The market is dispirited. I'm wondering if the president is, too, and if that won't carry implications for the 2012 race. You can imagine him having lunch with political advisers, hearing some unwanted advice — "Don't go to Martha's Vineyard!" — putting his napkin by his plate, pushing back from the table, rising, and saying in a clipped, well-modulated voice: "I'm tired. I'm going. If they want this job so much let them have it."That's not the scenario I have in my head. I don't think Obama has anybody urging him to do or not do one thing or another. I think they are all on the same page, and the page is 2012. And when you look at August 2011 from Spring/Summer/Fall 2012, one more vacation isn't going to seem like much of anything. The economy will matter, but not what it was in August 2011, what it is now. Whatever it is, people will hold Obama responsible, so right now, he's hoping things will be better enough that he'll have something to claim credit for.
Could he do something right now, in August 2011, that will make the economy better at that future point, something that will be more effective than biking and golfing on Martha's Vineyard? I don't think he can, and if he doesn't think he can, in my book, that's a point in his favor. Spare me your programs and clever ideas. I like getting some evidence that he knows the limits of government.
Obama's presidency is about getting reelected, and doing nothing right now fits that agenda just fine. I don't know how tired he is, but it doesn't matter. He should rest. Lie low. Do some fundraising... even though he already has a billion dollars. Don't waste your energy in futile gestures at doing something about the economy you don't know how to fix. Be cool. The cool Obama was good enough in '08....
... and it can be good enough in '12, if the economy heals itself a bit and the Republicans stumble over each other. There's nothing to get excited about now...
... you know that. Enjoy the summer, Mr. President!
Posts
387 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 387 of 387Prove absolutely that the reason you're wet is because I poured this bucket of water on you!
Maybe you would be wet if I hadn't! Maybe!
And if you claim it's the water's fault, you are probably a stupid liar!
Is that really the best defense available to Obama? Just pretend his choices cannot be conclusively linked to what they are so obviously linked to? Just be obnoxious with your burden of proof?
Some help that is to your nation.
So, show the hard data proving America's declining employment figures are subtantively a result of Obamneycare.
You seem unfamiliar with the nature of empirical research. Nobody can "prove" that there was a single cause of a single economic event, no matter how "hard" the data, because we don't get to go back in time and perform hundreds of replications of all the policies that were implemented except Pelosicare.
What we can see plainly is that this recovery is stunningly weak in comparison to every other postwar recession. So it's natural to ask what's different about this "recovery". We look for likely suspects, and a pretty logical suspect is a massive mandated change in a large component of employee compensation.
Obama says it's the tsunami. He seems to be the only person who can say that with a straight face.
I don't know what you think makes this recovery so anemic, Robert Cook. I just know that you find it all quite unfair.
If you look at what Obama and the Democrats have really done about the economy, the reality is that they haven't done anything to spur the recovery, but rather, pretty much everything that they have done has worsened things.
If you disagree, please list what he has done that could rationally be expected to help the economy.
Much of what he did early on was in the form of Keynesian stimulus. Which was supposed to create zillions of jobs, through the Keynesian multiplier. And, not surprisingly, economic heavy weights, like Nancy Pelosi, got into a bidding war to predict the actual multiplier for all that money that was being spent - was it going to be 2? 3? 4? 5?
And, since the Keynesian multiplier was so powerful, they might was well go for broke, and spend, most of a trillion dollars getting us out of the recession. And, since any money spent by the government was guaranteed to help the economy, thanks to this multiplier, then they may as well help their constituents while they were at it. So, much of the trillion dollars was shipped to those constituents, whether they be greens, government union workers, etc., since, we were assured that the money would be spent wisely and every dollar spent this way would be multiplied.
Turns out that empirical work in the 1980s or so found out that the Keynesian multiplier was really most often less than 1, which means that any money spent by the government is essentially being more inefficiently spent than if it had remained in the private sector. And, that the Great Depression was likely much lengthened by the Keynesian stimulus of FDR and the Democrats running Congress throughout the 1930s. And, yes, former
Enron Advisor, Paul Krugman seems not to have read these papers, as he keeps pushing for doubling down on the failed stimulus. So, we ended up with a strategy that has never worked, made worse by disbursing funds primarily through cronyism.
That doesn't even get into the regulatory environment... Or, the massive debt incurred for all this.
But, come on, please tell us what you think Obama has done that has actually helped the economy since taking office. Excluding maybe taking vacations.
Golfsalot needs the extra vacation time to fine tune his new jobs initiative. I think it has something to do with higher taxes and massive government spending. Just a hunch, though.
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
So, you have a small business and a large business, both with the same policy, which basically, wait and see
Does either company have a “Zombie Apocalypse” Recovery plan?
Remember how President Downgrayed used to bemoan the fact that the U.S. consumes far more than our "fair share" of global resources? He wanted us to consume less, and we are. Coincidence?
So, show the hard data proving America's declining employment figures are subtantively a result of Obamneycare.
Of course, it isn't just ObamaCare. It is the entire package. ObamaCare is just one part of why Obama and the Democrats who controlled Congress through most of this time, have forced the economy into the biggest recession we have seen in most of our lifetimes. It is not just this one thing, but rather, it is almost everything they have done.
So awesome:
So, show the hard data proving America's declining employment figures are subtantively a result of Obamneycare.
Why?
And I see the zombie lie that Obama is shutting down drilling and exploration lives on.
What evidence do you see from this that he "knows some limits of government"?
He's placed political appointees that have hired the government full of progressives busy chipping away at our republic every day. Some 640 new rules in July alone.
Executive order out to day to put backdoor...now frontdoor...amnesty in place while he vacations and golfs.
I also take exception to your take on the 2012 election. There are two not mutally exclusive tracks operating here:
1. Those charged with getting him elected, no matter what
2. And, the prior determined and accepted by Obama that his job was to look good (no records vetted and vote present), get elected and put the infrastructure in place to collapse the current republic into the Progs idea of a marxist socialist nanny state. He's done that and doing that and is more than willing to take one for the team. He's bored by it all anyway and made his crony millions let someone else do the work...after all the one record there is, is one of a very lazy work ethic unless the motivation was for him.
He's been to the top of his Prog mountain, he'll be more than willing to take his millions and go give a lecture here or there.
Her political voting track record doesn't make it so clear this is sarcasm.
Exactly. Plus, even long time fans tire of being played.
"When I earn money, I'm "preying" on the American people."
Don't flatter yourself. Unless you're a corporate CEO or the head of a major bank or Fortune 500 company, you're just a serf like almost all of the rest of us.
OT-
Wow. The T.A.'s in Wisconsin just voted AGAINST certifying their Union? Hahahahaha!!!!!
F-you Unions!
Remember how President Downgrayed used to bemoan the fact that the U.S. consumes far more than our "fair share" of global resources? He wanted us to consume less, and we are. Coincidence?
I think so. I think that what we have is the result of combining economic illiteracy and ignorance on his part, with a lot of wishful thinking.
Yes, his father was an avowed communist, many of his closest friends seem to be socialists of some stripe, and he and his party seem to be happy to move the country to a fascist type of socialism.
But, I think that many of them really thought that it would work. Which means, that I don't think that they did what they did in order to destroy our economy, as you question, but rather, did all that damage secure in the (mistaken) knowledge that they were really helping it.
To paraphrase, why attribute something to malice, when stupidity, ignorance, and wishful thinking are more likely.
my take is that the professor is being satirical--if she isnt she is the dumbest cunt in the US--and that includes sheila jackson lee, maxine waters and nancy pelosi
So if I get promoted through hard work, dedication, and natural talent, then I automatically become a "predator"? What a sad little world you live in.
Fans of Obamacare need to tell us why so many businesses want to exempt themselves from it. 40% of the exemptions were given to union employees. Why are unions trying to escape it? Why is McDonald's trying to escape it? Why does our ruling class exempt themselves from it?
It's expensive, that's why. It requires you to spend a lot more money, or drop health insurance for your workers.
A small business with under 50 employees is automatically exempt from Obamacare. What does this mean if you're a small business? It means you don't hire more workers. You don't want to be subject to Obamacare, any more than a union does or our own government does.
So you don't expand your business, and you don't hire new workers.
Most jobs are created by small business owners. You know, those millionaires who have too much money. Let's demonize them and regulate them and then wonder why they aren't hiring.
"And I see the zombie lie that Obama is shutting down drilling and exploration lives on."
It's just a fact that Obama's administration has greatly reduced energy production, often in thuggish ways. Courts have forced them to begin issuing permits or at least resolve requests.
So there is some energy production anyway, and you have burnt a straw man, but that's yet another pathetic attempt to save Obama from his own choices.
That's all the democrats have today. No record of success. Just denial of responsibility. Obama said he was up to this job. Period.
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Roger J, no need for the “C” word…I wouldn’t use it describe Pelosi, let’s don’t toss it at the hostess…I mean would you show at someone’s house, walk in, and then call them a c*nt after they let you in for free?
virgil xenophon said...
"...thus the fall from the grace of logic and reason is comparatively greater and shocking"
8/19/11 1:30 PM
Virgil is onto something that I find really fascinating.
I pre-suppose that BHO and his staff are pretty darn bright, hell I'll even grant them that they desire what they think is best for the country.
That their policies are in shambles, probably has them stunned. And they likely do not comprehend that any of it is their fault (ergo BHO blaming everyone and the neighbors dogs for the economic woes).
My conclusion is that they suffer from arrogance (too proud to admit a mistake and too cocky to accept a differing viewpoint) and group think (the vast majority of them being educated in vastly liberal universities).
Really, how hard is it to understand that huge deficits result in less money being able to be spent (when so much of it goes to pay just the interest). Or that if you add a truckload of regulations, employers will want to know how it impacts them in terms of costs? Food stamps create growth, really?
The fall of "the One" will be epic.
Bruce, I semi-agree. But his trusted advisers and models (the Van Jones', Valerie Jarrets' and George Soros' of the world) are ten steps ahead of Barry. They know what they're doing even if Obozo doesn't.
Joe: point taken and apologies
President Downgrayed
Lincolntf, This is excellent, but you forgot to add the last "d", for a double dose of pimpin'.
Christy said...
My problem is that [Obama] is not rich, and is living way beyond their means on other people's money.
Not rich?
That's rich!
Millions of dollars a year in book royalties.
Plus his earning power post presidency is virtually unlimited. Obama will be paid tens of millions a year for the rest of his life just for being alive.
So I say, rich man, enjoy your vacation.
But did you really have to spend another $100k or so of public money to get Michelle there three hours ahead?
The man truly is pussy whipped. Or Michelle knows stuff that could destroy him and he's being prudent.
With our money.
Not so sure about the "lie low" policy. That would have worked in 2008, 2009, maybe as late as 2010. Obama doesn't have the benefit of the doubt anymore, even among people who don't overly pay attention. Even and despite the fawning press coverage. At this point, even people who only occasionally check in on the "news" are wondering what's up with all the yap about racism. This is not going to win over "independents" either. Squishes that they are, primarily interested in being righteous rather than right, independents pay attention.
Unless you're a corporate CEO or the head of a major bank or Fortune 500 company, you're just a serf like almost all of the rest of us
Serf, meet shark+ramp.
I know self-made people, pillars of the community, that fit into neither of those categories. Serfs, indeed. You're usually more cogent that this.
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Roger J, Thanx, I feared a flame war…beyond the “c” word, I am of the opinion that Althouse votes for Obama in 2012. She’s too much the product of her socio-economic position and geography…the LIKELY GOP candidates, Palin or Perry, will be too “something” for her, and they will “lose her vote” allowing her, regretfully, to vote Obama.
Pasta: What'd I tell ya? ;-)
Joe: you were absolutely right to call me on it--sometimes my passions override my brain and I forget that common courtesy is a good thing. live long and prosper
Don't flatter yourself. Unless you're a corporate CEO or the head of a major bank or Fortune 500 company, you're just a serf like almost all of the rest of us.
To that, I would add: trial lawyers, government bureaucrats, and union leaders, in no particular order.
In any case, despite the source of the above statement, note that it gives away the type of socialism that Obama and those at the top of the Democratic party are most interested in - fascism, and its crony capitalism.
Lest anyone forget, a surprising number of the biggest and best known German companies after the war were found to have benefited from slave or concentration camp labor or other human rights abuses perpetuated by their government. The biggest companies in Germany at the time. In trade for supporting and working closely with the government, they were given certain benefits, including low cost or no cost labor. Surprisingly similar to GE getting all those green energy job and TARP funds, and paying almost no U.S. corporate taxes. Just by supporting Obama and the Democrats, including, the use of their NBC/MSNBC arm to destroy their political competition.
|\\//|
Robert Cook: I am one of your conspiratorial bankers. I cant tell you everything we conspire about but I can tell you this much. Every night when we convene we talk about every woman and every black person in America, one by one, and we agree as to how we are going to keep them down. Next on our agenda is to see if there are any pockets of poor people who have anything left worth taking. Then, if there is time, we single out some industry or even some individual to fuck over. Lately we have been focusing in on you. We think we will move your job overseas but we are not sure that will take enough away from you to be satisfying. So, we'll have to wait and see.
These were the days
Like the specs, Darcy.
I want to know what the guy posting under the name "Roger J" has done with the reasonable, likeable guy who used to use that name.
Have you got him stuffed in a trunk, somewhere?
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Cooke, don’t believe Michael…I sit on those meetings, being Joo-ish and therefore a part of the cabal, and we have NEVER thought about moving your job overseas…we’re afraid you’d move with it, and we want you HERE, suffering.
original mike--I guess I have gone over the edge with the current president and the hostess that continues to rationalize her bad decisions.
I really have gone over the edge and am genuinely concerned about the course this beloved country is going--and I apologize if my passions are starting to come thru
I do appreciate your admonition, sir. and I will try to be better
Michael 8/19/11 2:00 PM
L.M.A.O.
"I really have gone over the edge and am genuinely concerned about the course this beloved country is going"
I'm with you on that one, man.
"Every night when we convene we talk about every woman and every black person in America, one by one, and we agree as to how we are going to keep them down."
Kinda like Santa Claus visiting every home in one evening? Only you guys steal the presents, right.
Thanks, David!
Fans of Obamacare need to tell us why so many businesses want to exempt themselves from it. 40% of the exemptions were given to union employees.
You are missing the huge elephant in the room. The unions didn't support ObamaCare because of some sort of altruistic socialistic feelings. And, indeed, at first glance, you might think that they had a disincentive to do so, since better health care benefits are one of the things that they sell as a benefit for membership.
The elephant is that their medical plans are underfunded. Some massively. And, the companies and governments on the hook for them are mostly under water. And they supported ObamaCare, because many of them are expecting to dump their medical coverage, and let the American people pick up the tab.
I was surprised when I first heard it, but it came from several well connected lobbyists I know when I was back in D.C. last month. Apparently this is well known there, but is, not surprisingly, not well known out of there (along with those same unions being some of the organizations that took advantage of the Obama campaign turning off credit card validation to shovel all that money to his campaign).
Now, if they can use their political might to garner exemptions in the meantime, then that is even better.
WOW, even HuffPo blogger/Economist Jeffrey Sachs is seeing the man behind the curtain:
"We're almost three years into this administration, and there's never been a plan. And that's what everybody feels. And the president didn't lead. . . And we had a short-term plan that failed. A short-term stimulus that was supposed to get the economy back on track, but it failed. And now we have nothing behind it. And we have no agreements, and we have no leadership.
OUCH
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
And don’t forget, Bruce, their “underwater” pension funds, which they want Congress to back.
@darcy: Were you being prescient? again? :)
I'm jealous of your upcoming trip to NYC.
Peggy Noonan is pretty light weight.
And, Obama can flop into any news cycle he likes. If he were in DC right now? People would be asking him questions about the Mideast. They'd ask him if it was true, Assad recommended that he resign.
And, who knows about Q-Daffy-Duck. Supposedly, there are foreign airline planes parked in Tripoli. One to South Africa. The other to Switzerland? (He sure wouldn't pick Oslo!)
So "going on vacation" is just another way of saying ... the lamestream media has to be sending "operatives" to a small island.
I wonder if Ed Schultz is there?
Just as I wondered if Ed Schultz's visit to Madison ... left any landmarks? Where did the guy eat? Where did he sleep?
Meanwhile, August in DC is unbearably hot. Most people who live there ... leave. Maybe, the word "vacation" is just misused?
Maybe, it's just people who don't stick around ... because the party circuits dried up?
Haven't all the vegetables also been plucked out of the Rose Garden?
At least in Martha's Vineyard there's no need for the new big black bus. (Now, where is that parked? Is it on vacation?)
T minus 1 hour. In-laws incoming!
Scott M, I admit to speaking in generalities here, but I'm responding to Lincolntf's apparent confusion that he, as a salary-earner, somehow is one with those I am referring to, in Tom Wolfe's phrase, (or perhaps their own), "the Masters of the Universe."
In broad terms, nearly all of us are serfs, as even highly paid salary earners are losing their jobs these days...and finding it surprisingly difficult to find new jobs at their previous salary levels, or any jobs at all if they're above a certain age. None of can afford to mistake our actual place as cogs in the machine, as it is our awareness of our actual place that influences the policies we can recognize and support as being in our own better interests, as well as in the better interests of those in our communities who may appear to be different from us in terms of income, (i.e., those who earn less than we do), but who, aside from this, are essentially no different than we.
We protect the rights of accused lawbreakers not to "coddle" them at the expense of the law-abiding, but because any one of us could become one of the accused at any time; we protect the right of free speech for all not because we agree with what everyone has to say, but in order to insure our own right to speak, as we may any of us find our views to be heresy to the prevailing order as that order changes over time; so-called "entitlement programs" are important because any one of us (or any among our loved ones) may find ourselves at any time in unexpected need of the assistance such programs provide.
In short, in a food chain, all who are not a Tyrannosaurus Rex are natural allies with one another against the Rex.
Dustin said...
"The huge talking point I'm hearing everywhere is that it's just luck if the economy is good or bad, having nothing to do with Obama or, cough cough, Perry, but that's totally ridiculous. The executive can completely screw up an economy by interfering, and he can save it by keeping it out of the way, which is another term for effective administration."
More than that, an administration can screw up an economy by making interference an arbitrary whip to be used at the discretion of the executive branch. Businesses hate taxes and they hate regulations, but when regulations are explicitly statutory, they can predict them and deal with their effects. Businesses fear arbitrariness. When the statutes all consist of delegation of rule-making authority to executive branch commissars, it becomes impossible for anyone not well-connected to know just how the law will affect them. We are becoming a government of men, not of laws.
Will the rules be published, or arbitrary (cf. Chrysler bonds)? Will there be a real (not phony) method for redress of concerns (cf. Gulf drilling moratorium)? Will the commissar change the rules next week/month/year and add compliance costs I haven't planned for (cf. EPA)? Can anyone get a waiver for these provision, or do you have to know the right people (cf. Obamacare)? Will my competitors be able to get waivers I can't (cf. "green" energy)?
@Original Mike and Roger J--Why so glum? Look at what's happening at the state level--public employee unions are losing their stranglehold on the public purse in swing states like Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, and...Massachusetts.
The Democrats lost control of the House, the Republicans dominate state legislatures in a redistricting year, and Obama's failure has so thoroughly discredited vulgar Keynsianism that all his economic advisors have jumped ship. Russ Feingold has decided he's better off writing the hundredth book on "the lessons of 9/11" than running for office.
It smells like...victory.
Mr Cook: I dont think you are using the term "serf" as it existed in the middle ages--given the advances over the past 500 years no one--I repeat no one--is a serf as it applied a millenium ago--its a cute rhetorical flourish but totally lacking in meaning.
I CHOOSE to earn wages!! I LIKE earning wages! Are you a fucking imbecile? Seriously, what is wrong in your head? This is a good fucking life here in America, and you rail against it only because you think that gives you some sort of moral immunity from the guilt over having a world of advantages over other people in other Nations. It's pathological. And boring as all hell.
Here's an example of EPA regs that cause unemployment.
Note the EPA is on one side and the Small Business Administration is on the other. I have no dog in that fight. Maybe cleaner air is more important than jobs. But clearly there is a trade-off here.
Green jobs? No.
Job-killing EPA regs? Yes.
Or we might talk about how Chris Dodd and Barney Frank--the guys who brought you the subprime mortgage crisis--have brought you Dodd-Frank, that amazing bill that puts a czar in oversight of the entire financial sector.
What could go wrong!
Even the New York Times admits that "new regulations could hamper the nation’s economic recovery."
You think?
Newsflash to libs: millions of Americans of ordinary intelligence are far smarter in the aggregate than a few PhDs in a room. If you concentrate more and more power in the hands of a smaller and smaller group of people, not only will those people become corrupt, but they will fuck our economy for everyone. Because nobody is that smart.
chickenlittle said...
PaddyO coined the phrase "passive progressive." It deserves much wider circulation.
Chick, I'm thinking that Althouse edges into the limousine liberal category not from a monetary standpoint but because her situation buffers her from feeling the consequences of Obama.
It's very easy to be for the things that don't really touch you.
None of can afford to mistake our actual place as cogs in the machine...
They say time travel is impossible, and yet we have in our midst a visitor from the 1930s.
McCain would have gone to Martha's Vineyard for two weeks, and he wouldn't have proposed a jobs plan until October.
I know this because everyone knows everything would have been worse if McCain were President.
I know this because everyone knows everything would have been worse if McCain were President.
2010 wouldn't have happened. Neither would the upcoming bitchslap in 2012. I'm right on the bubble of being affected by the current MOTUS. I have commodity problems just like everyone else does, but so far, my industry is still chugging along despite all the chains on our legs.
If McCain had won, a great many people would not have finally woken up.
Does anyone wonder if Ed Schultz thinks 2012 is hanging like a big black cloud over the Obama administration?
"Because nobody is that smart."
That is the crux of the matter.
Lest i give the wrong impression, I'm not "rich" by any reasonable U.S. standard. Solidly middle-class.
"Does anyone wonder if Ed Schultz thinks 2012 is hanging like a big black cloud over the Obama administration?"
I hope you're black, man, because white people aren't allowed to use the word "black"?
ScottM--omitting the term "big black cloud" seems to me that any rational small business person is not going to make any significant decisions with all the uncertainty out there-Mr Obama could, if he had the stones, mitigate the uncertainty by excutive fiat--he has neither the intelligence nor the will to do that--sad that we have come to this point in our history
- Does anyone wonder if Ed Schultz is hanging like a big black cloud over the Golden Corral All-You-Can-Eat buffet?
"Lest i give the wrong impression, I'm not "rich" by any reasonable U.S. standard."
I don't know. That's a pretty spiffy hat.
And don’t forget, Bruce, their “underwater” pension funds, which they want Congress to back.
It's true that many union pensions are bankrupt (the Central States plan that a handful of our employees are in is one), but the discussion about who will pick up the tab is a little more nuanced than is immediately obvious.
In the early 2000's it became obvious that several of the large funds were failing. Rather than back them like any other pension with the Pension Guarantee Corp, Congress decided to dodge the bill by passing the Pension Protection Act of 2006 which flipped the bailout back on member companies.
Sounds great, right? The problem is that as overpriced union shops fail, the unfunded liabilities snowball on the remaining companies in the plan, driving more and more out of business. Many companies that have paid every dime they've ever owed into a union pension plan are now still saddled with the debt of other failed companies' unfunded pensions to an extent that they have a completely negative net worth. Congress either needs to take the liability back, like for any other pension, or tell the union pensioners they're out of luck. Left as is, every company remaining in the plan will be bankrupted, and the problem will be much larger when it eventually has to be dealt with.
I don't know. That's a pretty spiffy hat.
Yeah, but I didn't think Omish could use the internet. Is yours hamster-powered or something?
There is no doubt Althouse is in a bubble of sorts that sealed her off, for 30 years, from angst re job & paycheck security.
NYTNewYorker said...
It's very easy to be for the things that don't really touch you.
Ah, but Althouse was never "for" Obama. Show me the cites if you've got them. She was all about being against McCain (and Palin). That's why the perjorative term "passive progressive" is so apt.
I'm not "rich" by any reasonable U.S. standard.
Maybe not by a contemporary U.S. standard, but by any global or historical standard you're incredibly well-to-do.
Life's good if you can manage a gig as a serf-cog in the right time and place.
"It's very easy to be for the things that don't really touch you."
I call that the "I've got mine" syndrome. Which why Buffett can rail for higher taxes - he's already got it made, and will spend what it takes to keep his tax rate low no matter what the tax law is.
No, the brunt of this recession falls on the small businesses facing uncertainty, squeezed by weak demand, rising prices, more regulations, the likelihood of higher taxes, etc. And the middle class jobs that have disappeared and aren't coming back in a recovery this weak.
Obama's crew has done exactly what FDR's best and brightest did: introduce enough new regs, taxes, and uncertainty to ensure the depression continued. Only WWII saved FDR. What's going to save Obama?
Funny thing. I've worn that hat maybe 3 times in my life, but posted with it as my avatar a million times. We were on vacay at the Grand Canyon, and I'd bought it about a day before that pic was taken, halfway down the trail. The pic is now probably there forever, but I originally chose it because the color/hat profile made it easy to find my spot on long threads.
He talks like a centrist and governs like a Wall Street factotum...which is what he is.
Then surely Robert Cook wouldn't mind if Barack Obama were replaced by Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann.
Or would he?
"In short, in a food chain, all who are not a Tyrannosaurus Rex are natural allies with one another against the Rex."
That dude is extinct. He fell victim to the market forces too. The little serf dudes inherited the planet, because they were small, and adaptable. Feel safe my friend, feel safe, and remember: Don't be a dinosaur. There is a lot of T-Rex thinking going around.
Small is beautiful and sustainable.
avwh said...
Only WWII saved FDR. What's going to save Obama?
Libya?
I didn't think Omish could use the internet.
Omish can't post while they're meditating, but are otherwise like totally online dudes.
Only WWII saved FDR. What's going to save Obama?
MSM?
@Chip
That's pretty funny. Took me a couple seconds to realize the typo.
Libya?
No. It sounds too much like Dubya.
Free flowly light sweet Libyan crude might help Europe though. They've always thrived on taxing the hell out of oil.
Alright, the in-laws should be here any minute now. Any posts that seem totally random or completely out of context over the weekend? That'll be me talking about their visit.
I just want to know if that alley picture is real.
I just want to know if that alley picture is real.
And were any photographers arrested for taking that picture of "no aesthetic value"?
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Congress either needs to take the liability back, like for any other pension, or tell the union pensioners they're out of luck
Thanx for the insight…..
Did I read that post wrong? You think it is fine that he does nothing except plot his re-election and attend fundraisers? Seriously?
WTF?
It's fine that he "knows" he can have no effect?
I'm at a loss for words.
His job is going well, so he will not quit until he finished us.
His job is to level the super power world Hegemon by inside sabotage.
He has set in place so many Economic IEDs along or future road that all he really has left to do is sit back and watch the USA implode and collapse in a pile of rocks and dust.
He knows that Peace happens once his lifetime foe has been defeated.
It's not with feelings of defeat that Obama watches the dollar, the military it pays, and the industrial base of the USA fly away never to be seen again.
The man is celebrating our defeat.
He has earned that Peace Prize after all.
"Then surely Robert Cook wouldn't mind if Barack Obama were replaced by Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann.
"Or would he?"
Except in their rhetoric and insufferable god-talk, I doubt there'd be much difference in policies from Obama's. After all, Obama's aren't much different than Bush's.
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Except in their rhetoric and insufferable god-talk, I doubt there'd be much difference in policies from Obama's. After all, Obama's aren't much different than Bush's
The DELUSION is STRONG with this one…..
This island would be a more fitting spot for Obama to vacation.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YYzvstgX3g&feature=related
The DELUSION is STRONG with this one…...
He is, of course...Almost there...almost there...
Except in their rhetoric and insufferable god-talk, I doubt there'd be much difference in policies from Obama's.
Why not vote for the Republican nominee, then?
Those of us who think there actually would be a difference in policies will be grateful.
And those who are convinced there is no difference will be able to put their convictions to an empirical test.
287 comments on Obama's vacation!
That must be the definition of a slow news day.
Thanx for the insight…..
Glad that long, dry screed made it through ok! With a Central States bankruptcy being the largest single threat facing my (90% non-union!) company, I get a little wrapped up in it.
Just one more example of a ham-fisted attempt to "help" from Congress crushing the little guy...
Now back to my regularly scheduled levity!
Except in their rhetoric and insufferable god-talk...
I'll take Perry's insuffereable god-talk over your commie religion any day, Kookie.
You are twice as insufferable.
Now back to my regularly scheduled levity!
You do levity?
"I CHOOSE to earn wages!! I LIKE earning wages! Are you a fucking imbecile? Seriously, what is wrong in your head? This is a good fucking life here in America...."
Yes, it can be good and is good until, through no fault of one's, but as a result of policy decisions made in secret meetings in closed Washington hearings or plush boardrooms, one becomes economically unviable and one's job is taken away and given to someone on the other side of the planet who will perform the function at a fraction of the pay.
You seem not to recognize the degree to which your choice to earn a salary and your capacity to house and feed yourself and your family is less your choice than that of others who don't even know you exist.
"You are twice as insufferable."
If by that you mean I am endlessly charming, I cannot disagree!
"Why not vote for the Republican nominee, then?"
I'll vote for a third-party candidate, as I have in three of the last four elections.
There's no chance any major party candidate will materially change the policies we have in place.
Good satire is a dangerous thing. Assuming I am correct that Ann wrote this as satire, for her now to explain that it was satire will embarass many of her loyal readers. My guess is that she still fesses up, or perhaps she will play it cute and leave the question unanswered.
To me, it did not read like serious commentary by Ann. She usually has a good take for how something like vacation this will appear to voters.
You do levity?
I read it in many of the comments here. Intentional or not.
I take it you didn't like the Bears joke?!?
but as a result of policy decisions made in secret meetings in closed Washington hearings or plush boardrooms, one becomes economically unviable and one's job is taken away and given to someone on the other side of the planet who will perform the function at a fraction of the pay.
Pretty damned hard to install your plumbing, pump your septic tank, pull the pump from your well and install an iron filter on your water from the other side of the planet.
:-)
"Ah, but Althouse was never "for" Obama."
Maybe so but actions do speak louder than words, no?
The Prof. voted for him last time and I seem to perceive the smallest of tilts that way again with over a year still to go.
'Blogger Robert Cook said...
"You are twice as insufferable."
If by that you mean I am endlessly charming, I cannot disagree!'
----
Charm is a petite bourgeois affectation...you would never be guilty of this, comrade.
I would be happy to pay a tax surcharge this year if Obama,Biden and every elected democrat were to resign effective immediately in exchange for tripling their pensions with disbursements starting immediately.
Barry Golfs Callously on the Vineyard
Stone's Throw From Mary Jo's Watery Graveyard
Teddy Peers From Below
As Nearer the Day Grows
Of Barry's Enrollment in Hell's Socialist Guard.
You seem not to recognize the degree to which your choice to earn a salary and your capacity to house and feed yourself and your family is less your choice than that of others who don't even know you exist.
This is also true of currency speculators, farmers, and authors, among many, many others. What's your point?
You really seem to long for some imaginary world in which people thrive through barter or self-sufficiency. For most of human history people lived in that world. And they lived with starvation and disease as their constant companions.
What lifted people out of that poverty was the Industrial Revolution, powered by greedy industrialists financed by sinister bankers.
Why don't you already know this stuff?
You might have a point, Kansas City, but The Althouse Woman has a hard time explaining what she means. Because, the second time around we still don't know if it's satire.
You seem not to recognize the degree to which your choice to earn a salary and your capacity to house and feed yourself and your family is less your choice than that of others who don't even know you exist.
What bullshit!
I've worked for 45 years, Kookie. There's always a job if you're smart, willing to turn on a dime and you don't expect anybody to do anything for you.
Your ideology is the whimpering of a fucking spoiled brat.
It's the toughest job market of my life right now. I ended a contract job two months ago.
I keep moving fast and turning on a dime. I'm getting two to three interviews a week. I'll be back at work soon, making 25% more.
Your fucking ideology is just the stupid complaining of a fat spoiled brat.
NYTNewYorker wrote: The Prof. voted for him last time and I seem to perceive the smallest of tilts that way again with over a year still to go.
Her 2008 vote was against McCain. At least that's the way she explained it repeatedly afterwards. Her negative vote was electorally indistinuishable from an affirmative vote "for" Obama.
So yes, it counts as "voted for him last time."
but as a result of policy decisions made in secret meetings in closed Washington hearings or plush boardrooms, one becomes economically unviable and one's job is taken away and given to someone on the other side of the planet who will perform the function at a fraction of the pay.
OMG, plush boardrooms - The Horror!!!!
Are they wearing top hats and spats as well? It's all very diabolical, this talk of certain positions being "economically unviable". Perhaps Congress should write a law mandating that everyone's job is economically viable. Surely that'll fix everything.
Honestly I'm not buying this is sarcasm at all. I'm pretty sure Althouse is getting jazzed up for Obama '12.
Kookie, you dumb fuck, you can write a coherent sentence.
So, you can learn to program in Javascript.
You can go out in NYC right now and command $50 to $75 an hour if you can write these languages:
o Javascript
o jQuery
o CSS
o HTML
o Flash
o Actionscript
o XML
o AJAX
What the fuck are you always whining about, Kookie? Who told you that the government was supposed to provide you with everything and wipe your ass?
I think he'll pull an LBJ and not even run for a second term. He knows that he doesn't know what he's doing and he is basically a lazy man so why not just return to private life were he can get rich and enjoy all the perks of a former President. I'm also assuming that it will become obvious to him and everyone else that he can't win a second term.
Blogger AllenS said...
You might have a point, Kansas City, but The Althouse Woman has a hard time explaining what she means. Because, the second time around we still don't know if it's satire.
-------------
"Althouse is repeating herself first as tragedy, then as farce.
garage - tell us o' wise one who killed the economy?
Lars,
You said it more better.
The average industrial worker wage in China has tripled since the election of GW Bush and Obama's time up to March 2011. It is now 1500 a year, almost double that the 200 million stuck in rural China and who want to come to staff the latest industry to come to China make. Some skilled Chinese make ten times that in financial services in Shanghai.
However, the "Jobs Creator Class" - those entrepreneurs, former PLA Generals, Party Officials with the clout to smooth over and fix all "difficulties" with doing business make almost as much as the foreign outsourcer (US firm, UK firm, even Japanese firm) does. They are the multimillionaire, even multibillionaire "whales" of China. While the factory worker lives in barracks under PLA guard, eating noodles and enjoys a standard of living triple that they had as peasants - the whales are the ones who have now made Macao 5 times the gambling revenue center Vegas once was, the ones with mansions rising on cliffs, the ones driving 14K gold-plated Nissan Infinities.
A situation that greatly disturbs the Chinese Politburo.
But who are heedful of the new Whales who were once and many who still are top PLA generals, Party Officials...that say the destruction of American, Japanese worker income by the gallant and limitless in number Chinese worker under Free Trade will make the Han Chinese #1 over all.
"America is collapsing, Japan is already surpassed, and it is bloodless. Under the trade deals the capaitalists made themselves ...their Elites profit so they will not lift a finger as the larger bourgeoisie class is destroyed. It is a joyful thing to see. And even with the whales who have created jobs as Fathers of the masses, the 197 million jobs created since 1990 still have 200 million more waiting for the new US jobs coming."
"They wish to compete? The rules of Free Trade say the only way is they reduce wages to what our Chinese people make. Hah!"
C4 - the answer to educate more high-skilled workers. Engineers, doctors, scientists. We need a hell of alot more of them.
314 comments?!! What on earth are you talking about?
Wait a minute, what about the fuckin Jews?
Jay or whatever..
------
Gore worked on that legislation I referred to for years. In fact he started talking about a national digital network as far back as the 70s and 80s. But lot of things came together in the 90s for it to happen. You're right that Gore's bill was signed by Bush the elder in Dec 1991 (I got the years mixed up) and what that bill did was to open up NSFNet (ARPANet before that) to commercial use. I do give Bush the elder credit for signing it. May be he would have won the election if he had dumped that dumb Quayle and got Gore to run with him. But unfortunately Clinton did and won. The Clinton-Gore admin brought the universities, govt, and industry together under several initiatives. If they had not given all those seed monies for research, the technological revolution we saw would never have happened. To Newt's credit he understood the value of all this and the congress pretty much played along. But the driving force was Clinton-Gore. It is very sad to see him being ridiculed for what he basically did over two decades to encourage all that technological development. If it was left up to the industry it would have taken longer, that is a pretty much accepted fact. If it was left up to a Republican administration, unfortunately they didn't have a Gore on their side relentlessly driving it.
Just look at what is going on with Obamacare now. Presidents can pick the wrong battles and stifle the economy. Clinton was smart to recognize what worked and he had Gore and he picked Gore.
"Your fucking ideology is just the stupid complaining of a fat spoiled brat."
Does this ideology make me look fat?
You.
Cook - do you work?
"Ms. Althouse, you're drinking the Kool Aid and prepping the battlespace for another vote in 2012--that you'll be apologizing for in 2013..."
I have never apologized for my 2008 vote. I am currently settling into my new, improved cruel neutrality stance for observing the new election season.
I am not here to bash Obama or anyone else. I am here to observe things in a way that's different from what other people do. And I will say different things. I'm not your source of right-wing talking points.
The subject of who I will vote for in the end is not very important in the larger scheme of this blog. What matters here are the posts, and every post is it's own thing. I'm not marking time. I'm living in the now.
Hang out here with me, in the present, finding stuff interesting. Looking for what other people cannot or will not see.
I really don't think its sarcasm. Althouse is a Democrat after all, just one that tries (fairly successfully I think) to understand Republicans and what we believe. She's also very good at playing devil's advocate among other Democrats who think all Republicans are nazi racist terrorists.
I think that's why she's so popular with the right. She at least tries to understand us, she doesn't call us mean names, and she even sticks up for us with her leftie friends sometimes. That's really all it takes for us. We're easy.
Sorry Ann, but I just can't buy your "cruel neutrality" stance as genuine.
"What the hell, Althouse. I'm going to assume that this is more too-subtle Althouse humor that needs a /sarc tag."
Always put on your sarc-suit before dipping into the pool of Althouse verbiage.
We were going to go swimming in Devil's Lake today, but then I did some reading about "swimmer's itch." What do you think is a more upsetting term "Schistosomatidae" or "blood fluke"?
Hang out here with me, in the present, finding stuff interesting. Looking for what other people cannot or will not see.
Thanks for the invite. I'll be looking for what other commenters have to say. Sometimes, you don't make a bit of fucking sense.
"I really don't think its sarcasm. Althouse is a Democrat after all, just one that tries (fairly successfully I think) to understand Republicans and what we believe. She's also very good at playing devil's advocate among other Democrats who think all Republicans are nazi racist terrorists."
If that's true, why don't the liberals love me? They *hate* me!
Or am I just so damn clever I've decided to try to make everyone feel that I'm on the other side... and succeeded?
"Sometimes, you don't make a bit of fucking sense."
Put on your thinking cap, AllenS. The Althouse blog is harder than it seems.
Everything makes sense. You challenge is to figure out why it makes sense, including the nonsense.
Ann! Every time I'm ready to dump your blog and swear never to read I ever again, you say something that totally changes my mind. I knew there was a reason I really liked you and your blog.
Democrats hated Lieberman even though he was a party line guy except for the Iraq war. It doesn't take a lot to get the [Hated by the Left] Achievement unlock. These days at least.
You see this is the problem I have with Althouse. She insists the President has little influence on the economy, that it's wrong to blame Presidents too much for recessions or give them praise for boom times. Yet Obama blames Bush all the time for this economy and she gives him a pass on that.
I have a lot of different hats, Professor.
"314 comments?!! What on earth are you talking about?"
You didn't deign to read them? For shame, for shame.
It doesn't take a lot to get the [Hated by the Left] Achievement unlock.
Nerd.
"We won't know who Ann will vote for till the candidate who "loses her" shows up in one of her dreams-"all sweaty "."
LOL
Dust Bunny Queen said...
but as a result of policy decisions made in secret meetings in closed Washington hearings or plush boardrooms, one becomes economically unviable and one's job is taken away and given to someone on the other side of the planet who will perform the function at a fraction of the pay.
Pretty damned hard to install your plumbing, pump your septic tank, pull the pump from your well and install an iron filter on your water from the other side of the planet.
==============
If all those components are made on the other side of the planet at 25% of the cost of American manufacture under Free Trade for freedom!...it's a lot cheaper. Then finding the plumber that cuts their bid 40% because they have illegals doing the work George Bush said no American wants to do for half wages or less...saves you even more money.
Of course free traders like to say that free trade applies to all but CERTAIN parts of society where "citizenship and only made in USA goods and services is critical for security and our way of life".
Which, surprise! tend to protect the Elites!! Our F-22s and F-35s are not outsourced to CHina, though it would be cheaper. We do not allow illegals to get into the government employee unions the Elites control. We cannot have illegal MDs and drugs made at Indian consumer prices to control costs. We cannot set up a university staffed with illegals with advanced degrees to crank out illegals with law and banking degrees to take over from grossly overpaid and lazy lawyers, Wall Streeters.
And recruiting CHinese and NORKS to man our police and Army at 1/10th the price it costs per US citizen "hero" is unthinkable. Besides, they are protected government jobs not subject to lowest cost global labor bidding!
Not like how we can get rid of those disgusting, lazy American overpaid citizens in manufacturing, construction, services, and white collar jobs!
"Nerd."
Sir, I am offended. I prefer Super Nerd.
I think if Paul Ryan ran and stuck to the economic issues 100% and didn't say anything crazy about foreign policy that would get alot of votes here.
"Cook - do you work?"
Yes, I have a job and feeling damned lucky about it.
I don't have the hubris to assume I'll always have a job, or that because I'm cute or smart or virtuous or "self-starting" or a "go-getter" or one of god's chosen that I'm impervious to the same market forces that are dissolving jobs all over this country, or that, if I were to lose my present job I would be able to find another easily, or at all.
I'm very well aware how fortunate I am to be working. We had an entry level job offering in my department last year and we received hundreds of resumes, most from persons with high-level degrees and work experience, at least half from former department heads or sub-department heads.
Do I think all these people lost their jobs due to poor work performance? Of course not. Do I think they would be applying for clerical work if there were better jobs available? No.
It's grim and getting grimmer out there, and to blithely blame increasing unemployment on Obamneycare is delusional...it allows those making the charge to safely prescribe a simple fix--rescind Obamneycare--when the truth is our jobs are being sent overseas because it is profitable for those companies exporting those jobs. They want to shed those jobs--whatever excuses they may condescend to offer--and only government policies that offer a blend of incentives for companies to keep jobs here and disincentives for them to cast jobs overseas will arrest and reverse the trend...if even that would work.
It may only take prevailing American wages to become depressed to poverty levels before jobs might start returning to our shores...when Americans are cheaper to hire than overseas workers.
"Because she makes $160,000 a year, and has tenure. How bad the economy gets, will never affect her."
The changes made by the Wisconsin state legislature to the compensation package of state employees is costing me about $1,000 a month.
Ann Althouse said...
Everything makes sense. You challenge is to figure out why it makes sense, including the nonsense.
Ok, I accept the challenge. 3/4 of what you say is bullshit. Am I close?
The changes made by the Wisconsin state legislature to the compensation package of state employees is costing me about $1,000 a month.
Which I'm sure you are patriotically taking in stride.
I'll do the math:
$160,000
-12,000
=148,000
That's still not bad. And, let's not forget, you can't be fired. You will still have a better retirement income than me. I receive on the first of the month, $610 dollars.
Make that before taxes.
Kookie, you dumb fucking piece of shit. Stop your miserable cocksucking whining!
My mother was born in desperate poverty to a family of alcoholics. She worked in a factory for minimum wage. Most of her life she worked for minimum wage. When she was 50, she found a job at a union factory and made decent money.
When when she was 60, the factory folded up its operations in the U.S. and moved to Asia.
Her response? She went to LPN school and passed her certification at the age of 63. She worked until she was 83, often making $70,000 a year with overtime.
Will you shut the fuck up, you lazy no good bastard?
There's always a way. Nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is owed to you. The world has always been fucked up and corrupt.
Sensible people deal with it.
Shut the fuck up, asshole.
"I'll do the math:
$160,000
-12,000
=148,000
That's still not bad. And, let's not forget, you can't be fired. You will still have a better retirement income than me. I receive on the first of the month, $610 dollars."
See Ann, the conservatives hate you because you have tenure, teachers and Professors dont deserve their salary? Did they not earn their wages?
After almost 35 years of working for the same company, I'm getting $610 a month in retirement pay. I hope you don't think that you're really taking a beating. Or, are you? Do you really think that things have gotten that bad for you? Whose fault is it, anyway? Walker?
We were going to go swimming in Devil's Lake today, but then I did some reading about "swimmer's itch." What do you think is a more upsetting term "Schistosomatidae" or "blood fluke"?
As long as you shower afterwards, swimmer's itch is avoidable, I have found.
The real problem is the brain-eating amoeba that you can get from fresh water. But if the bottom of the lake feels coolish, odds are good you'll be okay.
Applefuckin,
Nobody hates The Althouse Woman.
Grow up.
Alex said... "the answer is to educate more high-skilled workers. Engineers, doctors, scientists. We need a hell of alot more of them."
It is a myth to assume that we can thrive as a Eloi nation with all our manufacturing outsourced to foreigners. First, STEM work can be outsourced almost as easily as factory work. Second, STEM workers aren't grown in hothouses; good ones get to be good by building things and not relying on theory. Third, if you could grow a bunch of them, they'd just become low-paid occupations.
Allen S, you do also collect Social Security,do you not? I'm not saying that the amount of money you have coming in monthly is one in which one could live lavishly. I worked as a nurse for over 30 years and also collect Social Security, with NO pension, but I don't begrudge teachers and professors their wages, because they happen to be employees of the state.
Madisonman said: brain-eating amoeba
No, the real problem is the partial anagram: brain-eating obamae.
Is that the correct Latin plural, Pogo?
"Blogger AllenS said...
Lars,
You said it more better."
-------
Actually it's a paraphrase of a quote of Cookie's favorite author of bedtime stories..Karl Marx.
--------
Blogger Robert Cook said...
'"Your fucking ideology is just the stupid complaining of a fat spoiled brat."
Does this ideology make me look fat?'
Not fat ...just very thick.
"Oh yes, let's vote for The Empty Suit™, because he's "cool"."
I didn't say he deserved to be voted for because he's cool. I said there's no reason to think he's given up. His goal is reelection, and what he's doing is completely consistent with not giving up.
"Do you address Meade as Obama in the bedroom... Sounds like it."
Oh, thanks. That sounds really hot.
"You could say Althouse is saying that Obama is so clever, he understands that going on vacation is a super brilliant tactic to fix the economy."
There is no brilliant tactic, and he probably knows that. He needs some luck and if he doesn't get it, he'll have to fight his way to reelection. But there's no point fighting now. Better to get some rest. And the mean people taking shots at the nice man enjoying time with his girls are mostly helping his cause.
Apple,
I not only do I get that pension, but I have a 60% disability from a gunshot wound from serving in the military. And, then, since I'm almost 65 years of age, on the second Wednesday of each month, I receive a Social Security check for $1469. Then, I have invested my money wisely, and receive cash from four different investments. I also have, currently, a small welding, small engine, and general fix shit up shop.
Don't cry for me Argentina Apple.
Not quite what The Althouse Woman will get, but I ain't starvin'.
"And the mean people taking shots at the nice man enjoying time with his girls are mostly helping his cause."
Says you.
Time will tell, eh?
That Rick Perry is a hottie afterall...
Well then Allen , quit'cher bitchen.
"There's always a way. Nothing is guaranteed. Nothing is owed to you. The world has always been fucked up and corrupt."
There's also no reason why we, as a society, must continue accept the prevailing ethos of dog eat dog. We can choose to pool our resources, in the form of tax revenues, to provide a safety net, to enourage job creation but also to provide help for those in need.
Why should we be any less willing to collectively provide help to those of us in need--who at any time could be any of us--than we are to collectively provide roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, schools, police and fire departments...all of which benefit society as a whole? Why should be resist funding food and clothing and housing programs for the needy while offering not a whit of resistance to funding overpriced bombs and delivery system that destroy whole societies, that kill women, children, the aged and infirm, the young and healthy of other countries?
Because we're deluded and cowed and kept in darkness by those whose interests are served by our meanness to our own and by our readiness to kill those we don't know and who are no threat to us, simply to continue feeding their insatiable avarice.
Hear hear Robert Cook, now they will just call you more foul names because you spoke the truth.
So far Obama is running for re-election.
What's not seen is who is gonna top the GOP ticket. And, I'm picking JEB as VEEP, here! So, automatically, see that Perry won't be chosen.
Other than that it will be a horse race.
Oh, and for good measure Merkel may be gone. BORDERS may be raised across Europe. And, individual currencies come back into play. Germany's on top. The Swiss Banks holding everything. And, the French knuckling theirs out to sell like cheese.
Those left with the EURO lose.
Obama just has to wait for the storm to hit. (Over there.)
And, at some point CUTTING will become something democraps can do. With their scissors aimed at Boehner's bottom.
"We can choose to pool our resources, in the form of tax revenues, to provide a safety net, to enourage job creation but also to provide help for those in need."
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I dimly recall this being tried a time or two in the past. Say perhaps we could look at how this plan worked in the real world....
(pause)
... oh dear. Well so much for that.
There's also no reason why we, as a society, must continue accept the prevailing ethos of dog eat dog. We can choose to pool our resources, in the form of tax revenues, to provide a safety net, to enourage job creation but also to provide help for those in need.
Kookie, you dumb asshole, that's already been tried.
That approach was the 20th century, and it was a fucking disaster.
You are a flaming idiot. Relying on the good graces of one's fellow man is the ideology of a fucking retard. How stupid can you get, motherfucker?
It is amazing how overwhelming fucking stupid an intellectual can be. You are a prime exhibit.
"Why should we be any less willing to collectively provide help to those of us in need"
Because privately and individually providing help to those of us in need is far more efficient and effective in the real world?
Alex said...
C4 - the answer to educate more high-skilled workers. Engineers, doctors, scientists. We need a hell of alot more of them.
----------------------
Echoing what Craig said...
Most engineers, even design ones, have to be proximate to the actual production for maximum effectiveness. Unless the expertise is vastly superior to closeby engineering labor, or vastly cheaper (why whole buildings and projects in the USA are farmed out to Taiwanese, Filipino, Pakistani, Belorussian engineering firms).
Doctors have become as fungible as blue jeans factory stitchers. The only hassle is getting them in the US and removing barriers to competition (the old dumb licensing hassles, etc.). The fininacial inducement to get a cheaper healthcare worker goes beyond doctors to nurses, techs, lab workers. Since the 70s, they have removed the barriers....it is far easier to get nurses from Jamaica, Nigeria, the Philippines, Indonesia already trained to US standards than address a nursing shortage by raising the stinking wages lazy Americans expect in order to induce them to take out 60,000 in loans to become a nurse shift worker. 20% of US nurses are now foreign..
Doctors are worse. In the 70s, it was almost an all-American enclave. Now 28% of doctors are imports under free trade. Some specialities are over 40% foreign now. Some fields now involve consults with specialists in other countries getting the info on some US patient or mexican here getting free care - over the internet. Why pay so much to recoup a lazy American's med school expenses when your profit is boosted by bringing in a Pakistani or Egyptian that will work for less?
American scientific jobs from R&D is perhaps the worst situation. It is now considered on a par by US students to have the job market waiting that a grad degree software engineer can command.
It has gone "global" - touted as some supreme enhancement as "all the world best minds are now pooled in the opportunity to problem solve" but effectively saying - we don't need higher paid US PhDs when all those Indian, Pakistani, Korean, East Block and Brazilian PhDs are far cheaper and just a mouseclick away.
****Remember, don't blame Obama for this situation. It has been 40 years in the making, and involved a cabal of Western Elites that only saw more short-term money in their pockets from the destruction of national economies and job markets by globalisation and free trade. Unfortunately, they - Repubs, Dems, Financiers loyal only to their own, Eurosocialists - set off forces that are now out of control and threaten to wipe out even the wealthiest Elites...gated communities and teams of Hero armed security vassals of the government are no real protection if it all collapses.
Don't blame Obama for this. He is just one of the later, bit players. If all were help accountable, besides the long-dead
Corporatists, bankers, Senators, Bildenburgers....the prisons would be full.*****
""We can choose to pool our resources, in the form of tax revenues, to provide a safety net, to enourage job creation but also to provide help for those in need."
...but..., if we choose pool our resources in a commercial venture to invent a new product, extract a resource, or provide a new service so that individuals won't need a collective...we will need regulation, inspection, permission, and special taxation.
Why should we be any less willing to collectively provide help to those of us in need--who at any time could be any of us--than we are to collectively provide roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, schools, police and fire departments...all of which benefit society as a whole?
There is a huge difference between providing for the NEEDY as opposed to the LAZY entitled slugs who sit around on their fat asses all day long doing drugs, drinking and whining that they aren't getting enough and want to take ever more more more from those who work.
Charity is what the NEEDY should get and should be provided by other than the government. The lazy who don't want to work at anything.....get nothing.
The government functions should be very limited and only for those things that benefit society as a whole. I have no problem with the short list you provided and would also include military and police for the purposes of keeping people from hurting each other and for the purpose of the country remaining safe
We can choose to pool our resources, in the form of tax revenues, to provide a safety net, to enourage [sic] job creation but also to provide help for those in need.
Who are we?
And do "we" all choose voluntarily, or do you get to choose for "all of us"?
If those damned Chinese and Jews and Indians and would just die instead of trying to succeed like the rest of us.
Complaining about international competition is like Warren Buffet saying he pays too little taxes. Open your wallet and just pay more. It won't solve the problem, because most people don't really agree with you, but at least stop being a hypocrite.
My company's motto is "Made in the U.S.A.". our only competition is in China, yet we are doing very well. If you make good product and people are want to pay for that, then you will succeed. What's alternative: force people to pay more so you don't have to compete?
Put on your game face and stop being pussies.
"the LAZY entitled slugs who sit around on their fat asses all day long doing drugs, drinking and whining that they aren't getting enough and want to take ever more more more from those who work."
Hey, hey! I'm sitting right here. I can hear you you know.
You left out "blog commenting".
Dark Eden, every time you post, I'm reminded of Cher's Dark Lady.
NTTAWWT.
And the mean people taking shots at the nice man enjoying time with his girls are mostly helping his cause.
The man is the President of the United States (as he likes to remind us).
The constant fundraisers, golf outings, vacations and concerts are bad optics in this economy, and saying so doesn't make anyone "mean".
Oy. Helping his cause. What's his "cause", besides having a good time on our nickle?
(That nickle, by the way, that we have to squeeze 'til the buffalo sh--s.)
"Dark Eden, every time you post, I'm reminded of Cher's Dark Lady"
Its actually the name of my virtual reality clothing store (shameless plug no one will see because the thread is old - darkedenplaza.blogspot.com)
Dianne Rehm is not a stroke victim???
I had alwas given her the benefit of the doubt.
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