Talk about politics and the global/national economy to your heart’s content, as much as it takes to get it out of your system so the rest of the site can stick to real estate and housing.
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As of 09/07/2010, global economic comments that do not directly relate to Seattle-area real estate go only in threads designated for this specific subject.
By Blurtman @ 1099:
I don’t agree with FDIC for CDS but BAC would get bailed out regardless.
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Nate Silver has this election looking pretty good for Obama.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/21/sept-21-presidential-race-changes-but-swing-states-stay-the-same/
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RE: pfft @ 2 – I think most people have it looking good for President Obama. Only three things can save Romney.
1. The debates.
2. The Dems staying home because they really don’t like President Obama that much.
3. A major economic or terrorist news event.
On the last item, yesterday the foreign policy experts in the Administration finally determined that the relatively sophisticated attack in Libya was in fact a terrorist attack. Yet another reason Romney should have STFU on the day of the attack. He could have been attacking the Obama Administration over this, but now he has to stay quiet because the stumbled out of the gate.
Realistically, I think the debates are Romney’s best chance. President Obama won’t be allowed to blame others in the debates, or if he tries, he’ll look bad.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1103 – No Kary, you want a united front around an attack on the USA. How many Democrats held Bush and Rice accountable for 9-11? Romney would have scored big points if he said he stands united with Obama, and anybody who attacks us is a dead man.
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RE: blurtman @ 1104 – The difference is that after 9/11/01 we should be more vigilant on every subsequent 9/11, especially in relatively lawless countries.
But that would have been another way to go. Almost anything would have been better than what Romney did.
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I love the Democrat’s latest stupid issue. Romney could have paid even less in taxes because he didn’t claim all of his charitable deductions. Just appalling that he gave so much money away to charity. That’s something they should really drag him over the coals for. Giving away a dollar to save 15 cents on taxes.
What I’ve yet to see any of them realize is that he could amend his return for almost three years and claim the additional deductions. if they don’t want him to do that, they should vote for him! ;-)
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There really are no words.
Senate Republicans kill veterans’ jobs bill
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/09/19/13966931-senate-republicans-kill-veterans-jobs-bill?lite
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RE: blurtman @ 1104 –
Absolutely, and something I never really thought of. It was so wrong of Romney to make a political statement before a White House response.
Romney is pulling out to be one of the worst Presidential canidates I can remember. This is like the Al Gore, John Kerry, John McCain campaigns all rolled into one, except nothing could have topped choosing Sarah Palin as a Vice President.
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By David Losh @ 1108:
romney has run a terrible campaign and he doesn’t have a message the voters will like. also people don’t like him. tough to win with 3 strikes like that. his taxes are still an issue. he can’t debate his way out of a paper bag on the bain issue. what is amazing is how much support he as. frightening.
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By Kary L. Krismer @ 1106:
They were realizing that he could amend his return on MSNBC last night – big time. And they were noting that the reason he had claimed less than he could was so that the tax rate on his return would match his earlier claim. What they didn’t seem to notice was that the rate he claimed earlier was supposedly based on what he had seen when he reviewing his return, when in fact he hadn’t filed one at all at that time- a bald faced lie. Oh well.
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By pfft @ 7:
What is this? Some kind of laundry list? You’re just supposed to talk about things that are important.
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RE: pfft @ 1109 –
frightening is a good term for the support people give Romney.
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By pfft @ 9:
But on the bright side he doesn’t have a record of four years of failure on economic issues, Afghanistan and reducing gridlock in DC. Having people distort your record and not being likable, well, those are really important. /sarc
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By whatsmyname @ 10:
My understanding is the returns were newly prepared. I really doubt he had the information to prepare a return until now. Someone like him is typically waiting on returns from other entities, and they can trickle in.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1114 –
“My understanding is the returns were newly prepared. I really doubt he had the information to prepare a return until now. Someone like him is typically waiting on returns from other entities, and they can trickle in.”
Absolutely true, and I certainly don’t fault him for that. The problem is that he was out there quoting numbers and telling people that they were from the return that he knew he hadn’t done yet. Who lies about such minutia? What won’t such a person lie about?
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RE: whatsmyname @ 1115 – I think you’re reverting to the partisan Democrat definition of the term lie. Being wrong is not a lie. I could say the balance in my checking account is $1,200, but if it turned out to be only $1000, that would not make me a liar if I was wrong because I had not yet reconciled my account and had forgot to enter my water bill payment.
I have not called President Obama a liar because unemployment went above 8%. I have not called him a liar because he didn’t close Gitmo. I didn’t call him a liar because he didn’t try to do anything on immigration during his first year. I didn’t call President Obama a liar because he couldn’t make DC less partisan. If President Obama were a Republican, partisan Democrats would be calling him a liar for all of those things, because being a liar in their eyes only requires being wrong. And they take it even further. Because it’s President Obama that said/promised those things, his failure to accomplish them is completely unimportant to them.
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Romney is jumping all over President Obama for saying you can’t change DC from the inside, and rightly so, but for the wrong reasons.
The question was what did President Obama think was his biggest failure. He jokingly answered immigration (because of the crowd) but then answered it was not realizing you couldn’t change DC from the inside. Apparently being a Senator doesn’t make you a DC insider, so he hadn’t realized that when he promised us “Hope and Change.”
But more the the point: What about fixing the economy to put people back to work? As I’ve said before, that should have been his number one priority. Now we learn it’s not something he even considers his biggest failure. Apparently he didn’t succeed putting people back to work because he never considered that important.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I would consider daily fist fights in the House of Representatives to be a good trade off for fixing the economy, putting people to work and solving the debt problem. I don’t care if the politicians get along.
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Now that we see the tax return issue, you’re right, this was Romney fitting the returns to match previous statements.
The statements Romney made about Lybian really bothered also. He should have shown a united front rather than take the deaths as a political opportunity.
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Romney should have never asked if we are better off today than we were four years ago. I’m much better off, as well as millions of others. We need to help the people who were swindled by the financial markets, and return to some normalcy.
What I don’t see, or understand, is why any one would advocate going back to failed economic policy that created a bubble.
Here’s a bubble link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dotcon/historical/bubbles.html
I was talking to a hard core Republican yesterday who also doesn’t get the Romney message. He is also better off than he was four years ago.
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By David Losh @ 1118:
I would agree, but I not sure the deaths were known at the time the statement was made.
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RE: David Losh @ 19 – The better off is just a take off on prior elections. Whenever there is higher unemployment than four years ago, that question will be asked. In this case we also have lower earnings, so it applies to a broader group of people.
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RE: David Losh @ 1119 – Earth to Dave. Earth to Dave.
“NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — The average American family’s net worth dropped almost 40% between 2007 and 2010, according to a triennial study released Monday by the Federal Reserve.
The stunning drop in median net worth — from $126,400 in 2007 to $77,300 in 2010 — indicates that the recession wiped away 18 years of savings and investment by families.”
http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/11/news/economy/fed-family-net-worth/index.htm
Realizing this is 2010 data, but just look at the increasing food stamp rolls, and the continuing decline in wages and standard of living and in the labor force participation rate. Perhaps your success in indicative of the continuing trickle up and concentration of wealth in the USA.
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RE: blurtman @ 1122 – Hey, Dave’s got his! Why should he care about the suffering and misfortune of other people? Why should he even want to understand what Romney is saying?
Of course, Democrats care about everyone. That’s why President Obama made fixing the economy his highest priority. Oh, wait. . .. Nevermind.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1123 – Dave should have his as he seems to work hard. Everyone should have theirs that works hard and plays by the rules. But stats are stats, and a lot of Americans are hurting. And then there is the lack of a level playing field in the USA – affirmative action for the wealthy and special “minority” groups. Wall Street can continue to be paid well, in fact by taxpayers, even though they fail in a big way, hurting not only their employers, but the nation as well.
This is not an attack on Dave, in fact, he is to be complimented for his success. But the trend in the USA is not a good one, and continuing wealth concentraion in a narrow band of the citizenry never ends well.
Romney’s attempted message of an America where folks can work their way out of poverty is a good one. But the messenger is not to be believed.
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RE: blurtman @ 1122 –
We took heavy financial losses in the past four years. My net worth dropped considerably, so did my buddy. There is no question about that.
We are better off then we were four years ago from the collapse of an over heated, over inflated, global economy built on false profits, pun intended. At least today we are warned.
We can’t go back to the Romney Ryan promises that he will reinflate the bubble. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dotcon/historical/bubbles.html
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By blurtman @ 1122:
there you go again blurtman.
first of all obama wasn’t president in 2007. He didn’t become president until 2009. he’s done everything possible to arrest the collapse. we’ve added 5 million jobs in the last 2+ years in spite of unprecedented Republican filibustering. we’d have millions more jobs if Obama’s policies weren’t being blocked for purely political reasons.
“continuing decline in wages”
wages are growing.
” the labor force participation rate”
it’s been pointed out a million times why that is happening. it’s the boomers. why do you continually mislead us on that point?
“but just look at the increasing food stamp rolls”
haven’t you been watching the Republican campaign? that’s not because the economy is bad, it’s because food stamp benefits are so good. food stamps are like a hammock! obviously not like a nice shaded hammock on a beach but close.
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By Kary L. Krismer @ 23:
3 jobs bills blocked by Republicans in the last year that would add millions of jobs? His first act as president an unprecedented in size stimulus.
you think that people need to go without health insurance to get our economy growing. do you think we need more air pollution too for economic growth?
by the way a new study almost completely debunked your tax thesis.
REPORT: Expiration Of High-End Bush Tax Cuts Would Have Little Effect On Economic Growth
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09/21/888981/report-expiration-of-high-end-bush-tax-cuts-would-have-little-effect-on-economic-growth/
just a little helpful hint people, it’s best just to go with me always being right until proven otherwise;)
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RE: pfft @ 1126 – Take your party line nonsense elsewhere.
First, nobody is talking about Obama. Quite trolling.
Second, as has been pointed out repeatedly, but your Democrat blinders prevents you from understanding, the labor force participation rate counts workers aged 16-65. While you may argue that masive amounts of boomers retiring at age 62 are the cause of the record low labor force participation rate, the facts do not support this.
“Baby boomers currently working expect to retire at an average age of 69, and over a third (37 percent) hope to retire in 2012 at age 66. The planned retirement age of baby boomers born in 1946 has increased by over two years since they were previously surveyed in 2008. Working baby boomers say they are planning to delay retirement because they need to continue receiving a salary to pay for day-to-day expenses (27 percent) and they enjoy working or want to stay active (24 percent).”
http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/planning-to-retire/2012/04/13/how-baby-boomers-are-picking-a-retirement-age
What is contributing to the record low LFPR is the abysmal job prospects for younger Americans.
So since you introduce the President in this dialogue, under President Obama, the labor force participation rate has declined to a record low.
Record number of food stamp recipients.
Record number of folks filing for and receiving Social Security Disability, hint, because there are no jobs.
Please provide a link that wages are growing. I have provided several previously that indicate the opposite.
Please swtich to meme 2 – “It could have been worse.” Or meme 3 – “It is Bush’s fault.” Or meme 4 – “I just need 4 more years.”
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1116 –
Half right, my friend. It is one thing to be wrong. It is another to be wrong with intent to deceive. Your Obama examples are forward looking statements where he may have well had (misplaced) confidence that he could prevail. Romney tells us that he looked at the returns at a time when he fully knows that they don’t exist. He later phonies them up to match his earlier statement – again demonstrating intent to deceive when he could have just admitted that he was “wrong” before. I’m not trying to make these into big lies. That’s the point. These are tiny, pointless lies. Who but a pathological liar behaves this way?
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By blurtman @ 1128:
I’ll use all 4 because all 4 are true thank you.
so I don’t have to keep repeating myself I beg you please bookmark this link.
Why Is Labor Force Participation Shrinking?
http://www.offthechartsblog.org/why-is-labor-force-participation-shrinking/
Labor market participation traditionally peaks between ages 25 and 54.
the participation rates for those ages is(barely) inching up.
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RE: pfft @ 1126 –
I’m a broken record on this point that small business has lost a lot of equity, but still owes on the debts they incurred during the boom years.
Even if they can dig out they have lost four years of production. That won’t change soon unless there is debt settlement.
Banks don’t have to settle anything, they are collecting as much as they can for as long as they can. All the government has done is give lenders, and investors lower intertest rate economic policy.
Unfortunately some businesses have taken advatage of these historically low interest rates in hopes of future expansion. Other businesses don’t, or can’t qualify for more debt.
We have a complete mess that Obama is continueing to support.
We need to close banks, regulate, and tax the heck out of lending, or financial markets, then change the laws to be sure this never happens again.
Obama could have done all of this a year ago, but he played it safe on the campaign trail.
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By pfft @ 27:
Is this your memory problem acting up again? How many times do I need to remind you that President Obama cannot get his “create jobs by borrowing money” programs through Congress because there was an election in 2010 where the American people changed the composition of Congress because they didn’t like what President Obama was doing?
As to Obamacare and jobs, and taxes and jobs, clearly both have a negative impact on job creation. You can have studies that show anything, depending on what the entity paying for the study wants! Is a company that is forced to pay for a certain level of health insurance for their employees going to employ more or less people? Is a company that is forced to pay more taxes going to employ more or less people? It’s not really a hard question to answer, unless you’re either President Obama or a partisan Democrat.
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By whatsmyname @ 1129:
But my point was, partisan Democrats equate being wrong with being a liar.
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I watched the 60 Minutes Romney/Obama pieces last night. No big surprises, but I can’t really understand why people say Romney isn’t likable. Romney seems much more likable, IMHO, because he actually seems to understand what’s important to people.
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Paging Dave Losh.
Is Romney a Hispanic? His dad was born in Mexico so that should qualify him, no?
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RE: blurtman @ 1135 –
Absolutely, he’s Hispanic. He was awarded many more opportunities because of his minority status.
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RE: David Losh @ 1136 – Perhaps you are thinking of Elizabeth Warren. In any event, he appears to be one of them White Hispanics.
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By Kary L. Krismer @ 1133:
I can’t speak to partisan Democrats generally, but the post to which you refer features two clear and concise examples of intent to deceive, and why you can have a high confidence that they were intent to deceive.
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By blurtman @ 1137:
that’s a cheap shot and she answered it well. scott brown looks like he’s going to lose. elizabeth warren should be your dream candidate.
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RE: blurtman @ 1137 –
Please forgive me for this very racist comment, but I have been fascinated by this topic for some time.
Romeny must be Hispanic, just look at his hair style.
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RE: David Losh @ 40 -IMHO, the candidates’ violent love, sexual preferences, race and religion are totally irrelevant to deciding who should be elected. Why would you be fascinated by Romney’s race?
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1141 – I am not fasccinated with Romney’s race, just trying to point out the absurdity of racial and ethnic categories like “Hispanic” that divide the citizenry, and perpetuate racism. By the criteria of the USG, Romney is indeed a “Hispanic” and when affirmative action is practiced, can be given preference for jobs and school admission.
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RE: David Losh @ 40 – RE: David Losh @ 40 – Rico Suave.
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RE: blurtman @ 1143 –
Romeny does have very nice hair, muy rico.
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By David Losh @ 1144:
If you look at most of the Senators, it’s apparent we elect people based largely on their hair, or fake hair. That’s probably why we get the results we get out of DC.
Personally I find this type of hair discrimination disgusting. ;-)
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1145 – When you read job interviewers recommendations, its a good smile, good groooming, and good clothing that are key to being hired. Of course Einsteen would have been rejected as a bum. Small minds, distracted minds, issues are too confusing. Hey. he/she looks good, and what a smile!
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Scott Brown is losing and desperate. Stay classy GOP.
Brown Staffers Make ‘Tomahawk Chop’ Motions At Warren Supporters
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/brown-staffers-tomahawk-chop.php?ref=fpb
And Republicans wonder why minorities don’t vote for them?
Warren is going to win. Romney is losing Mass and all those Obama voters are going to tip it to Warren.
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Has any one else noticed that Mitt Romney has the Ronald Reagan hair style, with a little less grease? Of course Reagan parted his hair on right, but Mitt parts his hair on the left, which is another campaign error.
By the way have you also noticed that Romeny Ryan sounds a lot like Ronald Reagan?
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RE: David Losh @ 1148 – Reagan’s fantastic hairline was indicative of a lack of testosterone. He may have had girlie parts.
And Romney’s wife is a blondie. !Que bonita!
Ryan is sort of a grown up Screech from Saved By The Bell. Geeky, and overcompensating by excessive excersize.
Obama sort of has the elder statesman Julius Erving salt and pepper close cropped fro look.
I hope they all appear on Dancing with the Stars soon! Except Reagan, of course.
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RE: Blurtman @ 1149 –
You probably don’t recall, but seriously there was speculation the Reagan hair style was appealing to the Hispanic voter.
It’s kind of a pompodour.
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“The young woman was looking through the day’s trash for her next meal.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/world/europe/hunger-on-the-rise-in-spain.html?pagewanted=all&_r=1
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Cherokee Chief Demands Apology from Scott Brown
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/09/cherokee_chief_demands_apology_from_scott_brown.php?ref=fpblg
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By ChrisM @ 51:
how is that austerity working guys?
thank god Obama didn’t follow the conventional wisdom and cut the deficit as much as some wanted. thank god for the stimulus!
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RE: pfft @ 1153 – Still waiting for those links showing increasing wages, you fraud.
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RE: pfft @ 52 – You’ll find many more links of Native Americans complaining about Elizabeth Warren’s oportunistic misrepresentation of her Native American ancesrty.
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RE: pfft @ 53 – Please do not invoke the name of God to peddle your partisan bullshat.
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By blurtman @ 1154:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YWzMRBwRtN0/Ty6YhOZ04tI/AAAAAAAAME0/5u4UD3GvshI/s1600/RecoveryPIDec2012.jpg
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By blurtman @ 55:
I didn’t know it that was proven? maybe like scott brown you can tell that she isn’t a “person of color” huh? what a joke.
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By blurtman @ 56:
it’s just economics, nothing partisan about it.
how’s Europe doing with it’s austerity? awful. you are entitled to your opinion but not to you own facts. it’s a fact that obama passed the stimulus and it’s a fact that that is what you do when the economy is crashing. that real-time experiment called Europe that we’ve all watched unfold just proves that.
by the way Jesus was a liberal…he would have helped the poor in their time of need.
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I don’t know that Europe has gone the austerity route…
Instead I see a series of bailouts…
Now Iceland, we can probably agree they went the “default” route, which is demonstrably the best for the average citizen…
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By pfft @ 59:
Ever consider the fact that maybe the population is different over there? Maybe in Greece there are more than 47% of the people who are reliant on government. At some point increases in such dependence will reach a tipping point, causing the economy to fail, just as is the case with government debt.
The idea that their population might be different is hardly far fetched. For how many years have the best and brightest of Europe been attracted the the United States? That has to create a talent drain. But hey, the US is now on their side! It’s now harder for talented people to come to this country even on a temporary basis.
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By ChrisM @ 1160:
in exchange for massive cuts in government spending.
Yes, there’s been austerity in Europe
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/yes-theres-been-austerity-in-europe/2012/05/08/gIQAQ1NsAU_blog.html
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RE: pfft @ 1157 – Try again. You said wages were rising.
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This opinion piece is written by someone who purports to support President Obama, but I would agree with almost everything written in it (including the part about health care).
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paolo-romanacci/obama-hasselbeck-the-view_b_1916003.html
Funny thing about the Hasselbeck question. If you expand it a bit to include both the middle class and minorities, President Obama has really failed them terribly. But he leads in the polls for a lot of those groups (depending on what part of the middle class you’re talking about though). Are they suffering from Stockholm Syndrome?
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By Blurtman @ 1163:
and of course what I was talking about, a calculated risk post, was in fact right!
please spin away real personal incomes rising…
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On the topic of California, and how screwed up it is, Comcast is closing all of its call centers there. Originally they said it was due to the business climate in California, but they later walked that back.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/business/bottomline/article/Comcast-rewinds-but-jobs-still-leaving-3897220.php#ixzz27hY9xebc
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By Kary L. Krismer @ 1166:
what they really mean is we have to meet our arbitrary earnings numbers this year to get your stock price up and for our CEO to get a bonus so we fired a bunch of workers. we’ll beat estimates by a penny and the stock will pop 2% and then nobody will care. no matter, we must show every more earnings growth ever quarter.
speaking of…
New Obama ad calls for ‘economic patriotism’
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-obama-economic-patriotism-ad-20120927,0,4447277.story
preach it!
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To all those that don’t believe the polls. intrade has obama at 75%.
http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/contract/?contractId=743474
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By pfft @ 1167:
Wow. That’s just proof President Obama doesn’t understand what the problem is.
A thriving economy doesn’t begin with a thriving middle class. It begins with jobs. More jobs will help the middle class thrive. Unfortunately, President Obama is an anchor on job growth.
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New Data Show Obama Net Positive For Job Creation Since He Took Office
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09/27/920781/new-data-obama-net-positive/?mobile=nc
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Here Is The White House Spin On Today’s Disappointing Economic Data
A massive 13% collapse in durable goods, the biggest since January 2009; a $20 billion miss to annualized Q2 GDP estimates, and well below the lowest estimate, 60+ weeks of constant upward BLS revisions to initial claims “data” and not to mention assorted atrocious economic (note: not to be confused with market – the two are now completely unlinked) data from around the globe. And what does the White House say: the data shows that the “US is making progress.” We sure wouldn’t want to know what it would look like if after 3 episodes of easing, trillions injected into the economy via the Fed, and of course $6 trillion in extra debt the US was not making progress. Oh and yes, everything else is Bush’s fault.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-09-27/here-white-house-spin-todays-disappointing-economic-data
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Real Per Capital “Core” Durable Goods Orders
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2012/09/real-per-capital-core-durable-goods.html
“I have little to add other than this is how recessions start, an opinion expressed earlier… ”
Obama – Fail!
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1164 –
I just read a poll indicating that among small business owners, Obama is leading Romney by eight percentage points. Stockholm Syndrome? Are they supporting the guy keeping them down? More than likely, the largest shareholders of large corporations support Romney, despite the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 70% since Obama took office. Why?
I figure they control both candidates, but that Romney is one of them. He’ll do their bidding a little more willingly, and won’t be obliged to pander to his base by mouthing anti business utterings every once in a while. He’ll run the government the way he ran Bain. Heap it up with debt, lay off the employees, and set up shop in third world countries.
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RE: pfft @ 1162 – I’m not clear on the methodology for your link at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/yes-theres-been-austerity-in-europe/2012/05/08/gIQAQ1NsAU_blog.html.
They state “The best way to see this is to look at the change in the “structural budget deficit” for each euro zone country — that’s the amount of deficit countries have once you factor out economic conditions. (After all, you don’t want to count a surge in tax revenues due to economic growth as “austerity.”) ”
Why wouldn’t you count the surge in tax revenues as austerity? The end goal is to have a balanced budget; it shouldn’t matter if it comes from the income or expense side of the equation.
Reading the source material at https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/pdf/exesum.pdf I’m yet again reminded that economics is not at all a science. I could quote numerous passages in the text, but hope this will be sufficient:
Compare their 2010-2011 economic projections (on page 20):
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2010/01/pdf/text.pdf
vs what actually happened (page 2):
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2012/01/pdf/c1.pdf
US 2011: projected 2.6 vs. reality of 1.7
Europe 2010: projected 1.0 vs. reality of 1.9
Germany 2010: projected 1.2 vs 3.6
Germany 2011: projected 1.7 vs 3.1
Japan is totally off the wall:
2010: projected 1.9 reality 4.4
2011: projected 2.0 reality -0.7
And tell me why I should care about what the IMF thinks is going to happen? A dartboard may be as effective.
In Taleb’s _Black Swan_ he discusses a paper that compares economists’ projections vs. the reality, and it turns out the dartboard was as effective. I remember the Wall Street Journal effectively repeating that experiment w/ stock predictions back in the late 90′s.
I’d love to hear an explanation of how all these economists have calculated expected results for things like CPI, Case-Schiller, durable goods, etc. Surely it *must* be more than listening to and extrapolating from the garbage on CNBC! Right??
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By Ira Sacharoff @ 73:
As to the business owners, to a great extent the Republicans are FOS when they talk about them. Many business owners are probably in the 47% that don’t pay any income taxes. I would guess that far more than 47% of them don’t pay income taxes.
But yes, if they are supporting President Obama they are supporting the person that is keeping them down. President Obama is an anchor on the economy and job creation. He is worse than incompetent in that he is not just failing to make things better, he has been making things worse with his rhetoric. I’ve been saying that for at least a year now, and the latest durable goods figures is some evidence that I’m right.
People don’t support candidates in a rational manner. For example, if either abortion or gun rights is your bet issue, it could very well make sense in many states for that to affect your vote for governor. But to have that affect your vote for President is a bit of a stretch at this point. One or two terms of an R or D as president is not likely to impact the court on those two issues. In any case, right now the number one issue for everyone should be jobs, an area where President Obama is a proven failure.
Although maybe they are related. After four more years of Obama job losses, gun rights will probably be very important. ;-)
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RE: Ira Sacharoff @ 1173 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te6qG4yn-Ps
The correct choice is neither. Ole!
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Let me interject a little more hyperbole by saying that this last assault on the American people by the Republican Party should make it clear they are a terrorist organization engaged in unAmerican activity.
I’m referring to this claim that we should have all concentrated our effort on 9/11, funny how they slipped that one in again, on protecting Americans in Libya.
Mitt Romney hates America, and everything we stand for.
It may have started with his statements after the attacks, but the Republican Party has picked this issue to base fear mongering on.
The terrorist in the Middle East pale in comparison to our torture in Gitmo, or our killing of women, and childern. So why would the Republican party bring up this crap during an election?
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RE: David Losh @ 77 – Foreign policy is suppose to be President Obama’s advantage, but he didn’t even foresee a terrorist attack on 9/11 on a country full of militia type entities. You don’t think that’s relevant? Americans died because of not preparing for what seemingly should have been something that should have been prepared for.
How about the military losing more airplanes in one day in Afghanistan than any time since Vietnam? Not a lot of press on that, was there?
How about the failed surge in Afghanistan. The surge Senator Obama said wouldn’t work in Iraq did work there despite his claims, but it failed in Afghanistan despite his claims it would work there.
On the topic of terrorists, what about the recent report on the use of drones in Pakistan? We’re attacking, waiting for the first responders to come in, and then attacking again to kill the first responders! Not much press on that either.
And on the topic of war dead, why did that get much more attention from the press when a Republican was in office?
I’m very critical of President Obama on jobs, but seemingly he really isn’t that good on foreign policy either. He has an advantage there because the press doesn’t report the negatives.
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Check out this Fox News clip from Colbert at 4:30 in.
http://www.colbertnation.com/full-episodes/wed-september-26-2012-jim-holt
I’m not familiar with Monica Crowley, but she’s critical of President Obama for allowing revolution in Libya because Moammar Gaddaffi was one of our allies?????
Colbert makes fun of what Hanity (sp?) said after, but I find her to be far more ridiculous.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1179 – She gets a pass as she is a very attractive blonde. PhD, too.
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RE: David Losh @ 1177 – Dave, don’t know if the below is true. It was posted on Mish Shedlock’s blog. What do you say?
“Put it another way. Chile chose the private route for its Social Security. Every Chilean has a portfolio backed by real assets (not an imaginary “trust fund”) like mining, agriculture, and oil stocks. They get fat dividends from them. They pass on these assets to their children when they die. Guess what? The baby boomer thing is no problem. Can you imagine if we had chosen that free market route? Can you imagine right now if someone 50 years old had a $750,000 portfolio of blue chips paying 5% dividends? Free market is the way to go.”
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By Blurtman @ 1181:
it’s not true. the chile thing was a mess.
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Can ya dig it? I can dig it!
Romney ‘I Dig It’ Trust Gives Heirs Triple Benefit
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-27/romney-i-dig-it-trust-gives-heirs-triple-benefit.html
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By Blurtman @ 1180:
And as an added bonus, she apparently isn’t a very good judge of men! She’ll be a real catch for someone.
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By pfft @ 83:
You’re going to have to explain to me how taking advantage of the provisions in our stupid estate tax system is somehow related to the claim that too many Americans are reliant on the government. The author is apparently an idiot for thinking they are somehow related.
What he’s doing is legally avoiding tax on something that shouldn’t even be taxed in the first place. OMG, we better not vote for him! Let’s vote instead for the guy who takes money from the Social Security system to try to get re-elected.
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RE: pfft @ 1182 –
Chile is a mess, but they are investing heavily in South America. I’ll ask this afternoon what happened, or why the pensions there are more secure.
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How Democratic Ads Are Exploiting Romney’s ‘47 Percent’ Moment
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/democratic-tv-ads-romney-47-percent.php?ref=fpa
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RE: pfft @ 1187 – Yep, they like to mislead people. They aim for the gullible ignorant voter.
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Obama administration tells contractors again: Don’t issue layoff notices
The Obama administration issued new guidance intended for defense contractors Friday afternoon, reiterating the administration’s position that the companies should not be issuing layoff notices over sequestration.
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/industry/259305-omb-tells-contractors-once-again-dont-issue-layoff-notices
Yea, we are not cutting the military budget. And I thought Obama was owned solely by the banksters. Good to see he is not neglecting the military industrial complex.
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By Blurtman @ 1189:
layoffs in the face of the fiscal cliff is just silly. they are going to reach a deal after the election. just about everyone know that.
the fiscal cliff is all hype.
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RE: Blurtman @ 1189 – Seeing unintended consequences are not the Obama administration’s strong suit.
As to pfft’s claim they will settle, I think that depends on the election. If 2012 looks like 2010, with the Tea Party types making strong gains, but President Obama being reelected, we might have problems. Romney could probably get more concessions out of the Tea Party types than President Obama.
Conversely, if the Democrats do well in the election, the outgoing Republicans might be had to deal with in the lame duck session.
The more interesting issue is why wouldn’t the companies send WARN notices? They may be legally obligated to do so.
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As a Democrat I am kinda ashamed sometimes that we’ve lost elections to people who are just so blatantly and profoundly stupid.
Paul Ryan on His Tax Plan: “It Would Take Me Too Long to Go Through All the Math”
http://gawker.com/5947668/paul-ryan-on-his-tax-plan-it-would-take-me-too-long-to-go-through-all-the-math
Paul Ryan is literally a moron.
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RE: pfft @ 1190 – Perhaps. Or, Obama could know that munitions inventory will be depleted shortly after the election. What is your prediction for the settled terms that avoid the cliff?
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RE: pfft @ 92 – You’re in no position to judge anyone else’s intelligence. In all your months here you’ve demonstrated no ability to think whatsoever. Only the ability to repeat what you’ve been told to think.
BTW, on the topic of calling people nasty things, Christie today called President Obama a liar. It was based on the tax cut claims President Obama makes. I’d call him a liar for other reasons, and not that. But whatever. Refreshing to see a politician correctly identify someone else and not put it into PC terms.
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 1194 – Liar = Politician. No harm, no foul.
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In office, then, Mr. Obama quickly proved to be a different breed of porpoise than the voters bargained for. He let the Wall Street privateers run amuck another four years, aided with colossal infusions of conjured-out-of-nothing “money” from the Federal Reserve. He let loose the demons of a high-tech totalitarian “security” state with every sort of electronic surveillance, citizen data-mining, and drone spying that innovation allowed. He stood silent like a Banana Republic store mannequin after the supreme court decided that corporations could buy elections (he could have pushed loudly for legislation or even a constitutional amendment to redefine corporate “personhood”). And of course, he continued to prosecute the absurd war in Afghanistan where, after nine years, US forces are unable to accomplish the only aims of being there: to control the terrain and to moderate the behavior of the people who live there.
http://kunstler.com/blog/2012/09/zeitgeist-failure.html#more
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By Kary L. Krismer @ 1194:
By Kary L. Krismer @ 1194:
you mean I repeat facts? reality has a well-known liberal bias.
have you noticed I don’t reply to you anymore by the way? I play one more time though.
“In all your months here you’ve demonstrated no ability to think whatsoever.”
like?
while we are insulting each other, this is the funniest thing written on here in awhile.
“but I can’t really understand why people say Romney isn’t likable. Romney seems much more likable, IMHO, because he actually seems to understand what’s important to people.”
really kary?
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like I said. how do we lose elections to these people?
Republicans Overwhelmingly Think The Polls Are Rigged
http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-bias-republicans-rigged-unskewed-polling-obama-romney-2012-9
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RE: pfft @ 1192 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpAOwJvTOio
Here’s one of your kind…..
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RE: David Losh @ 77 – “Mitt Romney hates America, and everything we stand for”… What is it that “WE” stand for Losh?….
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