To be, or not to be: that is the question
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
With the US trapped in depression, this really is starting to feel like 1932
Telegraph.co.uk
The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: Comment
"Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year. So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing," he said.
California is tightening faster than Greece. State workers have seen a 14pc fall in earnings this year due to forced furloughs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting pay for 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to cover his $19bn (£15bn) deficit.
Can Illinois be far behind? The state has a deficit of $12bn and is $5bn in arrears to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, and prisons. "It is getting worse every single day," said state comptroller Daniel Hynes. "We are not paying bills for absolutely essential services. That is obscene."
Roughly a million Americans have dropped out of the jobs market altogether over the past two months. That is the only reason why the headline unemployment rate is not exploding to a post-war high.
Let us be honest. The US is still trapped in depression a full 18 months into zero interest rates, quantitative easing (QE), and fiscal stimulus that has pushed the budget deficit above 10pc of GDP.
The share of the US working-age population with jobs in June actually fell from 58.7pc to 58.5pc. This is the real stress indicator. The ratio was 63pc three years ago. Eight million jobs have been lost.
The average time needed to find a job has risen to a record 35.2 weeks. Nothing like this has been seen before in the post-war era. Jeff Weninger, of Harris Private Bank, said this compares with a peak of 21.2 weeks in the Volcker recession of the early 1980s.
"Legions of individuals have been left with stale skills, and little prospect of finding meaningful work, and benefits that are being exhausted. By our math the crop of people who are unemployed but not receiving a check amounts to 9.2m."
Republicans on Capitol Hill are filibustering a bill to extend the dole for up to 1.2m jobless facing an imminent cut-off. Dean Heller from Vermont called them "hobos". This really is starting to feel like 1932.
Washington's fiscal stimulus is draining away. It peaked in the first quarter, yet even then the economy eked out a growth rate of just 2.7pc. This compares with 5.1pc, 9.3pc, 8.1pc and 8.5pc in the four quarters coming off recession in the early 1980s.
The housing market is already crumbling as government props are pulled away. The expiry of homebuyers' tax credit led to a 30pc fall in the number of buyers signing contracts in May. "It is cataclysmic," said David Bloom from HSBC.
Federal tax rises are automatically baked into the pie. The Congressional Budget Office said fiscal policy will swing from a net +2pc of GDP to -2pc by late 2011. The states and counties may have to cut as much as $180bn.
Investors are starting to chew over the awful possibility that America's recovery will stall just as Asia hits the buffers. China's manufacturing index has been falling since January, with a downward lurch in June to 50.4, just above the break-even line of 50. Momentum seems to be flagging everywhere, whether in Australian building permits, Turkish exports, or Japanese industrial output.
On Friday, Jacques Cailloux from RBS put out a "double-dip alert" for Europe. "The risk is rising fast. Absent an effective policy intervention to tackle the debt crisis on the periphery over coming months, the European economy will double dip in 2011," he said.
It is obvious what that policy should be for Europe, America, and Japan. If budgets are to shrink in an orderly fashion over several years – as they must, to avoid sovereign debt spirals – then central banks will have to cushion the blow keeping monetary policy ultra-loose for as long it takes.
The Fed is already eyeing the printing press again. "It's appropriate to think about what we would do under a deflationary scenario," said Dennis Lockhart for the Atlanta Fed. His colleague Kevin Warsh said the pros and cons of purchasing more bonds should be subject to "strict scrutiny", a comment I took as confirmation that the Fed Board is arguing internally about QE2.
Perhaps naively, I still think central banks have the tools to head off disaster. The question is whether they will do so fast enough, or even whether they wish to resist the chorus of 1930s liquidation taking charge of the debate. Last week the Bank for International Settlements called for combined fiscal and monetary tightening, lending its great authority to the forces of debt-deflation and mass unemployment. If even the BIS has lost the plot, God help us.______________________________________________
To stimulus or not to stimulus? That is the question...
Ol Ambrosia;
ReplyDeleteStill wandering, aimlessly, around, sniveling, and snuffling, I see.
Ambrosia wouldn't know a "depression" if it bit him dead on his dick.
Let's look and see who's getting it right. Iowa, N. Dakota, S. Dakota, Texas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wyoming.
ReplyDeleteWhat do they All have in common? Energy Independent, or damned near so.
Well, if energy independence can add the necessary jobs to bring us out of the current situation, great! I'm all for sustainability but it will come at a cost which on top of our current problems could be steep...maybe too steep.
ReplyDeleteDon't ignore the fact that we're going to be stuck in a hole for years to come.
Too many people have no jobs and the ones that still do are worried about losing theirs and/or are paying off debt which means they aren't consuming.
There's a huge amount of difference, Whit, in purchasing goods (energy,) locally, and buying oil from the King of Saudi Arabia. Anyone tries to tell you different is a D. I. C. K.
ReplyDelete"What do they All have in common? Energy Independent, or damned near so."
ReplyDeleteAnd the band plays on.
.
"...Dean Heller from Vermont called them "hobos"...
ReplyDeleteAnd Susan Angle called the unemployed "spoiled". But then she also said as a candidate for the Nevada (14% unemployment) senate seat, "As your US Senator, I'm not in the business of creating jobs."
.
.
There is one simple reason why deflation is more difficult to control than inflation:
ReplyDeleteAnybody know the answer?
Fed has a problem trying to increase the money supply:
ReplyDeleteThe banks just put more money into reserves rather than lend in this ridiculously risky and chaotic environment.
BHO, Pelosi, Reid, economic demolition team.
Banks currently have ONE TRILLION Dollars in "excess" reserves!
What is your prescription doug? More government spending because the banks are keeping their capital ratios too high? Are you in the market for more debt?
ReplyDeleteFending off deflation is a challenge. How do you get more money into peoples pockets? Tax breaks are good for getting it in the hands of those already working, or who are rich...
"Still wandering, aimlessly, around, sniveling, and snuffling, I see."
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs a comma intervention.
Good heavens, Rufus. Now you have the comma lady on your case.
ReplyDeleteIt couldn't have happened to a more deserving guy.
Still...
.
There's a huge amount of difference, Whit, in purchasing goods (energy,) locally, and buying oil from the King of Saudi Arabia
ReplyDeleteI agree. That's why we need to drill in the Gulf of Mexico and in ANWR. That's a domestic energy source and if we don't get it, someone will.
Which is worse? A mountain of debt or a deflated economy?
ReplyDeleteHow about a mountain of cash thrown down a black hole.
It's time to pull Gary Shilling's Deflation off the bookshelf.
Ahem.
ReplyDeleteSomeone's supposed to be getting eight hours of sleep.
I checked out the "awesome" Firedog Lake. It looked a lot like the EB, only a little more civil.
ReplyDeleteVas ist das "Civil?"
ReplyDeleteThe answer my friends is consumer expectations of lower prices:
ReplyDeleteWhy buy today that which will be cheaper tommorrow?
Positive feedback in a negative direction.
Japan provided a textbook case for us to avoid, but as in the Gulf, no lessons were learned by those in control.
ReplyDeleteI knew that Doug. It's a self- perpetuating phenomena.
ReplyDeleteLike a snowball rollin' downhill.
Less government spending, Ash, more private spending.
ReplyDeleteIf a trillion had been given to individuals instead of banks, wall street, and UNIONS, we'd be much better off now.
Money to both the poor and the working will be spent.
The "rich" should not be punished for making a profit, but Democrats don't see it that way, as you well know.
Fiat Currencies are "made" for inflating. That's their purpose in life.
ReplyDeleteOf course, the sleazy Thiefocrats want to push it too far, and the Pubs are too dumb to use the tool at all. They're All idiots .... er, Dicks.
The Answer is "Jobs."
ReplyDeleteJObs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,
Jobs, jobs, Jobs, Jobs,
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs,
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
doug, ole boy, you seem to be rambling and making little sense. On the one hand you urge more private spending but also seem to realize there is little money in most consumers pockets. You also seem to think that folk are simply holding on to their money waiting for prices to continue to fall so they can get a better deal. You also ramble about the Feds doing better by giving 'the people' a trillion as opposed to 'giving' it to the banks. In fact what they did (or at least thought they were doing) was keeping the wheels of the financial system turning as opposed to seizing by keeping those banks (and AIG and Fannie, and Freddie) solvent. If they went bankrupt thing would have gotten real ugly. They've managed to kick the can down the road a little bit but things sure ain't fixed yet.
ReplyDeleteThe government, and the Fed, have only a few options for getting money into the hands of the people - they either pour it into the banks and hope the lend it out or they spend it. At least when they spend it they have a chance at tossing it out as productive capital. Wars aren't very productive I might add.
On another note- bulletin ** the Saudi princes don't have their own gas station(s) to peddle fuel in the US. There is a world market for oil and some folks sell and some buy. Most folk just want to buy cheap gas to make their cars go and most in the US cringe at the thought of the feds taking more of a cut out of the price of gas.
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjobs.
ReplyDeleteWhat ol' Ambrosia doesn't recognize is that we have TWO Structural Problems.
1) Paradigm Shift in Employment: Same as the "Thirties." Then it was "mechanization;" today it's robotization. Then, people lived in the wrong place; today, they have the wrong skill sets.
2) Energy: It's vital, and we're having to "import" too much of it. We're draining ourselves of the cash we need.
The answer is Not higher taxes on Energy. Expensive Energy is the "Problem."
ReplyDeleteThe "Answer" is less expensive energy, produced locally - at least, domestically.
And, since what we have has to "last us" until the end of time, running out and drilling every last drop out of the Gulf, and ANWR isn't the answer, either.
ReplyDeleteEven if we did drill "every last drop" it wouldn't be a "Solution." We would only add a couple of million barrels/day, at the most. We would still be buying half of what we need from a steadily declining overseas supply.
ReplyDeleteThe answer is to raise the money to "Replace" oil in our energy scheme.
Your mind is a ramble - I said once deflationary expectations set in, blah blah blah.
ReplyDeleteWe're on the brink now, not there.
What needed to be liquidated should have been, but with $1 Trillion in citizens pockets, the country would not have collapsed, some institutions would have and should have.
It's japan all over again:
More pain over more time.
GM should have gone through LEGAL bankruptcy instead of illegal takeover by the BHO/Union Cabal.
The banks are holding the money, Ash, consumers would have spent it.
ReplyDeleteCash for clunkers and the Real Estate kickback proved that to be the case.
I checked out the "awesome" Firedog Lake.
ReplyDelete- whit
I was just referring to the "awesome" doggy in the whatever-the-hell-that-thing-is.
I swiped the link from Balloon Juice.
A little more civil?
Hell, guerilla warfare is a little more civil.
For some odd reason, however, I haven't felt much like arguing.
I'm sure it'll come back to me at some point.
One of MANY negative consequences is that it has allowed the banks to hold onto real estate holdings that should have been sold at market prices.
ReplyDeleteGovt money allows the shadow inventory to build, once again ultimately resulting in more dysfunction over a longer period of time.
Japan...
By targeting things like autos and real estate, the govt distorts things, ultimately to ill effect.
ReplyDeleteConsumers choosing on their own in a free market the only workable answer.
NOW, for the Good News.
ReplyDeleteThese New engines are coming along just in time. In a couple of years the average car will be getting 35 mpg "On Ethanol" with good power to boot.
THAT will lower our fuel bill considerably over what it would have been. It will, also, nudge us toward more ethanol.
As for what to do about "robotization," I don't know. You all will have to figure that one out.
Raise taxes!
ReplyDeleteThat's what Ash's boys have in the plans:
Let Bush cuts expire, effect a massive tax hike in the midst of this mess.
"I've polled all my friends who own small businesses -- many of them in the Internet and high-tech fields.
ReplyDeleteThey all agree that in this new Obama world of high business taxes, income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains taxes, and workers compensation taxes, the key to success is to avoid employees.
The only way to survive as a business owner today is by keeping the payroll very low and by hiring only independent contractors or part-time employees provided by temp agencies."
That's what happened in the contracting business, Doug. Workers Compensation, Liability, Social Security, etc made it prohibitive to have employees.
ReplyDeleterufus wrote:
ReplyDelete"The "Answer" is less expensive energy, produced locally - at least, domestically."
but, but, but, that's the crux of the problem ole boy - IT ISN"T LESS EXPENSIVE to produce locally. Sucking light sweet crude from under the sand is the cheapest source of them all!!
Yes, doug, putting money in the hands of those who are most likely to spend it is the way to get the biggest BANG for the buck with government spending. That is not achieved by the bush tax cuts. A buck in a poor persons pocket will equal a buck in spending.
With respect to the financial system there were SYSTEMIC problems - counter parties to trades, life insurance policies ect. The gears of the world wide financial system were seizing. How they got to the point where they could seize is the subject of regulation and the lack thereof.
As rufus, has noted, the US gov. can run the printing presses. This is a powerful way to combat deflation. The politics, though, is leaning the other way as governments and international bodies are responding to the populist shout of 'you gotta balance the books'!!
I'm currently reading "To Big to Fail" and it is striking how just that political sentiment push Paulson, the Treasury and the Fed. to not bailout Lehman brothers. We are currently witnessing that political sentiment on the much larger scale. I've shorted the market. How about you?
I had to laugh when I heard Obama talking up a $5000 credit for taking on another mouth to feed. Look at the wage scale demanded in Michigan on a Davis Bacon job:
ReplyDelete.........................................Rates Fringes
Bricklayer, Caulker, Cleaner,
Pointer & Stonemason......$ 25.10..........$12.69
CEMENT MASON/.............$ 21.73..........$12.56
tile setter.......................$ 25.10.......$12.69
PLASTERER........................$ 25.10..........$12.69
Add unemployment insurance, workers compensation, employer share of social security and you have a cost of one employee over $50 an hour.
There are 2000 working hours per year. $5000/2000 = $2.50 per hour on an employee that cost over $50 an hour. That is a staggering 5% discount!
Obama hasn't a clue.
Perhaps I just do not understand Obama. His genius escapes me.
ReplyDeleteRat be my guest and sing his praises.
You're running behind, Ash. Ethanol is, now, less expensive than gasoline (even without subsidies, and accounting for the mileage difference in current engines.)
ReplyDeleteAlso, "locally produced" is worth a Sizable premium over "produced in Saudi Arabia."
Obama hasn't a clue.
ReplyDeleteMaybe he thinks that no one else has a clue. Maybe he figures, he'll throw us a bone and we'll go for it.
I suspect you're right, afterall, what practical experience does he have?
More genius from Obama and his brotherhood:
ReplyDeleteNASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a recent interview that his "foremost" mission as the head of America's space exploration agency is to improve relations with the Muslim world.
Though international diplomacy would seem well outside NASA's orbit, Bolden said in an interview with Al Jazeera that strengthening those ties was among the top tasks President Obama assigned him. He said better interaction with the Muslim world would ultimately advance space travel.
Oh, and anyone who doesn't agree with me is a dick.
ReplyDeleteLike Quirk.
ReplyDeleteummm, rufus, I can't drive up to the pump and put cheaper ethanol in my tank...sorry, I can't just do it. There are no stations in my hood offering pure and cheap ethanol and my car won't run on the stuff anyway.
ReplyDeleteObama's treatment of the space administration shows that he really is a moonbat, a lunatic.
ReplyDeleteThe Bankers will only pile up so much idle cash. (See the $1 trillion reference above) If ethanol is the money making, nation saver we're told it is, we could soon see Banks going into the ethanol business.
ReplyDeleteSound good, Rufus?
WE'll jest have to fix that; won't we Dick?
ReplyDeleteThe above for Ash, of course.
ReplyDeleteHannity is devoting the hour to Generation Zero, a documentary about the causes of the credit crisis and financial meltdown.
ReplyDeleteThe current economic crisis is not a failure of capitalism, but a failure of culture. Generation Zero explores the cultural roots of the global financial meltdown - beginning with the narcissism of the 1960's, spreading like a virus through the self-indulgent 90's, and exploding across the world in the present economic cataclysm.
Generation Zero goes beneath the shallow media headlines and talking head sound bites to get to the source of today's economic nightmare. With a cutting edge style and haunting imagery, this must see documentary will change everything you thought you knew about Wall Street and Washington.
Featuring experts, authors, and pundits from across the political spectrum, Generation Zero exposes the little told story of how the mindset of the baby boomers sowed the seeds of economic disaster that will be reaped by coming generations.
Horseshit,
ReplyDeleteHannity will give you brain cancer.
He's a dick.
The bankers got drunk (just like they do every sixty or seventy years,)
ReplyDeletelabor started going through a paradigm shift,
and Energy started getting expensive.
So, you're not going to watch the program? The upcoming segment will be about the perils of outsourcing production.
ReplyDeleteDoug put up a Great post the other day about that company that was lamenting not having more CNG operators.
ReplyDeleteWe have young, black high school graduates programming, and repairing the Avionics on B-2's, and F22's. I know damned well they can operate a computerized tool and die machine.
But, if that high school graduate goes down to the local "tech" school, they will try to guide him into a "Welding" class.
These things will be worked out. It'll just take awhile.
No, I get tired of the constant whining, and Obama-bashing. I usually have it on mute just in case someone entertaining, like Ann Coulter, shows up.
ReplyDeleteHannity's two guests, the producer and director of the movie, just said that we must have an industrial manufacturing base. A service economy won't get us out of our current recession.
ReplyDeleteSounds exactly like what we have been discussing here forever.
Whit, if we listen to the Republicans "too much" we will end up in a Depression. They did it once, and they'll do it again.
ReplyDeleteThe Dems, unchecked, will, of course, lead us to a time of using Dollars for toilet paper.
The answer, as always, is "in the middle."
Although, in times like these it's probably better to skew just a little bit toward the Dems.
ReplyDeleteThese guys aren't partisan either. They say the problem is one of incumbency.
ReplyDeleteIn order to promote our "Domestic Manufacturing Base" the Republicans passed Smoot-Hawley, thus guaranteeing the Recession of 1930 would turn into a Decades-long Depression.
ReplyDeleteRepublicans will just, naturally, kill you at a time like this.
Well, I can agree with them on "incumbency."
ReplyDeleteWe definitely need some "Fresh Eyes."
ReplyDeleteThey're All dicks.
ReplyDeletewhit quoting hannity:
ReplyDelete"The current economic crisis is not a failure of capitalism, but a failure of culture."
ummm, dudes, if capitalism can't weather culture then what the fuck good is it?
and more fun stuff:
"the producer and director of the movie, just said that we must have an industrial manufacturing base"
let's see, we need smaller government but a government that engineers an "industrial manufacturing base". Do I hear protectionism anyone? Protectionism determined by the government of course. heck, lets move to a demand economy in the name of Hannity and Lou, Lou, Lou, Dobbbs!!!!
Day Eight--where the fuck am I?
ReplyDeleteNicotine Withdrawal Symptoms & Recovery
The first few weeks after quitting smoking are usually the most difficult and it's safe to say that it normally takes at least 8-12 weeks before a person starts to feel comfortable with their new lifestyle change of being an ex-smoker. Withdrawal from nicotine, an addictive drug found in tobacco, is characterized by symptoms that include headache, anxiety, nausea and a craving for more tobacco. Nicotine creates a chemical dependency, so that the body develops a need for a certain level of nicotine at all times.
Unless that level is maintained, the body will begin to go through withdrawal. For tobacco users trying to quit, symptoms of withdrawal from nicotine are unpleasant and stressful, but only temporary. Most withdrawal symptoms peak 48 hours after you quit and are completely gone in six months.
When you are experiencing symptoms of recovery (withdrawal), remind yourself of why you are quitting; write your reasons on a card and keep it with you. Remind yourself that whatever discomfort you are experiencing is only a tiny fraction of the probable discomfort associated with continued smoking (i.e. Painful diseases like cancer, surgery, chemotherapy, emphysema etc.).
Withdrawal in the First Two Weeks
Because the first two weeks are so critical in determining quitting failure rates, smokers should not be shy about seeking all the help they can during this period.
Withdrawal symptoms begin as soon as four hours after the last cigarette, generally peak in intensity at three to five days, and disappear after two weeks. They include both physical and mental symptoms.
Physical Symptoms.
During the quitting process people should consider the following physical symptoms of withdrawal as they were recuperating from a disease and treat them accordingly as they would any physical symptoms:
* Tingling in the hands and feet
* Sweating
* Intestinal disorders (cramps, nausea)
* Headache
* Cold symptoms as the lungs begin to clear (sore throats, coughing, and other signs of colds and respiratory problem)
The first few weeks after quitting smoking are usually the most difficult and it's safe to say that it normally takes at least 8-12 weeks before a person starts to feel comfortable with their new lifestyle change of being an ex-smoker. Withdrawal from nicotine, an addictive drug found in tobacco, is characterized by symptoms that include headache, anxiety, nausea and a craving for more tobacco. Nicotine creates a chemical dependency, so that the body develops a need for a certain level of nicotine at all times. Unless that level is maintained, the body will begin to go through withdrawal similar to alcohol addiction withdrawal. For tobacco users trying to quit, symptoms of withdrawal from nicotine are unpleasant and stressful, but only temporary. Most withdrawal symptoms peak 48 hours after you quit and are completely gone in six months.
Mental and Emotional Symptoms.
Tension and craving build up during periods of withdrawal, sometimes to a nearly intolerable point. One European study found that the incidence of workplace accidents increases on No Smoking Day, a day in which up to 2 million smokers either reduce the amount they smoke or abstain altogether.
Nearly every moderate to heavy smoker experiences more than one of the following strong emotional and mental responses to withdrawal.
* Feelings of being an infant: temper tantrums, intense needs, feelings of dependency, a state of near paralysis.
* Insomnia
* Mental confusion
* Vagueness
* Irritability
* Anxiety
* Depression is common in the short and long term. In the short term it may mimic the feelings of grief felt when a loved one is lost. As foolish as it sounds, a smoker should plan on a period of actual mourning in order to get through the early withdrawal depression.
JESUS!
I'd settle for some second hand smoke.
ReplyDeleteHot. Humid. Sticky. Relentless.
ReplyDeleteWith temperatures threatening to reach 100 Monday and hover in the high 90s for most of the week, officials across the region are urging people to take cover.
The advice is to drink plenty of water; wear lightweight, light-colored, loose clothing; limit activity during the day; and, if possible, find a cool place to hide and stay there.
Forecast for Philly on Drudge
Melody better stay in Tennessee by that pool.
I'm gong to the Casino for some second hand smoke. By the way, the daughter and I won in CdA, and had a hell of a good time doing it, too.
rufus said...
ReplyDeleteEven if we did drill "every last drop" it wouldn't be a "Solution." We would only add a couple of million barrels/day, at the most. We would still be buying half of what we need from a steadily declining overseas supply.
The answer is to raise the money to "Replace" oil in our energy scheme.
==
The age of oil is soon at an end. So is EVERYTHING built on oil. It's all coming to an end. There's no replacing it. You'll simply have to learn to do without.
But first, the business of deflation and currency repudiation.
Bob Probert
ReplyDelete(1965 - 2010)
R.I.P.
.
"The answer, as always, is "in the middle."
ReplyDeleteThat's two right for Rufus today.
Time to go to bed.
.
I suppose all the alcohol I consumed in the last four nights isn't good with all this heat, eh?
ReplyDeleteBeergarita is my new favorite drink and I have mastered the recipe in two days.
ReplyDeleteUm.....
ReplyDeleteWhere'd my comments go?
ReplyDelete* Insomnia
ReplyDelete* Irritability
* Depression
And I've had the sweating, too.
I've had those three, can't really judge about the others. This is the third and last time I'm doing this. Once in my twenties, then mid thirties, and now. This last is the worst, as I really got hooked smoking in the tractor (those little cigars) over the years, and kept it up after getting out of farming, though switching over to cigarettes. I love my coffee and cigarette. It's a bitch, all right.
So, I'll save myself from lung cancer, to save myself for the pleasures of Alzheimer's in my eighties.
heh
Why is it most things pleasurable are bad for you?
My mom died of lung cancer at 77 (so did my lawyer's mom) (strikes down Jew and gentile alike) and I think she wasn't all that sorry to go. She certainly didn't make a big fuss about it.
Soon as I get clean, I'll get hit by a truck.
But I'm doing this for mee'mi, who still needs me.
Well, Deuce, I sing a song of six-pence.
ReplyDeleteThe problems we are having, are well beyond the Obama Presidency.
As the Hannity program "Generation Zero", presented by whit in evidence, so well documents.
If you want to address those challenges, get to the root causes, well then Obama bashing, even if successful, will not change the cultural course, and so is a strategic failure, right out of the box.
If Mr McCain were President, the EPA rules would still have been enforced, the Regulations followed. My personal experience with the Senator, on the Wild Horse issue, proved that Mr McCain would side with the Federal Agencies, even in the face of their blatantly breaking the law, as it was written.
He has never jumped in, to do the "right thing". He and Obama cut from the same self-serving clothe.
The eight years of GOP political domination, that led to the greatest financial disaster of my lifetime. No doubt that there were other Federals in the room, but the Republicans held Court.
Today Mr Barton speaks for the GOP, when he apologized to BP.
That is a travesty, that he'd do such a thing. Then the GOP's Mr Steele, guess he's forgotten about 11SEP01 and where the perpetrators of that event went and skedaddled to, also on the GOP watch.
I support the Constitutionally elected government of the United States, such as it is.
I advocate for policy decisions within the framework of political realities.
O I see, reading further, this is supposed to be about economics.
ReplyDelete'To be, or not to be'?
No, no, once a spirit is created, it can never not be.
The question is bout self slaughter----"Or that the Everlasting had not fix'd/His canon 'gainst self-slaughter!"
As for the "Banks", my own banker tells me that the regulators are sitting above their Loan Committees and deny many of their deals.
ReplyDeleteDeals with customers that this major regional commercial bank has had for years.
The Federals are the ones that, while lowering rates to zero, have raised the lending standards to the point that many fewer applicants now qualify.
Why are my comments being deleted?
ReplyDelete....or being misplaced?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to beat the cultural "left", displace Obama and start a new generation of manufacturing, here in the Americas ...
ReplyDeleteThen Ethanol is the answer.
A self-funding road to prosperity, that stands as the only viable answer to the status que.
Yet many here will not embrace the concept, rather they'd like to see US remain on the path outlined by that Shell Oil report, posted the other day.
Moving to 54% of the whirld oil supplies, dominated by OPEC. Moving even quicker with the ban on drilling.
To battle over that ban, a loser on both a short term basis, politically. An even greater loser culturally, when that Anwar and Gulf oil were to run out, in a decade or two. Leaving US in the same position, addicted to oil, only worse. As we'd have burned up all our in the ground, strategic reserves.
The answer is to steal the tree hugging thunder.
It is the "Right Thing"
Growth Energy, at it's core, it is about becoming conservationist culture.
Which is the conservative position, always.
....or stolen...
ReplyDeleteWhy do the dying never cry?
ReplyDeleteOil, the non-renewable energy, exemplifies "Generation Zero".
ReplyDeleteOil being the prime economic and cultural icon during that period of time. That and the fixation on military superiority over the rest of the whirled, combined.
Even when well over 75% of the countries of that whirled, are either our military allies or business partners.
From the early Sixties, to now.
i hope it's just me.
ReplyDeleteYou can do it! :)
ReplyDeleteMy mom is over the cigarettes part. We're working on the coffee. My brother and I are completely off caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol. But EVERYTHING else is so poisoned around us, will it make much of a difference?
--
mika.
e-mail from Mat
G-D Bless You, Mat.
Everyone else here hates my guts, and you, my friend, come through for me!!!
G-D Bless You, Mat!!!!
US President Barack Obama is due meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
ReplyDelete...
The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says that Mr Obama and Mr Netanyahu will have plenty to talk about: what comes next in the gathering storm over Iran's nuclear programme; the changing strategic picture in the Middle East, epitomised by Turkey's public falling out with the Israelis; and how to establish a credible peace process with the Palestinians.
...
Both now sides want the atmosphere this time to be much better, our editor says.
Netanyahu in Washington
Melody better stay in Tennessee by that pool.
ReplyDeleteWho knows, the frog might turn into a Prince.
I say that with no ill intent at all, it was just I was playing Frogger at CdA Casino, where the frog Does turn into a Prince, Once Upon a Time.
BUT NO VERY DAMN OFTEN
But Not very damn often.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter caught the Big Bass in the Fishing Derby. $400 bucks. I coached her.
With skills like this, we should running NASA, we both can write simple paragraphs, too.