“literally lining up at midnight” at Wal-Mart stores waiting to buy food when paychecks or government checks land in their accounts.
I was left somewhat under-impressed with the quote. As for the people lining up outside of Wall^Mart, why aren't these people lining up outside of government buildings and protesting since they have no food and free time to line up outside of the store at Midnight?
Then, its customers would not have to wait until Midnight! The Wall^Mart will know all and pull in that sweet, sweet demand so far forward that it will turn all of Smalltown USA into company towns! What is old is new again!
Then, its customers would not have to wait until Midnight! The Wall^Mart will know all and pull in that sweet, sweet demand so far forward that it will turn all of Smalltown USA into company towns! What is old is new again!
I love this place sometimes. I can post a single hint and the brainiacs can decode the entire thesis.
Pelosi's plan taxes medical devices and numerous other things. You need a new hip in the next few years? They don't ask how much you make, they just tax the device.
“There are families not eating at the end of the month,” said Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Wal-Mart Stores, and “literally lining up at midnight” at Wal-Mart stores waiting to buy food when paychecks or government checks land in their accounts.
Among the steps Wal-Mart is taking to address the changes in shopping habits...
It's just a change in shopping habits. Nothing to get hung about.
Those people will put down their teabags, hit the local Home Depot garden department and pick up something sharp.
7 Home Depots within a 10 mile radius of Washington D.C.... I'm thinking there will be sale of pitchforks... 10% off if your republican, 20% off if your libertarian and 30% off if you've been unemployed for more than 12 months.
Among the steps Wal-Mart is taking to address the changes in shopping habits...
The full quote:
Among the steps Wal-Mart is taking to address the changes in shopping habits, Mr. Quinn listed an overhaul of the retailer’s private-label brand, Great Value, which is promoted in commercials describing how families can fix dinners with Great Value products “for less than $2 a serving.”
I don't think my reading comprehension skills are up to snuff. Can someone parse it out for me? They are overhauling the Great Value brand to promote cheaper servings / USD, or they are already doing it and are doing something different?
.
Also there is no telling what kind of unofficial government cheese is going into a WalMart "value" brand if they are trying to downscale every more. It was mostly crap @ 4 USD/oz, but now we can offer it to you at 2 USD/oz (while the USD is weaker now). I'm scared just thinking about what kind of ingredients they will use...in China... to make this stuff.
the article you linked to is propaganda and nonsense
you obviously pride yourself as right of center yet you seem to be endorsing an article that claims it is governments business to find you or your fellow citizens jobs
Walmart is scared. It is slowly realizing the dangers of its narrow, long, high velocity supply channel. Disruptions in that chain are not easily bypassed.
I'm not really buying what he is selling. While I agree that the Democrats are using this "off year" to play the Hide-In-The-Sausage game, I don't really think a Republican-lead Congress would be doing anything different besides chirping how we should let Businesses do what they do--which is send jobs abroad, hide revenues from tax collectors, and dump low-end workers on the government's dole. ^yawn^
To be more thorough, the quote after the Wal-Mart item should be mentioned, "Eric E. Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google, began his speech by declaring, “We know we have begun the recovery” because searches on google.com for terms like “restaurants” and “dancing” are increasing."
Now, I'm not sure how scientific Mr Schmidt's analysis is, but it's got to be just as scientific as Wal-Mart's.
Walmart is scared. It is slowly realizing the dangers of its narrow, long, high velocity supply channel. Disruptions in that chain are not easily bypassed.
I agree that JIT is one hiccup away from choking their supply chain to death. They pushed their producers to cost costs and move it abroad, and now if the materials can't get to the Far East and back in a quick enough manner, WalMart is completely dead in the water. I don't know what it will take to make that happen, but if WalMart--or any of the other big box retailers--truly get hit with some kind of logistics gridlock or work stoppage, they have no choice but to not open.
Btw the us will get another 15 years of taxes out of me and my wife if affordable health care comes to pass. And I'm sure there are plenty of others like me planning to move out of the us in their 50s due to an inability to get health care upon retirement pre 65.
When can Ayn Rand join L. Ron Hubbard as writing quacks? I say they have 1 "good" book/well-known book each but left monstrous organizational philosophies in their wake...
Probably more Push-Push. When 3rd shift WalMart stocker is looked upon with envy by his/her peers, I'm definitely looking for buying opportunities--if I'm not one of THOSE PEOPLE. /NaRm
The solution is so simple.. Tax them even more for 4 years so they can pay lower premiums starting in 2013...
Duh, I'm Governor Christie. Read my fat lips: Ronnie Raygun proved that taxes are an evil empire. Those people lining up at midnight at Walmart voted for me to cut their taxes because they are paying such a large amount right now.
Goldman Sachs for instance had to pay hundreds of millions, a fat 1%. They must represent a big chunk of those people. Obama's man Timmy wouldn't even let them "buy" Fannie Mae's tax breaks in the free market. Duh. if you tax Walmart's dividends and bonuses they'll just raise the price of soup or move their stores to China.
To be more thorough, the quote after the Wal-Mart item should be mentioned, "Eric E. Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google, began his speech by declaring, “We know we have begun the recovery” because searches on google.com for terms like “restaurants” and “dancing” are increasing."
By that reasoning the nation would be in the throes of a pornography wave with an epidemic of gratuitous hits to a person's nuts.
"When can Ayn Rand join L. Ron Hubbard as writing quacks? I say they have 1 "good" book/well-known book each but left monstrous organizational philosophies in their wake... "
Oh Lord God, protect me from your followers. Amen.
corporations paid about half of all the federal income tax receipts
and individuals paid the other half
today corporations have off shored...out sources...sub contracted and created subsidiaries with po boxes in the caymans
to avoid taxes and ow pay less than 20%
and individuals are getting hammered
there goes our country
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.
The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.
"There are families not eating at the end of the month,” said Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Wal-Mart Stores, and “literally lining up at midnight” at Wal-Mart stores waiting to buy food when paychecks or government checks land in their accounts.
“I love the retail broker business because my dad is a broker and my grandfather was a broker and it was the first job I ever had,” Jamie Dimon, 53, said at a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association meeting Oct. 27. “So if you are really, really good, call JPMorgan. We’d be happy to hire you.”
---'And if you are really, really evil, call me personally.'
thanks for the fascinating link..i checked it out...yes words matter..maybe more than we may ever know
as an aside, and this has nothing to do with you
just sayin
tonight i was listening to bill cunningham on fox radio...i do this to punish myself
cunningham repeatedly stated that major Nidal Malik Hasan served on the obama transition team
cunningham protected himself by saying "this is being reported at this web site" every now and then
but then raved about the implications and then repeated and endorsed a guests comment that members of the islamic brotherhood (an egyptian terrorist group) worked in the white house!
what
huh
and the stream of angry callers who intimated , suggested , talked around and sometimes right at
suggesting violence was remarkable
their seems to be a clear intent on the part of some on the far right to ignite violence
i am as angry as anyone but advocating violence and the lies are insane
"cunningham repeatedly stated that major Nidal Malik Hasan served on the obama transition team"
it's a closely held secret that Mr. Hasan actually worked ocassionally as a stand in double for President Obama under the logic that all Arabs look alike to us Whites.
Well, FFDIC, all I can say is that, last week, the mp organization bailed out a local farmer by helping him repair his combine and he paid in COW MEAT because he'd used his cash to buy fuel.
Well mock my man...uh turtle...
You know I'm in the not so great state of Texas where we've had yet another mass killing spree of late and another execution to boast about. How is your side of the pond?
Schmidt isn't a stupid man, but honestly the question he was providing an answer to is above his pay grade -- unless internal Google reports saw the financial meltdown coming. They didn't see it coming by the way, they didn't need to see it coming, and they will do ok for a while yet just repeating the current formula. They know what they know, which is something, but no more and no less. Gödel's incompleteness theorem but made worse by primitive crudeness tested only over a single economic cycle to monitor the relation between search data and action. Not to mention boringly causal.
You have to understand what he was doing. He's not trying to start a hedge fund, nor is he trying to encourage the opening of consumers' wallets. He is representing a company that finds it very beneficial to have investors optimistic for its future, and as an axiom the future of the economy as a whole.
A friend of mine in her very late 50s just up and moved to dusty San Angelo in west Texas for a "real" job with Verizon after searching in the Dallas area for more than a year. Said she is looking for a cheap place to live so that she can try and hang on to her house/mortgage here. I suggested renting a room/bath in a private home for a start until she can get better adjusted financially. Starting over yet again...
Boeing (BA), frustrated with repeated delays on its 787 Dreamliner jet, dropped the other shoe on July 7 and said it would spend $580 million to purchase a Vought Aircraft Industries plant in South Carolina.
snip
For their part, Vought leaders suggest they've been financially overwhelmed by the effort and are relieved at Boeing's takeover. Vought CEO Elmer Doty said in the same Boeing statement that "the financial demands of this program are clearly growing beyond what a company our size can support."
Boeing has been pressing hard on Vought, an outfit based in Irving, Tex., and owned by private equity firm The Carlyle Group, as the repeated delays in the Dreamliner have cost it orders for the jet and public embarrassment
Venezuela is sizzling.
Ahmadinejad from Iran is scheduled to visit.
Chavez is giving speeches that are more fiery than usual, telling troops to prepare for war (with Colombia)
Doesn't mean anything will actually happen, probably just for internal consumption.
It does represent a marker of economic stress, their trade has been down.
OT just read an article on James Cameron's Avatar. the total cost should come in around 500 million.
that's like Wow! it was interesting how Fox chopped up a lot of the risk and costs onto other partners.
the risk model is a lot different today than say it was when Cimino made Heaven's Gate and sunk United Artists...
in a side note around that time Columbia Pictures was all in on the movie Annie, luckily it turned a profit.
this is a line I thought I'd never read : Mr. Cameron would give up part of his own participation in the film’s returns if production costs exceed a specified level... If final production costs exceeded $300 million, for instance, Mr. Cameron would effectively defer much of his payout until the studio and others were compensated, despite his years (14) of labor on the movie.""
my hat's off to Cameron, very very few directors or actors ever defer compensation unless it's a small art film that wouldn't be done otherwise...
.... this just in. seems Thaksin is on his way to speak at a business conference. Thailand is threatening a border squirmish. Stay tuned.
my hat's off to Cameron, very very few directors or actors ever defer compensation unless it's a small art film that wouldn't be done otherwise...
my friend's dad met him somehow, I remember his dad telling me that the movie Titanic was going to be a huge hit right around when the project was first announced. we canadians are everywhere
a few weeks ago he was invited to be a special advisor to our PM Hun Sen and Thailand went the proverbial
ape s*** and made a number of threats. Hun Sen didn't really back down. He has a long standing relationship
with Thaksin. So the news that he will be here in 3 days is really something. Now that the Thais have made the
threats they will have to do something.
I suspect the border will be shut down within a week unless Thailand backs off.
interesting how our civilization seems to be a single pulsing organism
bet any reorganization in Thailand isn't the last of this set of waves
I guess Sri Lanka was the first to break? Incumbent governments have been on the winning side so far
edit: and thanks for the reference to avatar, hadn't heard of it yet. at first it looked like a cheap video game into a movie deal, but there's some depth there. will have to see more than just the trailer
Dollar decline...
-Will reduce huge international subsidy for U.S.
-Lower standard of living for U.S. citizens
-Falling U.S demand for imports
-Set off further currency devaluations & financial instabilities
-Will affect the budget for Washington's military apparatus & campaigns in Afganistan, Iraq, etc. Fall of the Dollar
Saw some kind of trailer for Avatar. Either it's really stupid or I'm getting old. Or both. I suppose there's a tiny chance that there's more to it than the clips show.
I am sure he's a very clever man and that once the total box office reaches the negative cost of the film
say 325 mil his compensation kicks in, or maybe at sometime before. box office is box office very hard to
cheat on those numbers. (example - Alec Guiness took points on Star Wars instead of pay and made about
55 mil in '77, but like in human nature most talent want the money up front)
granted that Cameron is a wealthy man but it's nice to see someone put there money where there
mouth is in order for the film to be done right... I have some knowledge of Spielbergs deals and
he would never do such a thing, at least the projects I know of.
apparently the movie is the coming-out of a camera/3d tracking system that he has developed. perhaps part of the payoff would be from those royalties if the movie is attractive to other directors
back in high school, i worked at as a bagger at a grocery store, and even then we always had to prep for the first days of the month, when many got their food stamps. the theory amongst the customers was that if they used it all up, no one could take the money away from them. seems silly, but according to the manager, the stockpiling behavior really took off when the state moved from the paper food stamps to the electronic cards.
EHP
right. that new technology he developed for it will become a new business for him.
nice if someone else picks up your R&D..
1 Currency
yeah, I saw the clips to and I imagine there's more to it...
I am old so that kind of material has not that much appeal to me,
CGI movies bum me out because the story usually comes second.
the Kradbury deal is supposed to go hostile later today, for close to the initial offer price
figures, because no white knight stepped forward despite Cadbury really trying to beat one out of the bush. there was a minor national outrage when the story started
I'm always amazed at the depths of dnial and ego when it comes to word counts. It's very similar to the denial of the stock bubble. You don't need "one economic cycle" to demonstrate very high correlation . Honestly, EHP, you can do better. Google didn't see it coming for the same reasons, their data clearly showed but they chose to ignore it. Ego is a shockingly powerful force.
Long-dated oil prices have risen to nearly $100 a barrel, in a sign that investors are expecting high prices to return after the recession. The furthest forward oil contract traded on exchanges – the December 2017 futures – rose last week to $99.97 a barrel for the Brent benchmark and to $99.43 for the WTI, More…
Long-dated oil prices have risen to nearly $100 a barrel, in a sign that investors are expecting high prices to return after the recession. The furthest forward oil contract traded on exchanges – the December 2017 futures – rose last week to $99.97 a barrel for the Brent benchmark and to $99.43 for the WTI, the highest since last October, and prices have risen by 10% in the past month.
I think a blow-off top for oil is exactly what is in store for this november
just found out what handgun Major Hasan used in his killing spree
FN Herstal 20 + 1 Round Single Action Only 5.7MMx28MM w/Tactical Rail
This 20 round pistol fires a 5.7mm bullet that will defeat most body armor in military service around the world today. Essentially, the Five-seveN represents a quantum leap forward in the handguns suitability for close engagements by delivering the type of performance that was previously confined to rifles or carbines. The Five-seveNs extremely low recoil impulse results in virtually no muzzle climb, thereby facilitating fast and controllable follow up shots. Weighing 30% less than most 9mm pistols, the smoothly contoured Five-seveN is comfortable to carry and quick to deploy. Item #60445 supplied with (3) 20 round magazines.
...
it was reported that the gun cost 1,100.
pretty damn sad, all in all...
and google didn't see it coming. they saw what happened, when it happened. just a BEA with a different accuracy, and tighter release schedule
I don't care what you want to say about computer science in general, I am talking specifically about Google via Eric Schmidt
edit: but if I did want to speak in general, I would have to start by pointing out how some important parameters are time varying
Keyword counts overlaid on stock prices during the Dot Com boom.
Kindergarten crap but somehow supergeniuses on CR in denial can't deal with the concept that words have meaning.
Doubly sad that a 39 year-old psychiatrist was allowed to be one of the very few armed soldiers on the base. Saw the father of a victim lamenting that his young son had been given arms training but was not able to defend himself and others.
Scroll down to the "Food 4 Kids Backpack Program".
The genesis of this was that teachers in certain San Diego schools began to notice that increasing numbers of kids were having problems with attention and comprehension on Monday mornings. Further investigation found the cause: the kids weren't getting anything to eat all weekend long. Their last meal was their free school lunch the previous Friday.
I'll have to check and see if any of our WalMarts are open at midnight. I used to work the late shift and was more than a little miffed when they all shut down at 10 pm in San Diego.
You are absolutely correct and the pasage of this bill is the first step towards a single payer system. Funny you hear a great deal of criticism of the Canadian and the Brits plan but you don't hear of any movement in those countries to go back to the old system.
nincompoop
you're right... a number of Brits, most of whom came from the lower crust, I've spoken with over the years have said the greatest thing in GB is national health service.
I'm not sure that we'll get that version of the bill through the Senate, don't think Reid has the 60 votes.
Had Ted Kennedy not been so party doctrinaire in the early 70s and refused to reach across the aisle
when the Nixon Admin pushed for national health we would have it today... Kennedy later admitted that he
blew it.
You are absolutely correct and the pasage of this bill is the first step towards a single payer system. Funny you hear a great deal of criticism of the Canadian and the Brits plan but you don't hear of any movement in those countries to go back to the old system.
Any major change in the US is always going to be resisted....its either communism or stupidism as clearly any current US solution really is always the best, till its not.....the bottom line is that big business runs healthcare and as such its never going to be altruistic...they have enough problems in the UK fighting drug companies gouging pricing. Never mind adding service delivery that requires profit.....it just sucks the life out of the whole thing
I go out Wal^Marting, after midnight
Out of food stamps
Just like I always do
I'm always Wal^Marting, after midnight
Searching for food
I walk for miles, along the highway
Well that's just my way
Of saying I have no clue
I'm always Wal^Marting after midnight
Searching for food
I stop to see a weeping widow
Crying on her pillow
Maybe she's crying for me
And as the economic skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm loaned sums so I can be
I go out Wal^Marting, after midnight
Out of food stamps
Just hoping they'll feed me
Somewhere Wal^Marting after midnight
Searching for free
I stop to see a weeping widow
Crying on her pillow
Maybe she's crying for me
And as the economic skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm loaned sums so I can be
I go out Wal^Marting, after midnight
Out of money
Just hoping they'll feed me
Somewhere Wal^Marting after midnight
Searching for free
damn
I just realized that I bumped into James Cameron at the NY Film Festival
he was with his soon to be wife Katherine Bigelow who was there presenting
her movie Strange Days, (side note: she has to be one of the hottest directors on the planet)
here's Krugman's latest column:
"Last Thursday there was a rally outside the U.S. Capitol to protest pending health care legislation, featuring the kinds of things we’ve grown accustomed to, including large signs showing piles of bodies at Dachau with the caption “National Socialist Healthcare.” It was grotesque — and it was also ominous. For what we may be seeing is America starting to be Californiafied.
...
this ought to get da Dawg growling.
"Made in the USA > China's Company Store > National Ration Center "
Just like in that TV-series Jericho (The Corporation was in that "Jennings & Rall") except the nukes in reality were Wall Street and FED geniuses. Why they canceled that series, now I have to come here for a daily dose of reality based doom.
LoserBeachBum
wrote: I have to come here for a daily dose of reality based doom.
just remember if you design a game around this site
there are royalties that need to be kicked back to the whole sick crew here!
He is right but i do not think I heard him complain when the shoe was on the other foot and the left was going overboard. That was more a rebellion against the evil opressors. So he is being gulity of what he is railing against splitting people into groups with hot buttons. It sort of reminds of the Ayn Rand comments above. I do not see a big important following of her in this country. Some people on the right may have used her ideas as intellectual cover but she may as well been a nuclear physicist as far as her relevance in the political economic arena. John Galt was like jesus Christ ior Buddha in his unhumaness. It feels more like an agenda kind of thing than a true complaint. I feel like I am getting whippedsawed by both sides.
LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which has attracted widespread media attention over the size of its staff bonuses, believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing "God's work."
"believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing "God's work "
From Wiki:
"Goldman Sachs Tower (30 Hudson Street), in Jersey City, New Jersey, is the tallest building in New Jersey, and the tallest in the United States of any building not in its metropolitan area's largest city.[1] The tower has 42 floors and is 238 m (781 feet) tall."
So purely theoretically speaking, could I hit with a RPG his office, firing almost straight up from ground level? Or do I have to satisfy my blood thirst with mid-level managers, aiming lower?
Cameron makes great movies but has an ego that makes me nauseated. I've watched and loved a lot of his movies and documentaries. But, in one documentary on the Titanic he verbally took credit for Ballard's discovery (of WoodsHole). Ballard's contribution in science shouldn't be watered down by a hollywood director. Cameron has moved on now and I haven't heard him talk that way since. Cameron did provide much in the way of video documentation and non-fiction productions of Ballards discovery there and elsewhere. I do think he was a contributor scientifically in that respect. Otherwise, I lost a lot of respect for the man for exaggeration of his contribution to the discovery. I get impatient with the glorification of entertainers who are uber wealthy anyway making some sort of concessions for their productions. Why? Because there are hoards of unseen not so wealthy who provide services to those in need without pay to get THAT job done in health care, social services, fireprotection, etc. Its like those celebrities who get ill and have every advantage while children go wanting. The attention heaped on them isn't bad but when others innocent suffer more and are even more profoundly ill, I see this as a distortion and imbalance in our society and on our soil and not over a vast ocean.
Regarding WalMart and empty stomachs: There are people who live in nice homes with manicured landscaping, etc. but are cash poor. No one knows that those kids go hungry because all seems normal on the outside. Children are usually the more affected of any economic downturn; this time, it isn't just those at the 'poverty level'. Food banks around the nation are very stressed, reports are of people coming in with their heads hung low as they have never been in this situation in their lives. People get broken and why they aren't angry and in the streets, survival is what these folks are trying to cope with.
This year, what disposable $$s I have for holiday spending is going there and to the also very stressed local humane society/shelter. I'm not saying this to be mean or make myself out to be some sort of superior person, I'm anything but. However, these are extraordinary and historic times we are living in, I think its important that perspective, fairness and reality gets some oxygen. MSM isn't doing a very good job of reporting about the very real consequences to individuals in this economic downturn.
The uber wealthy continue to hoard cash and ignore main street including and especially broker/dealers. Those of us fortunate enough but with fewer dollars have to take up the slack somehow for our neighbors in need regardless of how they got there. Obviously, some made bad decisions but I don't blame them, I cast my eyes towards Wall Street and our so called representatives/regulators. I hope the fuel in their private jets/yachts is the only nourishment they can find.
I hope invoking God brings biblical wrath on them.
Imagine if California didn't follow the Volstead Act, and anybody could get a snappy cocktail anytime they wanted, with little or no enforcement of the law, so much so, that the citizens voted to allow it to be used medicinally, and something as minor as a paper-cut injury on a digit, back in 1985, would probably suffice as far as getting an Rx.
But California isn't like the rest of the country. The prohibition on marijuana borders on draconian, just across the border from us and beyond. It's pretty obvious the Golden State is going to lead the nation out of darkness and light up, but are the other states going to follow it's lead?
Juvvie D
come on 'fess up... you really miss your former handle...
...
Nanoo-Nanoo
I wouldn't say Cameron makes movies, very good, yeah
that sucks about Woods Hole... typical director ends up taking credit when its not due
even Orson is guilty of this, the system allows directors to be King not writers
like in theatre or TV
I think its important that perspective, fairness and reality gets some oxygen. MSM isn't doing a very good job of reporting about the very real consequences to individuals in this economic downturn.
Nice post. Looking at the worlds and this country problems it is easy for me to say it and sit around and become a greater parasite than I already am. I am not really helping matters much sitting around in my underwear bitihing and moaning aobut the unfairness of it all. But at the same time I do not want to be used by the PTB for their agendas.
JD: It's pretty obvious the Golden State is going to lead the nation out of darkness and light up, but are the other states going to follow it's lead?
JD -- you probably know there are 13 states which allow medical marijuana to be prescribed, with varying levels of implementation. Dispensaries are available in a subset of those states.
I thank my lucky stars to be a (recent) resident.
PainRex
p.s., Hey - this thread got really weird up earlier!
Maybe some clever programmer would like to make a site with real-time normalized indicies, replacements for the Dow Jones, S&P500, Nasdaq, normalized by the price of gold or a dollar index basket.
I have a feeling that the dollar-index- or gold-normalized stock market futures are flat or even down today, Kermit is wearing glod gloggles.
If I were smarter, savvy, more connected and had more energy; I'd make a serious effort towards a type of civil disobedience for the holidays that takes the $$s out of the hands of those seeking to profit and efforts made to provide shelter, food and care to those in need instead. Make it easy and highly and locally advertised for those who are busy trying to hold onto the jobs and homes and have money to spend-shunt that not to big not for profit agencies who have layers and layers of high paid management but directly to food banks, shelters, etc.
Since there appears to be NO RESPONSIBILITY taken by those with wealth and power to do this, then it will take a grass-roots effort to protest with our pocketbooks as that is ALL they understand.
yagij
great value is walmart store brand,most are good and cheaper than national brands. its about saving money but i dont get what i dont like. thats not saving money,thats wasteful.
they have changed the labels making it easier to find the gvs. they have been doing it a long time,.
I'm balancing a Calico in my lap, whilst laptoping and it's still dark here, and mistakes happen.
How does this strange episode of somebody invoking a supreme being, being on their side compare to Goldman Sachs CEO saying he and fellow bankers are on a mission from you know who?
Just a year after receiving a record-setting amount of government aid to rescue their failing companies, three of Wall Street's giants will pay the government's generosity forward, in the form of nearly $30 billion worth of executive bonuses, according a report in Bloomberg.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, which have all exited the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, are set to dole out $29.7 billion in bonus money.
According to Bloomberg, "The money, split among 119,000 employees, equals $250,400 each, almost five times the $50,303 median household income in the U.S. last year."
People get broken and why they aren't angry and in the streets, survival is what these folks are trying to cope with.
History, or those few episodes I am most familiar with, says this is right.
The conditions leading to the often-cited French revolution existed before the gates at Versailles - frozen open as they'd not been closed to the public before - admitted the mob which carried Louis XVI and much of his court off to Paris. Yet people of the former middle classes had wandered the city's streets "blackened with hunger" for some time, doing their best to survive hard times.
And further, somehow, the citizens of St. Petersburg withstood the siege of 1941 - 1944 under unimaginable privations, people we'd recognize as very similar to ourselves and not so far removed from our own time.
As for equities, the low dollar rules the day. When mortgages get up to 5.5-6.0%, we could seen some strange dynamics in the housing/bond/equity markets.
Walmart is a bad place for poor people to be cashing their monthly checks -- sure they'll buy food, but the store is full of Chinese-made consumer goods and the temptation is too strong to blow too much of the check on non-food. I'll bet that Walmart's strategy is to try to get them to spend their entire government check at Walmart, sometimes on the first day. It would be much better if poor people spent their checks at grocery stores rather than Walmart.
resistanceisfeudal
yep 1 book each, not great,okay. now douglas adams is what we need,imagine the words" dont panic "so close to us. i can go with that now.
"Fascism doesn't wear military suits and dictator pants nowadays, so it's a little harder to spot, lurking in the clergy & cash rooms."
I think fascism does not describe the current phenomena in the US. You have to invent completely new word for this one. Or the new Hitler better speak Spanish too
I don't know about elsewhere in the nation, but I've noted that prices in the grocery store here in the NNE are rising again near 2008 levels for anything with flour in it and in other products too. Milk, bread, eggs, oils, etc. What happened in commodities in 08 was sick and like gasoline, prices didn't come down in tandem as commodity prices eased and demand destruction took hold. What happened with wheat in 08 was worse than oil and it meant real starvation of real people in developing nations.
I don't know how some of these people sleep at night.
It was a good football weekend....the Cowboys beat the Eagles...and are in the lead...I still can't wrap my head around that one. I'm cheering for the Cowboys of course, just can't believe it yet, but I like Miles Austin. But the Saints and the Colts....going to be a great season. Nothing like a little distraction for us peasants as Rome burns. Wife is rereading Friday again...she read off the checklist for countries in decline located in one of the discussions... we meet all of them including the loss of civility and general rudeness between citizens that does more than a riot to undermine a country. I think the truth is that the words of the prophets have been everywhere including subway walls, but nobody reads any more. No matter the G20 saved the world over the weekend...stocks to the moon! Just requires the sacrifice of the dollar and Gold truley becoming the currency of Kings again. Where's my coffee...
It's like we have reached the even horizon for the debt load of the nation...really doesn't matter how much we add anymore...pile it on as much and as fast as we can...we can't escape the pull now anyway. Just circle the drain.
Rasmussen Consumer Index
21% Say Their Personal Finances Are Improving
Monday, November 09, 2009
After falling to its lowest level since July, the Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, regained a point on Monday. At 73.0, the Consumer Index is down a point since Friday’s jobs report but is little changed from a month ago. Consumer confidence is down six from three months ago.
Nanoo-Nanoo, Those that have the gold make the rules, and for grassroots, it was tired and MSM, paid by those that have the gold, crucified the teabaggers. If you really want to understand what's going on in the US read the foreign press. The US has been sold to the highest bidder.
We once had a kicker, or should I say he once had me
He went wide right, no good, Scott Norwood
Ugh, I had a nice weekend, the sun was shining, the Bills weren't losing to a team that was turning the ball over like crazy, and I have read this. You're killing my high, man.
volker
ours dont have one(bank branch) yet, they got atm and coin star. our former winn-dixie had branch in it.
and i've been stopped by well dressed people asking if i had seen where the vanilla was,( our store is in process of remodeling),does that count?
How many folks out there caught the Beatles reference above? BTW, was he good?
He was, but he never had a strong leg, topping off in the mid-40 range. Wide Right was out of his range, but he still managed to get a lot of distance on it. After that, he was a basket case who couldn't make kicks the way he used to.
We were at my favorite time share in the Sierra Nevada over the weekend...
It's one we call "Falling Water", and it's like Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, except in lieu of a home between and betwixt waterfalls and ponds, we have a camping spot hidden away from the maddening crowd, off-trail. A 300 pound jet-black black bear paid us a visit on Friday night, just 25 feet away, and as we were sitting, it looked even bigger from where we stood, but no problemo, bears are really mellow here, and besides-everything was in a bear canister, a fun encounter~
There are about 5 ponds and waterfalls below us on a creek, and about a dozen of each above, the waterfalls small as a few feet high, to about 130 feet high. The view in the distance is Bishop's Hat Rocks, stunning.
A glacier was up the creek about 12,000 years ago, and glacial polish is everywhere on the rocks-wickedly smooth granite, and you can easily make out the gouging marks leftover from when it receded for the last time, way back when.
I am always amazed at the snobbish so-called 'liberals' who scoff at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart shoppers. I would really like CR to explain, in depth, his snarkiness with this post and what he really means by it. There are some on President Obama's staff whose claim to fame is waging war against Wal-Mart. So much for their purported love for the working poor.
Wal-Mart caters to the working poor, or the working thrifty. I feel sorry, desperately sorry, for these people who must wait in line to eat and to feed their children. It seems to me as though the posters on this board would rather they line up at some government office, where government-approved cheese and bread can be doled out to them. Then you won't make fun of them, for you will somehow feel better about yourselves. Is that it?
And the first few comments brought up health care, and how nice it will be for these people when it's "free" for them, because after all, they aren't earning $500K a year. How many high-income earners are there, actually, who can support all these people and their free health care?
The working middle-class has gotten by for years dealing with unlikable full-time jobs simply because of the health care. The Dads or Moms stick with the job because of the benefits. I'm talking about families who earn, depending on where they live, between $30-$80K a year.
Working-class families who live in, say, the suburbs and exurbs of major U.S. cities, earn about $80K to $100K a year. Their housing is expensive. With free health care, they might as well give up and move to cheaper areas of the country. With a lower salary, they will be able to qualify for free health care and lower taxes and perks galore. It's these middle class folks who will be most vulnerable to higher taxes. At some point I imagine they will cash in the chips, move to rural areas, and start bartering and going to cash transactions. The poverty level is $25,790. With a low house payment and free health care and tax credits, these families will probably be just as well off living below this level in cheap parts of the country than in a high-housing-cost area on $80K a year, where $30K a year of that is going to a roof over their heads. The quality of their government-run health care will be the same as if they were middle-class, so they will be just as well off giving up any pretense of a middle class existence. The wealthy will still be able to afford private school and private health care. The middle class will not be able to do either.
Welcome to Utopia, where we are all equally poor, except for the commissars.
Maybe Wal-Mart and Google are both right:
maybe the economy is bifurcating, with some people enjoying a recovery and going out dining and dancing, while other line up at midnight at Wal-Mart so they can buy food the moment some money lands in their accounts.
$80k-100k per year! You criticize others for being snobbish liberals (you were right) and then suggest that working class families pull in $90k/yr in major cities? The median family income here in Denver, for example, is $48,195.
Ugh.
Jane wrote:
Working-class families who live in, say, the suburbs and exurbs of major U.S. cities, earn about $80K to $100K a year.
I'm talking about a family of five. After taxes on the 90K, the take-home is about $5,500 a month. A house payment plus utilities plus upkeep, to maintain a safe middle-class lifestyle in, say, a DC or NY exurb will be about $3,000 a month (minimum). That leaves a family of five with $2,500 left for that month. After car payments/upkeep, food, savings, and other sundries there's not a whole lot left. (Certainly not enough for private school or anything truly luxurious).
I agree that this family is going to be comfortable and have a roof over their heads, but they're probably not going to enjoy a lavish lifestyle or an envious retirement. And if their taxes go up any more, they are toast. I can easily see them in line at Wal-Mart if one or both spouses loses a job.
And here I thought gold prices were the "quote of the night".
Shouldn't this story be released at Midnight at the end of the Month?
And Walmart wants to be a bank.
I was left somewhat under-impressed with the quote. As for the people lining up outside of Wall^Mart, why aren't these people lining up outside of government buildings and protesting since they have no food and free time to line up outside of the store at Midnight?
I guess these are the modern soup lines.
But that's OK. Once Goldman Sachs pays its $20 billion in bonuses, it will all trickle down. Our masters require lots of service.
Rob Dawg wrote:
Then, its customers would not have to wait until Midnight! The Wall^Mart will know all and pull in that sweet, sweet demand so far forward that it will turn all of Smalltown USA into company towns! What is old is new again!
Because they don't want government?
Clearly the root problem is that these families are spending too much on healthcare.
The solution is so simple.. Tax them even more for 4 years so they can pay lower premiums starting in 2013...
yagij wrote:
I love this place sometimes. I can post a single hint and the brainiacs can decode the entire thesis.
"The solution is so simple.. Tax them even more for 4 years so they can pay lower premiums starting in 2013..."
I don't think people making more than 500k are shopping at Walmart.
Wal-What now?
poic:
Pelosi's plan taxes medical devices and numerous other things. You need a new hip in the next few years? They don't ask how much you make, they just tax the device.
btw.. this is the easy part... when these folks have a check coming on the 1st of the month. The real fun is when they don't.
I don't think someone lining up at Walmart at midnight for food will be paying for a hip extra tax or no extra tax.
longwaver wrote:
THOSE PEOPLE
will be very upset! 
poic wrote:
No, he is mixing up messages to make a point ala satire/snarkiness, but since it wasn't executed well, it is now lost to explanation.
I wasn't sure whether it was snark or not as it was missing a snark tag.
poic & yagij: This guys makes the same point I'm making.. and he does a much better job...
Finley: Jobs a low priority for Democrats | detnews.com | The Detroit News
Rob Dawg wrote:
Serfdom: It's your job!
.
Brought to you by the We pwn3d j00, Smalltown USA Alliance
This is simple. Just read the next sentence:
“There are families not eating at the end of the month,” said Stephen Quinn, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Wal-Mart Stores, and “literally lining up at midnight” at Wal-Mart stores waiting to buy food when paychecks or government checks land in their accounts.
Among the steps Wal-Mart is taking to address the changes in shopping habits...
It's just a change in shopping habits. Nothing to get hung about.
Those people will put down their teabags, hit the local Home Depot garden department and pick up something sharp.
7 Home Depots within a 10 mile radius of Washington D.C.... I'm thinking there will be sale of pitchforks... 10% off if your republican, 20% off if your libertarian and 30% off if you've been unemployed for more than 12 months.
Right now I have a good job and contribute to the US economy. No portable healthcare means I leave for Canada if I lose my job.
Somewhat affordable healthcare with no ban on pre existing conditions means i
a) wouldn't be shelling out 80% of my unemployment on health care
b) would he open to working at smaller companies that don't offer healthcare
carping demon wrote:
The full quote:
I don't think my reading comprehension skills are up to snuff. Can someone parse it out for me? They are overhauling the Great Value brand to promote cheaper servings / USD, or they are already doing it and are doing something different?
.
Also there is no telling what kind of unofficial government cheese is going into a WalMart "value" brand if they are trying to downscale every more. It was mostly crap @ 4 USD/oz, but now we can offer it to you at 2 USD/oz (while the USD is weaker now). I'm scared just thinking about what kind of ingredients they will use...in China... to make this stuff.
"Welcome to Costco. I love you!"
longwaver wrote:
Nah, not yet. When poor people are highest risk group to be heroin chic thin, then maybe.
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
"Sorry, sir. You are too poor to join us. Fortunately for you, there is a Walmart down the road. Just follow the trail of greasy tears."
longwaver
the article you linked to is propaganda and nonsense
you obviously pride yourself as right of center yet you seem to be endorsing an article that claims it is governments business to find you or your fellow citizens jobs
how curious a turn around
Walmart is scared. It is slowly realizing the dangers of its narrow, long, high velocity supply channel. Disruptions in that chain are not easily bypassed.
Looks like Starbucks' strategy is self cannibalization: Starbucks Pushes Instant, Seattle’s Best for Growth (Update2) - Bloomberg.com. How much coffee can a person drink in a day and not
?
Healthcare made my day and my wife's
everyone else was getting their pink pony.
Extended unemployment, c4c, 8000k home buyers credit.
Finally I get my pink pony, well cooked with a slice of gubbmint cheese.
longwaver wrote:
I'm not really buying what he is selling. While I agree that the Democrats are using this "off year" to play the Hide-In-The-Sausage game, I don't really think a Republican-lead Congress would be doing anything different besides chirping how we should let Businesses do what they do--which is send jobs abroad, hide revenues from tax collectors, and dump low-end workers on the government's dole. ^yawn^
Sadly the ghost of Ayn Rand still haunts America.
To be more thorough, the quote after the Wal-Mart item should be mentioned, "Eric E. Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google, began his speech by declaring, “We know we have begun the recovery” because searches on google.com for terms like “restaurants” and “dancing” are increasing."
Now, I'm not sure how scientific Mr Schmidt's analysis is, but it's got to be just as scientific as Wal-Mart's.
Rob Dawg wrote:
I agree that JIT is one hiccup away from choking their supply chain to death. They pushed their producers to cost costs and move it abroad, and now if the materials can't get to the Far East and back in a quick enough manner, WalMart is completely dead in the water. I don't know what it will take to make that happen, but if WalMart--or any of the other big box retailers--truly get hit with some kind of logistics gridlock or work stoppage, they have no choice but to not open.
Btw the us will get another 15 years of taxes out of me and my wife if affordable health care comes to pass. And I'm sure there are plenty of others like me planning to move out of the us in their 50s due to an inability to get health care upon retirement pre 65.
Less food intake would save on the medical costs of typeII diabetes. Would help about a third of the population.
I think the ghost of Ayn Rand would be far more pleasant to endure than the legions of her undead Objectivist followers.
longwaver wrote on Sun, 11/8/2009 - 10:15 pm
Clearly the root problem is that these families are spending too much on healthcare.
let me help you since you seem to either not know the facts or are pretending
the poor people who are standing in line because they have not enuf money for food
are in probability (remember there are exceptions) low income families
they wont be touched by the healthcare tax
and...any premiums they pay will be subsidized and less by far then the benefit they receive
so a net plus to poor people and working poor
it will be people like me who are wealthy who will pay more to subsidize those without
any premiums they pay will be less than the benefits they recieve
ResistanceIsFeudal wrote:
When can Ayn Rand join L. Ron Hubbard as writing quacks? I say they have 1 "good" book/well-known book each but left monstrous organizational philosophies in their wake...
Good thing my Wal-Mart is 24 Hours. No starving folks lining up outside, and a 3rd shift equals more jerbs for the local population. Win win?
Maybe if they canceled cable TV and their cell phone plans, they could afford another can of beans.
brewcrew wrote:
Probably more Push-Push. When 3rd shift WalMart stocker is looked upon with envy by his/her peers, I'm definitely looking for buying opportunities--if I'm not one of THOSE PEOPLE. /NaRm
At the local Walmart, midnight is one of the busiest times.
Maybe if they canceled cable TV and their cell phone plans, they could afford another can of beans.
Libertarianism revealed.
some day some may look back on those walmart jobs
as they warm their hands around the 55 gallon drum
ablaze with garbage
as they stand under the overpass to keep dry
and it will be said
yep sure do miss those high payin walmart jobs
them days of minimum wage sure was fine
america is going to bleed jobs until the third world comes up to the first world if we dont re-enact tariffs
world trade as presently concocted under gatt and nafta is our doom
otherwise, there is nothing the dems or repubs are gonna do about it
non-believer wrote:
Significantly less food intake would solve most medical ills for everyone.
Duh, I'm Governor Christie. Read my fat lips: Ronnie Raygun proved that taxes are an evil empire. Those people lining up at midnight at Walmart voted for me to cut their taxes because they are paying such a large amount right now.
Goldman Sachs for instance had to pay hundreds of millions, a fat 1%. They must represent a big chunk of those people. Obama's man Timmy wouldn't even let them "buy" Fannie Mae's tax breaks in the free market. Duh. if you tax Walmart's dividends and bonuses they'll just raise the price of soup or move their stores to China.
Then there will be no more stores left.
To be more thorough, the quote after the Wal-Mart item should be mentioned, "Eric E. Schmidt, chairman and chief executive of Google, began his speech by declaring, “We know we have begun the recovery” because searches on google.com for terms like “restaurants” and “dancing” are increasing."
By that reasoning the nation would be in the throes of a pornography wave with an epidemic of gratuitous hits to a person's nuts.
"When can Ayn Rand join L. Ron Hubbard as writing quacks? I say they have 1 "good" book/well-known book each but left monstrous organizational philosophies in their wake... "
Oh Lord God, protect me from your followers. Amen.
during the time of president dwight d eisenhower
corporations paid about half of all the federal income tax receipts
and individuals paid the other half
today corporations have off shored...out sources...sub contracted and created subsidiaries with po boxes in the caymans
to avoid taxes and ow pay less than 20%
and individuals are getting hammered
there goes our country
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most U.S. and foreign corporations doing business in the United States avoid paying any federal income taxes, despite trillions of dollars worth of sales, a government study released on Tuesday said.
The Government Accountability Office said 72 percent of all foreign corporations and about 57 percent of U.S. companies doing business in the United States paid no federal income taxes for at least one year between 1998 and 2005.
" “We know we have begun the recovery” because searches on google.com for terms like “restaurants” and “dancing” are increasing."
This is how the economists base their opinions?
1969: "New Math"
2009: "New Economics"
digalert wrote:
I know it's hard to imagine but words DO have meaning.
http://www.realmeme.com/roller/page/realmeme/Weblog?catname=/Meme+Miner
Cool. Sounds like people are starting to live within their means.
Costco now takes food stamps, there was some kind of announcement in recent memory
ah, now the double post shows up.
-- double-post redaction --
EvilHenryPaulson wrote:
Yep. Gotta pay for a membership, but once you are in, you too can get gov't cheese!
Wall * Street
Wal * Mart
we need a government cheese icon... it will probably become very useful in the future.
We also need a corporate trickle-down philanthropist icon. I suggest Jamie Dimon pissing on a theater on fire.
blank check (or a Lord Blankcheck) icon would be fun too
I HAVE SEEN THIS.
---'And if you are really, really evil, call me personally.'
broward
thanks for the fascinating link..i checked it out...yes words matter..maybe more than we may ever know
as an aside, and this has nothing to do with you
just sayin
tonight i was listening to bill cunningham on fox radio...i do this to punish myself
cunningham repeatedly stated that major Nidal Malik Hasan served on the obama transition team
cunningham protected himself by saying "this is being reported at this web site" every now and then
but then raved about the implications and then repeated and endorsed a guests comment that members of the islamic brotherhood (an egyptian terrorist group) worked in the white house!
what
huh
and the stream of angry callers who intimated , suggested , talked around and sometimes right at
suggesting violence was remarkable
their seems to be a clear intent on the part of some on the far right to ignite violence
i am as angry as anyone but advocating violence and the lies are insane
yes words do matter
One Grandma was waiting to buy the new three story Barbie Dream Home with working elevator for $129.99...
FFDIC...how the heck are you..good to see you around!
"cunningham repeatedly stated that major Nidal Malik Hasan served on the obama transition team"
it's a closely held secret that Mr. Hasan actually worked ocassionally as a stand in double for President Obama under the logic that all Arabs look alike to us Whites.
Well, FFDIC, all I can say is that, last week, the mp organization bailed out a local farmer by helping him repair his combine and he paid in COW MEAT because he'd used his cash to buy fuel.
I hear a lot of righteous talk here about people living within their means when they really have no fucking clue as to how some folks get by.
Well mock my man...uh turtle...
You know I'm in the not so great state of Texas where we've had yet another mass killing spree of late and another execution to boast about. How is your side of the pond?
Schmidt isn't a stupid man, but honestly the question he was providing an answer to is above his pay grade -- unless internal Google reports saw the financial meltdown coming. They didn't see it coming by the way, they didn't need to see it coming, and they will do ok for a while yet just repeating the current formula. They know what they know, which is something, but no more and no less. Gödel's incompleteness theorem but made worse by primitive crudeness tested only over a single economic cycle to monitor the relation between search data and action. Not to mention boringly causal.
You have to understand what he was doing. He's not trying to start a hedge fund, nor is he trying to encourage the opening of consumers' wallets. He is representing a company that finds it very beneficial to have investors optimistic for its future, and as an axiom the future of the economy as a whole.
A friend of mine in her very late 50s just up and moved to dusty San Angelo in west Texas for a "real" job with Verizon after searching in the Dallas area for more than a year. Said she is looking for a cheap place to live so that she can try and hang on to her house/mortgage here. I suggested renting a room/bath in a private home for a start until she can get better adjusted financially. Starting over yet again...
not good up here
we lost boeings 2nd 787 assembly line and this has soured the season
lots of finger pointing labor and management...i can see both sides
btw im not really a turtle but the mock part (a pretender or fake or cheap imitation) that parts true
i live adjacent to fort lewis and have many friends and neighbors who are us army...
very sad and also makes us very angry strangely at the same time
an ersatz turtle?
what would that look like? a politician who ducks their head when TSHTF, but looks no where as magnificent
Boeing just bought Vought's shop here where my daughter works. Not sure how that will work out for her...
Drug Marketing Continues to be Criminal « naked capitalism
voughts aerospace was the prior tenant of the production space boeing acquired in south carolina too
that appears to be for certain where production line 2 for the 787 is being put up
my vague recollection is that there was either a merger or, uh, boeing acquired vought from saab or lockheed or some other company
ok got it
Boeing (BA), frustrated with repeated delays on its 787 Dreamliner jet, dropped the other shoe on July 7 and said it would spend $580 million to purchase a Vought Aircraft Industries plant in South Carolina.
snip
For their part, Vought leaders suggest they've been financially overwhelmed by the effort and are relieved at Boeing's takeover. Vought CEO Elmer Doty said in the same Boeing statement that "the financial demands of this program are clearly growing beyond what a company our size can support."
Boeing has been pressing hard on Vought, an outfit based in Irving, Tex., and owned by private equity firm The Carlyle Group, as the repeated delays in the Dreamliner have cost it orders for the jet and public embarrassment
Boeing Buys a Vought Aircraft Plant - BusinessWeek
ok im gonna clear out for the nite
create some band width so the more sane and balanced commenters can be heard
im just a damned unrepentant liberal (xcept i lean fiscal conservative and hug my 2nd amendment every night)
best to you all
Venezuela is sizzling.
Ahmadinejad from Iran is scheduled to visit.
Chavez is giving speeches that are more fiery than usual, telling troops to prepare for war (with Colombia)
Doesn't mean anything will actually happen, probably just for internal consumption.
It does represent a marker of economic stress, their trade has been down.
Same here, but clinging to the First.
OT just read an article on James Cameron's Avatar. the total cost should come in around 500 million.
that's like Wow! it was interesting how Fox chopped up a lot of the risk and costs onto other partners.
the risk model is a lot different today than say it was when Cimino made Heaven's Gate and sunk United Artists...
in a side note around that time Columbia Pictures was all in on the movie Annie, luckily it turned a profit.
this is a line I thought I'd never read : Mr. Cameron would give up part of his own participation in the film’s returns if production costs exceed a specified level... If final production costs exceeded $300 million, for instance, Mr. Cameron would effectively defer much of his payout until the studio and others were compensated, despite his years (14) of labor on the movie.""
my hat's off to Cameron, very very few directors or actors ever defer compensation unless it's a small art film that wouldn't be done otherwise...
....
this just in. seems Thaksin is on his way to speak at a business conference. Thailand is threatening a border squirmish. Stay tuned.
I prefer to think of my politics as everyone agrees with me, they might be confused and not know it yet.
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
radical stuff, wonder who the King sides with
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
my friend's dad met him somehow, I remember his dad telling me that the movie Titanic was going to be a huge hit right around when the project was first announced. we canadians are everywhere
a few weeks ago he was invited to be a special advisor to our PM Hun Sen and Thailand went the proverbial
ape s*** and made a number of threats. Hun Sen didn't really back down. He has a long standing relationship
with Thaksin. So the news that he will be here in 3 days is really something. Now that the Thais have made the
threats they will have to do something.
I suspect the border will be shut down within a week unless Thailand backs off.
interesting how our civilization seems to be a single pulsing organism
bet any reorganization in Thailand isn't the last of this set of waves
I guess Sri Lanka was the first to break? Incumbent governments have been on the winning side so far
edit: and thanks for the reference to avatar, hadn't heard of it yet. at first it looked like a cheap video game into a movie deal, but there's some depth there. will have to see more than just the trailer
Dollar decline...
-Will reduce huge international subsidy for U.S.
-Lower standard of living for U.S. citizens
-Falling U.S demand for imports
-Set off further currency devaluations & financial instabilities
-Will affect the budget for Washington's military apparatus & campaigns in Afganistan, Iraq, etc.
Fall of the Dollar
Saw some kind of trailer for Avatar. Either it's really stupid or I'm getting old. Or both. I suppose there's a tiny chance that there's more to it than the clips show.
I am sure he's a very clever man and that once the total box office reaches the negative cost of the film
say 325 mil his compensation kicks in, or maybe at sometime before. box office is box office very hard to
cheat on those numbers. (example - Alec Guiness took points on Star Wars instead of pay and made about
55 mil in '77, but like in human nature most talent want the money up front)
granted that Cameron is a wealthy man but it's nice to see someone put there money where there
mouth is in order for the film to be done right... I have some knowledge of Spielbergs deals and
he would never do such a thing, at least the projects I know of.
apparently the movie is the coming-out of a camera/3d tracking system that he has developed. perhaps part of the payoff would be from those royalties if the movie is attractive to other directors
back in high school, i worked at as a bagger at a grocery store, and even then we always had to prep for the first days of the month, when many got their food stamps. the theory amongst the customers was that if they used it all up, no one could take the money away from them. seems silly, but according to the manager, the stockpiling behavior really took off when the state moved from the paper food stamps to the electronic cards.
EHP
right. that new technology he developed for it will become a new business for him.
nice if someone else picks up your R&D..
1 Currency
yeah, I saw the clips to and I imagine there's more to it...
I am old so that kind of material has not that much appeal to me,
CGI movies bum me out because the story usually comes second.
the Kradbury deal is supposed to go hostile later today, for close to the initial offer price
figures, because no white knight stepped forward despite Cadbury really trying to beat one out of the bush. there was a minor national outrage when the story started
Weeping Willow wrote:
Credit limits maxed?
I'm always amazed at the depths of dnial and ego when it comes to word counts. It's very similar to the denial of the stock bubble. You don't need "one economic cycle" to demonstrate very high correlation . Honestly, EHP, you can do better. Google didn't see it coming for the same reasons, their data clearly showed but they chose to ignore it. Ego is a shockingly powerful force.
I think a blow-off top for oil is exactly what is in store for this november
broward
you've been pissy towards me, what's up?
just found out what handgun Major Hasan used in his killing spree
FN Herstal 20 + 1 Round Single Action Only 5.7MMx28MM w/Tactical Rail
This 20 round pistol fires a 5.7mm bullet that will defeat most body armor in military service around the world today. Essentially, the Five-seveN represents a quantum leap forward in the handguns suitability for close engagements by delivering the type of performance that was previously confined to rifles or carbines. The Five-seveNs extremely low recoil impulse results in virtually no muzzle climb, thereby facilitating fast and controllable follow up shots. Weighing 30% less than most 9mm pistols, the smoothly contoured Five-seveN is comfortable to carry and quick to deploy. Item #60445 supplied with (3) 20 round magazines.
...
it was reported that the gun cost 1,100.
pretty damn sad, all in all...
and google didn't see it coming. they saw what happened, when it happened. just a BEA with a different accuracy, and tighter release schedule
I don't care what you want to say about computer science in general, I am talking specifically about Google via Eric Schmidt
edit: but if I did want to speak in general, I would have to start by pointing out how some important parameters are time varying
hey, can someone fill me in on Google,
what did I miss some shocking news about
them not making their numbers...
google beat earnings and revenues expectations
Keyword counts overlaid on stock prices during the Dot Com boom.
Kindergarten crap but somehow supergeniuses on CR in denial can't deal with the concept that words have meaning.
http://realmeme.com:80/Main/miner/stock.jsp?startup=http://realmeme.com:80/Main/miner/investment/AMZNDejanews.png
What did Google not see coming, and how would you know if they did, nor not?
I wonder how the markets will react to the vote this weekend. + or - for big medicine? Dollar does not seem to like it so far...
Doubly sad that a 39 year-old psychiatrist was allowed to be one of the very few armed soldiers on the base. Saw the father of a victim lamenting that his young son had been given arms training but was not able to defend himself and others.
broward
you miss the point in your anger. the BEA measured the dotcom boom too.
edit: just take my word for it
Here's one way some folks get by:
San Diego Food Bank - We Feed San Diego
Scroll down to the "Food 4 Kids Backpack Program".
The genesis of this was that teachers in certain San Diego schools began to notice that increasing numbers of kids were having problems with attention and comprehension on Monday mornings. Further investigation found the cause: the kids weren't getting anything to eat all weekend long. Their last meal was their free school lunch the previous Friday.
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
This could jack my Cambodia/Thailand travel plans, eh?
Ouch DXY look out below...
Evolution of Wal-mart:
Made in the USA > China's Company Store > National Ration Center
YouTube - Best of Idiocracy - Welcome to Costco
Google will be fine. They do a lot of work for the government.
I'll have to check and see if any of our WalMarts are open at midnight. I used to work the late shift and was more than a little miffed when they all shut down at 10 pm in San Diego.
And even more OT-
The Mock Turtle was a back formation by Lewis Carroll from "Mock Turtle Soup" (iirc a chicken soup instead of the more elegant turtle soup.)
A food bank?
You are absolutely correct and the pasage of this bill is the first step towards a single payer system. Funny you hear a great deal of criticism of the Canadian and the Brits plan but you don't hear of any movement in those countries to go back to the old system.
nincompoop
you're right... a number of Brits, most of whom came from the lower crust, I've spoken with over the years have said the greatest thing in GB is national health service.
I'm not sure that we'll get that version of the bill through the Senate, don't think Reid has the 60 votes.
Had Ted Kennedy not been so party doctrinaire in the early 70s and refused to reach across the aisle
when the Nixon Admin pushed for national health we would have it today... Kennedy later admitted that he
blew it.
nincompoop wrote:
Any major change in the US is always going to be resisted....its either communism or stupidism as clearly any current US solution really is always the best, till its not.....the bottom line is that big business runs healthcare and as such its never going to be altruistic...they have enough problems in the UK fighting drug companies gouging pricing. Never mind adding service delivery that requires profit.....it just sucks the life out of the whole thing
I go out Wal^Marting, after midnight
Out of food stamps
Just like I always do
I'm always Wal^Marting, after midnight
Searching for food
I walk for miles, along the highway
Well that's just my way
Of saying I have no clue
I'm always Wal^Marting after midnight
Searching for food
I stop to see a weeping widow
Crying on her pillow
Maybe she's crying for me
And as the economic skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm loaned sums so I can be
I go out Wal^Marting, after midnight
Out of food stamps
Just hoping they'll feed me
Somewhere Wal^Marting after midnight
Searching for free
I stop to see a weeping widow
Crying on her pillow
Maybe she's crying for me
And as the economic skies turn gloomy
Night winds whisper to me
I'm loaned sums so I can be
I go out Wal^Marting, after midnight
Out of money
Just hoping they'll feed me
Somewhere Wal^Marting after midnight
Searching for free
YouTube - Patsy Cline - Walkin' After Midnight
damn
I just realized that I bumped into James Cameron at the NY Film Festival
he was with his soon to be wife Katherine Bigelow who was there presenting
her movie Strange Days, (side note: she has to be one of the hottest directors on the planet)
here's Krugman's latest column:
"Last Thursday there was a rally outside the U.S. Capitol to protest pending health care legislation, featuring the kinds of things we’ve grown accustomed to, including large signs showing piles of bodies at Dachau with the caption “National Socialist Healthcare.” It was grotesque — and it was also ominous. For what we may be seeing is America starting to be Californiafied.
...
this ought to get da Dawg growling.
"Made in the USA > China's Company Store > National Ration Center "
Just like in that TV-series Jericho (The Corporation was in that "Jennings & Rall") except the nukes in reality were Wall Street and FED geniuses. Why they canceled that series, now I have to come here for a daily dose of reality based doom.
LoserBeachBum
wrote: I have to come here for a daily dose of reality based doom.
just remember if you design a game around this site
there are royalties that need to be kicked back to the whole sick crew here!
duke
Duke of Con Dao wrote:
He is right but i do not think I heard him complain when the shoe was on the other foot and the left was going overboard. That was more a rebellion against the evil opressors. So he is being gulity of what he is railing against splitting people into groups with hot buttons. It sort of reminds of the Ayn Rand comments above. I do not see a big important following of her in this country. Some people on the right may have used her ideas as intellectual cover but she may as well been a nuclear physicist as far as her relevance in the political economic arena. John Galt was like jesus Christ ior Buddha in his unhumaness. It feels more like an agenda kind of thing than a true complaint. I feel like I am getting whippedsawed by both sides.
GS is just doing "God's Work"
LONDON (Reuters) - The chief executive of Goldman Sachs, which has attracted widespread media attention over the size of its staff bonuses, believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing "God's work."
Goldman Sachs boss says banks do God's work
| Reuters
HomeGnome wrote:
Noblesse oblige.
Don't worry, the Goldman Sachs people got their flu vaccine.
"“literally lining up at midnight”"
knows where to find them.
Now the
Wal-Mart plans to open 40 more stores in India
pdk: Because we don't have ALL the needy lining up outside the doors of their master yet.
"believes banks serve a social purpose and are doing "God's work "
From Wiki:
"Goldman Sachs Tower (30 Hudson Street), in Jersey City, New Jersey, is the tallest building in New Jersey, and the tallest in the United States of any building not in its metropolitan area's largest city.[1] The tower has 42 floors and is 238 m (781 feet) tall."
So purely theoretically speaking, could I hit with a RPG his office, firing almost straight up from ground level? Or do I have to satisfy my blood thirst with mid-level managers, aiming lower?
HomeGnome wrote:
because they are blessed to be taking from the many to the benefit of the few and all is how it should be
The church is full, no room for anybody else. In fact, the bottom 20% are excommunicated annually.
Soon, there will be a small weekly brunch for the chosen.
Frustration, Wallstreet and Walmart, "doing God's work."
Hub, the Walmart shopper says they already have supply problems, I say, good.
Cameron makes great movies but has an ego that makes me nauseated. I've watched and loved a lot of his movies and documentaries. But, in one documentary on the Titanic he verbally took credit for Ballard's discovery (of WoodsHole). Ballard's contribution in science shouldn't be watered down by a hollywood director. Cameron has moved on now and I haven't heard him talk that way since. Cameron did provide much in the way of video documentation and non-fiction productions of Ballards discovery there and elsewhere. I do think he was a contributor scientifically in that respect. Otherwise, I lost a lot of respect for the man for exaggeration of his contribution to the discovery. I get impatient with the glorification of entertainers who are uber wealthy anyway making some sort of concessions for their productions. Why? Because there are hoards of unseen not so wealthy who provide services to those in need without pay to get THAT job done in health care, social services, fireprotection, etc. Its like those celebrities who get ill and have every advantage while children go wanting. The attention heaped on them isn't bad but when others innocent suffer more and are even more profoundly ill, I see this as a distortion and imbalance in our society and on our soil and not over a vast ocean.
Regarding WalMart and empty stomachs: There are people who live in nice homes with manicured landscaping, etc. but are cash poor. No one knows that those kids go hungry because all seems normal on the outside. Children are usually the more affected of any economic downturn; this time, it isn't just those at the 'poverty level'. Food banks around the nation are very stressed, reports are of people coming in with their heads hung low as they have never been in this situation in their lives. People get broken and why they aren't angry and in the streets, survival is what these folks are trying to cope with.
This year, what disposable $$s I have for holiday spending is going there and to the also very stressed local humane society/shelter. I'm not saying this to be mean or make myself out to be some sort of superior person, I'm anything but. However, these are extraordinary and historic times we are living in, I think its important that perspective, fairness and reality gets some oxygen. MSM isn't doing a very good job of reporting about the very real consequences to individuals in this economic downturn.
The uber wealthy continue to hoard cash and ignore main street including and especially broker/dealers. Those of us fortunate enough but with fewer dollars have to take up the slack somehow for our neighbors in need regardless of how they got there. Obviously, some made bad decisions but I don't blame them, I cast my eyes towards Wall Street and our so called representatives/regulators. I hope the fuel in their private jets/yachts is the only nourishment they can find.
I hope invoking God brings biblical wrath on them.
Imagine if California didn't follow the Volstead Act, and anybody could get a snappy cocktail anytime they wanted, with little or no enforcement of the law, so much so, that the citizens voted to allow it to be used medicinally, and something as minor as a paper-cut injury on a digit, back in 1985, would probably suffice as far as getting an Rx.
But California isn't like the rest of the country. The prohibition on marijuana borders on draconian, just across the border from us and beyond. It's pretty obvious the Golden State is going to lead the nation out of darkness and light up, but are the other states going to follow it's lead?
For what it's worth dept:
Every soldier in the wehrmacht had a belt buckle that proclaimed "Goit Mit Uns"
God Is With Us, or so they said...
http://rationalrevolution.net/images/nazibelts.gif
What a few hungry people when GDP is up 3.5%?
Juvvie D
come on 'fess up... you really miss your former handle...
...
Nanoo-Nanoo
I wouldn't say Cameron makes movies, very good, yeah
that sucks about Woods Hole... typical director ends up taking credit when its not due
even Orson is guilty of this, the system allows directors to be King not writers
like in theatre or TV
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
snork
this is sooooo Juvie
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
Nice post. Looking at the worlds and this country problems it is easy for me to say
it and sit around and become a greater parasite than I already am. I am not really helping matters much sitting around in my underwear bitihing and moaning aobut the unfairness of it all. But at the same time I do not want to be used by the PTB for their agendas.
up up and away for equities today, at least that's what the futures say
we be workin widout a net
JD: It's pretty obvious the Golden State is going to lead the nation out of darkness and light up, but are the other states going to follow it's lead?
JD -- you probably know there are 13 states which allow medical marijuana to be prescribed, with varying levels of implementation. Dispensaries are available in a subset of those states.
I thank my lucky stars to be a (recent) resident.
PainRex
p.s., Hey - this thread got really weird up earlier!
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Goit?Who's "Goit"?
Its Gott
And that belt buckle has nothing to do with anything
i hope they have a good bank,one of my banks use to post my check after 9am.
,rad Duke,
I'd imagine you and yours past tense was doing just fine in Indiana, as my family was going through 6 years of hell being occupied by the nazis.
My former handle was a warning indeed "Arbitrage Macht Frei" ...tinged in history.
Fascism doesn't wear military suits and dictator pants nowadays, so it's a little harder to spot, lurking in the clergy & cash rooms.
I thought JD used to be aladinsane.
GDX off to a banging start already.
Smells like burning bucky in here.
Maybe some clever programmer would like to make a site with real-time normalized indicies, replacements for the Dow Jones, S&P500, Nasdaq, normalized by the price of gold or a dollar index basket.
I have a feeling that the dollar-index- or gold-normalized stock market futures are flat or even down today, Kermit is wearing glod gloggles.
If I were smarter, savvy, more connected and had more energy; I'd make a serious effort towards a type of civil disobedience for the holidays that takes the $$s out of the hands of those seeking to profit and efforts made to provide shelter, food and care to those in need instead. Make it easy and highly and locally advertised for those who are busy trying to hold onto the jobs and homes and have money to spend-shunt that not to big not for profit agencies who have layers and layers of high paid management but directly to food banks, shelters, etc.
Since there appears to be NO RESPONSIBILITY taken by those with wealth and power to do this, then it will take a grass-roots effort to protest with our pocketbooks as that is ALL they understand.
yagij
great value is walmart store brand,most are good and cheaper than national brands. its about saving money but i dont get what i dont like. thats not saving money,thats wasteful.
they have changed the labels making it easier to find the gvs. they have been doing it a long time,.
Mrs. Gnome and I take our fresh produce directly to the shelters.
Those men looked mighty happy for fresh squash and green beans.
,rad M,
I'm balancing a Calico in my lap, whilst laptoping and it's still dark here, and mistakes happen.
How does this strange episode of somebody invoking a supreme being, being on their side compare to Goldman Sachs CEO saying he and fellow bankers are on a mission from you know who?
Just a year after receiving a record-setting amount of government aid to rescue their failing companies, three of Wall Street's giants will pay the government's generosity forward, in the form of nearly $30 billion worth of executive bonuses, according a report in Bloomberg.
Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, which have all exited the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, are set to dole out $29.7 billion in bonus money.
According to Bloomberg, "The money, split among 119,000 employees, equals $250,400 each, almost five times the $50,303 median household income in the U.S. last year."
Nanoo-Nanoo wrote:
History, or those few episodes I am most familiar with, says this is right.
The conditions leading to the often-cited French revolution existed before the gates at Versailles - frozen open as they'd not been closed to the public before - admitted the mob which carried Louis XVI and much of his court off to Paris. Yet people of the former middle classes had wandered the city's streets "blackened with hunger" for some time, doing their best to survive hard times.
And further, somehow, the citizens of St. Petersburg withstood the siege of 1941 - 1944 under unimaginable privations, people we'd recognize as very similar to ourselves and not so far removed from our own time.
gabyjan wrote:
yeah, it's looking more and more like a government distribution center
the day may come when they segregate the name brand stuff for premium members only
hey, when close to 25% of every retail dollar goes through their till every day, then they ARE a bank already
and don't be fooled by those phony baloney banky looking things popping up at the foot of the registers, that is Wallie World too
I'm pretty sure that gOD is only on Jake and Elwood Blues' side.
I'm balancing a Calico in my lap, whilst laptoping and it's still dark here, and mistakes happen.
Well, I've heard of balancing a checkbook but there's no need to tote your weapon while surfing. I mean, be careful and stuff.
We'll be friendly!
Jake Blankfein?
I believe JD was "a lad" on another site.
As for equities, the low dollar rules the day. When mortgages get up to 5.5-6.0%, we could seen some strange dynamics in the housing/bond/equity markets.
Walmart is a bad place for poor people to be cashing their monthly checks -- sure they'll buy food, but the store is full of Chinese-made consumer goods and the temptation is too strong to blow too much of the check on non-food. I'll bet that Walmart's strategy is to try to get them to spend their entire government check at Walmart, sometimes on the first day. It would be much better if poor people spent their checks at grocery stores rather than Walmart.
It is hard to mistake the word torture.
resistanceisfeudal
yep 1 book each, not great,okay. now douglas adams is what we need,imagine the words" dont panic "so close to us. i can go with that now.
ffdic
hi there.
mock turtle
i thought you really were a turtle. oh well.
JD<
At least the Bills didn't lose this weekend!
,rad Nervous,
No need to be nervous here. California is like a trend waiting to happen.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
and if it doesn't happen, well that's a trend
c'mon people, it's California
,rad HG,
They already went bye-bye for the season, as if they need another?
HomeGnome wrote:
God bless the bye week
Saints advance to 8-0!
HomeGnome wrote:
who dat?!
"Fascism doesn't wear military suits and dictator pants nowadays, so it's a little harder to spot, lurking in the clergy & cash rooms."
I think fascism does not describe the current phenomena in the US. You have to invent completely new word for this one. Or the new Hitler better speak Spanish too
I don't know about elsewhere in the nation, but I've noted that prices in the grocery store here in the NNE are rising again near 2008 levels for anything with flour in it and in other products too. Milk, bread, eggs, oils, etc. What happened in commodities in 08 was sick and like gasoline, prices didn't come down in tandem as commodity prices eased and demand destruction took hold. What happened with wheat in 08 was worse than oil and it meant real starvation of real people in developing nations.
I don't know how some of these people sleep at night.
We once had a kicker, or should I say he once had me
He went wide right, no good, Scott Norwood
As a Cleveland Indians fan, it was kinda hard watching Cliff Lee pitch in the World Series.
,rad Loser,
Welcome to CR...
"Cacheism"
It was a good football weekend....the Cowboys beat the Eagles...and are in the lead...I still can't wrap my head around that one. I'm cheering for the Cowboys of course, just can't believe it yet, but I like Miles Austin. But the Saints and the Colts....going to be a great season. Nothing like a little distraction for us peasants as Rome burns.
Wife is rereading Friday again...she read off the checklist for countries in decline located in one of the discussions... we meet all of them including the loss of civility and general rudeness between citizens that does more than a riot to undermine a country. I think the truth is that the words of the prophets have been everywhere including subway walls, but nobody reads any more. No matter the G20 saved the world over the weekend...stocks to the moon! Just requires the sacrifice of the dollar and Gold truley becoming the currency of Kings again. Where's my coffee...
And anyone believes anything that the NYT writes. I'm dissapointed in CR for even posting such crap.
Vonbek777 wrote:
and we have health care coming too
volker
walmat is the cheapest store around here,okay its about money.
and what is the "phony baloney banky looking things popping up at the foot of the registers"?
we're all keynesian, now:
U.S. Stocks, Commodities Jump as Dollar Slides on G-20 Stimulus - Bloomberg.com
It's like we have reached the even horizon for the debt load of the nation...really doesn't matter how much we add anymore...pile it on as much and as fast as we can...we can't escape the pull now anyway. Just circle the drain.
Rasmussen Consumer Index
21% Say Their Personal Finances Are Improving
Monday, November 09, 2009
After falling to its lowest level since July, the Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, regained a point on Monday. At 73.0, the Consumer Index is down a point since Friday’s jobs report but is little changed from a month ago. Consumer confidence is down six from three months ago.
Nanoo-Nanoo, Those that have the gold make the rules, and for grassroots, it was tired and MSM, paid by those that have the gold, crucified the teabaggers. If you really want to understand what's going on in the US read the foreign press. The US has been sold to the highest bidder.
gabyjan wrote:
have you seen the 'bank branches'? have you been stopped by a well dressed person to talk about banking?
well, coming soon to a super center near you--Wal Mart: The Bank
LoserBeachBum wrote:
What makes you think he didn't learn Spanish when here retired to Argentina? Besides, are you attempting provoke a
by invoking Godwins?
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
Ugh, I had a nice weekend, the sun was shining, the Bills weren't losing to a team that was turning the ball over like crazy, and I have read this. You're killing my high, man.
Juvenal Delinquent wrote:
How many folks out there caught the Beatles reference above? BTW, was he good?
Cinco-X wrote:
.....just the old ones..........and we try not to poke at JD too much
BTW, was he good?
Norwood? The best ever.
(Of course, my Giants have gone from 5-0 to 5-4).
volker
ours dont have one(bank branch) yet, they got atm and coin star. our former winn-dixie had branch in it.
and i've been stopped by well dressed people asking if i had seen where the vanilla was,( our store is in process of remodeling),does that count?
RockyR wrote:
Not all of us-
Cinco-X wrote:
He was, but he never had a strong leg, topping off in the mid-40 range. Wide Right was out of his range, but he still managed to get a lot of distance on it. After that, he was a basket case who couldn't make kicks the way he used to.
Black Star Ranch wrote:
Why not! Sounds as though he might enjoy it
We were at my favorite time share in the Sierra Nevada over the weekend...
It's one we call "Falling Water", and it's like Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, except in lieu of a home between and betwixt waterfalls and ponds, we have a camping spot hidden away from the maddening crowd, off-trail. A 300 pound jet-black black bear paid us a visit on Friday night, just 25 feet away, and as we were sitting, it looked even bigger from where we stood, but no problemo, bears are really mellow here, and besides-everything was in a bear canister, a fun encounter~
There are about 5 ponds and waterfalls below us on a creek, and about a dozen of each above, the waterfalls small as a few feet high, to about 130 feet high. The view in the distance is Bishop's Hat Rocks, stunning.
A glacier was up the creek about 12,000 years ago, and glacial polish is everywhere on the rocks-wickedly smooth granite, and you can easily make out the gouging marks leftover from when it receded for the last time, way back when.
I had a BankUnited Representative actually come to my
law office door seeking business. I told her about Fred
Camner.
Since when do bankers go door to door?
I keep a vestigal trust account there just in case.
Ida is a Cat 1 storm.
Duke of Con Dao: Have you heard what kind of guns the Ft. Hood police were using?
"COW MEAT".
otherwise known as "beef" ~
I am always amazed at the snobbish so-called 'liberals' who scoff at Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart shoppers. I would really like CR to explain, in depth, his snarkiness with this post and what he really means by it. There are some on President Obama's staff whose claim to fame is waging war against Wal-Mart. So much for their purported love for the working poor.
Wal-Mart caters to the working poor, or the working thrifty. I feel sorry, desperately sorry, for these people who must wait in line to eat and to feed their children. It seems to me as though the posters on this board would rather they line up at some government office, where government-approved cheese and bread can be doled out to them. Then you won't make fun of them, for you will somehow feel better about yourselves. Is that it?
And the first few comments brought up health care, and how nice it will be for these people when it's "free" for them, because after all, they aren't earning $500K a year. How many high-income earners are there, actually, who can support all these people and their free health care?
The working middle-class has gotten by for years dealing with unlikable full-time jobs simply because of the health care. The Dads or Moms stick with the job because of the benefits. I'm talking about families who earn, depending on where they live, between $30-$80K a year.
Working-class families who live in, say, the suburbs and exurbs of major U.S. cities, earn about $80K to $100K a year. Their housing is expensive. With free health care, they might as well give up and move to cheaper areas of the country. With a lower salary, they will be able to qualify for free health care and lower taxes and perks galore. It's these middle class folks who will be most vulnerable to higher taxes. At some point I imagine they will cash in the chips, move to rural areas, and start bartering and going to cash transactions. The poverty level is $25,790. With a low house payment and free health care and tax credits, these families will probably be just as well off living below this level in cheap parts of the country than in a high-housing-cost area on $80K a year, where $30K a year of that is going to a roof over their heads. The quality of their government-run health care will be the same as if they were middle-class, so they will be just as well off giving up any pretense of a middle class existence. The wealthy will still be able to afford private school and private health care. The middle class will not be able to do either.
Welcome to Utopia, where we are all equally poor, except for the commissars.
Maybe Wal-Mart and Google are both right:
maybe the economy is bifurcating, with some people enjoying a recovery and going out dining and dancing, while other line up at midnight at Wal-Mart so they can buy food the moment some money lands in their accounts.
yagij wrote:
Ayn Rand would be far more pleasant
I seem to recall that Alan Greenspan was rumored to have balled Ayn Rand [no kidding] back in the day.
Does anyone have more info on that?
Jane wrote:
This is what CR wrote: A quote from a conference this weekend, from the NY Times:
You really are reading an excessive amount into these eleven words.
As to your comments about the comments, yeah, I agree.
$80k-100k per year! You criticize others for being snobbish liberals (you were right) and then suggest that working class families pull in $90k/yr in major cities? The median family income here in Denver, for example, is $48,195.
Ugh.
Jane wrote:
ndk - Yes - I'll give you a hypothetical.
I'm talking about a family of five. After taxes on the 90K, the take-home is about $5,500 a month. A house payment plus utilities plus upkeep, to maintain a safe middle-class lifestyle in, say, a DC or NY exurb will be about $3,000 a month (minimum). That leaves a family of five with $2,500 left for that month. After car payments/upkeep, food, savings, and other sundries there's not a whole lot left. (Certainly not enough for private school or anything truly luxurious).
I agree that this family is going to be comfortable and have a roof over their heads, but they're probably not going to enjoy a lavish lifestyle or an envious retirement. And if their taxes go up any more, they are toast. I can easily see them in line at Wal-Mart if one or both spouses loses a job.