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America's New Budgetless Reality Is "Betrayal Of American Taxpayers", Says Republican House Leader John Boehner
House Democrat leader Steny Hoyer will today announce that the US will not pass a budget in 2010 as “It isn’t possible to debate and pass a realistic, long-term budget until we’ve considered the bipartisan commission’s deficit-reduction plan, which is expected in December." Yet "the House has never failed to pass an annual budget resolution since the current budget rules were put into place in 1974." The real reason of course is that the budget would indicate new and unprecedented trillions in deficits, which would wreak havoc on Democrat chances to contain their upcoming mid-term election loss to just "landslide" status, instead of what is increasingly shaping up as being more in the "apocalyptic" category. Those whose memory spans longer than 24 hours, will recall that Peter Orszag resigned yesterday. Something tells us these two events may be correlated. In the meantime, we are now convinced that realizing the hopelessness of its political situation, the administration and the Fed will now create the most ridiculous, unprecedented, destructive and historic market melt up in history to preserve any chances of demonstrating just how "effective" their market manipulation, pardon, economic resurgence efforts are. If you are short, be ready to have all your shares forcibly called in over the next 4 months. At least the humor of the situation is not lost on one person: House Republican leader John Boehner has taken out a page on his website to lampoon the tragicomedy that US economic and fiscal reality has become.
From John Boehner's Website
Cancelled: There Will Be No Congressional Budget This Year
***The Following Is An Important Fiscal Health Announcement***
Washington
(Jun 22)
In light of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) announcement this morning that House Democrats will not pass a budget this year – failing to fulfill what he has called “the most basic responsibility” of governing – the following important fiscal health warning has been issued:
THE BUDGET HAS BEEN
CANCELLED
WE REGRET TO INFORM YOU THAT
THE CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET
PLANNED FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO WASHINGTON DEMOCRATS’ OUT-OF-CONTROL SPENDING SPREE.
AN APOLOGY FOR THIS BETRAYAL OF AMERICAN TAXPAYERS DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE FORTHCOMING AT THIS TIME.
BE ADVISED THAT THE FOLLOWING SERVICES WILL BE INTERRUPTED:
Imposing the fiscal discipline economists say is needed to create jobs and boost our economy
Reining in the out-of-control spending spree that is killing American jobs
Carrying out the “most basic responsibility of governing”
Stopping middle-class tax hikes that will sock family budgets at the worst possible time
Providing the leadership on jobs and the economy that Americans say is sorely lacking
Protecting our kids and grandkids from the enormous debt burden Washington has placed on them
We reserve the right to notify you of additional consequences that may arise in light of this budget failure, which is unprecedented in the modern era. In the interim, please brace for more spending, more debt, more tax hikes, more broken promises.
For families and small businesses looking for a government that listens
to the people it serves and respects their hard-earned money, House
Republicans are offering better solutions to cut spending now and help small businesses put people back to work.
And here are the comment from Ranking Member, and vocal budgetary farce opponent, Paul Ryan:
Ranking Member Ryan on Democrats’ Unprecedented Budget Failure
WASHINGTON – Since the implementation of the 1974 Budget Act, the House has never failed to pass a budget resolution – until now. House Democratic leaders announced this morning that they will make no attempt to even propose a budget. In response to this unprecedented budget failure and efforts to give the appearance of budgeting while sidestepping the tough decisions that budgets require, House Budget Committee Ranking Republican Paul Ryan (WI) issued the following statement:
“House Democrats have offered no budget, no priorities, and no restraints – yet the taxing, spending, and borrowing all continue unchecked. The unprecedented collapse of the budget process and lack of spending restraint undermines economic growth and job creation, fuels our dependence on foreign creditors, and accelerates our fiscal day of reckoning here at home. A clear signal is being sent to American families struggling to meet their own budgets – and to those financing this borrowing binge – that Washington still doesn’t recognize the severity of our fiscal and economic challenges. Washington needs to wake up.”
Additional key points to consider:
A “deeming resolution” is not a budget. A "deemer” does not set priorities; it does not align overall spending, tax, deficit, and debt levels; and it does nothing to address the runaway spending of Federal entitlement programs. Instead of enforceable restraints and tough decisions, the Majority intends to give a green light to the Appropriators for the spending spree to continue.
This year’s budget collapse is an unprecedented failure. Even when previous Congresses have failed to pass budget conference reports, the House always completed and passed its own budget resolution. Not only will House Democrats fail to pass a budget resolution, they will make no attempt to even propose a budget.
The latest in a string of alarming fiscal abuses. Since January 2009, the President has signed into law $1.8 trillion in new spending and $670 billion in new taxes. The Federal budget deficit has expanded to $1.5 trillion and total debt recently eclipsed $13 trillion. The Majority’s pay-as-you-go charade has been circumvented at least 14 times in the 111th Congress, adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit. The abuse of the budget reconciliation process made possible the passage of the Majority’s health care overhaul.
A failure to budget exacerbates looming fiscal crisis. The Democrats’ failure to budget and get spending under control would be a disaster at any time – a staggering abdication of a fundamental act of governing. It is acutely problematic now, with the Nation facing dire fiscal and economic challenges.
h/t Stephen
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Benny and Bammy, the new outlaws.
Budgetless Bitches.
:)
They didn't waste a moment yesterday voting trying to ban video gaming. Seems to me their priorities are a little mixed up, maybe they need some help from a pistol in their mouth to refresh their memories why they are in office?
A hari kari knife comes to mind, Oh I forgot that involves Honor Not applicable.
that would be a Wakizashi, and i believe the act you are referring to is seppuku. but, um, these f--ers have no honor, therefor the act cannot apply to them...
link on the video gaming stuff? I'm confident I play all the games likely to be on the front line of a ban.
Yeah, I've looked up the voting record and they should be embarrassed to show their faces. Most of what they are voting on is to recognize, congratulate and honor people for doing a great job. If everybody is doing such goods things than why is our Country failing?
We don't have time to recognize the good. It should be expected. We need to concentrate on punishing and putting a stop to the bad work that is being done.
We didn't start the fire that started the burning as the world was turning
BP oil spill, Afgan another kill
euro broke, California smoke
lobbyists rule, Dodd is a tool
real estate, interst rate
Bailout bank, Barney Frank
We didn't start the fire....yet
ha! very clever! billy needs to update the song a bit...
I R A's
Thrown away
What else will we have to pay........
HFT algo, stocks crash lower low
Job numbers affected by snow!
Discipline from within impossible until after a spanking from without.
If they don't pass a budget this year you can kiss any further budgets goodbye. This will set a precedent for no more budgets. It seems laughable but they'll do it.
Now THIS is more like it!!!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/08/china_execution/
I knew there was a reason I liked chinamen! Off with their heads, pronto!
Representation without Taxation guarantees the political class a free ride. The moral basis of a socialist economy gives equal status to those who create the demand for goods and services, as well as those who provide them. The criminal creates a job for the policeman, the jailer, his attorneys, the state attorneys, and even the executioner.
Such an economy does not require a budget, the agent services the counter agent. Should the crime rate go down, should the hurricane season prove a dud, (has Cramer figured out the oil spill stock plays?) should peace break out everywhere, the need to create more counter agents would arise. Then we release prisoners, close schools, legalize drugs. This explains the rise of the libertarian party, and constitutional rights for corporations, who dump faulty products and poison food in our stores. Caveat Emptor!
Long live the socialist economy!
With all due respect what's going down is not socialism. Facism is more like it. The state run by and for monopolistic corporations. I am surprised Team Obama is not clamouring for austerity..it would be their big chance to demolish entitlement payments and unions uber alles.
Nah, keep printing to pay for votes, get rid of the budget so no one can be accountable for the accounting which has always been a lie.
"With all due respect what's going down is not socialism. Fascism is more like it. The state run by and for monopolistic corporations."
I've always thought that the definition of "fascism" was ill-agreed upon.
Many people use it to mean, "like the Nazis," but I find that definition lacking.
The best definition I have come across is, "socialism combined with rabid nationalism." In other words, control of the means of production by the State combined with a very nationalistic culture.
Saying something is "more fascist than socialist" is, to me, equivalent to saying your pet Fido is "more dalmation than dog."
If a state is run by and for "monopolistic corporations," as you suggest (and as I agree), then perhaps "corporotocracy" or corporopolitico oligopoly or corporoplutocracy or some other such hybrid might be a better choice.
For heavens sake, just call it statism and be done with it. If it is not promoting the individual than it is promoting the state.
Statism is a good term.
There is little actual difference between fascism and the worse forms of socialism, as well as nominal communism which in practice has simply been fascism/natioanlistic socialism. Various terms, vague claims of differences, reality all basically the same - a small cadre of thugs running the government for their benefit at the expense of everyone else.
Why junk this?! FrankIvy is dead on.
Geez, just how ignorant can a human get -- well you 've just proven it, dood!
If you can't tell the difference between a socialist economy (which American ain't, halfwit) and a socialist plutocracy, which America definitely is and has been for quite some time, then you should quit commenting here and spend more time reading, and educating yourself.
Knowledge works wonders! And only an idiotic fool would watch Cramer!
Wiki it:
(anonymous) junk him all you like dudes, he's right. . . "sports mentality" voting in the US, where you pick a fave team and cheer 'em on, is about as hollow as imagining yourself ON the winning team, pickin' up your trophy.
dream. on.
This explains the rise of the libertarian party...
Huh? You mean they guys who can't pull 0.5% of a national election when John Sydney McMaverick is the Republican presidential nominee? That "rising" libertarian party?
Or did I miss a (snark) tag somewhere?
During the last campaign I heard George Barr, who was the Libertarian Presidential candidate, espouse the Libertarian plank, which is constitutional rights for corporations. I nearly fell out of my chair, but I did pay attention. The same thread now runs through Scotus, though perhaps the Obama nominees can change it, Repubs will Bork, Kegan. Then I notice Rand Paul is running and doing pretty well. If all you do is look at statistics you are going to miss the point. The Green Party doesn't hold any major elected officess, but they have a number of lesser seats, and they have influence, as they started the gay marriage movement in SF, (Greens are the Progressive party) which moved across the country. Dont' confuse .5% in a rigged electoral college system with the reality on the ground.
My definition of a socialist economy is really just an extension of broken window economics, and Milo Minderbinder capitalism (Catch 22). Or as someone said, the service conomy is one where we all do each others laundry.
The Founding Fathers identified every human right possible in the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Now every liberal and idiot out there has spent too many brain cells inventing others that don't exist. Insanity!
well, their definition of "human" was white, male land-owners. . .
not everyone benefits, eh.
Those were property rights.
hmm. who was allowed to own property, and who was deemed "property"?
and who was considered "three fifths" of a human?
and who had to fight for the right to vote, who was excluded from that right, and what was the reasoning?
just saying. "property rights" don't always refer to. . . land.
Not to harp, but I always find it interesting when people throw out the 3/5 thing and make it sound like a bad thing.
It was a compromise that was meant to eventually abolish slavery. The slave-owning states wanted every slave counted as a full person in the census in order to increase their representation in the House. The non-slave-owning states didn't want slaves counted at all. They knew that if the slaves counted, the slave-owning states would have a much greater apportionment and would be able to firmly entrench slavery in the new territories.
The 3/5 compromise didn't have anything to do with whether slaves were considered human or not. It was a political thing.
Exactly right, Tyler (and with the way “ZH Tyler” can write articles [loved that comic book piece] who needs comments?). November’s coming up fast. Will a “budgetless” US help the party in power? Not much, I’d say. They are so over the top already, it would be hard for the Democrats to describe themselves as efficient spenders.
Not that the Republicans are any better, but it is not so simple just to say both parties are bad. Elections depend on the mood of the people as to the performance of the party in power. This party-in-power has so abused its situation that the electorate is going to punish it. If the Republicans had been in power (and they were and they got punished for their big government spending under Bush because the Party couldn’t bring the Republicans out to vote), they too would be punished.
It’s a long way to election, but IMO if the election were held today the Democrats would lose the House of Representatives.
When governments become self serving, unrepresentative, and incapable of resolving the long term issues...this is typically the time when a non-democratic change occurs.
A coup d'etat in this environment of highly respected military leaders aligned w/ those who have a proven track record (Volcker, etc) would have the support of many tea partiers and the farther afield the government goes, the greater the numbers who could be open to such a thing.
How far different is this time than ancient Rome dealing w/ despotic Caesars to reallign the republic based on shared founding principles. Hmmm.
...or a Beerhall Putsch?
"House Republicans are offering better solutions to cut spending now and help small businesses put people back to work."
I love when Zero Hedge makes blatant Republican propaganda...
So you're a democrat and you think ZH.com supports republicans?
No, no, I think Obama's first term is just Bush's third term... But for some reason I think Bush is a much greater asshole.
My sentiments exactly, good citizen.
After all, the Walker-Bush family is responsible for almost untold deaths by this particular point in history, a fact conveniently forgotten by too many psychopathological Americanskis.
Great-granddaddy Bushie-Wushie, was the first prez and one of the founding members of the most anti-American worker group ever, the National Association of Manufacturers (today they work to offshore every job in America).
Granddaddy Bushie-Wushie Prescottie, attempted to overthrow FDR -- should have been shot. Unfortunately, he stayed around to help cover up the WWII cowardice of his son, Georgie H.W. Bushie-Wushie, who got a medal for panicing as the aircraft commander during an air battle, and instead bailed out and left his crew to certain death.
Good call, good citizen.
I have to agree on the 1st term 3rd term thing.
Re: the who is a bigger asshole, I have to say, I go with Barrack because he's a bigger liar/coniver/con man. GWB, I thought, believed in the evil he was perpetrating. BHO, I think, is just a slick con man who will do or say whatever he's told, whether he believes in it or not.
EG - Don't close gitmo, don't end wars, expand wars, don't release torture photos, don't prosecute torturers who killed the prisioner in Iraq, and so on.
So I find them equally disturbing and equally evil, but I think BHO is a bigger turncoat to what he claims is his soul.
Who is the stronger and prettier horse at the glue factory?
This is the same double-think that got us here in the first place. WAKE UP!!!
Now why would anyone support either group, since they both belong to the Bankster Party?
alright guys and gals, dial down the violent rhetoric or lose your magic decodeer rings. You all know better than this.
"Ralphie, hurry up!"
"Just a minute Mom!"
D-R-I-N-K
M-O-R-E
K-O-O-L
A-I-D-E?
Drink More Kool Aide? A Crummy Commercial?
BTW, the correct grammatical construction is Democratic!
"..would wreak havoc on Democrat chances ..."
Oh, wow dudes, John Boehner, who should be extremely experieced with cancellations, given that he canceled his required military obligation, by NOT making it through Navy bootcamp in 1968, then fraudulently and illegally claiming service in the military during Vietnam.
Next, we have Steny Hoyer, faux crat and neolib. Is Steny's sister still the director of AIPAC? She's been the director there for quite a number of years already.
Petey Orszag...do ya supposed he's going to return to Robert Rubin's pet project (the Hamilton Project) over at Brookings? Ya know, the project to privatize everything (especially social security, medicare and public education)?
Now, THAT is what I call an OUT-OF-CONTROL SPENDING SPREE:
http://costofwar.com/
http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home
Thank you Bush, thank you Republicans...
Fem-o-crats have spent more on war than Replubs.
Carter increased spending over Nixon.
Billy C over Bush.
And Barry over Bushy.
"Fem-o-crats" ??
not from around here, eh?
Give me a break. Where exactly do you live and where did you exactly pick up that charming Portuguese accent with which you so freely criticize Americans?
Let me elaborate . . . please knock off the partisan bullcrap -- ZH != HuffPo
Damn, even Greece has a budget...
I was drinking soda when I read this...some came out my nose. You've got my vote for best comment.
House Republican leader John Boehner
John is a big part of the problem leading the charge for TARP rape and plunder during the final days of the Bush II shock and awe administration.
Deficit reduction, at the wrong time, is a bad idea. Once they climbed on that interventionist pony and started giving her steroids, they can't just make her go cold turkey or she'll give out quick. The politics (and politicians) are so fucked up on this:
The easy votes will go for fiscal prudence argument. Does anyone really think this economy can handle policies that depress growth? We have no momentum at all, and any tea party feel good BS is going to send us down the same road as 1937.
We need an excuse for another massive capital outlay. (I KNOW we have a deficit issue... try plugging that hole during a depression). The Gulf of M would be perfect, except Obama's going to make BP pay. So won't get much stimulus there.
A war would be "perfect" so, bring on Iran. That is a truly chilling probability.
We've gotten to shitty solutions and disastrous ones. Shoulda never hopped on that pony in the first place. Bear, Lehman, AIG, FNM, FRE, even Citi, should have all been put into bankruptcy, and the shareholders (and creditors) should have taken the loss. We had our chance to do it another way... now we gotta ride this. But we won't... it's going to get uglier, a lot more, before it gets better. But, that will take ten years or more to play out.
+ 10000 Once you start down the path.........................We need a jobs package asap but now the money has been looted and gridlock rears its ugly head so we have a half finished job. Better batten down the hatches as we are now going to be left to our own devices and a long miserable road ahead.Public employees are next in the unemployment line. You cannot switch from QE to Austeritly in midstream without a disaster.
a government jobs program. no way, that is a big part of the problem now. if left alone, small business will hire when the economy is right for long term growth, everything else is a long term waste of money.
+1
Thank you.
We used to have 1 girl in the office and 3 extra techs. Now its just my husband and I. I used to have lawn care, merry maids and mechanics. We do it ourselves now. I'd get my nails done, go shopping, my kids had passes to Kings Island and we ate out way more.
Some would say, ahhhhh.... poor you. But NO, I'm still fine, we have adjusted to less. The ones to feel sorry for are all the people we have had to let go and stop patronizing. They were workers that offered a service and did a good job. When government picks the winners and hires people who can never be fired it is a waste of money and produces NOTHING for our Country.
Not until small business is doing better will this be over.
exactly...
Get Smart on Small Business: The Backbone of the U.S. Economy | Solutions Start Here
Small Business and the U.S. Economy:
• Small business produces roughly half of the private Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and creates, on average, about two-thirds of net new jobs annually.1
• Small businesses are the greatest source of new employment in inner cities, comprising more than 99 percent of establishments and 80 percent of total employment.2
• American small business is the world’s second largest economy, trailing only the United States as a whole.3
• Small businesses employ more than half of private sector employees.4 Ninety percent of small
businesses employ fewer than 20 people.5
• Small firms represent 99.7 percent of all employers.6
• Nearly 16 million people operate a small business as their primary occupation in a year.7
• Women-owned firms have grown at around two times the rate of all firms8; minority-owned firms have grown at around four times the rate of all firms.9
• More than 70 percent of adults think small business owners work harder than government workers, big corporation employees and corporate CEOs. 10
Healthcare and the U.S. Economy:
• The U.S. spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide the uninsured with healthcare, often for
preventable diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis.11
• Chronic illnesses account for more than 75 percent of total U.S. healthcare spending.12
• Healthcare expenditures in the U.S. totaled $27.5 billion in 1960; in 2006, $2.1 trillion.13
• Healthcare spending is predicted to nearly double to $4.3 trillion over the next decade – healthcare spending will account for 19.5 percent of U.S. GDP by 2017.14
Small Business and Rising Healthcare Costs:
• Small employers provide coverage to nearly 68 million people annually.15,16
• Since 1999 health insurance premiums for small firms have increased by 113 percent.17
• From 2000 to 2005, the median cost of health insurance relative to payroll increased 43.5 percent for businesses with fewer than 25 employees.18
• The nation’s smallest firms pay an average of 18 percent more in health insurance premiums for the same benefits than those in the largest firms. 19
• Owners of new firms are reluctant to offer health benefits because they fear the coverage will become too expensive to maintain.20
• 47 percent of small businesses offer health insurance to employees. Of those, 24 percent made changes in the last year to offset rising premiums.21
• Fewer than half (45%) of the smallest firms in the U.S. with three to nine workers can afford to offer health benefits to their employees.22
• Since 2001, premiums for family coverage have increased 78 percent, while wages have gone up 19 percent and inflation has risen 17 percent (inflation according to the BLS not Shadowstats).23
• 47 percent of small business owners worry they will be unable to pay for medical costs of a serious illness or accident.24
The No. 1 Small Business Issue:
Since 1986, the National Federation of Independent Business’ members have said that healthcare costs are their No.1 concern…
• Of the nearly 46 million Americans without healthcare 29, more than 26 million are small business owners, employees and their dependents.30
for references see link:
http://www.nfib.com/Portals/0/PDF/healthcare/Small-Business-Healthcare-F...
In all things, a quick end with pain is better than pain without end.
You are exactly wrong - what you propose is economic cowardice. Deflation must be allowed to occur to liquidate the malinvestment that has been allowed to build up in the system. The banks and investors that made bad loans must take their losses instead of being bailed out on the back of joe 6pack.
It is only when housing crashes, and government shrinks (lowering tax burdens), that the American worker can get by with lower nominal wages and compete with cheap foreign labor.
We already know where it is going... everybody is a fan of hockey ..
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_cvdgPlEKW9k/TCCDhxXk9AI/AAAAAAAABOY/tnmWr8pjff...
Flash Crash! What a feeling....!!
So now....hmmm...we go on pretending? And the world says what? What say you people of the world?
Oh and hey, ZEROHEDGE IS RIGHT!
"You are not your job, you are not how much monie you have in the bank, you are not the car you drive, you are not the contents of your wallet, you are not your fucking khakis....you are the all singing all dancing crap of the world."
And what is this world?
Step outside; breathe, and you are home. See the smile of a child, and you are home. Create a painting, and you are home. Hold the hand of your mother, and you are home.
We wear clothes, yes, and we always have. We have thought others sexy, yes, so the movements of the body plays with our minds. We eat because we are hungry, yes and we do so with righteousness; completely aware of ALL our surroundings and ourselves. Make no mistake, YOU are ever present. You sing the song of salvation.
So....the trouble....the trouble is where do we go now? Where do we go when everything has been scratched and stolen, burned and blown into the wind?
Step outside and breathe, you are home.
Flush it all away
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCEeAn6_QJo
Some say the end is near
Some say we'll see armageddon soon
I certainly hope we will
I sure could use a vacation from this
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks
More Lyrics
http://www.mp3lyrics.org/t/tool/aenima/
Mom's gonna fix it all soon, and put it back the way it ought to be.
Learn to swim. Learn to swim. Learn to swim. Learn to swim....
Fuck your short memory.
Time to bring it down again
Don't just call me pessimist
Try and read between the lines
Nothing like some Tool to clear out the cobwebs from the brain.
F-ing A.
F L O A T
.......it is sustainable, honest†
Been waiting a long time to plan my vacation to Arizona Bay.
This isn't the end though. It may be the US's end or at least the system as we know it. Life will go on, in some fit, form, or fashion. It just will be the reversal of the American Dream of living better then your parents. Had my dad tell me years ago he know I wouldn't have the same opportunities he did.
The wheel is turning and people are realizing they are going to get the worse of it. That they cannot infinitely push off the day of reckoning. It pains me now to look at my nephews and know their lives will be harder then mine. That as citizens of the USSA they will be in debt bondage so long as Uncle Sugar can maintain control.
Our culture tells us we are special, important, and feeds us unattainable dreams. When the dreams of rock stars and movie gods fade will we even hold onto the dream of the "Middle Class Lifestyle" enjoyed by our forebears?
You know what is killer there? Rock star dreams are more ponzi bullshit. I have seen no evidence that they are happier or better off than the rest of us. There is a little book I like to give to young people and old alike called Hope for the Flowers. All the caterpillars climb caterpillar pillars, trying to get high. When they get to the top they fight to stay there but have no idea why they are fighting to stay there except that everyone else is working so hard to get there.
At the top, they see butterflies. Our main character has the courage to come down after reaching the top, weave a cocoon, and evolve. I may need to go read that book again. Nephews will balk at first, but I bet they would get it too. Our standard of living may actually go up, not come down.
Most of our culture is based on fraud and hustling, and most importantly image. We even have soda commercials exclaiming that image is everything! What I find quite interesting is the culture creation industry and how American culture is infecting the rest of the world.
As to fighting to the top, from my vantage I do not see it. Most people in my gen I know are short on ambition. Sure they may have big dreams but not the work ethic to get there. I was called "crazy" by many people for maintaining my work/school schedule. I don't see myself as special or particular driven to climb. Just a guy who is motivated to work his ass off to not slip into the pit that I see opening and consuming a generation of young fools.
You work with college aged kids. Do you see fire and hunger in their eyes? Do you see a generation of smart young people who will work, build, and save? Or do you see more products of the culture machine? Have many of them have already fallen prey to student loans? This war is not only against the old, the youth are targeted. I live among future debt slaves. The highly educated with no job prospect. Told since youth that an advanced degree was a ticket to security, but realizing it was being sold onto a debt slave ship. A section of hte youth forever trapped in debt peonage they cannot discharge.
Standards of living will fall. They have to. The economy is so full of malinvestment the purger period will be terrible. While this happens not only will the general world catch up to us but they will pass us. For the USA to compete they must be more attractive to capital. As it stands now if I was going to open a business that did anything but low capital cost work that I could pack up and move I would do it elsewhere. In the future to compete the US will have to be able to compete on a tax, labor, and regulatory footing equal or better then the rest of the world. Capital was consumed in an orgy of waste and speculation, and like all who go totally bankrupt and lose it all, America will have to start off at the very bottom.
Mr Lennon Hendrix
A student once asked his teacher, "Master, what is enlightenment?"
The master replied, "When hungry, eat. When tired, sleep."
I get the sleeping thing, but where does the food come from in this piece of Far Eastern enlightenment?
I think the master forgot, "When hungry, point gun at neighbor and take his food, and then eat."
"Step outside and breathe, you are home."
gonna have to pass on that today, they've been spraying aluminium salts (CHAFF - look it up) & barium, etc. pretty heavy since this morning. . . started with bright blue skies, now have cross-hatched chemical clouds spreading to haze. . . you know that taste in your mouth when you touch a metal fork to a filling? that's what the air tastes like here today.
maybe tomorrow.
like my reply to one of your posts yesterday.
close to wacko†
not me. not summer anyway. not always. only private†
here in boulder, honest, you can walk in public naked, or maybe chicks without shirts.
i know they can garden naked.
yeah, go make some art. that is how i have gotten by. if you can call this, gettin' by.
fight club rule #6.
Vous etes Francaise? Vous parlez Anglais bon, mais parfois je ne vous comprends pas.
The stammering government treasuries...of the developed world are desperately trying to explain why they don't have the rent money this month...."homma homma homma...I'll have it next month!"
Hate to channel Denniger but inflation can't fix this mess (all US gov debts are inflation indexed = T's are short term arm's (4.5yr avg maturity) and if inflation is acheived will only show ever higher yields...unfunded liabilities are also indexed for inflation, no matter how poorly). We cannot inflate our way out of this. More stimulus attempting to chase inflation is a fools errand.
Down we must go until we find true levels of demand for true needs w/ actual money (not credit). No doubt this is a depression but could reset the system over a period of 3-5yrs eliminating the unpayable debts and reigniting sound savings and spending habits. Could also lead to WW3 or utter chaos. It's all how we as a civilization want to attempt to "pretend it away" or face it head on.
+1,
Face the Piper..................never happen G.I.
I know Denninger gets a bad rap here at ZH, but I happen to think you (and he) are absolutely right about this. You can't drink yourself sober, and you can't cure run-away debt inflation with more debt. Makes the problem worse.
Maybe we get religion before we lose another 10-years or so of potential recovery. Probably not, though. Still plenty of people around who think we need to ride this rocket into oblivion and then pick-up the mess once we crash.
I'm amazed there are ZH'ers in denial calling for more credit induced spending when existing credit is already well beyond the capability to service it and maintain GDP growth.
Only way folks can advocate for more spending is if they believe we can inflate our way out (see above, we can't), we can grow our way out w/ above trend GDP (see debt servicing dragging GDP down), or a combo of the two. Just makes no sense.
Deflation, debt repayment, debt default makes sense. It sucks really bad and almost no one wants to undertake this voluntarily (least of all politicians) but this is the only course with a long term positive outcome (overleveraging is relieved and capital can be employed w/ a positive return).
What is the mid term or long term case for more spending...how does this ultimately work?
IMO the fiat FRN money is doomed. So, it doesn't matter either way: if they dispense with the budget and spend with wild abandon, or if they cut all spending and raise taxes on everybody; the paper money is beyond repair. It's a castle in the air on the verge of toppling, and they're trying to pile up sand underneath to make it appear to be on solid footing, but the sand keeps eroding away.
Trying to save the dollar is a fool's errand. It might take a long time, or a short time, but ultimately the fiat experiment is going to end, no matter what they try.
My point indeed...either have the capability to service it or default. Pay it or default on it in any meaningful medium you like (gold, dollar, yuan, wampum...whatever). Dollar smollar but debt must be dealt with and ultimately we will need a medium as a barter society ain't likely to happen unless we return to local only trade.
Service the debt at a livable level or default. If it saves the dollar so be it but more important it allows capital (based on whatever medium) to be directed toward useful ends other than debt repayment.
hambone: Dollar smollar but debt must be dealt with and ultimately we will need a medium as a barter society ain't likely to happen unless we return to local only trade.
I am always amazed that intelligent folks, like most who frequent this forum, simply cannot comprehend simple fundamentals.
To be healthy, a society must be a "barter society"... especially a modern technological society. And this is exactly the nature of any society in which "money == gold".
The absolutely crucial point is this. Gold is a good. Gold has utility. Gold has value. Therefore, when you exchange goods you produced for gold, you traded goods for goods. Then later, when you exchange your gold for goods someone else produced, you also traded goods for goods. That's called "barter" in my mental dictionary.
The important point is this: at NO POINT was anyone stuck with anything fictional. No promises, no receipts, no notes, no BS. And most importantly, no predator-that-be has any way to fleece either buyer or seller, both of whom are producers (else one would not "trade").
People need to understand what is fiction (all currencies, especially fiat currencies), what is not (real physical goods), and how to eliminate totally bogus, totally artificial, totally insane ideas and fictions (currencies) from their lives. Otherwise, "civilization" is impossible, and ONLY PREDATORS WIN.
Denninger runs his sight like a 12 year old with the only bag of candy at a birthday party.
2-3 years ago on that site I posted that the deflation theory was wrong because the government would eventually turn on the printing presses to attempt to cure the deflation.
His flag-waving, apple pie up his ass response was that "there is no way they'd ever print money and destroy the dollar." What a naive rube.
He is, appropriately, the stereotypcial MT.com stooge - he believes America is always right. He believes the Republicans are better than the Democrats. He wants war against anything Islam. He is an unflinching supporter of Zionism. He can't stand to contemplate the notion that 911 was an inside job to prep us for a permanent war on terror.
In short, ZH.com is George Carlin with a PhD in economics and MT.com is Rush Limbaugh with a BS in business, heavy on the BS please.
I'm not advocating for Deniger, seems a rather abrasive guy...I'm advocating for an answer that actually gives us our future back...not saying I have it but let's collectively put it together and advocate because I can't raise my family without hope and vision of a better future.
"""""because I can't raise my family without hope and vision of a better future.'""""
Sure you can. I do it everyday. I tell my family that we just passed the apogee of modern civilization and that it's now a return to the stone age as FF reserves deplete. Iraq and Af. are nothing more than wars of resource agression. That is the future. The way I explain it to my kids is - this is the way it is. This is the way it's going to be. No sense BSing them so that they're as shell shocked as all the sheeple babies are going to be.
Frank,
Dark indeed. I'm an absolute realist which when facing challenges like these can make you feel like a pessimist...but there are always solutions, it's just the resolve that's missing. Mankind needs a vision and hope to achieve it. No matter how dark or difficult reality is, I won't give up on a solution (no matter how painful). Doesn't mean we'll acheive the goal but I won't throw in the towel.
would that more parents loved their families enough to be honest, and help them find their way ahead with clarity, not encumbered with disappointing baggage.
Plenty of German parents probably told their kids in 1923 after the Weimar inflation ruined the economy: "don't worry Hans und Franz! This will all pass, and in less than 20 years it'll be milk and honey in Germany again!"
How'd that turn out?
Don't lie to your kids about how this ends--they need the motivation to work on their cardio and marksmanship.
I wouldn't wish a PhD in econ on any country - look what it's done to ours having all these academic geniuses running the ship of state into hades.
America isn't always right, but that doesn't automatically mean other countries are. Islam is a serious threat regardless of which side of the political spectrum you are on. If you don't believe it, you aren't listening to what they say about why they want to kill the infidel, meaning anyone who isn't muslim - or the right kind of muslim. They regularly mass murder each other over differences that merely split most other religions. Honor killings? Mistreatment of the weakest members of society? Beheading everyone, including their own women for the crime of being raped? Kind of makes you want to... make war against anything islam, no?
You also don't have to even like the jooos to understand that islam is a threat.
Islam is not a threat any more than Judaism is a threat any more than Christianity is a threat.
None of the Muslims I have met ever wanted to cut my head off, nor the Jews, for that matter. It is not a broad religious theory that "presents a threat." It is the existential and specific application within the theory.
In other words - Zionism - intolerant Islam - Crusading Christianity, and so on.
I find the mere phrasing of the notion that "Islam is a threat" to sufficiently lack resolution so as to be uninformative.
On the one hand, I am told that criticism of Israel is anti-Jew, but on the other hand I am told by the same tellers that "Islam is a threat."
Asymmetric application of claimed, but nonexistent, principles is a more egregious moral lapse than admission of lacking principles altogether.
Islam applied is a threat to the Western way of life. Zionism applied is not. It's as simple as that. All else is B.S.
Pick a side. If you wish to defend the western way of life, you may not be neutral. You must pick a side. And guess which side you will pick.
I'm not saying that you have to want to defend the western way of life. I'm saying that if you do want to defend it, the choice is clear. It is not any more complicated than that. Some things are simply mutually exclusive.
And note that I did not say Islam is a threat to the Western way of life. I said Islam applied is. The "kill the infidel" part.
@RichardP: I do not want to defend the western way of life, certainly not what it has become.
I am happy to defend the "honest, productive, individualistic way of life", however. But make no mistake, the "western way of life" has been less and less and less similar to an "honest, productive, individualistic way of life" for nearly 100 years (and longer, albeit less quickly).
Personally, I think everyone who actually believes in non-existent entities (especially, non-existent "authorities") is utterly, completely and technically insane. That goes for every deity, every government, every corporation, every organization, every movement, and every last "fictitious entity". But I don't worry much about the delusions of others - unless they decide to take actions against others on behalf of their insanity.
Stop thinking in terms of groups (they don't exist). Start thinking in terms of individuals. Those who claim the right to harm others... go ahead and worry about them. Those who actually harm others (whether on their own initiative, or on behalf of some so-called "authority" or non-existent entity)... well, that's what "self-defense" is for.
"In short, ZH.com is George Carlin with a PhD in economics and MT.com is Rush Limbaugh with a BS in business, heavy on the BS please."
That's awesome. Mish treats people the same way on his site with PM manipulation. He says it's "ridiculous", "impossible" and "conspiracy theory". Utterly pathetic, head in the sand, American centric, bullshit.
Bay,
I feel your frustration with that. I really like him and think he is too smart to stay that way. You and I have both been going over to that site a long time. I only lurk now. Give him credit, he used to be unable to see some of the dishonesty that we all take for granted now. Not that he acted like KD and banned you. Black Swann would always go for the conspiracy theory pretty quick and while he is arrogant, he ended up right a lot of the time. Mish has come a long way. He will close the gap as the facts become known. KD, less of a chance there because too much of his ego is in it. Not Mish. He needs to be shown and he will be on board.
I like posting here because no one makes me try to behave. I can be a MsCreant, as pissed as I want to be, or devious, and it is okay.
Glad to see you contributing here Bay. I do think that Mish's place is still good for some more in depth takes that don't happen here because it is a smaller crew there with more history with each other. I am grateful for all these places to hang out and yak about this stuff. I've grown a lot for it and my family is better off.
Whenever I read a ZH post I always look for your comments. I'm crestfallen when you fail to vent. It's nice to have an intelligent and cool-headed response to such complex issues.
Me too.
I have a real comment romance with MsCreant and Apostate too (?bromance?).
Hey! Pleasuring a man with a socked foot one time does not make a person gay you know!
But it does mean you are talented. :-) Hope it is not too sappy to say I look for your comments too. Saw a good bromance the other night called "The Messenger." Intense. About the guys who have to inform family that their son or daughter died in war.
Ha! I guess it does.
Thanks for the tip. I like Ben Foster. He always gets to play great characters. Check out 3:10 to Yuma if you've never seen it.
Thanks, those are high compliments coming from you. I sometimes vent too easily! And you can twist a pun and make it scream so high pitched that others can't hear it. That is how I know you are a naughty raccoon.
"I like posting here because no one makes me try to behave. I can be a MsCreant, as pissed as I want to be, or devious, and it is okay."
Zero hedge is fantastic. And though we blurt out how much we appreciate seeing and readng each others comments from time to time, we have gotten a big infux of control freaks lately. I still don't know how to handle them. I don't want to beat them up but as you said to the one false communicator about beating up bambi. It's like what can you do? It's like they not only ask for it they demand it?
Amen, Hambone. Volcker floated the VAT trial balloon because he damn well knows that would prove inflationary, but he's got it all wrong. Implementing a nice fat VAT tax will accomplish the following:
1) Give the Fed control over sales taxes
2) Set off some nasty stagflation as the prices for goods increase while wages remain stagnant
3) Suck the remaining blood from the middle class by reducing purchasing power even further
Analog Ignition
There is sufficient diffusion to ignite the analog reaction now, and pull out of the digital free fall smoothly, but the second half of the pressure stroke has reached top dead center and, short of fully restored economic circulation, the pressure alone will ignite the chamber, resulting in massive dislocation within the chamber.
The problem of course is the mythology of agency direction. As the Gulf demonstrates, corporate and government agency may only accelerate or decelerate, in the same direction. Agency has no steering wheel. All it has is a social entitlement system to promote conformity on the margin, to leverage the natural propensity of lagging individuals to deny personal responsibility, and grow agency, at the cost of economic slave subsidiaries, in a ponzi scheme.
State, federal, and multi-national behavior is a downstream outcome. Small businesses chose to participate in the global HR surveillance certification system, and communities chose to participate in the family law system, resulting in social inertia, leveraged by increasing peer pressure on the margin. The energy stored in that mass, its downhill momentum alone, ensures the crash, and the binding mythology holding it all together has yet to be challenged, because it is not in the immediate interest of those involved to do so. By the time it is …
The law follows behavior, informally at first, and then formally. Once it’s formal, the rotor is locked into the stator, the belts are removed, and the motor is a runaway, which can only have one possible outcome. Constitutions are designed to eliminate the option of permanent government, and should that occur, to blow up the entire system. Congress ensured the current outcome when it made itself permanent, but it could not have done so without extensive participation, either by commission or omission.
Sooner or later, agency always tries to short the kernel, and blows itself up, which is always the first condition addressed by the new kernel. If they turn on their machines, the market-makers get liquidated; if they do not turn on the machines, they are insolvent. And unlike their individual computers, the momentum of the digital economy does not end when the plug is pulled.
Agency is in the business of making promises, which it cannot deliver without the approval of unprotected labor. Unprotected labor commands 53% of the economy, and is currently receiving 15% from the digital economy. The latter does not mean that unprotected labor has been sitting idle for the last two generations. That stack of digital promises will now pop off, in a chain reaction.
You're saying that this system is, more or less, designed to self destruct when/if it reaches a stage that pollutes the original intent of the founders? Sounds great... and likely.
http://jessel.100megsfree3.com/bernundbutt.jpg
Is WillBonzai working for you now? haha! +1
They missed it, Geithner is Beavis.
http://dakiniland.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/timmy-beavis.jpg
That's funny. But, I'd prefer a recipe.
Do you wake up at night in a cold sweat because every night you're having the same dream about Flash Crash?
Well, if you're a Central Banker it's no surprise. Same if you're at any large secretly bailed financial institution. It's ok, really! Inevitable. And we understand.
Budgets are for wimps. This printing press goes to 11!
Ha! Right.
...and the "gold in Fort Knox" is the guitar that "can't be played".
Don't touch it. Don't even look at it!!!
Well, what's the point of passing a budget anyway if you already know that you're going to be over?
john boehner can blow it out his ass....he was highly instrumental in enabling the bush crime syndicate to cover up the wtc demolitions, prosecute wars of imperial aggression, and spend like there is no tomorrow....obama is simply a bush protoge
spend baby spend...
Correct. Rebulicans are no answer to Democrats - both are the predators-that-be.
Anyone looking for a solution at the voting booth should vote for the candidate who looks most like a libertarian or tea-party-type. Lacking such a choice, definitely dump the incumbent for somone new. If everyone on the ticket is a politician or wannabe, write in ThomasJefferson or RonPaul or AynRand or "none-of-the-above" or "I opt out of the USSA under protest and duress"... or make up your own alternative.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/104373-house-dems-prep-budget-alternat...
House Dems prepare alternative to budget that would avoid deficit vote
By Walter Alarkon - 06/21/10 06:00 AM ET
House Democrats are readying an alternative budget measure that would set next year’s spending levels without requiring a vote on deficits.
House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.) said the alternative would be the “functional equivalent” of a full-fledged budget. But because it won't be a traditional budget resolution, it will be silent on future deficits, which are expected to average nearly $1 trillion for the next decade.
Democrats have expressed concern about voting for a document showing lots of red ink in an election year.
A traditional budget resolution sets the discretionary spending levels and also lays out the majority’s fiscal policies for future years. Alternative budget measures, known in past years as “deeming resolutions,” set spending caps but lack the statement on future spending and tax policies.
House Republicans have seized on Democrats’ inability to even bring up a budget resolution for consideration. Budget rules call on lawmakers to pass a budget by April 15.
Republicans had control of the House the previous four times Congress failed to approve a final budget resolution since 1974, when the current budget rules were put into place. But should Democrats move forward with an alternative budget measure, it would be the first time the House had failed to even propose a budget resolution.
“We need a real budget to stop Washington Democrats’ out-of-control spending spree, which is scaring the hell out of the American people, and to create jobs,” said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio).
In addition to setting spending levels for 2011, the alternative budget may have other provisions, such as squaring the pay-as-you-go law signed by President Barack Obama with the similar pay-as-you-go House rule, Spratt said. Both PAYGO measures require new tax cuts or that entitlement programs be paid for with tax increases or spending cuts, but the House PAYGO rule, in place since before the law was enacted, can be more easily bypassed than the PAYGO law.
Spratt cautioned the work isn’t finished.
"It would have some other provisions we need to deal with, like maybe alignment of the statutory and House rules for PAYGO," Spratt said. "But we're making progress. I believe we're going to get to the endpoint. I don't want to misrepresent anything by saying we're there yet. We aren't. We're drawing alternatives."
Spratt said the budget may be attached to an upcoming supplemental spending bill, which will provide funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, domestic disaster aid and possibly fiscal aid to states and local governments to retain public workers.
Democrats have been trying to figure out how to move forward with the annual budget since April.
Fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats have been pressing House leaders for a 2 percent spending cut to non-security discretionary spending, which would go beyond the spending freeze that the White House has called for.
Rep. Baron Hill (D-Ind.), a senior Blue Dog, said he was “confident” the cut would be in place when Spratt’s budget proposal comes out.
Summer(s) came prematurely.
Flash Crash....What a Feeling !!
Or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the Flash Crash !
And yet another fulfillment of Jeremiah 10:23
Foreign governments should be aware that they place themselves at extreme risk when taking financial advice from this administration...
O/T: Click here to see an enormous pussy and enormous tool, all rolled into one, in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9m3GyDh6M8&feature=player_embedded
How do you like that "Hopey, Changey" thing?
I hope in November everyone of these self-aggrandising weasels is voted the Fu*K out of office!
The UK has just released their budget including the bank tax.
Could be that the US is pondering same but needs to show more muscle before banks go along?
Either way, suspending the budget is never a good sign. Orszag resignation yesterday.. is the government actually still legit?
I welcome yesterdays pullback in gold. It gives me opportunity to acquire more at reduced pricing while I await the inevitable implosion of what was once a great nation.
if there is any rationality whatsoever left in the financial markets, this can't be good for the Treasury auctions later this week.
They'll just crash the stock market and have everyone scrambling to treasuries. Worked everytime so far.
When it finally doesn't work, that is when the real crash commences.
As I am a non US citizen, please help me, it's very hard for foreigners to understand a well arranged joke.
Therefore can anyone on the blog seriously please explain: is this entire article a joke ?
That's the problem. It's not a joke.
The article is not a well-arranged joke. The administration's failure to produce a budget is the well-arranged joke.
You see, they know that the budget will reflect poorly on their reckless, big-spending ways. But they think you are a bit on the stupid side, and short of attention span. By deferring the release of the budget until after the mid-term elections this November, the administration hopes to avoid accountability and loss of the Democratic Party control of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. They believe that during the two year period prior to the following election in Nov. 2012, their policies will have had time to take full effect, leading directly and amazingly to a wonder filled Progressive Utopia, which, combined with their purchasing of votes via handouts, union favors, amnesty to millions of illegals, no taxes on the parasitic half of the population, etc., will produce landslide victory for Obama and the Dems in 2012.
Forgive me for trying to improve on your excellent post but this administration is a not-too-well arranged joke on all of us.
Joke? No, (but wish it was).
Funny? No.
As a few above stated, it is not a joke. However, for our foreign friends (I state sincerely), a quick review on US civics:
There is more detail, but that's the process.
Since the House won't attempt to pass a budget this year, the Federal government will spend "whatever", probably mostly based on what was spent last year. However, it is somewhat unprecedented. (The House sets rules for the House to follow, and these rules regarding the budget were set in 1974, and this is the first time to which they will not be adhered.)
Technically, the budget sets "limits" on what is spent, although a major portion of the budget is for "appropriations" that enumerates specific money that "should" be made available to various programs. (There is lots more detail on that.)
Like Shameful mentioned above, many people will probably be surprised that this mostly is not significant (although yes, it is unprecedented). Similarly, the "Federal Debt Subject To Limit" is a (mostly) token/symbolic gesture, and mostly has no meaning. So, when it is not followed, things will still "move along".
However, it could have serious impact on the "public psyche". For example, you can't have true capitulation, or hyperinflation, until the populace calls "bullshit" on the unit of exchange. By not bothering to debate and pass a budget, people might start to realize the whole thing is a joke.
For example, in the United States, spending has nothing to do with taxes/revenue. Yes, it's a joke. There is no scenario by which our debt will be serviced, much less paid back.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I agree with "Yes We Can. But" above: This was done because the numbers in a proposed budget would be so outrageous, that they don't want to admit them in an election year (we are in a parabolic spending blowout, and our debt cannot be serviced).
Like any elected official, the result is to take the "easy way out" and to simply not do something that is "hard". They want to defer discussion until after the November election (remember, the next fiscal year starts a month prior on October 1).
Further, some of the elected officials (the few with both firing neurons) have come to realize that there is no possible budget that can service current liabilities (they are all cooking the books, and even the cooks are starting to vomit over what they are cooking). So, some are actually not wanting to discuss something that is merely intractable -- there is nothing they could do in a proposed budget, even if they wanted to. (It's almost impossible to lie this big anymore, and it's almost impossible to rationalize current budgetary spending at serviceable levels anymore.)
The US government is massively monetizing the debt already. It's only through budgetary sleight-of-hand that they are not called to account. Politicians don't want to sign their names to something that is legally and politically questionable.
Well-arranged? More like COMPLETELY and UTTERLY deranged joke!
Wow, and when you thought it could not get any worse (well, not really, but this is the time you say something like that). Hate to say we all knew hell on earth was coming, but each incident like this is adding nails to the coffin. Simply amazing. I have to ask, what will it take to finally get the sheeple in the streets?
mass evictions.
The unhappy way things are going, it wouldn't surprise me if one day not too far off there are hundreds of thousands of angry, rallying citizens encircling the White House, making themselves heard by banging rocks against the fence, in response to the widespread sense that the POTUS (and congress) doesn't 'get it' and/or doesn't care what the citizenry (well, he calls us 'workers') thinks...
then they'll rename the "citizens" something that means "terrorists" and unleash the military on them.
that's why the military is so. . . funded.
So what we were operating under for the last decade was a budget? How does that jive with the trillions in off the book expenses for two wars, the stimulis and untold billions "lost" by the Pentagon and the Treasury. I guess you can operate under more than one budget at a time. Must be a new type of economics taught at Harvard and Yale.
This is actually a more honest form of accounting!
"Let's stop pretending. Our knives are out. Our masks are off. We'll rape you until you love us."
We are in so deep, that finance guys are quitting the sinking ship ss obuma-
they cannot fudge the numbers they won't even try!!
that's the big differance - extend and pretend have lost it's power.
bet the $$ is up all summer..after all China, Russia, Germany, the Mid East will go along until they come up with a commodity based reserve currency to replace ol king $$.
This failure by a democrat congress and president will just make the demise of the $$
a little sooner..got silver?
Insanity!!! What has happened to our government??
http://market-ticker.org/archives/2436-Uh-Huh-So-It-IS-A-Liability-Limit...
Uh Huh - So It IS A Liability-Limiting Thing
If you're wondering why BP "agreed" to the $20 billion escrow fund, wonder no more....
In the end, one aim of the fund—and a prime reason BP agreed to it—will be to minimize lawsuits against the company. To do that, Mr. Feinberg will offer big lump-sum payments to workers and businesses as an enticement to stay out of court.
"At some point, I will have to make an offer—'You take this amount in full satisfaction of your claim, but only if you waive your right to future litigation,'" Mr. Feinberg said. "And if I package it right, people will see that it makes no sense to fight it out in court."
Ding ding ding ding.
Now there's the reason for it folks.
There was never a reason for BP to agree to this fund unless they got something in return. Now we know what it was - a means to cap off liability claims against the company, which could otherwise bankrupt them.
If you remember, on the 15th BP's head said he had "no intention" of establishing an escrow account - under oath in Congressional testimony.
So what "changed his mind?"
The fines are easily-dealt with - simply bribe, er, lobby Congress and other administration officials.
But civil liability in front of a jury is a more-difficult thing. Said juries are likely to pound you into dust, especially if (as suspected) it comes out during the trial (complete with discovery rights, of course) that you knew the well was being mismanaged (e.g. perhaps the blowout preventer was broken and they knew it, perhaps they knew that safety steps were being shortcut despite warnings from contractors, etc.)
They might even really come after you with the worst-possible determination - willful or wanton misconduct - and nail you with punitive damages, which bear no relationship to actual economic harm.
Getting rid of that possibility is, of course, a big deal.
Getting the government involved is one way to foreclose such possibilities.
Remember that BP said that their efforts in this regard were not a method to foreclose and limit liability.
Now we find out that was pure and unadulterated BS - from the guy running the fund.
Am I surprised? Hell no.
Yes, you get your money faster, in that you don't have to sue and wait five years or more (plus give 30% to the lawyers.) But are you really better off?
That's an open question.
What's not open to question is that BP will be better off by foreclosing most if not all civil suits against them.
As always the government lies until the decision is taken and you "accept it", then the truth comes out once the deed is done and you, once again, have been bamboozled.
If there's no budget, does that mean we can stop paying our taxes?
You try that mkkby and let me know how it works out for you. I just went thru a multi-year audit with our friends that work for Timmay and it was very costly in terms of stress, time and accountant and legal fees as well as being just plain unbelievable what they make up.