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Hope, Change, & Economic Reality (In Two Cartoons)
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Its so accurate it's sad really....
This is how the 47% gets grown to a solid 53, after which you wait for a couple of supreme court justices to kick off, then bam, the FCC is your editorial board, and the NSA tells the Feds where to find all the guns. End of the American experiment in liberty.
Where is the Fed, two-team support for endless MIC spending, two-team support for endless spending on the NSA and Homeland Security, and oligarch offshoring in the cartoon? Oh right. The problem with the economy must literally be drawn to foster the Teams matter paradigm. Weekend ZH.
WHITE Unicorn??? This is racist! ;-)
Looney
presented with no comment ....http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/f/4/4/obama-unicorn-riding.jpg
Not even a smidgen of corruption.
Shovel ready....
What a disappointment: we genuinely had been (mis)led to believe that the sun shone out of his arse, not hands!
Stallion, Unicorn, a tie, multicolor rays......
What are you trying to say ????
that the only thing real is the narwhal tusk.
"Where is the Fed, two-team support for endless MIC spending, two-team support for endless spending on the NSA and Homeland Security, and oligarch offshoring in the cartoon?"
Ummm, because its about the CBO's conclusion of what will happen if O'Barry's proposal to hike the minimum wage to $10.10 is implemented and not how much the government spends on bullshit?
Which is nothing but cover for the real reasons the economy has gone to shit, and a distraction rom those reasons. Throwing red meat to the Red Team cheereaders at ZH seems to be the new normal here.
You know...SOME things the Red Team says are actually true. Has that ever occured to you?
But these are not the things.
These are popular Red Team lies that are merely a distraction from the issues listed by nmewn above.
For what they have already spent "bailing out" the TBTJs, they could have sent every American (whether a card carrying FSA member or not) a check for what, about $250,000? Of course that would produce some real inflation, but that wasn't the point of this post.
What "Red Team" lies? The ones introduced by LemmeEatYours as the Red Teams?
Last I saw O'Barry was droning American citizens and sending Holder up to Congress to defend it.
Yeah, he's been trying to "compromise" with the Red Team on the military front... they still aren't going to like him.
The lies outlined in the keypost. One being that a minimum wage hike would kill jobs. Modern central planning has divorced taxes from spending, and jobs from pay rates. If pay rates needed to be kept low, the big cheeses wouldn't need those 7 and 8 figure salaries, would they? Life is good if you're a central planner. Meanwhile jobs are bing killed by sending them to Asia. Even with a minimum wage of $0, we aren't going to compete with what amounts to slavery.
If either team really wanted to right the econmy they could start by breaking up the big financial parasites and prosecuting the fraudsters.Slap some tariffs on imports, or at least stop subsidizing "free trade" with tax breaks. Unpopular as that idea is with the Red Team, it would encourage some industry to repatriate.
And big infrastructure projects really do stimulate the economy -- the Interstate Highway system, for example. The "infrastructure investments" we have seen (e.g. Solyndra) have been nothing but schemes to launder federal money into political slush funds. If the solar industry received ten percent of the subsidies the oil companies have received, every house would have solar panels on the roof.
Yeah, his MIC bullshit is getting as old as his ObamaCare betrayed me bullshit.
This:
"If the solar industry received ten percent of the subsidies the oil companies have received, every house would have solar panels on the roof."
No corporation should be subsidized with taxpayer money. Period. Its an economically viable industry or its not.
But then this now comes into play, within the statist box mindset, they make a law that forces "big oil" to build infrastructure to refine corn into fuel when their business is oil. They have been "injured" (monetarily) by passage of that law to build refining capacity for ethanol.
They seek compensation for that injury and we have...a subsidy. Seems fair but its within the statist matrix isn't it? ;-)
Now I don't know if thats the subsidy you're talking about but the government receives royalty payments for extracting oil on land they have confisc..., well, "purchased" with MY money/debt so I can't really call that a subsidy, if thats what you meant.
The invasion of Iraq was a gigantic oil subsidy. It probably benefitted some other things as well..
And that "argument" ladies and gentlemen, shows the value of an American public school education. Can you believe Americans pay over $20K a year in public school outlays for that level of cognitive analysis??????? No wonder it's so easy to hook them with the left-right bait.
And before you ask, my counter-argument would be Iraq was the largest American blunder in FP since Mossadegh. The road to that folly started from a Grand Chessboard theory in a tight circle of neocons (silly word which is basically a 70's international liberalism FP paired with the 80's free-trade domestic Republicanism) with a truly evil VP in their pocket who knew how to manipulate a simple POTUS with deep "daddy doesn't love me" issues.
Saying it was "all about oil" is as valuable as saying WWI only happened because an Austrian crown prince and his Hungarian bride ate some lead in Sarajevo.
LMAO
That makes me think of the guy yelling at the cop for giving him a speeding ticket... which he fully deserved, because the cops ought to be catching the murderers and rapists. Those are far more important crimes after all.
It's true that rape and murder is a lot worse, but that doesn't mean that calling someone out for blowing through a neighborhood at high speed with a bunch of little kids playing at the crowded parks on both sides of the street is somehow FALSE.
Both things can be true at the same time.
It's called the Hegelian dialectic; e.g., did OJ kill two people or did the LAPD plant evidence?
If you listen to what they say instead of what they do. What they do would be the problem. For example, how many Red Team members have advocated for shrinking government, with which I agree? Pretty much all of them. Perhaps your username is appropriate if you don't see the difference between what they say and what they do.
Oh trust me...I'm the first person to jump up and blow the whistle on good old Red Team vs Blue Team BS, but I have no problem saying when one is right in reality and one is wrong. YOU just have a problem with anything posted on this site that vaguely resembles a Red Team argument. In pretty much every article it's guaranteed to find you in the comments doing it again and again and again.
But you are 100% right about the Teams' rhetoric being different and actions being the same.
So I'm correct, but you don't like the fact that I called out the Red Team red meat distraction. Got it.
Nice strawman. Your original comment I responded to was: "Which is nothing but cover for the real reasons the economy has gone to shit, and a distraction rom those reasons. Throwing red meat to the Red Team cheereaders at ZH seems to be the new normal here."
There are some new "reasons" making the economy even worse, covered in the cartoons, and the Red Team is right about it. Why is this so hard to understand?
Anytime Zerohedge agrees with Blue Team I never see you bitching in the comments. Your name also has an interesting resemblance to YAY GO BLUE TEAM!!!
Yeah, when I routinely say I'm against raising the minimum wage becauase it will continue to destroy what is left of small business, and against Obamacare because it is a health care industry wet dream give away, my Blue Team colors are really showing through. You don't see it because of the Red Team glasses, but it's there to read.
Well then you better slap yourself on the wrist for "distracting from the real issues".
When I'm posting articles here instead of making comments I'll slap myself.
Is it not better to light a candle than to curse the darkness?
It would seem to me that you'd do a lot more for your cause, whatever that may be, to write a cogent article clearly explaining reality as you see it and perhaps opening the eyes of some of us on here with some new ways of seeing things, or maybe even a new paradigm. I think many people on here are open to new ideas if they're well explicated and seem to be a better fit or explanation of the reality we can see and experience.
Attacking and ranting probably won't convince many people you are right in your views, whatever they may be.
I'm ranting?
Constantly
LOL. Someday maybe he will actually read Atlas Shrugged. Then, maybe, the rants will become more cogent and less like madly whirling dust storms of diatribe. After all one of Ayn's main lessons is to seek precision and excellence in everything we do. ;~p
I'm ranting?
No, You're butthurt there's red meat on this site.
I suggest Wapo and HuffPo to soothe your aching anus.
^obama fellationist
Not really. These types of arguments (in the cartoons) only work in a reality-based economy. I don't mean the government side of things being a fantasy, I mean the 'private' sector fantasy. Check the p/e on 'top 20' company amzn? And how they treat their labour? Or how about this:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2...
^ that says it. Remember, fed is a private institution. The talk about minimum wage is a bunch of bullshit, the truth is the business school grads only understand two ways of increasing profits: lower interest rates & slashing labour costs. Raising minimum wage is a big threat to their skin, so you see a major effort by the mass media to paint the dangers of raising minimum wage.
How much out of the msm about the fed / s&p? Oh nothing? Yeah, cause it's not to their benefit!
Riddle me this, how many of these companies have their fortunes intertwined with major .gov support:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/performers/compan...
McDonalds was happy to take a bailout in 2008, but don't raise the minimum wage. Don't you get it? That's fucking with the market. Do that and it's game over!!
Obama wants to raise the minimum wage to keep the Blue Team voters voting Blue Team, and more importantly to distract both Team voters away from the fact that there are no real jobs left due to the policies of both Teams over the last 40+ years. Raising the minimum wage is putting a bandaid on an amputated penis and wishing the patient a good fuck.
Sure it's political, but it'll be beneficial to the people who get the riase. Cue the 'inflation' argument - which I love, because these guys debase the currency to keep their insolvent companies afloat sending inflation to the entire world and then at home talk about how raising minimum wage would be a major cause of inflation!
The balls on that group... and on here you got people laughing at venezuela "idiot socialists" yeah, and if moodys actually rated UST where it should be relative to economic policies (their argument for having dropped venezuela) at lets say Caa1, America would fucking implode instantly. Yes folks, having the largest military in the world helps you not go belly up at home.
Why can't anyone connect these obvious dots?
/rant
My issue is that it doesn't solve anything, and only causes more problems. We need to end trade agreements with slave labor countries and real wages will return and the population won't be arguing over a couple of dollars an hour. And End the Fed.
My issue is that it doesn't solve anything, and only causes more problems.
Solve things?? Of course not. But it would help out a few million people and hopefully start to move the conversation back to respecting labour a bit more.
End the fed? Yeah, good luck with that. And on trade - right now TPP is being negotiated (the actual content a total secret of course) the entire point of which is almost certainly to screw labour a little bit harder than nafta / wto. How much is TPP being covered on the tevee? Right. But minimum wage...?
And even on zh, how many articles on TPP?
I hear you on helping the little guy and I get that a few bucks an hour more would help a lot of little guys who keep their jobs. My primary issue with the minimum wage is that it would destroy a lot of small business where margin matters, and effectively end those jobs while further strengthening the strangehold of Giant Corp. USA on the economy. It's a zero-sum game.
If only ZH would spend more effort on things like TPP. But I also understand that shit like this cartoon/article generate clicks. The way of the world.
My primary issue with the minimum wage is that it would destroy a lot of small business where margin matters, and effectively end those jobs while further strengthening the strangehold of Giant Corp. USA on the economy.
That's another popular argument big business uses, historically not demonstrated to be true as not many small businesses actually tend to pay the minimum.
Scroll to the bottom, a pattern emerges on Jobs affected by the minimum wage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_the_United_States
JC, I'm on your side. But small business is getting the squeeze. The answer is not higher wages at Walmart.
Small business gets squeezed 8 ways to Sunday, that's a separate issue. Only reason the two are connected is because it's handy for big $$ to conflat them.
See my above link, the big push behind minimum wage is mostly the NRA (national restaurant association). One of the biggest and most powerful / successful anti-labour groups.
If you notice Gap (not a commedable company) are coming out with their new 10$ wages, good pr move. Guess they didn't get the memo that it'll destroy their business? Wal-mart is even talking about it. Just goes to show the arguments against were bullshit all along.
The problem with raising the minimum wage, and most wages in fact, is that the increases are inherently self-compensating, meaning that unless there is an actual productivity gain, or the person getting the pay increase has relative pricing power, then the increase quickly causes an offsetting increase in general price levels. Therefore, all working class salary increases are given primarily for their perceived motivational and morale effects. Any real purchasing-power benefit is transient by its own nature, the effect being particularly rapid when many people get the raise at the same time.
In fact, wage inflation merely helps support grossly inflated asset prices, which is the real reason it is allowed. If wages were held constant, sooner or later, either workers would be given a share of net productivity gains, or general price levels would be forced to adjust down to levels consistent with the wages actually being paid. This is deflation, which can be termed a net gain in the purchasing power of a fixed amount of money.
Thus, priority is again being put on nominal asset price supports, under the guise of helping the common class.
Yeah you brought up these exact same points last time without addressing what I said, so I'll respond in kind.
- commodities are priced globally (well, mostly priced in london wink wink nudge nudge)
- productivity gains go up many multiples yet wages remain flat...?
Why the fuck would that comment be down voted? I have down voted LTER when I don't agree with a statement, but seriously, who can disagree with this comment?
But I don't see why you're playing the government's divide and conquer game here. No one "on the Red Side" was advocating growing the government or government regulations or government control of anything.
The cartoon was simply calling the Obama administration out on yet one more act of government stupidity, incompetence or perhaps even a deliberate attempt to add more shackles to the economy and you jump in all ticked off wanting to fight them for it. What's up with that?
Are you in favoor of a higher minimum wage? If not, why pick these cartoons or this thread to start attacking ZH and its readers virtually indiscriminately again? There would seem to be better places to vent your rage, and better opportunities to point out some hypocrasy by those you deem your enemies.
But if you ARE in favor of a rise in minimum wage, then why not just make your case?
Im all in favor of a minimum wage increase. I am damn tired of having to use my taxes to supplement people that are actually out there working. I'll gladly pay an extra quarter for a meal in lieu of having my tax dollars supplement corporations. Business will simply have to raise prices a bit or cut their profits a bit to make up for it. It's not rocket science people.
The arguments against are very weak and with little actual substance. It's notgoing to cut jobs or the total sum paid to employees. it never has before. I'm appalled that some in our species would resort to such tactics just to derive people from an honest living in order to bring benefit to themselves. If you aren't a slave employer than you should be in favor of a higher minimum age.
....just because some would piss and shit all over other humans doesn't mean we should allow them to do it.
Paraphrase: "I am damn tired of having to use my taxes to supplement people that are actually out there working and supplement corporations"
You do realize that minimum wage has been increased in the past, yes? If so, how do you explain these things still existing? Would not they have already been taken care of by past min wage increses, following your logic?
Or is the real problem something else? Perhaps control of the money supply causing steady incremental inflation?
Seriously?
.
I could care less what Team Red says. It's what they do that is just as damaging as Team Blue. As a matter of fact they tarnish the idea of liberty as markets by paying it lip service and governing as statist whores.
People have seen their hours cut or have been laid off because of ObamaCare and you still want to follow this fucking clown in a man's suit over the cliff.
I get that all that.
You're a masochist.
Funny, because the last time I checked the economy was in the shitter before Obamacare was a gleam in Zero's eye, and his desired minimum wage increase hasn't happened. I do not agree with either the minimum wage increase or Obamacare, yet I have the eyes to see that neither is even a footnote in the root cause of our problem as a nation.
they dont help
If you're dying of cancer, a mosquito bite doesn't help. I don't like mosquitos, but ZH used to focus much more on the cancer.
After running someone over with a car, the cure is not to back up over them with the hopes the damage will be reversed.
And yet no one is talking about taking away the license of the guy who ran me over.
Yeah, why the fuck aren't they running articles on the TPP?
Good fucking question.
Er, yes, they are. Everyone who wants to end/limit the Fed, force the gov't to live within its means - they are advocating taking the license away from the politicians (Dem/Rep, it doesn't matter) who want to buy votes.
In a balanced budget economy, buying votes is a zero sum game - what you buy for New York, you lose in Illinois and Michigan. In an infinite money economy, buying votes is a 'who can survive the longest' game, because the end result, as we've seen in so many instances such as Zimbabwe, Germany, Argentina, etc. - is always and will always be collapse. So your goal is to siphon as much as you can in ways that can't be easily taken back, live as high off the hog as you can while you can, and hope that when the end comes, your mercenaries have more and better guns than the people you screwed.
What hapened? What caused it to go in the shitter Rand?
Couldn't have possibly had anything to do with Blue Team stepping in and saying loan money to people who can't afford to pay it back could it? Then compound that with your beloved non-regulation of the all seeing, all knowing bureaucracy and the nature of man & money and you have a genuine shitstorm of liar loans.
But yeah, Bwaney, Schumer, Reno, Clinton, Emmanuel, Carter...and yes, Bush...had jack all to do with that. Right?
Maybe I should be moar compassionate this time.
On second thought, no.
You're not really suggesting that the Blue Team is the sole reason for our malaise and it's not the oligarch controlled fake two party system that has sold out the country, are you? If so, I'll stop wasting my time responding to your posts because if you haven't figured it out by now, you're completely hopeless.
I'm suggesting (now that you've diverted the thread to your choosing) the whole purpose of the Federal Reserve is for politicians to promise shit that the people can't afford at the tax base level, while baseline budgeting grows expotentially every year (by their own law) and people like you can never seem to say cut taxes and force them to live within their means.
Thus, strangling the very things you rant & rave about at the source...namely, printing & theft.
That is the jist of the problem LTER and nmewn.
Gov bennies are now better then the minimum wage, so why work. You can sit at home and do better then the minimum wage. I am all for cutting back on the bennies. I am sure I will get down voted but who cares. Both the red and blue team promise shit and then expect, no force me to pay for the shit. The rhetoric just gets old.
The government will never cut and yet some here think raising wages or giving out another freebie to whoever the entity is a good thing. I do not mind paying for infrastrure I use but supporting corporations and those that choose not to work because the bennies are better then working needs to be lowered or eliminated. Now with Obamacare being implemented, this is even more incentive to not work. Why work when you get full healthcare on my back ? Go one dollar over and you get a 325 dollar a month premium with a 5K deductible. All of this is just smoke and mirrors to cover the fact that many people see the financial reality of working at minimum wage vs gov handouts and the gov handouts wins every time. The gov is realizing this and just wants to cover its ass by blaming everyone but themselves and the dumbed down or smart voters depending on your view, voting themselves more freebies because the politicians promise them stuff to stay in office.
We know this cannot be sustained on its current path. Cutting bennies, I wish it would happen but there would be riots in the streets and politicians would be out of a job.
The real reason the economy has gone to shit is because of the cumulative effects of all the central planning. The authoritarians have been pretty good at hiding it's worst effects for years by stealing wealth via inflation and inflated debt issuance at false rates.
But those unsustainable imbalances, like all things can not be hidden forever. We are getting peeks behind the curtain of lies and it's very ugly. Now the authoritarians, like they always have and always will, are trying to create the same scapegoats they have used in the past - profiteers, price gougers, hoarders, racists, hate mongers, media, et al....
Look around the world at where the central planners are in the worst shape. The same bullshit is always spewed. The reasons the system is collapsing is always because of outside influences and so it will be here.
Pick a side; Liberty or slavery. More than half will historically choose the latter and so will you.
Now let me get this straight. We give billions to large corporations that are so badly managed they can't make a profil and stay in business with assets that boggle the mind for the average consumer not to mention billions given to bankers here and abroad because their greed has completely destroyed the banking system in the U.S. yet someone wants to argue that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would actually decrease employment. Of Course it would. Any baboon who understands the absolute minimum about supply and demand economics would be able to divine that. But honestly what difference does it make? You're arguing about the fly in the punch bowl completely ignoring the turds floating nearby. Jeez
Well, thank God we have the IMF stepping up. Yup. Finally green shoots. Yessumm. Not right now. Not this instant. There is planning, coordination to be done. Marshaling, lots. So, later. Actually by Christmas......
Honest.
Fer real.
Stop buying foreign products if you want to keep your job. Traditional economics would suggest that you cannot spend more than you earn nor buy more than you sell. Unless of course someone is willing to loan you the difference, and then THEY own you.
That sounds great on paper, but you're asking people without money because their jobs are long gone to spend more to buy products that mostly don't even exist. The sheep are already in the slaughter house. Looking for the Made in USA label isn't going to fix it.
LTER: You and me... let's keep our own house in order. If we can do that, we can help each other, and others not so fortunate.
Cheers
I didn't down you and I happen to agree with the idea of personal success, but it's not like we live in a free country. This shit doesn't have to be this way. We could have a thriving economy if the oligarchs/bankers didn't own it.
divided we fall
same as it ever was
Your position fails because power isn't resident in banks. Power resides in government. Govt controls the banks and the oligarchs who are all too happy to play along because it means billions for them..... until their usefullness has expired and so will they.
What is with all this Blue or Red Team crapola. Let's start calling the real powers the Thief Team and make it as clear as possible which team is running things.
Hmm. The unions backed Obama.
Buying a UAW vehicle hurts us worse than buying 100% foreign vehicles. Maybe they are unionized or whatever over there, but at least my dollar will go to ruin a foreign country rather than my own.
I'm trying to make sense of what you said, but the logic escapes me even if I try to put it in a Red Team cheereader outfit.
Supporting the UAW hurts the USA. Simple.
The UAW has shrunk massively in the last 40 years. I'm pretty sure that didn't solve anything, and here we find ourselves in a wrecked economy run by oligarchs for oligarchs. Large unions tend to corruption and vote buying, but the fundamental concept of collective bargaining is just as much a right to contract as any. You are blinded by Red Team ideology if you think that unions are the root of all evil.
"all" evil? No just some of it. A major enabler of it and very destructive to lives, industries, communities, liberty, and of course our republic.
There is a reason Unions always side with the communist authoritarians.
Collective bargaining is an infringement on the freedom of contract of individuals. In any other situation, it would be called what it is - a cartel. And speaking of people who are blinded by ideology...
.
@ lter every up arrow i give ya they put on 2 /3 down, wtf's with that?
Thanks, man. Articles like this one bring out the Red Team cheereaders.
it's the false sense of liberty they feel is bestowed upon them with the choices that have to be made, when in fact, the real decisions that have the most effect are being made by the "magical" few, in true plutocrian fashion
suckers to the end.......it's like Bass fishing, if it's shiny and moves they go for it every time
The whole country would be working for less than minimum wage if it wasn't for the unions. And if that is something that you would like to see, you can go fuck yourselves. You deserve to be pissed and shit on like you want employees to be able to be pissed and shit on.
You fuckers are ruining our goddamn country. Take your heads out of your asses you fucking pyschopaths.
ALLOWING CHEAP IMPORTED CARS INTO THE COUNTRY RUINED THE CAR COMPANIES, NOT THE UNIONS. THEY FLOURISHED UNDER UNION WORKERS UNTIL THIS WAS ALLOWED TO HAPPEN. DUMBASSES ALL AROUND!
I'm sorry. But this post is so full of fail that I had to stick my head up into this thread...which has thus far devolved into a game of Whack-A-Mole.
If the whole country was actually working, I would call that a major fucking improvement. And the fact of the matter is that not everyone would be working at wages below $7/hr. I reckon some would make less, and some would make more. I've never worked in a union job, yet somehow I've always managed to get more or less what I feel I'm worth to my employer by negotiating my wage or salary with him.
The only job where I ever made minimum wage was my very first one - at Winn-Dixie, where I started off bagging groceries for $3.10/hr. After the first 40 days doing that, and after I showed up on time and did good work I was "promoted" to stock clerk. Two weeks later, I was making $4/hr.
See? Who the hell stays making minimum wage for so long a period of time? Companies have by and large instituted regular wage increases for employees who have been at the company over time - X raise for Y time in service. It has been like that for every job I have ever had. Every. Single. One.
Now, maybe it is different in the menial service industries these days. Maybe you're stuck making minimum wage for a longer period of time. But isn't that kinda the point? McJobs™ are the kind of jobs that a trained chimpanzee can do...or a robot/machine/coin-op vendor. You don't like getting paid $7.25/hr to flip burgers, operate the fry vat, work the front register? Figure out a way to get out of that job...like onto the managerial track...or into a trade...start your own business...you know...things that Americans just kinda are supposed to do no matter the headwinds. Because at the end of the day, the McDonalds franchise that employs you can pluck some other fuck-nut off the street and train him to do your job today.
Question: Why is it that those imported cars are so cheap?
Answer: Better business model, and lower labor costs.
Detroit's labor costs exploded during those complacent years when American industry was the only game in town. Something about a war that ruined the rest of the world's industrial output. In fact, I think it was a world war. Perhaps even the second one, IIRC.
Once Japan, Germany, and the UK rebuilt, competition came roaring back from overseas trade. Then came Korea, and soon, perhaps China as well. Detroit was unprepared and reaped the whirlwind. The unions were a big reason for that. The post-WW2 economic reality is why Detoit flourished under union workers, not because of some superior business model that the unions were a part of.
Dumbasses all around? Maybe. But you are one of them.
Thank you. I've been making this point here repeatedly. After WWII, only North American industry was untouched and running at peak capacity. Everywhere else, even Britain, there were still giant smoking craters where businesses had been. It took years for the rest of the world to recover from the destruction, while here in North America, we thought we were the best industrial companies world because of some innate superiority. not because our competitors had been busy trying to kill each other for six or so years.
We had a huge advantage over the rest of the world for almost a generation, and while we did make some important headway - computing technology, especially - we were busy giving up many of the tools that had helped us succeed previously, like school standards for both decorum and achievement, public standards of decency, and some shared sense of morality on personal issues (sex, drugs, etc.). We've plunged headlong into a hedonist, secular, value-free society which we can't afford, and, as another poster pointed out, the aging of the baby boom is going to strain key cost centres (medicine, old age pensions) at a time when the younger generation is not prepared to handle the increase.
Unfortunately, any reading of history shows that the type of circumstances are generally met with a war; I hope we survive the next one.
That and 20 million illegals, yearning to EBT.
Not sure why they bother. Vote fraud seems to be working just fine.
AND SEND ALL THOSE ILLEGAL FUCKERS HOME WHILE YOU ARE AT IT.
THIS IS WHY BUSH KNOW HE SHOUD BE HANGING FROM A LAMPPOS- HIS OWN WORDS.
Liberty died a long time ago.
Yup around 1913.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxEHXlYckTY
These are P. A. Luty "expedient" Sub Machine Guns. You can go down to your local hardware store and buy everything you need to manufacture one. It's specifically designed to be buildable in any garage without exotic tools or materials and there are videos of people buildng them on youtube. The plans are freely downloadable on the Internet and as you can see, they do work.
Where are all the guns? At any hardware store.
.
Worries about that are, at a minimum, at least a century too late.
A round of applause for the arrogant narcissistic pathologic lying illegal aluen kenyan muslim sociopath and all its corrupt selfserving politico cronies for making this happen all in the pursuit if votes to keep themselves in overprivileged power. Re-read the Declaration of Independence y'all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHkxVXB37EU
egg sell ant!
Tanks!
Did I see a monkey with a hand grenade in the background of that first cartoon?
@thatthingcanfly
That's the obama fairy
Got to be a Photoshopped fake because the unicorn isn't shitting Skittles.
Dats razzzis!
No rainbow, either. Very suspicious.
Cue Cult_of_Treason calling it a fake and blaming it on a Putin-led conspiracy in 3...2...1...
Thank" I could have been a contender" Obama
I'd sooner see a unicorn than see an American recovery at this point. When does the large scale war start?
why should fraudulent induction of credit fail now?
"feet don't fail me now!" anon.
why does the magic work for the banksters but
not for the economy?
The only thing better than free money is getting interest on it.
Oldwood: Bravo... clap... clap... clap! You must be a Rockefeller.
@oldwood,
that is exactly correct but there is one pitfall.
the base or principal is always a direct debt
or bill that must be reciprocated or resolved
with existing paper or claims (excluding outright fraud)
but the interest is a debt that can only be resolved
in the future and if the circumstances bring
about the paper claim on the future asset. (stealth fraud in
debt saturation environment.)
.
for it, the value of interest, to manifest growth must manifest.
but, the paper is fungible so in the particular case
that is not a problem but at the systemic level
it is essential. this might be one/the dynamic at the
evil core of usury? a temporal shell game that grows
as machines take greater and greater space in the workforce
and the central banks fudge the markets, "money".
"...a temporal shell game that grows as machines take greater and greater space in the workforce and the central banks fudge the markets, "money"."
Exactly. And unsolvable without drastic economic and social restructuring.
This is what's wrong with Umerica.
People keeping Hoping for Change to get better, It's not going to change by itself.
You have to Change and Hope it's for the better.
I keep hoping for a solid Gold Toilet, but that's just not on the cards now is it.
If I sign up, does that mean I can get a "tug and rub" anytime I want one?
It's for the children, of course.
Signed - The Vatican
Yes, but only if you bring a printed copy of the tug and rub code from groupon.
if 700billion would be givven to americans, 99percent of these funds would be in LasVegas tomorrow
because zh respects the congressional budget office sooooo much. :snark:
I have been waiting for days for ZH to put up an Obamacare article, so that I could post this where it would be read. Well, this will have to do. When there is an actual Obamacare article I will post it again.
Dear fellow ZHers. If you are between the age of 55 and 65, or if your children are in that age range, or your grandchildren are, you need to know the Medicaid clawback rules in your state. Seriously. You could be in for a major surprise screwing if you are not prepared.
What do I care, you say. No way am I going to end up on Medicaid. I'm not poor; I have assets, and in any case I can just tell them NO.
Unfortunately, it is no longer easy to say "no" to Medicaid.
Millions of people are now going onto Medicaid who never before would have been considered "Medicaid sorts of people." This is because
a) you can now have a much higher income than in the past (in the states that have expanded Medicaid), and still "qualify" for Medicaid,
b) there is now no asset test. You can literally have a million dollars in the bank and still "qualify" for Medicaid, if your income is low enough,
c) people now have no choice in many instances: they are being put on Medicaid whether they want to be or not. See the WSJ article (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303531204579207724152219590)(Obamacare forced Mom into Medicaid). For instance, per the WSJ article, if you go onto the exchanges and start entering stuff, and the computer determines your income is low, it will put you onto Medicaid. You have no choice. Or in states that have accepted federal Medicaid-extension money, if you apply for food stamps you will automatically be put onto Medicaid.
So what happens when you end up on Medicaid? Doesn't that mean that you get some great free government benefit? Yes, if you are under age 55 (at least for now); it is all gravy. and yes if you have no assets, and never will get any assets (a future job or an inheritance) - in that case you are simply getting something. But what if you have assets? Or come to have assets later on? (And as we see, there will be many people now on Medicaid who have assets.) Then you have the potential to be asset stripped.
If you are given nursing home care via Medicaid between the age of 55 and 65, the cost of that care will be clawed back from your estate when you die. So the Medicaid nursing home benefit, was just a loan to you. A lien on your estate. You have to pay it back. That has been the case for a long time; it is required by federal law and is the case in every state.
Well, not many 55-65 year-olds end up in extended care. But what if you get other care from Medicaid, between the ages of 55 and 65? What if you break a leg? Get cancer? In some states, the cost of any care that Medicaid provides, will be clawed back from your estate!!! This can even include the imputed cost of Medicaid "premiums" (or in Arizona, capitation fees of $3340 a month even if you receive no care at all!!!) This fabulous "Medicaid benefit", is just a LOAN!!!!!!! A lien on your estate for the rest of your life.
This has been the case for many years. Some states will claw back the cost of any service that is given, some states just extended care costs. States change in what they claw back; it is a moving target. What is different now, is that Medicaid being applied to a much broader group of people, some of whom actually have a lot of money to strip. Or, more relevantly, middle class people who have a modest home and a little bit of savings that they were hoping to pass on.
So say you live in a state that will claw back anything it spends on you. You are 55, you are broke, you get cancer; the state spends 250k to treat it (absurdly inflated, naturally). All better by age 56? The lien for the cost of that care will follow you forever. Save up money for your kids between then and age 85 due to hard work? Your lien will take some or all of it away. Inherit a house at age 58? It looks like you can't sell it and use the money at will; the lien will apply to it.
Is all of this fair? Is it right? The main thing is that people are not being told. People are signing onto Medicaid, or being dumped on it, and thinking "Yippee, free medical care with no strings attached." And no-one is telling them otherwise. If Medicaid were a consumer product with that level of disclosure, and that level of asset stripping, presumably the government would shut it down (um, /sarc). But here it is the government that is doing the stripping, so no disclosure is required. The info is leaking out, sometimes on liberal sites: here is a good post (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/21/1249471/-Estate-Recovery-It-s-Worse-Than-You-Thought). Please read that one even though it is the Daily Kos; it is factual, not ideological.
The organizations that you would think might protect you or give you helpful info, are throwing you under the bus: Consumer Reports and AARP. I emailed back and forth with Nancy Metcalf of Consumer reports, and this was her final email to me:
"I don’t care whether you think of Medicaid as a lien (which it isn’t in the states that aren’t doing expanded estate recovery) or insurance or simply a direct-pay government benefit, everyone who’s eligible should take it. Lack of immediate and easy access to medical care is simply bad for one’s health." (here is my reply. Yes, I know it is Naked Capitalism; so be it; they have been covering this issue for a while now with care): http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/02/nc-reader-smacks-consumer-reports-medicaid-clawback-advice.html) So Consumer Reports, which happily devotes ten pages of magazine space to the decision of which cable provider is best for whom, is telling you to "just sign up" for Medicaid. No research needed; just do it; don't worry your silly little head about clawbacks.
In the case of AARP, this is what the vice president of AARP says (original quote from a Washington Post article)(linked here from another Daily Kos post by the same actual info-seeker:http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/26/1272692/-WaPo-on-Estate-Recovery-Experts-agree-everything-is-fine)
““I would inquire about the application of [Medicaid asset recovery], but I wouldn’t succumb to the fear of rules you don’t understand as a reason you wouldn’t become covered under Medicaid,” she said.”
Don't "succumb to the fear of rules you don't understand"??? Just sign on the line, peasant. Of course, some animals are more equal than others: Per Nancy Metcalf of Consumer Reports:
“But even if your state doesn’t change its mind (about Medicaid clawbacks), there will probably be ways to protect your heirs, according to Morris Klein, a Maryland lawyer who serves on the public policy steering committee of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Since each state runs estate recovery slightly differently, you should consult an elder law attorney.”
Yes, Consumer Reports says you should sign on ASAP - unless you're rich. Then hire a lawyer, with your pocket change. Asset stripping is just for the little people. Consumer Reports also advises that you eat cake from Whole Foods.
How can you avoid being put on Medicaid, if that turns out to be your considered choice? That is a separate topic; one I am still trying to figure out. One way is to buy insurance. But guess what - if your income is at Medicaid level or lower, you are not eligible for subsidies. You have to pay full fare, on the private market. Perhaps paying the fine would work, perhaps not; I am having trouble determining that. (Hey, wouldn't an organization that helped consumers get info be handy here? You could give it a name like "Consumer Reports," haha.)
You may have noticed that I have not given details about particular states: this is because like I said: every state has its own Medicaid clawback provisions. Here is a good post re how New Jersey works: http://www.correntewire.com/obamacare_clusterfuck_after_55_medicaid_is_a....
Please note that I am not saying that no-one should ever sign on to Medicaid! I am just saying that there is a trap here, that you may or may not wish to avoid.
I am not a financial advisor or an expert on this topic. Do your own research and get legal advice if you can afford it.
Good luck finding a physician who wilk take medicaid. Meanwhile the elected turds have exempted themselves.
They can charge/lien you for Medicaid "premiums" or capitation fees, even if you never actually get to see a doctor.
Grandchildren 55 to 65 years old? WTF? Good post, but thought that was pretty funny.
haha, good point, I will fix that when I repost it. I was thinking of grandkids who hit 55, end up on Medicaid, and thereby lose what you or your kids have given or bequeathed them.
I suppose that if you had your kids when you are 17 & 19 (like my parents did). and your kids do the same (which I certainly didn't), and you make it to 89+ it could happen, but its not a common scenario for certain.
Obamanation!
Zerohedge can be a weird schizophrenic experience. In one article there will be charts showing the rise in the absurd level of inequality in the US, the next article will make fun of any attempts to raise minimum wages...and nobody seems to connect the dots.
that is your job. the site appears to be an aggregator
bent on facilitating exposure of divergent points of
view for the edification of it's readership.
My thoughts are those on the right are pyschotic assholes and those on the left are pyschotic imbeciles. Both sides have valid points but they also have points that conflict with what they are right about. Their pychosis makes them unable to see this so it wiil likely continue and our country will continue to go down the shitter. All because what could be smart men continue to stand defiant with flawed idealogies.
"Git yur reverse mortgage!" Fred Thompson ads running on the Nightly News.
That's right, give that equity to the banksters and leave nothing for the kids.
The future's so bright I gotta' wear shades.
+1 ;-)
Again poor factset. Yes ,some people got screwed by reverse mortgages, generally only because they failed to title the loan jointly or couldn't afford the taxes. The vast majority it has benefitted greatly. Fuck their kids if it allowed them to live their retirement more securely.
All this bickerng.......And the Blue Team is equal to the Red Team..........We need someone for the people for a Real CHANGE.....
Reality ..........
what you need over there is a purple team, all fixed.
You are NOT going. to.believe this. min wage went up to 16.88 per hr and the cost of a big mac went up.a GiNOuRmus amount....forty cents.
That's. in Australia. dollars. with the current exchange rate this may be different in usa $
Anyone?
One, two, three:
Raise minimum wage forcing cost pass through to consumer.
Watch as waves of repatriated dollars flood the markets.
Offer solution of more printed dollars.
Simple.
Everyone seems to be debating the reasons that we have seen such a dismal recovery. I just want to offer the thought, that demographics - the aging of the baby-boom generation, is the economic headwind that is keeping things so sluggish. That is something that no Briliant Plan has any hope of fixing, so yeah - any politician or pundit touting a Brilliant Plan to revive the economy is full of it, and most such plans (re Abe) will only make things worse.
Today's world, runs on HOPIUM...
Low minimum wage = employees in order to survive apply for food stamps and other safety-nets; heavy drain on middle & working class tax payers; and corporations generate high profits.
Higher minimum wage = employees no longer need or eligible for food stamps and other safety-nets; no drain middle & working class tax payers; and corporations generate medium profits.
I'll sit back and read all these whacko explainations why they/we should hate minimum wage increase. [Idiots are sooooo entertaining!]
Low minimum wage- a training ground for entry level workers not an ends to the means of a career.
High minimum wage- a reasom not to hire entry level workers, resulting in higher unemployment, and more on the government dole.
duh
A few extra dollars a week is nothing but another attempt to buy votes. It will make no difference in living standards. It's another case of 5 hour Energy for most. When you're down so low and the Fed has made the cost of living with any decency so high in order to keep the 1% living high on the hog, minimum wage isn't the problem. This is just another distraction to take attention away from the rampant inflation of basic necessities the Fed has created
You can't shift the burden of wages and health care onto employers. Like anything else, market demands will dictate value and demand of skills. Intervention from the zombie puppets who just want to eat your brains isn't the answer. Most employers are small businesses trying to stay afloat.
"Dingo Eating 22" and "MikeV" are case in point for my entertainment. Everyones want our economy fixed, but rather see middle and working class BLEED rather than upper-class and corporation [ones who cause thiscurrent Recession].
It's called Fair Living Wage! Your grandfathers had it the moment they graduated from HIGH SCHOOL. They could work a simple job at grocery or gas-station and make enough for their entire family; and grandma could stay home and raise your parents.
Most Americans today are so detached from Golden Age its pathetic.