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Super Tuesday Committee Failure - So What?
Super Tuesday Committee Failure - So What?
Courtesy of Phil of Phil's Stock World
Long live the Debt! In case you are voting in the next election - here are 12 people to get rid of. Much as I may blame one party over another for this failure, they all deserve what's coming to them for A) Pretending they were going to accomplish something and B) For not now getting up and making very strong statements denouncing the corruption in politics that make it impossible for Congress to do the Nation's business anymore.
In case you happen to be a Fox News viewer, I will try to keep this VERY simple because, as it turns out, we now have definitive studies that prove Fox News MAKES YOU STUPID. Of course, it is possible that only stupid people watch Fox News but I know many people who think they are smart and watch Fox News so I have to blame Fox News here as do researchers at Farleigh Dickenson University who found "The results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all." As I can tell you from raising my own children to be good citizens:
The biggest aid to answering correctly is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which leads to a 6-point decrease in identifying the protesters as Republicans, and a 12-point increase in the likelihood of giving the correct answer. "Jon Stewart has not spent a lot of time on some of these issues," said Cassino. "But the results show that when he does talk about something, his viewers pick up a lot more information than they would from other news sources."
Watching Fox News, by the way, led to an 18-point disadvantage (out of 53% of all respondents) in being able to answer questions like "Were Egyptians successful in overthrowing Hosni Mubarak" or "Has the Syrian uprising been successful" but that was a Fox viewer's area of expertise compared to having a clue of what is going on in American politics other than "Obama sucks." Tied with Daily show viewers for best informed were NPR supporters but, sadly, only 21% of Americans get their news from NPR and only 18% from the Daily Show while 64% list Fox News as one of their frequent news sources.
In another study, World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation.
So the more you watch, the less you know. Or to be precise, the more you think you know that is actually false. This study corroborates a previous PIPA study that focused on the Iraq war with similar results. And there was an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that demonstrated the break with reality on the part of Fox viewers with regard to health care. The body of evidence that Fox News is nothing but a propaganda machine dedicated to lies is growing by the day.
In eight of the nine questions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP). That’s a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just aint so:
- 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
- 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
- 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
- 60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
- 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
- 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
- 56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
- 38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
- 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)
The conclusion is inescapable. Fox News is deliberately misinforming its viewers and it is doing so for a reason. Every issue above is one in which the Republican Party had a vested interest. The GOP benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The results were apparent in the 2010 elections as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News.
OK, sorry Fox viewers, I will stop now but the reason I think it is important to point this out is that, if Fox is misinforming you about the political situation in this country - what makes you think you aren't being misinformed economically as well? Ah, now you see my point (if you haven't been watching so much Fox that your brain has melted, of course) - not only does Conservative media warp your view of political reality and cause you to make poor voting decisions but that same misguided view of the World could also be causing you to make poor investing decisions as well - now do you care?
What you BELIEVE about the economy, our Government, China, Europe, Congress, the jobs situation, taxation, etc. etc. matters A LOT in forming, not only your investing decisions but the decisions you make while you hold a trade - whether to stick with a position or panic out - for example.
If you are not getting the best information from your news sources - then how can you expect your investing decisions to be accurate? Is it a mere coincidence that investors have lost Trillions of Dollars since Rupert Murdoch took over the Wall Street Journal? My lawyers say I should conclude that maybe it is but - I'll report, you decide...
I think it's important to spend at least 25% of your time reading sources that totally disagree with you (and, for most of our Members, articles like this fill their quota!). Following my own advice, I end up watching a lot of Fox myself but, thankfully, because I also watch and read other sources - I can clearly see it for the BS it is. Sadly, the same "quality" of information has been creeping into the WSJ as well - yet it is still the premier source of Financial Information in the World. That's what Murdoch got for his $5Bn - CREDIBILITY. It is interesting to note though, that NWS has already written off half of that goodwill after just 4 years - founded in 1889, that's a lot of credibility to burn through in just 4 years!
I would never say don't read the WSJ - in fact, it's great to have both Fox News and the Journal to refer to because the investors who do use those sources (and haven't lost all their money yet) are EXTREMELY non-critical as a group and pretty much just react to whatever they are told by their "trusted" sources. Much as the same way we watch Cramer so we can see where he is herding his sheeple so we can bet against them at the top.
By all means use these "valuable" "news" sources - but PLEASE recognize them for what they are.
Cutting through the noise and finding the true value of stocks, bonds, commodities etc. should be the ONLY concern of investors - not whether or not their political agenda is "winning" at any given time. Right now, we should all be concerned about the deteriorating Global Economic Outlook, highlighted by this morning's 20% drop in the US Q3 GDP Estimate (2nd), now 2%, down from 2.5%
Leaving the MSM behind - rather than focus on the drop, let's focus on the up 2%. Our economy, all $16,000,0000,000,0000 of it, is 2% bigger ($320Bn) than it was last year. "Wait a minute," a non-Fox viewer may say "doesn't that mean that, on average, Corporate America is doing BETTER this year?"
Now, you would need an NPR viewer to figure this out but the fact that our GDP is UP 2% and the S&P is flat - means that if you have companies that are underperforming the S&P and don't have particular special problems like MS (down 51%), THC (down 35%), GNW (down 55%), BK (down 40%), BTU (down 45%), WFR (down 62%), CNX (down 23%), JNPR (down 41%), SCHW (down 36%), AA (down 40%), GS (down 46%) and WHR (down 45%) - then perhaps there are some investing opportunities to be had here.
WHR is a nice one, for example. At $48.49, they are down over $30 since last Thanksgiving but, as far as I know, people still like to wash and dry their clothes using machines - it's not a fad! WHR's sales have been steady for the past 3 years but their profits have improved substantially, dropping their p/e to 8 based on expected 2012 earnings of $6.32 per share. You know, it's one thing to bet WHR isn't worth 15x earnings or 10x earnings but 8x is getting kind of silly, don't you think?
Not only that, but we can hedge our entry into WHR further to cover an even bigger dip. The company pays a $2 per share dividend, so we don't want to miss that but we can take advantage of the high VIX by selling the 2013 $45 calls for $10.20 and the 2014 $40 puts for $8.50 for a net entry of $29.79/34.90 so, if called away at $45, you make a 50% net profit PLUS the $2 dividend or, if WHR hits 2014 under $40, you run the risk of owning 2x your initial entry at net $34.90, which is 30% below the current price.
Obviously, if you think WHR will go lower than $34.90 (and we can assume the S&P will drop a good 20% along with it to around 950 or lower) - then why would you be buying stocks in the first place? But, if you were browsing the gun rack at WMT and didn't have the urge to buy a gross of automatic rounds to defend you bunker - then constructing trades like this with some of your sidelined cash could be a very wise move.
When we combine hedged entries like this with additional hedges, like the EDZ spreads we took in Member Chat recently or the Dow spreads we'll be taking today if we can't hold 11,500 (our line for shorting the Futures, along with oil (/CL) at $97.50). On the whole, we were bullish into yesterday's close because I felt that the GDP would be more or less in-line and, even if it isn't - we have the Fed Minutes later and the tea leaves should be able to be interpreted as bullish BECAUSE of the weak GDP report.
The Fed MUST act - the consequences of not acting could be watching things go so bad that action will no longer be effective - that would not be rational and, in the end, most people act rationally, even politicians, but we don't blame them - they've been watching Fox....
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Gee, Ilene, c'mon: [my comments in brackets]
and ya gotta watch out the perversion of statistics goin' on. Why, I have it on good authority from your column that "138 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP". Of course, this comment by Kayman will change as the data roll in ;-)
- Ned
{I think u need a good dose of "Chris Mathews" from this weekend, despite his tingle, it has worn off and he is looking for actual orderz from hiz Furher to go marching off into -- a place that he has no clue what to do or where it is.}
"This country is in bankruptcy, we have to deal with it, we can't remain in denial" Dr. Ron Paul, 11/20/11
There are holocaust deniers, climate change deniers, perhaps we need a new category for Ilene - economic crisis deniers...........
We ain't in bankruptcy till Trump says we are.
Fifteen trillion dollars. BoFA holding 50 to 90 trillion in whatever that shit is called wealth.
That casts a long shadow over the paltry sum being gamed as "unpayable" and unsupportable.
Bullshit.
We have a tax crisis. No pay, no play.
I find it ironic that the Teahad occupied public parks, and the the 99er's occupied a private one.
How fucked up is that?
There are more than enough 1 percenter's out there to tax and they're still filthy stinking rich. Crisis?
Bullshit. More like head up our asses and watch it take us all down as filthy stinking rich sympathizers.
As long as banks have the inside track on this shit, we're all fucked, fed or no fed.
Ron Paul next sock puppet to GS.
One man a solution to fucked does not make.
Phil, you dumbfuck. what people believe based on vague, a or b. yes or no situations like these is indeterminable. do i believe my sister-in-law is a slut, yes or no? well, she's an insecure flirt, but that type of nuance is too complicated for a nimrod like you. all you are doing is showing your politics. yes, self-reinforcing information traps an open mind, but you don't mention the sycophantic MSNBC chumps because you must sympatize with their views.. i call shenanigans!
I'll admit to being somewhat in agreement with you, in general, sorta. (I don't really know your sister.) I watch all the networks to some degree and for some particular pundits/shows. From Fox to the "liberal" spectrum. I figger it's good to see what others are seeing, regardless of their political or social inclinations. Perspective is important in making decisions, and how can one have perspective looking out only one window? I also figger that the propensity of those who make Fox their sole source of "news" were already stupid when they got there. Where's the news in reporting that? It doesn't take a survey.
Liberal university think-tanks produced studies that show Fox viewers are "misinformed"? Say it ain't so!
I like the "Sheeple" magazine spoof, but the "Fox sucks, NPR is great" line is hackneyed.
NPR anchors and listeners can be some really arrogant myopic sycophants.
The links to the "studies" show that they are heavily biased and opinionated. Rachel Maddow of MSNBC? Please.
None of the media outlets, nor anyone leaning liberal or conservative, truly "get it".
Politics is the distraction.
Modern media is not journalism but an extension of partisan politics whose antecedent is simplistic ideologies dating back to the 1800's and a world that no longer exists.
You are straying into the fields of delusion where the FED, or politicians of either side, can solve any of our problems.
Yea, they are called Rand Corperation ran out of the Pentagon. Think tank? no, Global and public opinion shapers.. yes.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=RAND_Corporation
Let's see which networks bother to cover ClimateGate 2.0 (Fox may have given a 1.0 a 10 second spot), another 5,000 emails showing AGW is mostly non-sense and what these a-holes are up to.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100119087/uh-oh-global-warming-loons-here-comes-climategate-ii/
Yup, human caused pollution is good for the planet....so is sleeping in ur garage w/ the door shut and the car running...Ubetcha!
If carbon is a pollutant then all 6 billion of us humans are polluting the planet with every exhale.
Come to think of it isn't evrything living on planet earth carbon based?
The question you should be asking yoursellf is: Why would someone want to label a necesary chemical to all life a pollutant?
Again....if you really think that what you exhale is the same as what your car exhales then please try my sleep in the garage experiment. Cya in the morning.
Wow, is this a dumb comment. I mean, really, really dumb. By your logic, since humans need water, they should inhale it. Actually, maybe you should.
FUCK ILENE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks a lot Ilene, that is the last time I waste my time reading one of your articles. You are a moron
Ilene & Phil...from Phil's Stock World are fucking liberal cunts! NPR.....you got to be shitting me! Jon Stewart.....I got a fuckin bridge in the Sahara I need to sell you liberal pukes!!!!!!!
I thought the article was sarcasm and laughed violently until I realized someone was being serious,
I'd like to do a study called 'Who watches t.v. anymore, and why would they believe anything they heard on the idiot box?'
Do not watch television: Today's couch potatoes are tomorrows marauding zombies.
Yes, FOX News does make you stupid. So does CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Cartoon Network....Etc.....
Why do you think our stupid politicians want to censor the internet? Obvious really. http://n4g.com/news/615529/us-congress-trying-to-censor-internet
I take issue with including Cartoon Network™ in that group of wastrels!
There. Fixed it.
Pundits are neither fair nor balanced. Ilene needs to go write for huffpo! Ilene here is a clue none of them are fair and none of them make you smart. LOL what a joke of an article.
Don't know what to think of Phil pumping Herman Cains WHP (he is a director). Is that to fit with his "non-political bias" theme?
Def time to get your chips on the table. Domestic economic news has been improving as of late and 4Q looks like we will see additional improvement, Santa Rally here we come. Feel like I am the only one net long for the holiday around here though. Plan to buy into the rally next week. May the force be with us, lol.
It looks like you may get some really good deals. LOL
Now, we get to watch everyone from the White House, to Congress, to the Fed, to the U. S. Treasury play "I got it, you take it". We'll see things that nobody could make up. Fiction couldn't be any less believable.
http://georgesblogforum.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-daily-climb-2/
I don't think your "story" about FOX is either fair or balanced. Every single goon-squad MSM outlet is biased left-wing , except for FOX, which is biased right wing. And so you pick on FOX??? And if you think that GDP increased 2% last year, you're drinking your own koolaid. This must mean that everyone who reads John Williams is down 50 IQ points as well. And as far as the Great Pretender is concerned, I'm sticking with radio station WRIF in Detroit, who interviewed the proud Kenyan mayor of Barry's home town on inaugeration day 2009. So stop with your snide bias against the right, and just peddle your stocks as the world implodes, just like everyone else is.
PS: I love John Stewart, even if he is a left-wing prick at times.
It's Media Jim, but not as we know it! :>D
Look at it this way.. There is no Left and there is no Right when it comes to voting on Bills in the House or the Senate so I guess we are the suckers and they are fulfilling their owners bidding.
Again, do not listen what they say, look up how they voted.
"63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)"
This item is most certainly unclear. Maybe them FAUX viewers aren't that dumb after all...
It is clear to many because they have seen the computer screen version of a birth certificate and had many people they don't know tell them it's the real deal. That's proof??? Where are all those interviews with the neighbors who cooed over him when he was brought home from the hospital, the kids who played with him as a kid. the girls who dated him in high school, etc. This man has so little depth to his history that it make it seem feasible the documentation was cooked up in some back room.
Most likely we will need to accept that he really is ours but I for one would like him to belong to someone else.
My THC isn't down 35%. Dammit.
The economy is getting better?
The economy is getting better? Only if you are on the receiving end of all the Crony Capitalism eg. Solyndra, AFLCIO, ACORN (or whatever they are named now) etc....
The rest of us have to figure out how to grow our money in ZIRP world.
In 2008 I thought the hole, these baffoons in DC dug, couldn't get any deeper. 3 years later they are still digging.
When will the insanity end?
I couldn't even waste a cup of coffee on this article...
Only a very stupid bitch still believes that any one party is at all significantly different than the other. Each party has members in the CFA, Bilderburgs, Trilateral Commission, and all the other NWO proponents, that enision a totalitarian feudal state for us all. Oh! Ilene will be one of the new elites? Sorry, my bad.
Agree. She does not watch Fox, but instead gets her news from cnn and Pmsnbc, for their decidedly LIBERAL slant on things.
I'll not be reading anymore of her shit.
I gave it a one for the CRAP it is.
I think we are expecting to much from a television viewing populace that only knows how to drool and nod.
There are idiots everywhere smiley. FOX provides the CFR's Coke candidate and the rest of the networks provide the CFR's Pepsi candidate.
And when you use "to" as an alternative to "very" or "also", you need to add another "o".
I was referring to television in general; guess I should have been more specific about that. I have become very distrustful and skeptical of all the information coming out of the idiot box and have decided to banish it from my life; 2 years now with no TV and I feel great. People that obsess about sit-coms, evening news, and reality TV really weird me out.
Thanks for the grammar tip: I will revise my use of the words "to" and "too" in the future.
I stopped watching the news on TV about 4 months ago. Now I'm yelling at my computer monitor.
This "Phil" character is a moron. I was hoping I could leave his crap at seekingalpha.
shit! i wanted to be first! great article
lol
Holy Crap! You expect these people to "read" something? Besides the sport pages? Frickin' Optimist...
All kidding aside - these people want simple solutions. They want black and white; good guys and bad guys; etc. (Hint - neither party is a "good guy".)
Bumper sticker solutions...bumper sticker theology...someone - please think for me.
You have to give Fox credit - they recognized the stupidity of their audience and are profiting mightily from it.
Drivel, you should be banned for wasting our time.
I will avoid Ilene. youlene, we allene.
We allene for ice cream!
So . . the point of this wasn't the "super committee" but your dislike for Fox News. Great. Thanks a lot.
Duh, all the "real news" comes out of MSNBC and occasionally the New York Times.
GET A FUCKING LIFE!
You first.