America's public debt
Down to the wire
Jul 18th 2011, 16:04 by The Economist online
WHILE Congressmen trade over concessions and budget cuts, the clock continues to tick on America's debt. Barack Obama has set a deadline of July 22nd for Congress to agree on a deal. On August 2nd, the $14.294 trillion threshold at which by law America can no longer borrow money, will be reached. If that happens, America will default on its debt, triggering "a huge financial calamity" according to Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. On June 30th, there remained just $25m left in the kitty. Congress has acted a total of 91 times since June 1940 to either raise, extend or alter the definition of the debt limit—36 times under Democratic presidents. And they have done so with some 300 days to spare on average. 
If you look at the chart, since 1981, the only time the rise in the debt flattened was from 1990-2002; eleven years. Eight of those eleven years, 72% of the time, were under Bill Clinton, Democrat.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair and depending on how you look at thr chart, you could extend the period to 12 years, putting the Democrats in charge for 67% of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe period under George Bush was a disaster. The Bush Presidency, with the bleading heart conservative and democratic missionary at the helm, was a calamity of epic proportions. President Obama would never have existed without George Bush.
Both parties have been in oblivion and should pick their favorite snake for a mascot.
ReplyDeleteA cottonmouth and python seems about right to me.
ReplyDeleteOver 50% of the public think it's just a lotta hullabaloo over nothing. If they only knew.
ReplyDeleteAnd, most all of the politicians think that "time" will save them. They are as deluded as the voters they've lied to.
Even, the Fed seems to really believe that we're "just in a soft patch."
I swear, this is just about the most frightening thing I've ever seen.
Or, maybe I'm just crazy.
ReplyDeleteThat sentiment has been expressed, before.
ReplyDeleteLooking further at the chart, from 1947 to 1959, we were able to cut the deficit from 120% of GDP to 60%. We had an unrivaled industrial base, most of the World's gold, unlimited energy reserves, and markets without competition. We had a young lean population with skills appropriate to the needs of the market and savings in the bank.
ReplyDeleteThe fifties and sixties were periods of high growth in productivity and income. It was a period of increasing prosperity for Americans across the wealth spectrum, measured by either income or net worth. GDP growth for the fifties (48.3% over 10 year period) and sixties (49.4%) was significantly higher than any of the decades (below 40%) that followed. Top marginal tax rates were above 70% and income inequalities narrowed substantially from the 1930’s. Industrial capacity utilization was between 80% and 90% for most of the sixties. From around 1947 to the 1970’s, the relative high growth in real household income was evenly spread between all wealth groups of the US. During this period the United States was the world’s leading export powerhouse, running a sizeable surplus.… False Gods Fleece
{…} In an article posted by Lawrence Mishel , president of the Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C. ON MARCH 27, 2007, Mishel acknowledged the growing gap between the increase in income of the American workforce and the increase in productivity
ReplyDelete“Americans are working not just harder and longer, but more productively. The economy has grown enormously, in large part because the American workforce has been among the most productive in the world. Output per hour of work increased 71% from 1980 to 2005, making possible a dramatic rise in our living standards. But the real compensation, including benefits, of nonsupervisory employees rose only 4%. Productivity over the past 5 years rose almost 20%, but inflation-adjusted wages for workers with a college education have been flat, just as they have for those with a high school diploma.”[2]
But what does this have to do with the causes of the Credit Crisis? Well, if your workers produce more goods and services but get less compensation, who is going to buy those extra goods and services? Interestingly enough, this problem was identified long ago by Henry Ford in 1914 when he more than doubled the minimum wages of his employees. Part of his underlying philosophy for paying workers more, was that the workers should earn enough income in order to buy the cars they built.
It is important to realise that from the middle seventies the average worker became relatively less able to buy the products that he produced with his employer. But how did the American work force continue to consume the production from 1973 to 2006, even though the growth in their income did not keep up with the growth in productivity? The short answer – Americans worked longer hours, got more credit, enjoyed significant tax cuts which increased disposable income and used their savings to keep on spending.
Have another french fry with cheese.
ReplyDeleteThat was a hell of a link. I'm going to Re-read it in the morning.
ReplyDeleteA couple of random thoughts in no particular order of importance.
ReplyDeleteWe Have to develop some sort of coherent Corporate Tax Policy.
The Top Marginal Rate has to go back to Clinton-era 39%.
China is killing us with their currency manipulation. They're just too big to be allowed that kind of nonsense.
Serious work has to go into preparing our kids for modern manufacturing jobs. These jobs require serious "technical" training in computers, and robotics.
Oil is killing us. We still run on petroleum, and there's no longer enough to go around at a price we're able to pay. In this realm we have to get started on 3 things:
1) electrify where possible.
2) Conserve everywhere - especially in more fuel efficient vehicles.
3) Speed up our production of biofuels.
Actually, there's one more. Pray our leaders don't foul up any worse than they have.
Two American cars are selling like hot cakes. The Ford Focus, and the Chevy Cruze both get 40 mpg.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, the powers that be convinced the car manufacturers that high oil prices are temporary. How anyone with a brain could believe that I don't understand, but that has been the operating assumption.
As a result, Ford, and Chevy aren't set up to produce nearly enough of these cars.
If those cars were set up to get 40 mpg on ethanol (and, they have the technology to do this,) those drivers would be looking at $0.06 to $0.08 per mile. That would put a lot of people "back in the game."
Not just the drivers/owners of the cars, but all of the people in the U.S. ethanol industry, and all the people that benefit, secondarily, from our money being spent in the U.S., and not in Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
I'm really amazed that the, supposedly, smart people in the Fed, and Commerce Depts aren't pulling Obama aside, and explaining all this to him.
ReplyDeleteOf course, we just heard the Fed Chairman (reputed "expert" on the great depression) tell congress last week that they (the Fed) really don't know, exactly, what's wrong. Sheesh.
Well, I'm back to bed.
ReplyDeleteAnother Day, Another Train Wreck. :)
I can't wait for tomorrow.
doug will be here, soon, to tell us that you cannot believe your lyin' eyes.
ReplyDeleteVATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignation of Philadelphia archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali on Tuesday, sending him into retirement as the archdiocese faces accusations that it covered up a long-running priest sex abuse scandal.
ReplyDeleteSo, after tens years of endorsing the idea that the Pope embodies the "Anti-Christ", Mrs Bachmann has changed her religion.
ReplyDeleteWashington (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann has long been a darling of conservative evangelicals, but shortly before announcing her White House bid, she officially quit a church she’d belonged to for years.
Bachmann, a Minnesota congresswoman, and her husband, Marcus, withdrew their membership from Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota, last month, according to church officials.
The Bachmanns had been members of the church for more than 10 years, according to Joel Hochmuth, director of communications for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod ...
Ten years of believing that the Pope is the embodiment of evil, definably not a Christian.
WELS tells us that the proof that the Papacy is the embodiment of the Anti-Christ is written, in The Bible.
Must be true, then.
ReplyDeleteThe Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights issued a statement Thursday about Bachmann's denomination, saying it's "regrettable that there are still strains of anti-Catholicism in some Protestant circles."
"But we find no evidence of any bigotry on the part of Rep. Michele Bachmann," the statement continued. "Indeed, she has condemned anti-Catholicism. Just as President Barack Obama is not responsible for the views of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Rep. Bachmann must be judged on the basis of her own record."
The debate over the legitimacy of the papacy goes back to the Protestant Reformation. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod's namesake is Martin Luther, who led the 16th century Reformation and who opposed the papacy.
“The issue of the papacy as the Antichrist does go back to Luther - he did use that terminology,” said Professor George C. Heider, theology chair at Valparaiso University, a Lutheran school in Indiana.
“Luther’s point was, that in his view, the pope was so obstructing the gospel of God’s free love in Jesus, even though he wore all the trappings of a leader in the church," Heider said. "He was functioning as the New Testament describes it as the Antichrist.”
There is another fascinating thing about that chart. If you give a new president the benefit of the doubt that his first year of his first term rightly belongs to his predecessor, then Bush's first year belonged to Clinton and Obama's first year belogned to Bush. If you accept that premise and treat both president equally, George Bush took the deficit from $6 Trillion in 2002 to $12 Trillion in 2008. Where was the Republican Congress? Where was the veto?
ReplyDeleteWe need to get rid of both parties.
ReplyDeleteWell, I won't vote for her, but maybe WiO will be more forgiving.
ReplyDeleteOn the Jews and Their Lies (German: Von den Jüden und jren Lügen; in modern spelling Von den Juden und ihren Lügen) is a 65,000-word antisemitic treatise written in 1543 by the German Reformation leader Martin Luther.
Luther certainly wrote a lot of bullshit over the years. In the Lutheran Church I still technically belong to he's hardly ever mentioned, except on Reformation Sunday.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to read a good Lutheran thinker of today, read Marcus Borg from Oregon State University. A modern thinker, he has been going around the country with a more conservation Christina, N.T. Wright I think is his name, having debates about the meaning of this and that in the Gospels and particularity concerned with what occurred or didn't occur at the resurrection and the meaning of it.
bob
Borg and Wright
ReplyDeletebob
As long as you and others believe that the election of the President is a binary choice, the present political status que will remain dominant.
ReplyDeleteWithout the raise of a third Party, like the Republicans in 1860, there will be no major reformation, of the Federal government.
had been a showbiz reporter for the paper and openly admitted that he had been involved in illegally intercepting voice messages.
ReplyDeleteMr Hoare was found dead in his Watford home on Monday after neighbours reported him missing.
In an interview with the New York Times last September, he claimed he had played taped recordings of hacked messages to Mr Coulson when they both worked at The Sun.
When Mr Hoare moved to the NOTW he said Mr Coulson "actively encouraged" him to hack into phone messages.
In September 2010, he was also interviewed on BBC Radio 4's PM programme and alleged that Mr Coulson had lied to Parliament when he denied knowing about phone-hacking.
"There's an expression: 'the culture of dark arts'. You were given a remit - just get the story, that's the most important thing," Mr Hoare said.
As long as you and others believe that who's President makes a bit of difference in the meaning of things, there will be no improvement.
ReplyDeleteWampum Day
Later
bob
ReplyDeleteThe Treasury Department could potentially prioritize paying off U.S. debts before other obligations without an increase in the debt ceiling, avoiding default.
... according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, that would mean cutting all other government expenditures - which include military pay and entitlement payments - by 44 percent.
You are correct, boob.
ReplyDeleteWhether it was BH Obama or "Maverick" McCain that had won the 2008 election, it would have made no difference.
But if Mr Barr had polled in the mid 20% range, or had been victorious in a State or two, it would shake the System.
Not to the extent it did when Mr Lincoln won the White House, with 34% of the popular vote, or when Woodrow Wilson won, with 42% of the vote.
Both Lincoln and Wilson won in the Electoral College by large margins.
I knew you'd come back on the political level, you stupid shit.
ReplyDeletebob, now headed for breakfast and Wampum
Clinton tells Turkish president that Obama considers restoration of Israel-Turkey ties extremely important.
ReplyDeleteBy Barak Ravid
While Israeli intransigence on working towards a political accommodation is well illustrated:
Ministry issues tender to build 336 settler residences
New apartments will be built in Betar Ilit and Karnei Shomron.
By The Associated Press
Some day, boob, your lifestyle will catch up to your own rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteChances are it'll be after you're dead.
ReplyDeleteTwo thirds of Americans back the Obama administration position that a deal to increase the debt ceiling should include both spending cuts and tax increases, while just 28 percent back the Republican position of only spending cuts. Three in four say an agreement they do not fully support would be preferable to having the U.S. default on its debts.
Well, the old Saudi Arabian Oil-Loving Crook, and his vile spawn are all over television, today.
ReplyDeleteI hope they put the old lying bastard in jail.
The most dangerous problem is, always, the "unrecognized" problem.
ReplyDeleteOur huge "Unacknowledged," if not unrecognized, problem is that we're borrowing a $1 Billion/Day from China, to give to Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, for oil to deliver our fat asses around town in our Two-Ton Gas Guzzlers.
This is The Major Hole in our game.
We're starting to catch on, but, for some reason, our powers-that-be are telling us that this situation is temporary, and not to worry.
Well, they are, knowingly, or not, lying to us. This situation is not only "Not Temporary," it is, if we do nothing, going to get, rapidly, Worse.
Trust in those that told you about the Social Security Trust Fund?
ReplyDeleteOr read Fleming v Nestor, yourself.
The truth is out there.
It is not that hard to find it.
Net Oil Imports accounted for 60% of our $50 Billion Negative Trade Balance last month.
ReplyDeleteThat came out to $30 Billion, or $1 Billion/Day.
Again, Every Day we, as a country, go $1 Billion deeper in debt for the pleasure of driving fuel-inefficient automobiles powered by Oil from Despotic, Terrorist-supporting, anti-American governments.
Meantime, we Pay Farmers Not to Plant crops on 30 Million Acres.
ReplyDeleteThis Will Not Last, Kiddos.
The U.S., U.K., and Europe are racing to see who gets to "Official Recessiondom," first.
ReplyDeleteWe're drawing a Million Barrels/Day out of our Strategic Reserves.
And, yet, Oil advanced to $117.00/Barrel on the World Market, today, and gasoline is on a steady march back to $3.80.
Available Net Oil Exports are $5 Billion Barrels/Day less than they were in 2005.
Bernanke, and Exxon be damned; this is not a "transient" problem, chilluns. This is "us sliding into deeper, and deeper shit."
Switchgrass produced 540% more renewable than nonrenewable energy consumed.
ReplyDeleteSwitchgrass monocultures managed for high yield produced 93% more biomass yield and an equivalent estimated NEY than previous estimates from human-made prairies that received low agricultural inputs. Estimated average greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from cellulosic ethanol derived from switchgrass were 94% lower than estimated GHG from gasoline.
That was an interesting study, Rat. I might add that it was done in North, and South Dakota, Nebraska, etc, and that yields in the Southeast are expected to be four to five times the yields up there.
ReplyDeleteIt's something we should be going "Balls to the Walls" on, but the Pubs have it stopped dead in its tracks.
This might be the one thing that forces me to vote "Obama" in the next election.
Always before, when we went into recession gasoline prices Dropped, and helped us climb back out.
ReplyDeleteThis time, we're within spitting distance (if not already there) of Zero Growth, and Oil Prices are still rising.
Someone please quote me Book, chapter, and verse where it says in the Bible the Pope is the anti-Christ.
ReplyDeleteYou will not find it for it is not there.
That is as silly as Camping predicting the day of the Second Coming of Christ.
ReplyDeleteSounds like they might have a pretty good deal brewing. I hope Boehner can get it past Cantor, and the TP Crazies.
ReplyDeleteWhat if the U.S. (and, Europe) gave a Recession, and Oil didn't attend?
ReplyDeleteWell, gag, the followers of Martin Luther continue to believe as he did,
ReplyDeleteBased upon his and their own interpretation of the Book they read, whether it be published in German, English or Dutch.
I'm not one to argue with the fundamentals of Mr Luther and his creed.
Another example of push back to the Roman influence in Christianity.
How does Luther come to think of the pope as the Antichrist?
Luther came to think of the pope as the Antichrist because, first, of what the general tradition was about where to find the Antichrist. The Antichrist was someone subverting the Church from within. That was the expectation popularly. And when he saw the papal office and read the histories and saw it subverting the gospel as he understood it, he became convinced that that was the proof that the papal office was the office of the Antichrist, trying to destroy God's church from within.
The pope claimed to be Christ's representative on earth. Luther became convinced that the pope was the devil's representative on earth. And that took graphic form very early in the Reformation ... with one of the most effective pieces of propaganda in the early Reformation: a series of 26 woodcuts that juxtaposed some action in Christ's life with something in the papacy. Christ carrying his cross to be crucified; the pope being carried in his throne on the backs of people ... . Christ washing the feet of the disciples; the pope having his feet kissed. And over and over again, scenes from Christ's life juxtaposed with scenes from the papacy. ... Christ was always humble and serving; the papacy, the pope was always lordly and [lording] over others. Christ is Christ; the pope is Antichrist.
Move the Federals into tax subsidies of non-food stock ethanol production and solar farms in the sunny southwest.
ReplyDeleteAway from subsidizing security for oil deliveries from the Middle East to Asia and building democracy in other nations.
ReplyDeleteTue Jul 19, 02:27:00 PM EDT
desert rat said...
Well, gag, the followers of Martin Luther continue to believe as he did,
You stupid shit, the ELCA has reconciled with the Catholics long ago. Now we do things like compete in our world outreach projects as to which group most effectively gets the money to where it's most needed. Usually in the 95% range I don't know who won last year.
bob
A reasonable read on the subject, by a fellow that appears to be a Catholic Priest:
ReplyDeleteWhy did Martin Luther say that the Pope was the antichrist?
My friend was raised in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, but he is now a Quaker. He said that the LCMS teaches that the antichrist will be in the papacy as a doctrine of their faith.
Mrs Bachmann officially left her Church of ten years,Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater, Minnesota, because of the tenets of their Lutheran creed, as expressed by the WELS.
ReplyDelete... Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod has come under criticism from some Catholics for its views on the papacy, an institution that the denomination calls the Antichrist.
"We identify the Antichrist as the Papacy," the denomination's website says. "This is an historical judgment based on Scripture."
As much as Rev Wright was a wacko, so to are the Lutheran "true believers" in Wisconsin.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShe was there, in the congregation for a decade, she must have known the tenets of the creed!
ReplyDeleteJust like Rev Wright and the families Oprah and Obama.
Goose and gander equivalencies.
ReplyDeleteThe prospects for a significant debt-ceiling compromise were revived Tuesday, as President Obama signaled possible support for a plan being offered by the so-called Gang of Six senators that includes both steep spending cuts and an overhaul of the tax code.
Making a surprise appearance in the White House press briefing room, Obama said the package crafted by the bipartisan group is "broadly consistent with the approach I've urged," and called it a "very significant step" in the months-long negotiations over raising the nation's debt ceiling.
Rick Perry, like Ronald Reagan, was a Democrat before he was a Republican.
ReplyDeleteThis disqualifies him, amongst some of the true believing "Real" Tea Partiers.
No tea party for Perry as he weighs nomination bid
Something I did not know, about Mr Perry. He could beat Obama, personifying as he would the "Reagan Democrats" of old.
Perry could play in PA.
ReplyDeleteHe being an old school Al Gore man.
Mr Perry would fit right in, with Mrs Rothschild and Mr Mack.
ReplyDeleteThey did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left them.
Paraphrasing, of course
“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”
Ronald Reagan, 1962
It has been a fifty year arc.
The Lutherans have elected to follow the teachings of Martin Luther, which is why they are called Lutherans. The Catholics have elected to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church and it's masthead, the Pope.
ReplyDeleteNot Biblical, at least on topic, either one.
Mr Perry would fit right in, with Mrs Rothschild and Mr Mack.
ReplyDeleteThey did not leave the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party left them.
Paraphrasing, of course
“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. The party left me.”
Ronald Reagan, 1962
It has been a fifty year arc.
I can relate.
Here's one "Lutheran Theology" web site run by one person.
ReplyDeleteHere
Strictly speaking there is no Lutheran theology because we are protestants and if Lutheran can tack his stuff to a church door so can we in our own way. That is to say we can disagree.
It's hard to find a lot of similarity between Marcus Borg and Luther yet he is one of our biggies these days.
Luther did pen some great religious songs.
bob
David Jay Webber has had a whopping 2124 hits on his web site.
ReplyDeletebob
The other good thing about 'Lutheranism' in my view is it is all from 'the bottom up' rather than from 'the top down'.
ReplyDeleteThat is to say we vote on damned near everything. We are voting these days on gays in the pulpit, and some people are 'voting with their feet'. There is some kind of split abrewing but since I'm not interested in it I'm not really keeping up on it.
bob
Strictly speaking there is no Lutheran theology because we are protestants and if Lutheran can tack his stuff to a church door so can we in our own way. That is to say we can disagree.
ReplyDeleteTo the contrary, it is written (John 17:20-23): "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me."
Lutheran Schism Feared
ReplyDeleteOne of the things we do best is vote.
bob
:) Miss T, that is a beautiful verse but I don't see what it has to do with the things I have been saying.
ReplyDeleteWhat does it have to do with the old Lutheran doctrine of predestination for instance, over which we all disagree or about repenting or the means of grace or the nature of the communion or the nature of the resurrection, all the things we disagree about in our church?
bob
desert rat said...
ReplyDelete"doug will be here, soon, to tell us that you cannot believe your lyin' eyes.
---
That will be a relief, after hours of you guys sucking each other's dicks.
- anon
---
Deuce:
"Look at the Chart Showing Debt Increase Under Democrats and Republicans"
...except it is NOT a chart
" Showing Debt Increase Under Democrats and Republicans "
It is a chart Showing
Debt Increase Under Democrat and Republican PRESIDENTS.
As I pointed out to Rat here before, (recently) Jeffords handed control of the Senate to the Democrats in 2001.
Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate from 2007 until the last election giving control of the house back to the GOP, leaving Dems in control of the Senate and POTUS Obama.
IOW, while the Dems either controlled both chambers, or "just" the Senate and the Presidency,
Debt as a percent of GDP went from 6 to 9 percent in less than four years,
and absolute debt has increased by almost SIX TRILLION Dollars.
Quite a different conclusion than that reached by you MSM Symps who act as though your slanted depiction of reality IS reality.
As to the Reagan years, he made a deal wiith the Dems to increase taxes now in return for spending cuts worth twice that much later.
With the Dems in control, that promise was quickly forgotten.
We will now see if Coburn and the Gang can repeat that foolishness, even though we've done it too many times before:
At The Corner Obama Praises ‘Gang of Six’ Plan
LittleOldMe said...
"The $500 billion in cuts would come from a range of sources, including shifting to a new consumer price index to make cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security."
Reply to this comment
redsquare76 said...
Since there has not been COLA increaseD in the last two years, these cuts must be the phantom savings in out years...
CAVE ALERT!!!!.
Most of the New Testament was written and compiled three hundred years after Christ died by scholars who took the works written fifty years after Christ died.
ReplyDeleteJesus' followers thought he would return in weeks and given how human beings work, I would be very surprised if the books in the Bible New Testament were dead on accurate after three hundred years. Forty books made the cut out of several hundred.
The compiled writings were edited within the context of the third century experience.
Look at the difficulty we have interpretting our own written documents such as the Constitution and we are in a literate age.
"phantom savings in out years... "
ReplyDeleteWashingtonese for:
Fuck You!
(suckers)
Meanwhile These Nitwits are interested in some of my land to expand their 'university' and if so I intend to get my hands deep into their collection plate. They have a high school called Logos School which beat our high school in the state tests. Their kids wear uniforms to school, not a bad idea.
ReplyDeletebob
"Look at the difficulty we have interpretting our own written documents such as the Constitution and we are in a literate age."
ReplyDelete...or a simple chart!
Doug. I have never voted for a Democrat but the party elected the candidate and the people chose. George Bush may not have had a lot of things but he did have a pen. Bush was the worst and I voted for the asshole twice.
ReplyDeleteDoug, my old friend, how do you read the chart?
ReplyDeleteDeuce is right. Interpreting the 'New Testament' is not for kids.
ReplyDeleteForty books made the cut out of several hundred.
The compiled writings were edited within the context of the third century experience.
That is correct. There is a whole gnostic literature that didn't make the cut, for instance, among those books.
bob
This Guy was one of our main 'Lutheran Theologians' for quite some time between he became a Catholic at the end of his life, had a near death experience too that he wrote about.
ReplyDeleteThat is how fluid things are in our church.
Wonderful man.
I am leaving the topic now since we are supposed to be talking about debt increases.
My view is we spend too much money, just like my daughter. :)
bob
Those Gnostic Books not endorsed by the Bishops of Emperor Constantine, for the Official Religious Texts of the Roman Empire...
ReplyDeleteEthanol wins, Again.
ReplyDeleteEthannol-powered cars have won Every Major Fuel Mileage competition for the last several years.
You just have to have an engine with enough compression to take advantage of ethanol's high Octane Rating.
Another Day, Another Win
Honda builds a car that runs on nat gas. They sell about 600/yr of them in a couple of Western States. Wouldn't you think SOMEONE would build a car optimized for ethanol, for sale in the Corn belt? I bet they'd sell tens of thousands/yr.
Just a standard ecotec engine with a different piston, or connecting rod. How hard could that be?
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said that the government of Pakistan, including elements of its intelligence service, has been secretly funneling campaign contributions for years to members of Congress, presidential campaigns, and federal campaign committees, often through an activist working on Kashmiri issues who was arrested by the F.B.I. on Tuesday.
ReplyDelete...
“Mr. Fai is accused of a decades-long scheme with one purpose — to hide Pakistan’s involvement behind his efforts to influence the U.S. government’s position on Kashmir,” said Neil MacBride, the United States Attorney in the Eastern District of Virginia. “His handlers in Pakistan allegedly funneled millions through the Kashmir Center to contribute to U.S. elected officials, fund high-profile conferences, and pay for other efforts that promoted the Kashmiri cause to decision-makers in Washington.”
Pakistan has spent more than $4 million over the past two decades in its covert effort to influence the United States to adopt a more critical stance toward India’s control of Kashmir, the government asserted.
A spokesman for the Pakistani embassy said, “Mr. Fai is not a Pakistani citizen, and the government and embassy of Pakistan have no knowledge of the case.”
Federal Election Committee databases show that Mr. Fai has made more than $20,000 in campaign contributions in his own name. The bulk of them went to two Republican congressmen — Representatives Dan Burton of Indiana and Joe Pitts of Pennsylvania — who have been outspoken in their criticism of India’s handling of Kashmir. But Mr. Fai also made smaller contributions to several Democratic representatives, including Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, Jim Moran of Virginia and Gregory Meeks of New York.
ReplyDeleteGovernment agents have repeatedly questioned Mr. Fai about over the past four years about connections with the government of Pakistan, and the Justice Department sent him a letter last year notifying him that he might have an obligation to register as an agent. The affidavits said Mr. Fai repeatedly denied working for Pakistan.
ReplyDeleteLaw enforcement officials denied that the timing of his arrest was related to souring American relations with Pakistan and the I.S.I. in the wake of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in a residential compound in Pakistan. One senior law enforcement official said the case against Mr. Fai had been ready for some time, and that investigators had been waiting to see if an alleged co-conspirator would travel to the United States.
THAT MUSLIM SOB IN THE OUT HOUSE IS NOW TELLING OUR TROOPS NOT TO SHOOT THOSE KILLERS----EMAIL FROM DALE
ReplyDeletePosted by Darla Dawald, National Director on July 19, 2011 at 8:08am in Patriot Action Alert
Killing Our Soldiers: US Troops Ordered Not to Shoot Taliban Because It Wakes up the Locals, Risk "Murder" Charge if Order is Violated
U.S. military chiefs ordered troops to surrender, under the guise of "courageous constraint," and not open fire on Taliban Muslim fighters planting mines in case they disturb local people. Troops were warned that they could be charged with murder if they shot any Taliban without permission from above.
Such surrender and stupidty is without equal. I expect Obama to start demanding our soliders serve them breakfast (halal, of course) in bed.
Today's fallen heroes.....protest this systematic, institutionalized slaughter of our troops: join Bev Perlson and The Band of Mothers at their Stand in Support Of Our Troops, Cannon Bldg Corner, Washington, DC, July 25th, 26th & 27th.
Soldiers ordered not to shoot Taliban as they plant mines... becaus... By Daily Mail Reporter (hat tip Paul B)
Soldiers were ordered not to open fire on Taliban fighters planting mines in case they disturb local people, it has been claimed.
U.S. military chiefs ordered troops to exercise 'courageous constraint' and even warned them they could be charged with murder if they shot any Taliban without permission from above.
The claims were made by a former Royal Marine who spoke out following the inquest into the death of Sergeant Peter Rayner last week.
Don't shoot: A former marine says troops were warned they could be charged with murder if they shot Taliban, pictured, without permission from above
Don't shoot: A former marine says troops were warned they could be charged with murder if they shot Taliban, pictured, without permission from above
At the hearing in Bradford, his widow Wendy Rayner revealed how her husband was blown up days after senior officers had apparently 'laughed off' his complaints that insurgents were being allowed to plant explosive devices unchallenged.
The 34-year-old phoned his wife in a ‘highly stressed’ state four days before his death and was upset that his fears were not taken seriously.
She said he and his men had watched the enemy, using night-vision goggles, plant improvised explosive devices and were not allowed to attack them. He was allegedly told by one officer: ‘I am an Army Captain and you will do your job.’
bob
I thought this was cute. Maybe it will crack a half smile in this gloom and dome place called the bar.
ReplyDeleteIt probably fits most life styles here.
MIDDLE AGE TEXTING CODES: ATD -at the doctor. BFF -best friend fell. BTW - bring the wheelchair . BYOT -bring your own teeth. FWIW -forgot where I was. GGPBL -gotta go, pacemaker battery low. GHA -got heartburn again. IMHO -is my hearing aid on? LMDO -laughing my dentures out. OMMR -on my massage recliner. ROFLACGU -rolling on floor laughing and can't get up. TTYL -talk to you louder! Repost to share a laugh!!
GDAB god damn aching back
ReplyDeleteGTPA got to piss again
DFPD dizzy from prostate drugs
CS can't sleep
SORRS sick of reading rat shit
:)
bob
H!DFOC Help! Dying from ObamaCare
ReplyDeletebob
IBT?
ReplyDeleteIdaho Brain Trust?
The mission: Find out how many minutes it's been at 80 degrees or warmer this year-- what I would call a true warm summer day in Seattle.
ReplyDeleteThe answer: 78 minutes.
Or, breaking it down: 12 minutes on July 2, and 66 minutes on July 6.
GWH - Gone Wolf Hunting.
ReplyDeleteHILITF - Help I'm Lost in the Forest
IJSM - I Just Shot Myself
SITIATPM - Shit, I Think I Ate the Poisoned Meat
ISDYLTD - I'm Sorry, Did You Like that Dog?
:)
ReplyDeleteH!IBDFEP Help! I'm Brain Dead From Ethanol Poisoning
bob
( :
ReplyDelete234 to 190 Cut, Cap and Balance passes the House
ReplyDeleteSFI- sarcasme font inserted
ReplyDeletePMS- pissed-off mother syndrome
gtfoomw - get the fuck out of my way
PSW -pills starting to work
Q!Q!QIDFL
ReplyDeleteQuick!Quick!Quirk is dying from laughter
bob
For Rufus
ReplyDeleteThe USA Isn't Running Out Of Oil
I didn't know there was a RealClearEnergy site.
bob
That was pretty much "an idiot's guide to oil," Bob.
ReplyDeleteMost all of it was wrong, and/or misleading.
Brent Crude is $119.00/bbl this morning.
We Import 9 Million Barrels of Oil every day, Bob (plus a sizable amount of gasoline.)
ReplyDeleteThe "Question" is not, nor has it ever been, whether the U.S. (or, the world) is "Running Out" of oil.
It is whether the Global Oil Supply is Growing fast enough to keep the price affordable?
And, the answer to that question is, "most assuredly, No."
It is whether the Global Oil Supply is Growing fast enough to keep the price affordable?
ReplyDeleteAnd, the answer to that question is, "most assuredly, No."
Japan: $6.77 a gallon
Germany: $8.35 a gallon
UK: $8.17 a gallon
Turkey, $9.63 a gallon.
Count your blessings.
Government-provided healthcare in all those countries.
ReplyDeleteThey, also, all moved to small, fuel-efficient vehicles a long time ago. We haven't made that move, Yet.
ReplyDeleteAlso, those countries (especially, the European ones) have moved to "Electrified" Rail to move people, and products.
ReplyDeleteIt takes 20 times more btus to move a product by Truck than by Electrified Rail.
Cut, Cap and Balance ...
ReplyDeleteDelivered dead to the Senate upon passage by the House.
Another day wasted.
Disappointing drop in home sales. Huge Spike in Cancellations in June. 16%.
ReplyDeleteRetail price for gasoline is up, though. $3.68/gal.
I guess we should all just collectively cut our wrists and be done with it.
ReplyDeleteYou go first.
Nah, let's just get busy "identifying" a couple of our Main problems, and fix them.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any problems that don't have apparent, and fairly simple solutions.
For instance, everyone is going gaga this morning over Apple's $76 Billion "Cash" on hand.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is: it's cash "on hand" in The Netherlands. Our inane Corporate Tax Policy has it (and, another approx. $2 Trillion locked up Offshore, not available for Taxes, OR Investment in the U.S.
This is a SIMPLE problem to fix.
A drunk usually has to first admit he is a drunk before he seeks help.
ReplyDeleteWe ain't there yet.
ReplyDeleteOther than the usual partisan henny penny stuff.
ReplyDeleteI have 76 dollars on hand, and it's being taxed.
ReplyDeleteCash
ReplyDeleteYou're better off than some. :)
ReplyDeleteGasoline supplied over the last 4 weeks Down 2.2% from the same period Last Year.
Home Sales Cancellations Spike in June.
ReplyDeleteGasoline sales are running 2.2% below the same period last year.
The IEA is putting One Million Barrels/Day on the Market from our Strategic Reserves,
And, Oil/Gasoline Prices are Steadily Rising.
Like I've said before, "Wouldn't it be the shits if we gave a Recession, and Oil didn't show up?"
That IS going to happen sooner, or later, you know.
ReplyDeleteThey seem to be getting good at shooting down drones if reports are true. At least several countries are trying to keep tabs on them.
ReplyDeleteReports: US drone shot down over Iran nuke site
Lawmaker claims unmanned spy plane was gathering information about the plant
A U.S. drone was shot down while flying over a nuclear facility in Iran, according to reports in the Iranian media
Iran's Fars news agency reported that lawmaker Ali Aqazadeh Dafsari, a member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, had confirmed the unmanned spy plane was flying near the Fordo nuclear enrichment plant in Qom province when it was brought down by Revolutionary Guard soldiers.
It did not say when the alleged incident happened.
Dafsari told Fars that the drone was trying to gather information about the nuclear facility for the CIA.
Fars also said Iranian military officials had claimed to have shot down "several enemy drones" in January.
"We have experienced similar incidents many times in the past and there have even been drones belonging to the occupying Zionist regime (Israel), the United States and Britain which have been shot down in the Persian Gulf during the past 7 years," Fars quoted a senior military official as saying at the time.
Other Iranian media reported the same story, including Hamsayeh.net.
bob
From the dreaded American Thinker
ReplyDeleteJuly 20, 2011
France may consider deal that keeps Gaddafi in Libya
Rick Moran
We've predicted this since it became clear that Libya was a quagmire. Unless NATO wants to send in ground troops to physically remove him, there was no way the rebels would ever be strong enough to depose him. Hence, a deal to stop the fighting would have to take into account Gaddafi staying in Libya.
CNN:
France may consider a post-war Libya with Moammar Gadhafi remaining in the country if he quits politics as part of a cease-fire deal to end the conflict with the NATO-backed rebels, the French foreign minister said Wednesday.
"One of the possibilities is that he (Gadhafi) remains in Libya," Alain Juppe told French news channel LCI. "But on the condition that he stays away from Libyan political life. This is what we are waiting for before we begin the political process for a cease-fire."
State-run Libyan TV played an audio message from Gadhafi Tuesday saying that he will never surrender. He also called on civilians and armed citizens to march on rebel territories in the east and west of the country to "cleanse it from mercenaries and traitors."
Meanwhile, the war intensified in the eastern part of the country. Libyan rebels have completely surrounded a strategic oil hub in the region but face an almost impossible task of dismantling thousands of landmines planted by Gadhafi forces, a Libyan rebel military spokesman told CNN Wednesday.
Did anyone mention to the French that Gaddafi is not exactly known for keeping his promises?
There is something pathetic about a once great alliance unable to bring to bear enough military power to dethrone one, half-crazed, tinpot dictator.
Someone should put NATO out of its misery.
Libya divides into two, like in olden times. What's wrong with that?
bob
Watchdog Says U.S. Aid Money in Afganistan May Be Fueling Insurgency
ReplyDeleteBy Yochi J. Dreazen
Updated: July 20, 2011 | 1:20 p.m.
July 20, 2011 | 9:00 a.m.
The United States' inability to control the billions of dollars of American aid flowing into Afghanistan every year is increasing the risk that some of that money is inadvertently fueling the Afghan insurgency, according to a scathing new report by one of the U.S. government's own watchdogs.
The audit by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction paints a dispiriting picture of a massive U.S. aid effort that's effectiveness has been seriously impaired by a lack of effective oversight and an Afghan government that refuses to rein in corruption.
The United States has spent more than $70 billion on security assistance and development projects in Afghanistan since 2002, and the Obama administration has made clear that it will continue sending extensive financial aid to the impoverished country even after the U.S.-led war winds down in 2014. Absent far-reaching policy changes, the report says much of that money may be misspent, embezzled, or passed into the hands of the country’s militants.
“While U.S. agencies have taken steps to strengthen their oversight of U.S. funds flowing through the Afghan economy, they still have limited visibility over the circulation of these funds, leaving them vulnerable to fraud or diversion to insurgents,” the staff of acting Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction Herbert Richardson wrote in the report released on Wednesday. “We found that agencies have not instituted sufficient controls over U.S. funds, limiting their oversight.”
What a mess.
bob
Bachman cannot be associated with any views, statements, the theology, or individuals expressed at her place of worship.
ReplyDeleteThat was the standard set by the current Potus.
I don't care how insane her church is. The congregation becomes, on average, slightly more sane when she walks out the door.
ReplyDeleteThe woman's a lunatic.
Dated a gal like her, migraines and all, a few times. Trust me, this isn't the savior you were looking for.
Perhaps if she was a black liberation theologist the bar's google theologian might be more fond of her
ReplyDeleteIf she only believed that the u.s. can spend it's way out of debt she might be considered more sane
ReplyDeleteThere always a trigger for migraines --bright light, loud sudden noises,---closeness to.......Rufus :) I bet her migraines went when she left!
ReplyDeletebob
It's spend your way to growth, boob.
ReplyDeleteThat's the theory we're operating under. Endorsed by every Republican President since Eisenhower.
I was speaking of migraines, dumb shit.
ReplyDeleterAt cain't spel gud
bob
Tomorrow morning is "Weekly Jobless Claims," at 7:30, and "Phillie Fed" at 9:00
ReplyDeleteIt's liable to be ugly.
ADATW
Another Day, Another Train Wreck :)
I spell just fine, boobie.
ReplyDeleteYour wife die yet?
I was speaking of dumb shits.
ReplyDeleteboob fell right in, well, that's to be expected.
ReplyDelete