Bits Bucket for November 5, 2012
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Global DOWn
PPT is holding the line for now; watch out the day after Election Day.
Futures: S&P 500 +0.1% DOW +0.1% NASDAQ +0.3%
Stock futures hold steady as politics cast a shadow
The looming presidential election keeps investors on the sidelines, and weighs on overseas stocks.
Apres moi, le deluge!
watch out the day after Election Day ??
Romney win = Capital Gains rate stays the same
Obama win = Capital Gains rate goes up…
Our dysfunctional Congress may have something to say about that.
Obama win = Capital Gains rate goes up…
Because he did such a good job of pushing it up when the Democrats controlled both houses?
Our dysfunctional Congress may have something to say about that ?
Because he did such a good job of pushing it up when the Democrats controlled both houses ?
There is no choice guys…Either President along with both houses have radical changes ahead…I just suggest that a Romney presidency would preserve the Capital investment lower rate and Obama see’s it as raising taxes on the wealthier tax payers who mostly benefit from the Capital Gains tax rate…
Romney can’t preserve the cap rate by himself. Since those rates will rise automatically, Romney would have to actively convince Congress to pass a bill to preserve the rates as they are. I don’t see the Dems in the Senate cooperating.
If an Obama win sparks a stock market selloff, it could be a good time to buy the dip.
Nov. 5, 2012, 1:20 a.m. EST
Asia stocks lower, eyes on U.S. election
By Sarah Turner, MarketWatch
SYDNEY (MarketWatch) — Asia stocks traded mostly lower Monday, with investors cautious ahead of the U.S. presidential election, with resource shares and Korean car makers among the top decliners.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.7%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.6%, and the Shanghai Composite index edged down 0.4%, although Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index traded up 0.4%.
“Markets are in an uncertain mode, given the nearing close-call U.S. elections, and this is not conducive to gains,” said Dariusz.Kowalczyk, emerging markets strategist at Credit Agricole.
…
One more day until Jamie Dimon is re-elected.
And the rest of his flock?
“Don’t blame me
I voted for Tweedle-dee”
“Don’t blame me, I voted for Kodos”
If there isn’t a bumper sticker for that with an American flag on it, the makers of the Simpson’s needs to make one.
“One more day until Jamie Dimon is re-elected.”
Bingo!
And don’t forget his syphlitic cousin and master Bernie Bernanke and his 12 thieves…
…. pssst… it’s really important you know and understand who the 12 thieves are. And they have their liars at the district level too. Many are realtards and mortgage pimps. You all should do some readin’.
“The way the Liberals are around here (militant and dismissive of all other viewpoints), I’m not surprised in the slightest.”
Interesting… when I witness bullying in schools, I never consider it a “viewpoint.”
See, there you are being dismissive again! All the bully wants is your empathy and he will beat you until he gets it. After, he’s the real victim!
/sarcasm
“The way the Liberals are around here (militant and dismissive of all other viewpoints), I’m not surprised in the slightest.”
Strawman propaganda technique numero uno: Accuse your opponent of engaging in your primary attack strategy.
http://www.addictinginfo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/classwar.jpg
http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/Q/J/4/corporations-people-texas-execute.jpg
Ad on HBB: “I vote for Martin & Malcolm & Trayvon. Don’t let their legacies die” which links to a SEIU voter website.
WTF?
How did Trayvon get in there?
Very simple. Rather than being seen as a low-life thug that got into an altercation with a Latino with a gun, he is a “martyr” to the cause of blackness.
He was “gunned down” because he was black.
That is the black mythology of the Trayvon Martin case.
It still hasn’t gone to trial, but you just know the only reason he is dead is because of white racism.
Can’t be a case of self-defense by the Latino with a gun.
Remember Tawwana Brawley??? A hero. Suffering for the cause of racism. All a lie, but Al Sharpton still gets a spot on TV because it COULD have happened, rather than being reviled as a liar and a conman race hustler.
Was it the Yale hockey team accused of rape?
I forgot. Never happened, but it COULD have happened.
You have to come to terms with the black mindset of perceived racism. Everything is related to it.
If George Zimmerman is acquitted, “Justice For Trayvon™” will be achieved by looting Foot Locker.
Exactly Dio…Trayvon was transitioning from a cute kid to a gansta thug…all his gansta pics have been removed from FB…and hopefully will come out at trial…
I think its going to be very hard to find a jury since Sanford FL is a very high crime area and how many have not been touched by it?
possibly a move to a venue with a low crime rate?
I remember the Duke lacrosee players must have missed the Yale Hockey team. Two of my favorite sports. Actually, played some lacrosse in college.
I agree with your point.
If I were pres I would never let Shartpon on the WH grounds until he publicly apologizes in person to the duke players and family….fat chance of that happening
Time to shut up Al and go to your room
I must confess, though a buffoon he may be, the existence of a “Sharpton” did cause some white people to stop and think before they commited an overt act of racism.
Face it, a surly fat negro with a bad hairdoo walking up and down the sidewalk infront of your house shouting in a megaphone…?
Its just not worth it.
Plus for blk people, it was good to know that if the police DID gun you down unjustly, at least one black person would cause a stink.
You kinda need that because too many black people are busy chasing money to give a damn about you.
Just sayin.
LOL.
Well played troll.
Are you a white person?
Yes we are. Black troll with great points.
Opinion piece by Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson:
Breaking the two party stranglehold that is killing American democracy
http://m.guardiannews.com/ms/p/gnm/us/sCOiSI3cSuCP5iLRAfqL-dQ/view.m?id=15&gid=commentisfree/2012/nov/03/breaking-twoparty-stranglehold-gary-johnson&cat=commentisfree_us-edition
goon
Thanls for the link He got it right, a back and forth of a two headed snake, and the our country continues to decline. I am a recovered Republican, now a Political Atheist. All bought off liars.
One thing that puzzles me is why the republican faithful have such a visceral hatred for Obama, who after all has only pushed the crony capitalism they espouse to a level they never imagined possible. The same could be said for the democrat faithful who despised Bush, then promptly seized his policies and expanded them. Are the current crop of republicans just jealous because they didn’t have the imagination or nerve to take their looting to the dizzy heights that the democrats have achieved ? I’m sure that if Romney wins, and the republicans control the congress, they will be inspired by the behaviour of the previous administration. I’ve noticed this occurring during the last 20 years, each time control passes from one party to the other: the new gang is inspired to raise the already unimaginable level of corruption up another notch or two.
One thing that puzzles me is why the republican faithful have such a visceral hatred for Obama,
Now why do you think? Maybe many of them don’t like his face.
Or his Black ear’s…
Read this;
The Pulse: The smearing of a president: From start … - Philly.com
http://www.philly.com/philly/…/20121104_The_Pulse__The_smearing_of…1 day ago – Michael Smerconish, Inquirer Columnist. Posted: Sunday, November …. Read his columns at http://www.philly.com/smerconish. Michael Smerconish
Intro;
This election has always been a referendum on Barack Obama. For some, not on matters of substance. They can’t have it both ways. It’s hypocritical to distribute a vicious, false narrative about him while fancying yourself a patriot and a great American. Vilify a sitting president of the United States with fiction and innuendo, and you are neither
I probably don’t qualify as a “republican faithful”, since even as a republican I voted for Obama the first time.
That said, I don’t have a hatred for Obama, I certainly don’t like how he “led” the country the last 4 years (led from behind on major economic issues), and I don’t think he understands the private sector sufficiently to be the right president for the next 4 years.
Funny thing is that the most faithful Democrat that I know has a visceral hatred for Romney–when sharing with her one of the positive stories that has come out about Romney (a NYT piece, no less), she refused to believe it, saying that there must be more to the story…when I asked “why must there be more?”, she simply responded that she didn’t like Romney.
I don’t think (Obama) understands the private sector sufficiently to…. gut it like a fish as Romney’s ilk has.
Give me a break–a friend of mine is a member of Obama’s policy team. I wrote to him a while back expressing my concern that Dodd Frank is only going to serve to make it more difficult for smaller enterprises to gain a foothold in the market, and that large financial institutions will only get bigger. His response was that he didn’t know much about Dodd Frank…
Obama has done more for the large-scale financial institutions via Dodd-Frank than people would like to admit because they don’t understand how capital is invested in this country.
If you think Dodd Frank is some wonderful, anti-Wall Street piece of legislation, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
If you think Dodd Frank is some wonderful, anti-Wall Street piece of legislation, I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
Your argument is odd.
If you think that dissing Obama’s Dodd-Frank because it’s not anti-Wall Street enough (when the Repubs think it’s too anti-Wall Street) proves even 1% of your point, then I’ve got an even bigger bridge to sell you.
My point is that Obama has no idea how the private capital markets work–with Dodd Frank as the evidence.
Dodd Frank was intended to reduce the possibility of TBTF, when in fact, what it did was make it more likely that the larger institutions get even bigger, and harder to let fail by dramatically impacting the ability of the smaller and medium sized institutions to compete.
If you had listened to a thing Romney says about Dodd Frank, you would hear him say that the big banks (ie. Wall Street) have nothing to worry about, since they can hire armies of accountants and attorneys to deal with the legislation. It is the small and mid-market players that are going to suffer, and when there are fewer small and mid-market players, those trying to raise smaller and medium sized amounts of capital have a harder time doing so.
If you don’t see the result of Dodd Frank being that the big banks are going to get even bigger, and capital formation is going to suffer at the smaller end of the market (ie. main street)…well then, you should read up on the actual impact of Dodd Frank and the >100 rules that it caused to be created by the SEC. Unfortunately, Dodd Frank is not just the Volcker Rule and QRM requirements (which have yet to be enacted, by the way), if it was, I’d have no problem with it.
And the accountants and attorneys shall inherit the earth.
“One thing that puzzles me is why the republican faithful have such a visceral hatred for Obama”
I don’t think it’s a simple as that he is black… I think it’s that he’s a new kind of “mutt” that represents the future of our (supposed) melting pot.
The blackness on his father’s side does not come out of our legacy of slavery (although supposedly he has some slave ancestry via his white mother’s side).
On a subconscious level, he represents our evolving multi-racial world in which the races voluntarily mix.
That has gotta produce some sort of an involuntary gut reaction in some people.
“I don’t think it’s a simple as that he is black…”
It is. At least according to the Repubs I know personally. They are quite free in using the “N” word when talking about him.
The ones I know use ‘Muslim’ instead of the n word.
Eco…..yes its true the N word is used a whole lot more then it was 4 years ago….wonder who is to blame? a white guy?
Oh wont criticize his black race for any reason, cozy’s up to JayZ yet JayZ has done more damage to the black community than the KKK ever did…
Imagine if JayZ would spend his millions on educating his people in English..rather than a Basketball stadium..
Yes. It’s white Repubs I hear this from.
well they hear it all the time from the janitors and the administhur secretarie….Its more socially acceptable…..face it Ohbewanna is a black racist….cant hide it anymore
The ones I know use ‘Muslim’ instead of the n word.
Suggestion: Muggle
That has gotta produce some sort of an involuntary gut reaction in some people.
I have a friend who, while we were looking at a diagram of all the Presidents, put it this way:
“I’ll bet a lot of those guys, if they could see who we just elected (meaning Obama), would wonder what went wrong.”
whyyoung,
Resentments run deep when even the “other” catches a better break.
“One thing that puzzles me is why the republican faithful have such a visceral hatred for Obama, who after all has only pushed the crony capitalism they espouse to a level they never imagined possible. The same could be said for the democrat faithful who despised Bush, then promptly seized his policies and expanded them.”
St00pid has no party affiliation.
IIRC, they hated Clinton too, even before the Monica Lewinsky thing. I think it has something to do with fear that the other guy’s candidate is more appealing than yours.
I hated Clinton from about 94 on. I’ve mellowed a bit as I’ve gotten older, but he did a lot of things in his first term I didn’t like. I had no preconceived notions of him to start with…I didn’t like Bush Sr. that much and was ready for something different.
“Breaking the two party stranglehold that is killing American democracy”
Hear hear!
The 1% have co-opted both of the main parties and turned the presidential race into a clown show.
+1.
I read his editorial, and in the end decided to vote for him, perhaps to some extent due to it. Previously I was assuming I would write in Ron Paul, as I did last year.
My thinking was that if I’m going to spend my vote as a protest vote, it might be worth more if it is massed together with others’ protest votes.
Im predicting an Obama win.
Just like in boxing, the challenger has to REALLY out score the defending champ in points in order to get the decision.
Its not enough to just be marginally better.
who are you voting for?
Mr. Wallet. He’s in the console of my truck.
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho
http://blastr.com/assets_c/2012/11/presidentcamachogun-thumb-550×729-104489.jpg
House of Repersentin’ !!!
I am torn between the Rasmussen and Gallup polls so I cannot predict this outcome:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 49% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 48%. Two percent (1%) prefer some other candidate, and one percent (1%) remains undecided.
With the Rasmussen polls this is a tight race that cannot be called. Obama gained ground in the national polling but he has lost ground in the swing state polling. However, if you believe the Gallup polling that there has been a major swing from people identifying themselves as democrats to republicans, then this race is not even close, Romney will win easily since the other polls are overcounting democrats.
I will stick with Rasmussen and based on his polls, I think that Romney has a slight edge due to how undecided voters typically break. However, the early voting numbers do suggest that Gallup maybe on to something. The increase in Republican voters in Ohio and the substantial decrease in democrats is amazing. It is at a point that if people vote tomorrow in Ohio the way they voted in 2008, Romney will win. I find it hard to believe that Obama can run better this year than he did in 2008 on election day but who knows.
I wish I knew which poll to believe, so that I could vote for the winner.
/snark
I told this Board about a week ago that I had voted third party. I also told the board that if I lived in Ohio, I would have cast my vote for Romney since while Obama would make me more money on my investments, I did not think the country could survive four more years of Obama.
So like the “One”, you can make your insulting comments but it will not change facts.
We voted early for Gary Johnson. The fantasy ticket of Ron Paul / Dennis Kucinich, that would have restored civil liberties, starved the military industrial complex, and created universal health care, will never happen.
Other than women’s reproductive rights (resulting from SCOTUS appointees), we perceive little difference between Mittens and The One.
Expect four more years of:
Drone wars
PATRIOT Act
Increasing health care costs
Increasing food stamp/disability enrollment
Declining *real* incomes
Increasing *real* inflation
Increasing deficits
Increasing MIC spending
et cetera…
I did not think the country could survive four more years of Obama ??
The question you should ask yourself is if the country could survive a Paul Ryan…
“you can make your insulting comments”
In what way were you offended by my snide remark?
“The fantasy ticket of Ron Paul / Dennis Kucinich, that would have restored civil liberties, starved the military industrial complex, and created universal health care, will never happen.”
Universal health care runs opposite of RP’s philosophy, I don’t see him going for it.
From the Weekly Standard using Gallup numbers:
Newly released figures from Gallup show that the demographics of the American electorate (age, race, sex, etc.) have changed very little since 2008 except in one way: Party affiliation has swung dramatically toward the Republican party, and away from the Democratic party, during President Obama’s term. Gallup’s tallies on the composition of the electorate show that, among likely voters, Democrats held a 10-point advantage over Republicans in party affiliation in 2008 — 39 to 29 percent. Four year later, Gallup’s tallies show that, among likely voters, Republicans hold a 1-point advantage over Democrats in party affiliation — 36 to 35 percent. That’s an 11-point swing in just four years.
I have not seen one poll where the Republicans are given the advantage but I have seen numerous ones that use the 2008 numbers and sample as if the democrats still have that 10 point advantage.
Rasmussen has Romney leading in North Dakota.
I also haven’t seen any polls that show any growth in the % of white americans. Clearly they are under sampling Mormons.
AlbequerqueDanDarrell is going to be shedding tears tomorrow. Weeping the blues.
Maybe he will console himself by buying beachfront property.
He’ll put out a new blues album titled “Belaboring The Bull$hit”. But don’t blame me. I voted for Mr. Wallet.
Forget your d@mn polls and try reading the post-Sandy trend in these graphs:
2012 US Presidential Election Winner Takes All Market
2012 US Presidential Election Vote Share Market
Either the IEM vote shares market is irrational, or else Obama is at least in line to win the popular vote (no indication from these numbers how that applies to swing states, though), as the prices posted below show he is consistently ahead over the past few days.
Maybe next election, IEM could develop swing-state-specific vote share markets that would enable developing accurate predictions of the electoral college outcome, not just the popular vote. Just a thought…
Price History
PRES12_VS
These markets are open continuously. Low/High/Average prices refer to prices beginning at 12:00:01am and ending at 11:59:59pm. LastPrice refers the price of the last trade before midnight. Today’s prices are not included in this list.
Date Contract Units $Volume LowPrice HighPrice AvgPrice LastPrice
11/01/12 UDEM12_VS 44 22.211 0.501 0.510 0.505 0.510
11/01/12 UREP12_VS 82 40.303 0.485 0.495 0.492 0.495
11/02/12 UDEM12_VS 75 38.719 0.504 0.533 0.516 0.504
11/02/12 UREP12_VS 19 9.083 0.475 0.486 0.478 0.480
11/03/12 UDEM12_VS 8 4.224 0.528 0.528 0.528 0.528
11/03/12 UREP12_VS 6 2.881 0.480 0.481 0.480 0.480
11/04/12 UDEM12_VS 64 32.464 0.503 0.520 0.507 0.507
11/04/12 UREP12_VS 19 9.300 0.480 0.490 0.489 0.480
IEM Winner-takes-all market prices imply that the odds against a Romney popular vote win currently stand at about 3:1. This in turn supports my suggestion a week ago that Superstorm Sandy would play in Obama’s favor.
Does anyone remain certain that I was absolutely wrong about this, as you were last week?
Price History
PRES12_WTA
These markets are open continuously. Low/High/Average prices refer to prices beginning at 12:00:01am and ending at 11:59:59pm. LastPrice refers the price of the last trade before midnight. Today’s prices are not included in this list.
Date Contract Units $Volume LowPrice HighPrice AvgPrice LastPrice
11/01/12 DEM12_WTA 3,664 2,422.119 0.640 0.725 0.661 0.690
11/01/12 REP12_WTA 5,098 1,735.142 0.260 0.377 0.340 0.280
11/02/12 DEM12_WTA 3,887 2,772.943 0.670 0.752 0.713 0.740
11/02/12 REP12_WTA 1,940 577.044 0.280 0.329 0.297 0.284
11/03/12 DEM12_WTA 3,938 2,791.713 0.680 0.733 0.709 0.712
11/03/12 REP12_WTA 3,506 1,048.766 0.284 0.325 0.299 0.300
11/04/12 DEM12_WTA 2,999 2,177.143 0.691 0.798 0.726 0.751
11/04/12 REP12_WTA 4,062 1,137.734 0.199 0.310 0.280 0.250
Cell phones make polls hard to trust.
Not if they use voter rolls, which have plenty of cell phone numbers in them.
“Just like in boxing, the challenger has to REALLY out score the defending champ in points in order to get the decision.
Its not enough to just be marginally better.”
An analysis like that might possibly work in a local, non-partisan election for a position like school board where the number of people who bother to vote rarely varies by more than a few dozen. Completely useless in a national election involving a complicated structure like the electoral college. Your prediction could be right, but your reasoning isn’t relevant.
So does Princeton:
http://election.princeton.edu/electoral-college-map/
Excellent resource.
For those of you who don’t want to check otu the link, the site predicts Obama: 309
Romney: 229
Excellent resource.
+1 Interesting analysis.
What day this week are NY and NJ going to be served their follow-up turd sandwich in the form of a nor’easter?
I feel awfully sorry for the people there, it’s a shame that nobody takes preparedness seriously from Federal Govt down to the individual. I’m sure there are people there that learned from this experience.
It is supposed to hit the mid-atlantic on Wednesday afternoon.
’m sure there are people there that learned from this experience.
“Experience is a dear teacher, but fools will learn at no other”
B. Franklin
That’s my line!
It’s a shame that they haven’t done more to prevent this storm damage.
If Bloomberg in deed thinks that the levels of the oceans are going to rise, wouldn’t he be doing more to avoid problems?
I saw Guiliani on the TV and he said that when he was the Mayor, he wanted to install a bunch of large emergency generators. He settled for much smaller generators as the regulator hurdles to install the large ones would have meant that they’d never get installed.
The cost of bureacracy is heavy in this instance.
done more to prevent this storm damage…..The cost of bureacracy is heavy in this instance.
It’s mostly the cost of a once proud country not continually investing serious public money in its crumbling infrastructure.
How can you even think of wasting money to repair infrastructure when there are still banks to bail out and bad mortgages to buy?
Traitor!
LOL, RE
It’s not just governments that are expecting sea rise and doing insufficient amounts to prepare for it. I work at a building adjacent to the marina, and when we opened a new server farm/data location, we purposefully made sure it was over 50 feet above sea level, and as part of the decision, they showed a 20 foot sea rise projection map, which showed our current buildings under water. When I asked when we would be moving our current location (we lease) to be above that, they said we had no plans to do so. I said if we wait until there is water in our parking lot, there will be NO buildings available to rent at any price in dry areas. The response was a shrug and some platitudes about upper management knowing what they’re doing.
So instead of running in the cloud you guys will be in the puddle?
The stuff that’s easily cloudable got moved someplace dry, and the stuff that has to PHYSICALLY be done is left where the floods will wash it away. SOUND strategy.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned the hard way in life, it’s that NOBODY above you in the org chart wants to look like a fool, yet most of them are.
The response was a shrug and some platitudes I used to serve in an lower administrative role in hospital disaster planning. I got this responses dozens of times for things I suggested. Some of my predictions were proved true. When I later pointed this out, the response I got was another shrug & more platitudes.
“It’s a shame that they haven’t done more to prevent this storm damage.”
If God wanted the Republicans to win, he would never have sent a hurricane to their convention and another a week before Election Day.
Where exactly was he going to install generators and store the fuel?
Having a safe place to go to may have prevented some of the deaths but evacuating wouldn’t change anything about the fact that many of them have lost their homes, their vehicles and everything in them.
Also if people stocked up for a long period w/o electricity, many of those supplies in the most hardhit areas would have gone out w/the surf, no?
This is where two things come in to play.
1. Insurance
2. Not living in locations that are 3 feet above sea level.
Ha! Insurance companies don’t pay on flood damage.
Just like Katrina, all damage will be flood damage. Just ask Trent Lott, he was a Senator and didn’t get a dime from State Farm.
“…it’s a shame that nobody takes preparedness seriously from Federal Govt down to the individual.”
Mormons typically do, but so far as I can tell, they are the exception.
When was the last time a hurricane hit SLC?
When was the last time a hurricane hit SLC? Precisely. Part of preparation is to avoid places prone to weather disasters, or to at least not set yourself up to suffer greatly from them. Another part of preparation is to heed warnings & evacuation orders. Another part of preparation is to study past disasters & discern their common elements. Etc.
If God had wanted hurricanes to hit LDS communities, he would have sent His people to present-day NOLA.
So why isn’t the press blaming obama like they did Bush after Katrina?
Why the double standard?
People are hurting and obama is partying it up on the campaign trail.
Public unions turn away help from non-union states. They will let their citizens “starve in the dark” before they give up one overtime hour.
Why are those enlightened liberals using those dirty, smelly and polluting portable generators that spew out greenhouse gasses and use up nonrenewable fossil fuels?
And people are using guns to defend themselves and family? Are they bitterly clinging to right-wing philosophies? In deep blue “ban them all” NY and NJ?
———————–
Misery for 2.5 million STILL without power after 6 days - lawlessness, fear take over New York
Daily Mail | Saturday, November 3, 2012 | Rachel Rickard Straus
o Residents claim they are the ‘forgotten victims’ of Sandy
o Also say that lack of power and law enforcement means more looting and violent crime
o Those in stricken areas stockpiling weapons like kitchen knives, machetes, and bats to protect themselves
o Coney Island residents say they are forced to ’scavenge for food like animals’
o Power unlikely to be returned to Brooklyn, Queen’s and Staten Island until sometime next week
Almost one week after superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast with its ferocious force, power was still out to some 2.5 million customers due to damages, down from 3.5 million on Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery & Energy Reliability claimed.
So why isn’t the press blaming obama like they did Bush after Katrina?
Why the double standard?
Very, very simple.
Two reasons: 1) the media is the Socialist party of America of which Obama is their savior and messiah.
Nothing he does is bad, it’s always excused and he could never be at fault for anything. It must be because of what happened before he got there. It must be Bush.
2) The majority of people living in the New Orleans “pool” who did not evacuate a Category 4 hurricane headed their way were Black. Therefore, since they are suffering from their own stupidity, it must be Racism. Bush is a racist.
The republican party are racists and they keeping help from saving them.
Got it?
So why isn’t the press blaming obama like they did Bush after Katrina?
Because even with the expected problems President Obama’s government is doing a better job than President Bush’s charge.
FEMA has been restructured since Katrina to be much more effective and Katrina, to be fair, was more destructive than Sandy.
Also, most of the sensationalistic headlines now are rooted in lack of power with the cold coming on. Sandy caused 8 million to lack power compared to 1.7 million losing power because of Katrina.
Why are those enlightened liberals using those dirty, smelly and polluting portable generators that spew out greenhouse gasses and use up nonrenewable fossil fuels?
Where do you get this stuff? That one was from Rush right? I’d put money on it. I don’t think you made it up but it’s dumb no matter who came up with it. But it’s so dumb it’s kind of funny.
Really? Specifically - name them.
Because even with the expected problems President Obama’s government is doing a better job than President Bush’s charge.
Crickets.
Crickets.
Check your crickets here:
2012-11-05 11:25:18
Both of you are arguing a point that neither can win.
Anybody who wants to blame Bush for Katrina or Obama for Sandy doesn’t really get it. Any Govt. agency will fail the public if the public believes that “I can rely on the govt to take care of me no matter what”. We as individuals need to start taking personal accountability for our safety and well being.
Perhaps this is a lesson learned for people that the government can’t and won’t hold you in the palm of it’s hand. Perhaps you could stretch this out to FEMA is a waste of money. FEMA should decompose into state-level agencies that are charged with preparing for and caring for victims of disasters because they will have a better handle on troubled areas and other local assets.
“We as individuals need to start taking personal accountability for our safety and well being.”
I agree with this, to a point. However, who expects a Superstorm so terrible that it floods the NYC subway? There are some magnitude of disasters which are so unanticipated and whose impacts are so widespread that only the government can provide the level of broad assistance needed to mitigate their impacts.
Preppers expected the storm.
Any Govt. agency will fail the public if the public believes that “I can rely on the govt to take care of me no matter what”. We as individuals need to start taking personal accountability for our safety and well being.
I’d like to see these “anti-government” sentiments applied to the Pentagon. We as inidividuals need to learn to protect ourselves from foreign invasion instead of relying on our armed forces.
However, who expects a Superstorm so terrible that it floods the NYC subway?
This was predicted & plans recommended years ago. Predictions & plans were ignored, of course.
who expects a Superstorm so terrible that it floods the NYC subway? This was predicted. Predictions were ignored.
I’m no Republican. I hold no illusions as to the need for a military to have and maintain bases in over 100 countries around the world. I work close to the military sector and there isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not disgusted by something that is a complete waste of time and money.
Video: Sandy Victims Beg For Help
Nov 5, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPER
Here’s a video calling attention to how President Obama abandoned those who are recovering from Hurricane Sandy to go back on the campaign trail:
“We are hurting down here,” one woman says. “And we need help. Immediately.”
The video then details Obama returning to the campaign trail.
“Don’t boo, vote,” the president is heard saying toward the end of the video. “Vote. Voting’s the best revenge.”
http://weeklystandard.com/blogs/video-sandy-victims-beg-help_660345.html
Will you paid propagandists have to find another job after tomorrow?
and it was still warm to hot and humid after Katrina…so people could sleep outside and survive…
I’ve heard cases of people surviving 50 degree temps without dying.
I find it hard to believe that these residents are trapped without heat or food, or that the Red Cross closed all the shelters, or that FEMA is somehow unable to transport people. If reporters can get in with cameras and cell phones, then the residents can get out and stay in a shelter for a few days… if they wished. It’s more likely that the residents are refusing to leave. How many are there, by the way?
Yes, I’m on the lib side of the equation, but even I draw a line somewhere. FEMA doesn’t owe the storm victims anything more than safe transport to a well-stocked shelter, at least in the short term.
hard to believe that these residents are trapped without heat or food
Lots of NYC area people live in high rises & depend on the elevators to get them out of the building. They have little space to stock up on food & no way to heat their cells when utilities fail. Elderly & disabled are particularly stuck. Have you ever been forced to use crutches to get around for a week? If not, try that & your beliefs may change!
You sure do radiate a lot of negative empathy.
Really? Specifically - name them.
OK,
Angelina, Thor, Fibi, Fido, Rocket, Muffin and Muffin
(I like Muffin)
Yep - you have no answer.
But keep singing the praises of obama. And how evil Bush was. Even though you can’t even give one specific answer on how obama is doing better with the hurricane response.
—————————–
Really? Specifically - name them.
OK,
Angelina, Thor, Fibi, Fido, Rocket, Muffin and Muffin
you can’t even give one specific answer on how obama is doing better with the hurricane response.
Here’s a bunch of stuff below. If you need more, call Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s office at (609)-292-6000.
Gov. Chris Christie Praises Obama’s Storm Response
Christie heavily praised Obama’s Sandy response, saying it has been “outstanding,” and that coordinating with the Obama administration had been “wonderful.” The Republican New Jersey governor added:
“The president has been all over this and he deserves great credit … I’ve got a job to do here in New Jersey that’s much bigger than presidential politics, and I could care less about any of that stuff. I have a job to do. I’ve got 2.4 million people out of power. I’ve got devastation on the Shore. I’ve got floods in the northern part of my state. If you think right now I give a damn about presidential politics, then you don’t know me.”
CBS News notes that Chris Christie, in praising President Obama’s response, added that the cooperation between local, state, and federal governments has been “excellent.” Christie added that Obama accelerated the designation of Jew Jersey as a major disaster area, going around “the usual red tape.” He recalled:
“I was on the phone for the third time yesterday, last night, with the president of the United States. He called me at midnight last night as he was seeing reports. The cooperation has been great with FEMA here on the ground and the cooperation from the president of the United States has been outstanding. He deserves great credit.”
http://www.inquisitr.com/381685/gov-chris-christie-praises-obamas-storm-response/
the media is the Socialist party of America of which Obama is their savior and messiah.
Hey! Three right-wing, mindless propaganda buzzwords in one sentence. Not bad but you can do better. Like this:
The lefty/liberal media is the Socialist/Commie Party of America of which the Kenyan born, Muslim Dictator Obama (the One) is their anointed savior and messiah.
See? It’s so much stronger than yours. Now only 90% of the people will yawn at it.
The lefty/liberal media is the Socialist/Commie Party of America
Well, you got 2 out of three right. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia on the Democratic party history:
Under FDR, the Democratic Party became identified more closely with modern liberalism, which included the promotion of social welfare, labor unions, civil rights, and the regulation of business. The opponents, who stressed long-term growth and support for entrepreneurship and low taxes, now started calling themselves “conservatives.”
Sounds like a bunch of Socialists and Commies to me…
Sounds like a bunch of Socialists and Commies…
See Dio? It worked! As I said:
“Now only 90% of the people will yawn at it.”
Those in stricken areas stockpiling weapons like kitchen knives, machetes, and bats to protect themselves
How are those strict gun laws treating you NY and NJ? Have to stockpile kitchen utensils and sporting goods to give you peace of mind and protect your family when the government fails you in a SHTF event?
But let’s not blame the liberal agenda against the 2nd Amendment, right? I mean, it’s a storm of the century and no one could have predicted the breakdown of law and order in a storm of that magnitude? Clueless sheep…
Sometimes I have to laugh when liberals want to defend themselves and run up against the same gun control laws they SUPPORTED.
Some favorites were during the riots in LA. Liberals wanted to guns to defend themselves and their family. They met reality in the “Ten day waiting period” for a gun purchase.
Then, they had to politely call one of their conservative friends to see if they could “borrow one for a short time.”
Agreed. Political ideology meet hard reality.
There was a narrow window of time during Katrina where similar conversations occurred all over the country as people figured out what lawlessness was really like…but soon enough they felt safe enough to forget about getting a gun and just focus on Bush.
Well, that’s because any self-respecting liberal knows that we live in a civilized society and the government can take care of mundane things like security and safety. I mean, only back-woods hicks and religious conservative nuts from Texas support gun-ownership, right?
It’s the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, people. It’s a right of citizenship in this country and our forefathers obviously felt it was important as it was the 2nd change made to the Constitution.
True. When the mantra for those facing a storm like this with a weeks notice should be: “There’s no one coming, we’re on our own.” Think like that and you will never have to worry about this type of thing because you will be prepared.
Or there is the alternative: Pleading with elected officials taking the windshield tour, couldn’t care less. Go ahead, keep telling them about people defecating in the hallway, people starving, people dying. They. Don’t. Care.
“It’s the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, people.”
New York does not recognize that right. And how they get away with it has always been a mystery to me.
Of course, NYC tends to not recognize any of our rights. And why people continue to live there is also a mystery to me.
You can’t own guns in NY?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_New_York
Only criminals can own guns in NYC.
You can’t own guns in NY?
Yes, New York State is a “May-issue” state, meaning that the licensing authority may or may not issue the required permit for owning and carrying a firearm. New York City is essentially a “No-issue” city, meaning, as the local licensing authority, it has decided that no resident may own or carry a firearm.
It essentially comes down to an interpretation of the 2nd amendment, in this case that the final authority is given to the state. In this case, the state has given final authority to the local police, which in NYC’s case, has decided that no one should own or carry firearms legally in the city. In addition, New York doesn’t recognize licensing from other states, so even if you are licensed legally in another state, if you carry into NY and are found to be carrying, you will be arrested and prosecuted.
It essentially comes down to an interpretation of the 2nd amendment, in this case that the final authority is given to the state.
Well that sucks. It’s ironic that a states rights “success” has infringed on a Constitutional right held dear by states rights people.
…as I constantly point out, the states are the biggest civil rights violators.
Always have been and always will be and that’s why when I hear “States rights” I know exactly what it means: taking away your civil rights.
Alas, that is why you vote with your feet. Don’t like the state laws, then leave. That’s the beauty of the system.
during the riots in LA. Liberals wanted to guns to defend themselves ….. they had to politely call one of their conservative friends to see if they could “borrow one for a short time.”
You’re so full of bull on your labels. I was there. Does it count when I lent my 38 snub nose to my “conservative” friend?
(yea and rounds too)
At least you gave him some equity.
“So why isn’t the press blaming obama like they did Bush after Katrina?”
Because he didn’t drop ball like Bush did.
Was this a trick question?
In modern America, being able to do basic math is a revolutionary act.
Re: Millenials not going to restaurants. I’m either an ancient millenial or a really young gen-X I don’t identify with either or care about being pigeonholed, but the relevant point is they’re more or less talking about me.
Go out to eat 207 times per year on average. Hmm. I go out probably about 4 to 24 depending how you count it. I literally do not have the spare time to sit down at a restaurant for an hour 207 times per year. Last time I went to the TX roadhouse about a month ago it was $60 for me and my wife by the time drinks and tip and all that were done. Lets participate in a revolutionary anti-american activity by doing some math: 207*$60 = $12420 (Ahh multiplication makes me feel like such a flaming anarchist in the morning, like my own little OWS)
I googled for “average household income 2012″ and the top was a NYT article claiming the median household income has most recently dropped to $50054. Its headed lower of course, and permanently. We are post- peak income.
Lets continue the anti-american rebellion by some anti-american long division instead of playing xbox/wii this morning. So 12420 / 50054 = … darn near a quarter?
I cry BOGUS that the average american spends almost exactly a quarter of their gross income on restaurants.
Someone is fudging numbers. Perhaps my food store is counting TV dinners as restaurant food, or anything from the bakery is ready-to-eat so its technically restaurant food, or …
My income is substantially above the median yet I can’t afford $60 dinners darn near almost every night, which is another fuzzy math problem.
“which is another fuzzy math problem.”
We live in an era of fuzzy math. And of course the term fuzzy math means lying. When you have realtors and debtors stating “you can’t build it for that much” without ever qualifying their experience at building, you know we’re in deep in the dark forest.
Your flaw is in assuming that “going out to eat” means $60 for an entire evening at Texas Roadhouse. That 207 /year includes $3 Value meals at Mickey D’s for the poor, and $6 semi-power lunches at Subway and California Tortilla for the cubicle dwellers. I don’t know if it includes Sbux coffee, or if you have to buy those cutie-patootie “bistro boxes” in order to be considered eating out.
$6 semi-power lunches at Subway and California Tortilla for the cubicle dwellers
I resemble that remark… I eat lunch out almost every day as I just don’t have the time or inclination to brown-bag it. Figure $6-9 per lunch 4 days a week minimum. Then there is the morning coffee and breakfast sandwich run to Dunkin Donuts 3-4 days a week. Figure another $5 per visit there…
It definitely adds up.
The freezer at work is stuffed full of $2.49 (on sale) Lean Cuisines for my thrifty colleagues.
My theory is that lunch is the only real break I get at work and I want to enjoy that time by eating something tasty…
The $60 amount sounds inaccurate. Assume pre-bubble collapse per person restaurant expenditures as follows:
Starbucks 5/week = $15
Takeout lunch 5/week = $40
Takeout dinner 2/week = $25
Drinks out 2 times/week = $40
Dinner out 2 times/week = $60
Totalling $180/week times 52 weeks = $9,360. Add in vacation/holiday meals and round to an even $10,000.
For a millenial or Gen Y who rarely cooks or makes their own lunch, this sounds more realistic. Assume pre-bubble incomes of $40,000-$70,000 have now dropped to $25,000-$50,000 for most of these Lucky Ducklings, and that $10,000 amount drops to $8,000, $5,000, or even $2,000 (~ $40/week), and there’s your non-recovery recovery.
Those Millennials with high paying jobs…they built 1/2 mill condozes for them here…with kitchen sinks about the same size you find in hotel rooms, and a huge double sink bathroom
http://www.hunterspointcondos.com/kitchen-bath
Millennials with high paying jobs
are the rare exceptions. And those that spend like they are when they’re not can be classified as 30K millionaires.
http://m.urbandictionary.com/#define?term=30k%20millionaire
200 of those are the $5 foot long subs at SUBWAY…which can be made into 2 meal with some mac and cheese or Ramen on the side…
only 7 times a year is for really eating out and whooping it up!
I admit to wasting a lot of money on meals and drinks. Although, I spend much more when I am with my female partner. I am probably lucky I am in a long distance relationship. I do have the option of eating at Native American casinos which I do a lot when I am alone and the food is cheap and good.
You clearly don’t have the “facts”. I have used the figure of $50,000 average income for many posts over the past few years, even though it has been declining from about $52,000 to $47,000 and was corrected by the “facts” people here.
I used the $50,000 figure when this blog started as my reasoning the Average American Families cannot afford $280,000 Average home prices.
I was told there was no way that average income was anywhere near that. I think the example used was $500 per week time 50 weeks or something, or maybe it was $200 a week.
I don’t recall. We have posters here making minimum wage that think the rest of the world makes minimum wage, too, except for the “1%”, and they make multiple millions.
The $50,000 median is for all households.
BLS unemployment stats by age here:
http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea10.htm
And some Department of Ed income stats by education level specific to workers age 25 to 34:
http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=77
I had an acquaintance who used to eat out twice a day, every day.
Avg per day was $40… X 356.
And he wondered why he was broke all the time.
(note: this was over 15 years ago. according to Toms Inflation Calculator, today equivalent would be $60 per day)
http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html
I work with a guy who has 3 kids.
Neither he or his wife ever cook.
Holy moly.
Your comment made me curious about my own expenditures on eating out. I itemize everything I spend in Quicken. In the last 365 days, I “ate out” 164 times & spent $995.63. This includes everything from the basic cup of Starbucks for $1.65 to meals in a restaurant with tips. Quite an eye-opener.
Why no libertarian or G or C lies?
Everyone expects politicians to lie during campaign time. Its an art form. Rmoney had to claim he was a neocon nutjob to get the nomination, then flip into an ultra-moderate around debate #1 to get the swing voters to even have a chance. Who knows which is real and which is lies. Four years ago people had some pretty wild beliefs about what Obama was going to do, not sure how many are official lies vs unofficial vs lies made up by the other side (well, OK I think most of the gun grabbing islamic kenyan marxist lies probably came straight from the Rs… at least from the Rs who never heard about the little boy who cried wolf too much).
Supposedly this is the tightest election “ever”. I get no mercy from spam, both postal and phone. I’m in a swing state and its like twice as bad as the peak of the bubble in 2007, but for elections. AT LEAST four campaign related flyers in the mail every day. AT LEAST two phone calls per day. The crazy part is I live in quisling central, the reddest city in arguably the reddest county of my swing state, all my neighbors are J6P voting against their own economic interests as quislings, so any election coordinator who’s not an idiot would be ignoring my city/county, so I can only imagine the agony the battlegrounds must be going thru.
Anyway I’m voting Johnson. I can respect, but disagree with, the Green and Constitution party voters. I would imagine either the D or R candidates could court the L, G, or C party voters and be guaranteed election. But they don’t. Not even the usual election era lies. I can’t answer the question “Why?” and its got me all wound up.
All a liar needs to win, is tell some lies about how they love some minor L party thing and they’d get my vote and therefore win. Or they could lie about how unlike the D and R parties, they don’t think the constitution is a piece of toilet paper, then they’d have the C party voters and therefore win. Or they could hug a tree and endorse gun control and real socialized medicine then they’d have the G party voters and therefore win.
I mean, these guys lie constantly, unashamed, but they won’t tell certain lies. Why? If they really wanted to win, they could probably lie and get my vote and many others, but they won’t, even though they lie like rugs all the time. Why Why Why?
Politicians are liars.
Presidents are liars.
Congressmen are liars.
And you wonder why realtors are liars?
Think of it like dating. I am an unmarried man and was never successful at the dating game. I never bought a new sports car, new designer clothes, or flashed money to “impress” women. I never told them all the “lies” most men throw out to win them over. I figured if there was a woman out there that saw all my good qualities, she would admire me for me. It was a stupid notion and I am still single.
Women like to be lied to if they are hearing what they want to hear. The “truth” is unimportant. It becomes more important after she realizes she was sold a bill of goods and that you are not really a cousin of the Rockefellers with a successful textile business in Newark, but a low-life, living- on- credit -to -impress -her, joe-blow, beer- swilling bum.
Consider voting for politicians the same way. They are “courting” you and me. They dress in well-pressed suits and tell us what we want to hear or what they think we want to hear.
After all, if they told you that we are in serious fiscal trouble and they will CUT BACK on benefits, do you think they will get 47% of the votes right off the bat? I will raise your taxes! I will take away your free food! I will close “head start” programs!
Yea. That will work.
Democracies are about giving bread and circuses to the stupid and useless. They are “entitled”.
Those that support FREE STUFF for the masses get elected.
It’s a fine line trying be honest and get into office if you hope to make any effective change.
You need to date smarter women. All women fall for emotional lies (yours truly included, oops), but a smart one will at least sniff out the financial lies.
I went out with a guy who had a sports car once, as in one time. Never again. Even when I was 17, I could tell which of the two of us he thought was more important.
I expect, Dio, that women don’t want to date you because of your vile opinions, not your car.
Pols, they are vile to your way of thinking, and he is free to express them.
Despite the braying of the free sh*t army, and its supporting cast in the Fedgov bureaucracy - political correctness is not the law of the land, and you do not set the terms and conditions of public discourse.
“women don’t want to date you because of your vile opinions” ……. Ouch! So how is your love life Polly?
I think both men an women lie to each other. The trick is not to commit until you figure out if they are and to what extent. Also, you can fool someone for years if you only see them on planned occasions (i.e. dating). Live with someone for six months and the truth pretty much comes out.
“I think both men an women lie to each other” Ummm…yeah…Uh…I meant except for me of course.
political correctness is not the law of the land, and you do not set the terms and conditions of public discourse.
There is a line between anti-political correctness and ignorance and racism and you do not set the terms and conditions on where that line is drawn in public discourse.
Say what you will about Dio’s opinions, they are relatively well presented, and he supports them with his own language. I tend not to agree with his thinking, but at least he’s thinking on his own.
There’s something to be said for people taking care of their own lives and “working hard” and bettering themselves for better pay. And that is a valid viewpoint … IF bettering yourself actually means you’ll do better in a better job. But we know that that went out the window decades ago.
but at least he’s thinking on his own.
I think much of Dio’s act is lifted from AM radio. (with a snarl)
But in all fairness, don’t you tend to think that everything you disagree with came from AM radio?
don’t you tend to think that everything you disagree with came from AM radio?
Not at all, only when people continually use tired cliches and overused buzzwords that are pushed on AM radio -the patterns of being unoriginal and a bit brainwashed. There are also certain and specific half-truth themes pushed on AM radio.
I’ll point them out to you when I hear some more.
“But in all fairness, don’t you tend to think that everything you disagree with came from AM radio?”
It does for me. I have yet to hear FACTS on AM radio. And I’ve been listening for over 20 years.
No, I don’t think Dio is lifted from AM radio. He’s not recycling phrases from Talking Point Central. He’s not using the logical fallacies and linguistic tricks that Rush does.
Dio’s posts are very rooted in the bootstrap version of pre-New Deal Horatio Alger rugged individualism. Hard work –> success. And if you don’t have success, it must be your fault. Of course, we only believe that because the cases where hard work –> failure, and there are plenty of those, don’t make it into the textbooks. This, I think, is what catches Dio. But either way, his points are nowhere on talk radio that I have heard.
I don’t think Dio is lifted from AM radio
You have to know what to look for I guess.
“the media is the Socialist party of America of which Obama is their savior and messiah” Dio today
“Left wing socialist media” conspiracy is a main staple of AM radio. It’s pushed constantly to discredit any facts they disagree with.
“savior and messiah” are totally AM radio buzzwords pushed most hard by Rush Limbaugh for going on 4 years now.
And if you don’t have success, it must be your fault.
This is another continuous meme pushed by AM radio. Many times it is pushed in the context that raising the rich’s taxes is “punishing” them because you were too lazy to be a success.
Covert racism is a staple of AM radio. Dio is an admitted racist and harped on racial stuff even today.
I didn’t say all Dio’s points are AM radio. I said a lot are and they are. Heck these were examples from just today. Rush Limbaugh/Glen Beck 101.
And if you don’t have success, it must be your fault.
This is another continuous meme pushed by AM radio.
This meme has been pushed continuously since before this nation was founded. Recently I posted a quote from a laid-off teacher who expressed the sentiment “I’m just no good, I guess.” The quote was from the 1930’s.
“Even when I was 17, I could tell which of the two of us he thought was more important.”
I think this is the key to success or lack of it. The fancy car, good looks, and/or other external signs of success may get some attention. But if a man shows a woman that she is his top priority, then other considerations are less important.
That and the right pheromones.
So many of our friend here on HBB remind me of the characters portrayed in Squidbillies.
Squidbillies had a episode last season called “The Big E” where Early Cuyler takes over the local AM radio station and the first repercussion was the panic that engulfed Dougal County when the citizens realized they had lost the source of all their opinions.
For those HBB member who are culturally challenged here is the series synopsis:
Cartoon Network- Adult Swim
Squidbillies follows the exploits of the Cuyler family and their interactions with the local populace, which usually results in a fair amount of destruction, mutilation, and death. The Cuylers are essentially given a free rein and protected from the consequences of their actions whenever possible by the Sheriff, as they are said to be the last, twisted remnants of a federally protected endangered species, the “Appalachian Mud Squid”. They live in the southern Appalachian Mountains located in northern Georgia. At the epicenter of this rural paradise is Dougal County, home to crippling gambling addictions, murderous corporations, sexual deviants, and the authentic southern mountain squid.
Squidbillies filled the void left when Stephen Colbert left the award winning series “Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law” to do full time Colbert Report.
doesn’t sound like the show oughta have had legs.
They dress in well-pressed suits.
Hmmm…. seems that every Romney ad I see depicts him wearing blue jeans with his sleeves rolled up.
+1 It’s an illusion by Madison avenue.
I figured if there was a woman out there that saw all my good qualities, she would admire me for me. It was a stupid notion and I am still single.
——–
Dio, keep your head up bro.
Take the red pill and see.
See what?
see what you lookin at
http://heartiste.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/latest-baumeister-paper-supports-ch-concept-of-the-sexual-market/#comments
Latest on the legal rankling over the priority of pensions in municipal BK’s..
http://cl.exct.net/?ju=fe50137775630d797212&ls=fe1b1d777d6c017e741275&m=fefc1172766306&l=fed1157376640678&s=fe35157277640d7d711074&jb=ffcf14&t=
The parasites have almost killed their host.
Public unions, instead of working with cities on what the taxpayers could afford, kept demanding more and more and more. Public unions don’t care where the money comes from - as long as it keep coming. Property taxes can be raised to infinity.
These “public servants” do not see the cliff coming. They think bankruptcy judges (just like in obamamotors) are going to keep their pensions whole.
Or they will just get a bailout to keep the their pensions whole. After all, they “earned them” and it is only fair.
—————————————-
On one level, cities suffering pension-cost angst don’t deserve our sympathy. They expanded pension benefits, especially those for high-cost police officers and firefighters, with little regard to future impact.
But CalPERS encouraged those increases by supporting legislation to raise state employee pensions in 1999, claiming that investment gains would easily pay for them, not taxpayers.
From the article;
On one level, cities suffering pension-cost angst don’t deserve our sympathy. They expanded pension benefits, especially those for high-cost police officers and firefighters, with little regard to future impact..
George Will said something interesting yesterday…He was pondering what will happen with the tax increase initiative thats on tomorrow’s ballot here in California…He thinks its going to go down (I hope so) and that California will seek a Federal Bailout (I hope not)…He also suggested that Illinois’s & New York will follow with California…
Why should the country bail these states out due to their own spending recklessness….Even today, Brown supports a stupid high speed train from southern to Northern California…My goodness…
In wondering what these states will use to justify the bailout, I guess the only thing I can come up with that would be a reasonable argument is that these states send a lot of money to the fed’s and keeping them solvent is critical…
I can’t even imagine a senario where the House would pass any legislation bailing out these three states…
Well - that and firefighters and police who retire at age 55 with spiked $200,000 pensions and free medical care for life earned them. It is only fair. It is their constitutional right and our duty to pay for it.
Imagine that - a $10 waitress in Kansas is going to have to pay even more in taxes (or debt) so that a union goons gets his/her $200,000 pension in NY.
And notice all these states going bankrupt are union goon and democrat controlled?
And what is the first thing a union goon does when he/she retires? Moves to a LOW TAX RIGHT TO WORK state.
Do you even realize that your vitriolic use of language does more to dissuade people from your position than any rebuttal other posters could offer? I almost think you MUST, and that you’re actually PRO public unions and trying to paint the anti-public union group as frothing lunatics.
Even people like myself who have very serious problems with the way public union pensions are managed and other aspects of public unions are repulsed by your rhetoric.
Ouch!
From the article:
“But CalPERS encouraged those increases by supporting legislation to raise state employee pensions in 1999, claiming that investment gains would easily pay for them, not taxpayers.
Moreover, much of the cities’ added costs are being imposed by CalPERS to make up for the horrendous investment losses that the pension fund incurred in the last decade.”
CalPERS and CalSTR have huge pension liabilities, and their reserves are better than most states. Wiemar style inflation is the only way out of this contractual predicament.
Does anyone know what happens to the money received by government after they successfully sue or settle with a corporation for violations of the law, rules, etc? Does it just disappear into some black hole? Is it applied to the debt, what?
It’s socialistically redistributed to banks in the form of tax cuts.
Does anyone know what happens to the money received by government after they successfully sue or settle with a corporation for violations of the law
I posted an article a few days ago about an example of government regulation gone awry. NOAA was using funds collected from penalties against fisherman to pay judges who ruled against the fisherman in lawsuits.
I have no sympathy for Wall Street and TBTF banks, but it doesn’t get any more fascist than that. Well, except local Police being able to seize private assets when it’s a drug crime and use the proceeds to pad their own budgets…
Who do you think should pay the judges?
The reports say this has been going on for at least a decade and seems to be common practice in business as well as with most civil matters.
Not defending it, just trying to find out what the original precedent, guidelines and, directives were.
Not sure, but it seems to be a conflict of interest if your pay is dependent upon a continual stream of guilty verdicts…
Well it seems to work for the corporations…
But yes, no matter the organization, it certainly sends the wrong message and obviously creates a fertile ground for conflict of interest.
From Bloomberg:
“Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said in May that he’d written off votes from 47 percent of Americans who are collecting government aid. Turns out many of them are part of his political base.
Seventy percent of counties with the fastest growth in food stamp aid voted for the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Bloomberg.
That means Romney is counting on votes from areas where lower income people have become more reliant on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps.”
http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-05/republican-heavy-counties-eat-up-most-food-stamp-growth.html
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said in May that he’d written off votes from 47 percent of Americans who are collecting government aid.
He was pandering to the wealthy donors who paid quite a bit per seat for that private dinner and political speech. Politicians change the message for the audience and it seems the wealthy like to hear that the poor are a bunch of losers voting for the other guy…
For counterpoint, Elizabeth Warren is telling every gray-hair she can in MA that a Scott Brown win means the evil Republicans will win a Senate majority and will kill Medicare. When Warren speaks to all the well-off liberal women in communities like Cambridge or Netwon, she says a Scott Brown victory means Republicans will wage a war against women, including abolishing abortion. When she is in hard-hit working class communities, she tells her liberal audience that Scott Brown and those evil republicans will kill public schools.
Every audience gets a different speech, with essentially the same message: Republicans are evil so don’t vote for Scott Brown. Too bad there are so many fearful liberals out there who believe Warren and the Democrats will save them.
Also, who owns Bloomberg News and who just came out for Obama?
“He was pandering to the wealthy donors who paid quite a bit per seat for that private dinner and political speech. Politicians change the message for the audience and it seems the wealthy like to hear that the poor are a bunch of losers voting for the other guy…”
Sounds like that “code switching” discussion from last week when so many people were disgusted with the idea that students might learn to speak differnently in school (to be able to use it in future interactions with employers, etc.) than with their friends and family.
“For counterpoint, Elizabeth Warren is telling every gray-hair she can in MA that a Scott Brown win means the evil Republicans will win a Senate majority and will kill Medicare.”
When it comes to the social safety nets, the Republican record of disenfranchising the poor speaks for itself and has for the last 30 years.
Republicans won’t kill Medicare, though it may need to be reformed, along with a host of other entitlements, if we want to get our budget in order… but the Democratic message, at least in the Warren Brown contest, is that the Republicans will destroy it. This is false and is a scare tactic.
Regardless, the liberal media is hammering Romney on that private fund-raiser speech comment while ignoring the different messages Democrats are throwing out there to scare people into voting for them.
Republicans will destroy it. This is false and is a scare tactic.
Ryan’s plan to give “vouchers” would essentially destroy Medicare as we know it. Romney said it was a good plan. It might be a scare tactic because sometimes reality is scary.
Let’s reform our trade policies, outsourcing policies, and put in a Public Option where the young and healthy can feed directly into the Medicare kitty without being siphoned off through the monstrous health insurance middleman. THEN let’s see how much we need to reform Medicare.
where does it say that those receiving the food stamps primarily vote republican?
I suggest you read “Deer Hunting With Jesus”
And then Rainbow Pie…or maybe just skip straight to it. My thanks to whoever it was years ago here that pointed me to Joe Bageant. It was sad to watch him go…
Got a better one: Gangs of America
The American Revolution isn’t what you were taught it was. Hint: a global transnational corporation was strangling the colonists.
Among other very interesting things. Like how corporations were first granted person-hood back in the 19th century.
not necessarily disagreeing with the premise…it’s just that one cannnot draw that conclusion from the information presented.
I suggest you read “Deer Hunting With Jesus”
+1 Exactly the slice of America in which I live.
In the last 24 hours I have heard a right wing conservative suggest that I should vote for Romney because hurricane Sandy is a sign of God’s wrath due to our wicked ways, and a left wing liberal suggest I should vote for Obama because hurricane Sandy is a sign of global warming.
Two completely separate conversations. I found it amusing.
Well this is easy enough to confirm. It was “god’s vengeance” because it struck the Blue States supporting OBAMA. IF it was caused by Global warming, God would have directed to Texas, a Red State to show his wrath against the Climate Change “deniers”.
After all, the storm originated down in the lower Gulf and had to divert up around Florida to hit the New England Area.
It could have even taken out Florida, another Leaning Red state.
So, why are the “blue” states being targeted by the storm?? It hit Cuba, too.
Don’t forget that Katrina picked NOLA and the blue counties of Texas to deliver most of its wrath. You may be on to something Diogenes. Or maybe both the religion of global warming and the religion of the Fundies are wrong and it is just a natural cycle. But that is just my opinion.
Mainly Rita for Texas.
And Rita hit Ron Paul’s district and hometown very hard.
“Don’t forget that Katrina picked NOLA and the blue counties of Texas to deliver most of its wrath.”
Well-targeted and -timed hurricanes are God’s warning to Republicans that government-provided disaster relief is some times a critical policy need.
Dogmatism FTW!
So, why are the “blue” states being targeted by the storm??
Because God knew those states would still vote blue and the rest of the country would see a very presidential President Obama acting like a strong president right before the presidential election.
‘It was “god’s vengeance” because it struck the Blue States supporting OBAMA.’
It was “God’s opportunity” for President Obama to show New Jersey Republican Governor Christie how much more effective the disaster response to Sandy was than the Bush FEMA’s response to Hurricane Katrina was.
No. Just the opposite. Obama couldn’t figure how to create more jobs and redistribute the wealth faster so he ordered the hurricane. Plenty of jobs coming your way but will probably need illegals to fill them as they will be below most east coaster’s dignity.
ron, that’s exactly what happened after Katrina the locals from the 9th ward aka projects couldn’t be bothered rebuilding so here cam the illegals.
But obama promised! The messiah gave us his word that if we elected him things would get better…
“This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.”– Barack Obama
I should vote for Obama because hurricane Sandy is a sign of global warming.
Indeed. Because a storm of Sandy’s magnitude has never hit the US or New England before… wait, wasn’t Sandy a Cat 1 Hurricane? And wasn’t the storm surge higher in that big storm in the 1800’s? The liberal agenda clearly at work here.
I should vote for Romney because hurricane Sandy is a sign of God’s wrath due to our wicked ways
I recently heard on NPR about a couple who pray to God for just about every decision they make… including a recent decision to buy a new piece of furniture. Of course, they also struggled with the idea of why God allowed inequality and why they struggled and weren’t wealthy while others who didn’t follow God’s path had plenty. Some people will never get it. Praying will not change the need for hard-work, talent, connections, and luck in getting ahead.
You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you, never wanted you, and in all probability, he HATES you. It’s not the worst thing that can happen…
F*** damnation, man! F*** redemption! We’re God’s unwanted children, SO BE IT!
Oh, and about that storm surge… wasn’t it a full moon, so tides were at or near their highest point in the lunar cycle? Maybe Democrats need to change their message to “This storm was an example of the dangers of the Lunar Cycle. We need to regulate the lunar cycle with a tax on businesses or else this kind of disaster could happen again.”
wait, wasn’t Sandy a Cat 1 Hurricane?
Please. That’s a classic example of “omission of truth” to attempt to make a political point.
There was a lot more going on than a simple Cat 1 Hurricane.
A rare combination of weather fronts has seen the hurricane merge with cold air from the north, turning it into a “superstorm” with a total diameter of almost 2,000 miles (3,200km), the largest in Atlantic storm history, experts said.
Professor Mark Saunders, of the Department of Space and Climate Physics at University College London, said: “There is no precedent in hurricane records extending back to 1851 of a storm at this latitude taking this path.” telegraph dot com dot uk
They reported the hurricane actually accelerated into the coast as the front moving east toward what was a strengthened Cat 1 over a warm spot in the mid Atlantic actually sucked the hurricane into itself. The pace of the hurricane more than doubled from 13 to 28 mph during that point.
There is no precedent in hurricane records extending back to 1851 of a storm at this latitude taking this path.
A storm with a diameter of 2000 miles is quite extraordinary, but it was NYC and coastal NJ that saw widespread damage primarily caused by storm surge combined with high tides.
It wasn’t the diameter of the storm that caused all these problems for NY and NJ… they were the epicenter because that’s where the storm came ashore. Everything else is hyperbole…
Had this been a Cat 2 or 3 Hurricane of much small diameter that made landfall in the same spot as Sandy, you would have seen the same level damage.
Thereis a big difference between 60mph winds and 120mph winds.
Devestation would have been much higher.
I’m sorry but this is all a bit of nonsense.
Nothing like this recorded in the past 160 years? Well, what does that tell us? Is this the 200 year storm, the 500 year storm, or is it the 1000 year storm?
None of this points to anything conclusive. I hear people talking about the wrath of god or global warming. How about this for a hypothesis: The Earth is billions of years old and had undergone many major changes before we arrived on the scene. None of which we understand, only postulate about. We don’t know what triggers this change and we don’t know what changes are happening now or how to predict them.
Perhaps we need to set aside the human ego, that believes that we have the ability to understand everything and realize that without data it is beyond us.
The same things were said until the rivers caught fire.
I’ll be nobody here knows how many BTUs are man made each year? How about how many tons of gases? Liquid waste?
There’s an old saying: everything counts in large amounts.
You may be right but I’ll bet you have no idea how many BTUs are produced by the sun today. I bet you have no idea how many were produced 100 years ago, 1000 year ago or 1 million year ago either.
Matter of fact, I bet nobody does beyond a crude estimate. Not to mention I doubt anybody has any idea how that energy affects the weather here on Earth.
No question people should be more considerate of the environment but the scare tactics of global warming are a joke.
Both religions are so amusing.
Seventy percent of counties with the fastest growth in food stamp aid voted for the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Bloomberg ??
Yeah…Go figure….
Expect nothing less from the “keep your government hands off my Medicare” crowd.
Makes perfect sense to me. Obama and the Democratic machine work tirelessly to “target” their enemies and provide “Stimulus money” to their buddies.
If you were a Republican supporter and had a business that relied on government contracts, you probably no longer have a business, but one of the Democratic supporters does.
The purpose of Obama’s policies is to “redistribute” the wealth.
Based on your observation, it can be concluded that he has been widely successful.
All Hail Obama!
Lockheed, Raytheon, Northrup etc. have all been doing well under The One’s presidency.
And will continue to do well for the next 4 years. And the next 8 years. And the next 12 years. And the next 16 years. Noticing a pattern here?
For every $500 million in bankruptcy losses for a failed Solyndra, there is $5+ billion in fraud by for-profit, private-sector, military-industrial-complex, federal contractors.
And no single candidate, no one political party, will EVER stop that.
The purpose of Obama’s policies is to “redistribute” the wealth.
The wealth that has been redistributed from the poor and middle-class to the rich the past 32 years? That wealth?
The USA has experienced the greatest wealth redistribution to the rich in our history. And it’s crippled our economy. Capitalism does not work well when is gross wealth and income inequality. How could it?
Easy Rio, the banksters lend us money we have no hope of paying back.
Makes perfect sense to me. Obama and the Democratic machine work tirelessly to “target” their enemies and provide “Stimulus money” to their buddies.
So the ones who collect food stamps and vote R are just using them as a temporary stopgap until their “One” gets into office, at which point they will cease to do so. Is that the conclusion?
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”
Alexis de Tocqueville or Elmer T. Peterson.
More like the Banksters get to raid the Treasury.
F*ing commie!
It’s almost certainly not Alexis de Tocqueville. The language used in that quote wouldn’t have been used 200 years ago. Also, there wasn’t much in the way of welfare programs back in those days.
Waiting for the obama apologists in 3…2…1…
——————————————
From zerohedge:
What a Romney Presidency Would Mean for the Economy and Markets
For starters, Romney has already stated that he would fire Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke if he wins office. While this doesn’t represent the real shakeup that the Fed needs, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.
The reason for this is that the primary driver of stock prices over the last four years has been the hope and promise of Fed intervention. So if Bernanke were to be fired (or more likely step down as Fed Chairman) the market would lose one of its biggest props.
What would follow would be a potentially hellacious correction as the markets adjusted to the underlying realities of the US economy. Based on the business cycle, this would put the S&P 500 down near 1,000 or so (and that’s ignoring any other negative items developing).
If Romney wins the Presidency, it’s quite possible he would let that reset finally hit. After all, he could easily fire the economists at the BLS who have massaged the data, fire Ben Bernanke, and then blame the subsequent market correction and bad, but realistic economic data on Obama (much as Obama has blamed the bad economy he inherited on Bush).
I have noted, as I am sure you have, that both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have mentioned that if the US does not get its deficit and debt in check, it will end up like “Greece.” The Obama camp has made no such statements and in fact never refers to the European disaster.
I also want to draw your attention to the fact that several EU leaders have stated that the Obama administration has asked for them to keep things calm until after the election.
Um, isn’t “firing” Bernanke outside the powers of the President? Don’t we have Bernanke through the end of his term (early 2014) no matter what?
Hello Rental Pimp.
Don’t try bother trying to put facts in the path of 2banana’s rant.
He can ask for his resignation. He would pretty much have to give it.
And at that point, Romney will have no choice but to elect in his place one of the sitting Governors (since there won’t be any new ones until 2014).
You know, one of the OTHER seven Governors that voted for QEinfinity? (sarc)
The only dissent was Lacker, who to my understanding isn’t a Governor, and couldn’t be nominated Chairman.
If Romney waited until January 2014, at that point, he could hand-pick a Governor, and make that Governor Chairman.
Perversely, if Romney asks the Bernanke to step down, it will be a vote FOR 4 more years of Bernanke-like Fed policies. If Romney REALLY wants to make a change, he’ll wait until January 2014, when he can hand-pick his candidate for Chairman.
Does anyone else see this differently?
What a Romney Presidency Would Mean for the Economy and Markets
International Business Execs Say Obama’s Better for World Economy
LONDON — Twice as many business executives around the world say the global economy will prosper better if incumbent President Barack Obama wins the next election than if his Republican challenger Mitt Romney does, a poll showed on Friday.
Democrat Obama was chosen by 42.7 percent in the 1,700 respondent poll, compared with 20.5 percent for Romney. The rest said “neither”.
08/17/12 dailyfinance . com
The “economy” is on goobermint life support, borrowed and stolen from the “populace”. The friend of the global economy is the enemy of the common people. Ironic.
Currency Wars!
Romney has already stated that he would fire Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke if he wins office.
Yeah, sure. I’ll believe it when I see it…
Top contributors to Mitt Romney campaign in 2012 election cycle
Only an idiot cares what someone who sent thousands of American jobs to COMMUNIST China has to say.
Then again, you can’t fix this country’s kind of stupid.
The “Could you still buy your house at today’s prices” indicator: During the bubble, I asked homeowners who had bought before the bubble or prior to 2003 about this. The answer was always, “Not a chance.” Recently, I inquired again, and heard the first, “You know, I might be able to swing it. It would be tight, and it would cost a lot more, but it’s a possibility.”
It is a huge indicator.
Rents vs housing prices
Wages vs housing prices
Taxes on housing
It is pretty easy to pick out areas that are not sustainable.
Basically what I’m hearing from that is that prices would be drastically lower if not for low, low interest rates.
This past weekend, I spent time on a crisp sunny day raking leaves under the watchful eye of the neighbor’s maple tree still clinging to most of its leaves, knowing full well that I will be doing this task all over again in two weeks or whenever said tree decides to finally let go of its autumn finery. Even though it now gets dark outside here at 5 pm, and soon all will be gray and brown or maybe snow-covered, during that time outdoors, I was happy. Happy to be chained to my little time-and-money-eating domicile. Happy to be burning some calories on what is essentially a futile task. Happy to know that any time I wanted, I could go indoors to my remodeled kitchen with its granite countertops and stainless steel stove and make some hot chocolate.
And that, dear HBBers, those of you who understand, and those who never, ever will, is what homeownership is all about.
If you were renting the house - the landlord would be doing ALL the raking
Housing can be good or bad. The exact SAME house can be good or bad.
It has nothing to do with raking leaves or hot chocolate.
It has everything to do with if you could afford the house based on your income, if you lied on your mortgage, if you “liberated the equity” in your house and if property taxes are low and affordable.
But I actually enjoy raking leaves. We fired the lawn service a few years back. If I ever tire of raking, the next door neighbor’s service will be happy to do yard cleanup on an ad hoc basis. Who on the HBB has lied on a mortgage, ‘liberated equity’ or other actions that lead to housing woe? No one who would admit it, unless it is to post a cautionary tale.
Now the property taxes, not so low, but overall much cheaper than renting.
Happy to be chained to my little time-and-money-eating domicile
Which is both a financial decision and a lifestyle choice.
The squad has not raked a leaf, mowed a lawn, or shoveled snow in several years.
Neither have my neighbors who contract with lawn services.
“…not raked a leaf, mowed a lawn, or shoveled snow in several years.”
I did those things to make money when I was growing up.
I now have a life-long loathing of those things.
Yup. The ex-squadette’s current husband gets to do all that sh*t for her now.
LOL, I take a stainless stove with me, and hot chocolate too. That’s what living under a bridge is all about.
I suppose that granite counters would add unnecessary weight to your boat.
He could use them for an anchor
“Late at night a big old house gets lonely
I guess every form of refuge has it’s price”
– The Eagles, “Lyin Eyes”
Every form of refuge has its price. Be it a house, rowhouse, condo, apartment.
Every form of refuge has its price. In relationships and in housing.
I’m a pretty cynical person, but even that’s too cynical.
All of our choices have costs and benefits.
Except that Home-moaners will never stop blathering about the alleged benefits of their decision.
It makes her sad to think her love was only
Given to a man with hands as cold as ice.
You can’t hiiiiide your lyin’ eyes
I love the Eagles. Even their downer songs.
“And that, dear HBBers, those of you who understand, and those who never, ever will, is what homeownership is all about.”
What a hoser statement. I was at the beach with my kids when all of the following happened:
- sewer line replaced
- electrical updated
- new water heater installed
- toilet resealed
- shower leak fixed
- new A/C installed
- Property cleared of debris
- lawn mowed
and so on…
The only thing I do is kill the Brazilian Pepper Trees and Cuban Tree Frogs since my landlord does not understand them.
” Happy to be chained to my little time-and-money-eating domicile.”
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Fj8u7Kr4_Co/T_KRxBRrfzI/AAAAAAAAE_w/l3ggLEjtvvI/s1600/CanadianTuxedo.jpg
CNN Poll: Romney and Obama Tied.
Yep it’s all tied. Note that you have to believe that there will be 11% more Dems voting, but they’re tied.
IMO we will find that the Dems don’t have any where near this turnout advantage and Romney will be our next Prez.
…. and there will be gnashing of teeth in addition to tears.
Got a good dentist?
Mark my words:
If Romney wins I’m not going to live in America!
That’s ok. Freedom of choice, but think anyone will lose sleep over your, mine or anyone elses decision to stay or leave. How is that planned redistribution of oil money going down there!
If Romney wins I’m not going to live in America!
That’s ok. Freedom of choice,
It was a joke, as I already don’t “live in America”.
How is that planned redistribution of oil money going down there!
I’m not following it. They came to some kind of an agreement to share the money between the city and states. Rio (the city) already has a lot of Federal money pouring into it because of the 14 World Cup and the 16 Olympics. There is construction going on everywhere it seems.
They came to some kind of an agreement to share the money between the city and states.
And I assumed you were talking about how they will distribute money from oil found offshore of the state of Rio de Janeiro between the state of Rio de Janeiro and the other states and the federal government.
Hosting the Olympics is a curse, self inflicted.
Hosting the Olympics is a curse, self inflicted.
I think it will be great for Rio because of all the Federal money pouring in fixing things and cleaning up the slums. (in the nice areas LOL) Maybe the nation will lose some money on it but the city will be in better shape for it. I’ve already seen it and it’s still 4 years away.
“Hosting the Olympics is a curse, self inflicted.”
only for the peasants…the PTB get rich as shit off of them.
http://election.princeton.edu/electoral-college-map/
So…I am getting on the elevator and there is a woman there. I hear footsteps behind me so I stick my hand out to hold the door open for them. They walk by the elevator not entering. I let the door close and here is what happened:
Woman (literally stomping her feet): “NO! NO! NO! NO! You can’t just hold the elevator door open when someone is in the elevator waiting”.
Me (calm and collected): “excuse me?” I was just holding in case that woman wanted to get in.”
Woman (visibly huffing and puffing and in a raised tone): “I don’t care…they have 5 or 6 other elevators to use!”
Me (calm and collected): “wow…so that’s how you roll?”
Woman: “Yes…today it is…today it’s how I roll.”
Me (getting off on my floor): “well…good luck with that”.
Woman: “oh I’m I good with that”.
Wow! She must have been a Democrat! Or a Republican! Or a Libertarian! Obviously not Green, because the saved electricity would have made her ecstatic. But if she was Green, she’d be using the stairs. (Maybe the Libertarian would have, too. Unless she built that elevator herself.)
there was only about a 5% chance she was anything other than a democrat.
Was she wearing a “Obama” t-shirt or pin or something? Because no party manages to claim 95% of the a-holes in America. But wouldn’t it be awesome if there WAS an A-hole party? No, no it wouldn’t. Because they’d probably win every election with 60% of the vote, (due to a-holes voting turnout being disproportionately high) and we’d be guaranteed an a-hole government! At least the current system lets a few non-holes slip in through the cracks. (har har!)
just a wild guess.
there was only about a 5% chance she was anything other than a democrat.
She was wearing flats?
Typical American these days: “Stop making me wait until it’s my turn and then I’ll make everyone else wait.”
How Hurricane Sandy’s Aftermath Will Affect The Housing Market’s Recovery
http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/11/01/how-hurricane-sandy-will-affect-the-housing-markets-nascent-recovery/
…….“This will certainly create a negative in the short term,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. “The bottom line is we clearly anticipate a slowdown, but it will be temporary.”
Along the East Coast, expect home sales to trend downward in coming months, as sellers take their damaged digs off the market and buyers hold off on purchases. Pending sales will be delayed or in some cases collapse altogether as lenders insist upon new appraisals in areas battered by Sandy. Yun expects the regional drop in activity to log a “notable, measurable impact” large enough to pull the national sales statistics down for November onward. Home sales typically begin to slow due to seasonality at this time of the year; the storm’s lingering effects will ensure that slowdown manifests more dramatically.
Even so, that short term pain may actually evolve into a market boost four-to-six months from now. “With past natural disasters, home sales pause but what generally happens is in later months, as insurance money begins to flow in, the housing market gets elevated to higher levels than before the storm,” explains Yun.
NJ housing market was already struggling
http://www.telegram.com/article/20121104/NEWS/111049665/1237
…..Sandy’s brutal arrival last Monday was the latest blow to homeowners in New Jersey, where foreclosures continued to rise and real estate prices to fall after most of the U.S. housing market began to recover last year. “New Jersey was a laggard before the storm even came along and the storm won’t help,” Sam Khater, deputy chief economist for CoreLogic Inc., a real-estate information service, said from his office in Tysons Corner, Va.
New Jersey ranked second behind Florida in September among states with the highest inventories of homes facing foreclosure, CoreLogic reported Wednesday.
In the Garden State, 7.3 percent of homes with a mortgage were seriously delinquent or facing repossession, compared with 3.3 percent nationally.
Well… you know the HBB motto right?
Let the prices crater, then buy later for 65% less.
Will superstorm Sandy’s aftermath crush the housing recovery?
http://homes.yahoo.com/news/will-hurricane-sandy-s-aftermath-crush-the-housing-recovery-.html
The destruction caused by Hurricane Sandy has the potential to sink real estate values across the Northeast, and is threatening to derail the national housing recovery that has been gaining steam in recent months.
Studies have determined that disasters causing widespread damage have historically dragged down real-estate prices in the areas where they occurred. According to Robert Simons, a professor of urban planning at Cleveland State University, the damage caused by the latest storm is likely to continue the historical trend.
“There’s going to be an effect,” he says. “In natural disasters like this, it changes the way that potential buyers look at an area.” …
….Price declines hitting an already down area. The real estate market throughout most of the country has been showing signs of life in recent months. The lone exception has been the Northeast.
What next — disaster assistance for Realtors™?
Sounds like a buying opportunity! Maybe they’ll be lucky and DC will get hit by an asteroid!
Come to think of it, if congress was in session and both candidates where there, we’d ALL be lucky!
Will the Grexit prospect ever be resolved, or will the Sword of Damocles remain forevermore suspended above the global economy?
Nov. 4, 2012, 3:34 p.m. EST
Greek prime minister warns of euro exit
Samaras predicts passage of austerity measures
By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch
Greek prime minister Antonis Samaras warns his party of the dangers of leaving the euro.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Greece’s prime minister is warning that the country could be forced out of the euro zone if the debt-laden country’s parliament does not approve a new round of austerity measures in a vote scheduled for Wednesday.
“We must save the country from catastrophe,” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told lawmakers from his conservative party on Sunday, according to AFP. “If we fail to stay in the euro, nothing will make sense.”
Greece’s parliament is due to vote on a package of more than 13 billion euros in spending cuts, tax hikes and other reforms. Greece must approve the package and its 2013 budget to receive aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.
Samaras’s New Democracy Party and its coalition partners are expected to narrowly win approval for the package on Wednesday. The prime minister said at a party meeting that approving the cuts and tax increases would ensure that Greece stays in the euro zone. A vote on the 2013 budget is scheduled for Nov. 11.
…
“If we fail to stay in the euro, nothing will make sense.”
Cats and dogs, living together. Mass hysteria!
+ 1 for the Ghostbusters reference.
Dr. Peter Venkman: How’s the grid holding up?
Dr. Egon Spengler: Not good.
Winston Zeddemore: Tell him about the Twinkie.
Dr. Peter Venkman: What about the Twinkie?
We get all this hype and hysteria about the Euro, but not once, NOT ONCE, does anyone question who wants it to fail so badly and why.
Eco - give it up, man!! A good conspiracy theory should NOT go to waste. I’m all ears - and my threshold for disbelief in matters conspiratorial is subterranean!
(Personal opinion: it was just a bet gone left. The Eurozone bundled the wastrels up with the industrious. The wastrels loaded up on debt which they can’t pay back. All the gingerbread they erected with borrowed money, from which everybody extracted some vig? It was all a waste of dough, so to speak. Except for the developers, who got the biggest piece of the vig. Now we have an unexpected OOPSIE! moment. Time to pay the piper. It ain’t gonna happen - the debtors and debtees are locked in together in a static, closed system with no new money coming in).
But what do I know? I ain’t one of the Masters of the Universe. Hence I want to hear your theory!
Thanks.
“LOS ANGELES (CBS Las Vegas) – Teens living in homes with lesbian mothers are proving to be more successful in school and generally happier in life.”
http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2012/11/05/study-teens-with-lesbian-mothers-do-better-in-school-happier-in-life/
Please, just don’t bite our heads off after mating. That’s all I ask.
Will enough old people vote to give Romney a chance tomorrow?
538 blog says Obama 86% chance of winning tomorrow.
RealClearPolitics (which leans right) says Obama should win about 300 Electoral Votes.
Thoughts? Is there any way Romney could win? Anecdotes about old people being fired up to get to the polls?
Ohbewanna is going to crack the whip on us white folks by stopping all new prison building…there will be so much overcrowding the ACLU will demand violent prisoners be released to their motherZzzzz
Ohbewanna is going to crack the whip on us white folks
Heads up:
You’re starting to sound like an idiot. (with hemorrhoids)
Hey, DJ Gramps–Do you realize how dumb you sound? This is an honest question. Have you ever thought that maybe the reason you have failed in life has nothing to do with outside issues like politics or race (something you are obsessed with, by the way)? And maybe much more to do with your own lack of education and/or talent?
Enjoy having Obama around for another 4 yrs–gives you someone to blame for your failure, I guess.
Who said I failed…I see the writing on the wall i need to act black and get my ohbahhma phones too…why work on the books? Just let suckers like you pay the taxes.. Its all good 4 more years who hoo
Its all good 4 more years who hoo
don’t worry my friend. obama is t.O.a.s.t. it’ll be over before 10 pm mountain time.
the libberuls always believe in fairy tales. i wanna see chrissy mathew’s face when the reality starts to sink in.
” i wanna see chrissy mathew’s face when the reality starts to sink in.”
Sort of like Dan Rather when Bush won his second term. The only problem was, it just never “sank in”.
yep, blather really hated bush with a passion, didn’t he?
blather always was slow on the uptake..
I git Robbed…did i mizz my chance of getting into the Free$heet army?
don’t worry my friend. obama is t.O.a.s.t. it’ll be over before 10 pm mountain time.
Matt Drudge is getting desperate, and sad, posting this:
Jay-Z Substitutes ‘Mitt’ for ‘B-tch’ While Rapping at Obama Rally
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/11/05/jay-z-substitutes-mitt-b-tch-while-singing-obama-rally#ixzz2BO8EJhZu
And the top comments on the Jay-Z story:
“Jay-Z will be the first one rioting and burning his town to the ground if Obama doesn’t win. The thing is, we are ready this time. Well, at least I am.”
“They seem to forget that it was Bathhouse Barry who was the first to admit that we cling to our guns.”
“Adam & Eve = Chick-fil-A Values.
Adam & Steve = Chicago Values.”
Thank you, and good Nate.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/
A few late night questions for the communists:
What happens when you run out of other peoples money?
What is the primary source of revenue when everyone is employed by the government or on government assistance?
Are you aware of the moral hazard being created by the constant barrage of ever increasing fees, levies and nuisance taxes on every good or service we purchase?
What do you do with the die hard free market capitalists?
A few late night answers:
-Whose money was it to begin with?
-The products of their efforts
-Yep
-Let them try to survive without a market.
Nicky, have you ever tried to make it completely on your own without benefit of a social structure or defined rules of order? How’d that work out for you?
Benefiting from the group doesn’t negate personal autonomy, nor does it necessitate subsuming one’s identity to the hive. Somewhere in there is a balance. Our job here is to find that balance and make sure it doesn’t swing too far towards either totalitarianism or anarchy. Personally, I tend toward the pragmatic. Let us strive for consensus?
PS. You’d engage a lot more serious response if you’d lose the silly labels. They’re not only too indefinite, they’re irrelevant.
You go right to the all or nothing argument, just like a good communist.
This fiscal cliff sounds quite ominous.
Analysis: Washington, Wall Street misreading each other again as cliff nears
A sign for Wall Street is seen with a giant American flag in the background across from the New York Stock Exchange November 5, 2012. REUTERS/Chip East
By Edward Krudy and David Lawder
Tue Nov 6, 2012 1:03am EST
(Reuters) - Exit presidential elections. Enter looming budget crisis. And once again, a disconnect between how Washington and Wall Street see the world could cause pain for investors if the two get their signals crossed.
At the beginning of next year, $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts - known as the fiscal cliff - will automatically become law unless Congress acts. Such dramatic moves could hammer consumer and business spending, push the U.S. economy back into recession and send markets reeling.
However, there is a sense that neither the financiers and investors in New York nor the lawmakers in Congress are taking each other seriously enough. Many in Washington believe Congress could do nothing, and the market reaction would be relatively sanguine. Plenty on Wall Street say the fiscal cliff, one way or another, will be dealt with. It raises the possibility that Congress will sail over the cliff, and markets will freak.
“The markets have been way too sanguine on the fiscal cliff,” said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist for Potomac Research Group, which tracks Washington for institutional investors.
The fiscal cliff’s automatic triggers were built into law as a way to force lawmakers to tackle huge U.S. budget deficits.
Wall Street banks, investors, and financial industry lobbyists have coalesced around the view that after the elections Congress will reach a short-term deal to avert the worst of the cliff. In short, they believe Congress will kick the can down the road for several more months.
“They’ll have to do some sort of short-term extension to buy some time to develop the larger component of addressing the fiscal cliff, which is a large-scale fiscal plan,” said Ken Bentsen, head of the Washington office for financial industry group SIFMA, who sees that happening.
As SIFMA’s chief lobbyist, Bentsen is essentially Wall Street’s eyes and ears in the nation’s capital. He was a congressman himself - a Texas Democrat who served in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.
But Wall Street and Washington have misread each other in the past, and it has not been pretty for markets. One of the ugliest examples of that was in September 2008, not two weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, when the House rejected a $700 billion financial bailout plan. Markets plunged; that shock was enough to galvanize lawmakers to pass a revised plan a few days later.
There is some concern that poor assumptions are being made about each side. In Washington, there are Tea Party-backed Republicans who anticipate a market shock but believe the pain is worth it if it changes what they see as a culture of spending in Washington.
While none of them are saying this publicly in the pre-election environment, lobbyists in close contact with Capitol Hill say there are enough members with such an outlook to create headaches for leaders like House Speaker John Boehner just as they did during debt ceiling negotiations in 2011.
In addition, there is a growing group of Democrats and center-left policy wonks who say that going over the cliff may be a viable tactical option to force revenue increases on Republicans, who have resisted them.
…
Nov. 5, 2012, 12:43 p.m. EST
Forget the election — A warning for risk assets
By Michael A. Gayed
I know, I know. Everyone is focused on the elections this week. Whoever wins the presidency could set the economic tone for the next four years, provide clarity on the fiscal cliff, and potentially change the behavior of stocks and bonds in the near-term. At least, this is the rhetoric every single media outlet is expressing.
I don’t disagree. Whoever wins will impact asset markets as is always the case. However, while the world stares directly into polling numbers and the last-minute push for votes, it is often that which is in the periphery of our vision which is most dangerous. As I said Friday on Bloomberg Radio, the thing few are paying attention to is the complete collapse in Greek stocks last week.
Earlier in the year I made the case when everyone was focused on the idea of a euro-zone breakup and bankruptcy by Greece that markets simply would not care. My reasoning had to do with my overarching theme of paranoia over a Lehman 2.0 repeat by central banks, and by the fact that it was being talked about continuously in the media.
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IEM implied odds against Romney winning the popular vote are up to 4:1 on Election Eve. I feel remorse for Romney at this point; I believe he has already announced he won’t run again if he doesn’t win this time.
2012 US Presidential Election Winner Takes All Market
CHART OF THE DAY: Greece’s Stock Market Collapse Vs. The Crash Of 1929
Eric Platt | May 14, 2012, 12:12 PM
It’s 1929 all over again, but not in the U.S.
As Greek markets hit levels not seen since the 90s, we thought it appropriate to look at how the Dow performed during the Great Depression.
The results, both suffered huge declines. But the big difference: where as the U.S. began to pick back up five years after its fall, Greece continues to tumble lower.
Below, Athex performance from the 2007 peak compared to the Dow Jones Industrial Average and its 1929 peak.
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Enjoy throwing away your votes tomorrow!