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It's Official: Democrats Succeed In Pushing New Debt Ceiling To $14.3 Trillion
A mere three hours before the Bernanke cloture vote, America just got permission to hit 100% Debt/GDP. Thank Senate Democrats who just approved an amendment increasing the US debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion. The 60/40 vote was across party lines and only successful because Republican Sen.-elect Scott Brown has yet to be seated.
From Fox News:
Democrats had to scramble to approve the plan, which means they won't
have to vote on another increase until after the midterm elections this
fall. To win the votes of moderate Democrats, President Obama promised
to appoint a special task force to come up with a plan to reduce the
deficit. The House must still vote on the measure before it's sent to
Obama for his signature.
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Could you happen to provide us a tally of the "Yes" votes?
I'm making a hit list (he said in jest).
Here's the link for all roll call votes. Looks like there is an hour delay between actual vote and publishing on the site below
http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/a_three_sections_with_tease...
Well, now we know why they delayed swearing-in Scott Brown. 60 D's (including Paul Kirk) in favor, 40 R's opposed.
Well played, Harry.
Exactly. We all thought the delay was about health care.
But controlling the spigot is much bigger.
Kirk cannot legally vote. This is a pretty clear-cut issue, I'm not sure why the GOP is letting them do it other than either -
(1) They want the limit raised
(2) They're giving the Dems more rope
(3) Republicans are covering their arses, as a "no" vote won't come back to haunt them come election time. But they realize they do need a higher debt limit.
I am definitely making my (S)hit list.....I may be a bit more nuanced than in '08 when I had a NO incumbents mentality.....we shall see. Does this mean the fix is in, and so is Bernanke?
I believe it was a partyline vote (60 to 40) with Sanders in the (D) bucket.
The "hit list" contains those for whom you DO NOT vote, in their next election.
It's simple.
You don't need a tally.
The ones with a 'D' after their names voted FOR it, and the 'R's voted AGAINST it.
It's just like the HEALTH ENSLAVEMENT' bill, split along party lines 60/40.
Yes! This should get us through about September at our burn rate. then we'll worry about what to do next.
Kick the can... kick the can...
Actually, this amt. was calculated to avoid having to raise debt ceiling prior to mid-terms.
The Critters may have to sell Cali to China in order to make September.
But ya gotta'do what ya gotta' do.
Jesus, if you're up there, we could really use your help. Bring your whip - it's the money changers again.
wrong temple.
I don't think he's listening. I think he is marveling at our stupidity. Managed to piss away the greatest nation in the history of mankind. Hell we really don't deserve the help, remember "The good Lord helps those who help themselves" and thus far the raping has been with hardly a whimper. When I see protest marches and people blockading government offices then maybe we have the right to ask for divine intervention. Also might want to broaden the prayer to Buddha, Allah, Jehovah, and Tom Cruise. I'll take help from any source. Try to get Tom Cruise to use his witchcraft to get the Fed off us :) (Ricky Bobby reference)
Hey I'm waiting for John to fly his 707 to our stricken island in the Atlantic
or maybe he will stop over in Shannon and fly to Greece
maybe try "Baby Jesus." (RB)
I bet Xenu will listen, for the right price.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9mhsW5aWJM
This is good news!!! As soon as Benron gets reconfirmed we get a market rally today and then tomorrow when the GDP shows up? Or we have a real "black swan" event and to everyone's surprise the market collapses?
Mission Accomplished!
almost, now time to vote Bernanke back in. I love how he essentially is looming a huge market crash in front of their eyes.
Then a "national reconciliation programme" will be pegged to health care to ambush the right and delight the left.
Shoot me dead!!
I'm starting to think we need to change the name of scientific notation to economic notation...I mean really is this some kind of sick joke? Just kill the limit, effectively we don't have one. God that number is so damn big...
We're soooo fucked!
For years I thought that the "guns and gold", "canned food and water" people were nuts.
They were just ahead of the times.
Panic NOW and avoid the rush!!!!
My tinfoil hat will soon be chic. We are sooooo screwed!!!!!!!
The FIRST ones to panic, the first rats off the ship, win.
Buy physical precious metals now while they are still relatively cheap.
Awaiting similar bulletins from GG, the chumba, Aurum, etc.
Break it down.
14,300,000,000,000 in debt for 300,000,000 souls.
$47,650/person or average household=$190,600.
How to calculate interest. Self-purchased tight yields of treasury or the unsecured credit card interest?
How about the middle? (2.5%+16%)/2=9.25%
Would equate to $17630 per year simple interest payments or a billing of $1470.00 additionally per month.
In other words every household struggling to make mortgage payments and put food on the table has effectively another
"shadow" mortgage.
This doesn't speak to the state, municipality, nor future transfer payments obligated to seniors.
If that add'l $1470/mo. were put into real play instead of everlastingly and somehow postponed. We would have in excess of 50% defaults and 50% unemployment.
But that is where we're at. Projected to double in the next five years.
Terrific devaluation or sovereign default are staring us in the face. Yet the markets move along on fumes as if no terror. The music will stop suddenly and with a shudder.
Your Maths scares me because its like a Credit card in the hands of a Junky son. The bit that scares me more is your GDP has fallen when adjusted to a weakening currency and economy. OH Wait thats the Idea isn't it - screw 'em Rhodesian style Ben. Like Bananas in a Banana Republic - plenty of them but not much else to eat.
I'm not sure I agree with you. If they can create a super bubble on the backside of the last two (since 2000) then we can shovel our way out of this in short order.
Mind you I think that Tyler's article is the greatest piece of work I have ever seen. It's classic, wonderful, articulate, punctual, neato, and earth shattering.
And you comment was one of the best I have ever seen on Zero or any other web site.
And I think that Zero Hedge is the greatest site on the webnet.
Results of roll call votes are published here approximately an hour after they have been announced.
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm...
Regime change needed at once.
I think the term is "coup d'etat"
Hm. Well only the military would be up for that, and their spending is not under the knife. So we shouldn't expect anything from that corner.
Regime changes starts at home
At least this will be the last time it needs to be raised. Once Obama's "spending freeze" goes into effect this pesky debt problem will be solved.
This, combined with the pending reappointment of Dr. Bernanke, should help the equities rally from the current 'get out the vote', er, sell-off.
(They'll be angling for a portion of that extended debt limit [he noted cynically])
</snark on>
Maybe we should form a Blue Ribbon Commission to look into this deficit problem!!!!
</snark off>
+ 100
Look guys, it's just the debt ceiling right? It's like a credit line. I mean, they don't have to spend the money.
Thank you thank you, you've been a great audience. I'll be here all week, and don't forget to tip the waitress.
LOL
Your comment brought to mind a conversation I had with a prospective client last year. I had asked for a list of assets and liabilities and I was going down them one by one to get a better view of his personal financial makeup.
I got to the $15,000 savings listed and asked where the assets were located. Meaning what banks, credit unions or mattress held the savings. He said to me with a straight face "credit cards". I asked him what he meant and he said that the $15,000 was the remaining amount of credit available on his 3 credit cards.
In his mind, the available credit was his savings. This was a college educated person making $100k per year. Amazing.
Ugh, that kills me. How do people not know the difference between a line of credit and accrued savings? Guess the Maters of the Universe have done a good job obfuscating the meaning of what it means to save and what capital means. Hell I know my poor immigrant grandparents sure as hell knew what savings was.
I began to see this mentality become somewhat wide spread about 10 years ago, with it really showing it's face over the past 5 years. In my opinion, and after a lot of thought, I believe it is a learned behaviour.
I'm over 50 so this seems simply crazy to me. But this man is 27 and has spent his entire adult life with debit and credit cards and very little cash.
When he's contemplating a purchase, it's usually put on his credit and debit card. When he's thinking about how much money he can spend on that furniture or big screen TV, he's thinking about his available credit limit or his checking balance. After a while, this because savings in his mind, as in "available to spend" not "accumulated money that belongs to him without encumbrances".
If you think about it, this is precisely the result one would expect to see when conflating spending with credit. The decoupling of spending with saving leads inevitably to linking spending with credit. This is of course exactly what the Fed and banks want since the currency itself is no longer connected to savings (no more Gold standard) but rather the money supply expands with the issuance of credit.
Insanity institutionalized. Is it any wonder than that the up and coming generation is thinking as they were taught?
I fear you are right. When I look around to people in my age group (which I share with your client) I'm stunned at the willingness to spend money that they simply do not have. So I suppose in many ways it probably is a culture problem.
It's probably doubly worse if the parents were doing it as well. At least my parents and grandparents were savers so I had a positive role model instead of being set alone and adrift in the culture.
I wonder on what level it is the culture and on another level a knowledge even subconsciously a concerted push to set people's persons time horizon shorter and shorter since money is in effect decaying through inflation. People will respond to market forces and even though they are hidden by government obfuscation people can "feel" the inflation of the money supply year after year.
"I wonder on what level it is the culture and on another level a knowledge even subconsciously a concerted push to set people's persons time horizon shorter and shorter since money is in effect decaying through inflation."
I think there is a concerted push to do so. While there most certainly is the idea that simple greed on the part of many players may be setting the stage for this type of behaviour, I believe there are deeper hidden motives for allowing (encouraging may be a better term) this to go on. Control systems don't always need to control but just gently guide, particularly when human nature then can take over once set on a path and given a push.
Of course, saying so publicly will bring out the "conspiracy theory" howls from the conventional wisdom group think minders/puppeteers, I've been looking at this and many other related and completely unrelated ideas for years and years. And often when I push down a few layers deeper than most would bother to look for, I often find an influence that doesn't seen "natural" for lack of a better word.
Yes, CD, that's the word. Unnatural.
The abnormal becomes normal.
It's not crazy in one way--if you expect a currency devaluation, say of an order of magnitude ($100 is now $10), then having no savings is the right way to go.
The marketers have created this idea that you can save money by spending money. I got an offer from my phone company to add dish service and it was all plastered with "look how much you can save by paying us more." Fuck them.
Thank you. Very astute.
There is hope. I'm a few years under 30, and most of those in my circle of peers have never even owned a credit card, let alone own one now. The only reason we see to have one is for emergencies, and quite frankly, we've never needed one.
Apparently there are these things called "jobs", where one goes to "work", after which they send you a "paycheck". Some of us have learned this secret. Most credit card fine print is terrible, and we're not stupid.
If you're really that hard up for money, you're not an ex-com, and you can read, speak, and write freakin' English without sounding like a ghetto peasant, then it's not hard to find a job for at least 10 bucks an hour. Live within your means, and you can get by.
Umm, actually I think it may turn out that the client and those who think like him are right.
When the $hit jumps off, my savings will be locked up in bank holidays/money market freezes then inflated away while I watch. The remainder (what's not in Au and Ag) will die a horrid death in the corresponding market crash.
Meanwhile this guy will likely be charging up a storm, buying goods, going on vacation, etc. because I am sure that it will be deemed critical that we 'keep credit flowing during the crisis'. Then he defaults and sails off into the horizon in his new boat.
Damn.
Incredible! I just facepalmed myself so hard I think I broke my nose...
And gap your teeth too, you ugly mofo?
That's a lot less amazing to someone that's looked at the current ratios of electric utility companies. It's not that hard to find one with negative working capital.
And yes, it's due to 'savings'.
Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.
With such a solid understanding of modern economics, he could probably make more than 100k working for the government.
Not disagreeing with you or your conclusions, nor am I defending said interpretation of what constituted savings vs. available credit by your client - however, I would believe it is more commonplace that many suspect given the "black is white, up is down" universe we live in. If the TBTF banks can utilize mark-to-myth accounting that is sanctioned by our government, it wouldn't be an extreme continuation of thought that that the masses could actually operate under this delusional paradigm. Heck, I'd be surprised if even 20% of the populace actually regularly balanced their checking accounts........
See my reply above.
And I agree, it's quite common. And I think you're spot on about only 20% balancing their checking account. I worked as a CFP in a small local bank for 9 years and regularly talked with the customer service reps about a wide range of topics. Every single one was dealing with 2 or 3 DIFFERENT people a day (and these were very small branches) that were having overdraft problems who admitted they didn't balance their checking accounts. Lord knows how many claimed they did but didn't really.
Your comment brings to mind that Bank of America commercial showing a person checking their BofA credit/checking balance on their phone as they think about purchasing a big screen TV. No mention of prior outstanding checks not yet cleared etc.
I asked this question 30 years ago and I'll ask it again. Why aren't the schools teaching students everyday life skills like balancing a checkbook?
We know why the banks don't. Over draft fees are a SIGNIFICANT source of revenue for banks, including the dishonest practice of re-ordering deposits and debits to create the highest overdraft fees possible.
...
I spent a agonizing 50 minutes each late morning in a Class that actually TAUGHT you how to balance a checking account and wrote out fake checks and so on. This was in 80's high school.
I diligently paid attention to my task and did well. The rest of the 43 students disrespected the elderly teacher who cared for his task by talking football, hitting up the girls and paid no attention what so ever.
Maybe I was one who gave a damn, I almost walked out. To this day I cannot imagine how that old teacher got up to go to work in the morning knowing maybe three people out of 2000 students actually gave a damn for his time and effort.
July 1st!! Why not immediately. Bastards. They'll probably send out a 10-page, small print change of policy notice to customers that they have to opt-in with a hand-written letter.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/nov/13/business/fi-bank-fees13
Thought provoking as always, CD. Merci beaucoup.
Ha, that's a good one. With 20% unemployed, I'm sure the tax revenue till is a little short. Can Timmy last the year?
Not bad.
60 to 39
R - Wy Senator Enzi didn't vote.
Straight across party lines, except for one republican it seems, wonder who the turn coat is.
Shelby is speaking now.
The Bernanke vote is going to be much more interesting.
Don't let the GOP fool you. If three of them were needed, then three of them would have conveniently "made a tough decision" to support the bill.
They're voting no on everything because they can. If they really were needed to participate in this travesty, they would have.
Thank you.
As if this is an anathema to "Republicans".
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A60963-2004Nov18?language=printer
Hasn't been any fiscal responsibility in Congress since Jihn Kasich (sp?) left.
EXACTLY. The Repbulicrats had their fun, now their buddies get theirs.
Power struggle in the con tower even as 4 torpedoes strike below the waterline. Boiler room, rudder, midships, and...oh, powder room.
This sounds like the ARIZONA, but I tend to think of the TITANIC...
They are arguing over the formal linens in the first-class dining room, as the last lifeboat is launched...
+ 100
We're all subprime now!
+1
You approvingly link to Stiglitz' proposal for Extra-Large-Super-Duper-Awesome-Stimulus 2 Electric Boogaloo, and then complain that the debt ceiling is raised?
Why does this matter? I am serious. Who cares how much the government can borrow. The question is who is buying the debt and why? If they stop buying it then we will be screwed, but until then it will be business as usual and nothing will change. 1 in 3 Americans are on Medicare or Medicaid. 1 in 8 are on food stamps. We have two wars to support and a tanking economy. If we don't borrow and spend more money then people will suffer and we cannot have that. We might have to bring the troops home and we can't have that. We are hooked on debt so the only way maintain our lifestyle is to borrow more.
It doesn't matter now so much as in 3 or 4 years from now when yields are much higher and the debt rolls over and refinances at those higher rates.
We're truly f'd now. 100% debt to GDP is mindbogglingly stupid to pursue.
I agree with you but I'm pretty sure we are on the path to 200%. 200% debt to GDP or bust! Even the "generous" projections of the gov point to the debt about doubling over the next 10 years. This tells me that assuming the dollar does not melt totally that the public debt will be at least 25-30 trillion vs their estimate of 19-20 trillion.
As long as rates are low there is simply no political will to get affairs in order. Though to be honest rates could be high and the elected criminals would have no interest in doing it. I'm still stunned to this day that people don't freak out when they hear these numbers. Every time they do this I get a get panicky and I'm "used" to it. Though I have a habit of writing them out and marveling at all those 0's...
Greece's debt-to-GDP is 12% and they're about to fail.
They should just counterfeit Euros and pay down their debt.
Arrogate QE Euro-style using the USA as precedence and defacto statute.
But there would be rioting, probable war.
In the USA just whimpering posturing senators and money galore.
Death to the debasers and counterfeiters is too kind. Enemy within, victim paralyzed with greed. I understand now how the birthplace of Mozart and Beethoven were so quickly transformed.
Did you mean 120% by any chance? Japan's is over 100%. All the PIIGs have bad ratios, too.
My vote for funniest comment of the year. Wow, what a great sense of humor!
LOL, when I read your post I originally read it as "we have two wars to support a tanking economy", which is close to the truth, check out this graph, and learn where all our economic growth is really coming from.
http://marketoracle.co.uk/images/2010/Jan/us-collapse-18-11.gif
Queenie, people are already suffering.
Sure, keep the game going to "help" the people already left bereft due to the system those very same people believed in.
Truly God's work has and is on-going.
Keep piling on the debt, less fees to the debt providers.
As time goes on, more people enter the ranks of the needy.
Meanwhile, the debt-issuing managers get fatter.
Hydrangias need to be dead-headed for next year's flowers.
No dead-heading.....poor or no flowers.
40muleteam borax
Ceiling is the new floor.
Up is the new down.
Lies are the new truth.
Sucks is the new great.
Stupid is the new smart.
United States is the new Banana Republic.
Collapse is the new Stability.
That's a GOOD one, but you forgot a couple...
WAR is PEACE.
SLAVERY is FREEDOM.
IGNORANCE is STRENGTH.
AND,
TRUTH is TREASON in the EMPIRE OF LIES!
Oh, and national security = liberty.
All D's voted yea (including Sanders). All R's vote nay.
XML U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 111th Congress - 2nd Session
as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate
Vote Summary
Question: On the Amendment (Reid Amdt. No. 3299 As Amended ) Vote Number: 13 Vote Date: January 28, 2010, 12:03 PM Required For Majority: 3/5 Vote Result: Amendment Agreed to Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 3299 to H.J.Res. 45 (No short title on file) Statement of Purpose: In the nature of a substitute. Vote Counts: YEAs 60 NAYs 40 Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home StateAlphabetical by Senator Name
Akaka (D-HI), YeaAlexander (R-TN), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Yea
Begich (D-AK), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Yea
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Burris (D-IL), Yea
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Yea
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Nay Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Franken (D-MN), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Nay
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Hagan (D-NC), Yea
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johanns (R-NE), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Yea
Kaufman (D-DE), Yea
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Kirk (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Yea
Kyl (R-AZ), Nay
Landrieu (D-LA), Yea
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
LeMieux (R-FL), Nay
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Yea
Lincoln (D-AR), Yea
Lugar (R-IN), Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Nay
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Nay Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Nelson (D-NE), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Yea
Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (D-PA), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Udall (D-CO), Yea
Udall (D-NM), Yea
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Webb (D-VA), Yea
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Yea Vote Summary By Senator Name By Vote Position By Home State
Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---60 Akaka (D-HI)Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Begich (D-AK)
Bennet (D-CO)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burris (D-IL)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA) Franken (D-MN)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Hagan (D-NC)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kaufman (D-DE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kirk (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCaskill (D-MO)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Specter (D-PA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Tester (D-MT)
Udall (D-CO)
Udall (D-NM)
Warner (D-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR) NAYs ---40 Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burr (R-NC)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Coburn (R-OK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC)
Ensign (R-NV)
Enzi (R-WY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johanns (R-NE)
Kyl (R-AZ)
LeMieux (R-FL)
Lugar (R-IN) McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Thune (R-SD)
Vitter (R-LA)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Wicker (R-MS)
Nice to see that both "pitchers" and "catchers" (in the Barney Frank sort of way) have reported for camp.
Oh, wow!
The United States is playing the part of the 'sultry bitch'!
Hope you brought the Wesson Oil and the plastic sheets...
It's really not nice to denegrate homosexuals because it's one aspect of barney frank. It's all in the focusing. He's not wrong because he's gay. That's a harmless choice that involves complex offering and acceptance rituals. If he is molesting people then that's wrong. He's wrong because he supports a system that is far beneath the harmless aspects of homosexuality. The banking system counterfeits money. It accounts assets in fraudulant ways. It pays for things by simply indebting people in the system and then using as much force and manipulation as possible to have those debts paid.
Stay focused. Any chance to lose focus or spread blame to where it doesn't belong is simply a way to confuse and avoid getting to the root of the problem.
I thought Kirk (D-MA) is no longer the Senator of MA. according to law? How is he casting votes?
Scott Brown's election has yet to be certified by the (Democrat) Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - so under state law Kirk serves until such time as said election is certified.
Er, no he does not. He loses the seat immediately following the election literally no matter what happens.
Thank God for the brave Republicans who have never voted to spend more than we collect in taxes.
Which completely justifies the Democrats doing the same and worse, correct? The last time the government's debt went down was in 1957, and the last President to actually cut government spending was Warren Harding. The debt hasn't been paid off since Andrew Jackson was in office. Which means--surprise!--both parties are complicit in this theft.
You must have just gotten home from the "morning" kindergarten class, because your comment displays the exact sort of intellectual rigor and sense of perspective one could expect from a 5-year-old.
OK, yeah, we get it - the Republicans suck too. No argument.
But given that Dubya's debt run rate (which includes 1.5-years of split congress and 2-years, the last 2-years, of control by Pelosi and Reid) was about $750B and Barry is on track to at least double that before this gets any better can it at least be said that the Republicans, awful as they were, were pikers compared to this current bunch of CongressCritters?
Bayh lied. He said he was a NO.
Fed Bank is now buyer of first and last resort. If you think this is fun, wait until the Fed Gov is the buyer of first, last and only resort.
Nothing yet on cnn.com about increasing the debt ceiling. Foxnews.com's headline reads: "Senate OKs Deficit Curbs."
Hilarious. Thanks for reminding me why I love ZH!
At this point, I'm not even sure if debt, or even money in general, really matters...
It's like a big joke.
BTW, you gotta love how Obama promised to appoint a "special task force" to come up with a plan to reduce the debt.
I wonder how much operating that special task force will add to the debt...
A: $1.9 trillion
I've been feeling the exact same way.
Our entire money system is completely meaningless. We can create as much of it as we want, and in complete secret no less.
If Obama came out tomorrow and said, "I found a whole bunch of money beneath the cushions of the White House couches and have used it to pay off all of our nation's creditors," who among us could say it wasn't true or do anything about it.
All the Fed would have to do would be to hit some keys on a keyboard a few dozen times and "debt gone".
There's nothing to stop it.
We have the infinite ability to create dollars which we don't even have to print. Nothing will change until the rest of the world says "No". I don't see that happening at any point soon. Hell, they love dollars! It's just going to keep getting more and more surreal until the entire machine of the world just stops.
Whether that time comes this year or in 20 years, I have no idea.
But what I do know is there is no possible way we are going to survive this.
I'm dismayed, all this debate and potential for a meaningfully different direction...poof, gone. We've been talking about this for months and just like that its a moo point. This is primarily why these issues don't get attention in the media imo...things might look as if they'll be different, but the status quo remains.
- steak
"moo" point? yes, exactly - its so absurd you would think that a cow was our president. but low and behold, we get nothing but manuer shovelled at us day and night, and told they are policies of prosperity. So, by the deductive property, this country is being run by bovine retards.
WHEN/WHERE IS THE NEXT TEA PARTY???
"but low and behold" ....... a moo point right?
---IT'S OFFICIAL----
ANYONE, Dem or Republican that is voting for Bernanke will BE VOTED OUT ON THEIR SORRY ASS in the next election!!
Cheers!!
Brooklyn Funk Essentials ~ I Got Cash
"I got cash in fuck you quantities
[...]
Slave"
60/40....60/40...........Why does that number keep coming up in all important votes???
This reminds me of the regular votes on congressional pay raises ... some members will loudly oppose them, if they are sure they will not actually prevail and kill the raise.
But can someone tell me, what would actually HAPPEN in the real world if the ceiling was not raised? Surely the nation's debt would not stop rising when it hit the old figure, since no single budget item would be crossed out. So the entire country would be in violation of its own law. Then what?
Seriously...
Short answer: Nothing happens (but you knew that)
Long answer: Current law requires a budget ceiling and a vote to raise it. Violating that law would open up violation of other similar laws. Not too far down the path of similar broken laws, the states start printing their own money. In US dollars. At which point hyperinflation ignites and the USofA ceases to exist as a functioning union. Much hilarity ensues.
Or at least that's my cut. Could someone else take a stab at it?
I think you got it. The monetary system of the world (not just the USA) is based upon the illusion that there will always be greater fools available to pay the last greater fool.
The only reason people remain in the room that's about to be flooded with poisonous gas is the complete and utter belief (supported by group think and conventional wisdom along with healthy dollops of denial and self interest trumping rationality) that each person can get out before the gas can over come them.
As long as the majority continues to believe in the lie, the lie remains solid and fully formed. Thus the illusion is reality because the belief (and by extension the actions) of the people makes it real. One of the realizations one has when looking at this philosophically is that reality is simply what the majority says it is.
The banks are stable despite horrendously convoluted and distorted balance sheets and non-performing assets simply because the government says they are and people want them to be. Thus they are. If a rule or law threatens to upset the illusion, it's changed to conform to the group think.
What most people don't understand is that this "reality" is extremely fragile and will fail quickly. The Fed, Treasury and the President understand this extremely well. This is why this is considered a National Security issue and every lie, theft, payoff and Ponzi is encouraged and endorsed at the highest levels. Our reality is supported by a lie and thus by extension is a lie. Since there is no more real support under our economic reality, every effort must be extended to support the lie.
Do or Die! Seen from that point of view, everything that's going on is perfectly understandable.
Nicely put.
The lie holds until the first person breaks the pact and heads for the exit. It takes no more than one. Then the stampede erupts because while nobody wants to be first, everyone wants to be second.
I think California is that "person" at the sovereign level. As goes Cali, so goes the nation, so goes the world and in rapid fashion. We will see, come summer, if Cali stays within the illusion or bails.
CD and coug,
If you haven't seen this yet (tethys? posted earlier), I feel it has a very poignant place among the metaphors of our "situation". Cunning lions await the herd as it lumbers forward, trustingly, behind their dear leader. If divided, the weak in the herd are slowly picked off, unless...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM
I actually saw this video some time ago.
The dirty little secret is that the power remains, and always will remain, within our hands. We are the powerful but for a multitude of reasons, we willingly hand it over to the powers that be.
The powers that be have a full time job, which is to convince us that resistance is futile (al la Borg) and that they will gladly govern us if only we submit our wills to their control. Ironically the more we live the inauthentic life (sleep, eat, work, TV , sleep, eat, work, TV, occasional sex and coupling, sleep, eat, work, TV etc, etc), the more willing we become to victimise ourselves and allow others to control us so that we can't/won't hold ourselves responsible for living the inauthentic life.
The extent to which we will prostitute ourselves in the name of not being responsible for ourselves knows no bounds. This indoctrination begins long before birth in our parents, who then train their off spring to submit and subvert themselves to the powers that be. Since we are ourselves extremely dysfunctional (I would strongly argue verging on insanity, an argument I ask that you accept for now so that I may make my point) why are we surprised that our leaders are psychopathic, ego centric and selfish beyond bounds themselves?
You need an Education from a Master American Author.
WARNING: If if go to this link your going to be ZH followers forever.
http://screambucket.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=321...
P-p-p-PONZI! P-p-p-PONZI SCHEME! (sung to the tune of the 'CHIA PET' ad)
Somewhere, perhaps in Davos, or Brussels, or Philly (home of the November G-20 meeting), there is a bust of Ponzi, and the bankers, on the night of the new moon, all take their clothes off, light candles, and bow down before this 'head'. Then they decide how to have anal sex with the 6.5 billion sheople...again!
Is THIS what you just said, because that's what I saw!
Oh, by the way, I am NOT anonymous, I AM MONTGOMERY SCOTT
How could it be 60/40?..............
MA Law bans the interim Senator (Kennedy's Seat)from voting once the POLLS closed election day.
Under their laws, he was a defacto paperweight.
Someone explain this?.
Rule of law was so 20th century! Get with the times man, all the cool kids are doing it, just look at Zimbabwe Ben, and Tiny Tim! Those are two cool cats! (sarcasm off)
I feel like the abused wife who took him back in. Just yesterday, he took me to the window of Tiffany's and said,"howze a'bout we put one of doze on your fing-gar afta I get a job someday.". I had HOPE things would be better. How many more trips to the ER can I take before it sinks in, "I Am hooked up with a sociopathic selfish liar!". Guess I'll go get some crack to forget about it."
An unapologetic Obama is leading the Keynesian assault on the American Dream wrought by her free enterprise system; once the envy of the world. Is America immune from the historic collapses of other societies? Has Shaw’s warning to the English finally arrived for us all?
The captain is in his bunk, drinking bottled ditchwater; and the crew is gambling in the forecastle. She will strike and sink and split. Do you think the laws of God will be suspended in favor of England because you were born in it? --George Bernard Shaw
The latest: targeting retirement funds which can eventually channel to the rulers’ social pipeline. Read: THE COMING OBAMA RETIREMENT TRAP HAS STARTED! by Ron Holland, a retirement consultant who works in Zurich and is a co-editor of the Swiss Mountain Vision Newsletter . Here are excerpts:
“Mandatory IRAs just proposed by Obama Administration on 1/25/10 is the 1st step in stealth nationalization & forced investment of our retirement benefits to support the treasury debt market! Read the veiled report in Business Week.
…I fear that today the control, nationalization and ultimate confiscation of trillions in private US retirement plan assets is on the horizon. Rick Santelli alluded to the possible nationalization and forced investment into treasuries on CNBC as recently as January 8, 2010. There was also similar coverage on Bloomberg and Business Week.
Reports out of Washington indicate that new retirement annuities may be promoted by Obama aides. This is just the beginning! The question every successful American with substantial retirement assets must ask is "what will you do if our retirement funds are forced to become the buyer of last resort for US treasury obligations?" Unless you believe Congress and Washington bureaucrats will do a fair job of allocating and distributing your personal retirement assets between yourself and others, you must begin now to protect your assets.
… The largest source of liquid private wealth remaining in the United States is the $15 trillion in private retirement funds.
…I've been following the government move to raid private retirement funds since the early 1980's with my The Threat of the Private Retirement System book written in 1983. I warned again about this in my 1994 book Escape the Pension Trap. The threat receded somewhat with the Bush Administration, but it is now back with a vengeance and the revenue needs of Washington will eventually trump any government promises and guarantees.
...You will be forced into another Social Security-like scheme with the proposed mandatory Guaranteed Retirement Annuity, with 5% of your salary confiscated into the program. You will also eventually find your existing retirement funds forced into the government program and you will lose your ability to invest and protect your retirement funds outside of the dollar, government bonds, and the US investment markets at some time in the future. The only questions are when and what the final details of this, the greatest potential wealth confiscation in the history of the world, will be.
…The risks and threats of standing up to Washington’s wealth confiscation and aggression are great. But we have to take a stand. One of the greatest men in history I've studied was a relatively unknown, career army colonel coming from a respected family who lived right across the river from the nation's capitol. Just before the start of a war, the head of the nation offered this officer the opportunity to take command of the entire national army if he would only lead an invasion and turn against his state and people. This officer declined the offer and all that went with it. The head of the nation was so outraged that he had the officer’s home and plantation occupied, confiscated and used as a burial ground for the war dead, never to be returned to his family or their descendents.
The president was Abraham Lincoln, the colonel was Robert E. Lee and his home, called Arlington, is now known as Arlington National Cemetery right across the Potomac River from Washington, DC.
"Sirs, my name is the heritage of my parents. It is all I have, and it is not for sale. Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less." ~ Robert E. Lee
I believe the best retirement planning advice I can offer to successful individuals is to do exactly the opposite of what the government and most retirement or investment professionals suggest…
Read more: http://www.lewrockwell.com/holland/holland12.1.html
Three cheers for doing your duty. Old Abe sure made it obvious, if you analyze his actions instead of his words, that he was a tyrant - happens to a lot of people once they fall prey to the delusions of grandeur.
Thanks, WaterWings.
History—An account mostly false, of events mostly unimportant, which are brought about by rulers mostly knaves, and soldiers mostly fools. – Ambrose Bierce
Surreal in its insanity.
Like I almost don't believe I am reading it.
To use debt, you still have to sell it.
Where are the buyers?
Towards the end of the 2nd 2010 fiscal year quarter we will see momentum slow down through primary channels, and SOMA slowly increase.
At some point the FED will be forced to QE again. Without massive fiscal restraint, it is just a matter of when.
If there is a substantial pull back in equities, this may give the FED the excuse to initiate another buy program under the pretence of helping the economy. But, it is really just to fund government through debasement of the currency.
Currently, the MBS buy is around $1T and will continue for three more months. The real issue with this program is that it is not directly addressing the economy. It is just buying bad debt in an effort to prop up the GSEs and big banks. But, really the FED has lost the deflation battle on this asset class. FED recovery on MBS investment is not possible because there is no "real" economy to draw upon. The dynamics of economic policies are no longer rooted in capitalism. Government debt is the economy.
Mark Beck
Expend all remaing rounds on my pod. I say again, expend all remaing rounds on my pod. It's a lovely fucking war.
WTF x 1.43e¹³