Monday, September 20, 2010

"This is the crap I have to hear." NJ Gov, Chris Christie



Wall Street Journal 20, 2010

The Christie Example
New Jersey government workers should have 401(k) plans instead of pensions.


New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has become the national pacesetter in state fiscal reform, and he's once again lighting up Youtube with his defense of taxpayers against the appetites of government-employee unions. The plan he announced last week to reform public pensions is crucial to saving the Garden State from economic calamity, but it falls short on one crucial part of long-term reform.

New Jersey has officially run up unfunded liabilities of $46 billion in its pension plan and $67 billion in its medical plan, though some estimates put the shortfalls much higher. Absent reform, the Republican Governor says the unfunded pension liabilities alone will explode to more than $180 billion over the next 30 years.

Most notably Mr. Christie's plan includes a rollback of the fraudulent 9% pension increase that triggered recent civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Without the money to pay for enhanced benefits, and unwilling to suggest even higher tax rates, legislators cooked the books in 2001 by pretending that the pension funds had more assets than they actually did, and therefore could cover larger payments. The fraud was repeated in various state bond offerings. Unions like to cast benefit hikes as sacred promises on the part of taxpayers. But in this case they are more accurately viewed as offenses that would draw prison terms if committed by anyone in private business.

Mr. Christie's plan would eliminate automatic cost of living adjustment (COLA) increases for both current and future retirees. And he'd raise employee contribution levels to the retirement plans and make it harder to get disability benefits, which have become a cottage industry of fraud. Other proposals include lowering the expected returns in the pension funds from 8.25% annually to a somewhat more realistic 7.5%.

When it comes to medical benefits, the Governor would provide state workers with a plan similar to what federal employees enjoy now—more options, but also more responsibility for paying the bills. State workers would pay 30% of health costs, up from an average of 8% now. Retirees wouldn't have to pay higher premiums but would accept higher co-pays.

Far from being onerous, these changes are consistent with current standards across private industry. The Christie plan would eliminate a major chunk of the state's unfunded liabilities, and for that he deserves kudos. And if he can convince today's legislators (most of them Democrats) to right the wrongs of their predecessors, he will justly earn the cheers of Garden State taxpayers.

But missing from the Christie proposal is the most important reform for the long-term: shifting government workers from pensions to 401(k)-style plans that have become the norm among private workers. This type of structural reform would prevent future politicians from simply repeating the mistakes of the past and returning to padding pensions when taxpayers are paying less attention.

Government pension systems are inherently flawed because the politicians who bestow benefits upon state workers are the same politicians who seek votes and campaign contributions from the unions representing these workers. When it's time to negotiate the benefits, the politicians and unions are often sitting on the same side of the table, facing no one representing the taxpayers.

As large pools of money controlled by politicians or their agents, pension funds are also magnets for corruption, with a history of pay-to-play scandals in various states. They allow ambitious politicians to use pension holdings in public companies not as levers to demand better returns, but as weapons to force shareholder money to serve political agendas.

Defined-contribution systems such as 401(k) plans create healthier incentives all around. Accounts are controlled by the individual workers, not pension fund bosses. Relying on the growth of their investment accounts to fund retirement, government workers have their interests aligned with those of private workers: Everyone wants a thriving economy.

Governor Christie has previously promoted the use of 401(k)-style plans for government workers, but Democrats resisted and he apparently concluded the cause is hopeless. But other states have introduced such programs in gradual fashion, say, for new hires, or perhaps offering a hybrid plan of a limited pension combined with a 401(k). By dropping the issue without a fight, Mr. Christie has given away too much even before the unions get to the table.





119 comments:

  1. Robert Grady, a former Carlyle Group partner, was elected chairman of the New Jersey State Investment Council. He succeeds Orin Kramer of Boston Provident Partners, who did not stand for reelection.

    ...

    Under Kramer, the $68.3 billion system has moved increasingly into alternative investments. That much appears not to be changing under Grady—the council last week voted to draft new rules that would allow it to invest up to 38% in alternatives.

    ...

    “This would not necessarily increase New Jersey’s exposure to any alternatives by a nickel,” the outgoing Kramer said. “It would simply give the council flexibility.”


    Pension Plan

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  2. Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss.

    Alternative Investment

    Any investment other than a stock, bond, or cash. Prominent examples include derivatives, hedge funds, real estate, and commodities. Most of the time, institutional investors and high net-worth individuals are the main holders of alternative investments. This is because they are subject to fewer regulations and are consequently riskier than most other investments. Alternative investments are rarely required to publish independently verifiable financial information. They also have particularly high minimum investments, which discourage casual investors. Alternative investments are controversial in many quarters. Because of the comparative lack of regulation and disclosure, they are subject to scrutiny from politicians and economic analysts. However, they often have high (sometimes very high) returns.


    While there is something to be said for diversification, one would like to think their pension fund was being managed in a conservative way.

    However, in at least one case when you get in trouble with risky investments, the plan is to double down to get out of the hole.


    .

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  3. Ya all need to mellow out like bob on pharmaceuticals. I just float softly above ya all---


    Mozart 21

    Pensions, 401s? bah

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  4. I'll be very busy this week. Off to the airport.

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  5. "Ya all need to mellow out like bob on pharmaceuticals."


    Now that was funny. You made me laugh out loud.




    Deuce you have a nice trip. It's not like you're around much anyway. ; )

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  6. Orin Kramer. Interviewed a couple times of CNBC. Serious Person.

    Nobody seems to remember that the investment cute stuff began under Gov Christine Todd Whitman (1994-2001), another up and coming Republican female that got burned in Washington. Kramer as Chair of the NJ State Investment Council came after Whitman (I think) but I can't find confirmation.

    Anyway David Rubenstein co-founder of The Carlyle Group is another Serious Person, both of whom (Kramer and Rubenstein) are on board with global warming: Kramer for sure, Rubenstein IIRC.

    The scramble for yield is neither new nor surprising nor will it stop with NJ. As a retail investor, I'm going with tried and true, but you can't fault the institutional managers for doing what they are paid to do. As long as the risk is fully transparent. This is an adult game.

    Bringin Home the Bakken that is.

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  7. This is the crap you have to hear.



    Ha Gets A Ho

    Robin Ward was the original girl.

    And that doesn't look like the Ho I remember though it must be.

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  8. Robin Ward--One Hit Wonder

    As for investing, just open the Wall Street Journal, open the stock pages, throw darts, and buy.

    The dart throwers beat the "experts" two years running, IIRC, in a classic battle between the two years ago in the WSJ.

    I was impressed, and makes it a lot simpler, though I'm not into stocks.

    I'm into gambling.

    I'm Bakken red and even.

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  9. As for 401s, retirement, pensions, etc., like the young and the good

    Don't make up your mind to die in state
    Die young and avoid the fate

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  10. Gaffe of the Week--

    Vice President Biden: 'I'm second in line to be president!'

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  11. I'm in full contrarian mode these days - black is my color of choice.

    CBNC says jump. I dive.

    Unless of course it's Jim Paulson speaking in which case I lend an ear.

    Roubini is wearing out his welcome with me. I am waiting for this country to knock him on his ass.

    Today's financial advice brought to you courtesy of Hillbilly Investments Consultants R Us.

    You Buy. We Sell.

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  12. heh

    ---

    I was just looking at the pics they took going to Seattle. At Vantage, Washington, a hole in the ground, where there is a remarkable petrified forest (I've been by there a hundred times) he went up to an overlook I've never been to, and there was a plaque to the Wanapum Indians. Never heard of them. Said they fished for a living, indeed there's not too much out there but sage and a species of small lizard, didn't fight the whites, and as a result signed no treaties, and got no special rights. They are now extinct. They were a peaceful, spiritual people, it said. Is there some lesson here?

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  13. Hillbilly Investments Consultants R Us.


    A wholly owned subsidiary of Souls R Us?

    Got chores myself.....

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  14. The UK's tax collection agency is putting forth a proposal that all employers send employee paychecks to the government, after which the government would deduct what it deems as the appropriate tax and pay the employees by bank transfer.

    Barack Hussein ibn Faisal "Skyhook" al-Obama says, "Great idea, let me write that down!"

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  15. Where's Trish when you need her?

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  16. ...but you can't fault the institutional managers for doing what they are paid to do. As long as the risk is fully transparent. This is an adult game...

    And what is the downside to taking risk when it's not your money?

    .

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  17. downside - you might get fired. upside - you get filthy rich.

    ain't wall street grand?

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  18. That kid looks kinda like the male strippers from WSU I hired for my wife's bridge club back in the day. Kinda stirred up some faculty members I did. And a staid Lutheran or two.

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  19. That kid has more money than you have farmer bob homilies.

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  20. CL, what does "As long as the risk is fully transparent." mean? What would something like that look like?

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  21. Sigh.

    I'm really inclined to say fuck you Ash since you're not on my list ofSerious People.

    There are ways to structure investment vehicles (Bet you didn't know that did you?) that don't involve Securitization.

    Can you think of two?

    I can.

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  22. Take three.

    Blogger won't publish my comment.

    Use your imagination and think profanity.


    And very humorous smack down.


    Two is enough for me to get the message.

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  23. Something I should know about you and Q??????????????????

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  24. Only the Q knows the heart of the Q.











    And he's not tellin'.

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  25. F...ing license plate for the truck cost over $600 bucks.

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  26. I used to grow hominies.

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  27. Plates for my "new" Chevy 1 ton dually, bob, for two years $39.

    Gotta love it.

    Rebuilt a classic, better than buying new. The "green" solution, recycle that '75.

    New drive train, front to back.

    Under $3,000 for a finished cowboy truck, running sweet, right down the road.

    The '63 Jeep station wagon's next.

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  28. Sprouting hominems on the subject of the thread?

    I thought that's what you did in this place.

    After WWIII between Rat and WiO.

    And my middle finger gets air brushed.

    Something rotten in the hamlet of River City (well you get my meaning I assume.)

    Anyhoo, Christie will be allowed so much rope before the Serious People do what they do ... so well ... and for so long.

    This country is not designed for revolution. It is designed for gradual change. Not sure if that's good or bad but it is.

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  29. No, CL, no WWIII, the Story of o" has no meme for an extended campaign. The Story of "o" cannot even maintain a skirmish line for more than a paragraph, let alone "war" story.

    It's just copied from their pre-printed playbook. The plot line falls into each trap, as designed. Then the Story of "o" completely unravels into rants about me.

    The telltale sign of a loser.

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  30. Sometimes tone preceeds substance and sets the pace. This happens often between the two of you. Makes The Odd Couple look like Ozzie and Harriet.

    FWIW, my problem with some posters is the thinly veiled sarcastic contempt for this country.

    Cleverly disguised behind a tattered fabric of pseudo-intellectualism.

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  31. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  32. A little dead here today.

    I see we are now onto the subject of the psychology and philosophy of the EB bloggers.

    I personally am of the Stoic persausion. That's why even though I am in almost debilitating pain (despite my extremely high pain threshhold) I merely shrug and offer it up for the souls in purgatory.

    (P.S. This was not an appeal for sympathy. I need no more of Mel's mocking or Trish's indifference. T? Forget about it. Never around when you need her. CL? No thanks. Probably some sterile advice about going back to the doctor or on my psychological need to suffer.)

    Bobbo, I can sympathize with the pain you're going through. Likewise, I'm sure you can sympathize with the fact that I am out of the good drugs.

    .

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  33. There is the country, CL, then the is the government.

    Be sure that you do not fall into confusing the two. It is easy to find the government contemptible, while knowing that the country is second to none.

    That less than 20 percent of those polled find that now that:
    Congress is back in session, its approval decline resumes -- to only 18%.

    That is certainly tantamount to contempt.
    No doubt about it.

    But does not factually represent how the balance, the remaining 72%, feel about the country.

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  34. Frienemy, I'm the only true friend you really have here. The others are all cold, calculating, unsympathetic, unable (a little like my wife) to feel another's pain, and caring less, unlike the way I feel your pain, deep in my very bones, in my marrow.

    Out of pain medication, I advise a turn or, rather, a return to alcohol, the cowboy's best friend, and a friend of the urban elite too.

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  35. How dare these political solicitors knock on my door at 8 pm while the opening scene of House is him undressing Cuddy.

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  36. And I might add, those here are unforgiving, too.

    We walk alone, together, you and I.

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  37. A true travesty indeed, akin to me walking into the wife's bedroom during The Young and the Restless.


    I got to say, Viktor was looking damn handsome, today.

    All I got was a scowl.

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  38. We walk alone, together, you and I.


    I will have to mull this statement for a while.

    It could actually be very profound.

    (Or not. It's kind of hard to have a clear thought in between the waves of pain.)


    .

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  39. Viktor, I was informed today, earned his acting stripes in The Desert Fox.


    While I actually fought in the Battle of Mersa Matruh, myself. Though Rommel prevailed, we took a lot jerries with us.

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  40. I believe the indifference is what hurts the most.



    .

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  41. It means, you baffoon, we can't actually feel each other's pain, but our beautiful Keatsean 'negative capacity' and Shakespearean 'going over to the other' allows us to imaginatively feel same, dissolving our alienation from 'world'.

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  42. There is the country, CL, then the is the government.

    I was referring to Ash. To predicate the suggestion that financial instruments cannot be structured to provide a credible level of transparency satisfactory to the risk-taking adults at the table, with the sneering 'just how would you do this' inquiry of a coiled snake looking for blood,

    well, as the Q-ster would say, no thanks. I'll let you economists poke around the weeds with that. I know exactly how I would do it.

    Normally I am sanguine about government and politics but 2008 changed that. The short version is that I am still mad - mad enough to give that wiccan from Delaware a couple years in the federal coven.

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  43. Yes, indeed, and the almost sadistic mockery, the turning of the hot poker in the guts.

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  44. I knew you were referring to Ash. I knew it, knew it, knew it.






    Better a conservative witch than a saintly commie.

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  45. It means, you baffoon, we can't actually feel each other's pain, but our beautiful Keatsean 'negative capacity' and Shakespearean 'going over to the other' allows us to imaginatively feel same, dissolving our alienation from 'world'.

    Oh. Right.


    .

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  46. I hired my appraiser this afternoon. Older than I, he has a new wife about 30, lives in a palace with the best view of Snake River, with a bomb shelter made out of a double wide trailer buried underneath, one of the good old guys, MAI, with whom I have I've done much business.

    What value to you want, bob?

    As high as you can make it, without going over into fraud.

    OK.

    He, or his new wife, have three little pure bred pugs too.

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  47. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  48. Probably some sterile advice about going back to the doctor or on my psychological need to suffer.


    Well there's that.

    I think I would be more inclined to raise questions about a subconscious desire to dive off the ladder into the lush green foliage of your hedge.

    Back conditions are notorious. My philosophy is to not hurt my back. (But you guessed that didn't you?) The healing - such as it is - takes a long time. Therapy can be helpful, depending, but given the quackery in chiropractic fields, so can second and third opinions. Be careful with the meds.

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  49. "...knowing that the country is second to none.?

    Well if that isn't a bunch of PC crap than what is? C'mon, y'all bitch about the country, and even Deuce has had the temerity to admit that the good ole USofA isn't what it used to be (at least in his own mind), yet you persist in the fiction that America is great even though you say it is shit. Make up your minds people.

    And Cleaning Lady, please leave patriotism aside, tell us what 'transparent risk' is. I sorta understand it in the concept of a casino - you go, you place your marker on red 17 and if the number comes up you win X while if it doesn't you lose. I guess you could call that 'transparent risk'. In the context of buying a stock or some other security what the hell does it mean?

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  50. 'all of the risks are known'?? riiiight.

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  51. the janitor wrote:

    "To predicate the suggestion that financial instruments cannot be structured to provide a credible level of transparency satisfactory to the risk-taking adults at the table, with the sneering 'just how would you do this' inquiry of a coiled snake looking for blood,"


    Sounds like a snake oil salesman to me. Quite the distance from "risk is fully transparent". No wonder why the bull shit meter went off.

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  52. Is Larry "Bears Stearn's is safe" Kudlow in the house?

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  53. And Cleaning Lady, please leave patriotism aside, tell us what 'transparent risk' is.

    No.

    Thank you.

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  54. It's hard to argue with Mon Sep 20, 08:23:00 PM EDT---as I understand it, those are the sentiments of Mark Twain himself. It is the proper outlook.


    "Always support your country, and the government when it deserves it."

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  55. ok, therefore you lose the argument CL. Easy to do because it is a nonsensical concept.

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  56. desert rat said...



    Please be advised, everything Rat says weaves a tale into the Story of the Turds, one that contains America hating, Israel hating and of course his tirade against the murder of the unborn. It's a comical fiction, brought to by one who supports Islamic honor kills as ok, but protests the use of condoms by the west...

    Remember, every sperm is sacred.

    Rat has had a history in murder, 1st the murder of actual human beings and now we learn, he has been party to numerous abortions.

    Thus the Story of the Turds continues...

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  57. bob, most of the arguments stated at this bar are targeted at far more than simply "the government". It is the very 'fabric of America' that is being discussed.

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  58. Be careful with the meds.

    Limit no more than a double dose.

    If one is good, two can be better, but with three, begin to watch out.

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  59. I haven't seen any condemnation of muzzie inbreeding with their 1st cousins, which would be like my marrying Sally for God's sake, a true disaster, a practice with very lamentable results. I'm beginning to think muzzie insanity is genetic, as the wise Rufus once suggested.

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  60. Violence between two warring cartels in the past two years has killed nearly 5,000 people in Ciudad Juarez, making the city of 1.3 million people one of the world's most dangerous places.

    At least 22 Mexican journalists have been killed over the past four years in Mexico, at least eight of them targeted because of their reports on crime and corruption, says the Committee to Protect Journalists, a U.S.-based media watchdog group that plans to present its report to Calderon on Wednesday. At least seven other journalists have gone missing and more have fled the country, the report says.

    "We don't want to continue to be used as cannon fodder in this war because we're tired," Diario's editor, Pedro Torres, told The Associated Press on Sunday.


    No Negotiation

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  61. Easy to do because it is a nonsensical concept.

    It's all in the audience.

    The concept is graduated, not absolute, as you well know.

    But nice try even if a tad amateur.

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  62. The only abortions I have been party to are those financed by subsidy in Israel, using US loan guarantees to their government. Our money being fungible to those that slaughter their own innocents.

    1.5 million of those abortions, the Israeli slaughtering Jewish babies since 1949.

    An Israeli Holocaust, it truly is another genocide against the Jews.

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  63. Those Texican/Mexican border towns, they are a risky place to visit.

    More so than Nogales, there used to be a lot of legal cross border shopping, but I have not been down there lately. The last time I was, most of the shops on the US side had shut down.

    The produce trucks still stream across the border there. That's a major industry, still.

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  64. The Israeli government more dangerous to Jewish babies than the Islamoids.

    The truth is in the numbers.
    1.5 million Jews, killed by Israeli doctors.

    They leading the way in doing first harm to the Jews.

    I've read that there a six million Jews, in Israel, 1.5 million, equal to 25% of their current population.

    The truth is telling, rather than promoting life they slaughter those that would have been born Israeli, they really need the living space for Europeon born immigrants.

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  65. Colonial immigrants come first, given priority over the native born, in Israel.

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  66. Did a turd speakith?

    Did thou hear a turd?

    I shant recall how sweet the sound of the turd flushith...

    lol

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  67. "...knowing that the country is second to none.?

    Well if that isn't a bunch of PC crap than what is? C'mon, y'all bitch about the country, and even Deuce has had the temerity to admit that the good ole USofA isn't what it used to be (at least in his own mind), yet you persist in the fiction that America is great even though you say it is shit. Make up your minds people.


    While I can sympathize with your frustration over the gratuitious use of the term 'as long as the risk is fully transparent' without further clarification, your post on America and it being "second to none" once again show your contempt for logical thinking.

    Had you argued that America was not second to none, I might have argued your rationale but I wouldn't be arguing the logic of your argument. I might have even understood your argument being that you have been living outside the country for 40 years or so. However, that is not what you did. Instead, you argue that the term 'second to none' is inconsistent with complaining about various aspects of the country. You fail to see that the two are not mutually exclusive. You are not thinking logically.

    Again.


    .

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  68. Are you on the sauce or off, Quirk, cause that was tightly argued.

    Swedes Begin To Awaken From Long, Long Slumber

    Anti-muzzie immigrant party makes gains.







    heh, and I just recognized my unintended pun in the first sentence. It was meant as a compliment.

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  69. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  70. You marry your first cousins for 1400 years, some recessive genes just may come to the surface. Like my family's propensity to back stabbing, for instance. Given a few generations of marrying Sally, we might all be suicide bombers.

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  71. ash misses the point of the rat's "second to none" comment.

    The US can certainly perform to levels that are less than perfect. It may also be less than what it once was, it can even fall short of its' rhetorical ideals.

    It can be all that and also be "second to none".

    There is no where else that provides as much for so many, in all the whirled, even with its many faults.

    The rat is not comparing the US to a myth or an ideal, but to the other countries of the whirled.

    In that regard it stands,"Second to None".

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  72. While I can sympathize with your frustration over the gratuitious use of the term 'as long as the risk is fully transparent' without further clarification

    It goes without saying that the hosts/blogger/whoever should not have deleted my initial response - twice - in the absence of traffic. Even paranoids have enemies. :)

    Two things can be done. Both are difficult and long-term which is quite distinct from being 'nonsensical', outside of the culture of 'immediate gratification'.

    In no order of importance, one is to put teeth back into the reg agencies. Recall who went down with Enron? Their accounting firm of Arthur Anderson.

    I don't want to write a thesis here but let me hasten to add that making the reg agencies strong and independent is not the same thing as increasing the burden on industry ala SarbOx. A functional SEC would have captured Madoff et al. A functional S&P and Moody's would have captured the securitization end-run (which they did - 'house of cards' and all) with 'true' or 'truer' ratings instead of the pure fantasy that much of this crap was sold as.

    There are 'things that can be done' without going into the gratuitous details (see testimony of Markopoulis.)

    Second, I would unravel the securitization process. There are a couple of ways to do this. One is to put securitized derivatives in a separate market exchange. There are other ways.

    Third, and not fully related to the offensive "fully transparent" statement, I would randomly select mortgage underwriters from the phone book to serve a sort of 'class action' jail term for the entire industry.

    Just kidding obviously but the drift I trust is there - criminal behavior went unprosecuted. See Item No. 1.

    I think that is enough to avoid the charge of gratuitous and squeeze in under the length limit. Any more gets a little pedantic.

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  73. I've found I also drive better after a couple brewski Bob.


    .

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  74. I'm sitting here waiting expectantly for my cell phone to ring from upstairs from the wife telling me it's Bristol Palin time on Dancing With Stars.

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  75. gra•tu•i•tous

    2.
    being without apparent reason, cause, or justification



    "The scramble for yield is neither new nor surprising nor will it stop with NJ. As a retail investor, I'm going with tried and true, but you can't fault the institutional managers for doing what they are paid to do. As long as the risk is fully transparent. This is an adult game."

    Your initial post referred back to Sam’s post that stated that Gov. Christie appointed a hedge fund manager named Grady to run the NJ Pension Plan and that he was likely to continue the previous chairman’s way of doing business which was to move more of the pension money into riskier alternative financials. And/or my post implying that it was the same old BS and inappropriate for a fiduciary to be taking these kinds of risks with other people’s money.

    In my opinion, the comment “as long as the risk is fully transparent” means zip without a fuller explanation. Transparent to who? To the people who’s money is being managed (risked?). To the Feds in trying to judge the Council’s fiduciary responsibility and performance? To the Council itself? And how do we know about how transparent it is? Hell, half the “adults” in the last crisis admitted they had no idea what was in the derivatives they purchased. They were making money so who cares about risk. Besides the rating agencies said they were AAA. What’s to worry about?

    Were any lessons learned from the last crisis? Evidently not. But what the heck, these guys running the NJ Council are “adults”.

    ”Two things can be done…etc…”is unresponsive to the initial point.

    ”I think that is enough to avoid the charge of gratuitous and squeeze in under the length limit.”

    I don’t think so.

    Also, I think “This is an adult game” is a bit smug.

    :)

    .

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  76. We don't really poach. But we are going hunting and four wheeling tomorrow. Pheasants don't start till October something, but there's Huns, chukars, quail, and Ruffed Grouse.

    Always hunt chukars uphill, and around a little water. They don't like to work anymore than you. If hunted downhill they'll just flush out ahead and sail further down. Grouse on the old forest logging roads morning and late afternoon. Huns and quail are pretty much where you find them.

    This farmer bob homily brought to you by Upland Game Birds R Us a wholly owned subsidiary of Souls R Us.

    Aren't we, Quirk?

    Come to us for a Quality Upland Game Bird Hunting Experience.

    Then Wednesday it's off north to attend Miss Marion's Thursday riding class.

    I'm gonna try and get a good pic of this remarkable woman and post it for you.






    Quirk, the police might not agree with you on that drinking and driving skills affirmation.

    Just sayin'.

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  77. Let's see, I have to take tomorrow, firearms and ammo, tobacco, and liquor.

    All the items covered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

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  78. What the hell are you people arguing about?

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  79. ATTORNEY: She had three children, right?
    WITNESS: Yes.
    ATTORNEY: How many were boys?
    WITNESS: None.
    ATTORNEY: Were there any girls?
    WITNESS: Your Honour, I think I need a different attorney. Can I get a new attorney?

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  80. This farmer bob homily brought to you by Upland Game Birds R Us a wholly owned subsidiary of Souls R Us.

    Aren't we, Quirk?


    Yes folks it's true.

    Just trying to help the economy with a little feed money for promising projects.

    When we find a bright young boy like Bob with enthusiasm, grit, and a plan, it's hard to turn him down.

    .

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  81. Bristol got a 16 out of thirty. She was followed by, get this, FLORANCE HENDERSON of Brady Bunch fame, who also got a 16 out of 30.

    But I got to tell you, Florance at 65 or whatever has a better bod, nip and tuck and all, than Bristol in her twenties.

    Thanks for the vote of confidence, Quirk, we here guide headquarters appreciate that.

    really g'nite

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  82. And/or my post implying that it was the same old BS and inappropriate for a fiduciary to be taking these kinds of risks with other people’s money.

    Aside from adding that 'the same old BS' started in NJ under Gov Whitman (and I vividly recall the fawning press she got), I was arguing from the point of view that fiduciary responsibility is effectively equivalent to risk management - an appropriate if not definitional function, as long as the risk categories are reasonably defined, which securitization shot to hell; an issue I addressed directly in my post.

    Besides the rating agencies said they were AAA. What’s to worry about?

    ”Two things can be done…etc…”is unresponsive to the initial point.

    No, but I'm letting go. I know when my chain is being jerked.


    And on second consideration, I wouldn't worry too much about the meds. I think you have a much more serious problem with the smug issue. Honestly, you've set that bar pretty high.

    :)

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  83. Indian police said they suspected fertiliser was used to make the car bomb which failed to detonate properly.

    ...

    Despite reassurances about the Commonwealth Games and elaborate security drills, witness accounts cast doubt on the readiness of the Delhi police to deal with militants.

    "Even in the midst of a tense situation it was funny to see a police constable with a stick chasing armed bikers when he should have shot them with a gun," one witness called Iqbal told the Mail Today newspaper.


    Gun Attack

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  84. Honestly, you've set that bar pretty high.


    One can only try.


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  85. Wiki:

    The Stoic ethic espouses a deterministic perspective; in regards to those who lack Stoic virtue, Cleanthes once opined that the wicked man is "like a dog tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes."[6] A Stoic of virtue, by contrast, would amend his will to suit the world and remain, in the words of Epictetus, "sick and yet happy, in peril and yet happy, dying and yet happy, in exile and happy, in disgrace and happy,"[7] thus positing a "completely autonomous" individual will, and at the same time a universe that is "a rigidly deterministic single whole."





    Oh, really?

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  86. The ancient Stoics are often misunderstood because the terms they used pertained to different concepts in the past than they do today. The word 'stoic' has come to mean 'unemotional' or indifferent to pain, because Stoic ethics taught freedom from 'passion' by following 'reason.' The Stoics did not seek to extinguish emotions; rather, they sought to transform them by a resolute 'askēsis' which enables a person to develop clear judgment and inner calm.[21] Logic, reflection, and concentration were the methods of such self-discipline.

    Borrowing from the Cynics, the foundation of Stoic ethics is that good lies in the state of the soul itself; in wisdom and self-control. Stoic ethics stressed the rule: "Follow where reason leads." One must therefore strive to be free of the passions, bearing in mind that the ancient meaning of 'passion' was "anguish" or "suffering",[22] that is, "passively" reacting to external events — somewhat different from the modern use of the word. A distinction was made between pathos (plural pathe) which is normally translated as "passion", propathos or instinctive reaction (e.g. turning pale and trembling when confronted by physical danger) and eupathos, which is the mark of the Stoic sage (sophos). The eupatheia are feelings resulting from correct judgment in the same way as the passions result from incorrect judgment.

    The idea was to be free of suffering through apatheia (Greek: ἀπάθεια) or peace of mind (literally,'without passion'),[23] where peace of mind was understood in the ancient sense — being objective or having "clear judgment" and the maintenance of equanimity in the face of life's highs and lows.



    I'm going to the mall tomorrow.

    Probably not what the Stoics would have had in mind.

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  88. they sought to transform them by a resolute 'askēsis' which enables a person to develop clear judgment and inner calm.[21] Logic, reflection, and concentration were the methods of such self-discipline.

    Exactly the point I was making earlier tonight.

    (Of course I have gone beyond mere Stoicism since my perception has been enhanced and magnified by the 'secret knowledge' I have gained through the Rosy Cross.)

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  89. Except maybe those later ones who made a fetish of suffering.

    Shopping malls are just that bad.

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  92. "Love to visit a shopping mall with you..."

    No, you wouldn't.



    I'll think Hello Kitty thoughts for you.

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  96. "Back in D,C, yet?"

    Okay, that's funny.

    Unless you're actually stoned, in which case it's not.

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  101. The hell with the Stoics. I want to see the souls of the dead dancing in blessed ecstasy in the fires of the Hawaii volcano. Rationalism breaks down, can't explain a thing. Coming across the rabbit caught in the mower my grief was not excessive for to come upon warblers in early May was to forget time and death. The first heaven of knowing. St Thomas Aquinas at the end of his life all I've written is straw. The drowned man his eyes are pearls his bones of coral made he has suffered a sea change into something rich and strange. An eruption upward. I want to see the earth on fire but not destructive, the transforming fire of vision, cosmic consciousness, Bucke, Whitman, and I knew, and then I knew, surprise surprise, it wasn't like that at all, The Rose, the rose exceeds, exceeds us all, the dove flies through the darkness and the darkness always recedes and that darkness is the being of God, the gentle finger of the Lord leads up the laggards, the burning lake turned to a forest pool, the ice breaking in April, the torrents of spring, a man without passion might as well be dead, the atheist transformed into a pastor cause he came near death, strange openings granted to little children, the saints, uba uba uba it's with these I'd be, agony of crucifixion on bar stools, with these I wouldn't be, an astronaut returning from the moon saying it's alive, alive, reunions at death, glory glory uba uba uba, the song of the moving waters, and the hell with the Stoics.

    a montage

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  102. "I want to see the earth on fire but not destructive..."

    That's good.

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  103. Good Bobbo.

    Very good. Your best.

    (I'm assuming it's yours.)

    With some stoics the grief over the rabbit would still be excessive. Small animals and children. People, not so much.

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  104. The Stoic Bearing by Manosij Majumdar, 2009
    Published 29 May 2009 :: Poetry

    The Stoic Bearing

    Still.
    Dispassionate.
    Tranquil.

    It is unmoved by emotion
    devoid of motion
    fix’d as a star on the horizon
    unconcern’d, as the planets in their routes
    perpetual.

    Tranquil,
    as a bowl of water,
    held by reason
    circumscribed by composure
    absorbing all thought
    like yet another drop that,
    causing a ripple
    a perturbation of a moment
    subsides and is
    absorbed into the whole.

    The body is attuned
    The thoughts are rhythmic
    The mind composed.
    One music. Uni verse.

    The flame is chaotic.
    Its currents are erratic.
    Yet all is well for it is bound within
    by thermodynamic law.
    Chaos hides the order within,
    as
    the frothing waves their rhythm
    the screaming storm its simple course
    the single hunting beast
    the evolved instinct of millennia.

    If one man is destroyed
    humanity shall yet thrive.
    If humanity end,
    life shall still prosper.
    If life is lost
    the earth shall yet fulfill its ellipses
    and if
    the sun swallow its offspring
    like the ireful Titan
    it shall yet all be according to the laws
    gravitational
    and entropic.

    The syllables, they do not add.
    The words, they do not match.
    The lines, they do not follow meter.
    Yet in the whole there is
    a common theme,
    and a common beauty,
    and a common silence.

    Such is the nature of order, nature, logic, and virtue.



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  105. I sucked heavily off others there Q, but can take all credit for "I want to see the earth on fire but not destructive..." which doesn't seem all that hot to me. In bed, of course, I thought of a whole bunch of other stuff should have been thrown in.

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  106. Still pretty good. Some of the imagery damn good.

    I suspect you have it in you if you put in the effort and weren't so distracted by the south side of Ms. C and others.

    Trish is right. You are a dick.

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  107. I really like that poem by Majumbar above.

    All except one line that irritates me.

    "One music. Uni verse."

    Too cute. Two 'clever' by half? Distracts from the simplicity of the rest of the piece.

    I would have like to have seen something like "One music. One verse." Not as clever but in tune with the whole.

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