The Hoopajoops gameshow: Name some interesting field and I will blindly submit a resume, if it is in the greater Sacramento area. Considering renting a stall at farmers markets in upscale neighborhoods and handing out cookies with a resume stapled to them.

sm_landlord wrote:

How Politics Caused Fiscal Disaster - Minyanville.com

Here's a well reasoned comment about this article from the article's comments:

DAVID GONDEK
Arrogance and self delusion

Democrats and Republicans, in concert, produced policies which increased government spending and reduced taxes on the back of an already overly-indebted country. When confronted with the obvious fact that these combined policies are unsustainable the arrogant and even delusional answer was, and remains, we've always found a way before. American ingenuity and industriousness are apparently believed to be panaceas for all manner of incongruous thinking.

However, the situtation is even worse than Mr. Stockton suggests as it fails to take into acount the enormous consequences of the demographic impact to healthcare, housing and entitlements that are on the horizon. Not to mention the impact that dramatically increased energy costs will have on the economic environment in which all these issues must be addressed.

I couldn't agree more emphatically with the statement that "The Fed's strategy in the face of the Great East Asian Deflation, then, was exactly upside down". However, if interest rates would have been raised and credit contracted leading to lower domestic wages, prices, and corporate cost structures why would there have been the incentive to ship our manufacturing base overseas which resulted in this precipitous Asian economic development?

Arrogance and stupidity allowed people to assume that manufacturing could be replaced by government spending and 'financial services' and as long as GDP grew God was in his heaven and all was right with the world. Using GDP numbers as a measure of economic prosperity can be highly misleading but as long as these numbers were telling us what we wanted to hear who was going to question them? Structural current account defictis should have given these masters of the universe a hint but somehow the lemmings kept marching to the sea.

Minyanville needs more articles like this one so that we might finally have an intellectually honest discussion regarding the merits of the gold standard and the limitations of Keynesian beliefs and the power of central banks.

GrandOldTurkey wrote:

Furst!

first is sooooo over

It's my opinion that it may take awhile (quite?) to squeeze the juice out of this grape

The grand prize is a resume and a cookie which may or may not still have a staple in it

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

Name some interesting field and I will blindly submit a resume, if it is in the greater Sacramento area.

It's a field research assistant endowed by the NIH. They are looking for state elected officials, bureaucrats, and service employees of every stripe with any spinal column

doesn't pay much

Nerve stapling is an atrocity, volker. Do you wish to vote to suspend the UN Charter for this mission? I shall assemble the planetary council.

Markets 'Flashing Orange' But Investors Still Taking Chances - Yahoo! Finance

Fund flows for the week ending Jan. 27 showed US equity funds with outflows of $1.17 billion, according to AMG Data Services. Yet that number comes with a caveat-money market funds had outflows of $19.8 billion, demonstrating that investors are tiring of safety positions and looking to put money to work.

The fact that money market funds can suspend redemption probably isn't helping to keep money in. I have to imagine not all of those people pulling money out are turning around and throwing it at riskier investments.

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

I shall assemble the planetary council.

I don't think they have what you need. Call TSA, get some of those full body scanners, then have the different departments cycle through

wait a minute, what are we paying you for?

2, 4, 6, 8,
Double-Dips
Taste Great!

Go Team America~

Hoopajoops LTD wrote:

Do you think working for wallstreet firms during the boom time counts [as cheerleading]?

I think your CR time counts.

"intellectually honest discussion regarding the merits of the gold standard and the limitations of Keynesian beliefs"

fiat money "POW'
fractional reserve banking "BAM"
eternal store of exchange value "ZAP"

Hoopajoops
If you just care about the experience, and are interested then there are some NGOs you could try like the Red Cross or the International Rescue Committee or some UN/IMF/World Bank Agency

Rob Dawg wrote:

Welcome to Q3 '80.

For the first time in 3 to 4 months, I got zero job calls or emails today so far.

Ominous given that we're at the start of a new year / new budgets.

Hiffington Post which overall is liberal blog...but not always

(consider the butt kicking Huff Po has been giving obama over the very issues we hammer the prez about over here)

....so guess who they just hired as and editor

i promise you will forgive my OT post

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/files/2010/01/Simon-Johnson.pdf

i deserve a red hat for this...uh...

can ya make mine blue?

... ah... not any more...maybe purple would be more appropriate

Cinco-X

good point...i stand corrected!

RealClearMarkets - Before Spending More, Spend Better

By Robert Samuelson

By now, it ought to be obvious why President Obama has wanted his health-care overhaul passed quickly. It would be (and now will be) inconvenient to promote expanded government health spending while simultaneously pledging to rein in future budget deficits -- when unrestrained health spending is a major cause. It's like promising to go on a diet but first treating yourself to one last binge.

The Congressional Budget Office confirms the dire fiscal outlook. From 2011 to 2020, the CBO projects cumulative deficits of $6 trillion. By 2020, the debt-to-economy (GDP) ratio increases to 67 percent, up from 40 percent in 2008. Unfortunately, these projections incorporate assumptions, required by law, that are optimistic. Many tax cuts, backed by both parties, are assumed to expire. Adjusting for this and other dubious assumptions could increase deficits by another $6 trillion or more over the decade. By 2020, the debt-to-GDP ratio could approach 100 percent, near its peak in 1946. (More)

Before spending more, we need to spend better. If we don't, all possible outcomes are bad: high deficits or higher taxes; stunted take-home pay (squeezed by insurance premiums and taxes); lower spending on other programs; or meat-cleaver cuts in health spending. The vast medical-industrial complex -- doctors, hospitals, drug companies and more -- should be forced to change, just as other industries (autos, media, airlines) have had to adjust. The changes need not involve the mass layoffs of other industries, but they must alter how medical care is financed and delivered.

the new twist for the second dip though is the now proven lack of loan demand, which undercuts Bernanke's entire perception of the matter

Rob Dawg wrote:

For the first time in 3 to 4 months, I got zero job calls or emails today so far.
Ominous given that we're at the start of a new year / new budgets.
All that remains is for me to pretend modesty when everyone remembers my inevitability call of a double dip.
Seriously, the recovery is going to suck near as much as the recession because this time we find ourselves with dead consumers walking. They may be alive long enough to be rescued but too many drank sea water to get here.

Those that are underemployed but still have technical skills should probably take on side projects that you can call consulting or entrepreneurship. It'll pay off in the long run when the job market does turn around. These folks might even be able to turn it into some cash flow.

Cinco-X wrote:

It'll pay off in the long run when the job market does turn around.

Why do you think this "turns around"?

Cinco-X referenced this

By Robert Samuelson

"By now, it ought to be obvious why President Obama has wanted his health-care overhaul passed quickly. It would be (and now will be) inconvenient to promote expanded government health spending while simultaneously pledging to rein in future budget deficits..."

the health care reform bill would have saved medicare expenditures via a number of cost cutting and fraud reduction measures

(including death panels and killing grandma) ok snarks up

Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals - Kaiser Family Foundation

Offer to sell missiles to Taiwan.

Offer to sell a missile shield to China.

Ok, these are things I can get behind. Submitting a resume to both parties now. I'll tell each one that they have to beat the other's offer.

rich wrote:

Offer to sell missiles to Taiwan.
Offer to sell a missile shield to China.

Yes! Sell the problem and solution at the same time, like Microsoft does with Windows Anti-virus.

Hoops,
since money is not an issue, why not abandon Sacramento and head for Thailand? You could do volunteer work with kids, rehab with elephants or map and rehab temples...and get a nice tan and meet the folks.

Starfish Volunteers Thailand - Rewarding Volunteer Work and Volunteer Travel in Thailand

Mr Slippery wrote:

Yes! Sell the problem and solution at the same time, like Microsoft does with Windows Anti-virus.

Didn't they farm out Virus production to China and the old Eastern Bloc?

broward wrote:

There's an underlying paranoia and hatred that's rarely discussed and I suspect it's grown larger.
The hate mob that piled on Casey Serin reminded me of the French Revolution stories. Their sheer hatred and persistent hounding were so far out of proportion to personal consequences from Casey. I've seen it in other areas since. I can't believe they're still after him. They've full hate and spite, deeply deeply sick.
Germany, here we come.

While I agree with the tenor I disagree with the specifics. Supposedly Casey's parent's house in on the auction block today. There's a reason we as a society look askance at people so bereft of moral compass that they abuse their own family. Likewise I live down the hill from what was once Countrywide. Casey remains the face their failure.

As to Germany, no. We sacrificed too many to fix that embarrassment of history to repeat it ourselves.

EHP regardin "proven lack of loan demand"

ya know i read mish's commentary

and then went to the federal reserve report

and the numbers supporting mish's case were not that strong

more than 50% of banks in three categories...s,m,l reported constant demand

dont challenge me to a bet, yet,..cause.i'd have to check before i 'd ..fade that...

Cinco-X wrote:

Didn't they farm out Virus production to China and the old Eastern Bloc?

The ones from China are real, only the Norton and McAffee viruses are outsourced /mostly snark

MLM wrote:

Rob Dawg wrote:
As to Germany, no. We sacrificed too many to fix that embarrassment of history to repeat it ourselves.
Straight to God's ear, please.

I don't know about God but for what it's worth: Not on my watch. Ever.

Rob Dawg wrote:

While I agree with the tenor I disagree with the specifics. Supposedly Casey's parent's house in on the auction block today. There's a reason we as a society look askance at people so bereft of moral compass that they abuse their own family. Likewise I live down the hill from what was once Countrywide. Casey remains the face their failure.

Wasn't this the guy that was on some TV news magazine and while interviewing, basically admitted to the commission of fraud? It's hard to feel too bad for him, even while it seems that "everyone else was doing it too". The rest of them should go to jail too-

Mr Slippery wrote:

The ones from China are real, only the Norton and McAffee viruses are outsourced

DOH! Should;a known That's why I use Grisoft-

He just wants to help you JD

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

Like losing a $100k job is a bigger loss ceteris paribus than a $30k job

I think a $100k job loss is a bigger hit to the economy than a $30k job. There may be some small levering difference based on perceived stability, but nothing to make up that big an income difference. A government job loss should be less of a hit than the same paying private job loss because the government job also contains a drag component on the productive economy, though many gov jobs are necessary and important.

pavel.chichikov wrote:

While perhaps fiscally minor, I find this decision of the government to back out of manned space exploration to be sociologically telling. It is a symptom of cultural change, a kind of social aging (not maturation).

I don't know. The government doesn't build planes; companies build planes to gov't specs. If private industry becomes the prime contractor for space programs instead of the gov't, I imagine the gov't will be influencing the development in the direction it wants soon enough. And there will be "special' craft under direct gov't control.

In some ways, the space ops portion of NASA is a dated entitlement program. What you don't want, of course, is a private space travel contractor essentially becoming an outlaw part of the gov't and controlling the program far beyond propriety. Think the Blackwater of space travel.

Mr Slippery wrote:

A government job loss should be less of a hit than the same paying private job loss because the government job also contains a drag component on the productive economy, though many gov jobs are necessary and important.

Prediction: the government job hits will turn out to be more impactful on a dollar for dollar basis

Seriously, the recovery is going to suck near as much as the recession because this time we find ourselves with dead consumers walking

Consumers are gonna drag the retailers down with them.

"My first attempt as a haggler saved me almost 15 bucks and placed me at the center of "the biggest sea change of consumer behavior since the end of the Second World War," as Nancy Koehn, a Harvard Business School retail historian, calls it. In a country that has long shunned haggling outside of car dealerships and mattress stores, my behavior may have once appeared unseemly, even crass. That is, until the Great Recession. Firms are desperate for revenue, Americans are feeling broke, and the aisles from Best Buy to Macy's and even your neighborhood Giant -- as well as the 1-800 numbers at Comcast and Verizon -- have become venues for let's-make-a-deal.

A recent Consumer Reports study found that 66 percent of American consumers had haggled at least once in the preceding six months, with an 88 percent ka-ching rate on gadgets, clothes, furniture and steak. "People like this," Koehn said. "They are not going to go back to giving their money away. Why would they?"

...

"These flowers look a day old -- can I get a discount?" I asked the employee. Three bucks off. It felt fantastic.

Feeling good, according to Koehn, the Harvard retail expert, is what could make this behavior last beyond the economic recovery. Consumers want to feel powerful, she said, to exact revenge on Wall Street for crushing the value of their homes. "This is Rocky running up the Philadelphia museum steps," she said.

In tough economic times, shoppers take haggling to new heights - washingtonpost.com

I'd like to see Rocky Balboa go 12 rounds with haggler.

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

not when bond issuance is paying for it -- without crowding out the private market -- instead of taxes

The bond payments still have to come out of taxes if we are talking municipal bonds, and not treasuries. Even with treasuries, there will be a reckoning day from either taxes or inflation.

energyecon wrote:

Prediction: the government job hits will turn out to be more impactful on a dollar for dollar basis

What is your rationale?

I think that's the essence of the case. Roubini et al don't really understand the anxiety at the root of markets like these. Maybe they should buy a copy of that Jung book that just came out.

sportsfan wrote:

It made him a much easier target than the others whose actions might be considered treasonous.

Plenty of other targets - CEOs, Tom Vu, that NAR spokesman, realtors, etc.

It's easy to find excuses to burn people, isn't it?

I'd like to see Rocky Balboa go 12 rounds with haggler.

marvelous!

Oh no you didn't...

Mr Slippery wrote:

energyecon wrote:
Prediction: the government job hits will turn out to be more impactful on a dollar for dollar basis
What is your rationale?

Bookmark and lets see what the coming round of state and municipal cuts brings. The framework required for Adam Smith to work is a function of government, not it's absence.

Mr Slippery wrote:

energyecon wrote:
Prediction: the government job hits will turn out to be more impactful on a dollar for dollar basis
What is your rationale?

I would say that there are a few factors.
Government jobs don't compete for private market demand.
They're stable, have benefits, which should result in a lower savings rate.
They are often a large employer in specific regions providing the net positive cashflow to sustain much larger ecosystems of employment
The people who would be laid off are likely to be unemployed for a longer period of time, or at least cause the duration of unemployment on net to be greater. Even if a teacher takes a Wall Mart greeter job, it'll bump someone else in a very broad/general skillset. It's unlikely that they have the switch from government job to export oriented manufacturing.
The government job stability/benefits often enables a spouse to pursue a riskier career, as in a private job market subsidy transmitted through the household
A lot, or all, of these things apply to something like a Verizon head office, or credit card processors in North Dakota, or other anchor employers.

Bob Dobbs wrote:

In some ways, the space ops portion of NASA is a dated entitlement program.

What's the point of humanity if it isn't to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before?

energyecon wrote:

The framework required for Adam Smith to work is a function of government, not it's absence.

I wasn't arguing that less government is always better, only that an equivalent private sector job, lets say accounting, does not have to be paid for with taxes. If core services like police, fire, and road service are cut beyond maintenance, then everyone suffers.

TJ and The Bear wrote:

What's the point of humanity if it isn't to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before?

Green slave women. [Don't look at me like that, you asked.]

All the USA is not Dawgifornia - time will tell

,rad Dawgma wrote:

Were municipalities to announce police and fire department hiring at half current pay levels I can guarantee that they would still receive many multiples of qualified applicants for every opening.

If we don't overpay the constabulary, some other municipality will.

let's get that pay level down so we can bribe our way out of the speeding ticket

Mr Slippery wrote:

I wasn't arguing that less government is always better, only that an equivalent private sector job, lets say accounting, does not have to be paid for with taxes. If core services like police, fire, and road service are cut beyond maintenance, then everyone suffers.

Ah, thanks for clarification, though I suspect that the list of functions is longer than that - we will see.

TJ and The Bear wrote:

Rob Dawg wrote:
Green slave women.
But but but... those are to be found by exploring strange new worlds!!!

Someone once suggested that hurricanes be named after men and then no storm would ever make it past the Virgin Islands.

Oh and amazingly enough the wingnut crowd here thinks they make too much and are upset they have adopted a Union. They do get hospital and major medical as a benefit and if they take a five percent pay cut they can participate in the retirement fund. Woohoo.

energycon wrote "Time will tell, but the Constellation program appeared to have the defects the Apollo program did - not focused on building the nuts and bolts infrastructure necessary to become a spacefaring species - with the key issue of reducing the cost per pound to orbit."

Hmm. The Apollo program was amazingly successful at first doing pure research, then engineering the research into something practical, then testing the engineering, and finally deploying it. That, I would argue, is precisely the nuts and bolts of becoming a space-fairing species. Reducing cost to orbit is a fine and much needed efficiency, but I would say things like gimbaled motors, high specific impulse, material properties for acoustic pressure, computing power, highly reliable parts, transistors, etc were the biggies.

Kristina, since it would be way too easy to pick a California municipality to mock, I'm going with West Vancouver:

Salary and Expectations
Police officers at the West Vancouver Police Department start at the rank of Constable with a starting salary of $57,277, and within a few short years will become a 1st Class Constable making over $75,000 per year.

As your career progresses, you will be able to apply and compete for the ranks of Corporal/Detective, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, and even Inspector.

Police Opportunities

Bennies, of course, would be in addition to that and whoa, what about that full retirement age?

Mr Slippery
That's fine, but we were talking about all this in the context of what kinds of job cuts have a bigger impact on the economy. You said that government job cuts would have less of a negative impact on the economy, and to me that doesn't make as much sense as the alternative

Rob Dawg wrote:

Note how I went to efforts on my blog and elsewhere to defuse emotions when the mob transitioned from justice to vengeance.

Yes, that's true now that you mention it.

I was thinking more about what happened after the flaming nexus left your blog.

Hahahahahahahahahahah

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

money is effectively dying

Aha, dead electron meme spreading.

I wanna be a constable.

It was a Monday i'm detective Friday, and I was doing bunco desk @ the blog when the call came in...

I can make nearly 60 large in BFE in the PNW being a copper~

Is there any other job in West Vancouver that starts out @ $57.267 per annum?

EvilHenryPaulson wrote:

You said that government job cuts would have less of a negative impact on the economy, and to me that doesn't make as much sense as the alternative

I got your points about how employable a laid off gov worker would be compared to the private sector worker and spousal risk taking. My point was simply that a government job (beyond basic necessities) must be paid for with taxes while a private sector job is not.

At this point in time, most lay offs have been from the private sector and the UEMPMED is in record territory. Even private sector folks are having a hard time as the economy tries to adjust. Sorry if I am belaboring the issue.

Duke wrote:

Hmm. The Apollo program was amazingly successful at first doing pure research, then engineering the research into something practical, then testing the engineering, and finally deploying it. That, I would argue, is precisely the nuts and bolts of becoming a space-fairing species. Reducing cost to orbit is a fine and much needed efficiency, but I would say things like gimbaled motors, high specific impulse, material properties for acoustic pressure, computing power, highly reliable parts, transistors, etc were the biggies.

We built a throwaway launch vehicle to beat Ivan to the moon, not an infrastructure for continued operations.

The spin-offs were nothing short of amazing, and IC and hence the computer revolution exist in large part because of the minaturization requirements for space travel. And the intestinal fortitude of the astronauts who operated these vehicles was also nothing short of amazing, particularly when the specs for the LEM are reviewed. But I watched the first lunar landing as an 8 year old almost 41 years ago...and we are almost done building the ISS. The launch technology has not progressed.

I have great admiration for what was accomplished then (and since) but we do you want to argue that we have been making establishing the necessary architecture to expand as a spacefaring species a priority?

Duke wrote:

Hmm. The Apollo program was amazingly successful at first doing pure research, then engineering the research into something practical, then testing the engineering, and finally deploying it. That, I would argue, is precisely the nuts and bolts of becoming a space-fairing species. Reducing cost to orbit is a fine and much needed efficiency, but I would say things like gimbaled motors, high specific impulse, material properties for acoustic pressure, computing power, highly reliable parts, transistors, etc were the biggies.

But nitrous oxide just isn't as cool as liquefied hydrogen slush as a propellant-
- As long as folks in the govt specify the technology, it'll always be expensive. The Military Industrialist Establishment wouldn't have it any other way.

Loan mod admin.

How COULD have known?

broward wrote:

Mozillo is a real problem because he's far more calculating and deliberate.

The executive escort and the street whore. Same crime, different ends of one continuous spectrum.

Whoa.

Cinco-X wrote:

At least they would have done that 15 years ago

Now they would just help the vehicle accelerate to lightspeed much faster...

Sebastian wrote:

Or if you're feeling especially ruthless and piratical, go to a Toyota dealership and ask for a test-drive. Then after you've been driving for a few minutes, slam down on the gas and start screaming. When you return to the dealership, ask for a discount.

Gotta get your where ya can.

lawyerliz wrote:

Whoa.

Huh!?

Mr Slippery wrote:

government job also contains a drag component on the productive economy,

There's an apropos JMK quote just for you......

Silver, equestrious, cool.

TCA wrote:

How about dressing up as Lady Liberty and waving at cars in front of an income tax preparer's office? That should tide you over until mid April.

Remember to put it on the resume as tax law consulting.

A proposal by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to limit bank’s proprietary trading will be either be dropped or significantly modified in the Senate, lawmakers and staffers told dealReporter.

FT.com / Mergermarket - Volcker rule unlikely to move forward in Senate, lawmakers say

Link from ****MADCAPMAN

Cinco-X wrote:

You could make more than that standing on a street corner with a cup and a sign!

Sure the hours are flexible,but the benefits aren't so good.

Hahahahahahah

volker the viking wrote:

no kidding, two daughters
do they have blue eyes

Cinco-X wrote:

We should buy the heavy booster technology from Russia,

But that won't create jobs in Utah (NASA's #1 design priority.)

Liz is going in reverse again

Rob,
I sent you a message-

Mr Slippery wrote:

My point was simply that a government job (beyond basic necessities) must be paid for with taxes while a private sector job is not.

I agree with everything you've said, but I feel the need to be sticky on this point. If they are issuing debt, and there isn't crowding out of the bond market -- there hasn't been to date -- then you pre-suppose that all debt is repaid at par. Since no one is acting like debt must be repaid, thus not raising taxes by necessary amounts, it is then incorrect to force what you consider a simple/logical relation on the system. If your assumptions were strong, then Madoff would have never happened.

I think the next thing will be Empire.

Late Republican Rome was a mess too.

So the Dems and Reps are re enacting on a national scale the mess in
California, and this is being noted more and more

Given how the Reps spent when they were in, why should we believe them now?

Seems like someone should remind the bozos in congress that there is such a
thing as the national interest.

lawyerliz wrote:

I think the next thing will be Empire.
Late Republican Rome was a mess too.

You might want to check out:
Political Economy of Monarchy and Democracy - Hans-Hermann Hoppe - Mises Institute

lawyerliz wrote:

Late Republican Rome was a mess too.

What?? Too many Republicans in the Senate?

Seriously, it's not just bad now, but getting worse.

TCA wrote:

F$@^% that. I want a space elevator. And pronto.

Bad news; your elevator is going the other direction

pavel.chichikov wrote:

Space travel is unlikely to be financially profitable for the foreseeable future.

Tell Richard Branson and Elron Musk that.

"These two categories will not increase significantly until the number of excess housing units is reduced"

Bulldozing.

It's not just for sleeping cattle anymore.

TCA wrote:

F$@^% that. I want a space elevator. And pronto.

The butterflies disagree. [A. C. Clarke]

I can continue to hope California can annex Baja and build a Linear Accelerator for low earth orbit bulk material.

energyecon wrote:

but the Constellation program appeared to have the defects the Apollo program did - not focused on building the nuts and bolts infrastructure necessary to become a spacefaring species - with the key issue of reducing the cost per pound to orbit. If that is truly becomes the new focus (rather than abandoning space to the Chinese) then some good will come of this.

The old-line aerospace firms don't want space to be cheap. They make too much money per launch now. Oh, sure, eventually demand would ramp up in response to the new cheapness and business would be better than before. But there'd be a five-plus year period in there where they'd be making a lot less money on space. And what publicly-traded corporation wants to do that in this enlightened day and age?

I had a Lockheed guy tell me that straight out.

Edit -- there were cheaper-per-pound space systems on the drawing board ten years ago at the major aerospace firms. Single- or two-stage to orbit reusables. There was a nascent private space boom in the '90s, and the feds threw some money at Lockheed for an SSTO project -- it was Newt Gingrich's hobby project. But Lockheed blew threw the money on new tech that didn't work rather than using proven, the usual $$$ extension wasn't given, Newt was gone, and everybody went back to business as usual. Boeing had their own project on the drawing boards if it looked like they'd have to go in that direction. But in the end, they didn't have to.

Comrade Elmer Fudd wrote:

Capital Journal: Budget Deficit Threatens National Security - WSJ.com

That must be why WSJ.com railed against tax cuts for the rich that were never paid for or wars of discretion that were never paid for or Medicare drug plans that not only were never paid for but which required buying the highest priced drugs.

Oh, wait. I don't think that was WSJ.com. Probably some off the wall site like TheHuffingtonPost.com

mp wrote:

Checkmate. Game over.

Wall Street soooo totally owns DC. Sigh.

Bob Dobbs wrote:

The old-line aerospace firms don't want space to be cheap. They make too much money per launch now.

My old employer bid and lost the contract for the space shuttle engine coving for Enterprise atmospheric testing. The price was 1/10th the winning bid but because he couldn't also afford to teach NASA enough to understand the structure some place called Rockwell got the job.

I read a fair piece of that Hoppe thing.

I must point out that Kings and nobles often did NOT act in their own logical
self interest.

Disastrous wars and overspending are nothing new.

Comrade Elmer Fudd wrote:

Elron Musk, sounds like a name a Dan Ackroyd character would use

Modine Guntz

I can continue to hope California can annex Baja and build a Linear Accelerator for low earth orbit bulk material.

Going the Heinlein route, eh? Certainly more practical, but not as sexy as some cable disappearing into the ionosphere.

lawyerliz wrote:

The constitution is not supposed to be a suicide pact, except
now it seems to be going that way.

How so? The rights come from God.

lawyerliz wrote:

The constitution is not supposed to be a suicide pact,

The People decide what the Constitution is or is not>

Historians in the future will be hard-pressed to find any particulars in regards to the Volcker Rule, as there were none.

I am very disgusted.

O should realize that he'll get NOTHING through compromise, and
just start making blood sweat and tears speeches.

Reps vote against stuff THEY proposed, just because the Dems and
O want it.

Just how much contempt do they want to endure?

(Which is not to say that an idea is good or not.)

TCA wrote:

I can continue to hope California can annex Baja and build a Linear Accelerator for low earth orbit bulk material.
Going the Heinlein route, eh? Certainly more practical, but not as sexy as some cable disappearing into the ionosphere.

My buckytube cable will need to be lowered from my station to my ground facility.

Rajesh wrote:

The People decide what the Constitution is or is not

And since we took the trouble to write it down and then vote on the fucker means it is what it is. Beware fucking with it. It has proven sufficient so far.

tg quoted:

'Thus, you get the Tea Bagger movement, and things like it, where the disenfranchised meld legitimate complaints with fantasies and conspiracy theories, and produce an incoherent agenda based on ideas like "keeping the government out of Medicare!" '

So sad, but oh so true.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

Historians in the future will be hard-pressed to find any particulars in regards to the Volcker Rule, as there were none.

Just use Baye's theorem and construct what it is by knowing what it is not -- after all that is the manner in which it was conceived. It's exactly a defence of banks, and is meant to cut off talk along the lines of TBTF. You can't trust Volcker to think as anything but a banker, looking out for the world he knew. It reminds me of the dividing generations among organized crime. Each successive generation pushes the envelope a little more, forgets a bit more about honour. Yet the old gangsters believe that if honour were simply restored there would be no problem, but they can't conceive that the old system was only sustainable with the secular decline of honour. That without ongoing growth the whole system could not support it's present, let alone its past.

Anyways, forcing hedge funds to use a single broker really tells the whole story. It's not about changing a single action, or preventing any systemic risk, it just changes the the structure in how it all happens.

volker the viking wrote:

The People decide what the Constitution is or is not

And since we took the trouble to write it down and then vote on the fucker means it is what it is. Beware fucking with it. It has proven sufficient so far.

FWIW, the SCOTUS is given the power to interpret the Constitution and decide what it means, whether some of the people like their decisions or not.

Cinco-X wrote:

whether some of the people like their decisions or not

I'm okay with them so far. We shall see what we shall see.

volker the viking wrote:

I'm okay with them so far. We shall see what we shall see.

But many are not; I'm still waiting to see what the fallout from their most recent high profile decision will be. If it helps negate the influence of Georger Soros et al, then good. If it puts our govt completely up for sale, assuming that is not the de facto situation right now, then perhaps not so good.

Cinco-X wrote:

FWIW, the SCOTUS is given the power to interpret the Constitution and decide what it means

I thought the SCOTUS took for itself the power to interpret the Constitution and decide what it means. No snark.

Cinco-X wrote:

It's funny how you can substitute "Tea Bagger" with "Progressive", and the sentence makes just as much sense.

Teabaggers are the exact opposite of Progressive. They're conservatives to the point of being Neaderthals.

Hey you broke the cease fire on the gw thingy

What's that?

Oh, I get it.

sportsfan wrote:

They're conservatives to the point of being Neaderthals.

It's funny how you can substitute "conservatives" with "liberals" and the sentence makes just as much sense.

Cinco-X wrote:

I'm still waiting to see what the fallout from their most recent high profile decision will be.

could be, I'm watching that one too

this horse opera is going to play out over the next few years

relax get some and some and do like my wife did on her wedding night

Blackhalo wrote:

the rights come from "We, the people.."

you're wrong

TJ and The Bear wrote:

Amazing how things change when you suspend the rules, isn't it?

Non-Euclidean economics.

sportsfan wrote:

The utimate end of conservative thought is Neanderthal thought.

bullshit

Mr Slippery wrote:

Marbury v. Madison was the first time the Supreme Court declared something "unconstitutional," and established the concept of judicial review in the U.S. (the idea that courts may oversee and nullify the actions of another branch of government). The landmark decision helped define the "checks and balances" of the American form of government.

Right! And didn't Madison essentially set that one up for them, as in set up a pick so they could slam dunk it? Maybe that wasn't his intent, but......it important to consider the unintended consequences of your decisions. And in any event, it's served our nation well for ~200 years.

Got Tea? I wonder if it is from China?

tg wrote:

Plus he has got a link to his new ebook but I need to get less cynical. His point of telling the truth is the main message. We are broke we cannot afford all this shit. Let's get on with what we can afford what we need and what we have the compassion for. We need a middle ground

With apologies to James Carville, "It's the spending, stupid"

Ice cream I scream, on any sundae.

sportsfan wrote:

Teabaggers are the exact opposite of Progressive. They're conservatives to the point of being Neaderthals.

I advocate absolutely no position but I have two observations that need to be heard. Progressive is a label that some liberals adopt because they think it is more acceptable. There is no difference twixt liberal and progressive excepting historical baggage. Second, Neanderthal is absolutely in a different class of appellation. Conservative has had enduring meaning for more than a century but that meaning has also spanned the creation of the national parks and EPA. Conservatives have successfully resisted any number of specific attacks unlike the Republican Party. it is unfair to conflate those two.

Cinco-X wrote:

Now back to our bipartisan bickering-

. . . or we could just let you do your all-day-long Obama bashing with conservative tripe.

Obama implodes!

Oops, maybe TARP wasn't such a good idea after all...

Neil Barofksy's Latest Musing On TARP - Dealbreaker - A Wall Street Tabloid - Business News Headlines and Financial Gossip

volker the viking wrote:

provide a list of who must die

I do not like the fact it will just be the our armed forces fighting in a war without end

sportsfan wrote:

No, TJ. you can't just substitue "liberals" for "conservatives" and have it make any sense.

Sure you can -- the far left is every bit as looney tunes as the far right.

sm_landlord

thanks, great link! +1 must read

greenchutes wrote:

Thank God for the centrists in the Senate that keep people like BB off the streets.

Hear hear! At least there's one thing we can all agree on.

tg wrote:

I do not like the fact it will just be the our armed forces fighting in a war without end

there will be a draft

book it

Bubblisimo Gerkinov wrote:

I hesitate to post this because I don't want to get into a political pissing contest.

A few of points;

1. He left out the neo-cons
2. Many conservatives are libertarian, and that's the opposite of authoritarian.
3. Many "progressives" are authoritarians ; see Lenin, Stalin, Mao, et al

From the link:

OK, what’s this book about? It’s about what happened to the American government after "conservatives" gained control of Congress in the 1990s and the White House in 2000. It’s about the disastrous decisions that government made, which have created the enormous problems we face now. It’s about the corruption that rotted the Congress. It’s about how traditional conservatism has nearly been destroyed by authoritarianism. It’s about how the “Religious Right” teamed up with amoral authoritarian leaders to push its un-democratic agenda onto the country.

“Well,” you might be thinking, “I don’t believe any of this is true.” Or maybe you’re thinking, “What else is new? I’ve known this all along.” Why should a conservative, moderate, or liberal bother with this book? Why should any Republican, Independent, or Democrat click the “Introduction” link on this page?

Because if you do, you’ll begin an easy-ride journey through some relevant scientific studies I have done on authoritarian personalities.....

ghostfaceinvestah wrote:

Even some at CNBC are starting to question the government's housing incentive programs.

Diana Olick is pretty sensible. Now if Larry Kudlow had written that, I would be very surprised...

It is becoming rather obvious with failure after failure government meddling can not stop the insanity it help make.

Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:

It is becoming rather obvious with failure after failure government meddling can not afford to stop the insanity it help make.

TIFIFY

Lobbyist Ben Dover wrote:

failure after failure government meddling

it would be nice to have a play book of governments that succeeded in fixing what the banksters fucked up anytime since Diocletian

Before we had the consumer driven economy, I think Government did help a little by buying stuff. Now they just order out for Chinese.

Cinco-X wrote:

even nicer if they would stop making those mistakes to begin with

somebody stop me

Satyagraha

burnside wrote:

I cede the field

you should

burnside wrote:

fine.

good show

Obama Administration Unemployment Forecast