personal attacks and negativity.
…
Perhaps the “bullshitter” remark was merely an impolite way of saying that the “etch-a-sketch” campaign has voters confused?
Would the real Mitt Romney please stand up?
James Zogby
President, Arab American Institute; author, ‘Arab Voices’
Romney’s Foreign Policy: About Face or Two-Faced?
Posted: 10/27/2012 10:58 am
During the last few weeks of this presidential campaign, I have become terribly confused listening to Mitt Romney address America’s foreign policy challenges.
I have followed Romney’s every word for almost two years now, and I simply don’t recognize the guy who spoke at Virginia Military Institute on October 8th or the one who showed up to debate President Obama last week.
Since the beginning of this long campaign, Romney has given ten foreign policy addresses. At every turn he has positioned himself as a severe critic of the Administration, condemning the president for “diminishing American leadership” and “betraying the trust that allies place in the United States.” Taking his cue from his bevy of neo-conservative advisers, Romney has appeared to embrace their tenets and even conflated their projection of American exceptionalism with elements of his own Mormon creed. His message has been that “America must lead through strength” and use its “great power to shape history.”
And so it has been baffling to witness the sudden transformation that now sees Romney largely agreeing with President Obama’s approach to several areas and while feigning sharp criticism in others, still fundamentally agreeing with current policy. When he lamented the absence of Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations (after just recently dismissing the entire effort as hopeless) and then offered such benign pronouncements as “we can’t kill our way out of this mess” or “we don’t want another Iraq, we don’t want another Afghanistan,” I became thoroughly unsettled.
Listening to this “kinder and gentler” Romney, two questions came to mind. Was all this a tactical ploy to sway undecided voters? Or was this the candidate’s declaration of independence from his neo-conservative advisers (three-quarters of whom are George W. Bush alumni)? Since Romney has also selectively veered away from many of his other “severely Conservative” views during the last few weeks of the campaign, I tend to believe that it is more of a crass tactical move than an assertion of independence.
…
I would like ohbewaana to say that 30,000 black on black murders under his watch ( more then Bush) and rising is ok with him and it will be more of the same in the 2nd term
…more then Bush…
Than vs Then
The English words than and then look and sound a lot alike, but they are completely different. If this distinction is harder than it should be, read this lesson and then try again.
Than
Than is a conjunction used in comparisons:
Tom is smarter than Bill.
This is more important than you might think.
Is she taller than you?
Yes, she is taller than I.
Technically, you should use the subject pronoun after than (e.g., I), as opposed to the object pronoun (me). However, English speakers commonly use the object pronoun.
Then
Then has numerous meanings.
1. At that point in time
I wasn’t ready then.
Will you be home at noon? I’ll call you then.
2. Next, afterward
I went to the store, and then to the bank
Do your homework and then go to bed
3. In addition, also, on top of that
He told me he was leaving, and then that I owed him money
It cost $5,000, and then there’s tax too
4. In that case, therefore (often with “if”)
If you want to go, then you’ll have to finish your homework.
I’m hungry!
Then you should eat.
The Bottom Line
Than is used only in comparisons, so if you’re comparing something use than. If not, then you have to use then. What could be easier than that?
“Would the real Mitt Romney please stand up?”
I agree. Also, instead of just bashing RMoney in his campaign ads, I wish The One would run ads that tout his first-term accomplishments on the economy, jobs, the deficit, etc.
“I wish The One would run ads that tout his first-term accomplishments on the economy, jobs, the deficit, etc.”
More forthright emphasis on plans and deeds by both candidates would have gone far to convince me to vote for one of them.
Mitt Romney has no plan. The only thing set in stone is his intention to lower taxes for the wealthy. That’s it. I absolutely delight in hearing trailer park Republicans praise him, blindly unaware that their own taxes will be going up.
Wealthy is a judgement not object criteria. I know I must be “wealthy” given the amount of taxes I pay - close to 40% of my income. Liberals get real upset when taxes are lowered for the “wealthy.” But you can’t lower taxes for people who don’t pay taxes.
Everyone pays taxes.
” I absolutely delight in hearing trailer park Republicans praise him, blindly unaware that their own taxes will be going up.”
I am sure you troll trailer parks polling the occupants on a regular basis. Are they supposed to emphatically support a communist who stated he wants to “Fundamentally change the United States of America”? Some choice they have, there is no Ross Perot running this time.
Your assertion that the other guy is going to lower taxes on the rich is misleading, if he is to be believed, he will lower income tax on all who pay. The whole thing would have to pass the House and Senate where the top bracket may not get a cut.
“The only thing set in stone is his intention to lower taxes for the wealthy. That’s it.”
There’s also that whopping increase in military spending thing.
What is Willard’s plan?
I wonder which candidate will try to pin the blame for the approaching storm on the other guy?
Obama, Romney campaign with eye on storm forecast
JULIE PACE, Associated Press
Updated 12:49 a.m., Saturday, October 27, 2012
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters after he spoke about the economy at a campaign rally at Kinzler Construction Services in Ames, Iowa, Friday, Oct. 26, 2012. Photo: Charles Dharapak / AP
WASHINGTON (AP) — With an eye on the weather forecast, President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney are launching a 10-day sprint to the finish line in a contest increasingly about momentum vs. math.
A huge storm barreling toward the East Coast — and some battleground states — had both campaigns adjusting their travel schedules and canceling events. Even at this critical juncture of the campaign, neither side wanted to risk the appearance of putting politics ahead of public safety.
The president was pressing on with a campaign trip Saturday to New Hampshire, while Romney was blitzing through Florida.
But an email announcing that Vice President Joe Biden’s Saturday rally in coastal Virginia Beach, Va., stated that the change was “being taken out of an abundance of caution to ensure that all local law enforcement and emergency management resources can stay focused on ensuring the safety of people who might be impacted by the storm.”
Romney canceled a rally in Virginia Beach that was planned for Sunday, and aides said they were also considering scrapping two other events elsewhere in the state. None of Obama’s campaign stops had been canceled, but he did adjust his travel schedule slightly. The campaign moved up his planned Monday departure for Florida to Sunday night to beat the storm.
Ten days from Election Day, Obama and Romney are tied nationally. But the president still appears to have more pathways to reaching the required 270 Electoral College votes.
The Republican nominee is trying to seize the momentum mantle and turn a wave of GOP enthusiasm into an electoral victory.
“The debates have supercharged our campaign and the Republican team,” Romney’s campaign wrote in a fundraising email. “We’re seeing more and more enthusiasm — and more and more support.”
…
The storm is without a doubt Bush’s fault. After all, you can’t expect the oceans to stop their rise in just four years.
didnt potus know that coming into the game? If he didnt want the responsibility of cleaning up the mess why did he sign on?
So when ben bernake leaves who are we going to blame for his mess?
“The storm is without a doubt Bush’s fault. After all, you can’t expect the oceans to stop their rise in just four years.”
“The president pulled Pope Benedict aside to share some advice on how to deal with his critics. He said, ‘Look Holy Father, whatever the problem is, just blame it on Pope John Paul II.’”
“In the spirit of Sesame Street, the president’s remarks tonight are brought to you by the letter ‘O’ and the number $16 trillion.”
Did Bush cause the similar 1938 event, does he time travel?
Good point. Didn’t Bush also cause Katrina?
I don’t think he really caused it. But apparently it’s the job of the POTUS to tell people who are too stupid to come in out of the rain to come in out of the rain. Never mind that it was local and state officials who dropped the ball on evacuation and storm response.Then complained that their mess was not corrected quickly enough by FEMA. But as noted above they were dealing with many who did not want to evacuate.
Back to RE: The bubble is alive and well. 76 houses in Raleigh, NC listed for $1 million or higher. How do you like this one? Asking price: $2,900,000. Bought in 2006 for $3,350,000. An average of $60K loss per year for every year of ownership. Annual taxes: $30K. I think something like this is really worth ~ $500K - $700K.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3309-White-Oak-Rd_Raleigh_NC_27609_M69392-89999
Hecka job Brownie!
“The storm is without a doubt Bush’s fault. After all, you can’t expect the oceans to stop their rise in just four years.”
Was this an attempt at humor? If so, it was a complete failure.
LOLOL! A pretty thin skin, I’d say.
“Ten days from Election Day, Obama and Romney are tied nationally. But the president still appears to have more pathways to reaching the required 270 Electoral College votes.”
No, they are not in the better polls Rasmussen and Gallup. So the whole article’s premise is wrong. Obama might win a 51-49 national Romney vote but to believe that Obama is going to lose the popular vote by 4 and still win is believing in the tooth fairy. Swing states have a tendency to vote like the national percentage, you might be able to change that a little with hard work but not by the numbers we see today. Of course, more than a week is a lifetime in politics so it could change but I would be more nervous to be in the Obama campaign.
As far as the storm, no one even talks about the possibility that the storm just keeps heading east and does not make land. I would say there is a five percent chance that is what happens.
If I had to place a bet on the election outcome, I’d go with the bookies’ odds, not the polls.
The odds suggest Obama will win.
Dumb question: Why is it legal for the government (i.e. central banks) to manipulate, if not outright control, interest rates, but not for private firms? Do government sponsored monopolists do it better?
ft dot com
October 26, 2012 4:59 am
Nine more banks added to Libor probe
By Shahien Nasiripour in Washington
Nine of the world’s biggest banks are facing increased scrutiny from US state prosecutors probing alleged attempts to manipulate the lending gauge known as Libor.
Eric Schneiderman, New York attorney-general, and George Jepsen, Connecticut attorney-general, have sent subpoenas to Bank of America, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Credit Suisse, Lloyds Banking Group, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Canada, Société Générale, Norinchukin Bank and West LB as they investigate whether the banks participated in any schemes to rig the London interbank offered rate, a person familiar with the matter said.
The financial groups join Deutsche Bank, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, HSBC and UBS to increase the number of banks under examination by the two state prosecutors to 16.
The banks have either declined to comment, could not be reached for comment or have not responded to requests for comment. Several have disclosed various Libor-related investigations to investors and have said they are co-operating with government probes.
The civil investigative demands for documents and records of communications started this summer. The state legal officers want to examine whether the banks colluded to fix interest rates determined by Libor, damaging the states’ borrowers and investors as a result.
Their investigation follows separate probes by prosecutors and regulators in countries across three continents, including the UK, Canada, Japan and the US, who are examining possible collusion by large financial groups to manipulate benchmark lending rates.
…
Isn’t the London interbank rate set in, er, London? Does the US also have jurisdiction over the price of tuna in the Tokyo fish market if some of it ends up as sushi in San Fransisco?
“Isn’t the London interbank rate set in, er, London?”
You missed my point, which is that private banks set the London interbank rate, not central banks (which, by the way, are owned by private banks).
If you understand why it is OK (under international banking rules) for central banks to manipulate interest rates but not private banks, please comment; otherwise feel free to ignore my post.
You missed my point. If you understand what right “US state prosecutors” have to try and control what foreign banks do in London, England, please comment. Otherwise feel free to ignore my post.
Point understood.
If US state prosecutors feel like their citizens were wronged by foreign banks, why shouldn’t they press their case by whatever legal means is available? I suppose the “right” in question here is “God-given.”
central banks (which, by the way, are owned by private banks)
The US Fed is owned by private banks, but I think that is the exception to the rule. Which other central banks are owned by private banks? What about UK, European and Japanese central banks?
“why it is OK (under international banking rules) for central banks to manipulate interest rates but not private banks”
Because nation states grant themselves and their agents rights which are denied to individuals. You might just as well ask why it is that a federal sky marshal can carry a gun on a plane but you can’t.
Central bank deciding to charge a different interest rate to influence other rates…we may not like it, but there is nothing about it that is a lie.
Private banks charging one rate, but influencing the market by lying about what that rate actually was? Fraudulent…especially when a HUGE amount of borrowing/lending bases their rates supposedly on what the rate ACTUALLY was.
What if the central bank in question is OWNED by a bunch of private banks. Does that change the story?
we better hurry and crush socialism/communism out of existence.
we don’t have much longer than a couple hundred million years to get off this planet, or we’ll perish where we stand. quite possibly we might not even have that long.
if we stay mired in socialism, we’ll never get the technology to make the transition. instead, some comet will smash us out of existence.
keep taking the happy pills
Seriously tj, you are right. The reasoning is extensive.
The reasoning is extensive.
and there’s even a small chance that we’re already too late.
if you know that something is coming that will wipe you out, the sooner you prepare for it, the better off you will be. we don’t only need to detect it, we also need the tech to deal with it when it arrives. but of course, getting off the planet will be much harder than dealing with a potential impact.
as you know, the whole point is that socialism hinders our chances for survival.
“…socialism hinders our chances for survival….”
The science refutes that statement.
Only in the progressive mind.
Right. “Progressive” archeologists, anthropologists, paleobiologists, epidemiologists….
If you had another brain cell, it would be lonely.
Members of the master political race love to throw out those insults.
Members of the imaginary “anti-progressive movement” love to justify those insults.
if you know that something is coming that will wipe you out, the sooner you prepare for it, the better off you will be. we don’t only need to detect it, we also need the tech to deal with it when it arrives.
Are you talking about global warming?
Are you talking about global warming?
you’re a riot. you piss in my cornflakes and then expect me to give you a serious answer.
here’s your answer..”LOL. You’re a logical fallacy machine, pj.”
So you were talking about global warming?
I’d be careful with folks who have clearly tipped over the edge…
“if we stay mired in socialism, we’ll never get the technology to make the transition. instead, some comet will smash us out of existence.”
Sounds like you don’t want any graffiti on your next planet?
Sounds like you don’t want any graffiti on your next planet?
actually, social welfare does give rise to gangs.
Not to worry, as there will be no paint in the next existential realm.
“actually, social welfare does give rise to gangs.”
Because New York in the 1830s was such a bastion of social welfare.
They are not even limited to cities.
ISTM that gangs are a natural outgrowth of our very human social nature. Economic or government systems have very little to do with it.
Economic or government systems have very little to do with it.
tribes can be considered gangs. so sure, gangs have nearly always existed. but street gangs would be almost non-existent in true free market capitalism. and to the extent they did exist, they would be much less violent than they are now. free market capitalism encourages moral behavior because it’s harder to make a living being immoral in a free market system. because there are more resources in free market capitalism, it’s harder to ‘rob a bank’ and when it does happen, the robber gets caught quicker. prosperity enables great things.
So 1830s New York was not “free-market capitalism”
1830s New York was certainly not a social welfare state. So your broad generalization about social welfare promoting violent gangs is false.
So your broad generalization about social welfare promoting violent gangs is false.
the benefits of free market capitalism don’t just spring up over night. it may take more than a generation to start seeing results.
gangs spring up to grab wealth and power. we didn’t have as much resources back then, to make criminal activity more risky and less profitable. today criminal activity is more risky, but social welfare enables gangs by providing lots of free money and food, so they have more time and more of ‘our’ resources to form and sustain gangs.
so yes, social welfare does give rise to gangs.
Social welfare programs allow criminals to work “part time”. Why is this a bad thing?
Because criminal activity carries risk, full time criminal activity means a greater chance of criminals getting shot….(often by other criminals)
For example, in the ghetto, the females often “manage” the crime while the males commit it. It is much easier for females to access the social welfare programs and collect the benefits; which often include a man, since she has the housing, food…
If things get “hot” in the hood, he can back off and “lay up in that gap” till things cool off. Plus when the cops raid the house, she has the ali of “he don’t live here…”
My point is, the social welfare programs NOW drive the dysfunction. Without it, much of the crime would burn itself out. It would be ugly for a while, but afterwards it would result in a big improvement.
We should CHOOSE this route rather than waiting for the system to collapse in on itself because the cracks are visible.
@Spook
excellent.
“Social welfare programs now drive the dysfunction…”
Exactly right. If that dysfunction isn’t criminal in nature, it is familial in nature. Or fiscal.
One such example is hanging your own children (or someone else’s children) out to dry in order to collect what was promised to you by your elders.
That, too, is dysfunction.
“A number of Old West gangs left a lasting impression on American history. While rare, the incidents were retold and embellished by dime novel and magazine authors during the late 19th century.
The O.K corral was a rare event. A similar event seems to occur in Chicago every weekend. How many gang members are there in the U.S.? Sorry I do not see the progress created by the welfare state and the concentration of power at the federal level
“The O.K corral was a rare event. A similar event seems to occur in Chicago every weekend. How many gang members are there in the U.S.? Sorry I do not see the progress created by the welfare state and the concentration of power at the federal level”
Population alone would necessarily make events more likely in present day Chicago than in Arizona in the 19th century. I presented an example of a time and place where nobody would claim that a welfare state was present and yet there are still gangs.
Those who are looking for socialism to be the culprit still see it even with contrary evidence.
Where is there an example of gang-free existence in a free market capitalist society?
Where is there an example of gang-free existence in a free market capitalist society?
and where is there an example of a truly free market capitalist society??
the answer is that there’s never been one. the closest the world has ever seen is when the USA was born. but even then it violated some free market rules.
there should never have been ‘eminent domain’.
there should never have been government monopolies like the post office.
there should never have been tariffs. tariffs are an interference with the free market.
no, we didn’t have a truly free market capitalist society, but it was close enough. too bad we started down the socialist path very quickly.
“but street gangs would be almost non-existent in true free market capitalism”
Of course, and street gangs couldn’t exist before the government went and built streets.
“and where is there an example of a truly free market capitalist society??
the answer is that there’s never been one.
“
So there has never been a truly free market capitalist society. How can you make any claims about one? There is no evidence to back up your claims, only thought experiments.
How can you make any claims about one? There is no evidence to back up your claims, only thought experiments.
because a totally free market doesn’t need to be seen in order to know the properties of a free market.
for example, i don’t have to see interference with trade to know that there will be less trade if there is more interference with trade.
“for example, i don’t have to see interference with trade to know that there will be less trade if there is more interference with trade.”
If trade is unbalanced and favors one party over another, then a reduction in trade may benefit the unfavored one.
A totally free market does not exist because there is always some person or entity seeking to gain an unfair advantage. The ones who are most successful at gaming the market end up accumulating the most capital further distorting the market.
From what I have seen of your arguments, you ignore or discount any contrary evidence. And you always fall back to “it’s never been tried”.
If trade is unbalanced and favors one party over another, then a reduction in trade may benefit the unfavored one.
never, a reduction in trade hurts everyone, not only the two parties involved in the trade.
A totally free market does not exist because there is always some person or entity seeking to gain an unfair advantage.
everyone or nearly everyone tries to get the most money they can with a trade. you know, buy low sell high? it doesn’t hurt trade at all. it’s the essence of the free market.
The ones who are most successful at gaming the market end up accumulating the most capital further distorting the market.
no one can successfully ‘game the market’. ask the hunt brothers after their unsuccessful bid to ‘corner’ the silver market. it’s just a myth started by the unsuccessful whiners, to get some regs they think will help them.
From what I have seen of your arguments, you ignore or discount any contrary evidence.
from what i’ve seen of your arguments, you accept false evidence.
A less talked about but equally destructive component of socialism is the nanny state and political correctness. The inevitable silencing of free speech is imposed by fiat and is necessary to quell decent.
Every progressive/communist/socialist has a view of how others should live and behave in a “community”. Ask yourself this question: Who’s standard of a proper life should be followed? The biker? The felon? The dreadlocks and granola guy? The fundie? The shut in? The yuppie? The bureaucrat?
A less talked about but equally destructive component of socialism is the nanny state and political correctness. The inevitable silencing of free speech is imposed by fiat and is necessary to quell decent.
absolutely. the silencing of free speech will inevitably result in violence. of course the silencing of free speech is violent in itself.
” less talked about but equally destructive component of socialism is the nanny state and political correctness. The inevitable silencing of free speech is imposed by fiat and is necessary to quell decent.”
There is a difference between free speech and hate speech. It is possible to disagree without being disrespectful.
And I am open to asking questions about differences among us. Some differences in attitudes between men and women are rooted in biology. A man will never have to worry about becoming pregnant from a rape.
I have seen no evidence that there is any substantive difference between members of different races that is based on race alone.
I am not willing to let bias cloud the judgment of our courts and inhibit the opportunity of groups of people based solely on external attributes. Affirmative Action has troubling aspects. My sons may be harmed by it, so I am not blind to its effects. But Obama’s presidency has made clear that we are not yet over racial prejudice as a country.
(I think you meant dissent and not decent.)
“Ask yourself this question: Who’s standard of a proper life should be followed? The biker? The felon? The dreadlocks and granola guy? The fundie? The shut in? The yuppie? The bureaucrat?”
All of them. I don’t want to regulate individual choices except where they infringe on others’ choices. So I support gay rights that involve adult, equal humans making choices that I would not make. But I do not support the rights of pedophiles who prey on children that are not capable of being willing participants.
I do want to regulate corporations that have the might to destroy the air and water we all need.
“dissent and not decent”
Yes, thank you.
“never, a reduction in trade hurts everyone, not only the two parties involved in the trade.”
You must be worried about the possibility of a Romney presidency declaring China a currency manipulator and slapping tariffs on them.
Based on your free market ideology, I would expect you to be a Gary Johnson supporter.
“but street gangs would be almost non-existent in true free market capitalism”
Street gangs are a manifestation of free-market capitalism (the really extreme kind with no regulations or laws).
if we stay mired in socialism, we’ll never get the technology to make the transition.
Is that why we have to hitch rides with the Ruskies, on their Soviet era designed rockets, to the ISS?
Is that why we have to hitch rides with the Ruskies, on their Soviet era designed rockets, to the ISS?
why don’t you ask the ruskies how happy they are that their space program and war machine take so much wealth out of their meager existence?
Another example you choose to ignore.
why don’t you ask the ruskies how happy they are that their space program and war machine take so much wealth out of their meager existence?
LOL. You’re a logical fallacy machine, pj.
“Is that why we have to hitch rides with the Ruskies, on their Soviet era designed rockets, to the ISS?”
Your communist in chief cancelled the shuttle program and any replacement. All in his continued effort to bring the Great Satan back down to size.
Obama is far from a communist, but I am disappointed in this, also. Aspirational projects are good for our soul.
tj says we never needed government to get us to space. Is the private sector ready to get us there now?
Lots of people in the all or nothing camp. Space exploration, the military, social safety net, interstate highway system, dams, food inspection, disease control etc are fine with me. Communism if for killers.
“tj says we never needed government to get us to space. Is the private sector ready to get us there now?”
The private sector could never have undertaken the R&D needed to develop the space exploration program, but they will happily free ride off the technological foundation the government built for them, and claim that ‘they built that’.
if we stay mired in socialism, we’ll never get the technology to make the transition. instead, some comet will smash us out of existence.
Weren’t the commies the first to put a man in space?
Weren’t the commies the first to put a man in space?
yes, but we weren’t interested in space until sputnik scared us into the space race. so we were starting from far behind. once we put our hard-earned resources behind it, we passed them.
government shouldn’t have gotten involved in the space race in the first place. sure, we needed to develop our rocketry science for defense. i’m not against that. but we didn’t need to go to the moon for defense. and now we can’t afford much space activity.
if we’d have left the government out of things like going to the moon, the private sector would have had the resources to start building their own rockets, or space planes and space stations.
i believe that by now we’d already have a permanent position in space, maybe even a permanent colony on the moon. it would have been done without taxing and draining considerable tax payer wealth.
we didn’t need a ‘jump start’ into space. all we needed was increasing prosperity and an increasing number of people who wanted to go.
all the things people believe government spending brought us like ‘the internet’ would have been done privately and done better.
we should be spending a much smaller percentage of our wealth on the military anyway. with truly free markets the military would have more money than it needs and the rest of us would barely feel it.
“i believe “
No evidence, just belief.
No evidence, just belief.
how can one give evidence of what one believes would have been? am i allowed to say what i believe would have been?
Speculate all you like. But don’t expect to convince me that a “totally free market” will work without evidence, especially when the evidence I see is that free markets favor the powerful and unscrupulous.
Don’t make unfounded, blanket statements with no support that can be easily refuted with contrary evidence. If you are speculating, label it as speculation.
Also, don’t construe that because I favor some government regulation that I am a communist who favors state control of the means of production. There are very few communists in the US and none in government.
i’ll make any statements, ‘blanket’ or not that i feel like making, whether you like them or agree with them or not.
and i couldn’t care less that you don’t believe in free markets even if the ‘evidence’ is staring you in the face.
the hallmark of a socialist is that they don’t believe in free markets. you denying it doesn’t mean you’re not a socialist.
and there are plenty of communists in our government whether or not you choose to turn a blind eye to it or not.
“i’ll make any statements, ‘blanket’ or not that i feel like making, whether you like them or agree with them or not.”
And I will keep calling you on them with actual evidence.
i’m so worried.
You should be thanking me for challenging you. If you are willing to do the work, you will make your arguments stronger.
“You should be thanking me for challenging you. If you are willing to do the work, you will make your arguments stronger.”
Bullshitters never bother to justify their arguments with facts.
If we did just 1 thing force welfare recipients to sit in class 25 hours a week and learn English…probably 1/2 would drop out the first month
And we would have plenty of money to double the space program and lift our head out of our butts…..we should aim high as a country
i’m not against that. but we didn’t need to go to the moon for defense. and now we can’t afford much space activity.
A Wall Street Journal analysis of capital flow data suggests that in the 12 months through September, about $225 billion flowed out of China, equivalent to about 3% of the nation’s economic output last year. It’s not a good sign when local businessmen begin to think it’s better to take money offshore, especially when the world economy is in such bad shape.
http://brazilianbubble.com/chart-cash-leaks-out-of-china/
Apologies if this has been posted before.
Doesn’t that capital flow out of China translate into higher U.S. housing prices?
I’m missing the downside here…
Apologies to Polly; I left out snark tags and smiley from the above post, which was intended to be flippant.
A lot of that has poured straight into US real estate.
Good way to lessen the trade deficit.
“In the past few years, the value of houses rose much more than the Brazilians’ income, generating a mismatch between the capacity of families to contract debt and real-estate financing. While the average income of Brazilian workers rose 43% between 2007 and 2011, the average value of financing for acquisition of real estate done by the Housing Finance System, or SFH, which uses funds managed by the government, increased 83%. New financing rules announced recently by Caixa Economica Federal, the state-owned bank that manages most funds to finance housing, tend to ease access of new families to such credit.
In 2007, average loans were R$82,000 and monthly installments were absorbing 42% of an average Brazilian couple’s income, considering a 30-year maturity. Last year, average financing reached R$150,000, with initial installments accounting for 52% of the couples’ income.
http://brazilianbubble.com/valor-mismatch-between-credit-and-income-growth-exposes-the-dangers-of-brazils-housing-bubble/
Bursting at the seams: Uncompromising pictures from inside America’s overcrowded prison system show the cramped lives lived by more than two million inmates
Astonishing pictures show American prison system at breaking point with more than 2million citizens behind bars
The most overcrowded state, California, has 140,000 inmates when its 33 prisons are only designed to hold 80,000
Overcapacity is expected to soar to 45 per cent above its maximum limit by 2018
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2223626/Prisons-America-breaking-point-million-citizens-bars.html#ixzz2AUrlJFLa
You need to build some more jails; at last a growth industry.
the problem with jails conditions is they differ too little from an inmates life on the outside.
Its no deterent:
Wake up, eat breakfast, go out in the yard, stand around, play basketball, play cards, lift weights, trade insults, fight…
Wait till I design a prison.
I think you nailed it, Spook.
How about Sheriff Joe’s Tent City?
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=tent+city+arizona&qpvt=tent+city+arizona&FORM=IGRE
Here is my prison:
Ever seen a strip mine?
Imagine a circular one with 9 decending layers.
Every inmate starts at the bottom layer and has to work his way up through discipline and constructive activity.
In addition, I would sprinkle “fake inmates” throughout the prison who would be my “spies” and alert me to those inmates who need to “have an accident”
My prison would fully rehabilite those who are able, and eliminate those who are not.
There would be no repeat offenders at my prison.
You are on a roll today, Spook.
What would the white-collar criminals do?
Spook, if one of us whities thought about that, it would be rascist. But I concur, a old empty open pit mine would be wonderful. So would portions of the desert out here in the southwest.
How about surrounding the prison with an Air Force bombing range?
Comment by Lip
Spook, if one of us whities thought about that, it would be rascist. But I concur, a old empty open pit mine would be wonderful. So would portions of the desert out here in the southwest.
How about surrounding the prison with an Air Force bombing range?
————————————-
Thats the tragedy; “corrections” is largely in the hands of “academics” who have no real world experience dealing with animals; and profit from an ever expanding “animal class” of people.
The racism is the entire industry of parasites who “manage” black pathology; all they care about is there next paycheck, there next “study” or the next “program” they are pushing.
All will fail because they destroyed the family structure.
Be advised white people, you are next on the chopping block.
PS– and no, you don’t need and airforce bombing range surrounding it.
LOL!
The upper level of my prison would resemble a golf course because only gentlemen in good standing would get there.
Corrections is run by academics?
Where did you get that hair brained idea?
“their” instead of there”
( I can’t see thru the smoke exiting my ears)
No problem yet exists that a pointy-headed academic cannot surmise.
“hare” instead of “hair”
(I can abide the thought of consuming “hare stew” but not “hair stew.)
There is always room for one more at my Tent City.
See for yourself: The “vacancy” sign is always lit.
Bed and breakfast (and lunch and dinner too!) all included during your stay.
And your FINAL test you must read the NYTimes in front of a parole broad and discuss current events in English
Any Ebonics and you Fail, and you go back down the 9 levels…
Exactly. Who in their right mind would provide cable TV, weightlifting, basketball and conjugal visits to violent criminals? It is no deterrent by any means. If anything, a lot of these prisoners are much happier inside than they would be outside. They should be used as free labor to improve the country, and provided basic food and shelter and that’s it.
No, don’t take even more jobs away from law-abiding people. But you should run all prisons along the lines of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola model.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_State_Penitentiary
From the article: ‘Angola is still operated as a working farm; Warden Burl Cain once said that the key to running a peaceful maximum security prison was that “you’ve got to keep the inmates working all day so they’re tired at night.” ‘
The Housing Crater Blog
The Toys R Us Big Book arrived this morning. What a load of junk. First of all, it is pathetic to get it before Halloween. Second of all, the physical size of the toys is huge. The activity centers (tools, kitchen, etc) seem larger. The doll houses are for 12 inch dolls - didn’t they used to be for 8 inch dolls? The building and race car sets seem larger, and the toy planes are huge. I guess the toy companies expected everyone to be happy in their McMansions for Christmas this year. Or at least everyone buying stuff. Where are the toys for the kids who had to move in with grandma and grandpa’s basement?
Where are the toys for the kids who had to move in with grandma and grandpa’s basement?
Food and shelter come before toys from Toys R Us Big Book.
When you lose your place to live your priorities change, probably even before.
Even pricing on toys is rigged.
Rigged markets. You can trust anything. Not even the price of a Slinky.
Edible Slinkies!
(not the kids’ kind though.)
Fundies…. The incredible edible undewear.
http://www.simplyforlovers.com/Edible-Underwear/
I do not care to think about fundies during edible slinky time.
Thanks!
lol….. too freaky when fun time items share the same name as creepy, closeted, old gray religious men.
poor kids shop at the .99 cents store these days.
do you remember flipper boy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOxDtStw3CU
Don’t call me flipper boy.
how are you doing sir? You doing any bird dogging in phx?
Does he still have blue balls?
Galina gone.
LOLsies.
They let you post from the slammer!?
“Second of all, the physical size of the toys is huge.”
The mentality of a kid is: Bigger is better. A big present is much more fun to open than a little one.
This mentality extends to - and is directed to - adults, which is a good thing from a marketing point of view since adults are the ones who buy the toys.
The opposite is true for lovers: When a guy buys a gift for his girlfriend, smaller is better.
(Especially when the small box has the word “Tiffany’s” written on it.)
No blenders? Irons? Kitchen aprons?
Blenders, irons, and kitchen aprons are for another stage of the relationship - one a bit farther down (assuming the relationship gets that far).
Butcher gloves? (steel-mail for serious knives-kinda guys.)
Think Japanese which are basically swords.
Aaah, true love. Sometimes you gotta do things that make other people comfortable even if you don’t really need to.
True love, as I said.
Butcher gloves are for the divorce.
Cute.
A favorite of some of my guests.
I’ll skip that pathology and stick to lamb heads.
Ummmm … my preference is for the other end of the lamb.
“…my preference is for the other end of the lamb.”
Please don’t elaborate.
Lamb tail fat really rocks! (if you can get it.)
He’s merely being provocative with no information whatsoever but in this extraordinarily narrow case, one can jump ahead of him every single time.
Sucks to be st00pid.
To me Tiffany lost some of it’s sheen having gone mass market. Van Cliff & Apels, Harry Winston, Cartier or even better buying the stones wholesale and having something custome made to avoid paying for the brand and associated marketing costs.
“To me Tiffany lost some of its sheen having gone mass market.”
Such is the fate of the Top End. If a retailer wants to remain Top End then it has to remain exclusive - and the term exclusive is rooted in the term excluded and sales of the product declines if the product is excluded from a lot of customers.
A lot of customers = mass market.
So what to do?
The trick is to keep the list price high but quietly offer the product at a discount to list price. But one cannot blatantly do this else the reputation of exclusively will be tainted and one cannot risk the reputation of exclusivity because this reputation is the main draw of the product.
What’s really a neat trick is to spread the word that one can get an exclusive (read: expensive) item at a big discount because he “knows somebody” or has some sort of “in”. Having to know somebody or to have an in keeps the product exclusive - and thus the demand high - but allows a lot of sales to occur if enough people “know somebody” or have an “in”.
Marketing = Perception.
BTW, this applies to the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera too.
Only “loosers” (with the funny spelling) pay full-price. It’s ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS discounted for the people that actually love and know the product.
Only tourists “must” have the ticket because they are only in town for that weekend. Those of us that live here can just mosey on down and deal with the “disappointment” which is disappointing only until the following week or the week after.
So bogus.
There’s no there there.
Generation Nixed: Why Canada’s youth are losing hope for the future
“Crippling debt to buy credentials no one wants. Low-paying, short-term jobs that put middle-class prosperity out of reach. And, for good measure, the prospect of a penurious retirement.
That’s the deal on offer to many twentysomething Canadians today, a tectonic shift that could leave a permanent gouge in the national economy.
While young people have always struggled to get established, economists and labour experts say this time is different. Those in their 20s today are facing far more hurdles than their parents’ generation, and those difficulties are likely to linger, with profound economic consequences for Canada. There is diminished job security, the growth of temp work, rising costs for food, tuition and housing and record debt levels. To top it off, young people entering the work force today are far less likely to retire with a company pension than their parents’ generation.
The tentacles of this new economic reality could stretch over decades. A generation of highly educated people that Canada desperately needs to drive future growth isn’t reaching its full potential. High debt and a late start in the job marker means longer delays in buying houses, cars and appliances – which will have a broad impact on Canada’s growth rates and prosperity.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/jobs/generation-nixed-why-canadas-youth-are-losing-hope-for-the-future/article4705553/
Emigration?
Canada, Australia and New Zealand are counties of choice for UK citizens trying to get out; they are also being targeted by young Irish emigrants
Young people in particular are finding it almost impossible to get a job, even if their qualifications are excellent, and the recent international jobs fair in Dublin was mobbed by the country’s brightest and best queuing at booths presented by Canada , New Zealand and Australian companies. Many more, it seems, with be exiting the country during this financial year.
http://www.emigrate.co.uk/news/20121016-5229_irish-emigration-soars-
This comes as a surprise to me. Despite Canada’s socialized health care, which encourages Canadians to get medical help in America, the Heritage Foundation ranks Canada as having more economic freedom than the United States.
The entire population is 34MM people.
To put it in perspective, that’s not much more than 3x the population of Shanghai, Mumbai, Beijing, São Paulo or Tokyo.
And it’s the second largest country by area in the world. (The US is third incidentally.)
Given these stats, the housing bubble should really surprise you. It’s an artifact of debt not of any genuine lack of space.
There’s only bl00dy frozen land as far as the eye can see.
“It’s an artifact of debt not of any genuine lack of space.”
If you limit your definition of ’space’ to non-tundra, you can see why places like Vancouver are relatively more bubbly than, say, the Northwest Territories, where very few people want to live.
Clearly, you’ve never been to Vancouver.
Think New Jersey commutes to Manhattan for a job and you are looking at a joke.
And yes, they have the highways. It’s a first-world country.
Just a bubble. Nothing much to see. Move on.
I’ve been to Vancouver; clearly you’ve never been to the Northwest Territories.
I have.
I’ve even been to Utarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. (as Olygal might have put it.)
Hugsies.
You’ve seriously been to the Northwest Territories?
I’m impressed.
My memory of rural Utarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr happens to be where you have loads of young women driving around in muscle cars (= pickup trucks) whistling at you.
It was quite a surprise to be objectified and “meatified” by Mormon women. They were shockingly blunt in what they wanted.
Not what one might have thought about Utah but life surprises us all.
How do you know if they are Mormon?
In a desert community of California where I lived, my boss was Mormon, his boss was Mormon, and his boss’ boss was Mormon. The mayor was Mormon.
But I found much to my delight single atheist women in the same community who were looking for atheist young guys like me.
Rural Utarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr? Late-90’s? Not Mormon?
Seriously, dude?
Lay off the index funds and start getting a clue.
In a desert community of California where I lived, my boss was Mormon, his boss was Mormon, and his boss’ boss was Mormon. The mayor was Mormon.
Hiring within the tribe seems to be the common theme among the successful minorities like Mormons, Jews and Hindus.
There is a strong not-Mormon subculture in Utah and it has existed for decades. It’s just nowhere near the majority. I am confident Bill speaks the truth. I’ve even been friends with a few who were basically just rebelling against conformity in their youth and rejoined normal society later, sometimes as Mormons and sometimes not.
Carl, one of my gal friends in that desert community was raised Mormon. Her ex left her pregnant with the fourth child. He was a druggie and decided not to finish his degree in business because he would make more money and have to pay alimony. Moved to Vegas and worked a minimum job at Circle K.
The woman friend was criticized for all this. She had lifelong guilt and she listened too much to the LDS. They wanted her to reread several Mormon books.
Another gal, an atheist, was abused and her children abused by her religious husband - then she divorced him. She’s an extreme liberal and in Oregon now. He’s probably an extreme social conservative still in the tiny California town.
It happens.
I will send them some cheese to go along with their whine.
The 29-year-old, who gave up his plans to become a professor while part way through his doctorate, has $30,000 in student debt.
Pffftt! You can spend that much on a single year’s worth of undergrad tuition in the land of the free.
Or not. This is why it is called the land of the free.
Well, not entirely the Land of the Free.
We are being forced to buy into Obamacare. Not exactly free choice, is it?
Having watched a few episodes of House Hunters, I see why. Canada makes “bubble era” Florida look reasonable. The prices are so far our of whack, particuarly in a country that’s about as populated as a 10,000 acre corn field when the farmer comes through on the tractor, how on earth can Canada expect to continue along it’s current trajectory? It’s madness, and, of course, when they finally wake up to that fact, it’s not exactly good news for anyone.
Population: 34 million.
Size: Second largest country in the world.
Real Estate: pricier than Central Park West apartments.
Land: As far as the eye can see.
How can it NOT end badly?
FPSS,
Stop already with the logic. You’re going to spook the buyers.
Ooops, I did it again.
Faster oops she did it again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P0GDtqf9ao
FPSS - That’s Spook the buyers -
1) Been gone enjoying the life of leisure. Spent a week in Palm Desert with an old friend who has a second home on a golf course. He told me that almost half the homes in his development are owned by people in the PNW and Canada. Everything in town was gearing up for the snow birds.
2) Went into a jewelry store in Pacific Grove that takes in PM’s. While I was there some gent from Santa Barbara was buying up all the silver the owner had including silver bowls. He was waiting around for more people to come in and sell and really wanted to get his hands on gold. The jeweler told me that most of his business is buying PM’s from the elderly.
3) Gas on trip was $5.50 to $6.00 in some places but back in town here is below $3.80.
“The jeweler told me that most of his business is buying PM’s from the elderly.”
It figures. The elderly need cash more than they need PMs.
Astonishing, no?
What’s more astonishing is that they haven’t done other things first before selling off valuables - such as move in with their kids in order to save money.
I guess I’m cut from a very different cloth.
Perhaps soon various governments actross the land will have to change their laws regarding boarding houses.
Perhaps they’ll be allowed once again - and largely regulation free. Right now, regulations concerning shelter trump actual shelter.
what were they paying for gold? they use to pay like 77% for gold up in the foothills around auburn,ca. Now a friend of mine says that it is around 70% for gold found by local miners. so if gold is trading at 1700 per ounce they give you like 1200. I guess the difference is to melt it down and get it pure. that seems like a hefty cut to me.
Have you ever been into taste or fifis restaurant in pacific grove?
“3) Gas on trip was $5.50 to $6.00 in some places . . . “
Awesome!
Upon selling antiques of my late Uncle and Aunt twelve years ago I came to the conclusion that pricing of antiques and anything else “designed” such as jewelry was so subjective that I did not have the time to put a reasonable price on it.
So I’d only buy gold and silver in bullion coin form from a long time reputable dealer in the ANA and other such organizations.
As for precious metals, I’ve gone too low for my asset allocation and need to buy a couple of ounces. But then a stock market correction I expect in the next nine weeks would change the balance.
From the Sacramento Bee:
“Home ‘flippers’ grab an increasing share of Sacramento housing market”
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/27/4942086/home-flippers-grab-an-increasing.html#storylink=cpy
Homebuyers in today’s market are likely to encounter a lot of fresh paint and spruced-up bathrooms.
That’s because flipped houses, renovated and quickly resold for profit, make up a larger share of the Sacramento region’s housing market than at any time in the past decade, including the height of the housing boom.
I guess flipping is more common in the lower end. I dont think I would want a home in north highlands.
“Within minutes of the first bullet being fired the White House knew these heroes would be slaughtered if immediate air support was denied,” said Ty Woods’s father, Charles.
“In less than an hour, the perimeters could have been secured and American lives could have been saved. After seven hours fighting numerically superior forces, my son’s life was sacrificed because of the White House’s decision.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/331806/incredible-shrinking-president-mark-steynObama is a scum bag.
Obama is a scum bag low life. Why did Christoper Stevens have to die???
RIP Ambassador John Christopher Stevens.
Like the President has time to micro manage 4 million employees.
The Republican anti-Obama rants appear insane if you apply an ounce of logic to them.
“Why did Christoper Stevens have to die?”
Because the CIA was using the State Dept. as cover for their weapon collection operations. There are hundreds of manpads loose in Libya and each one is capable of bringing down a commercial air liner. Best part is the CIA is never criticized by the press and if you attempt to blow the whistle on their crimes the justice dept. throws the reporter in jail.
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/73784/was-iran-behind-benghazi/
Stop trying to contradict a ranting Republican with a semblance of a plausible explanation!
So the Great White shark takes his son out to teach him how to hunt. The two come upon a surfer waiting on a wave and the young shark asks his father…
Can I eat him Dad?
The father shark says no, go swim around him four times and come back here. The young Great White does as his father says and returns asking….
Can I eat him now Dad?
Once again the father says no, go circle him twice, splash him with your tail and come back here. Again the young shark does what his father says and returns asking….
Can I eat him now Dad?! Can I eat him now?!
The father says go eat him.
The young Grat White swims over and eats the surfer. He returns to his father exclaiming….
That was delicious!
To which the father replied…
Of course it was, you scared the sh#t out of him.
If 350 white sharks swimming off the West Coast is not enough, I wonder what the ideal number is?
Great white sharks off West Coast to be considered for endangered listing
By Juliet Eilperin, Published: September 27
The federal government will examine whether to protect the West Coast population of great white sharks under the Endangered Species Act, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.
Four environmental groups had filed petitions with the NOAA Fisheries Service this summer to list the West Coast population on the grounds that accidental catches, illegal fishing and the accumulation of contaminants threaten the iconic species. Research studies suggest that as few as 350 great white sharks could be swimming off the coasts of the United States and Mexico.
I can’t wait until Nov7 when you election meat poles disappear.
Ditto.
Such a waste of time and energy.
After they disappear will there be a large uptick in the “Initial Jobless Claims” as unemployed trolls and bloggers sign on?
I’m looking forward to plenty of more interesting discussions once the neocon Retardican troll brigade ceases and desists from posting here.
Meanwhile I plan to continue poking holes in their retarded propaganda.
The bubble is alive and well. 76 houses listed in Raleigh, NC for $1M or more. How do you like this one? Asking price $2,900,000. Bought in 2006 for $3,350,000. A $60K loss for every year of ownership. Add in annual property taxes of $30K.
http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3309-White-Oak-Rd_Raleigh_NC_27609_M69392-89999
An ego-rub home….
Great place for a hotel? Funeral home?
Anything else?
I’m going to put my shoes and socks on now. But not in that order.
Note to self: pants first, then socks.
How’s Sandra looking for DC & NYC area?
It’s a Perfect Storm!
Early Worries That Hurricane Sandy Could Be a ‘Perfect Storm’
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Laura Rath and her family in Miami Beach on Thursday. The hurricane could become “a giant storm complex with a lot of energy,” one expert said.
By JOHN SCHWARTZ
Published: October 25, 2012 46 Comments
Hurricane Sandy, which on Thursday was barreling through the Bahamas as a Category 2 storm, may be taking aim at the northeastern United States and could make landfall along the Atlantic coast early next week. If so, forecasters say, the storm could become, to use a technical term from meteorology, a whopper.
“It really could be an extremely significant, historic storm,” said Brian McNoldy, a senior research associate at the University of Miami, explaining that conditions are similar to those that created the famous “perfect storm” of 1991.
…
Whatever.
North Atlantic residents continue to believe that their storms are More Ferocious and More Important than storms that hiot other areas of the country.
These folks need to do some Youtube surfing on “Joplin Tornado” and then shut the h#ll up.
Umm, basic economics says so, no?
A massive storm that hits Tokyo has more impact than a twister in rural Kansas.
What’s so surprising? The middle of America is basically an economic wasteland in the global scheme of things.
Really? We will see how much food prices go up all over the world because of the drought all over midwest last summer.
Faster-
A catastrophe isn’t a week or two without power, some downed trees, smashed cars and 50 homes swept into the ocean. A pain? Yes. A catastrophe? Hardly.
This is predicted to be a storm with max sustained of 85 mph. Want catastrophe? Try 200 mph+. Go review what happened in Homestead for some perspective.
And as said above, the Midwestern drought this year has and will continue to cause a great deal more economic damage than your upcoming windstorm.
While you’re at it, consider too the damage that the 1993 Midwestern floods caused. Nearly 100 breadbasket counties in six states were 90% or more underwater, many for more than two months.
The Big One that will someday lay waste to California will make all these others look like child’s play. It won’t be some Cat 1 storm that sashays onto a New Jersey beach and prevents locals from getting Chinese carry-out.
Hurricanes often produce tornadoes.
Sandy is huge and will affect a large swath of the eastern seaboard. Some of the rain bands are already in Pittsburgh, which is 300 miles from the ocean. And Sandy is off the coast of North Carolina and has not made landfall yet. Charlotte, NC ( inland at least 100 miles) is a solid day’s drive from Pittsburgh - 365 miles as the crow flies.
Time will tell, but this storm is bigger than Katrina. Its winds are not as strong, but the area it covers is massive.
Fast Pussy, did you ever consider that maybe the concerns of eight million New Yawkers don’t mean jack to the other two-hundred-ninety million Americans, so long as systemic theft isn’t used to pump money from Main Street into Wall Street’s coffers?
I didn’t think so.
I’m really praying for The Day After Tomorrow scenario in Manhattan.
If it happens, I’ll ask God to forgive me later.
This exchange was really disappointing.
I can assure you East Coasters were stunned and heartbroken to see what happened to the city of Joplin and many sent money to help. I watched the same after some of the West Coast major earthquakes and New Orleans.
My kids’ school sent boxes and boxes of toys and clothing to Katrina victims. We outgrew the room we were organizing in and we were just a tiny community of 6000. The kids also made comfort quilts for homeless kids. They were beautiful and we heard they were well appreciated. There were different rounds of church member groups that went down to help rebuild homes.
I know medical professionals that fly out to do Red Cross duty during these crises. They leave behind their jobs and families because they know there is a need. My husband’s company often rushes professionals to crisis areas miles away from home to get security and medical communications up and running in devestated areas. Yes they are paid but when you hear them discuss the devestation you know they are touched and just want to get things back to normal as soon as they can for people.
Still windy as hell in Jupiter.
No wind problem on the moon.
I have an acre or two I would sell you if we can meet and come to terms. I’m a bit desperate for funds right now so I’m willing to make some deep concessions on the price.
“Still windy as hell in Jupiter.”
We got our first snow yesterday, Friday, here Washington’s Columbia Basin. Nothing but rain and overcast in the forecast too; I’m totally bummed. Looks like it’s time to start surfing Redfin - Scottsdale, AZ again.
Posted: 12:12 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012
Calif Latino grocery chain fights immigration woes
By GOSIA WOZNIACKA
The Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. —
Two decades ago, Mi Pueblo Food Center began modestly as a small butcher shop run by an illegal immigrant. Now, the supermarket that caters to the Latino immigrant community has grown into a popular chain of 21 stores in California.
But with growth and success have come scrutiny from federal immigration authorities and clashes with a union that wants to represent Mi Pueblo’s 3,200 workers and is leading a consumer boycott.
The predicament is thorny for a family-owned firm that relies almost exclusively on Latino immigrants for its workforce and its customer base.
The company is under pressure from an ongoing immigration audit and its decision to use a controversial federal program that screens the eligibility of new employees to work in the United States.
“We are feeling what is happening to us in a way that most companies might not, because we are founded by an immigrant and depend on immigrants to survive,” said Perla Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the San Jose, Calif-based company.
She said the company did not knowingly hire any illegal immigrants.
The early journey of Juvenal Chavez, founder and CEO of Mi Pueblo, may mirror that of some customers and workers. A former teacher from the Mexican state of Michoacan, Chavez came to the U.S. illegally in 1984 at age 24.
He did odd jobs — working as a janitor and bartender and washing glassware in laboratories at Stanford University. He took adult education classes to learn English, and his company says he gained legal status.
Chavez helped his brother run a small Mexican market in Redwood City. By 1991, he had saved enough to open his own butcher shop in a storefront in San Jose. Over the next decade, Chavez opened 10 more stores. In Spanish, Mi Pueblo means “my village” or “my home.”
In the stores, ranchera music belts from speakers, the decor shines in bright primary colors and bilingual employees wear badges with their hometown printed below their name. Mounds of tomatillos, cilantro, fresh tortillas and Mexican baked goods are for sale.
Since 2009, Mi Pueblo has doubled the number of stores and today grosses more than $300 million annually.
The 52-year-old Chavez, who lives in a sprawling house on the outskirts of San Jose, touts his work in helping workers achieve their version of the American Dream. Mi Pueblo runs in-house training and leadership programs for employees and awards thousands of dollars in college scholarships.
Through a company spokeswoman, Chavez declined to be interviewed, citing ongoing legal issues.
Union organizers have accused the company of wage, overtime and other violations. In the past three years, the UFCW and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have won two court decisions against Mi Pueblo for violating labor laws. Both cases are under appeal.
The union is encouraging people not to shop at Mi Pueblo until the company stops using the E-Verify program. The union also wants ICE to stop the audit.
To defend itself, the company hired a prominent labor lawyer and an immigrant rights activist. Mi Pueblo officials also met with dozens of city officials, church leaders and immigrant advocacy groups to talk about immigration reform.
“She said the company did not knowingly hire any illegal immigrants.”
She knows NOTHING!
Fastball- The Way (with lyrics)
They made up their minds
But they were not packing
The checks they wrote would have to stop that day
An exit to eternal summer slacking
But how could they stay there Without ever having to pay?
They drank up the wine
And they got to talking
They now had more important things to say
The teaser rates went up they were not walking
But how could they stay there Without ever having to pay?
Anyone could see The road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It’s always summer, they’ll never get cold
They’ll Never get hungry
They’ll never get old and gray
You can see their life in the shadows is off somewhere
They won’t lose their home
So they really don’t care
They live in a free house
They’re happier there today , today
The Banker called up
But they couldn’t find ‘em
They Left before the sun came up that day
The loan blown off
They left it all behind ‘em
But how could they stay there Without ever having to pay?
Anyone could see The road that they walk on is paved in gold
And It’s always summer, they’ll never get cold
They’ll Never get hungry
They’ll never get old and gray
You can see their life in the shadows is off somewhere
They won’t lose their home
So they really don’t care
They wanted the granite
They’re happy there today , today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbD5dShemps - 164k