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Monday Morosity - "Hard Times Ahead" says Rajoy
Monday Morosity - "Hard Times Ahead" says Rajoy
Mariano Rajoy won the biggest majority in a Spanish election in almost 30 years, and told Spaniards to brace for hard times as the nation fights to avoid being overwhelmed by the debt crisis. Bonds continued to drop. Rajoy’s People’s Party swept the ruling Socialists from power after eight years, winning 186 of the 350 seats in Parliament, compared with 110 for the Socialists’ candidate Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba.
“Hard times lie ahead,” Rajoy, 56, told supporters outside the PP’s headquarters in Madrid, giving no new details of his plans. “We are going to govern in the most delicate situation Spain has faced in 30 years.”
Spanish borrowing costs continued rising toward euro-era records (6.6% this morning) even as the PP won a mandate to slash the budget deficit, overhaul the stagnant economy and reduce the 23 percent jobless rate. Rajoy, who hasn’t given details of his proposals, won’t take over for a month, prompting him to say on Nov 18th he hoped Spain wouldn’t need a bailout before he’s sworn in. Miguel Arias Canete, head of the PP’s electoral committee and a former minister, said today markets need to give the party time, as ministers won’t be appointed until Dec. 21 and Spanish law doesn’t allow Parliament to resume any sooner than Dec. 13.
So NO QUICK FIX IN SPAIN IS POSSIBLE - let's face that fact now so we're not endlessly surprised by it as the rumor-mongers can now have a field day attacking the lame-duck outgoing Government ahead of the transition. Meanwhile, our own do-nothing Congress looks to be heading towards certain disaster as we have what appears to be a TOTAL FAILURE of the US Deficit Reduction Committee to do anything to actually reduce our deficit.
Now I don't want to point fingers (cough, Republicans, cough, cough) ahead of our National Holiday that celebrates unity and goodwill and crap like that. Let's just say "they" couldn't agree, so now it's going to be Hard Times for America as we, in theory, will kick in $1.2Tn of automatic cuts including (gasp!) over 5% of our nation's Trillion-Dollar annual Defense budget. Oh, not until 2013, of course because our Government doesn't really have the balls to cut anything under any circumstances.
EXCEPT, of course, aid to the poor. THAT they can cut and cut and cut and cut. Payroll tax cuts - terminated. Unemployment extensions - terminated. US AAA rating - terminated...
And that's SMART because those poor people are EVERYWHERE these days and, the poorer they get, the more they need - it's ridiculous! The general Republican strategy is to see if we can make those nasty poor people so poor they stop bothering us completely. They can either leave, like all those immigrants we kicked out - or just get out of our way and leave us alone - just like it says in another Dickensian novel:
``I wish to be left alone,'' said Scrooge. "Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned (prisons and workhouses): they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.''
``Many can't go there; and many would rather die.''
``If they would rather die,'' said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."
"It's not my business,'' Scrooge returned. "It's enough for a man to understand his own business, and not to interfere with other people's. Mine occupies me constantly. Good afternoon, gentlemen!''
Ah Ebeneezer, a true Libertarian! God bless us, every (top) one (percent)! A new census report finds that one out of 3 Americans are now living in an expanded Census Bureau category of "poor or near poor" - families with incomes less than 50% over the poverty line for a family of 4 of about $24,000. I know a lot of my Republican friends will argue that an extra $12,000 for a family of 4 over the course of a year has them living high on the hog, with toasters, refrigerators and color TVs, but those of us who do have a sympathetic bone in our bodies find these numbers quite shocking.
The Colbert Report
The middle and upper classes (the wanna-be rich, who are screwed by the top 1% while fighting for their rights not to be taxed or regulated) fared EVEN WORSE than the poor this past decade. Families with incomes four times the poverty threshold or more — $97,372 for a family of four — shrank to just 17 percent of the population, compared with 36 percent under the official measure. That's 50% of our middle and upper middle class wiped out in order to funnel more money to the top 1% - SUCKERS!
While we cry a river for the losers in the tri-corner hats who think it's the Government that's screwing them, let's not forget we're talking about 100M Americans who are either IN POVERTY or in the desperate zone just above it and perhaps one small economic downturn from POVERTY. 51M Americans are already there, making less than $6,000 per family member to live on for their year (and that's better than minimum wage, which is only $14,500 for a full year's work by Dad). As noted in the NYTimes:
They drive cars, but seldom new ones. They earn paychecks, but not big ones. Many own homes. Most pay taxes. Half are married, and nearly half live in the suburbs. None are poor, but many describe themselves as barely scraping by. Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called “near poor” and sometimes simply overlooked — and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood.
Meanwhile, in order to insure no governments head back down that dangerous path towards Socialism (even the word makes Americans cringe due to media conditioning), our friends at Goldman Sachs are, according to The Independent, putting the finishing touches on their plan to take over Europe.
This is The Goldman Sachs Project. Put simply, it is to hug governments close. Every business wants to advance its interests with the regulators that can stymie them and the politicians who can give them a tax break, but this is no mere lobbying effort. Goldman is there to provide advice for governments and to provide financing, to send its people into public service and to dangle lucrative jobs in front of people coming out of government. The Project is to create such a deep exchange of people and ideas and money that it is impossible to tell the difference between the public interest and the Goldman Sachs interest.
Really, I kid you not - this is not a Robert Ludlum novel - this is what is actually happening in our World today! “While ordinary people fret about austerity and jobs, the eurozone’s corridors of power have been undergoing a remarkable transformation,” the independent points out - much like the takeover of the US Government by GS alumni (see "Government Sachs"). In fact, we were having a discussion this weekend among fund managers and nothing could have done more damage to Goldman Sach's competition than the loss of trust in smaller houses caused by the failure of MF Global under the stewardship of ex-Goldman CEO Jon Corzine. Money is flying out of the smaller IBanks and into the Gang of 12 who are deemed "too big to fail" thanks to - yep, you guessed it - Government Sachs policies and statements.
You've got to know the secret handshake to get a fair shake in America - that fact is made clear by the inclusion of Masonic Symbols on our own currency! That's what the Occupy Wall Street movement is really all about - as we push 1/3 of our citizens towards abject poverty, the fairy tale of "equal opportunity" begins to wear thin and even some of those ex-middle and upper middle class dwellers begin to wake up to the fact that half of their ex-friends (because we don't follow people who drop out of our gated neighborhoods) can no longer afford club memberships or, even worse, whatever crap the remaining Middle Class is trying to sell at their own stores.
Despite the myth, the "job creators" aren't making up the difference by parking the limo on Main Street and shopping up a storm. As I pointed out this weekend as we perused the "House Porn" section of the Wall Street Journal, even with all the excess, the rich hit a certain level of consumption and that's it. While a person in the top 1% may have 1,000 times more money than the 100 people they smacked out of the Middle Class to accumulate it - they don't buy 100 times more toilet seats or 100 times more candles and they don't go to the Dentist 200 times a year or pay 100 times the school taxes in their community.
No, the money the top 1% take from the rest of you is taken out of circulation and that increases the cost of money for you and that let's them leave it in the banks or bonds and collect interest - sucking even more money out of circulation from the people who need to borrow just to scrape by. The less you tax them, the more they accumulate and the worse the income disparity becomes. Already we have a situation in the US that is now worse than it was DURING the Great Depression - we are at the breaking point and our Congress is doing NOTHING and soon it will snap and we'll have a real disaster on our hands - be warned!
Bring it on I say. We have been bearish since last week and went into the weekend bearish after cashing out our short-term portfolios so this morning's sell-off is PERFECT for us to get a look at how the next set of levels hold up on our Big Chart. We did take the sell-off in the futures this morning as an opportunity to speculate long. As I said to Members at 6:01:
80%/Flips – Wow, I don’t know about 80% (chance of success) but I do like buying the RUT (/TF) on the 700 line and playing for a bounce or the Dow (/YM) off 11,600 or the S&P (/ES) at 1,190 or even gold (/YG) at $1,700 but VERY tight stops because, if those lines fail – we’re on that Highway To Hell I warned about on Friday.
As usual, we're happy when our futures trading pays for our breakfast and we're well past that already with a nice bounce shaping up into our open (quick profits are always taken on silly, pre-market runs). We remain skeptical, of course, until we make some real progress back at our Must Hold lines and we already planned on staying mainly on the sidelines this week but we couldn't resist a nice opportunity to jump in with some bullish bets ahead of the open - as we've seen this movie before and we're pretty sure we know what happens in the next scene (dollar dumped into US open to spark an equity/commodity rally).
Also, despite all of the problems and the deteriorating condition of the American Middle class and massive expansion of the ranks of the American poor - I'm still bullish on corporations because they could give less of a crap about the American people. As you can see from the above chart of the Koch Brothers' net worth - impoverishing our fellow Americans has never been more profitable so we may protest against the top 1% but, until they change the rules - we'll still put our money on them as well!
I had occasion this week to go back to my July 10th post, when I last warned that the economy was about to go over a cliff. I hit that pretty much on the nose timing-wise as the Dow fell from 12,750 the next day to 10,605 on August 11th - down 17% in 30 days. Since then, we climbed all the way back to 12,284 in October but again we went bearish as the markets were unable to break into the top of our range (back to July highs) and since then we've sort of drifted along between 12,200 and 11,600 - which is almost dead center of the July/August drop.
I am not bearish because I think that 11,600 is about the "right" price for the Dow, given the exact same global situation we observed back in July. I thought 12,750 was too high and, when we fell all the way to 10,605, I thought that was too low and we initiated our September's Dozen Buy List on August 27th with 13 (baker's dozen) very aggressive, bullish trade ideas that, of course, had spectacular outcomes for our Members as we mostly cashed out on October 27th - another great top call!
Now we're back to cash and we'd LOVE to see another panic sell-off to give us another good round of buying opportunities but I'm not sure we'll get it because there is really nothing going on today that wasn't already obvious to us in July - including the US being unable to fund its own deficit spending - all of this has now been long discussed and no longer has the power to shock the markets like it did in the summer.
So cashy and cautious is how we're playing the space under our Must Hold lines - especially ahead of the long Holiday Weekend. We'll take another look at things next Monday but this is a week to kick back and relax although, as noted in this video - that's hard to do if you are a New York football fan...
Try out Phil's Stock World here >
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Isn't Ilene that chick with one foot?
One foot in MFGLOBAL ? No Fear for the futures traders . Lessons learned slowly .
As a paramedic, working for a private service so spare me the govt slug shit, I see every day how these handouts are contributing to the decline of so many people. The poor are overwhelmingly morbidly obese. We encourage them to load up on cheap shit food. They take no responsibility because that gets your free goodies decreased. It seems like the largest scheme ever created to make people into captive voters to allow the ones who hand out the goodies to enrich themselves and their particular intrest groups. And this modern "soft" slavery knows no political distinction. The whole republican vs democrat shit is just a smokescreen to Provide the essential illusion of choice. There is only one sustainable path. Liberty. And fuck you Ilene you pinko socialist. Your way is the heart of the problem. Choke on your self ritious bullshit.
good morning, sucks to hear but lumped in with people that really need aid are those you speak of in your comments. Totally agree. Its where 'value systems' collide with govt funding, that we all pay into but have no say in how its spent. Hard for me to stomach people not giving a shit about their own health, then going in for a hip and a knee just to stick it to the 'man' and make someone pay. My wife got cancer last year, is now totally uninsurable, COBRA runs out and we were invited to pay $2200/month to continue on the plan. The sick joke is that the health care put in for just these cases is the Same Cost and much shittier service.
The top 1% elite are employing armies of maids, nannies, chefs, gardeners, drivers... all workers.
Guess who opened the doors to the House of Romanovs.. hint, hint.. the Tsar didn't open his own doors.
wow, spare us the partisan bullshit.
both sides of the aisle are wholly corrupted.
just who the fuck do you think you're kidding? this isn't Y!.
Good article in that it definitely got the discussion rolling, great comments to read.
[quote]
The Six Problems With Modern Progressive/Socialism
1) You really didn't learn everything you needed to know in kindergarten: Progressive/Socialists love to think of themselves as sophisticated, nuanced intellectuals, but the truth is they have a kindergartner's view of the world. If it has been defined as "nice" to people they like, they're for it. If it has been defined as "mean" to people they like, they're against it -- and that is about as deep as it gets. Unfortunately, that lack of adult perspective isn't so cute in political leaders who are making life and death decisions that may still have ramifications fifty years from now.
2) "Progressive/Socialists hate religion because politics is a religion substitute for Progressive/Socialists and they can't stand the competition." -- Ann Coulter: Somewhat ironically, given the hostile relationship that has developed between the Left and Christianity, Progressive/Socialist beliefs have more in common with religious doctrine than a political agenda. There is no significant debate on the Left about the aims of their agenda -- and the only "sins" believers can commit against their religion are no longer being politically useful, deviating from doctrine, or worst of all, cooperating with conservatives in some fashion. No matter how much evidence piles up that big government doesn't work, that welfare destroys families, and that socialism doesn't bring prosperity, it makes no impact on Progressive/Socialists because their dogma is based on faith, not logic.
3) "It is not human nature we should accuse but the despicable conventions that pervert it." -- Denis Diderot: There is no dream more eternal in the Progressive/Socialist heart than completely remaking human nature. If we could all just care about the person across the world as much as we do our families, we could live in a utopia! Unfortunately, in practice, human nature tends to be quite a bit more difficult to subvert than in the Progressive/Socialist imagination. That's why, despite more than 5,000 years of human civilization, very little progress has been made in this area - but, oh, the Left is still trying. One day, if they just spend enough money on the right government programs, all the wars will end and everyone will be living in identical million dollar mansions while we spend our days humming tunes from the latest Woodstock Tribute Album.
4) "Oh what a tangled web we weave, when at first we practice to deceive." -- Sir Walter Scott: Like freaky religious cults, Progressive/Socialists have become adept at hiding their more abhorrent views from the public until it's too late. It's common to see Progressive/Socialists adamantly deny that they hold a position over and over again only to completely switch sides the moment they have one more vote than they need to pass legislation. Whether it's lying about their opponents or what they believe, honesty is certainly not considered to be the best policy on the Left.
5) "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye." -- Matthew 7:3-5: Despite the fact that Progressive/Socialists love few things better than to cry "hypocrisy," there is a rather bizarre disconnect between what modern Progressive/Socialists seem to believe about themselves and how they behave. Progressive/Socialists believe that they're compassionate, but only with other people's money. They tie themselves in knots trying to come up with valid reasons why terrorists hate the United States, but they never give a moment's thought to whether the people who dislike them might have a point. They pat themselves on the back for helping minorities, but never stop to consider that Progressive/Socialist policies have done more damage to black Americans in the last fifty years than the KKK could have done in a millennium. Somehow, stunning hypocrisies of this sort, which are too numerous to recount without doing a whole other column, never seem to be bother anyone on the Left.
6) "Trust yourself. You know more than you think you do." -- Benjamin Spock: It's great to have a healthy self-image, but there's not much to be said for thinking you're smarter than the collective wisdom and traditions passed down through human history just because you happen to read the Daily Kos. Unbecoming arrogance of this sort permeates modern Progressive/Socialistism. The most grave of decisions are undertaken by the modern Left without the slightest regard for the potential consequences. Past disasters created by similar bouts of whimsical thinking, of which there are many, are treated as acts of God untethered from mere human decision making and prompt no self reflection whatsoever. That's because to the modern Progressive/Socialist, the real world results of their policies are secondary in importance to the amount of positive self-esteem generated by supporting that policy.
[/quote]
So, to all Progressive/Socialists out there (especially the Author of this article!) I can only say: Grow Up and take RESPONSIBILITY for the corruption you've foisted upon the World!
Generalizing?
"They tie themselves in knots trying to come up with valid reasons why terrorists hate the United States, but they never give a moment's thought to whether the people who dislike them might have a point."
Didn't Ron Paul try to explain why the terrorists hate the United States (during first republican debate this year) Didn't the crowd boo him? Yes. This could only mean...Ron Paul is a socialist/progressive!
...
WTF MAN Really?
"Progressive/Socialist policies have done more damage to black Americans in the last fifty years than the KKK could have done in a millennium."
I bet "those people" really resented segregation being outlawed...Or was it you?
...
"Like freaky religious cults,"
Christianity = Freaky religious cult
Raped a lot more boys than that guy at Penn State
...
"You really didn't learn everything you needed to know in kindergarten"
...and you didn't either because you believe there is a being in the sky that judges your every action and move. Some day he will grant you access to heaven because you are an American.
...
"Progressive/Socialists have become adept at hiding their more abhorrent views from the public until it's too late. It's common to see Progressive/Socialists adamantly deny that they hold a position over and over again only to completely switch sides the moment they have one more vote than they need to pass legislation. Whether it's lying about their opponents or what they believe, honesty is certainly not considered to be the best policy on the Left."
I'm beginning to think you are calling democrats, socialists. So ill go ahead and assume you lean right...So Norquist's "No new taxes" pledge should take precedence over what is good for this country in the long run (deficit reduction). How dare one of the right ever change their mind about some stupid pledge they signed.
Have to please those wealthy campaign donors...And they'd think i'm a flip flopper!
...
"Progressive/Socialists believe that they're compassionate, but only with other people's money."
The rich are only compassionate with their money because they get a tax reduction. They have no hearts and therefore no natural incentive to help a fellow human being.
...
Finally, socialists break up the world into "nice" and "mean".
You broke up the world into good (nice) and bad (mean)
Good = Not a socialist/progressive
Bad = Socialist/progressive
You + Breaking up the world into good and bad = You are a filthy fucking socialist
McCarthy! McCarthy! We've got another!
...
Let's just compromise that some Socialists/Progressives are idiots, not all
Remind me not to read anything from Ilene. Waste of time.
How do you chastise the Kochs and gloss over George Soros? What's next Phil? Reaping chit on Clyde while Bonnie skips off to Madrid?
Only whores would be so disingenuous.
I went cross-eyed at he chart that tried to compare tax cuts to cuts in "entitlement" programs. Was that supposed to awaken the bleeding heart liberal in me?
Let me reiterate one thing I have said before -
The only entitlements you have as an American are: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. I never saw anything about SNAP, Section 8, WIC, Medicaid, free cell phones or any other of the wasteful use of government money that comes from the taxation of my earned income.
SNAP = subsidy to top 1% who hold stock in supermarkets
Section 8 = subsidy to top 1% who are slumlords
Medicaid/Medicare = subsidy to doctors and hospitals
Free cell phones = with 2 year contract the phones are usually free. service is subsidy to telecom corporations.
Entitlements are politicians way to keep the slave in check. SNAP is cheaper than poor angry fucks snapping and killing your ass or your other slaves = police salaries + pension
"Life, Liberty and pursuit of happiness" is bunch of bull rich fucks say after they've gotten their loot. "I got mine so fuck you" attitude. What entitlements do the wealthy class have to keep their wealth they are born with?
What entitled CEOs to get their college education at low cost versus today's young Americans costing arm and a leg?
What entitles Paris Hilton to never worry about putting food on the table while her only value add to society is being a whore?
What entitles executives and wall streeters to get bonuses paid by tax dollars for failed bets?
"Entitlements are politicians way to keep the slave in check"
Slaves? Oh to be a slave and be able to lie about all day and still have all of my basic needs met.
You sir, need to learn what a slave is. I classify myself as a wage slave. I work every day I am scheduled and sometimes some overtime if I want a vacation or something else. Those spending their entire lifetime using up the "entitlements", for the most part are just lazy and ignorant.
No, I am not a rich person looking down on the "poor and downtrodden". I am a blue-collar worker and part time farmer/rancher too. My wife also works full time. From your posture on this subject, I get the feeling that you are European or of the UK? We all see how smashingly well IngSoc works over there.
"What entitlements do the wealthy class have to keep their wealth they are born with?"
Uhmm, Mr. Snob, it's theirs - regardless if they were born into wealth or earned it themselves. I don't think that just because someone else has more than I do that I deserve what belongs to them. That is the mentality of a THIEF! It's just that socialists like to have the government do the stealing for them, it soothes their wounded self-image not having to raise a finger to "get stuff others have, and they deserve".
Aldous, I don't think anyone on the right (or left) would argue with last three points. I grew up in Oakland where we have lots of welfare. Here's a story of how socialism is destroying our country. We pay single mom's more money if they have more kids...I go to the supermarket and standing in front of me in the checkout line is a big fat lady. She is dressed to the 9's and is made up like a Hollywood star. She has a shopping cart full of ice cream, potato chips, frozen pizza; well you get the idea. She has wih her 5 tag-a-longs, young kids. These kids are at an age where they still don't know how to be bad, meaning they still have a chance for a good life. They are dressed in torn up and filthy clothes. They are dirty with messed up hair and runny noses (this is all true). Mom pays for the 'shit food' with food stamps. I can't say this with any real knowledge, but I suspect this lady lived in subsidized housing, or, as they are affectionately called, the projects. Let me tell you about the projects...the turf is owned by gangs and if you don't swear an allegiance to one at a young age your as good as dead. If you join one then the other gangs want you dead. Drugs and crime are rampant, in fact they are a way of life...that is the reality. If you go out alone anywhere or even in groups to the wrong part of town you may die. If you wear the wrong clothing to school you may die. You have no future and if you are a male your life expectency is 25 years or less.
So we give this lady money, housing and food stamps; more for each kid she pops put. She dresses nice and eats junk food. The kids are neglected and just trying to survive. They turn to the only place they know in order to survive....the streets and the dangers that come with that lifestyle.
So for all you progressive fucks who give a shit about one stupid fuck slut like Paris Hilton, I have this to say to you...You're 'generosity' just condemned 5 young boys/men to death by the time they are 25. Get out of suburbia you naive little fuck and pull your head out of your ass and go down to the real world and see how it works. And before you bitch about what everyone else is not doing, try doing something like voluteering, you little cocksuck. While the economy was good and before I lost my ass (and didn't cry about it) I gave three years of my life volunteering (that means without pay) working with these kids to make a difference. Fuck you and you ilk.
There is nothing wrong with helping people truly in need, but if you create that need you are no different than a drug pusher. Before you hand out other peoples money as freebies to lazy shits who would do nothing to help themselves, why don't you go out and earn some ofyour own fucking money and give it away. Jeez you guys are morons!
One last thing: Like many people, i paid my way through a fine state school (UC Berzerkely) and did it by working up to three jobs at a time. I was a walk-on football player and national champion rugby player as well...so your crying is wasted on some one like me.
Thank god someone here at ZH has pointed out in a subtle way that Republicans are nothing more than puppy molesting homeless raping psychopaths that want nothing more than to eat live babies on fresh pastries.
Very balanced presentation!
Kudos.
Cut the commie bullshit. Throw the banksters in jail, burn down the FED, and take back what they've stolen.
'Zackly. I don't give a crap how rich someone gets/got as long as they aren't doing it by selling a trillion in insurance policies they never even remotely had the ability to pay, running off in the dead of night, etc...
Like corn hulls in turds, there are a few nuggets of worth in there, but it's slathered amidst a greasy turd of socialist and progressive class warfare excrement. Rich people take money out of circulation? WTF? Does this author respire O2 air or are they anaerobic?
The arguement isn't the worst part of it either, the worst part of tripe like this is the underlying assumption being sold that if we just taxed the hell out of someone and cut [insert budgetary pocket change amount here sans lint] we would be able to get right back to happy days loans out the wazoo government spends like 18 YO sailor on liberty every social program is "fully funded" (read 7+% budgetary increases a year).
WAKE UP! (non typical ZH readers) THAT IS NOT GOING TO F***ING HAPPEN! EVER! Well, maybe a few generations after the great financial reset and the ensuing wars and revolutions have been forgotten by 95% of humanity, and the other 5% has burned and sealed all the evidence it ever occured in such a dramatic fashion...
Lets see.
O'Bama comes in with a dimwit House & Senate and sends Rahm out to announce a 400 billion dollar "continuing budget resolution" where they pull every pork barrel wet dream project off the shelf and cram it through.
Then its...bailout car companies & crush bondholders, cash for clunkers, cash for caulkers...for untold billions.
Then its "shovel ready" time, with Sheriff Joe on watch for any graft & corruption at places like Solyndra, BrightSource, Tesla, Fisker ad nauseum...a cool 787 billion.
Saaay...we're startin to talk some real money here huh?
Then its O'BamaCare (in the dead of night) with them saying its passage would reduce the cost of healthcare $2,500 a family per year (it rose $2,500 a year), reduce the deficit, increase employment and trim nose hair in 80yr old women (fluffy bunnies & spring flowers forever)...all without no one actually reading the damned bill...900 billion.
On top of this, they started the wonderful practice of not passing a yearly fiscal budget...not to say O'Bama didn't offer one...but the last one he submitted couldn't get even one vote in a dimwit controled Senate. You know its gotta be a laugher when Reid can't stop guffawing long enough to hit the yea button.
On top of that (with blank checks in hand) its drone attacks on mud huts in Paaawwwkeeestaaahn...a few million for Egyptian generals and a billion for AQ rebels in Libya...a few million for guns to Mexican narco-terrorists and a little walkin around money for Chuckie Schumer & da boys of Goldman via Benny Inkjet.
3.7 trillion so far and counting on his watch.
Fuckin' sweet, dude!
BTW, how'd the final tally come out last night, ZH vs Krugman?
I had to leave early. But I understand from others he kept buggin everyone for another bailout, so he got thrown out a window.
We honor the desires of others here ;-)
I wonder what Pelosi's net worth on that chart would look like? I mean with the preferential IPO offers, etc.
Those symbols on the currency are an exact copy of the reverse side of the 'Great Seal of the United States' ... which was finalised in 1782 - seven years before even the Constitution was finalised!!!
The secret handshake was very much a part of the takeover of the 13 independent states by the central planners of Washington, DC. Even the symbolism of the 'Eye of Providence' as the capstone of the pyramid of 13 steps should have been a warning that the 13 original independent states were about to lose all sovereignty to Washington (known as 'Rome on the Potomac' at that time)!
Historical Note: The 'Eye of Providence', or 'All-Seeing Eye of God', was first seen in a painting at exactly the same time that the Jesuits were being founded ... 250 years before 1776 and 200 years before the first Masonic Grand Lodge was convened.
Massive corruption and waste and greed....these are the results.
However, these are also some of the qualities that differentiate us from the lower ape-forms.....call it "Human Nature"
most humans that I know are not MASSIVELY corrupt and wasteful. They try to be good and have conscious.
But with capitalism placing money at the top, everyone is forced to make as much money as possible or else risk getting left behind.
Phil, Sorry but I beg to differ in lumping libertarians with the 1%. Hardly any of them of libertarian especially those who benefit massively from the subsidies in which you speak about. Libertarianism is about free markets, not markets regulated by government to provide massive advantages and profits to their corporate benefactors. That's crony capitalism. Many of the subsidies that are on the right of the diagram from the center of american progress would go under a libertarian (read Ron Paul) administration because it's a blatant distortion of the market and one of the key reasons for the stagnation of growth of the economy and jobs. Unless the markets for energy, finance, agriculture and healthcare are freed from legislation that distorts the energy market for gas and oil, distorts the financial markets through fiat money and central banks and distorts the agricultural markets towards subsidized GMO and steroid laced food (see USDA spending resources prosecuting farms for having raw milk but doing nothing for frankenfarms with rapant antibiotic, steroid use with animals force fed GMO feed), and eliminates barriers to a real free market for healthcare so that healthcare providers in different forms of medicine are free to provide their services without threats and raids from the FDA, we will not get out of this mess. One can also say the same of the government presence in education where students are laden with $1 trillion in debt but don't have the qualifications to find a job.
It should be rather obvious since in all of these feeds profits are so high which in a free market would attract new entrance and lead to price compression. For examples of this, look at the computer or mobile industries since they are two of the few areas where we have relatively free markets. Quality has gone up, prices have gone down. As it should in a free market.
As usual, Phils Stock World = worthless trite. I only choke down his articles to painfully read what leftists are spewing. He should be a contributor to the Huffington Post and The Workers Daily.
This article is a product of the progressive/fascist left, as evidenced by the use of the term "do-nothing Congress", a recent phrase spread by the Obamanoids. The author turned an article on Spain's election into a rant fitting of MoveOn dullards, including the part about the Koch brothers. Where is the factual basis for trying to connect the Koch brothers' gains to employment losses? Would you rather the Koch brothers lost money when employment fell? Kyle Bass did a wonderful job refuting the fallacy that investors should refrain from making money when the others encounter failure. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsCGI7s1SBg for the interview.
I don't care too much about how much money others have as long as it is not coercively taken from me. That is why I oppose crony capitalism and long for small government. This article is a political POS and says nothing of which Soros would disapprove.
"I don't care too much about how much money others have as long as it is not coercively taken from me"
one word: inflation
People who understand know that it's never been about money, it's about opportunity. People who would divide our country for their own purposes never talk of opportunity, they scream about class warfare.
I guess that is one way to phrase it: "opportunity". Another is to call it "power". People without opportunity are powerless. People with opportunity have some power of self-determination. People who can deny others opportunity and self-determination have power over them.
Debt enslavement, administrative laws, taxes, peer review, addiction, welfare, polarization, propaganda, the ability to imply the threat of force and all other power infused control mechanisms decrease opportunity and self determination.
And I agree, monetary systems are simply mechanisms and money a tool.
Inflation is kind of the "a nice dinner and some lube" of "coercively taken"...
Longing for small government is great. Assuming that millions of jobs will follow with it is delusional.
Agreed. The implication is that competition and free markets will follow once the government and government support for monopolies and debt enslavement get out of the way.
Competition and free markets create jobs.
Comming to America. Cage Homes for Hong Kong Poor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4jjdRzy3w&feature=g-all
I like the Koch chart. It really spells out whats wrong with economy and why just dropping tax rates doesnt always mean higher employment. These people are living in the past. You need new entrepreneurs, new blood, new ideas to increase employment. Its too concentrated currently. Not enough competition across various industries exist today.
In a business one would call it a misallocation of resources. Resources are overly allocated to the inefficient and non-value adding instead of the productive. This country has too much self-propagating non-productive overhead.
government is not charity. The sooner everyone realizes that the better off everyone will be, except of course the bureaucrats who draw power from that mistaken belief.
No, government takes their money by force and gives it to enslave.
The Poor that fall into the Government help area do live well. Better than the average Middle Class person.
They get Monthly Checks, Section 8 housing were they may only pay $10., Food Stamps, Free Medical Care, Prescriptions, energy subsidies to pay all of their electric and heat, free cell phones, etc. Plus, for every child they have they get even more money and a bigger house. Most do have Big Screen TV's, buy Center cut steaks and live high on the hog. Plus, they can get all the food they want for free at the pantries, all they have to do is to show their Freedom Card.
I know I rent a property in one of those neighborhoods. The Big Screen TV takes up the whole living room. Plus, what is really a shame is that they do not work or contribute to society. They sit on the front portch all day. Well, then again why would they work when all of their needs are taken care of?
If you you believed anything you said, you will live poor! You sir are a fracking idoit! You know nothing of the poor you Cock Brother from another mother! Another Cock Brother Troll!
"EXCEPT, of course, aid to the poor. THAT they can cut and cut and cut and cut. "
god bless you!.....i assure you that sodom and gomorrah will have it easier on the day of the judgment than the arrogant plutocrats of america and the international 1% who have not strengthened the hand of the poor.....it is of an absolute truth that those wicked servants of mammon will be utterly humiliated and stripped of all wealth, power, and prestige....the first shall be last and the last first....
A person who brings a child into this world with no means to care for it, premeditatively relying on public assistance to feed and clothe it, using it to get subsidized shelter, letting it run loose as a teen while making another baby to replace its lost affection - is that person first or last?
Agree. Have an 18 month old daughter and I cannot imagine that kind of thinking. Its another level of discussion as you wander into value systems, but this is where the collision with economics happens. Some of us save, live conservatively, have families, workable debt and look out for ourselves. Its used to mean something to save $500k, buy some tax free munis and retire. Today, the average person has about 10K to their name, they get the same amount of money as the guy that saved and are upset about it?? The guy that saved is punished for being rich, the guy that collects gets relief for being poor.
Heard somebody say recently that if you want to live the American dream you'd better move to somewhere like Denmark.
What is laughable is that Phil is all proud and excited about being to able to play the very game that he doesn't even realize he is blaming for the disastrous tipping of the playing field.
It's a fool's errand to try to beat the GS's and the major hedge funds of the world at their own game, brother. You got to take away the financial toys, bring transparency to it all, change the rules of the game, throw the cheaters in jail.
you are absolutely right. Until a level playing field is established, the GS's and hedge funds accessing every possible inside info will always have a better (corrupt) hand. Lets see if the regulators have the ballz to create a transparent venue. Highly unlikely. Everyone seems to be in bed with them.
where's jon corzine?
Sighting at Winesburg Inn. Don't give up. He's around.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rlV1x-MDw#t=0m50s
Both fricking parties are screwing us. While the author blames the repubs for all our woes remember the Dems past the extension this time. The Dems did not garner one vote for the Obama job plan, not one. Yet we are told it is all the repubs fault. I am so tired of the games played by both when they are basically the same. I knew this outscome was coming when they put Kerry in charge.
Ilene open your eyes both parties just screwed us all!