What part of the stimulus hasnt been spent... Where will it be spent? Will it affect average americans and not just bankers? Anyone have a link? TIA and nytol...
Yeah Right! I suspect it will put more money in the pocket of people who already have jobs. I still think the recovery will happen around 2012. Not a full blown recovery but a recovery. Hmm right around the time when the new president will be elected. Hmm how convenent!
SARASOTA COUNTY - Phil Agnes and other lawyers have two words for homeowners facing foreclosure: Stay put.
The flood of foreclosures has clogged the courts, allowing homeowners to stay in their homes while the paperwork goes through the system. Many homeowners are unaware that they can remain at home for months while the foreclosure is in court, attorneys say.
And homeowners willing to challenge the foreclosure sometimes can remain in their homes for more than a year, sometimes more than two years, just by filing a few basic legal documents.
"It's in everyone's best interest to stay in the home," said Agnes, an attorney who volunteers at Gulf Coast Legal Services Inc.
A legal fight lets homeowners save money for post-foreclosure life, when a ruined credit score makes it harder to find a new place to live.
This, combined with the clogged courts reported by LawyerLiz several threads ago, looks like Plan.
Part of the stimulus is reduced taxes that kicked in lower withholding starting in May. Adds about $100/month per household to takehome for most wage-earners.
OH BOY $100 spread over 52 weeks? Under $2.00 a week. Treat you on a night on the town! Two coffees at Speedway gas station and sit in the town square and count the home less!
barfly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:47 pm
reply ignore user
Too soon to compare this administration to past administrations?
- considering you considered him a failure even before he started, and went so far as to predict a one-term presidency, what would be the point?
Validation Barfly. Validation.
For the record I was also clear that whomsoever won would be in the same situation.
Then who is going to pay for the Tarp, Stimulus and coming health care costs? Oh I forgot just whip out the Uncle Sam credit card. Until Americans learn to slow down and stop going into debt we will eventually will end up in financial ruin. It will take a few years. When the far east passes us up in the stock and bond markets the end is near. Until then enjoy the show!
But why is anyone wondering about the efficacity of a stimpack that heavily (historically big) favors tax cuts instead of direct stimulus? Whether you are a Keynesian or not, the numbers always tilt in favor of DS over TC when it comes to calculating the multiplier effect of government stimulus. So--why be surprised that the package's impacts are late to the party?
And for that matter. why be surprised that the effects are not as great as hoped? In this case, the ARRA tried to bridge the philisophical divide of government responsibility with a package that had a "post-partisan" flavor, and will end up only pleasing those with short-term view of this nation's potential for production.
This is Bush's "soft prejudice of low expectations" applied differently and writ large.
I hope Ms. Romer takes the time to contemplate how much of her own soul is now mortgaged, without any hope of a loan modification.
"Making Work Pay" gives up to $800 tax credit for a couple filing MFJ. The EIC is a bit higher this year (plus additional credit for a third child), and the Additional Child Tax Credit (refundable, meaning it can reduce tax below zero) is more liberal for lower income taxpayers.
Edit: ...and Unemployment has been considered taxable income; starting 2009 the first $2400 is not taxable.
what about spending from the stimulus causing a flight from dollars, the increase in commodity prices, and subsequent business failures and layoffs as businesses struggle with rising costs.
Set aside your abacus and green eyeshade this year. You WILL need to use a computer to prepare your 2009 tax return regardless of your income bracket. Much more complicated than last year.
I don't know why anyone expects "California News" tonight. Not enough money for the Dem spending, not enough votes for the Rep cuts. No resolution until Obama admits that he has to answer the phone even if the governor is a Rep.
Given our modern computing abilities there should be ridiculous amounts of tax brackets. 4000+ Minimum. Old people without computers should be thrown into coal furnaces to power said computers.
countries holding large foreign reserves are doing so for a reason, namely as a buffer against going broke, and having to go hat in hand to the IMF. They will be in no hurry to unload.
Where do folks feel safe parking their trading assets right now?
Here at the home of Wisdom Seeker, we're trying to figure out how to invest a sum of money that wants to be highly secure, highly liquid, and able to jump in and out of various markets. We currently have an IRA trading account at a bank that has received TARP funds and whose financial statements are not, in our opinion, worth the cost of the electrity needed to display them. The sweep fund on the account is FDIC insured but earns nearly no interest. We don't trust the SIPC and therefore, when the bank appears to be in jeopardy, we're reluctant to have the funds actually invested. ("Beneficial" ownership of securities appears in fact to not be ownership at all, particularly if the bank has taken the opposite side of your trade and shorted them to you.) Our practice during the panic last fall was to "turtle" into the insured sweep account whenever the stock price of the bank plunged. This, however, can play havoc with otherwise-profitable trading strategies: it's difficult to go long during a panic bottom if you have doubts about your bank surviving the panic, and you have doubts about your assets surviving the demise of the bank!!
A trust bank (where the securities are truly registered in an individual's name) would be a preferred option, except we do not (yet...) have enough assets to justify the expenses. If we have to live with beneficial ownership then what we want is to have the funds in an institution whose financial health is simply not going to be an issue. Any good suggestions? (We like to trade ~30-50 times/year, and are sensitive to commissions, but much more sensitive to security of principal.)
P.S. Provided the unaccounted-for external costs of wind, solar etc. are lower than those for fossil fuels, the economy as a whole can improve even if your local cost-of-electricity doesn't change. For instance, coal mining has a lot of negative consequences that are effectively taxes on the nation, but no one pays for them when they mine, sell or buy coal itself. If a switch away from coal were to reduce cancer or asthma incidence, or mitigate global warming, it could easily be worth it to the nation, even if the end-user cost increased measurably.
For instance, coal mining has a lot of negative consequences that are effectively taxes on the nation, but no one pays for them when they mine, sell or buy coal itself. If a switch away from coal were to reduce cancer or asthma incidence, or mitigate global warming, it could easily be worth it to the nation, even if the end-user cost increased measurably.
Until you get the third world countries to stop polluting like we did in the 50's and 60's (that is if you believe the global warming therory) we be all warm toast!
Lets try this again... China and India hold alot of our treasury bonds. We have to jump thru the hoops for them. Maybe after they figure out they are destroying their air and rivers they will get on the anti polution band wagon.
Once they catch up to us financially then the party is over.
-wages in India and China are one-tenth what they are here, and they have way many more people. What you are talking about isn't going to happen anytime soon.
My brother went to China 16 years ago. He went back this year and stated in his diary of the trip that the growth was incredible. They are where we were in the 60's. With technology they will catch up to us in a very short time. Yes wages are low but remeber they have alot more consumers then we do. Never say never.
Sorry folks, the problem/solution isn't stimulus or lack of same, it is oil above $45 q barrel.
Our economy is built on cheap oil. $20 a barrel or less. Over $45 is a business killer. Businesses are either dead - and shedding workers, or they are shedding workers in a desperate triage. Of course, doing so sheds customers at the same time. Businessmen would not gratuitously cut their own throats like this, but these times call for dire measures.
Of course, these attempts won't work. Peak Oil took place ten years ago. What we are experiencing is the outcomes suggested by energy expers such as Matt Simmons. Since 1998, energy prices have increased 500%, from $12 to today's $70.. As prices increase further (relatively, that is rather than continuously nominally) more businesses will be extinguished. Oil is embedded in every link of every supply chain of every good and service. Oil The costs are cumulative.
It is the end of industrialism. It has succeeded in undermining itself by efficiently consuming the resources upon which it absolutely depends.
mock turtle (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:56 pm reply Ignore user
"nothing will make the cost of electricity go down"
Using more coal would make the price of electricity go down.
barfly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 10:21 pm reply Ignore user
"If a switch away from coal were to reduce cancer or asthma incidence, or mitigate global warming"
Asthma and Cancer? Give me a break, we are very close numerically to the top of the life expectancy list. As for mitigating global warming, all we are doing is surrendering as a civilization to the lesser civilizations. Places where laws and human rights are a joke.
If unloading our debt hurts them more than us, even possibly, we should make every effort to ensure they dump our debt. It's the New America Century way.
barfly, steam? Most of electricity generation already is (coal, nuclear, oil). Do you mean steam trains? A modern coal fired turbo-electric would be interesting but only if diesel got very expensive while coal remained cheap.
Any energy program is going to need engineers to design it and I haven't seen any demand anywhere. I'm just sitting here on unenjoyment wondering when TPTB will get a clue.
EEngineer - that steam comment was half in jest. I haven't heard anything about it.I was thinking of the old-time steam engines, ala James Watt. Sorry you aren't busier. Best of luck to you.
i just find a certain irony in using a word like 'product', when almost all of it is totally intangible. of course, this isn't as offensive as the use of the word 'growth' in the above article.
I like hearing about the vague description of how the stimulus funds are just being rolled out now; pray-tell how about some insight into the exact plan and projects those are going to and howmuch will be spent this month, verse last-month and the plan for future months?
barfly, I have my 5 year old for summer vacation. Realistically this is likely to be one of the few summers I have time to play with her before she's grown up a bit and into other things.
...about some insight into the exact plan and projects those are going to and howmuch will be spent this month, verse last-month and the plan for future months?
I suspect the administration's strategy is to get all major powers to devalue their currencies simultaneously. Since the fiat currencies are measured only in relation to each other, this is possible; if the dollar, pound, euro, yen, swiss franc, krona, and C.dollar all lose buying power, who will notice?
And that is how the O team plans to inflate out of the credit collapse without trashing the dollar.
Normally this would lead to serious inflation. But there are tremendous deflationary pressures right now, and labor has absolutely no leverage to increase wages...
...so inflation will only show up in commodities. But commodities are being crushed by the fall in industrial demand.
Which leaves only gold to tell the tale. And the gold price can be manipulated to hide the underlying devaluation of all the major currencies. Which is clearly happening.
(Still, there is a tiny voice in my head--and has been for years--saying that there will be a sudden devastating global financial collapse, and it will be triggered by a screaming failure in the gold markets.)
I am convinced that the new administration when it took office made a conscious decision to attempt reflation of the collapsing credit system. Its only other option was to allow widespread default by lenders and borrowers alike, and probably cause a global financial panic. (I don't agree that option A was better, but here we are.)
Faced with this stark and monumental decision, the O administration did not look too far down the road to see whether it was paved all the way to recovery. And so they did not take into significant account the corollary effects we are now seeing--the cliff-diving of federal, state, and local tax revenues, the sudden rise in the savings rate and its secondary effects on the economy...
...and at least one other effect not fully manifested yet, which is the profound societal disintegration that will ultimately result from the administration cavalierly riding roughshod over the RULE OF LAW--in so many ways.
When a government fails to deliver on its promise to protect the rule of law, it throws away its legitimacy. Not wise in a nation where there are as many guns as people.
Any energy program is going to need engineers to design it and I haven't seen any demand anywhere. I'm just sitting here on unenjoyment wondering when TPTB will get a clue.
Hey EE -- best luck on finding what you want and need. Consider consulting if you haven't already, at least in my day (just post-hollow-state) it was countercyclic.
You raise a good question. If we were to move ahead "full steam" how long would it take? When would a normal engineer feel the difference?
In the 60's it was not uncommon to create/fund/staff on critical projects in less than a year. Everything takes longer now. 2-3 times? Gotta feed the administrators. It could be 2-3 years before someone who was not in management was spending actual gov dollars on some engineering project.
The earliest place where new money will fall is close to universities, especially the ones with (cost-)effective senators. Slightly later money will fall onto the tech donut cities around the engineering centers in the US, on private companies.
Bah... the damn computer programs are old anyways....
Computer Program (Dem): Blah Blah "we need more revenue" blah blah blah blah
Computer Program (Rep): Blah blah blah blah "we need less spending" blah blah blah blah blah blah
Maybe they realize the people really would like them to stop wasting our money... as far as I'm concerned government shut-down is a great thing... wish we could figure out how to tax the legislative budgets themselves...
DoE only 2% of stimulus outlays...
Next up DoT...
From their website: WARNING: DOT is aware of attempts to defraud potential Recovery Act grantees. These attempts occur by written request for confidential financial information that appear to be from DOT. DO NOT RESPOND TO THESE REQUESTS. If you receive such a request, please contact us on 202-366-0747, or email the Senior Procurement Executive at recovery.grantee@dot.gov. DOT is working with domestic and international law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute the persons responsible for this fraudulent activity.
Oil=the new reserve currency
--which is worse, B or T
But oil is an industrial commodity, and industrial demand is falling, which mitigates what would otherwise be a faster climb in oil prices. I think the O administration counts on this to help disguise the concerted devaluation of fiat.
It's 12:29am PDT and the lights are on in California.
I don't hear any zombies.
Could there be something, some occupied place between the twin horns of Randian zombie/apocalypse on one hand and precious-bodily-fluid-sapping socialists on the other?
NR, I'm a circuit board designer. I do all kinds of stuff. Straight salary and consulting. The problem as I see it is that the art of project management is being lost. All the new business types don't think they need to know how the stuff they design works. It's all about the PowerPoint (which should be banned from all engineering groups IMHO) and the pretty presentations.
The space race predates me by a generation but what strikes me the most is that they had to do all the planning on paper. I think it actually forced them to KISS so that they could manage the complexity. Not so today. Now everyone assumes the computer will sort out the details. Doesn't work. There is no substitute for thinking.
WASHINGTON -- In a major break with most other large companies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Tuesday told the White House that it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's effort to provide near-universal coverage to Americans.
The support of Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, could give momentum to one of the most-contentious aspects of legislation taking shape in Congress to fix the health system. To help pay for covering the 46 million uninsured, lawmakers have proposed mandating that all but small employers provide insurance for workers or help pay for it.
Amazing! I'm going to have to take back all the bad things I said about Wal-Mart if they keep this up.
My favorite sound is the sound of a health-insurance lobbyist, or Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, whining like a stuck pig. Whine little piggies!
"The kind that the groups in this letter support is the worst incarnation, the most dangerous policy," said James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy for the group, which represents three million businesses.
EE - I had written and then deleted a paragraph about the difference in engineering management quality between the 60's and now.
Almost without exception managers in the 60's came from engineering itself, and in many cases bypassed the guild-based framework of higher management education that produced uniformity in their ranks. Think Rocco Petrone at NASA, for example.
I see people like this in edge industries - medical instrumentation, genetics and some silicon industries. Otherwise it's largely sclerotic, abstracted management-by-darts wherein people who know nothing about the problems being solved set schedules everyone has to follow.
It seems routine and generational for people to forget the experiences of their forebears. But it's not necessary to do so, and willful ignorance is unforgivable.
Last thought. My own tendency when between jobs was to cocoon. But in retrospect the best times were when I almost celebrated the time itself, and met as many of my friends as possible for lunch, and made paper companies, read books, and met new people. Just about the time you forget why you're doing all of this some light will shine through and you'll have a great project. At least that is the optimistic memory of it.
Depending on where you are, consider medical instrumentation companies too - they are somewhat resliient to recessions.
Granted this seems really small amount for promised $600B (I think $200B of the $800B is actually tax benefits)... but to me it doesn't seem like the idea that most of these funds are going to roll into the economy will help; in fact we've got $13B from Social Security into the economy as well as a lot from HHS... these are actually scary numbers for expenditures... of course I don't know if the Feds outlay it to the states who then account for it and are not actually "spending" it as much as it appears.
I'm saying oil is the reserve currency because compared to other commodities and currencies it has the most relative scarcity. Fiat currencies do not currently have scarcity.
I'm gonna shoot from a young perspective (out of school < 10 years) as an engineer and say I'm concerned that we don't have the engineering prowess in this country that we used to or should; or we don't have the balls or desire to pay for it (I believe that was EE's original point). Additionally there seems to be zero incentive for someone to go and become Benjamin Franklin and "discover" electricity or Thomas Edison and run his experiments; we seem preoccupied with ensuring there is housing over our head and food in our stomach; going into the basement and playing around without any guarantees of return on that investment is a waste of time.
I would envision a modern day "Benjamin Franklin" to be someone who is working on a problem... like say autonomous automobiles. For instance; they would have a GPS integrated with video imagery aligned with their wheels running through a computer hook-up with some type of feedback mechanism mounted onto the steering wheel (this seems a bit Doc-from-Back-to-the-Future-ish). Of course this would be accomplished while legally behind the wheel; but one could experiment with figuring out how to keep the car from veering off the road and hitting car's in front of it by taking the video imagery and hooking it to some type of simulation. I don't think this problem is trivial; but then again I believe it is not as hard as we want to make it out.
Once people start to see the future of autonomous cars I believe they will willingly contribute to a database ie. matching the GPS characteristics to the lane characteristics for a set lane on a set road... of course the problem would be I envision the control computer as some hot form factor in the front seat running a quad-core or better to process all the imagery and data real time...
To dream that one day I can become a genius "inventor" like Franklin... I believe he was just a man with a big vision...
I think my original point is that no organization or person would actually fund the activity I just described as the payback is too late and it seems percieved benefit so small... I also think its cool that we use robots to defuse IEDs in Iraq and would think there are a number of other areas that might benefit from the use of robots (think people who play with high voltage electrical powerlines)
I look through history and try to find a comparison of an entire nation armed, firearms are the great equalizer. I can't find a precedence. We put so much faith in being a well armed populace.
I think it might end up being our greatest failure. The two edged sword cuts both ways.
I am an NRA member and am thankful to our forefathers for this foresight. I still worry if it might end up being a trap for our country.
I am not baiting a discussion. I wonder how the future plays out and this is a game changer. Growing up firearms were for sport. I hate that I have to consider them for defense and protection.
China is expected to ban imports of U.S. chicken in coming days, a move likely to deliver a blow to the struggling American chicken industry and escalate trade tensions between the two nations.
James H. Sumner, president of the Georgia-based USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, said he learned Tuesday from "several importers" in China that the U.S. wouldn't receive any import permits from the country's ministry of commerce starting July 1.
The Smoot of it all!
And how screwed up is it to grow chickens in the US, kill them here, ship them to China, cook them and then ship them back?
Cheap oil multiplies stupidity as well as consciousness, apparently.
1) There are many, many smart people in the US and world. I just got a chance to see the Maker Faire in San Francisco, but it's just a pointy part of the iceberg. This place has creativity just coming out of the cracks in the floor if you know where to look. People are ready to do good things.
Having said that I do think this is not the best place to put tech dollars; it has more military uses than civilian for now, and we will not be lavishing a surfeit of mobile energy shortly
Also for fun google robot soccer, if you haven't had a chance.
3) I agree with you that the importance and relevance of individuals is highly underrated, for example Dean Kamen. Of course any of these fellows depends on tens or hundreds of people directly assisting them, but they have the vision.
In addition to your creativity you have tools at your fingertips that every previous generation of human inventors only wet-dreamed about.
July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Nowhere is the recovery in financial markets more evident than in corporate bonds, where Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy is becoming a distant memory.
U.S. investment-grade company debt returned 9.2 percent in the first half of the year, outperforming Treasuries by 13.7 percentage points, the most on record, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. index data. Corporate bonds also did better than the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of stocks, marking the first time since 2002 that the fixed-income securities outshined both Treasuries and equities.
As promised, Sanofi-Aventis announced today that it's overhauling its R&D operations in a bid to boost productivity. Noting its "social responsibility," the company is not planning layoffs, but says it will restructure through "voluntary staff departures."
The France-based pharma will reorganize some of its world-wide operations, which includes consolidating its R&D activities in France. The reorganization will affect preclinical activities at some sites of Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan where divestment or reconversion solutions will be sought for certain activities.
How to Collaborate with Your Contractors - Bloomberg.com
04:27 PM Monday June 29, 2009
By John Baldoni
The other day a good friend of mine called to express the frustration he was feeling about working with his current IT vendor. My friend is in the pre-launch phase of an e-commerce start up and he was discouraged with the lack of progress the vendor is making. He was tempted to pull the plug on the project and award it to someone else. Entrepreneurs feeling frustrated with subcontractor work is nothing new. I know of another start-up executive who is expressing similar feelings about a manufacturing vendor.
Japanese business confidence pulled back from a record low hit three months ago, the Bank of Japan's tankan survey showed, in the first rise in two and a half years as reviving global trade boosts Japan's big exporters. Companies said they expected business conditions to further improve in the next three months, although from very low levels as damage from the global financial crisis persists.
Maintaining a monarchy is costly, as Britain found out when a newly published account revealed that Queen Elizabeth II will be out of pocket by 2012 unless the government boosts funds for the Royal household for the first time in 20 years. The total cost of keeping the monarchy increased by £1.5 million ($2.5 million) to £41.5 million pounds ($69.23 million) during the last financial year, according to royal accounts published on the UK monarchy's official web site. The Queen had to tap the reserve fund by £6 million to supplement the cost of running the Royal household, the accounts showed
People who invested with Bernard Madoff were greedy and happy to accept high returns without probing too much in the way these were achieved, Hugh Hendry, chief investment officer at hedge fund Eclectica, told CNBC Tuesday.
By Francesco Guerrera and Saskia Scholtes in New York and Tom Braithwaite in Washington
Published: June 30 2009 23:59 | Last updated: June 30 2009 23:59
Citigroup has sharply increased interest rates on up to 15m US credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come into effect, in a move that could fuel political anger at the treatment of consumers by bailed-out banks. People close to the situation said that Citi, which is about to cede a 34 per cent stake to the US government as part of its latest rescue, had upped rates on between 13m and 15m credit cards it co-brands with retailers such as Sears.
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Gruma SAB, the largest maker of corn flour for tortillas in Mexico, said its auditors have “substantial doubt” about whether it can stay in business and the company may be forced to file for bankruptcy.
“Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that we will continue as a going concern,” Gruma said today in a U.S. regulatory filing. “However, our independent auditors have stated in their most recent report that substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern.”
The Mexican tortilla maker reached an agreement on March 23 with Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to borrow $668.3 million to pay them back for currency derivatives that plunged in value after the peso lost 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.Derivatives are financial instruments whose value is based on, and determined by, another security or benchmark.
My experience is a lot of dishonesty in consulting.... on both sides.
I tried to get out in 2006 but after six months of unemployment, I took another contracting job.
It's like being typecast in acting.
The United States runs on dishonesty and denial.
I've seen the real extent of it over the past few years.
I think I'll head out to the local dive and drink a toast to Cali, and see if they accept Cali IOU's. Have a good night all.
How lame to respond to myself = Very.
Even worst was the responses on my field test. What do you mean IOU's.
Hunnnnhhhh? Your joking right, your lips are moving.
No one I talked to had a clue, some questioned and wanted to know but it tells you how the MSM just put on blinders.
Time for another beer and start digging the shelter.
I foresee that CA will continue issuing IOUs until they become a small Forex eco-system. Contractors will accept CAIOUs, trade them off at a discount to traders who will discount them off to brokers who will sell them back to CA. Eventually, other States will tie into this Forex system, allowing inter-state arbitraging which will generate the next financial bubble.
Kauai_Kahuna (homepage, profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 2:22 am
No one I talked to had a clue, some questioned and wanted to know but it tells you how the MSM just put on blinders.
Time for another beer and start digging the shelter.
Say what you will, desensitization works wonders on the mondern mind.
From the sound of it people are ready for the next phase of empire devolution. No dreams of going to the stars or curing malaria to pick up off the floor or anything. Monetization should work out just peachy.
Say what you will, desensitization works wonders on the mondern mind.
Perhaps, but I doubt it. Hope and dreams tend to wake up when someone is hungry. Right now it looks likes no one gives a sh.., but the question is what will be the call to arms, or reality when people start to care.
Eddy curry made 10.5 million last year rotting on the knicks bench. I believe that is an option ARM
Hey, its a good job if you can get it.
I never complain about the people who get the sweet deal. I ask WTF about the management and boards that approve it.
I can only dream I'm able to CON someone to pay me that much for just showing up to practice and training. It's not my fault they met my expectations of godhood, because I'm as great as I can CON others into agreeing.
The team manager et al needs to be adjusted. Lucifer, I think we have a job for you.
I think this country has talent, but maybe not enough....
One of the differences I've noticed between say a foriegn engineer and an american one, is american ones tend to be much more creative and adaptable. It might just be the way people are raised here, maybe all that emphasis on creativity and art and such in high school compared to most asian countries is paying off.
That said, the problem with this country is people do not want to be engineers. It is a difficult job in general, and requires far more work than say trading derivative paper around (I know far more people involved in finance from my high school... than who went into engineering).
Most of the people yo uhave in my field (software dev , 6 years out of college, which puts me in a similar situation as you) love the field. But a lot of them uh arent that talented. There are probably people who trade derivatives who love engineering and have even more innate talent who just let the idea of getting filthy rich get to them and went that way. I mean thtas a much easier career path. College in that field is much more fun and easy. It is very very very tempting (hell i knew people who switched to business or econ majors from engineering, you really had to like it to stay i guess). My cousin wanted to be a chemist , but he thought that business would be more lucrative and now he works in client support at some retirment fixed income fund (customer support basically but it pays more than you'd think). He was prodded in that direction by 2 of my other cousins who are derivatives brokers for goldman and barclays. The influence of what is considerd a high return on investment career path can derail tons of people from engineering.
I think if the country destroys the financial incentive for smart people (who might even have a passion for say chemistry or electronics) to go into the FIRE jobs maybe we could be back on the right track. America has a lot of ingenuity, and plenty of talent. We just have to steer people back into where we need them , we definitely don't need people in banking. China does it by force. India does it because engineering pays A LOT there relatively.
Yes, but I read it as another flag going up to see who salutes, and how much the Gov. can cut back on servicing that debt. You know if everyone over 55 has a job with Walmart as a greater, why do they need SS?
"Giving up an identity as an invested, middle-class citizen is a bitter pill to swallow, but if you don't discover some new stream of income soon, they're going to take everything you own, ruin your credit, and you'll be left standing on the street (or living with the in-laws) with the consolation that you played by their rules. Woopee! This way you'll only have ruined credit. It may be your best option"
broward -
The greeter job only buys gas & cat food.
SS is for the mortgage payment.
Oh Walmart just did a big 180, and said Health care is very important and a critical part of life, or something like that.
The winds of change. YouTube - Scorpions - Wind Of Change
I emphasize with Michael Jackson.
A bunch of greedy, unscrupulous people ripped him apart.
It's hard to judge if he was a pedophile or not.
There's a lot of evidence that he was set up by the original accusations in 1994.
I suspect that he never developed a sense for dishonesty and hidden agendas.
I had the same problem around 1997 when I was sabotaged by one of my employees.
Since then, I've learned a great deal about people and communication.
The world runs largely on subtle signals, slandering and conspiracies.
Perhaps the U.S. was always like this but I doubt it.
Analysis of Enron email shows how conspiracies function.
Higher levels of management had sudden bursts of email & grouping that corresponds to subsequent crisis.
They knew it was coming.
I suspect the Federal Reserve and Federal gov't email would show the same pattern.
So many lies and schemes.
I concluded that many years ago.
I never bothered with 401K plans, I assumed since 1990 or so that they'd be looted or liquidated.
I focused on cash and precious metals and zero debt.
My ex-wife wiped that out, though.
Now I have even less reason to save.
I focus on how I want to spend the next fifteen years.
it's not worth it to endure a lot of bullshit and annoyance FOR SURE in hopes of MAYBE surviving to 65.
I'll take my "bird in the hand" and leave the "two in the bush" for the younger suckers.
it's a difficult mentality for most people to grasp, though.
I'm PLANNING to die around 65 so I make my decisions accordingly.
Sorry can't do that, while I think he may have been very naive he never learned the lesson.
He did some great music, and did great performances that I will never forget, but if he could never learn the lesson, How can we expect anyone else to.
When it comes to innocent naive children, the law needs to extreme.
Ruthless, non-compromising.
Of course nothing was proven, so I will be happy to say God rest his messed up soul. And hopefully he has found some peace, but I doubt it.
One of the differences I've noticed between say a foriegn engineer and an american one, is american ones tend to be much more creative and adaptable. It might just be the way people are raised here, maybe all that emphasis on creativity and art and such in high school compared to most asian countries is paying off.
As a European working for US corp firms for last 12 years. My perspective is that the biggest issue I see working with Americans is that there is too much focus on the positive and too little reality in projects, issues and problems get buried and small successes get puffed up massively. There is a 'stated' culture of openness but no one ever ever wants to hear bad news. The reality is openness as long as its positive.
On a cultural side there is always lots of talk of cultural awareness but in the background you get constant sniping around difficulties in making redundancies and changes in Europe without employee consultation. You can argue the rights and wrongs of this but you don't open the business up without knowing the situation.
.Business is run on a hunger and burst basis, its either massive bloated expansion or huge cuts. Its like a constant corporate bubble, inlfating then deflating then inflating.....in fact corporate life is like the US in minature.
I'm PLANNING to die around 65 so I make my decisions accordingly.
I want to go into suspend animation an get paid until I'm 55. Then I want to live like a mad man until I'm 65, then I'll slow down if I'm still alive and do some type of retardation, I mean retire.
I love kids as much as anyone, they do remind of what life is all about, but come on! I don't take them to my bed. WTF??
Come one, some things are just outside of accepted reality.
Now I might take the mother to bed while the kid is playing outside and lock the damm door.
I'm sorry, there is no way I can even try to understand him, and to be honest I don't even want to.
My perspective is that the biggest issue I see working with Americans is that there is too much focus on the positive and too little reality in projects, issues and problems get buried and small successes get puffed up massively.
Thank you for that reality check, I would guess that your native language is not U.S. But you know, its better than mine.
In some places I think you are totally right, unless the job is to extend the problems as a troubleshooter. Then everything is a problem be it a typo, or a massive non-starter.
It all depends on who signs your pay check and what they want.
mock turtle writes: "...couldnt we have public trials and executions of the most notorious bankstas...think of the ticket sales receipts and the sales tax collections!"
Don't forget pay per view and residuals from re-runs!
And the post execution book deals, we could keep that money
And the action figures, and lunch boxes, comic books, the prospects are infinite!
KK,
Don't get me wrong there are many positives working for US companies over say German or French ones. If there were not then I would not still be doing it. I think the uber-positive mindset is something that is put into many smart kids via schooling and that bad news is seen as something to avoid at all costs. Some of the most rounded and smart folk I have worked with have been US folks who spent considerable time in Europe...so something in the middle works better I suppose.
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board of directors is expected to approve a plan July 1 to issue as much as $150 billion of bonds, Bloomberg reported."
Not at all, a good cross section view is great and I understood your post.
I will not say your right becuase that has been debated for a couple hundred years. What I do think is your hitting on a very important reality within the American corporate chain. Personally I read Dilbert to understand reality as I know it.
Well, night all. It's time to recharge and try to remember what reality and dimension I'm stuck in this morning.
Hopefully yours is better than mine.
volker the viking : "...couldnt we have public trials and executions of the most notorious bankstas...think of the ticket sales receipts and the sales tax collections!"
And the post execution book deals, we could keep that money
Sign me up for Prince, then the orange man, after that I'm getting pretty cheap with what I will pay good money for the destruction of the destructors of money.
..???... I think that makes sense, but sign me up!
I always thought of Michael Jackson as a child star whose talent was hyped and overrated.
Which brings up the end of a Bloomberg interview I heard today with Prof. Schiller. I hope it was out of context because he sounded like a complete idiot.
(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc has increased interest rates on up to 15 million U.S. credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come into effect, the Financial Times reported citing people close to the situation.
The group’s refinancing gauge declined 30 percent, while the index of purchases fell 4.5 percent.
How much of BoA's Q1 "profit" came from refinancing activity? Maybe Q2 won't be as much of a surprise. But I'm sure they'll make it up with "trading activity."
Hey Dennis you despicable little worm if it was not for us Bloogers you government bought and paid for MSM shills would have told many a household to keep their money in stocks and many would have been taken to the cleaners.
So from a blogger that is one step ahead of you a** wipes up yours....you should be fired for sheer stupidity alone.
And for the record my friends ZEROHEDGE is a top notch group...
Believe it when I see it.
So how do I pick up one of these stimulus jobs?
I liked Bush's stimulus package better. I got a $2100 check.
I don't know why they're so surprised about unemployment. Meredith Whitney has been saying it for a long time. In the teens.
What part of the stimulus hasnt been spent... Where will it be spent? Will it affect average americans and not just bankers? Anyone have a link? TIA and nytol...
// nevermind found it !
Hope should be optional not standard in Econ Forecasts
14% UE here we come. 9% I hardly knew thee...
[So we should see an impact in the 2nd half of 2009]
When do we get stimulus #3 ?
CR,
Your chart is inaccurate/outdated. US UE is 9.4% not the 9.2% shown.
Yeah Right! I suspect it will put more money in the pocket of people who already have jobs. I still think the recovery will happen around 2012. Not a full blown recovery but a recovery. Hmm right around the time when the new president will be elected. Hmm how convenent!
it should be criminal to use that 'comic' font too.... no wonder why the graph failed....
"The second answer is that the economy has deteriorated in spite of the stimulus."
BINGO!
And please gentlemen no stimulus checks in public.
The stimulus has been granted! The economy please start your engine! Sputter, sputter, cough....
Give yourself as self-made jubilee:
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090629/ARTICLE/906291046/2107/BUSINESS?Title=Attorneys-advise-clients-to-stay-in-their-homes
SARASOTA COUNTY - Phil Agnes and other lawyers have two words for homeowners facing foreclosure: Stay put.
The flood of foreclosures has clogged the courts, allowing homeowners to stay in their homes while the paperwork goes through the system. Many homeowners are unaware that they can remain at home for months while the foreclosure is in court, attorneys say.
And homeowners willing to challenge the foreclosure sometimes can remain in their homes for more than a year, sometimes more than two years, just by filing a few basic legal documents.
"It's in everyone's best interest to stay in the home," said Agnes, an attorney who volunteers at Gulf Coast Legal Services Inc.
A legal fight lets homeowners save money for post-foreclosure life, when a ruined credit score makes it harder to find a new place to live.
This, combined with the clogged courts reported by LawyerLiz several threads ago, looks like Plan.
Too soon to compare this administration to past administrations?
Didn't a congressperson from Ohio also advocate staying put?
Won't work in the states that aren't in such bad shape.
From the NYT article:
The government, meanwhile, will be pumping out close to $30 billion in stimulus money every month for months to come.
Financial stimulus versus the 50 Hoovers! Who will win?
Can you say INFLATION! Sure you can give it a try!
Opps sorry do higer taxes equate to inflation? Depends on your accountant I suppose.
Too soon to compare this administration to past administrations?
Didn't a congressperson from Ohio also advocate staying put?
It might have been Rep. Kaptur for Toledo
You tell ‘em, Congresswoman Kaptur! : NO QUARTER
Part of the stimulus is reduced taxes that kicked in lower withholding starting in May. Adds about $100/month per household to takehome for most wage-earners.
$30bn a month?
Forget ponies, I want my personal light rail system!!
OT,
Best wine in Spain IMO is ribera del duero, a nice italian wine are Refoscos from Friuli
i saw what might be part of the "stimulus" expenditures (not to be confused with tarp and the many fed windows) as i recently drove cross country
massive road work coast to cost and huge number of wind turbines being assembled in iowa, wyoming and washington state
i guess that the planned infrastructure improvements will not be enough to stem the financial blood letting
something more and something different is obviously needed
couldnt we have public trials and executions of the most notorious bankstas...think of the ticket sales receipts and the sales tax collections!
I'm totally jonesing for more CA doomed news.
How goes it out there? I need my fix.
Keep your shirt on already! Just wait till all those Florida turtle crossings start construction. Think of all the jobs!
As Dennis Kneale says, "the recession is OVER!!!"
vbg
bwahahahaha. With that trajectory we'll be seeing 16% unemployment.
America needs a Monorail!!
OH BOY $100 spread over 52 weeks? Under $2.00 a week. Treat you on a night on the town! Two coffees at Speedway gas station and sit in the town square and count the home less!
I think I'll head out to the local dive and drink a toast to Cali, and see if they accept Cali IOU's. Have a good night all.
@guy77money - that's $100/month
The questions is with the wind farms will the cost of electricity go down? Nope..
picosec, are you sure stimulus re:tax change is $1200 for the year for average worker? I don't remember it being that big...
nothing will make the cost of electricity go down
some things we do will slow the rise
we need to develop nuclear, solar, wind, tide and every other renewable possible
barfly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:47 pm
reply ignore user
Too soon to compare this administration to past administrations?
- considering you considered him a failure even before he started, and went so far as to predict a one-term presidency, what would be the point?
Validation Barfly. Validation.
For the record I was also clear that whomsoever won would be in the same situation.
You are your own validation, Rob-
Then who is going to pay for the Tarp, Stimulus and coming health care costs? Oh I forgot just whip out the Uncle Sam credit card. Until Americans learn to slow down and stop going into debt we will eventually will end up in financial ruin. It will take a few years. When the far east passes us up in the stock and bond markets the end is near. Until then enjoy the show!
Too soon to compare this administration to past administrations?
BHO=Herbert Hoover
Harpers said so.
Why does DAVID LEONHARDT hate America?
Kidding, of course.
But why is anyone wondering about the efficacity of a stimpack that heavily (historically big) favors tax cuts instead of direct stimulus? Whether you are a Keynesian or not, the numbers always tilt in favor of DS over TC when it comes to calculating the multiplier effect of government stimulus. So--why be surprised that the package's impacts are late to the party?
And for that matter. why be surprised that the effects are not as great as hoped? In this case, the ARRA tried to bridge the philisophical divide of government responsibility with a package that had a "post-partisan" flavor, and will end up only pleasing those with short-term view of this nation's potential for production.
This is Bush's "soft prejudice of low expectations" applied differently and writ large.
I hope Ms. Romer takes the time to contemplate how much of her own soul is now mortgaged, without any hope of a loan modification.
For the record I was also clear that whomsoever won would be in the same situation.
barfly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:57 pm
You are your own validation, Rob-
Heck my 9 yo just asked if that was my second glass of red wine (no). I can't even validate parking in my own driveway.
credit criminal...
Neighborhood number...
"Making Work Pay" gives up to $800 tax credit for a couple filing MFJ. The EIC is a bit higher this year (plus additional credit for a third child), and the Additional Child Tax Credit (refundable, meaning it can reduce tax below zero) is more liberal for lower income taxpayers.
Edit: ...and Unemployment has been considered taxable income; starting 2009 the first $2400 is not taxable.
Cali news for the curious
Local news just ran a bit, no budget passed as of 10 o'clock and the R's aren't going for the plan the D's are pushing. So at 10 we got nada so far.
what about spending from the stimulus causing a flight from dollars, the increase in commodity prices, and subsequent business failures and layoffs as businesses struggle with rising costs.
indiana passed there budget in a special session. The Democrats caved and Mitch Daniels (the Gov) pretty much got what he wanted.
Cali news for the curious
Local news just ran a bit, no budget passed as of 10 o'clock and the R's aren't going for the plan the D's are pushing. So at 10 we got nada so far.
Same goes for Arizona, state shuts down in 2 hour.
Governor Brewer wants to "fix" things by going for a flat tax.
Idiots.
Note on income taxes...
Set aside your abacus and green eyeshade this year. You WILL need to use a computer to prepare your 2009 tax return regardless of your income bracket. Much more complicated than last year.
Some talk that Mitch is thinking about running for President in 2012 in the Republicain primary . A smart politican just don't see it happening
I don't know why anyone expects "California News" tonight. Not enough money for the Dem spending, not enough votes for the Rep cuts. No resolution until Obama admits that he has to answer the phone even if the governor is a Rep.
Given our modern computing abilities there should be ridiculous amounts of tax brackets. 4000+ Minimum. Old people without computers should be thrown into coal furnaces to power said computers.
Local news, Arizona.
All camping areas in the state will be shut down as of 12. Rangers going camp to camp telling people to pack up and leave by midnight.
Makes for a great 4th weekend. Not.
Yeah Arnold can't run against him.
...stimulus causing a flight from dollars, ...
Rob Dawg wrote "Too soon to compare this administration to past administrations?"
ok compare away, but just remember what the bush 2 administration looked like that first summer
and um bush inherited a budget surplus and one smaller war in bosnia-herzagovena
obama got two wars...one that will be like korea we will be in iran for-ev-ver
and afghanistan which we are loosing
and the mother of all financial crisis
btw much of the cost of these two wars are off book, and or future outlays
They were going to shut down the Casino's in Indiana.. Shutter!!!
All camping areas in the state will be shut down as of 12. Rangers going camp to camp telling people to pack up and leave by midnight.
Now that is harsh...
Where do folks feel safe parking their trading assets right now?
Here at the home of Wisdom Seeker, we're trying to figure out how to invest a sum of money that wants to be highly secure, highly liquid, and able to jump in and out of various markets. We currently have an IRA trading account at a bank that has received TARP funds and whose financial statements are not, in our opinion, worth the cost of the electrity needed to display them. The sweep fund on the account is FDIC insured but earns nearly no interest. We don't trust the SIPC and therefore, when the bank appears to be in jeopardy, we're reluctant to have the funds actually invested. ("Beneficial" ownership of securities appears in fact to not be ownership at all, particularly if the bank has taken the opposite side of your trade and shorted them to you.) Our practice during the panic last fall was to "turtle" into the insured sweep account whenever the stock price of the bank plunged. This, however, can play havoc with otherwise-profitable trading strategies: it's difficult to go long during a panic bottom if you have doubts about your bank surviving the panic, and you have doubts about your assets surviving the demise of the bank!!
A trust bank (where the securities are truly registered in an individual's name) would be a preferred option, except we do not (yet...) have enough assets to justify the expenses. If we have to live with beneficial ownership then what we want is to have the funds in an institution whose financial health is simply not going to be an issue. Any good suggestions? (We like to trade ~30-50 times/year, and are sensitive to commissions, but much more sensitive to security of principal.)
P.S. Provided the unaccounted-for external costs of wind, solar etc. are lower than those for fossil fuels, the economy as a whole can improve even if your local cost-of-electricity doesn't change. For instance, coal mining has a lot of negative consequences that are effectively taxes on the nation, but no one pays for them when they mine, sell or buy coal itself. If a switch away from coal were to reduce cancer or asthma incidence, or mitigate global warming, it could easily be worth it to the nation, even if the end-user cost increased measurably.
Hey England did it! Look at the financial condition they are in. It's tough being the world's cop! VBG
Once again, it's not an issue of efficiency, it is an issue of distribution
Ahh come on blame it on the other guy! Reminds me of the the joke about the coach and the two envelopes in the desk drawer.
For instance, coal mining has a lot of negative consequences that are effectively taxes on the nation, but no one pays for them when they mine, sell or buy coal itself. If a switch away from coal were to reduce cancer or asthma incidence, or mitigate global warming, it could easily be worth it to the nation, even if the end-user cost increased measurably.
Blasphemy! Throw him to the lions!
When your only hammer is the Free Market, the solution to every problem is efficiency.
Until you get the third world countries to stop polluting like we did in the 50's and 60's (that is if you believe the global warming therory) we be all warm toast!
And we know how efficient the government is!
So you're saying we should place carbon tariffs on third world countries...
Won't happen with the China holding all of out debt.
out debt. opps
almost as efficient as Enron, Lehman brothers and AIG
Carbon tariffs on third world countries is an interesting idea.
However it would just cause a trade war and increase the cost of goods here as well.
Lets try this again... China and India hold alot of our treasury bonds. We have to jump thru the hoops for them. Maybe after they figure out they are destroying their air and rivers they will get on the anti polution band wagon.
China and india would have to have stable, internal growth before they do anything to increase costs to manufacturing.
We have to jump thru the hoops for them.
-maybe you haven't noticed. They jump through hoops for us. Any massive unloading of our debt hurts them as much as us, if not more.
Then we all need to get out our wading boots (for those who live on the coast) and heavy duty sun tan lotion.
Once they catch up to us financially then the party is over. they also seem to have alot of our politicans in their pocket.
Once they catch up to us financially then the party is over.
-wages in India and China are one-tenth what they are here, and they have way many more people. What you are talking about isn't going to happen anytime soon.
edit:http://www.data360.org/graph_group.aspx?Graph_Group_Id=348
So what you're saying is that we should debase ourselves to hurt them...
My brother went to China 16 years ago. He went back this year and stated in his diary of the trip that the growth was incredible. They are where we were in the 60's. With technology they will catch up to us in a very short time. Yes wages are low but remeber they have alot more consumers then we do. Never say never.
Sorry folks, the problem/solution isn't stimulus or lack of same, it is oil above $45 q barrel.
Our economy is built on cheap oil. $20 a barrel or less. Over $45 is a business killer. Businesses are either dead - and shedding workers, or they are shedding workers in a desperate triage. Of course, doing so sheds customers at the same time. Businessmen would not gratuitously cut their own throats like this, but these times call for dire measures.
Of course, these attempts won't work. Peak Oil took place ten years ago. What we are experiencing is the outcomes suggested by energy expers such as Matt Simmons. Since 1998, energy prices have increased 500%, from $12 to today's $70.. As prices increase further (relatively, that is rather than continuously nominally) more businesses will be extinguished. Oil is embedded in every link of every supply chain of every good and service. Oil The costs are cumulative.
It is the end of industrialism. It has succeeded in undermining itself by efficiently consuming the resources upon which it absolutely depends.
I'm saying no such thing. How did you come up with that?
I'm just taking things to their absurd Pro-USA conclusion.
Please continue. I'm missing something here.
steve from va wrote
It is the end of industrialism. It has succeeded in undermining itself by efficiently consuming the resources upon which it absolutely depends.
we need a new energy paradigm, and it is coming
mock turtle (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 9:56 pm reply Ignore user
"nothing will make the cost of electricity go down"
Using more coal would make the price of electricity go down.
barfly (profile) wrote on Tue, 6/30/2009 - 10:21 pm reply Ignore user
"If a switch away from coal were to reduce cancer or asthma incidence, or mitigate global warming"
Asthma and Cancer? Give me a break, we are very close numerically to the top of the life expectancy list. As for mitigating global warming, all we are doing is surrendering as a civilization to the lesser civilizations. Places where laws and human rights are a joke.
we need a new energy paradigm, and it is coming
If unloading our debt hurts them more than us, even possibly, we should make every effort to ensure they dump our debt. It's the New America Century way.
Michael?
India's GDP is somewhere between Canada's and Mexico's. China's is less than one-third ours, just below Japan's:
List of countries by GDP (nominal)
What is Californiastan?
too bad our real GDP ex-wallstreet/ponzi/realestate etc is more like 8 trillion, if that
HH - yeah, I'd be curious about the new numbers, too.
barfly, steam? Most of electricity generation already is (coal, nuclear, oil). Do you mean steam trains? A modern coal fired turbo-electric would be interesting but only if diesel got very expensive while coal remained cheap.
Any energy program is going to need engineers to design it and I haven't seen any demand anywhere. I'm just sitting here on unenjoyment wondering when TPTB will get a clue.
Want to follow what's happening in Sacramento right now?
John Myers, KQED (KQED_CapNotes) on Twitter
Time is running out
i just know there was at least 4 trillion or so of magical pixie dust in the mix as of our fin de siècle moment. but maybe i'm being charitable.
"Californistan's" GDP is higher than that of India:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S.states_by_GDP%28nominal%29
EEngineer - that steam comment was half in jest. I haven't heard anything about it.I was thinking of the old-time steam engines, ala James Watt. Sorry you aren't busier. Best of luck to you.
i just find a certain irony in using a word like 'product', when almost all of it is totally intangible. of course, this isn't as offensive as the use of the word 'growth' in the above article.
Want to follow what's happening in Sacramento right now?
Nice, thanks for that moola
I like hearing about the vague description of how the stimulus funds are just being rolled out now; pray-tell how about some insight into the exact plan and projects those are going to and howmuch will be spent this month, verse last-month and the plan for future months?
barfly, I have my 5 year old for summer vacation. Realistically this is likely to be one of the few summers I have time to play with her before she's grown up a bit and into other things.
China and India hold alot of our treasury bonds
China, sure, India, only middling at $40B but rising fast.
http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt
That's good to hear. My kids are grown and gone. It went too fast.
"Surreal feeling, quiet falls over packed Senate Chamber as everyone watches the clock. The state will lose $7 bil in savings at midnight."
Capitol Weekly (capitolweekly) on Twitter
India's GDP is somewhere between Canada's and Mexico's. China's is less than one-third ours, just below Japan's
Closer to half if you adjust for purchasing power.
...about some insight into the exact plan and projects those are going to and howmuch will be spent this month, verse last-month and the plan for future months?
Stimulus Watch: Keeping an Eye on Economic Recovery Spending
I suspect the administration's strategy is to get all major powers to devalue their currencies simultaneously. Since the fiat currencies are measured only in relation to each other, this is possible; if the dollar, pound, euro, yen, swiss franc, krona, and C.dollar all lose buying power, who will notice?
And that is how the O team plans to inflate out of the credit collapse without trashing the dollar.
Normally this would lead to serious inflation. But there are tremendous deflationary pressures right now, and labor has absolutely no leverage to increase wages...
...so inflation will only show up in commodities. But commodities are being crushed by the fall in industrial demand.
Which leaves only gold to tell the tale. And the gold price can be manipulated to hide the underlying devaluation of all the major currencies. Which is clearly happening.
(Still, there is a tiny voice in my head--and has been for years--saying that there will be a sudden devastating global financial collapse, and it will be triggered by a screaming failure in the gold markets.)
I am convinced that the new administration when it took office made a conscious decision to attempt reflation of the collapsing credit system. Its only other option was to allow widespread default by lenders and borrowers alike, and probably cause a global financial panic. (I don't agree that option A was better, but here we are.)
Faced with this stark and monumental decision, the O administration did not look too far down the road to see whether it was paved all the way to recovery. And so they did not take into significant account the corollary effects we are now seeing--the cliff-diving of federal, state, and local tax revenues, the sudden rise in the savings rate and its secondary effects on the economy...
...and at least one other effect not fully manifested yet, which is the profound societal disintegration that will ultimately result from the administration cavalierly riding roughshod over the RULE OF LAW--in so many ways.
When a government fails to deliver on its promise to protect the rule of law, it throws away its legitimacy. Not wise in a nation where there are as many guns as people.
List of failed states 3.0
That's the end of that chapter:
"Final vote on all 3 stopgap bills: 25-14. Measures fail. Senate recesses til 10am."
Damn; just looking through the HHS from recovery.gov.
Weekly report found here (XLS)
Grants to states for medicaid nearly all outlayed. In fact, it looks like of the $29B obligated, $21B has been outlayed.
Of course this is HHS...
Ha:
"Steinberg calls refusal to pass bills 'the most irresponsible act I've seen in my 15 years of public service'"
One senator was all it took.
Any energy program is going to need engineers to design it and I haven't seen any demand anywhere. I'm just sitting here on unenjoyment wondering when TPTB will get a clue.
Hey EE -- best luck on finding what you want and need. Consider consulting if you haven't already, at least in my day (just post-hollow-state) it was countercyclic.
You raise a good question. If we were to move ahead "full steam" how long would it take? When would a normal engineer feel the difference?
In the 60's it was not uncommon to create/fund/staff on critical projects in less than a year. Everything takes longer now. 2-3 times? Gotta feed the administrators. It could be 2-3 years before someone who was not in management was spending actual gov dollars on some engineering project.
The earliest place where new money will fall is close to universities, especially the ones with (cost-)effective senators. Slightly later money will fall onto the tech donut cities around the engineering centers in the US, on private companies.
Are you a power engineer?
What is Californiastan?
Alex, what is "Doomed" for $500.
Bah... the damn computer programs are old anyways....
Computer Program (Dem): Blah Blah "we need more revenue" blah blah blah blah
Computer Program (Rep): Blah blah blah blah "we need less spending" blah blah blah blah blah blah
Maybe they realize the people really would like them to stop wasting our money... as far as I'm concerned government shut-down is a great thing... wish we could figure out how to tax the legislative budgets themselves...
"this is possible; if the dollar, pound, euro, yen, swiss franc, krona, and C.dollar all lose buying power, who will notice"
It's called oil prices. Oil=the new reserve currency
OPEC is the new global central bank
Which is worse - Geithner or OPEC?
DoE only 2% of stimulus outlays...
Next up DoT...
From their website: WARNING: DOT is aware of attempts to defraud potential Recovery Act grantees. These attempts occur by written request for confidential financial information that appear to be from DOT. DO NOT RESPOND TO THESE REQUESTS. If you receive such a request, please contact us on 202-366-0747, or email the Senior Procurement Executive at recovery.grantee@dot.gov. DOT is working with domestic and international law enforcement agencies to identify and prosecute the persons responsible for this fraudulent activity.
Arizona passes budget, no 1 cent sales tax increase or flat tax.
State stays open for business, still no idea how to pay for anything.
$600mm in cuts, $700mm in borrowing.
DoT at 1.9%... I'm just taking total outlays over total obligations...
Oil=the new reserve currency
--which is worse, B or T
But oil is an industrial commodity, and industrial demand is falling, which mitigates what would otherwise be a faster climb in oil prices. I think the O administration counts on this to help disguise the concerted devaluation of fiat.
It's 12:29am PDT and the lights are on in California.
I don't hear any zombies.
Could there be something, some occupied place between the twin horns of Randian zombie/apocalypse on one hand and precious-bodily-fluid-sapping socialists on the other?
Cali GOP state legislators went Galt.
NR, I'm a circuit board designer. I do all kinds of stuff. Straight salary and consulting. The problem as I see it is that the art of project management is being lost. All the new business types don't think they need to know how the stuff they design works. It's all about the PowerPoint (which should be banned from all engineering groups IMHO) and the pretty presentations.
The space race predates me by a generation but what strikes me the most is that they had to do all the planning on paper. I think it actually forced them to KISS so that they could manage the complexity. Not so today. Now everyone assumes the computer will sort out the details. Doesn't work. There is no substitute for thinking.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124640564559176649.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
WASHINGTON -- In a major break with most other large companies, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Tuesday told the White House that it supports requiring employers to provide health insurance to workers, a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's effort to provide near-universal coverage to Americans.
The support of Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, could give momentum to one of the most-contentious aspects of legislation taking shape in Congress to fix the health system. To help pay for covering the 46 million uninsured, lawmakers have proposed mandating that all but small employers provide insurance for workers or help pay for it.
Amazing! I'm going to have to take back all the bad things I said about Wal-Mart if they keep this up.
My favorite sound is the sound of a health-insurance lobbyist, or Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, whining like a stuck pig. Whine little piggies!
"The kind that the groups in this letter support is the worst incarnation, the most dangerous policy," said James Gelfand, senior manager of health policy for the group, which represents three million businesses.
I don't hear any zombies.
-later, baiters
"I don't hear any zombies"
Favorite video involving a zombie ever: YouTube - ECW Sandman Vs The Zombie
EE - I had written and then deleted a paragraph about the difference in engineering management quality between the 60's and now.
Almost without exception managers in the 60's came from engineering itself, and in many cases bypassed the guild-based framework of higher management education that produced uniformity in their ranks. Think Rocco Petrone at NASA, for example.
I see people like this in edge industries - medical instrumentation, genetics and some silicon industries. Otherwise it's largely sclerotic, abstracted management-by-darts wherein people who know nothing about the problems being solved set schedules everyone has to follow.
It seems routine and generational for people to forget the experiences of their forebears. But it's not necessary to do so, and willful ignorance is unforgivable.
Last thought. My own tendency when between jobs was to cocoon. But in retrospect the best times were when I almost celebrated the time itself, and met as many of my friends as possible for lunch, and made paper companies, read books, and met new people. Just about the time you forget why you're doing all of this some light will shine through and you'll have a great project. At least that is the optimistic memory of it.
Depending on where you are, consider medical instrumentation companies too - they are somewhat resliient to recessions.
Best luck!
The US regime is a:
a) Cryptocracy
b) Plutocracy
c) Democracy (de juri and de facto majority rule)
d) Kakistocracy
e) Kleptocracy
f) Kritocracy
g) Shylockracy
I'm somewhat confused, but I'd say all of the above except c).
Percentage of outlays spent by stimulus (parenthesis is total obligations, ie how much money given to each dept)
I excluded depts less than $1B. Figured that was noise (but there were some like DoD who was at 1% spent of $0.95B).
Dept Education 17% ($45B)
HHS 72% ($30B)
Dept Labor 33% ($20.5B)
DoT 1.9% ($19B)
SSA 99% ($13B)
HUD 13.6% ($5.1B)
EPA 0.3% ($4.4B)
USDA 66%($3.23B)
DoJ 21% ($1.73B)
Granted this seems really small amount for promised $600B (I think $200B of the $800B is actually tax benefits)... but to me it doesn't seem like the idea that most of these funds are going to roll into the economy will help; in fact we've got $13B from Social Security into the economy as well as a lot from HHS... these are actually scary numbers for expenditures... of course I don't know if the Feds outlay it to the states who then account for it and are not actually "spending" it as much as it appears.
Unirealist-
I'm saying oil is the reserve currency because compared to other commodities and currencies it has the most relative scarcity. Fiat currencies do not currently have scarcity.
I'm gonna shoot from a young perspective (out of school < 10 years) as an engineer and say I'm concerned that we don't have the engineering prowess in this country that we used to or should; or we don't have the balls or desire to pay for it (I believe that was EE's original point). Additionally there seems to be zero incentive for someone to go and become Benjamin Franklin and "discover" electricity or Thomas Edison and run his experiments; we seem preoccupied with ensuring there is housing over our head and food in our stomach; going into the basement and playing around without any guarantees of return on that investment is a waste of time.
I would envision a modern day "Benjamin Franklin" to be someone who is working on a problem... like say autonomous automobiles. For instance; they would have a GPS integrated with video imagery aligned with their wheels running through a computer hook-up with some type of feedback mechanism mounted onto the steering wheel (this seems a bit Doc-from-Back-to-the-Future-ish). Of course this would be accomplished while legally behind the wheel; but one could experiment with figuring out how to keep the car from veering off the road and hitting car's in front of it by taking the video imagery and hooking it to some type of simulation. I don't think this problem is trivial; but then again I believe it is not as hard as we want to make it out.
Once people start to see the future of autonomous cars I believe they will willingly contribute to a database ie. matching the GPS characteristics to the lane characteristics for a set lane on a set road... of course the problem would be I envision the control computer as some hot form factor in the front seat running a quad-core or better to process all the imagery and data real time...
To dream that one day I can become a genius "inventor" like Franklin... I believe he was just a man with a big vision...
I think my original point is that no organization or person would actually fund the activity I just described as the payback is too late and it seems percieved benefit so small... I also think its cool that we use robots to defuse IEDs in Iraq and would think there are a number of other areas that might benefit from the use of robots (think people who play with high voltage electrical powerlines)
The second amendment.
I look through history and try to find a comparison of an entire nation armed, firearms are the great equalizer. I can't find a precedence. We put so much faith in being a well armed populace.
I think it might end up being our greatest failure. The two edged sword cuts both ways.
I am an NRA member and am thankful to our forefathers for this foresight. I still worry if it might end up being a trap for our country.
I am not baiting a discussion. I wonder how the future plays out and this is a game changer. Growing up firearms were for sport. I hate that I have to consider them for defense and protection.
China Is Expected to Block Imports of Chicken From U.S.
China Is Expected to Block Imports of Chicken From U.S. - WSJ.com
China is expected to ban imports of U.S. chicken in coming days, a move likely to deliver a blow to the struggling American chicken industry and escalate trade tensions between the two nations.
James H. Sumner, president of the Georgia-based USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, said he learned Tuesday from "several importers" in China that the U.S. wouldn't receive any import permits from the country's ministry of commerce starting July 1.
The Smoot of it all!
And how screwed up is it to grow chickens in the US, kill them here, ship them to China, cook them and then ship them back?
Cheap oil multiplies stupidity as well as consciousness, apparently.
YSLP --
1) There are many, many smart people in the US and world. I just got a chance to see the Maker Faire in San Francisco, but it's just a pointy part of the iceberg. This place has creativity just coming out of the cracks in the floor if you know where to look. People are ready to do good things.
2) DARPA/ARPA is/was funding autonomous vehicle off-road competitions, you might like to read about these:
DARPA Grand Challenge - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Welcome
Having said that I do think this is not the best place to put tech dollars; it has more military uses than civilian for now, and we will not be lavishing a surfeit of mobile energy shortly
Also for fun google robot soccer, if you haven't had a chance.
3) I agree with you that the importance and relevance of individuals is highly underrated, for example Dean Kamen. Of course any of these fellows depends on tens or hundreds of people directly assisting them, but they have the vision.
In addition to your creativity you have tools at your fingertips that every previous generation of human inventors only wet-dreamed about.
Best
So in Q4 when the economy hasn't miraculously expanded will they be saying.....yes its just around the corner......next Qtr and we'll have recovery
California issuing Arnoldbucks?
Does that not depend on currency exchange ratios?
//India's GDP is somewhere between Canada's and Mexico's. China's is less than one-third ours, just below Japan's://
anyone there?
http://www.sfgate.com/blogs/images/sfgate/nov05election/2009/02/03/ArnoldBucks_medium499x224.gif
Arnold Bucks
"I'll be back
to Pay You Up"
No.
California issuing StarBucks!
Corporate Bonds Show Lehman Doesn’t Matter With 9.2% Return
Corporate Bonds Show Lehman Collapse Doesn’t Matter (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
By Bryan Keogh and Cristina Alesci
July 1 (Bloomberg) -- Nowhere is the recovery in financial markets more evident than in corporate bonds, where Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s bankruptcy is becoming a distant memory.
U.S. investment-grade company debt returned 9.2 percent in the first half of the year, outperforming Treasuries by 13.7 percentage points, the most on record, according to Merrill Lynch & Co. index data. Corporate bonds also did better than the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of stocks, marking the first time since 2002 that the fixed-income securities outshined both Treasuries and equities.
Lucifer (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 1:45 am
anyone there?
The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council is here.
Are they going to wire people's chairs to deliver intermittent shocks?
Sanofi unveils R&D makeover
Sanofi unveils R&D makeover - FierceBiotech
June 30, 2009 — 7:56am ET | By Maureen Martino
As promised, Sanofi-Aventis announced today that it's overhauling its R&D operations in a bid to boost productivity. Noting its "social responsibility," the company is not planning layoffs, but says it will restructure through "voluntary staff departures."
The France-based pharma will reorganize some of its world-wide operations, which includes consolidating its R&D activities in France. The reorganization will affect preclinical activities at some sites of Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan where divestment or reconversion solutions will be sought for certain activities.
Right here, dark lord
I should eat a big omelette tomorrow.
//The USA Poultry & Egg Export Council is here.//
broward,
you might get a kick out of this one.
How to Collaborate with Your Contractors
- Bloomberg.com
04:27 PM Monday June 29, 2009
By John Baldoni
The other day a good friend of mine called to express the frustration he was feeling about working with his current IT vendor. My friend is in the pre-launch phase of an e-commerce start up and he was discouraged with the lack of progress the vendor is making. He was tempted to pull the plug on the project and award it to someone else. Entrepreneurs feeling frustrated with subcontractor work is nothing new. I know of another start-up executive who is expressing similar feelings about a manufacturing vendor.
What are they smoking?
Japanese Businesses Are Less Pessimistic: Tankan Survey
BOJ Tankan Survey: Japan Businesses Are Less Pessimistic - Japan * Asia * News * Story - CNBC.com
By: Reuters | 30 Jun 2009 | 08:52 PM ET
Japanese business confidence pulled back from a record low hit three months ago, the Bank of Japan's tankan survey showed, in the first rise in two and a half years as reviving global trade boosts Japan's big exporters. Companies said they expected business conditions to further improve in the next three months, although from very low levels as damage from the global financial crisis persists.
Britain's Queen May Run Out of Money by 2012
Britain's Queen May Run Out of Money by 2012 - CNBC
By: CNBC.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 10:16 AM ET
Maintaining a monarchy is costly, as Britain found out when a newly published account revealed that Queen Elizabeth II will be out of pocket by 2012 unless the government boosts funds for the Royal household for the first time in 20 years. The total cost of keeping the monarchy increased by £1.5 million ($2.5 million) to £41.5 million pounds ($69.23 million) during the last financial year, according to royal accounts published on the UK monarchy's official web site. The Queen had to tap the reserve fund by £6 million to supplement the cost of running the Royal household, the accounts showed
A hedge fund manager calling others greedy.. my irony meter just overloaded!
Madoff Investors 'Greedy': Hendry
Madoff Investors 'Greedy': Hendry - CNBC
By: CNBC.com | 30 Jun 2009 | 04:52 AM ET
People who invested with Bernard Madoff were greedy and happy to accept high returns without probing too much in the way these were achieved, Hugh Hendry, chief investment officer at hedge fund Eclectica, told CNBC Tuesday.
JPMC and now Shiti
Citi raises card rates on millions
FT.com / Companies / Banks - Citi raises card rates on millions
By Francesco Guerrera and Saskia Scholtes in New York and Tom Braithwaite in Washington
Published: June 30 2009 23:59 | Last updated: June 30 2009 23:59
Citigroup has sharply increased interest rates on up to 15m US credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come into effect, in a move that could fuel political anger at the treatment of consumers by bailed-out banks. People close to the situation said that Citi, which is about to cede a 34 per cent stake to the US government as part of its latest rescue, had upped rates on between 13m and 15m credit cards it co-brands with retailers such as Sears.
Gruma Says It May File for Bankruptcy on Peso Bets (Update3)
Gruma Says It May File for Bankruptcy on Peso Bets (Update3) - Bloomberg.com
By Carlos Manuel Rodriguez
June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Gruma SAB, the largest maker of corn flour for tortillas in Mexico, said its auditors have “substantial doubt” about whether it can stay in business and the company may be forced to file for bankruptcy.
“Our consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that we will continue as a going concern,” Gruma said today in a U.S. regulatory filing. “However, our independent auditors have stated in their most recent report that substantial doubt exists about our ability to continue as a going concern.”
The Mexican tortilla maker reached an agreement on March 23 with Credit Suisse Group AG, Deutsche Bank AG and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to borrow $668.3 million to pay them back for currency derivatives that plunged in value after the peso lost 20 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008.Derivatives are financial instruments whose value is based on, and determined by, another security or benchmark.
How to Collaborate with Your Contractors
My experience is a lot of dishonesty in consulting.... on both sides.
I tried to get out in 2006 but after six months of unemployment, I took another contracting job.
It's like being typecast in acting.
The United States runs on dishonesty and denial.
I've seen the real extent of it over the past few years.
It always has.. it just happens that now we cannot keep on going down that road.
Ponzi schemes require an ever increasing amount of fresh recruits.. demography has sealed that avenue.
//The United States runs on dishonesty and denial.
I've seen the real extent of it over the past few years.//
No, Broward, the US runs on oil. But that is about to change....
broward,
What did you think about the roissy blog?
What did you think about the roissy blog?
Interesting but I haven't checked it today, I was busy with job applications and a pool tournament.
Kauai_Kahuna -
I think I'll head out to the local dive and drink a toast to Cali, and see if they accept Cali IOU's. Have a good night all.
How lame to respond to myself = Very.
Even worst was the responses on my field test. What do you mean IOU's.
Hunnnnhhhh? Your joking right, your lips are moving.
No one I talked to had a clue, some questioned and wanted to know but it tells you how the MSM just put on blinders.
Time for another beer and start digging the shelter.
How lame to respond to myself = Very.
I do it often because it makes me laugh.
I foresee that CA will continue issuing IOUs until they become a small Forex eco-system. Contractors will accept CAIOUs, trade them off at a discount to traders who will discount them off to brokers who will sell them back to CA. Eventually, other States will tie into this Forex system, allowing inter-state arbitraging which will generate the next financial bubble.
Kauai_Kahuna (homepage, profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 2:22 am
No one I talked to had a clue, some questioned and wanted to know but it tells you how the MSM just put on blinders.
Time for another beer and start digging the shelter.
Say what you will, desensitization works wonders on the mondern mind.
From the sound of it people are ready for the next phase of empire devolution. No dreams of going to the stars or curing malaria to pick up off the floor or anything. Monetization should work out just peachy.
broward -
You usually make me laugh, but right now I just feel like getting knurd, oh already there so it has to be time to go to sleep.
NervousRex -
Say what you will, desensitization works wonders on the mondern mind.
Perhaps, but I doubt it. Hope and dreams tend to wake up when someone is hungry. Right now it looks likes no one gives a sh.., but the question is what will be the call to arms, or reality when people start to care.
PPIP has been delay yet again? Shocker, I don't believe it.
the question is what will be the call to arms
The situation is unpredictable.
Very unpredictable, which should make you ponder about the Establishment's expectations.
OK, somebody please shoot me with a silver bullet.
I vented earlier today on SS, and how it will fall forward very quickly because its DEAD. Now this.
The Myth of 2016
Sponsored by
by Gene Epstein
Wednesday, July 1, 2009 provided by Barron's
The ever-increasing share of Americans who keep working after age 55 will buy Uncle Sam some more time to solve the Social Security crisis:
the-myth-of-2016: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance
Now I feel like putting out some hate mail due to idiots typing without a license.
ERROR :: Sorry, the page you requested could not be found.- If you are trying to reach a page from a bookmark, the page URL may have changed. Please choose a community from the navigation at the top of this page.
- If you are looking for an ol
Eddy curry made 10.5 million last year rotting on the knicks bench. I believe that is an option ARM
The peak boomer years are 1957-1958.
1958 + 55 = 2013.
It's possible that whole sick, twisted circus wagon can keep rolling until 2016.
Sucky thought, isn't it?
hans (profile) -
Eddy curry made 10.5 million last year rotting on the knicks bench. I believe that is an option ARM
Hey, its a good job if you can get it.
I never complain about the people who get the sweet deal. I ask WTF about the management and boards that approve it.
I can only dream I'm able to CON someone to pay me that much for just showing up to practice and training. It's not my fault they met my expectations of godhood, because I'm as great as I can CON others into agreeing.
The team manager et al needs to be adjusted. Lucifer, I think we have a job for you.
I think this country has talent, but maybe not enough....
One of the differences I've noticed between say a foriegn engineer and an american one, is american ones tend to be much more creative and adaptable. It might just be the way people are raised here, maybe all that emphasis on creativity and art and such in high school compared to most asian countries is paying off.
That said, the problem with this country is people do not want to be engineers. It is a difficult job in general, and requires far more work than say trading derivative paper around (I know far more people involved in finance from my high school... than who went into engineering).
Most of the people yo uhave in my field (software dev , 6 years out of college, which puts me in a similar situation as you) love the field. But a lot of them uh arent that talented. There are probably people who trade derivatives who love engineering and have even more innate talent who just let the idea of getting filthy rich get to them and went that way. I mean thtas a much easier career path. College in that field is much more fun and easy. It is very very very tempting (hell i knew people who switched to business or econ majors from engineering, you really had to like it to stay i guess). My cousin wanted to be a chemist , but he thought that business would be more lucrative and now he works in client support at some retirment fixed income fund (customer support basically but it pays more than you'd think). He was prodded in that direction by 2 of my other cousins who are derivatives brokers for goldman and barclays. The influence of what is considerd a high return on investment career path can derail tons of people from engineering.
I think if the country destroys the financial incentive for smart people (who might even have a passion for say chemistry or electronics) to go into the FIRE jobs maybe we could be back on the right track. America has a lot of ingenuity, and plenty of talent. We just have to steer people back into where we need them , we definitely don't need people in banking. China does it by force. India does it because engineering pays A LOT there relatively.
broward -
Sucky thought, isn't it?
Yes, but I read it as another flag going up to see who salutes, and how much the Gov. can cut back on servicing that debt. You know if everyone over 55 has a job with Walmart as a greater, why do they need SS?
Check out Democratic Underground's version of "Ruthless Default".
Very detailed advice -
Democratic Underground - punished for doing everything the right way - Democratic Underground
"Giving up an identity as an invested, middle-class citizen is a bitter pill to swallow, but if you don't discover some new stream of income soon, they're going to take everything you own, ruin your credit, and you'll be left standing on the street (or living with the in-laws) with the consolation that you played by their rules. Woopee! This way you'll only have ruined credit. It may be your best option"
if everyone over 55 has a job with Walmart as a greater, why do they need SS?
The greeter job only buys gas & cat food.
SS is for the mortgage payment.
broward - version of "Ruthless Default".
I'll wait for the current White house to say it. But you know, when it comes down to save and pay, or spend and be payed. Why am I saving?
broward -
The greeter job only buys gas & cat food.
SS is for the mortgage payment.
Oh Walmart just did a big 180, and said Health care is very important and a critical part of life, or something like that.
The winds of change.
YouTube - Scorpions - Wind Of Change
I emphasize with Michael Jackson.
A bunch of greedy, unscrupulous people ripped him apart.
It's hard to judge if he was a pedophile or not.
There's a lot of evidence that he was set up by the original accusations in 1994.
I suspect that he never developed a sense for dishonesty and hidden agendas.
I had the same problem around 1997 when I was sabotaged by one of my employees.
Since then, I've learned a great deal about people and communication.
The world runs largely on subtle signals, slandering and conspiracies.
Perhaps the U.S. was always like this but I doubt it.
Analysis of Enron email shows how conspiracies function.
Higher levels of management had sudden bursts of email & grouping that corresponds to subsequent crisis.
They knew it was coming.
I suspect the Federal Reserve and Federal gov't email would show the same pattern.
So many lies and schemes.
Email patterns can predict impending doom - tech - 22 June 2009 - New Scientist
Why am I saving?
I concluded that many years ago.
I never bothered with 401K plans, I assumed since 1990 or so that they'd be looted or liquidated.
I focused on cash and precious metals and zero debt.
My ex-wife wiped that out, though.
Now I have even less reason to save.
I focus on how I want to spend the next fifteen years.
it's not worth it to endure a lot of bullshit and annoyance FOR SURE in hopes of MAYBE surviving to 65.
I'll take my "bird in the hand" and leave the "two in the bush" for the younger suckers.
it's a difficult mentality for most people to grasp, though.
I'm PLANNING to die around 65 so I make my decisions accordingly.
broward -
I emphasize with Michael Jackson.
Sorry can't do that, while I think he may have been very naive he never learned the lesson.
He did some great music, and did great performances that I will never forget, but if he could never learn the lesson, How can we expect anyone else to.
When it comes to innocent naive children, the law needs to extreme.
Ruthless, non-compromising.
Of course nothing was proven, so I will be happy to say God rest his messed up soul. And hopefully he has found some peace, but I doubt it.
The Law didn't kill him.
Society did.
If he'd been shot by the kid's father, would that be better or worse than several years of mental torture?
The issue is not Michael Jackson but our society.
I don't see a United States that I like much anymore.
One of the differences I've noticed between say a foriegn engineer and an american one, is american ones tend to be much more creative and adaptable. It might just be the way people are raised here, maybe all that emphasis on creativity and art and such in high school compared to most asian countries is paying off.
As a European working for US corp firms for last 12 years. My perspective is that the biggest issue I see working with Americans is that there is too much focus on the positive and too little reality in projects, issues and problems get buried and small successes get puffed up massively. There is a 'stated' culture of openness but no one ever ever wants to hear bad news. The reality is openness as long as its positive.
On a cultural side there is always lots of talk of cultural awareness but in the background you get constant sniping around difficulties in making redundancies and changes in Europe without employee consultation. You can argue the rights and wrongs of this but you don't open the business up without knowing the situation.
.Business is run on a hunger and burst basis, its either massive bloated expansion or huge cuts. Its like a constant corporate bubble, inlfating then deflating then inflating.....in fact corporate life is like the US in minature.
broward -
I'm PLANNING to die around 65 so I make my decisions accordingly.
I want to go into suspend animation an get paid until I'm 55. Then I want to live like a mad man until I'm 65, then I'll slow down if I'm still alive and do some type of retardation, I mean retire.
broward -
The Law didn't kill him.
Society did.
I love kids as much as anyone, they do remind of what life is all about, but come on! I don't take them to my bed. WTF??
Come one, some things are just outside of accepted reality.
Now I might take the mother to bed while the kid is playing outside and lock the damm door.
I'm sorry, there is no way I can even try to understand him, and to be honest I don't even want to.
w10949 -
My perspective is that the biggest issue I see working with Americans is that there is too much focus on the positive and too little reality in projects, issues and problems get buried and small successes get puffed up massively.
Thank you for that reality check, I would guess that your native language is not U.S. But you know, its better than mine.
In some places I think you are totally right, unless the job is to extend the problems as a troubleshooter. Then everything is a problem be it a typo, or a massive non-starter.
It all depends on who signs your pay check and what they want.
Economy so bad that not even sex is selling.
This recession is so bad not even sex sells - Wall Street Examiner Forums
"Dad always said, 'why buy the cow when you can milk yourself?"
mock turtle writes: "...couldnt we have public trials and executions of the most notorious bankstas...think of the ticket sales receipts and the sales tax collections!"
Don't forget pay per view and residuals from re-runs!
And the post execution book deals, we could keep that money
And the action figures, and lunch boxes, comic books, the prospects are infinite!
KK,
Don't get me wrong there are many positives working for US companies over say German or French ones. If there were not then I would not still be doing it. I think the uber-positive mindset is something that is put into many smart kids via schooling and that bad news is seen as something to avoid at all costs. Some of the most rounded and smart folk I have worked with have been US folks who spent considerable time in Europe...so something in the middle works better I suppose.
" July 1, 2009
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board of directors is expected to approve a plan July 1 to issue as much as $150 billion of bonds, Bloomberg reported."
w10949 -
Don't get me wrong
Not at all, a good cross section view is great and I understood your post.
I will not say your right becuase that has been debated for a couple hundred years. What I do think is your hitting on a very important reality within the American corporate chain. Personally I read Dilbert to understand reality as I know it.
Well, night all. It's time to recharge and try to remember what reality and dimension I'm stuck in this morning.
Hopefully yours is better than mine.
volker the viking : "...couldnt we have public trials and executions of the most notorious bankstas...think of the ticket sales receipts and the sales tax collections!"
And the post execution book deals, we could keep that money
Sign me up for Prince, then the orange man, after that I'm getting pretty cheap with what I will pay good money for the destruction of the destructors of money.
..???... I think that makes sense, but sign me up!
My name is J.. M..., you sold me a house I could not afford, prepare to die...
Edited because I could not come up with a non-real name.
Pavel.chichikov -
The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) board of directors is expected to approve a plan July 1 to issue as much as $150 billion of bonds,
So who wins in this massive rush to save the balance sheets
I always thought of Michael Jackson as a child star whose talent was hyped and overrated.
Which brings up the end of a Bloomberg interview I heard today with Prof. Schiller. I hope it was out of context because he sounded like a complete idiot.
Good morrrning Mary-Nam!
I don't hear any unicorns. Anyone? Bueller?
Maybe they slept in.
C
on the subject of guns
if you live in a state where everybody has guns
do you really need one?
everything is already effectively being policed, by uncertainty
Proof! Proof positive!
The green shoot tsunami has begun, in Serbia...
Soaring Serbia Stocks Signal Demise of BRIC Rally (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
C
CR:Very little of the stimulus has been spent so far, so it is premature to say it failed.
If failed because it did not do what Romer and Obama said it would do already (see your graph).
Citi joining in on the CONsumer beatdown:
(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc has increased interest rates on up to 15 million U.S. credit card accounts just months before curbs on such rises come into effect, the Financial Times reported citing people close to the situation.
Counterpointer (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 11:44 am
Proof! Proof positive!
The green shoot tsunami has begun, in Serbia...
Soaring Serbia Stocks Signal Demise of BRIC Rally (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
C
The Serbs are beating us.
Clearly, we did not bomb them enough in the 1990s.
All your stimulus are belong to us.
Clearly the Serbian stock market is the Archduke trigger of the second half recovery.
C
Did CA turn into a pumpkin?
U.S. MBA Mortgage Applications Index Fell 19 Percent Last Week
The group’s refinancing gauge declined 30 percent, while the index of purchases fell 4.5 percent.
How much of BoA's Q1 "profit" came from refinancing activity? Maybe Q2 won't be as much of a surprise. But I'm sure they'll make it up with "trading activity."
Counterpointer (profile) wrote on Wed, 7/1/2009 - 12:02 pm
Clearly the Serbian stock market is the Archduke trigger of the second half recovery.
I always knew the reflation would start over some damned thing in the Balkans.
Gotta run to the swamp, as long as the Red Line isn't delayed due to unicorn herds converging on the capital.
C
Dennis gives it to the bloggers
Zero Hedge: Dennis Lets Zero Hedge Have It
Hey Dennis you despicable little worm if it was not for us Bloogers you government bought and paid for MSM shills would have told many a household to keep their money in stocks and many would have been taken to the cleaners.
So from a blogger that is one step ahead of you a** wipes up yours....you should be fired for sheer stupidity alone.
And for the record my friends ZEROHEDGE is a top notch group...
BREAKING
ADP survey: Private-sector job rolls down 473,000
whoa! shill, don't hold back now, you're sounding even more harsh than Herr Karl:
To Dennis Kneale: You're An Idiot - The Market Ticker
then, I'm not disagreeing with you in any way
Steve Forbes out placed this guy to CNBC, one of his shreweder moves I must say. He must still be snickering...
Dennis K. of CNBC.
A bigger fucktard you will never see.
Beak is making a big mistake taking on the blogosphere. I liken it to a politician taking on a television character. There is very little upside.
FAILED
I'm PLANNING to die around 65 so I make my decisions accordingly.
George Burns once quipped, "If I'd have known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."
...if you live in a state where everybody has guns do you really need one?