Let's not talk about employing people shoveling in DC....

I miss spending my idle hours here

fewer idle hours with the newborn around

oh well, maybe one day he'll count in he good part of ledger of the BLS jobs data - dare to dream

Incidentally, the Russians and Canadians mens hockey teams are playing right now - 1-0 Canada in the first period....

Men's Play-offs Quarterfinals : Schedule and Results : Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics

Hat tip to whoever posted the link to the USA - Swiss game earlier....

I'd be more concerned with the fact that initial jobless claims are parked at about 470K per week. This seems consistent with continued losses.

yup, I think the sleep deprivation has put me into an alternate universe, one where the S&P rises as new home sales fall to a record low

That score just went to 3-0? I didn't know you got credit for 2 goals at home in international play if they're extra stylish. But there's a great deal I don't know about hockey.

Jonathan wrote:
I find it very hard to believe that people are incredibly more productive than they used to be.

Are you serious? Production today is hugely more efficient (see lights-out manufacturing).

Here is a chart from Pettis that shows that the manufacturing share of GDP has remained at similar levels for the past 60 years. However, labor has not. Therefore there are far fewer people producing the same level of output.

Real Manufacturing Output and Employment

What is interesting beyond the union/consequences of automation issue is that this is happening with ON-shore production. There is NO salvation in keeping jobs at home. Just sayin'

p.s. the Wolff chart talks about real wages not real output.

edit: chart from here: The pace of change

montas ankle wrote:
an alternate universe, one where the S&P rises as new home sales fall to a record low
No, that was anti-gravity manufactured by the Fed. It's a side effect of the reality distortion field generated in DC.

RE wrote:

ON-shore production

Legislation such as minimum wage and mandatory benefits have pushed automation at home so companies could remain competitive with cheap foreign labor.... But there is still global wage arbitrage going on all the time... I think we are in the transition period from manual labor to no human labor - all robotics in the future, with each human given a regular allowance and costs set by the cost of production and 'rareness' of some items... Sort of a continuous auction of goods... Probably a lot of humans wont handle the world of no work very well....

greenchutes wrote:

It's those confounded micro-transistors. They're everywhere now.

At first it was just but now if you complain .
Be a good and the won't have to sic the or call in the .

Canada 4 Russia 1 - close to the end of the first period...

Pretty soon we'll be communicating exclusively in icons.

We'll say: Talking to you is like talking to an iconostasis.

Canada 4 Russia 1 - close to the end of the first period...

There'll be some heavy, morose drinking in Moscow tomorrow.

pavel.chichikov wrote:

There'll be some heavy, morose drinking in Moscow tomorrow.

So about usual then.

OT:

Euro no like Greece downgrade.

Euro no like Greece downgrade.

On to BBB - ?

i had outpatient surgery (ambulatory surgery) recently

are you saying they chipped me like a common dog or cat...sheeesh

how do i detect and remove my chip

can i use my AM radio and my boyscout knife

i dont want to set off the anti theft rfid detectors when shopping at walcosmartco

The state and local cutting continues.

San Juan school district to issue 605 layoff notices - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

Germline engineering will allow the "haves" to redesign themselves into higher level beings

Maybe very clever people but a lot more stupid.

And a lot more paranoid.

And murderous. Treacherous.

oxtail:

You're thinking of sperm whales.

RE wrote:

Are you serious? Production today is hugely more efficient (see lights-out manufacturing).
Here is a chart from Pettis that shows that the manufacturing share of GDP has remained at similar levels for the past 60 years. However, labor has not. Therefore there are far fewer people producing the same level of output.

Thanks for the chart. I totally accept your main point. I may not be quite so stupid as I seem, since I did assume that instead of hand-tools to do work, these super productive people now use robots, which presumably involves huge amounts of capital.

However, it seems surprising that manufacturing has remained so constant? Have the other components of GDP remained relatively similar?

Surely personal consumption and healthcare at least have increased in proportion to the decrease of something else?

You guys hear about the killer whale that killed a trainer today in Orlando?

Orcas are aliens too, from our own planet, and who knows how they think, or why they do things?

An instructive story along this line is the arrival of Captain Cook's expedition on Hawaii, and what the Hawaiians thought it meant.

Greece accuses Germany of wrecking its economy during Nazi occupation as debt-ridden nation is hit by more strikes
| Mail Online

Lol. We all knew this was coming...

Is California eligible for an IMF workout?

After it declares independence.

splat wrote:
When do the new 'green jobs' start kicking in to pick up all the unemployed ? Haven't heard that meme for a while from TPTB.
The green jobs were eaten by fat cows, so with luck there will be brown jobs eventually...

ShadowInventory wrote "I think we are in the transition period from manual labor to no human labor - all robotics in the future, with each human given a regular allowance"

i wish the rulers will be so altruistic as you

but then if they ask

why maintain the useless proles

think of the great height of human development to which the elites and intelligencia can rise if only they let famine, disease and violence destroy the flotsam and jetsam of the world...plus think of the natural resource drain

wonder if TPTB ask, what minimum number of individuals are necessary to maintain sufficient human genetic diversity

hmmm and how do it that must be their question

ahhh maybe they will develop a pandemic in a bottle and inoculate the chosen and then open pandoras box

God forbid, but that may be where we are headed if we dont find our sense of social justice

think this is hyperbole...look at the unbounded greed of the bankstas and the horror of endless wars and guess again

Oxtail wrote:

Greece accuses Germany of wrecking its economy during Nazi occupation as debt-ridden nation is hit by more strikes

Apparently, Godwin is wrongly limited to internet threads.

OT: I'm going to join the dark side and open a trading account. Recommendations for a service that will treat a small-time sucker decently in terms of fees and services available? I'm only interested in losing mid-four figures right now.

Jumps or gets pushed?

Please. Let's not set any precedents.

mock turtle wrote:

no, uh actually i had a master liquidity enhancement conduit, MLEC added to my system

Sounds viagra-ish.

Just don't cut off the Colorado!

i dont want to set off the anti theft rfid detectors when shopping at walcosmartco

walcosmartco. man i like that word. good job. fedgovsquidfuck. just practicing.

I've had a good experience with Tradeking.com. Commissions are rock bottom and the site is pretty nicely set up. They seem pretty responsive to customer concerns and suggestions.

JP wrote:

Apparently, Godwin is wrongly limited to internet threads.

This business of the elite. Do you think they really could have made less of a mess of things if they'd wanted? That they only design the world for waste and disorder as part of a plot? Perhaps they are overestimated. Perhaps they are not as much in control as you may think. Maybe their own illusion is that they are in control, when the processes set loose are inherently uncontrollable, incomprehensible. Perhaps they';re not even capable of effective cooperation within their own order, or only sporadically. Do they even exist, except as an illusion?

Look back at the last hundred years. Have they learned any lessons? We'll see.

Oxtail

yeah its a shame bout the orca killing its trainer

but i guess it just goes to show

that any intelligent creature

can just take so much squid jammed down its throat

and finally they snap

ShadowInventory wrote:

Canada 4 Russia 1 - close to the end of the first period...

7 to 2 now - wow - I thought the Rus would challenge if not win... Team Canada will have to be favored to win it all now - especially after the weak US effort today [and the fact Team USA got out shot & out hustled by Canada in game one - US just had the better goalie that day].

PIMCO: The US Falls Into the Sovereign Debt Ring of Fire

*7 to 2 now - wow - *

Good thing the Old Man isn't around any more. This is bad enough.

Jonathan wrote:

RE, I'm sure you'll appreciate this:

It is fascinating but I've seen lots of things like this on the Indian subcontinent. I used to be a software outsourcing expert...

What should be of interest is that even China lost lots of manufacturing jobs:

an old but still relevant link:
China Losing More Manufacturing Jobs Than U.S. But Adding Service Jobs at a Rapid Pace

pavel.chichikov wrote:

Look back at the last hundred years. Have they learned any lessons?

I haven't maybe in the next 48

In gambling parlance 'whale' means a high roller, and if one of the Wall*Street varieties were to roll over on us, that'd be killer.

RE wrote:

What should be of interest is that even China lost lots of manufacturing jobs:

That is what happens when you don't realize the race to the bottom occurs in a bottomless pit.

This stuff just writes itself. "My hand went bad so I cut it off."

That's the way people can feel about a lot of things.

Those evil dead zombie movies are about how things can seem on a subway after a hard day.

Seems the whales forgot to save some krill.
Dollar, dollar, krill, yo.

some investor guy wrote:

Read much George Orwell?

No need anymore. 1984 has come and gone. It has become even more fascinating now.

1984 has come and gone.

The technology has. Not the sociology.

Walk the plankton, landlubber_____

That's a stitch!

It's like Russia has five forwards on the ice and no defencemen.

They're throwing it!

Just kidding.

pavel.chichikov wrote:

They're throwing it!

Honestly, I wondered for a minute or two

I missed most of the first period goals as I was putting the kids to bed. But what I've seen is definitely not the Russia I was expecting.

Will we have a "Weather and February Retail Sales Report?"

@HomeGnome -- this one's for you:

YouTube - Cosmic Slop- Houston 1978

I remember being excited once because I actually had enough money that Schwab would actually give me the time of day to dispense investment advice.

My excitement diminished about 2 minutes into the conversation when I realized I knew more than the guy across the table.

To be young and foolish.

Survivor Type by Stephen King is written as the diary of a disgraced surgeon, Richard Pine (real name Richard Pinzetti), who, while attempting to smuggle a large amount of heroin on a cruise ship, finds himself marooned on a tiny island in the Pacific with very limited supplies and no food.

A self-proclaimed "survivor" type, his diary entries documenting his day to day activities become more and more disjointed and raving (similar to the writing technique used in Flowers for Algernon), revealing his slow mental decay and eventual insanity caused by starvation, isolation, and drug use.

Determined to hold out for rescue, he goes to horrifying lengths to survive. After breaking his ankle while attempting to hunt a bird, he amputates his foot, then realizes he has to eat it to survive. He continues to amputate his own limbs to use as a food source, ingesting the heroin for anesthesia during the operations.

His last few diary entries, barely comprehensible, indicate he has cut off and eaten everything below his waist, as well as his ears, and drools uncontrollably as he ponders which body part to consume next.

The diary entries end when he cuts off his left hand to eat. ("lady fingers they taste like lady fingers").

Survivor Type
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

JimPortlandOR wrote:
I have accounts at both Charles Schwab and TDAmeritrade. Both are low cost for trading, and customer service is excellent. I don't rely on them for investment advice.
I was considering TDAmeritrade or ETrade and viewing some promotional materials on their respective sites. Hadn't considered Schwab. Anyone have experience with ETrade?

It's all in his wiki bio, Pavel - Evgeni Nabokov - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .

Hard to say, in terms of the way teams can play up or down relative to their opponent in any given match. I'd say a shutout is always a good game, though, no matter how weak the opponent, in any sport.

Thanks. I don't follow sports, actually.

Color me skeptical. You have to pump in O2 and NG into the expensive unit for electricity to pop out. You're infinitely dependent on input... and costs.

Install a turbine, FREE wind comes along and electricity pops out.

Anonymous Bosch wrote:

FREE wind

---For now.
I'm pretty sure TPTB will try to tax the wind next.
OR more likely a wind fee...

*eBay certainly seem to be getting power from it. *

...and Fedex, wal-mart and that big power hog google.

Jonathan wrote:

Personally, $2/W solar would be ok for me. Note there yet, but moving.

Just the bare panels are close if you buy by the pallet or buy blemished panels (which are producing rated power) you can get into $2 and change /W.

Not quite $2/W for installed producible power though.

greenchutes wrote:

You're not missing much. The greater DC area, despite sucking all of the wealth from the states she rules, doesn't have a single quality sports program at the moment with the possible exception of the Hoyas.

I like watching the Capitals play when I'm in town, because it's a lot cheaper than watching the Senators in Ottawa or the Leafs in Toronto

And just as fun!

You guys hear about the killer whale that killed a trainer today in Orlando?

That's not normal. That orca went rogue.

Godwinites.

Well, that was funny- SLS rejected my offer. I guess they prefer nothing to17 cents. The form letter in response to their robocall cutoff is a bit snippy. Now I guess I work on restructuring the first. Nothing like having more money due to not paying them. This whole event is turning farcical. I wonder how long it will take before I start getting the pleading for money letter. I will respond tomorrow asking them to send me the deed in lieu paperwork. Wanna bet they don't want the property.

I love America, where when they screw you they are first to want to get their money out of you, until they find out they really want you to voluntarily send them some money. Our creditors should be praying that we are dumb enough to keep mailing the checks. Instead, they get nothing. I will pay my Citibank credit card now;-}

ghost, you still around? what does 90 day unpaid heloc that is underwater sell for these days-nonrecourse state? Pennies?

Someday this war's gonna end...

noob goldberg wrote:

I don't expect it; Canadians have momentum and a home crowd, but this game can turn around fast. I guess I'm still nervous about the Canadian goalie. He can still lose it for them.

Isn't going to happen - I can't imagine it - with a four goal lead Canada can sit on it if they want - even against a [potentially] high scoring team like the Russians.

Wow - I wouldn't have been surprised had Canada won but a blow out against the Rus wasn't on my radar.

Everywhere, teachers are getting laid off.

Is it possible the downdraft in govt. spending will offset all that growth in tech and exports that CR is predicting??

dryfly wrote:

Isn't going to happen - I can't imagine it - with a four goal lead Canada can sit on it if they want - even against a [potentially] high scoring team like the Russians.

Oh I agree, it's extremely unlikely; the Canadians--especially on an NHL surface--could simply clog the neutral zone and slow the game down to a crawl. But if they happened to take a couple of crappy penalties and the Russians found their sticks--with a wobbly Luongo, it could still turn around.

But I don't expect it either. And I really didn't expect this at all.

Oops, down goes Staal. Luckily he's got three clones. (now I expect Staal to get at least one more goal this game).

rich wrote:

Everywhere, teachers are getting laid off.

This is a field that most claim never does lay offs, and yet even that is not immune.

Teachers aids are so cheap, and technology could minimize the number of teachers needed. Desperate times might call for desperate measures and make things worse in that area.

pavel.chichikov wrote:

Who knows what's normal for a large predator in an unnatural environment?

One of our cats that had never bit anyone once pounced on my back in middle of the night and went for the jugular.
No idea what provoked that, and has not bit once since that incident many years ago.

Wild animals are always wild animals, no matter how well trained they are

Orcas are very predictable in captivity. But not if they are abused.

So, this orca was probably abused. The problem is that they don't necessarily turn on the person who was abusing them. They can sqeak, but they can't talk. So, you never know.

It's too late now for the orca shrink to come in. The shrink can read their body language. If they have bad body language, they let them go, like Free Willy.

Dude, that would, like be, you know, like, totally, the bomb and stuff.

dryfly wrote:

Isn't going to happen - I can't imagine it

Okay, now that the Russians have taken two really stupid penalties, I don't have any more doubts.

CaptainMorgan wrote:

Wild animals are always wild animals, no matter how well trained they are...

That's what the says about us.

nova wrote:

A meow cat or a roar cat?

Plain old little sweet meow cat, I am not foolish enough to have the other kind. It is an old now, and like I said a one time isolated incident.

It is an experience that makes one realize having the other kind or any wild animal is playing Russian roulette.

dr munch,

It's a good idea. I bet if you let them go at their own pace a lot of them would be done by the time they turned 16

noob goldberg wrote:

Okay, now that the Russians have taken two really stupid penalties, I don't have any more doubts.

They need to reinstate the Gulag before the next Olympics - as motivation.

On eve of Olympics, Iraq reveals how Uday got results
shiver

nova wrote:

How surprising would it be for a state to start high school online classes for 2 out of 5 days or some variation

I've been wondering about the dropping of 12th grade that was proposed. If I could have gone to the local university that year, and then the real university the next year, I would have been better off. For many bright students, the last 1-3 years of high school they are topping out on the skill level of teachers.

Rob Dawg wrote:

"Shop smart, shop S-Mart." - Bruce Campbell in "Evil Dead III Army of Darkness"

The name's Ash...housewares

Everywhere, teachers are getting laid off.

Like this high school in Rhode Island, where all the high school teachers got laid off?

Rhode Island School District to Fire All its Teachers at Central Falls Senior High School - ABC News

This'll put yer aura on spin cycle:

YouTube - Frank Zappa - Stairway To Heaven

badger

true re comparison of high school verses prisons

added plus...high school costs are much less... 5k per year per pupil versus 50k or even much more for prison !!!

bANK fAILURE wrote:

might wanna get ready for sub-50 dollar oil.

Perhaps, but it won't have a single thing to do with the Bloom Box - the amount of oil used in electric power generation is pretty close to zero - also, IIRC unit costs were currently in the $600K - $800K range plus:

Still, many of the details that investors, customers and analysts really need to know to weigh the technology and the company's prospects remain obscure. Among those details are the price per kilowatt-hour, the system efficiency, how much electricity the boxes actually produce, the maintenance they require and the cells' reliability.

I gotta think Norris was leaked info by the administration to minimize the impact of a bad number, especially with all the jawboning recently about how the stimulus saved the economy.

Massachusetts Senate eyes creating a state bank
| Reuters

Massachusetts, North Dakota + a few more and we'll have for BB and the Fed

bANK fAILURE wrote:

you know my gas runs liquid.

That might leave a stain.

Edit: HG>dryfly

bANK fAILURE wrote:

Necranomicon....FTW

Ohhhhhh. Misspelled. That's bad. Very bad.

dryfly wrote:

They need to reinstate the Gulag before the next Olympics - as motivation.

Luongo has definitely picked up his game in the third. That was a very impressive stop.

nova yes exactly

and thats why ive argued against home schooling...all tho i understand parents who want to

1 infuse religion into education (dont agree but understand)

2 protect their kids from a violent neighborhood school

3 believe they can teach better than teacher (sometime yes often not)

but as you said the socialization is a major plus for sending kids to school..public or private

JP wrote:

Maybe bloom has reinvented fire, but until I see something other than a NEA/KPCB hype job, I reserve judgment.

Anyone want to give odds that we see an IPO before we see a $3K priced unit?

YouTube - Stompin Tom Connors - The Hockey Song

kcoop has been busy...

Thanks Ken...

dryfly wrote:

kcoop has been busy...

I can't believe we finally got the

@scone (profile) wrote on Wed, 2/24/2010 - 7:46 pm
And so convenient for scoring a dime bag.
YouTube - Frank Zappa - Whippin' Post - Barcelona 1988

Big Zappa fan here....this is one of my favs

bANK fAILURE wrote:

I just report the hype.
you know my gas runs liquid.

Well we still should see $50 oil for a bit, then the next spike - and that on a funamentals basis, no liquidity events

bANK fAILURE

how the heck did you do that?

my palate doesnt have a...oh wait maybe i need to re-load

Rob Dawg wrote:

Ohhhhhh. Misspelled. That's bad. Very bad.

Well maybe I didn't say every single syllable...

broward wrote:

energyecon wrote:
Well we still should see $50 oil for a bit,
Rob's not gonna like that, he's holding out for $30.

In the $30s. Big difference. Actually it is stuff like solid state fuel cells and low priced solar that I expect to be the impetus. Man is Mexico and the Central Americas gonna be a mess with low priced oil. It may end up costing it more to clean up than the expensive oil might cost.

sweet!!

(this post is otherwise pointless)

Rob Dawg wrote:

solid state fuel cells

I thought you didn't like to go long on short trades.

standard close

misean taught me that.

@scone (profile) wrote on Wed, 2/24/2010 - 7:56 pm

Joe's Garage so prescient and in full swing today
Zappa was a genius as a MUSICIAN ( actually one of top 5 guitarists ) with perhaps the most profound LYRICS and TOPICS.

The white zone is for loading and unloading only....

North Carolina is going to by laying off its child support enforcement people July 1. The job was pushed down to the counties to pay. Some counties are just contracting out the service so good buy state employees.

Local banker story-

A banker from Dallas (GA) has won the special election to fill the vacant seat created by the resignation of former House Speaker Glenn Richardson.

Stout won the seat despite an embarrassing admission that 10 years ago, when his first wife was pregnant, had had an affair with her mother.
Ex- Speaker's Seat Filled - WSB News on wsbradio.com

And yes his bank is on the unoffical troubled list.--Heritage First in Rome, GA. When it fails we will need a Ms. Robinson haiku.

Sorry for the delay. My daughter insists I read a chapter out of one of the American Girl books each night. It isn't too great of a burden except I've read each book about a half dozen or so time now.

Try reading it with your daughter, badger.

O H Chick wrote:

Stout won the seat despite an embarrassing admission that 10 years ago, when his first wife was pregnant, had had an affair with her mother.

Wow - Georgia has it going on!

NC is weak.
SC is where the action is.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Lawmakers in the South Carolina House will reduce the number of low-income children eligible for Medicaid programs next year and reduce to three the number of prescriptions patients can get.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina budget writers are discussing plans to cut more than $100 million from classroom spending programs.

Doesn't life become easier once you stop paying your bills?

Although I would hate to be in the governor's mansion receiving those collection calls: "If you don't pay us the $20 million we are owed, we are going to report it to the credit bureaus. You won't be able to get a loan for a car or be able to buy a house. It may even keep you from getting a job."

Citizen AllenM wrote:

Hey Rob Dawg:
California One Step Closer To Insolvency After State Cancels $2 Billion General Obligation Bond Sale | zero hedge
Looking broke in the Golden State!

Thanks. I started hearing the whispers of troubles and reported them here a little more than a week ago. Above I linked to the WSJ breaking news. This is really big but somehow it isn't registering yet.
Comment by Rob Dawg from thread 'Weather and the February Employment Report'

HomeGnome wrote:

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina budget writers are discussing plans to cut more than $100 million from classroom spending programs.

I have been reading a stream of academic articles regarding how merely throwing more money at education doesn't do much. Not sure if the reverse is true.

Rob Dawg wrote:

This is really big but somehow it isn't registering yet.

From the earlier link: "Treasurer Bill Lockyer postponed the deal for a week. He said the delay was required because the state legislature hadn't voted on a cash-management bill that would make California debt more appealing to investors and ratings firms."

What, they're debating where it can go, rather than to address immediate spending obligations? Or what? It's not like investors are unaware of the fact they're broke.

Wisdom Speaker wrote:

which was worse than 2005 ... which was the peak year.

Yes, 2005 was the peak year, you can see it the change in housing inventories in Nov/Dec.

I submit to you that this is a continuation of 2001-2003 crash, look at how the DOW topped out at almost the same spot again.

That's a hard constraint somewhere.

Lockyer Urges Passage of Cash-Flow Bill - Bond Buyer Breaking News Article

Wisdom Speaker wrote:

I think that's a bogus headline, no? The sale was postponed while waiting for the legislature to greenlight a measure allowing more cash-management flexibility,

Ask about what "cash-management flexibility" means. From my blog yesterday:
The program would remain in place for the balance of this fiscal year, ending June 30, and through the next fiscal year, giving the financial officials more flexibility by not having to seek legislative approval each time.

Screw all that Constitutional protection shit.

Do you trust the USDA? Theoretically, they know something about agriculture, though the practice might be different.

The 20th Century Transformation of U.S. Agriculture and Farm Policy

Farming’s changing role in the Nation’s economy
1900
41 percent of workforce employed in agriculture
1930
21.5 percent of workforce employed in agriculture;
Agricultural GDP as a share of total GDP, 7.7 percent
1945
16 percent of the total labor force employed in agriculture;
Agricultural GDP as a share of total GDP, 6.8 percent
1970
4 percent of employed labor force worked in agriculture;
Agricultural GDP as a share of total GDP, 2.3 percent
2000/02
1.9 percent of employed labor force worked in agriculture (2000); Agricultural GDP as a share of total GDP (2002),
0.7 percent

Odysseus wrote:

Agricultural GDP as a share of total GDP (2002), 0.7 percent

If agricultural GDP is so low, why is my grocery bill so large? Or has the found more ways to middlemanage and intermediate here as well? (Or are they actually subtracting the federal subsidy payments from the agricultural "GDP"?)

Rob Dawg wrote:

From my blog yesterday:

Pardon my quiet while I go and catch up on your blog for a bit!

Wisdom Speaker wrote:

Pardon my quiet while I go and catch up on your blog for a bit!

Don't forget to look out behind the barn.

Wisdom Speaker wrote:

why is my grocery bill so large?

Not as big as FIRE inspired bodacity and its "contribution" to gdp, supposedly.

Rob Dawg wrote:

Screw all that Constitutional protection shit.

I'm telling you.

This place is gonna look a lot like Germany, 1931 soon.

The best thing I've manufactured in the last week was Seared Scallops and Pea Risotto!

broward wrote:

This place is gonna look a lot like Germany, 1931 soon.

What do you think my countdowns and conjure's clocks are/were about? So obvious, so avoidable and yet...

badger wrote:

but we are no where near 1930s Germany.

I know that most Americans like to believe that.

And they like to believe that they're not paranoid, too. Americans are so much more paranoid than the Indians that I've worked with that it's fricking quantifiable.

Anyone have the latest hockey score? I'm still showing 7-3 with 15 minutes left.

Tell you what, at say 3:00 in the morning, go to a stop lighted intersection and count how many cars run the light, despite the complete absence of danger from doing so.

Revulution!

http://www.newyorkslime.com/tea-party-misspelled-signs-02.jpg

mock turtle wrote:

just one good lawyer and a half dozen cases where the minimum wage child protective services workers allowed a deranged parent high on crack to burn and torture their infant, or starve the baby to death or leave the child in a car when it 90 degrees with the windows closed

mock - they won't be able to sue the state for lack of child protection workers - sorry - they might sue somebody else w/ deep pockets [like the car mfg for not having anticipated they needed an automatic baby sprinkler system for absent minded crack moms who might leave their baby in the car on those rare 90 deg summer daze in NC]... but the state will skate.

I like modern history as much as the next guy. I think a strong argument could be made that were New York and St. Petersburg to have switched places, we would be extolling the virtues of communism today.

Wisdom Speaker wrote:

Dude, that's how they generate the faux authenticity that convinces the rabble they're not actually being manipulated!

Well, it worked for dubya!

badger wrote:

Tell you what, at say 3:00 in the morning, go to a stop lighted intersection and count how many cars run the light, despite the complete absence of danger from doing so.

I got ticketed for that. I was taking my wife the nurse in to work and didn't see the cop parked at the intersection with his lights off.

badger wrote:

I like modern history as much as the next guy. I think a strong argument could be made that were New York and St. Petersburg to have switched places, we would be extolling the virtues of communism today.

Well I've always said... even before GM, AIG & Chrysler... many big corporations always did look [and feel] like state owned enterprises. Maybe the differences between the two we point to always were false.

Both corporations and governments largely act on Max Weber's principles of bureaucracies. A lot of folks in this country somehow think the former are protected from it, but they aren't. If I am going to get a PhD in physics, one of the languages I'm highly recommended to learn is Russian. Wouldn't you know that Russia was pretty good at that and mathematics.

OT, but at this point...

Fun on the abandoned home front in Cleveland. Gone beyond bandos and into urban terrorism. This one's got everything, including gas explosions, full-neighborhood carnage, negligent absentee California vulture investor landlords. Lifted from the Cleveland Plain Dealer 2/16:

The natural gas explosion that leveled a vacant, two-story colonial on West 83rd Street last month, and badly damaged a whole neighborhood, is a reminder that an abandoned house can be a ticking time bomb.

It's time to get tough: If an out-of-state company wants to buy property in Cleveland, it should be required to have a local contact – either someone living in the house, or a property manager. EZ Access had neither.

A cautionary tale, for investors who have no caution.

First and only ride I ever took in a Hummer was from the Jiuzhaigou airport further into the Szechuan highlands. Gotta say they were among the very very few made in USA vehicles I ever saw in China, and not too outrageous in that particular environment:

Jiuzhaigou Valley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HomeGnome wrote:

Revulution!

An oldy but a goody.

ghostfaceinvestah wrote:

San Juan school district to issue 605 layoff notices - Sacramento News - Local and Breaking Sacramento News | Sacramento Bee

You didn't mention the end of the article. "The district will hold a workshop to discuss recommended budget reductions and the possibility of issuing a facilities bond at a meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Friday"

I know that any new facilities might come online after the budget crisis. Still, what makes them think they will be able to staff any new facilities?

Rob Dawg wrote:

It"s an old joke in the industry that the airlines are non-profit.

Well, at least the old-school airlines who don't actually like their customers. Southwest, JetBlue, and Virgin seem to be doing fine.

badger wrote:

Mondragon Corporation would be the closest one with any scale

Thanks. I hadn't seen this example.

some investor guy wrote:

Well, at least the old-school airlines who don't actually like their customers.

"We're not happy until you're not happy."

some investor guy wrote:

badger wrote:

Mondragon Corporation would be the closest one with any scale

Thanks. I hadn't seen this example.

Also ag processors [both inputs like fertilizers and outputs like 'sugar']... some are VERY large and quite invisible to the consumers.

If you're talking worker owned and operated manufacturing, maybe look to the Yugoslavian model, people's co-ops in 60's China, or maybe kibbutzim?

Did not appear to work well then, but time for the past to repeat maybe. More locally, from a burned out base.

mp wrote:

Conjure Bag

---Tea Bag that, morans!