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Here is your open thread for the mid-week on May 30th, 2012. You may post random links and off-topic discussions here. Also, if you have an idea or a topic you’d like to see covered in an article, please make it known.
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Some Say the Conditions in the World Are Holding Back Seattle’s Housing Recovery
Whether or not you consider this a lamebrain excuse, the economic conditions of Greece and the Euro were considerred mitigated by yesterday’s stock market bounce up. Today’s stock market bounce down [about equal to yesterday's upward bounce in magnitude] states its because of worsening conditiona in Europe.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/stock-index-futures-signal-early-094351353.html
Believe everything you read.
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When the Dow is up $125, I make ‘x’ amount of money.
When the Dow is down $125, I lose ’2x’ amount of money.
I understand beta and all that sheet, but what I want to know….does anyone know a good shrink?
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This is a good example of why government never has enough money.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018321597_ridefreezone31m.html
Metro is doing away with the free ride zone downtown, so now King County is considering providing 2 or more shuttle buses several hours per day to move people around. Let’s just ignore the fact that we’re talking about a relatively small area and that just because you’re poor it doesn’t mean that you can’t walk. And let’s also ignore the fact that there is already the Access service of door to door service for those who qualify. Let’s just spend a half million dollars a year of other peoples’ money! Oh, and because we’re going to do that, we’re going to have to cut back on some other core service, like say animal control, because there isn’t enough money to pay for that. /sarc
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 3 –
The Same “Over-growth” Buffoons On Our King County Council
That see nothing wrong with over-building on freeway access roads or putting another smelly sewage treatment plant in…..as long as its not their neighborhood.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 3 – This was my favorite part of that article:
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RE: The Tim @ 5 – That caught my eye too.
I like that way of thinking. There really should be a free mini-bus that tours Fairwood several hours every day to take people to Safeway. That should be a basic right of living here in the USA. /sarc
Edit: Silly me. We have the right to two mini-buses.
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I don’t get Obama’s latest attack on Romney. Does he really want to attack Romney on his economic record as governor when at the time Romney left office MA’s unemployment rate was under 5%? That seems to be a move that will just play into Romney’s hand.
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By The Tim @ 5:
Socialists like this are always so generous with OTHER PEOPLE’S money. Since she represents a charity, did she forget she can buy and hand out bus passes to the needy (or everyone, since it’s our right too)?
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By Kary L. Krismer @ 7:
1. his state ranked almost last in job creation.
2. he said anything over 4% was nothing to brag about.
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By Macro Investor @ 8:
Do you realize she’s a taxpayer too? Probably pays more than mitt romney does…
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Let’s consult a higher authority on this one.
Jesus was a great liberal:)
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RE: Macro Investor @ 8 –
The free ride zone makes more sense for businesses than it does as a socialist cause.
Now that parking rates are up, and we have spent billions of dollars on Light Rail this is another wrong move by our City Council.
The idea was that people, like myself, would park at centers like Northgate, and take the bus down town, then ride for free.
Well, we have had a lack of development, a lack of business activity, and down town Seattle has become a haven for the homeless. Our City Council just again gifted developers a decrease in required parking stalls, which will push more cars out onto the street.
Something really should be done to get some common sense into down town Seattle so that businesses can have a shot to compete with Alderwood Mall. How sad is it that a down town core is competing with shopping malls?
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RE: David Losh @ 12 –
A friend of mine is a metro bus driver. He always complains about the prostitutes, drug dealers and homeless who ride the free bus routes back and forth making a nuisance. Maybe the city council took that into consideration and didn’t make such a bad decision.
Parking is a problem all over this and every other city. By your logic, almost every bus would have to be free because there isn’t enough parking. If you can’t pay for a car, gas, insurance, parking and everything else… stay home, walk or ride a bike. People need to learn, nothing is free — it just means the rest of us are forced to pay for someone else’s lifestyle.
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By Macro Investor @ 13:
there is lot’s of stuff that you may use that someone else may use and vice versa. you never know if you’ll be homeless one day and need a free bus ride.
calling the ambulance is typical of how just by spending a little bit of money we may actually save money or even a life.
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RE: Macro Investor @ 13 – Free bus rides are normally about getting people to come and spend their money at your establishment. The cost should be borne by those that benefit and not all the taxpayers. The local tribal casinos are happy to do that. Do the businesses of Seattle require that everything be given to them on a silver platter while they loot your pocketbook?
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RE: Macro Investor @ 13 –
You’re not getting my point. The problem is the City Council has allowed the homeless, prostitutes, and drug dealers to take over our city.
The bigger problem is that down town has very little parking to begin with, and now the City Council has raised parking meter rates.
The free bus zone was a minor concession to down town businesses for the lack of patrol, care, or concern our city has for the retailers, or people who may want to live, work, or visit.
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Sacramento California wanted to look impressive so they built a couple of light rail lines. These “lines” are straight, they run from Point A to Point Z. That’s great for everyone who lives near A and Z, but everyone else must still drive their cars to work. So after billions (of mostly federal dollars) were spent, only 2% (and it’s really less) of commuters use light rail. Seattle could learn from this, but I’m sure it won’t. The reality – trains are 19th century technology. They don’t work!
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By Tatiana Kalashnikov @ 17:
Trains can be fantastic, if they are built with some long-term planning in mind. The ride on the light rail train from downtown Seattle to the stadiums is much better than the bus, even when you can catch each at the same tunnel stop downtown.
The Metro train in Washington DC is the best public transportation system I’ve been on. Useful, clean, good for both commuters and people living in the city.
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By pfft @ 9:
What was he supposed to do, import new citizens to Massachusetts? He created enough jobs for the citizens of the state. That’s what he was supposed to do.
And I’m not talking about bragging. I’m talking about countering an argument made by the President. With his “bragging” comment arguably Romney could not bring up the unemployment level when he left office. Now President Obama has opened that door. Romney entered office with rising unemployment and not only reversed the trend, but lowered it to well below where it was when he took office. President Obama cannot make that claim, and with the numbers out today, the trend is not even good.
So I ask again, why is President Obama bringing up the issue of unemployment during Romney’s tenure? That’s only going to bring about comparisons to his own results, which are horrible.
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By pfft @ 10:
Probably true since we’re talking about King County taxes. Romney probably doesn’t own any land here and probably has not paid any sales tax here.
If we were talking about federal income tax it’s possible she doesn’t pay anything.
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By Sweet Pea @ 18:
The exception is when there’s an accident the train cannot detour around. At least with the light rail system it would be easy to transfer to a bus. That’s not always true with the Sounder.
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