December 21, 2017

At the White Bag Café...

IMG_1771

... you can talk about whatever you like.

(And please, if you've got some Amazon shopping to do, go in through The Althouse Portal.)

55 comments:

Inga...Allie Oop said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tank said...

Case Dismissed.

More Winning.

Tank said...

Mark Steyn on Diversity Bollards.

Bollards are our strength.

Big Mike said...

The coffee cups are upright and not tilted! Must be serious times.

Bilwick said...

I'd like to discuss a particularly vexing annoyance. (And yes, I wrote "vexing.") Sometimes when I write comments, and then hit "Publish your comment," the next thing I see is a notice that my comment didn't go through. I'm then told that the reason may be that someone else may be editing my comment. This sounds bogus to me. It wouldn't be as annoying as it is if it retained the comment and gave me a chance to try again. But my comment just goes off into Cyber Limbo somewhere. And this only happens on this blog.

Breezy said...

How could any gown cost $75,000.00? (See Meghan Markle.) It boggles the mind. Royals are idiots.

rhhardin said...

I talked to a 4th woman (out of 3600 contacts), Amanda in Iowa.

Original Mike said...

"I talked to a 4th woman (out of 3600 contacts), Amanda in Iowa."

Ever talked to Nellie Ohr?

narciso said...

Responding to wildswan, the sjws are not puritans, they are Jacobi the heart of the terror, the would be cheka, the turbas the dengue, soviet Nicaraguan ethiopian

Original Mike said...

William - Try hitting the back button. Often, your comment is still there and you can try again.

narciso said...

In other news:
https://mobile.twitter.com/MaxAbrahms/status/944010429726187525?p=v

Drago said...

Breezy: "How could any gown cost $75,000.00? (See Meghan Markle.) It boggles the mind. Royals are idiots."
1) Create a gown.
2) Place $75,000 pricetag in gown.
3) Market and sell gown to royals.
4) PROFITS!

Big Mike said...

@William, here's what I think is happening.

Someone enters a comment by hitting the publish icon.
Google takes the current screen, edits it to add the new comment, and republishes
- Those who are looking at the old version of the screen still see the old version unless and until they do a refresh
- Those who display the screen before the screen is republished also see the old version
- Those who display the screen after editing and republication see the new version
If, in the meantime, you or anyone else attempts to publish your comment but the republication is not completed, you will get the "conflicting edits" message. If the software were better designed it would queue you up and you'd only get the "conflicting edits" message if the queue was full. A queue is not hard to implement, but it does take space in memory and you do have to think of doing it. (And for all I know they do implement a queue but if so it's a short one.)

Rather than wait for Google to implement queuing, make a copy of your comment before you hit the "publish" icon. Like I'm doing now.

Drago said...

By the way, a judge just tossed the stupid lefty emoluments lawsuit against Trump.

Inga hardest hit.

Humperdink said...

Good news and bad news on the immigrant assimilation front. The good news: It appears the unaccompanied minor's from south of the border have assimilated quite nicely.

The bad news? They have assimilated into the MS-13 gang and are terrorizing an entire town seven (7) miles from the White House.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/people-here-live-in-fear-ms-13-menaces-a-community-seven-miles-from-the-white-house/2017/12/20/6cebf318-d956-11e7-b859-fb0995360725_story.html?undefined&utm_term=.4ccddc7803e9&wpisrc=nl_most&wpmm=1

Tank said...

Forty minutes of Mark Styn, including a jab at the University of Wisconsin (really).

Tank said...

@William

I suggest copying your comment before posting; that way if it disappears you can just paste it back in and try again.

Tank said...

LOL, I think autocorrect turned Steyn into Styn (or it was me).

Sprezzatura said...

"Inga hardest hit."

I'm guessing that it's the future Ingas who are gonna be hardest hit. This contemporary Inga is probably in line for some deficit dough.

Over the next ten years the Rs have decided to put ten thousand dollars (not including the additional future interest) for every working American on the nation's credit card.

Conservative values.


narciso said...

Nothing to see here
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5203849/Spanish-police-hunting-jihadi-Barcelona.html

narciso said...

Right eye had the lowest rate of growth in decades and 10 trillion in debt, tell us another one

Sprezzatura said...

It's kinda cool that a tax plan that needs to have built-in end dates to some of the tax cuts because perpetually spending more than is collected is not sustainable. But, the tax cut proponents simultaneously tell us that, in reality, these tax cuts will be extended so they won't end (like most of the expiring W tax cuts were), hence perpetually spending more than is collected is sustainable. But, they don't want to write the bill to include that future bill now. As if they don't think you folks would fall for some number beyond 1.5 trillion. Surely more jabber about dynamic scoring would justify 10 trillion as well as it does for 1.5. Why wouldn't it?

narciso said...

Like the one trillion, the cob assured us robertscare would cost and the 26 million it would cover, currently they were 160% off projections.

trumpintroublenow said...

If you haven't decided on your next vacation destination, consider one of the countries that voted against the UN's anti-Israel resolution today:

Guatemala, Honduras, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Togo

Michael K said...

Over the next ten years the Rs have decided to put ten thousand dollars (not including the additional future interest) for every working American on the nation's credit card.

Lefties have a lot of trouble with dynamic economic facts.

I know you were promised no math.

Still, if you were capable of math, you might learn something.

So, who was the true hero of the Reagan expansion? Was it the President who convinced Congress to try out the notion of putting more money in the pockets of Americans and their businesses so that they could re-invest and create jobs or was it Paul Volker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve and initially a Carter appointment, whose focused resolve to destroy inflation laid the groundwork for all those baby boomers entering the work force to start and power the businesses that would employ so many Americans?

The truth is that we can’t be sure which of these two men deserves the lion’s share of the credit


Reagan had a Democrat Congress which allowed him to win the Cold War if he allowed them to continue spending.

Sprezzatura said...

narc,

There overall coverage numbers were good. But, they had more folks in Medic... stuff, while there were less in private market plans. Still, the net number was close.

And, their gov expense numbers were good too. Those silly libs raised taxes to pay for this new gov spending. Those dopes shoulda just adding the cost to the country's credit card, like the Rs are now doing at the rate (over then next ten years, and excluding interest thereafter) of ten grand per working person.

Cool.





narciso said...

In when you're by a factor over a 100% you're too silly and we have to call in graham Chapman.

Sprezzatura said...

"Reagan had a Democrat Congress which allowed him to win the Cold War if he allowed them to continue spending."

They also raised taxes a shit-load after R's original cuts. Notably, the FICA increases that taxed normal folks (but went to zero for higher income folks) such that there were big annual surpluses in these accounts which were used to paper over the annual deficits associated w/ job-creator tax reduction (IOW: no Gore-style lock-box). Still, not enough hole filling. So Bush and Bubba raised taxes even more. Then the budget was balanced.

narciso said...

Yes it probably shuttered many small businesses, who can't shell doubled Rica payments

Unknown said...

Steve Uhr - how did Germany vote?

narciso said...

Well they imported one million Muslims how do you think they would vote?

Paddy O said...

William, if you get the conflicting edit screen, just hit reload and the post posts as intended.

And yay tax law. As a decidedly middle class family, currently renting, in California, we're likely seeing huge tax savings now.

Michael K said...

"Then the budget was balanced. "

You actually sound intelligent here.

The budget was never balanced. Look at the numbers. The Congress and Clinton raided the SS fund to "balance the budget" and we ended up with IOUs that are worth zero.

Bill Clinton pretty much reversed the Reagan tax cuts. I supported the 1986 bill even though it cost me $100,000. Clinton wiped out the changes. Hillary was smart enough to take her Rose Law Firm bonus before January 1 so it was not subject to the new retroactive tax bill.

I blame GHW Bush for Clinton but they have corrupted American politics so badly that Trump may not be able to reverse it.

It's kind of poetic that Bush voted for her.


pacwest said...

"or was it Paul Volker, Chairman of the Federal Reserve"

That's where my vote would fall. It was also the reason I was willing to cut Obama some slack at the beginning of his Presidency. He promised to put Volcker on his economic team and follow his advice. That was the broken promise that lost my support.

walter said...

" I supported the 1986 bill even though it cost me $100,000. "
Part of the problem here is the complexity and ever-changing status that incentivizes most to say..screw it..what's in it for me?
But a "progressive" approach to it promises this shifting around of winners and losers..while many voters don't have a clue which income bracket pays the bulk of the freight.

Bilwick said...

Thanks to those who offered suggestions re my vexing problem.

Big Mike said...

I see that the Wisconsin girls who stabbed their classmate 19 times to appease the fictional Slenderman received the maximum sentence. Luckily the victim survived, but she's physically and apparently emotionally scarred for life. Twenty-five years doesn't seem like enough for that.

walter said...

I've heard Streep referred to as one of Harvey's honeypots.
Maybe there's a better term in this context...

buwaya said...

Fortunately, this is an argument that can be cleanly and unequivocably resolved. Tax revenue effects under dynamic or static analyses.

Make a bet on a point spread of the Federal deficit as of this time next year.

buwaya said...

As for the Social Security trust fund - I have to go with the side that it was always entirely fictional. There were never any genuine assets purchased with it to generate real economic returns. It was never an investment fund. Everything went into the Federal black box of funny money, where the left corner lent to the right corner in exchange for some bit of paper that did not need to exist.

When doing international comparisons things like SS and Medicare end up counted as taxation. Pension schemes are usually government spending. The Euros have these things too. One big reason for greater Euro government burden is they have far higher % retirees.

walter said...

" There were never any genuine assets purchased with it to generate real economic returns. It was never an investment fund. "
Yes..the Lefty howling when W even mentioned using a small part of SS input for investment.

Original Mike said...

"As for the Social Security trust fund - I have to go with the side that it was always entirely fictional."

It's not even a legitimate debate. it's transparently a fiction.

Drago said...

I appreciate the lefties practicing their 'very very concerned about deficits' faces for just the last 10 months are so.

They are getting a little better faking the necessary degree of sincerity.

walter said...

I thought I would look up "Obama is a wet blanket on the econoy" Steve Wynn for a amore recent comment..but came upon this regarding the vegas shooter:
"“This is a man who behaved rationally, privately, a little introverted, liked to play video poker. But he was a rational man. And every historical review of his behavior indicates that he was a rational man; so was his girlfriend. And yet he prepared over an extended period of time, a totally irrational act.

“Now, this sounds like someone either totally demented -- a behavior which he never evidenced -- or someone who's sending a message. This is a plan. We don't know what that message is or if there is one, but this behavior, according to my employees, is as stunning, as unexpected as anybody, any of them have ever met."

That was from 10/8.
Doesn't seem like much insight since then..hopefully it's been kept internal.

chickelit said...

"White bag" is pejorative language directed at older white female.

gadfly said...

All that we are hearing from the left-leaning media and the progressive Democrat politicians is the horribly expensive tax bill that will cost $1.5 trillion over ten years. Further, the super-rich, including DJT are basking in tax cuts amounts amounting to millions upon millions of dollars in savings. The WaPo calls it the "Art of the Self-Deal."

Somehow we missed the discussions about all the money that Obama spent on his failed healthcare and wasted spending on renewable energy schemes. And nobody mentions that that the Clintons and the Obamas were virtual paupers until these families sat atop the government hierarchy, for as long as anyone can remember, personally sucking up enough money to make them mega-millionaires.

But Bubba and Barry are rubes compared to the Trump money-laundering machine - and the laundry has bigger machinery than coin-operated washers and dryers. Rumor has it that foreign language skills are required in this business.

Unknown said...

There are Regulars at the bar, and there are Visitors. Pretty self-explanatory, I imagine. But because the world isn't always neatly binary, there are those that fall in-between; some of the college girls are like that. As an example.

As another example; The Guy With The Frikking Band-Aids. He doesn't show up often enough to be a regular, but he shows up often enough to be recognized. It it is always easier to recognize a guy who always shows up with band-aids on his body.

Sometimes his nose. Sometimes his forehead. Sometimes his cheek. Always at least a finger or four. Other than that, he appears normal: he doesn't look like a Ragged Crazy or a guy down on his luck. Although if you always need band-aids maybe your luck isn't all that good, either.

Once in awhile, when he is at the bar ordering a drink, someone will ask him about what happened, indicating the band-aid with a nod.

His usual answer is he doesn't want to talk about it.

So, of course then, speculation. Skin disorder. Spider bites. Clumsy. Drugs. Although it is never really explained exactly how drugs cause the need for band-aids. I'm sure there can be reasons, maybe. It has been suggested, more than once, that maybe he is a leper: people like to talk about that one.

So he is the mysterious Guy With The Frikking Band-Aids. People tend to keep a distance from him: maybe what is under the assorted band-aids is contagious. A mysterious contagious mystery thing. If people get too close they inevitably go to wash their hands; hand sanitizer often makes an appearance.

I kinda feel sorry for the guy; but -- if it can simply be covered by band-aids, maybe it isn't that much of a big deal. Unless he is a leper. As I said: if you always need band-aids maybe your luck isn't all that good, either. And being a leper seems pretty unlucky in today's world.

- james james

Breezy said...

1) Create a gown.
2) Place $75,000 pricetag in gown.
3) Market and sell gown to royals.
4) PROFITS!

You’re right. Capitalism at work. Somewhere there are people earning a living and not on the public dole due to the Royals. Good for them!

MaxedOutMama said...

anti-de-Sitter has me laughing.

Here's the federal debt owned by the public as a percentage of GDP:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.png?g=gYp4

Does that look to anyone as if the Obama admin were fiscally responsible?

If cutting the corporate tax raises growth, it is probable that the debt-to-GDP ratio will keep falling. The very low growth rates since the end of the GR have had negative fiscal consequences of their own.

Note that the higher growth rates since Trump's advent have come with an improvement in debt ratios.

rhhardin said...

Social security can't have anything but a book trust fund. The government has to instantly return to the economy every dollar it takes in, lest the money supply fall.

What you're buying is an annuity callateralized by future workers who themselves get the same deal from future future workers.

They do have to raise the retirement age to balance increasing lifetimes with numbers of unretired workers but it's easily balanced.

A longer lifetime is a benefit to you but it's not all vacation. The beginning of it is working.

Chest Rockwell said...

Saw this on the Wapo about the terrorist attack in Melbourne. Hilarious!

Beep Beeeeeeeeeeep!!
____________________
| RELIGION of PEACE || “”|””\__,_
|________________|||__|__|__|]
(@)@)*************(@)(@)**(@)


Truck of tolerance coming through!

Ignorance is Bliss said...

rhhardin said...

They do have to raise the retirement age to balance increasing lifetimes with numbers of unretired workers but it's easily balanced.

This is what I bring up anytime someone suggests a new/expanded government benefit. Social Security is, financially, the easiest program in the world to manage. You have the rate people pay in, the rate the program pays out, and the retirement age. Pick two, and calculate the third based on actuarial tables. There is no reason, except for politics, to not set it up to be solvent in perpetuity.

The fact that the government can't do that means that they are unfit to manage anything more complex, such as healthcare.

And don't tell me that we don't need to worry about it now, because the trust fund will last until 2035. 2035 is when I'll be facing retirement.

Hagar said...

No, no, Breezy,
It is more like the Royal Wardrobe Dept. collecting an agency fee from the couturier for selecting and displaying the gown on the royal body for a day. Advertising, you know?

Similar for Ivanka's daily modeling activity. It's part of Ivanka's Far Flung Enterprises, Inc.

Original Mike said...

"And don't tell me that we don't need to worry about it now, because the trust fund will last until 2035. 2035 is when I'll be facing retirement."

There is no trust fund, Iggy.

buwaya said...

rhardin is correct.
The monetary balancing act precludes any idea of "investment" re SS.