U.S. President Barack Obama is set to meet with two African leaders next week, while his wife and daughters prepare to travel to the continent later this month.
The White House announced Saturday that Obama will meet newly sworn-in Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday. The statement said the two leaders will discuss the latest "regional and global developments" and their nations' "strong partnership."
On Thursday, Obama will meet with Gabon's President Ali Bongo, who is heading the United Nations Security Council for June. It said Obama and Bongo will "advance" the partnership between their two countries on a range of critical regional and global issues.
Earlier this week, the White House announced that first lady Michelle Obama will visit Botswana and South Africa from June 21-26 to promote youth leadership, education, health and wellness. Her two young daughters and her mother will accompany the first lady.
The statement said the trip is part of the Obama administration's effort to expand ties with African nations "based upon mutual respect, mutual responsibility and shared interests." Voice of America
I can hardly control my enthusiasm to hear what Barack Obama and Ali Bongo have to say and I am fraught with anxiety at seeing Michelle's expected Afro-centric frocks.
ReplyDeleteShe has indeed gotten better. You used to rub her for that Couric interview, but she was 'new to the game' then.
ReplyDeleteI really like this lady, and I think she would make a good President.
Why anyone would want to actually be President is another question.
My wife worries that Todd will get corrupted, that handsome man, and go out and have an affair there in D.C.
I don't think so. He loves her, and has acted as her bodyguard.
I wish them both all the best in life.
dwr
She'll look good in colors.
ReplyDeleteShe can go barefoot too.
Dance around the fire.
dwr
Who is Ali Bongo you ask?
ReplyDelete— Ali Bongo of Gabon, 52 — Won 2009 elections amid charges of vote-rigging and violent protests after the death of his father, who had ruled since 1967. Bongo senior was the epitome of the old African system. He kept dozens of mansions and fat bank accounts in France. US support of the Bongo's has gone on since 1967. Gabon has about one million people.
The Big Bongo converted to Islam and took the name Omar while on a visit to Libya in 1973. At the time Muslims constituted a tiny minority of the native population; following Bongo's conversion the numbers grew, although they remained a small minority.
Big Bongo was quite the ladies man: In 2004 Santa Maria, a 22-year-old Miss Peru America contestant, was invited to Gabon to be a hostess for a pageant there. In an interview, Ms. Santa Maria said that she was taken to Mr. Bongo's ( then 67) presidential palace hours after her Jan. 19 arrival and that as he joined her, he pressed a button and some sliding doors opened, revealing a large bed. She said, I told him I was not a prostitute, that I was a Miss Peru. She fled and guards offered to drive her to a hotel. Without money to pay the bill, however, she was stranded in Gabon for 12 days until international women's groups and others intervened.
_____________
Senior Gabonese officials in the Bank of
Central African States (BEAC) colluded to embezzle more than 18.3 billion CFA (about $36 million) from the pooled reserves of the six states of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) over a period of five years. President Ali Bongo benefited from the embezzlement.
YO!
ReplyDeleteSounds like good guvment, bro!
But my ancestors did differently here in Moscow, Idaho.
We played by the rules, and created a great place to live.
I am proud of that.
dwr
Nancy Pelosi is getting her head handed to her on Face the Nation.
ReplyDeletePelosi refuses to give specifics. Her smile lied to her eyes. She looked to be the fool and hack that she is.
ReplyDeleteBy any economic measure, Obama is a complete and catastrophic failure as president in these economic times. For the first time, there seems to be some honest probing and reporting by the piss-poor American MSM.
ReplyDeleteBabydoll was "Lookin' Good."
ReplyDeleteDressed to impress the 65+ Church-going Ladies (her weakest demographic.)
Babydoll can do her some "politickin'."
Absolutely Perfect Interview.
The problem they have with Sarah Palin is: She can't be "tripped up." She's never said anything she doesn't believe, so she doesn't have to spend all of her political capital trying to "revise, and extend."
ReplyDeleteAnd, the thing they really don't want to talk about is, she beat the oil co./repub cartel to death in Alaska, sent a bunch of high-ranking, elite crooks to jail, and left the State with $12 Billion in the Bank.
She actually cut spending at a time the government was running a Surplus.
The talking heads on the panel are clueless. Sarah hit the biggest thing of all. Gas Prices. Everyone I talk to says, "Why don't we drill OUR OWN OIL?" I'm not exaggerating. People Do Not Understand why we're not Drilling more.
ReplyDeleteThe average joe doesn't give a rip about "debt limit," or whatnot. He's getting "Killed at the Pump," and his kids are having a real hard time finding a decent job.
The rest of that shit is just "beltway blather."
Sarah said, "That's not a speed bump, it's a Brick Wall."
ReplyDeleteBut, as hard as it is to believe, Romney has the Best line: "That's not a speed bump, that's the American People."
Sarah said, and I'm paraphrasing, "We might need to Reevaluate our Afghanistan Strategy," and "We need more drilling, AND alternatives."
ReplyDeletehmmm
Here's another thing no one noticed. When the Senate was demogoguing the Oil Co. Tax Breaks, Sarah Palin was the only one to make a distinction between the tens of thousands of small wildcatters bringing small wells online, and the Big Giant Oil Companies, and their Offshore Tax Breaks.
ReplyDeleteShe correctly said that it would be very bad to be unfair to the former while passing something that might not raise all that much from the latter.
It was almost like she was the only one who had read the bill, and had the least bit of understanding of the business.
There is a sizable segment of the Republican (and Democratic) Party that hates her because she, absolutely, is Not a big supporter of the "Big" Oil Companies.
She is, however, a strong supporter of "small oil."
I'll tell you someone else that is starting to impress me - Allen West. AND, he's from Florida.
ReplyDeleteRufus II said...
ReplyDeleteI'll tell you someone else that is starting to impress me - Allen West. AND, he's from Florida.
Listen to Allen West on Israel and learn something...
Listen to Sarah Palin on Israel and LEARN something
ReplyDeleteListen to Cain on Israel and LEARN something
ReplyDeleteSense a PATTERN?
ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteThe average joe doesn't give a rip about "debt limit," or whatnot. He's getting "Killed at the Pump," and his kids are having a real hard time finding a decent job...
To be expected but wrong. Are people upset over oil prices? Sure. Is this the biggest problem facing out country right now? No.
The main things are housing and jobs.
First, home prices are down 33%. They were down 31% during the great depression. The slide over the past month shows they are falling even more rapidly lately. Even when people are willing to buy a house and get their appraisals, banks are unwilling to give them mortgages because they believe home prices will continue to slide for the next couple of years. There are 5 million empty houses on the market right now.
How does this affect the homeowner (or ex-homeowner)? Prices have dropped by a third. Since the average homeowner has about a 50/50 split equity/mortgage, he has lost on average 2/3 of all the equity in his home. And since that investment is typically his largest one, he is truly hurting.
Second, the talking heads in the Obama administration (Labor Secretary the other day, Austan Goolsbee tday) continue to throw out two soundbites. One, that things would have been much worse if they hadn't acted (possible but impossible to prove), and two that they have created 2 million jobs.
As stated the first proposition is impossible to prove. On the second, it ignores the million jobs lost in the same time frame. More importantly, the jobs that have been created haven't even kept up with the growth in the civilian population.
There are 13.9 million unemployed today by the government figures. A year ago, as I recall, there were between 11 and 12 million. The unemployment rate has been trending down until this month, but everyone knows that that is a bogus number and that the real rate is closer to 18%.
The real figure we should be looking at is the 'employment rate'. Over the last year it has gone from a 58.7% participation rate down to 58.4%.
Jobs and housing. We won't climb out of this mess without improvement in both, which translates to we won't be getting out of this mess anytime soon.
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Now imagine what would happen if hundreds of Mexicans tried to force their way into Brownsville, Texas and the US Border Patrol shot and killed twenty of them.
ReplyDeleteIsraeli troops battle protesters in Syria, 20 dead
By DANIELLA CHESLOW Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press
June 5, 2011, 12:55PM
MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights — Israeli troops on Sunday battled hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters who tried to burst across Syria's frontier with the Golan Heights, killing a reported 20 people and wounding scores more in the second outbreak of deadly violence in the border area in less than a month.
The clashes, marking the anniversary of the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war, drew Israeli accusations that Syria was orchestrating the violence to shift attention away from a bloody crackdown on opposition protests at home. The marchers, who had organized on Facebook, passed by Syrian and U.N. outposts on their way to the front lines.
"The Syrian government is trying to created a provocation," said Israel's chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai. "This border has been quiet for decades, but only now with all the unrest in Syrian towns is there an attempt to draw attention to the border."
There was no Syrian comment on why the protesters were allowed to storm the border, apparently undisturbed by authorities. But Syria's state-run media portrayed the event as a spontaneous uprising of Palestinian youths from a nearby refugee camp.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7596514.html#ixzz1OQTwxF4T
Was it necessary? What will the blow-back be? It is this kind of recklessness that the US does not want to be 100% associated with. No country deserves the unquestioned and mindless support of the US.
ReplyDeleteImagine what would happen if thousands of mexicans, had a history of mass murder, suicide bombing, sniper attacks, slitting the throats of children had traveled like a mass surge along the us/mexican border?
ReplyDeleteAll the while screaming DEATH TO THE AMERICANS, USA out of TEXAS....
Yep Imagine, if those same Mexican had shot 12,000 rockets over the border targeting civilians?
Yep Imagine, if at this very minute, 40,000 rockets sat 12 miles from the border aimed at texas cities and supplied by iran....
hmmmmm...
Deuce said...
ReplyDeleteWas it necessary? What will the blow-back be? It is this kind of recklessness that the US does not want to be 100% associated with. No country deserves the unquestioned and mindless support of the US.
Landmines GOING OFF INSIDE SYRIA....
hmmm...
How reckless that Israel defends it'sself ...
Poor innocent rioters..
Just happen to be BUSSED in by the Syrians, had to PASS both Syrian and UN check points...
Just happened to have tools to cut razor wire...
none so gullible as those that wish to not see
No country deserves the unquestioned and mindless support of the US.
ReplyDeleteTalking about Syria or Iran?
Wio, don't you understand? I don't give the first, solitary, flying fuck about Israel. I'm not agin Israel; I'm not For Israel.
ReplyDeleteI. Could. Care. Less. About. Israel.
It is Nowhere on my radar.
EXCEPT, I Do. Not. Want. To. Give. Money. To. Israel.
I do not want the government to borrow money from China, sign my kids' names to the note, and give the money to some other fucking country. Nada. Not One. Nowhere. No How.
I could care less if the Israelis kill every fucking Palestinian in the World. I could care less what they do. As long as they do it ON THEIR BUCK.
Capiche?
There is no doubt in my mind that the Syrians wished to deflect attention from their own internal problems and Israel fell for the ploy hook, line and sinker.
ReplyDeletei am not taking the side of the Palestinians but responding in such a disproportionate fashion is insanity. Israel succeeded in creating a fresh batch of martyrs and all the crazies will be mobilized. How that will improve Israeli security baffles me.
ReplyDeleteThere's one bug in your ointment, Q. The economy was slowly coming back, even with gradually falling home prices - Until Gasoline headed back up.
ReplyDeleteOne More Time, when gas got toward the $3.50 mark the economy slowed dramatically. When we got close to $4.00 It Stopped, Completely.
Home Prices are important, but the only way to fix home prices is to fix the economy. Get People Working, and Lower the cost of Gasoline.
IOW, build ethanol refineries.
Deuce said...
ReplyDeletei am not taking the side of the Palestinians but responding in such a disproportionate fashion is insanity. Israel succeeded in creating a fresh batch of martyrs and all the crazies will be mobilized. How that will improve Israeli security baffles me.
DISPROPORTIONATE????
Hardly...
America has shot HOW MANY CRUISE MISSILES IN LIBYIA?
Just how many civilians has America knocked off in the last 6 months in Pakistan?
Just how many???????
To have a swarm of hostiles storm your border the better question is, why is this not act of war by Syria???
Context...
So gullible. A COMPLETE propaganda agenda presented to the world by SAVAGES...
Just how many did Turkey KILL in the kurdish lands in the last 12 years? 125 THOUSAND?
Not to worry deuce, it will happen here, and America will respond with extreme prejudice.
As for blowback?
America is HATED as the GREAT SATAN.
The islamic peoples of the Arab world ALREADY HATE AMERICA.
And in all the middle east who HATES the Americans the MOST?
The fake nationalistic savages called "palestinians"
They gave out sweets on 911.....
If Israel had any balls? water cannons filled with green dye and liquified smoke pork fat....
ReplyDeletealthough standing salt water marsh with electrified fencing would be quite the show..
I bet the Palestinians would toss their own kids on the wire just to get the images...
fucking savages
ReplyDeleteI do not want to pay for 100,000 military personnel in Europe. I do not want to pay for NATO. Let the Euros defend themselves.
ReplyDeleteI do not want to pay for 25,000 troops in S. Korea. Let the S. Koreans defend themselves.
I do not want to pay for a Naval Base at Sasebo, Japan. Let the Japanese defend themselves.
We owe all of these countries money, and we subsidize them. Could we just sober up for one fucking day?
I don't want to pay for 100,000 troops to guard the Taliban's Poppy Fields, guard Chinese Contractors as they build roads On our Dime,) and dig copper mines in Afghanistan.
I don't want to give money to Africa, Egypt, or Pakistan.
I want my children, and grandchildren to have a future. One Point Six Trillion Dollar Deficits will destroy any hope of that.
Rufus:
ReplyDeleteI do not want to pay for 100,000 military personnel in Europe.
I do not want to pay for NATO. Let the Euros defend themselves.
I do not want to pay for 25,000 troops in S. Korea. Let the S. Koreans defend themselves.
I do not want to pay for a Naval Base at Sasebo, Japan. Let the Japanese defend themselves.
I don't want to pay for 100,000 troops to guard the Taliban's Poppy Fields, guard Chinese Contractors as they build roads On our Dime,) and dig copper mines in Afghanistan.
Please add the following to the list:
987 Million to Hamas last year in the form of UNRWA aid
1 Billion Last year to Fatah
250 Million to Lebanon for military equipment that now is in Hezbollah's hands
$$???? in keeping the shipping lanes safe of the Chinese oil importation from the middle east..
And dont forget AID to Russia.
I don't want to give money to Africa, Egypt, or Pakistan.
its not fair to compare people trying to get into a country motivated by a better way of life for themselves and thier family to a people trying to get into another country motivated by hate, violence and destruction.
ReplyDeleteits not fair what you said, deuce. no more money for anyone unless they share our values and are in dire need of being helped. our military help in the form of credits is justified and winds up being an economy stimulant for us.
How to improve Israeli Security in one week.
ReplyDeleteShoot any and all captured terrorists and dump in unmarked graves.
Respond to any attack with typical Russian/Chinese/European/Africa/Arab or American violence.
Case closed.
Israel stop being moral for one week, join the world and the world's standards of behavior...
I was very unambiguous. I don't want to give my grandchildrens' money to Any foreign Government, Organization, Religion, Cult, or Saturday Morning Cupcake Club.
ReplyDeleteI think I said, No One, No Where, No How. let me add: Period.
We are running a $1.6 Trillion Deficit. It's time to put the crack pipe down.
How in the hell will my grandkids be "helped," or "stimulated" by me buying F-15's for Israel, and sticking Them with the bill?
ReplyDeleteRufus II said...
ReplyDeleteHow in the hell will my grandkids be "helped," or "stimulated" by me buying F-15's for Israel, and sticking Them with the bill?
Why not ask Palin, West or Cain the question?
We have explained it numerous times, but your dislike of Israel blinds you to what a real investment is.
Israel is an ally and friend of the USA.
No US troops have ever been asked to defend her.
Israel is stable democracy in a sea of savages. This is a cost savings for the USA.
Israel improves and innovates and is joined at the hip with American R & D giving as much as it takes.
One of the reason Israel needs help in defending herself is that (recently) America keeps moving the ball down the field by supporting, funding helping islamic nations stay armed to the teeth. And America has made many opec members very wealthy.
Thus the selling of F-15's to Israel (with military aid help) allows Israel not to be genocidally destroyed by the very arms America has sold her enemies.
America spent more in one year in Afghanistan than in the last 30 years on Israel...
America has interests, allies and very often they are not the same nations. In Israel they have both.
Don't believe it?
Ask the 1.2 MILLION arabs that have more freedom that any place in the entire middle east, of course they are israeli citizens and would NOT dream of moving over the green line to join their cousins the savages!
No, it's in America's INTEREST to help other nations of the world that in deed not just world match American ethics and values.
The payback for that America gets with it's relationship with Israel is many times over if one wants to actually look into it.
Wio, you don't understand. I'm Sick of Israel. I'm sick of Egypt. I'm sick of Saudi Arabia. I'm sick of Pakistan. I'm sick of all religious crazy assholes, everywhere. And, I'm Damned Sick of giving them money.
ReplyDeleteIsrael hasn't done a motherfucking thing for me. Not One. Again. I'm not agin'em; I'm not fer'em.
I just want to "ferget'em."
It's NOT in my "Interest" to help Israel. I would Not know it (or care) if Israel disappeared off the face of the earth, tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteIt is in No Way any interest of mine if Israel has F-15's, or if Egypt has F-16's.
The Only interest I have is if they ask Me to pay the bill. Then it becomes Against my Interest.
.
ReplyDeleteThere's one bug in your ointment, Q. The economy was slowly coming back, even with gradually falling home prices - Until Gasoline headed back up.
There is one big bug in your ointment. The economy coming back merely means that corporate profits were coming back. I've already pointed out that more people are coming into the job market than the jobs being created.
How long did you really believe the economy would continue to grow when productivity comes from layoffs and demand is driven by FED borrowing, especially when that borrowing is coming to an end?
Your post hoc rationale on gas prices is fine but I really believe that when the average workweek for those who still have a job is just north of 34 hours per week that is a bigger factor than $.50 per gallon of gas.
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It's a heck of a lot more than $0.50/gal, Q. It's more like $1.15, and it was $1.35 at one point (Gasoline was, I believe, $2.64 this time last year.
ReplyDeleteHow long did I expect it to last?
ReplyDeleteRemember late last fall? When I said this would be a good year to "Sell in May, and Go Away?"
I gave my reasons, then. I said that gas prices were heading up, and would be high enough (in the $3.25 range) by early Spring to start us on our way back into recession. Remember?
I said, by late Spring/early Summer the stock market would begin sniffing out the recession, and would start down. Remember? I do.
I live close to what may be the best Concurrent Economic Indicator in the World. The Tunica Riverboat Casinos. When times are good, they Boom. When times are tough, they're dead.
ReplyDeleteAnd, Bubba, they has rolled over and died. They expired the last week or so of Feb. By the middle of March you hold a barbecue out there on the road, and not get run over.
it's simple as this, folks: Bubba is out of money. He's not worried about whether his house is worth $77,000.00 or $75,000.00. He's worried about putting gas in the tank to go to work, and whether he'll even be "going to work" next week.
Bubba is runnin' scared. And, Bubba don't spend much money when Bubba's scared.
.
ReplyDeletei am not taking the side of the Palestinians but responding in such a disproportionate fashion is insanity. Israel succeeded in creating a fresh batch of martyrs and all the crazies will be mobilized. How that will improve Israeli security baffles me.
Geez, Deuce. Time for a little perspective. You're starting to sound like the rat.
Assad is a thug, a barbarian. He doesn't just kill people. He tortures them. You constantly say Israel can take care of itself without US help, yet complain when they do.
Everyone knows the protest was a setup by Syria yet you complain that 20 protesters were killed. What about the thousands of protesters, their own people, that Syria has killed over the past few months?
Create a fresh batch of martyrs? Lordy. WiO, given free reign, could create a new batch of martyrs and crazies on his own. Israel's actions in this case aren't going to create any more than already exist.
It's kind of smug to be complaining about Israel when the US is complicit in killing multiple times the Israeli toll in Libya and ignores the killing that goes on among our other "allies".
Realpolitik is hell. Don't make it worse by hypocrisy. We've got politicians to do that.
When rat says the only acceptable outcome is for Israel to go back to the 1967 borders, he is merely wandering aimlessly in ratland. Forty years have passed. Things change. Israel would be nutz to turn over the Golan Heights to a thug like Assad.
.
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ReplyDeleteI gave my reasons, then. I said that gas prices were heading up, and would be high enough (in the $3.25 range) by early Spring to start us on our way back into recession. Remember?
I do remember. I didn't buy it then. I don't buy it now. We have much bigger problems right now than the price of oil.
.
The position of the Palestinians improves each day, on the international stage.
ReplyDeleteThe Israeli, like the thug Assad, shoot and kill unarmed political protesters
Look at the reaction of the Europeons, and US, when the civilian protesters in Libya were verbally threatened by the tin-pot Colonel.
$1,000 a protester, a damned sight less expensive than deploying a military division.
ReplyDeleteEconomy of action, that thug, Assad, has that part of the formula down.
Well in front of US, in political bang for the discounted dollar race.
Syrian opposition: Farmers paid $1000 to protest
Ynetnews -
Syrian opposition activists asserted Sunday that those who came to protest along the Israeli border were sent there by Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, who in return gave them a handsome reward.
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ReplyDeleteLook at the reaction of the Europeons, and US, when the civilian protesters in Libya were verbally threatened by the tin-pot Colonel.
Civilian Protesters?
Armed rebels committed to the overthrow of the government by force.
We intervened in a civil war and are determined to pick the winner.
I thought most here were beyond accepting the euphemisms.
.
I've seen some "blind spots," Q, but yours is a doozey.
ReplyDeleteLook, one of the necessary elements of a viable theory is the ability to predict outcomes under controlled conditions. In this case you could say the conditions, if not controlled, were pretty much constant.
A medium-fair, continuing recovery, no sudden moves of any consequence, and steadily rising gasoline prices.
The prediction was: when gasoline prices get close to the level associated with the last downturn the economy would flatten out, and head downward, again.
The stall came right on time.
Another necessary element is: To be able to Explain "Why" it works. A "Motive" if you will.
The explanation is simple; when a lower, or lower/medium income family is forced to pay an extra $169.00/mo for gasoline, and the bulk of that money leaves the U.S. economy spending on other goods and services will slow. That is what happened. Walmart said, last month, that their business is just drying up in the last week of the month.
I'm just amazed you don't see this.
Palin Interview on Fox News Sunday
ReplyDeleteShe did a Great Job. You can tell Chris Wallace is blown away.
The advisers and sell-offs being set up include:
ReplyDelete• Deutsche Bank and National Bank of Greece on the sale of OPAP, the state gambling monopoly
• Credit Suisse on state lotteries
• Rothschild and Barclays appointed for road concessions
Greek Sell-off
The signal was clear. Obama had already ignored his own deficit reduction commission in preparing his annual budget, which was later rejected 97-0 in the Senate. Now he was signaling that the time for governing was over and that he was entering campaign mode 19 months before the November 2012 election.
ReplyDeleteOther policy failures: energy, foreign, housing, inflation, debt
Greek government plans for yet more austerity to satisfy its international lenders brought at least 80,000 protesters on to a central Athens square on Sunday to vent their fury at the nation's plight.
ReplyDelete...
Papandreou has used his parliamentary majority to ram through successive rounds of austerity including cuts to pensions and civil servants' salaries. But faced with the popular anger, some PASOK lawmakers are becoming uneasy.
...
Germany was due to put up 24.4 billion euros of the 110 billion total of the original rescue. "Greece is trying, but its efforts are insufficient," Kauder, who leads the Christian Democrat party in parliament, told Bild newspaper.
Athens Square
My ass.
ReplyDeleteIt's a simple cultural question.
We should support Israel cause they ain't muzzie.
For God's sake, it's so clear to me.
Muzzie bad, Israel good.
Simple as that.
Go, Sarah, go.
dwr
I posted the other day an article about how the Arabs living in Israel really don't want another arrangement.
ReplyDeleteThey seem happy enough livin' as they are.
dwr
And let us not forget our author Mark Twain ---(all American literature comes from one book called Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain --Ernest Hemingway)---said if it ever got out how smart the Jews were we'd all go hide in the closet.
ReplyDelete(I don't really think Jews are smarter than
Swedes)
I just like that quote by Twain.
dwr
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ReplyDeleteI've seen some "blind spots," Q, but yours is a doozey.
Blind spot? You are laughable. You have been ranting about gas prices since the Kudlow days. It has now become your end-all and be-all. Prices go up it's because of a shortage of oil. Oil prices go down it's because of a weak economy 'created by high oil prices'. You are fixated. In Rufus-world, there are no other factors than oil.
A viable theory? Try a post hoc fallacy.
You say the reason the economy has stalled is high gas prices. Let me see. Could there possibly be any other reasons for the economy to sputter within the timeframe you are talking about? Anything at all? Let's look at some factors.
Take the stock market for instance. Stock prices are built on earnings. Earnings were growing. The market went up. Easy to do when interest rates are at zero, the FED is pumping stimulus to jack up the economy, companies have increased productivity (due in large part to reduced staff and making those that have a job work longer and harder for the same pay). However now, while interest rates remain low, the FED has signaled it will stop priming the pump, profits are dropping, and companies are issuing earnings warnings. Combine that with uncertainty about the EU and the market drops. Gee, that phenomenon manifested itself over the last few months too. But naw, it's all about the oil.
Hmmm. What else? Well we have the FED and QE2 in that timeframe. The FED has been priming the pump, weakening the dollar, and driving up commodity prices (including that of oil). Businesses love easy money policies and low interest rates. They have been rolling in it like pigs in shit. But Oh Oh. Now, at the end of June QE2 is over. The party's over. Could the uncertainty associated with what happens next have any effect on investment and hiring plans? Naw, it's all about oil.
Those same FED practices have resulted in increased inflation for the consumer, inflation on oil but also on food and many other staples. That might tend to dampen purchasing power and economic activity. Tie to that the long-term debt and the inflation …. But naw, it's all about oil.
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(continued on next post)
(continued from previous post)
ReplyDelete.
Gee, what sectors normally play a big part in leading the economy out of recession? Well, there is construction; but we've already talked about the housing crisis. Oh wait, sorry, Rufus tells us 'Bubba' is not worried about losing 2/3 of the equity in his house. It's all about the oil.
Then there is the banking sector which in the past has played a major role in any recovery. They have been hurting for a while and are not expected to come out of it for some time due to the hangover of the housing bubble, the foreclosures, and the excess housing they are carrying on their books. But they obviously aren't worrying about their books. It's all about oil.
Well, it appears business activity is slowing down even in those industries not especially tied to the price of oil. Gee, what other factors could explain that?
Well, there is always demand. It is unlikely a company is going to invest in new equipment, plants, or people if they are unsure there is demand to support it. And if jobs aren't growing demand isn't growing. In a previous post, I laid out the job situation as it exists. In fact it is the same job situation that has existed long before the timeframe you are talking about. But wait, forgot, it’s all about the oil.
Then there are the global issues. Growth in emerging markets has slowed. The EU is struggling with their own financial crisis (one as far as I know unrelated to the price of oil). This affects our multinationals. It trims...oh wait...I forgot, it's all about the oil.
In a previous post, I asked how long did you actually expect this to last (given that the rising economy was built on a bubble that was fast running out of steam). Rufus answered that he didn't expect it to last. Because of the price of oil.
In Rufus-world, there is no other factor than oil. In Quirk-world, the typical American is less "worried about the price of gasoline to get him to work" than he is about the fact that when he gets to work, he is flipping burgers at minimum wage for about 34 hours week.
I am just amazed you don't see this.
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ReplyDeleteI don't like high gas prices. Who does?
Do they make me change my lifestyles? No.
There are plenty of people out there right now who were making $100k year and are now making $12 or $14 per hour or who are not working at all.
If they were still making $100k, they would complain about high gas prices but those gas prices would't force them to change their lifestyles. Now, the higher gas prices do. Just like higher food prices do. Just like higher school prices do. Etc.
Higher gas prices are a pain in the ass. But they are not the root cause of our problems. The root cause is a fucked up economy where there are not enough jobs. And those problems started long before gas prices escalated.
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Two Middle East mothers are sitting in a cafe chatting over a plate of tabouli and a pint of goat's milk.
ReplyDeleteThe older of the two pulls a bag out of her purse and starts flipping through photos. They start reminiscing.
This is my oldest son, Mujibar. He would have been 24 years old now.''
Yes, I remember him as a baby'' says the other mother cheerfully.
He's a martyr now though" the mother confides.
Oh, so sad dear'' says the other.
And this is my second son, Khalid. He would have been 21.''
Oh, I remember him,'' says the other happily,
he had such curly hair when he was born.''
He's a martyr too'' says the mother quietly.
Oh, gracious me . . . '' says the other.
And this is my third son. My baby. My beautiful Ahmed.
He would have been 18'', she whispers.
"Yes" says the friend enthusiastically, ''I remember when he first started school''
He's a martyr also,'' says the mother, with tears in her eyes.
After a pause and a deep sigh, the second Muslim mother looks wistfully at the photographs and, searching for the right words, says . . .
"They blow up so fast, don't they?"
.
ReplyDelete:)
:)
:)
Good one Sam.
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The rugged tribal region is known as Pakistan's premier stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked militants.
ReplyDeleteThe United States has long put pressure on Pakistan to mount a major air and ground offensive in North Waziristan, from where Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents launch attacks across the border in Afghanistan.
Pakistan has always maintained that any such operation would be of its own time and choosing, arguing that its 140,000 troops committed to the north-west are already too overstretched fighting militants posing a domestic threat.
18 Killed
Man, the "experts" at the Big Banks, and Economic Forecasting firms are still saying this quarter is better than the last, and we're going to have 3% growth in the second half. I just can't see it. Maybe I'm blind.
ReplyDeleteYes, Q, civilians.
ReplyDeleteThey maybe government workers, but they are still civilians. Just like the folks that work for the Forest Service, here in the US.
Or Housing and Urban Development, the Treasury Department or even the Department of Homeland Security.
All government workers and CIVILIANS, too.
The Iranians and Syrians both claim that the political disruptions and protests in their countries are caused by "outside agitators", same as the Israeli.
ReplyDeleteThey are all correct, in part.
But all three governments are use similar tactics in controlling the political protests with armed force.
Don't recall Israeli civilians trying to forcibly infiltrate the iranian or Syrian borders. Can you provide a link cowboy?
ReplyDeleteThought the thread topic was anyone but Obama; guess cowboy is the resident propagandist
desert rat said...
ReplyDeleteThe Iranians and Syrians both claim that the political disruptions and protests in their countries are caused by "outside agitators", same as the Israeli.
They are all correct, in part.
But all three governments are use similar tactics in controlling the political protests with armed force.
Rat has a hatred of Israel.
He lies, distorts and misdirects to tarnish Israel with many of his posts.
Do not try to unravel the perverse back handed insults that the Rat throws at Israel, it is a waste of time.
Yesterday Rat was likening Israel to North Korea.
Today?
Syria and Iran.
If rat were right?
Rat would have been "erased" or liquidated it's critics LIKE syria and Iran have done.
Rat's opinion on anything Israeli is like an asshole, everyone has one and most stink...
desert rat said...
ReplyDeleteYes, Q, civilians.
They maybe government workers, but they are still civilians. Just like the folks that work for the Forest Service, here in the US.
Rat speaks the truth.. Just as he was "civilian" employee of the USA shooting people in the back in Central America, he was officially not a "combatant".
Just a hired killer....
The Kurds, anon, are the dissidents that are powered by "outside agitators", according to the past actions of both the Iranians nd the Syrians.
ReplyDeleteThe primary Kurdish power base, Kurdistan" that is in US secured Iraq. The Kurds being the US most valued Iraqi ally for a variety of geopolitical and ethnic reasons.
Kurdish leaders to meet Syrian president
President Assad has agreed to meet Kurdish political leaders from Iraq and Turkey including Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, Kurdistan Workers Party chief Abdallah Ogalan and Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani among others, to discuss Syrian unrest and the Kurdish national project, Al-Watan reported.
Syrian Kurds in the north-east apparently received messages from the Iraqi president thanking them for not taking part in protests against the Assad government.
A Kurdish source quoted in Al-Watan decried the Turkish “scorched earth” policy toward Kurds in Turkey.
Syria Today
Disdain For Rule Of Law In Iran
Another young Kurdish Iranian is in imminent danger of execution.
While all political dissidents live under threat in Iran, ethnic minorities like the Kurds are particularly targeted by the regime. Human rights monitors say that currently at least 16 Kurdish Iranian prisoners are on death row, and many other Kurdish journalists and rights activists languish in prison.
Western Kurdistan
ReplyDeleteThe Middle East is in the throes of a reinvigorated Kurdish nationalism following the establishment of what, in essence, represents a semi-independent Kurdish state that emerged under the auspices of the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq.
Depending on the political leanings of the sources, demographic data regarding Kurdish minorities are often heavily politicized as many as 30 million Kurds live as marginalized ethnic minorities who experience social, cultural, linguistic, and political discrimination in a transnational territory spread over Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria or, as Kurdish nationalists like to call it, "Greater Kurdistan".
In this context, the territory occupied by Syrian Kurds is considered "Western Kurdistan" or "Syrian Kurdistan". The Kurdish population in Syria is estimated to number between 1.5 to 2 million out of a total of around 22 million Syrians, making it the largest non-Arab minority in one of the region's most ethnically and religiously diverse countries.
Kurds in Syria are forbidden to use the Kurdish language in education and other official venues. Other expressions of Kurdish identity are either prohibited or strongly circumscribed to satisfy the regime. Kurds also are also among the poorest communities in Syria and influential Kurdish figures are subject to arbitrary arrest and torture. Most Syrian Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but the community includes significant numbers of Alawites, Shiites, Christians and adherents of other smaller sects. Syrian Kurds also share ties with familial and tribal networks that extend over the borders into Turkey and Iraq, as well as a sense of transnational Kurdish identity.
Tensions between the Syrian state and the Kurdish community, while modest in scale compared with the experiences of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran in terms of the amount of bloodshed over the years, are nevertheless real. A series of incidents in recent years is illustrative of the hostilities simmering below the surface
From the Asian Times
ReplyDeleteYes, Q, civilians.
ReplyDeleteYou concentrate on one word in the phrase, civilian. Yet, I am taken the phrase in it's totality.
To me 'civilian protesters' in the context you are using it connotes the Egyptian protests in Tahrir Square or the protests of the Shia in Bahrain, unarmed citizens taking to the streets to protest deplorable conditions.
With regard to the term 'civilian', I guess in any civil war, other than for outside forces, at least half the participants are civilian.
However, when it comes to describing the Libyan rebels I would think the term "armed insurgants" would better describe them than 'civilian protesters'.
Let's face it, in most countries, it's not the civilian protesters riding around with jeep mounted rockets, Kalashnicovs, and RPG's. It's either the good guys or the bad guys, or in the Libyan case, just the bad guys from both sides.
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The ideological challenge for Iranian democrats
ReplyDeleteBy Nader Hashemi
...
The Islamic Republic claims to be the vanguard state opposing western imperialism in the region while supporting the rights of the oppressed Muslim masses.
Within Iran, the regime claims to be champions of Iran's territorial integrity and sovereignty who are protecting the country from the evil machinations of the Great Satan (USA) and the Little Satan (Israel), who are blamed for all of Iran's political and economic problems.
...
Moreover, this argument has resonance internally, in part due to Iran's troubled past with western powers (recall the 1953 CIA coup) and the current debate over the nuclear question that the regime portrays as American bullying of Iran.
The protesters that the Israeli shot, were unarmed, Q.
ReplyDeleteThey were not equipped with AK's or RPG's. They were pieces of political theater, well played.
The maneuver demonstrated the equivalency of the thug Assad and the thug, Bibi.
It was the choice of the Israeli to fire on the unarmed civilians, rather than arrest them.
Just as the thug, Assad, decide to instruct his Security Forces to fire on unarmed political protesters.
desert rat said...
ReplyDeleteThe protesters that the Israeli shot, were unarmed, Q.
What actual PROOF does rat have?
Were the thousands of protesters SEARCHED?
How does Rat KNOW that the so called PEACEFUL rioters were not carrying pistols, knives or even suicide vests?
Rat is once again making it up as he goes along...
The Brits publicly "urging on" a revolution, in Iran. One wonders, what the Brits are doing, covertly?
ReplyDeleteU.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, praising the Arab Spring of democratic protests across the Middle East and North Africa, said a similar revolt in Iran should not be ruled out.
“The Iranian regime is one of the most dictatorial and most repressive of all,” Cameron told lawmakers in London today. “And if the Iranian people start to see that there is a future for a democratic Egypt and a democratic Tunisia and a Libyan people struggling to throw off their hideous leader, then people in Iran who have attempted this before might think, well actually we don’t have to go down this autocratic path.”
rat says: it was the choice of the Israeli to fire on the unarmed civilians, rather than arrest them.
ReplyDeleteHmmm... Just like America chose to FIRE on Bin Laden and his family rather than arrest them?
Rat distorts reality...
He is Ishmael, friend of Hamas.
He is a jackal.
Video tape and still photos of the events.
ReplyDeleteThen, the fact that the Israeli can not display the AK's and RPG's that were not there.
Like the Syrian Security Forces, the Israeli Defense Forces will fire on political protesters.
Then search for justification.
desert rat said...
ReplyDeleteThe protesters that the Israeli shot, were unarmed, Q.
They were not equipped with AK's or RPG's. They were pieces of political theater, well played.
So I guess from Rat's point of view, the Israelis were unarmed as well, they did not shoot AK's or RPG's either.
Since Rat defines "unarmed" as AK-47's and Rocket Propelled Grenades..
Israel forces numbering about 50, faced a co-ordinated rushing of the border by thousands of islamic rioters, equipped with wire cutters and who know what else. The thousands of rioters were not peaceful and had to pass both a UN and a Syrian border post, the rioters were bussed in to get to the location of the protest.
The funny news? The SYRIAN minefield (located 3 km INSIDE of syria) seems to have cause a score of injury...
Now aint that funnier than shit
Islamic maggots blowing themselves up on a syrian minefield, unless it was suicide vested maggots prematurely detonating...
Suicide bombing is a LIKELY tactic used by Rat's friends, it is quite reasonable to assume that the thousands of storming, chanting (death to israel) numbnuts were not there for a tea party.
Invading another nation is a war like act.
Doing so out of uniform, posing as "civilians" would allow Israel to follow the geneva convention and execute them as spies.
hmmm...
now that would have been sweet...
Peaceful, unarmed civilians passed through a UN check point, then were fired upon by the Israeli.
ReplyDeleteThis, in the course of their march to the occupied territory that is the focus of the political dispute.
Yes, there are riot control techniques that can work on crowds of multiple thousands, techniques that do not resort to live fire on the crowd.
Rat and his islamic friends call the rioters that tried and failed to invade a sovereign nation of the UN "political protesters".
ReplyDeleteNo the Rat lies and distorts.
These invaders, are not "political protesters", they are infact HIRED (by the syrian government) merc's.
And as HIRED invaders should be shot.
Now to suggest that they are the same as "political protesters" that protest peacefully inSIDE of Iran or Syria is as we all KNOW a lie...
But truth is not one of Rat's attributes.
desert rat said...
ReplyDeleteVideo tape and still photos of the events.
Then, the fact that the Israeli can not display the AK's and RPG's that were not there.
Lack of photo's doesnt mean that there were not weapons concealed in a hostile rioting HIRED crowd of mercenaries. You know what a merc is rat, you yourself were one, as you have claimed, you remember, when you as a plain clothed "civilian" were killing people in Central America...
Just like the hired "political protesters" you are....
really nothing but a hired gun...
desert rat said...
ReplyDeletePeaceful, unarmed civilians passed through a UN check point, then were fired upon by the Israeli.
Throwing rocks aint peaceful Just ask Goliath....
Try again Rat turd...
WHO SAID the THOUSANDS of rioters were PEACEFUL????
Throwing Rocks aint PEACEFUL....
Rat go take your meds, you really need to up your dosage...
Rat: Yes, there are riot control techniques that can work on crowds of multiple thousands, techniques that do not resort to live fire on the crowd.
ReplyDeletePlease name me one nation that has ever had thousands of hired mercenaries try to invade another NATIOn without having any live fire?
Russia? China? Egypt? England? Algeria? USA?
Just how many actual PEACEFUL protesters did America kill at Kent State?
Go ahead rat, ONE standard for Israel and none for anyone else?
Fucking retard
ReplyDeleteThere is great irony in Jews, using sniper rifles, shooting and killing protestors. Wio recounts Kent State.
ReplyDelete__________
Re: Kent State - In total, four were killed, three were Jewish, one was an ROTC candidate.
In point of fact many of the protestors and many of the violent protesters were Jews.
Mark Rudd, a leader of the 1968 Columbia student strike, in a speech said “Why Were There So Many Jews in SDS? (Or, The Ordeal of Civility),” Rudd says that “the numbers on Jews in SDS are clear. The author Paul Berman, himself a Jewish veteran of Columbia SDS, in his excellent book, A Tale of Two Utopias, gives the following data from reliable sources: two-thirds of the white Freedom Riders who traveled to Mississippi were Jewish; a majority of the steering committee of the 1964 Berkeley Free Speech Movement were Jewish; the SDS chapters at Columbia and the University of Michigan were more than half Jewish; at Kent State in Ohio, where only five percent of the student body was Jewish, Jews constituted 19 percent of the chapter.