COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Obama, get your head out of Limbaugh's ass.

Spreading his ample carbon footprint.

Every day the market gets worse, people lose more money and we get a daily directive from the community organizer. Any extraneous left wing issue grabs Obama's attention and is on the table. With all that, nothing is less worthy of a president's time than a food fight with a talk radio host. It reminds me of this:



153 comments:

  1. Why would we possibly need missile defense?

    Reports: Russia building anti-satellite weapons

    Thu Mar 5, 9:06 am ET

    MOSCOW – Russia is working to develop anti-satellite weapons to match efforts by other nations, a deputy defense minister was quoted as saying Thursday.

    Gen. Valentin Popovkin said Russia continues to oppose a space arms race but will respond to moves made by other countries, according to Russian news reports.
    "We can't sit back and quietly watch others doing that, such work is being conducted in Russia," Popovkin was quoted as saying.
    Russia already has some "basic, key elements" of such weapons, but refused to elaborate, Popovkin said.
    Popovkin, who previously was the chief of Russian military Space Forces, reportedly made the statement at a news conference in response to a question about U.S. and Chinese tests of anti-satellite weapons."

    ...and our purveyor of hope will trade this technology away for some bullshit pledge from the Russians.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Obama Preferred Over Reagan -- In Fox News Poll
    By Eric Kleefeld - March 5, 2009, 3:15PM

    Are we still a center-right nation, as many Republicans continue to insist? And can the GOP revive itself through a return to the spirit of Ronald Reagan, as Rush Limbaugh has said?

    Check out this question from the new Fox News poll: "What do you think the nation's economy needs more of right now -- the economic policies of Ronald Reagan or the economic policies of Barack Obama?"

    The answer: Obama 49%, Reagan 40%.






    Wow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A lot of those poll takers weren't around when Reagan was. Many may not know whether he was a republican, democrat or Martian.

    Most of Obama voters didn't know who controlled Congress.

    ReplyDelete
  4. There are more dumb shits per square mile in the US than in any other country on the planet and most of them can vote. The middle class is losing their pensions, savings and home equity and that middle class joined the under class to elect a never was to be a never gonna happen.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's the same bunch of nitwits that elected the guy.

    Can't expect them to say they had it wrong. Least not this soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "With all that, nothing is less worthy of a president's time than a food fight with a talk radio host."

    Delegate, delegate, delegate.

    A WH aide was tasked with the Limbaugh strategy, after it sprung from the head of Rahm Emmanuel. So far, they seem to have gotten their money's worth out that guy, whoever he is.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It may be time to... i better not.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Reagan is a piece of history, may as well ask about comparing the policies JFK, FDR or Teddy Roosevelt.

    Reagan left office over 20 years ago, entered it 28 years ago. Few if any of the current electorate remember the Carter malaise.
    Or inflation, or stagflation.

    You get fixated on the symbolism that Obama employs, exemplified by Limbaugh, Air Force 1 and the like. If he was nore successful, worked harder, the results would be less pleasing than his theater with Limbaugh.

    He is radically diminishing the GOP with his linking of them to Limbaugh. It is a master stroke of image manipulation, one in which the weapon of distraction, Limbaugh, is driven by his own self-interest to further exploit.

    Leaving the elected Representitives of the GOP even more beaten down than before.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm in favor of a lower stock market, higher taxes, a defenseless country, slapping the British in the face, an energy policy that consists in putting the coal industry out of business, and higher salaries for Congress, among other things. I'm also going to master the seas and the climate.

    I'm an Obama voter.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I think your analysis is good, Rat. Haven't been folowing this much, as I can't stand to listen to the One, and have missed Rush lately, but I can imagine Rush basking in the limelight as you say.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Reagan is a piece of history..."

    So too, in a manner of speaking, are Fox News viewers. I believe they put the average age at 65.

    But maybe the better question would have been: Would you rather have Limbaugh's policies or Obama's?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Blue States Will Pay Obama Tax Bill

    Of course, Obama’s supporters in blue states, which include most of the major political figures in these places, will argue that his presidency will redress the flow of tax dollars to Washington through policies that send more federal spending their way. But don’t believe for a moment that this will make a big difference. Back when Bill Clinton was elected president, New York Democrats were among the first to put their hands out. Then-New York City Mayor David Dinkins waited a mere 12 hours after Clinton was declared victor to release a 20-page wish-list for the city. But Gotham got little of what it asked for.

    One person who understood why this strategy never worked was the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. For nearly 25 years Moynihan sponsored a study which charted how much each state sent to Washington in taxes and how much it got back in spending. States like New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, California, and Massachusetts were losers. Toward the end of his life, Moynihan decided that trying to redress this deficit by arguing for more federal spending was fruitless, since the tax increases that financed federal spending ultimately came from the very same states, and politicians in other places weren’t about to let that change. “Keeping more of our money at home,” Moynihan argued, “won’t happen until we break the century-long habit of preferring that it go to Washington first.”

    Instead, Moynihan proposed a “new federalism” that created a smaller national government focusing on things like national defense supported by much lower federal taxes rates. Leave money in the states, Moynihan argued, where the citizens of each state could decide what kind of government they want and how much they were willing to spend to pay for it.

    Moynihan’s idea, of course, was widely ignored, and since then we’ve gotten bigger national government courtesy of the Republicans, and will get a still bigger one courtesy of Democrats. Which only proves, to paraphrase Runyon again, that the only thing people like Moynihan get for coming up with ideas like that is a reputation for coming up with ideas like that.


    Steven Malanga is an editor for RealClearMarkets and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute

    ReplyDelete
  13. "He is radically diminishing the GOP with his linking of them to Limbaugh. It is a master stroke of image manipulation..."

    Yes, yes it is.

    When you start reading "Jedi mind tricks" over and over again at liberal websites that were positively funerary until very recently, you know there's a new Rove in town.

    Will it last? I dunno, but the troops are psyched.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fox News = MSM = Walking Dead

    Their time is passing. Everyone understands these are agenda driven parrots. And nobody cares for their agenda, because their agenda is that of big money corporations.

    ReplyDelete
  15. The Fed refused yesterday to disclose the names of the borrowers and the loans, alleging that it would cast “a stigma” on recipients of more than $1.9 trillion of emergency credit from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

    Bloomberg sued Nov. 7 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act requesting details about the terms of 11 Fed lending programs.

    On Oct. 25, Bloomberg filed another request, expanding the range of when the collateral was posted. It sued Nov. 7.

    In response to Bloomberg’s request, the Fed said the U.S. is facing “an unprecedented crisis” in which “loss in confidence in and between financial institutions can occur with lightning speed and devastating effects.”

    Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and then Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in September they would meet congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system.
    ==

    It's amazing how this mafia gets away with it, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anyone wanna finish dear host's sentence for him?

    ReplyDelete
  17. How, ash, does further disadvantaging millions of people in the Sudan further any humanitarian or moral cause?

    The indictment will lead to greater suffering in Sudan, not less. Unless someone serves the warrant, quickly. But that'd take an armed intervention, into Khartum

    The Sudanese government expelled 13 international charities working in Darfur from the country, following the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant for the Sudanese president.

    The charities are:

    ___

    CARE International: Has worked in Sudan for 28 years. Key food distributor in Darfur; also provides emergency nutrition and primary health care for refugees and villagers. Serves nearly 1.5 million people.

    ___

    International Rescue Committee: In Sudan since 1981. Has four projects in Darfur, including refugee resettlement, health work training and education programs for about 1.75 million Darfurians.

    ___

    Medecines Sans Frontiers-Holland: Operates in south Darfur, often only health provider in rebel-controlled areas. Handles a recent meningitis outbreak in a refugee camp housing more than 90,000 people; says its expulsion leaves more than 200,000 sick Darfurians without medical care.

    ___

    Medecines Sans Frontiers-France: Operates in west and central Darfur, single medical provider in most rebel-held areas there. MSF-France also handling recent meningitis outbreak in central Darfur.

    ___

    OXFAM-GB: Program in Darfur is group's biggest in the world. Operates in rural and refugee camps, provides clean water and sanitation services. Its expulsion affects 400,000 people in Darfur, 200,000 elsewhere in Sudan.

    ___

    Solidarites-France: Works in south and west Darfur, provides clean water and distributes food for 300,000 people.

    ___

    Action Contre La Faim-France: Distributes food, and provides water and sanitation services in south and northern Darfur.

    ___

    CHF International-US: Has two projects in northern and southern Darfur, provides shelters for the most recent refugees, distributes fuel-efficient stoves.

    ___

    Mercy Corps-US: Active in Sudan for five years. Trains health workers, builds schools and provides skill training for women. Assists nearly 200,000 people uprooted from their homes by the violence and living in displacement camps.

    ___

    Norwegian Refugee Council: Works in Sudan since 2004, assists refugees in starting a new life. Mainly works with refugees living in Khartoum and returnees to South Sudan.

    ___

    Save the Children Fund-UK: Protects more than 45,000 children from violence and abuse in Darfur. Provides education for over 15,000 refugee children, treats malnutrition in 1,000 children under the age of five.

    ___

    Save the Children Fund-US: Largest international relief group for children in western Darfur. Started a program two years ago. Distributes food, runs a malnutrition clinic.

    ___

    PADCO-US: Works on a USAID-funded program on revitalizing communities and deepening the local population's understanding of Sudanese peace agreements. Provides in-kind and cash grants,

    ReplyDelete
  18. The guy is a bad ass, Rat. He's done loads of nasty things, and, yes, he's kicking out aid agencies in a fit of pique over the indictment. Are you seriously counseling that we coddle the creep, not indict him because he threatens to do more harm? It is good that he has been indicted and we (the US and others) should band together to add weight to the court. This is a far cry better than a single nation, acting in its own self interest, doing what it thinks is necessary or simply allowing him to carry on killing. I read an interesting line in my paper today - if you kill a person you go to jail, if you kill 40 people you get committed to an insane asylum but if you kill 4,000 or more you are allowed to seek asylum in a foreign country and enjoy all you money stashed in the banks of the world.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The guy is a bad ass
    ==

    Qaddafi will handle it. He's got the full confidence of Africa.

    ReplyDelete
  20. He certainly is an evil doer, ash. But he always has been. The agenda of the Sudanese government has been known for years.

    Now he is indicted, but the question remains.
    To what end?

    If the Court cannot secure him, then it has no jurisdiction, in all reality. If there are no deputies to dispatch, no posse to call up, then all that has been accomplished is to further harm millions of destitute Africans that have the misfortune to live in Sudan.

    In an effort to create a moral satisfaction amongst leftist elites that is totally misplaced.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Give him the Nobel Prize and a Free Trip to Gaza!

    ReplyDelete
  22. George McGovern against Card Check

    Employee Free Choice Act
    Where "Freedom" really IS slavery.

    Obama to Unions: Card Check Will Pass

    WASHINGTON — With renewed support from the White House, labor officials said Wednesday they are confident that legislation making it easier to unionize workplaces will pass Congress this year.

    President Barack Obama offered some of his most supportive comments for the Employee Free Choice Act since he took office this week, telling AFL-CIO members in a videotaped message Tuesday that he will work to pass the bill.


    Lifestyles of the Rich and Organized
    FOX News has the goods on the AFL-CIO’s lavish meeting at a luxury resort in Miami, Florida. The cheapest room runs $400 a night!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Mat,
    Tell them to cast a Stigma on me!

    ReplyDelete
  24. If it's from the Feds,
    it's probly really Smegma.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Stingray it is, Doug. '68 model?

    ReplyDelete
  26. It's a stigmata, doug.

    We'll put you on the revelation waiting list

    ReplyDelete
  27. "In an effort to create a moral satisfaction amongst leftist elites that is totally misplaced."

    hehe, you are good rat but, the indictments do seem to have some benefit beyond cheap moral thrills. A few evil doers are actually in custody awaiting trial I believe. Hopefully evil doer chasers will help bring the Sudanese outlaw. It'll be interesting to watch Limbaugh leading his fellow conservatives on the witch hunt if Obama should ever pledge a few brave soles to the posse. Maybe the dude will be nabbed if he should ever venture outside of Sudan. I dunno, I wait, I watch, with your bellyaches in mind.

    ReplyDelete
  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Here you go, Doug:

    http://schwinnstingray.net/gallery/index.php?imgdir=68

    http://snipurl.com/d6kfr

    ReplyDelete
  30. My belly does not ache, ash.

    But there will be a couple of million bellies aching from hunger, due to the unsealing of this particular indictment.

    ReplyDelete
  31. The Dow fell 281.40, or 4.1 percent, to 6,594.44, its lowest close since April 1997.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  33. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  34. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  35. This is the way I'm starting to see all this, but maybe I'm nuts---(calling Ash)---(because either I'm nuts or Ash is)

    44. Mongoose:


    Dow 6,643.82 -232.02 (-3.37%)
    S&P 500 686.43 -26.44 (-3.71%)
    Nasdaq 1,311.69 -42.05 (-3.11%)
    10y bond 2.84% -0.03 (-1.05%)

    Well, we are being attacked by our own government.

    Another coupled of days of this and we are going to see a complete collapse.

    If I were Obama, I would just get on the tube and announce tax relief (Particularly corp and payroll), regulatory relief, and a hold on spending and his whole agenda (including the Global Warming bit). And I would, of course, mean it. We are reaching the point of no return. Even though he would not deserve it, he would look like a hero.

    The fact that he does not, nor that the government seems to feel the slightest pressure about what is happening, seems to remove all doubt that he is out to destroy this country and replace it with a communist structure.

    That is not to say that he will know what to do when that happens. This is wealth destroyed. He just cannot print more money to replace it.

    Did any one see that Citigroup fell below a dollar today?

    I think that Denninger may have some reason for being upset. We are almost at the abyss, and we have a Sec. of Tres. yammering on about AGW.

    None of this needs to be. It is almost entirely fabricated.

    To fix it means that the idiots that caused it have to take their lumps. Instead we get a cut in the withholding amount, not the tax, just the amount. It is insane.

    Who sent him?


    Mar 5, 2009 - 12:16 pm

    45. dan:


    Yuri Andropov!

    ReplyDelete
  36. I think I got Bob all verklempt with my all verklempt post. :)

    ReplyDelete
  37. Anyone wanna finish dear host's sentence for him?

    Well....not now....

    ReplyDelete
  38. Was ist das verklempt?

    I'm a simple Swede.

    But, you don't need to answer, I looked it up.

    ReplyDelete
  39. We are almost at the abyss, and we have a Sec. of Tres. yammering on about AGW.

    Honestly, this is the worst shit I've seen in my life.

    Ash, you got to explain all this to us rubes.

    ReplyDelete
  40. hmmm, I wish I could come up with a good explanation for you Bobal but the best I can do is say the ole market trading saw that the bottom is reached when everyone throws in the towel and gives up. Seems we are getting close...

    ...or not.

    One analyst I read said the bottom would be around S&P at 640. It was at 680 today. He had some gobblygoop quantification rationale. Sounded reasonable, then again, it was gobblygoop.

    ReplyDelete
  41. 12 pct are behind on mortgages or in foreclosure

    A record 5.4 million American homeowners with a mortgage of any kind, or nearly 12 percent, were at least one month late or in foreclosure at the end of last year, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported. That's up from 10 percent at the end of the third quarter, and up from 8 percent at the end of 2007.


    The rate at the end of '07 is surprisingly high.
    It looks to me if the whole world is insolvent...

    ReplyDelete
  42. The bitch behind the throne, the Livia Drusilla of our modern America.

    If you watched the old "I, Claudius" series on the old PBS, some thirty years ago, you might remember a scene in which our heroine gives a pep talk to the gladiators.

    "Get out there, put on a good fight, and die, you worthless bastards. And if you should live, there'll be soup and lentils all around."

    Or something along those lines.

    ReplyDelete
  43. If you were "underwater" with your home and upside down with the SUV, you too might decide that it was in your best interest to "get behind" on your mortgage payments. (Especially in light of the news that the lenders will only work with you if you're behind.)

    At some point, it make sense to turn the keys in and walk away.

    ReplyDelete
  44. I've read that too, Whit. Everything is backwards.

    ReplyDelete
  45. With a PE of around 10, the S&P 500 would be about 620 or so.

    From a value investors point of view.

    ReplyDelete
  46. I wasn't asking for a prediction of the bottom, Ash, I was asking for an explanation of why this is all happening.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Speaking of...

    Marginalrevolution:

    Mortgage modification
    Tyler Cowen

    Yves Smith [nakedcapitalism.com] offers a very good critique of the mortgage modification plan. Excerpt:

    "So effectively, the borrower gets a teaser that over time adjusts to a fixed rate mortgage at current (low) interest rates.

    "Let's think this through a second. The borrower is still under water (of course, Bernanke & Co. regard this as temporary misvaluation resulting from irrational pessimism, but the more data driven crowd sees housing prices as having moves way out of line with incomes. And the outlook for incomes isn't exactly rosy either). The borrower therefore has no reason to invest in the house, including routine maintenance (assuming he can somehow scare up the dough). If the boiler goes, the roof leaks, he has no incentive to fix it. Similarly, if he were to sell the house (let's say he got a good job elsewhere), he's still faced with either negotiating a short sale or walking and leaving the bank with the property. Thus for the bank all this does is kick the can down the road, unless we assume a recovery from these levels."

    But there is much more, read the whole thing. In my view the plan is bad news and will not work. It is a waste of taxpayer money and even progressives should be highly critical of this weak initiative.

    I am reluctant to embrace write-downs of mortgage principal, but if you wish to consider a major plan that is the direction you must look. John Geanakoplos and Susan Koniak had an interesting piece in the NYT today:

    "For these non-prime mortgages, there is room to make generous principal reductions, without hurting bondholders and without spending a dime of taxpayer money, because the bond markets expect so little out of foreclosures. Typically, a homeowner fights off eviction for 18 months, making no mortgage or tax payments and no repairs. Abandoned homes are often stripped and vandalized. Foreclosure and reselling expenses are so high the subprime bond market trades now as if it expects only 25 percent back on a loan when there is a foreclosure."

    Again, read the whole thing and consider also the diagram. This is a critical passage from the piece:

    "It shows that monthly default rates for subprime mortgages and other non-prime mortgages are stunningly sensitive to whether a homeowner has an ownership stake in his home. Every month, another 8 percent of the subprime homeowners whose mortgages (first plus any others) are 160 percent of the estimated value of their houses become seriously delinquent. On the other hand, subprime homeowners whose loans are worth 60 percent of the current value of their house become delinquent at a rate of only 1 percent per month.

    "Despite all the job losses and economic uncertainty, almost all owners with real equity in their homes, are finding a way to pay off their loans. It is those “underwater” on their mortgages — with homes worth less than their loans — who are defaulting, but who, given equity in their homes, will find a way to pay. They are not evil or irresponsible; they are defaulting because — for anyone with an already compromised credit rating — it is the economically prudent thing to do."

    Is that what "the ownership society" has come to?

    March 5, 2009 at 08:47 AM



    Bad plan.

    Won't work.

    Sooooooper.

    ReplyDelete
  48. heh, but I remember a scene too, of our dying heroine Livia Drusilla, and she made sure she had a coin in her mouth, to pay the Ferryman, just in case.

    ReplyDelete
  49. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person.

    Charon

    ReplyDelete
  50. Obama Hails Market's "Profit to Earnings Ratio" - Then Crash
    Yesterday, Obama suggested that the time was right for the average American to buy stock, claiming that the
    "Profit to Earnings Ratio" was improving.
    You just can't make this stuff up!

    Obama lied, people's finances died.

    ReplyDelete
  51. I told you why, bob, and you fumed and ranted for half a day.

    The Fed bankers tried to perform a fine tuning of the economy, tightening the growth of M1 supply in the 18 months prior to Sep '08 to less than 1.5%. Not even keeping pace with inflation.

    When the resulting tightening proved to constrictive, the bubble burst. First in the sub-prime mortgages and then through the dirivitive markets.
    I do think that the crisis cascaded out of control, the best and the brightest not really being either.

    Now the Federals will use the crisis to further centralize control of the American economy through the Nationally Chartered Bank, The Federal Reserve.

    While the Europeans are calling for a "Worldwide New Deal", good thing that Obama snubbed Brown, to have been agreeable would have further hastened a New World Order.

    As Gordon Brown wrote:

    I believe there is no challenge so great or so difficult that it cannot be overcome by America, Britain and the world working together. That is why President Obama and I will discuss this week a global new deal, whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York– and giving security to the hard-working families in every country.

    I see this global new deal as an agreement that every continent injects resources into its economy. I believe that central to this new investment is that every country backs a green recovery for the future, that every country that wishes to participate in the international financial system agrees common principles for financial regulation, coordinated internationally, and changes to their own banking system that will bring us shared prosperity once again.


    Good thing to let that proposal die on the vine of compassionate colonialism.

    ReplyDelete
  52. http://www.observer.com/2009/style/beautiful-banker-yields-interest-life-after-goldman-catwalk


    Beautiful Banker Yields Interest: Life After Goldman Is a Catwalk!

    By Spencer Morgan
    March 3, 2009 | 7:10 p.m



    Jesse, a 27-year-old former New York City investment banker, moved to Buenos Aires 11 months ago. In the last few months, he says the trickle has turned into a full spray: On average he meets two new arrivals a week. “There is a huge global migration of newly unemployed bankers to Buenos Aires,” he said. “The funny thing is that most of them claim that they left voluntarily, but none of them can say that while they look you in the eye.” Talk naturally turns toward the Wall Street crash. “There is an instant sense of community,” said Jesse. “If you think about it, losing a high-paying job that you worked your entire life to acquire is a very traumatic experience. I can’t tell you how many emotional conversations I have had discussing how it happened, how you feel about it, what your plans are. Most have decided the industry is over and have no idea what they want to do going forward.”

    On a sunny Sunday afternoon in January, he saw David Webb. “He was aimlessly walking down the street by himself with a look of satisfaction and curiosity. I immediately recognized him; after all, he is a very handsome Canadian with a chiseled jaw line.”



    FOR THE LAST four years, up until a week ago, David Webb worked at Goldman Sachs. In January he spent two weeks hanging loose in Buenos Aires. He was also there checking out real estate investment opportunities. A friend of Mr. Webb’s had told him to come down and have a look. Within a day of arriving, he found himself dealing with more New York bankers than he does in New York.

    “You’d start the day at a park and then run into five former bankers, and then you’d wind up at a bar and all of a sudden there would be 15 of them,” Mr. Webb said. “Ex-bankers, ex-traders, Lehman guys, Bear guys, everyone. Guys that got screwed by their job and came to a place where everything was cheap. It’s fuckin’ beautiful and the sun was going down at 9:30.”

    He said that some of these young bucks, most of whom hail from New York and London, have embraced their new lives. But for most, with a few drinks comes a fountain of griping and grumbling, bonuses, bonuses, bonuses. Mr. Webb fled to Uruguay for a few days.

    “It did kind of crystallize things,” said Mr. Webb, 26. “I came home to New York and everyone was just fucking depressed. I tried not to get infected as I reintegrated myself into the working world.”

    Last Thursday was his last day at Goldman. “Laid off” is a vague term, and Mr. Webb is not permitted, under the terms of his employment, to be specific.

    [...]

    ReplyDelete
  53. Trish,
    You didn't mention, it also covers second mortgages, which is cool, since I refied and bought Sonia a second home on island.

    Thanks, y'all!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Obumble has signed some order or other to shut down Yucca Mountain. This may please Mat, but it doesn't please me.

    So we have--(this may be the end of our efforts in Idaho)

    No drilling.

    No nukes.

    No coal.

    And a very possible attack on Iran that might close the Gulf.

    If you're going to move somewhere, move south, where it is warmer.

    Looks like al-Doug is 'sitting pretty'.

    ReplyDelete
  55. Yeah Bobal, like Rat I think the problems are basically monetary in nature though I don't buy into the conspiracy part that Rat does. (Side note to Rat - I was under the impression that they stopped tracking M1 money supply years ago) Anyway, Bobal, there was all kinds of money created over the last 30 years or so (non-gov. institutions were able to create it through leverage, these credit swaps ect. and the deficit running governments also created it). All this money has been sloshing about the world looking for return. Returns were goosed by leverage. When things start to turn south, as they always do, then all that leverage accelerates the decline as well. We are watching much of that funny money disappear after years of watching it appear. The governments of the world are frantically trying to replace some of that vanishing money to little effect. Real people, real jobs are getting hurt too as real people and real jobs benefited on the upswing though some have made out much better than others and some have made out much worse.

    on 'underwater' mortgages. Sure, you are underwater if you mortgage is higher than the house is currently valued but if you don't sell and you still have a job which enables you to keep paying your mortgage nothing really has changed.

    ReplyDelete
  56. I think it's the energy thing that is going to get Obumble.

    These low gas prices can't hold. $4/gallon may look like a bargain soon.

    And we're not doing a thing that's meaningful to find a reliable replacement.

    I think he is in a no win position.

    The price at the pump, people react to that.

    If the economy should improve, gas prices go up.

    No win situation.

    There were killings at gas stations, back in the Carter error.

    ReplyDelete
  57. Correctamondo.
    As Tigerhawk points out in a video, every dollar subtracted from the account results in 30 less dollars to loan or invest.

    ReplyDelete
  58. "Sure, you are underwater if you mortgage is higher than the house is currently valued but if you don't sell and you still have a job which enables you to keep paying your mortgage nothing really has changed."
    ---
    That's what drives Larsen nuts about them not getting rid of the mark to market rule, which we did without just fine for half a century or so.

    ReplyDelete
  59. Trish,
    You didn't mention, it also covers second mortgages, which is cool, since I refied and bought Sonia a second home on island.

    - Doug

    Just a little down payment on your renewed affections for, and from, the USG.

    I personally suggested a severed horse's head, but no one listens to me.

    ReplyDelete
  60. I got that on island home for Sonia to reduce my carbon footprint.
    Warm Hug for Doug.

    ReplyDelete
  61. I don't know about all this monetary stuff, not saying it's wrong.

    I just think the markets have zero confidence in Obama, and it's showing.

    Some of these arguments almost sound as if wiping out half of the value of the stock market is a good thing, a long overdue correction.

    I'm just wondering if Northwestern Mutual Life has anything left to pay my wife, when I'm out of here.

    ReplyDelete
  62. She'll probly part you out on the Global Organ Trade.

    ReplyDelete
  63. Except for the tiny one, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  64. That's what drives Larsen nuts about them not getting rid of the mark to market rule, which we did without just fine for half a century or so.

    Thu Mar 05, 07:03:00 PM EST

    And it's not just Larsen, I know.



    I am struggling to maintain a wee bit of optimism on the economic front generally, as I have a feeling (I do not wish to actually confirm it with facts) that much of our personal wealth-in-theory, is now gone, gone, gone.

    ReplyDelete
  65. That'd be a hell of a pimp. Pay on my life insurance all my life like a good husband, then kick the bucket, fucker comes up empty.
    ---

    She'll probly part you out on the Global Organ Trade.

    heh, there might be a couple bucks there....

    ReplyDelete
  66. well, doug, mark to market doesn't matter unless you have show you've got capital to back stuff up and then it matters a lot. If I want to borrow money from you and I pledge my house as collateral are you going to lend me 1 million on it since I paid 1.2 million for it a year ago or are you going to evaluate the market and determine what the thing is worth in today's market. That is just one small example but I think it illustrates the absurdity of trying to do away with it. Take the capital an insurance company must keep in reserve to meet potential claims - should they be allowed to just ignore the recent devaluation? Quick way for them to go bust it seems and rip off a whole load of people on the way.

    ReplyDelete
  67. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  68. I'm stepping into waters I really know nothing about, and I may well be confused, but isn't the problem, if there is one, with mark to market, the idea that what to do when there is no market?

    ReplyDelete
  69. But you can write a scenario where Mark to Market is used to ill-effect, also, Whit.
    Soros and Company no doubt have more than once.

    ReplyDelete
  70. Is the value of a well-kept house in a neighborhood with 10% foreclosures equal to the value of an abandoned, deteriorating foreclosure in the same neighborhood?

    ReplyDelete
  71. Don't know the name of that one, Sam, but it's coming east out of the Cascades, up there by North Cascades National Park took the pic on our way to Bellingham.

    A little lower down, there were lots of apple orchards, and the harvest was winding up, but still lots of Mexicans around, in some little housing built by that river.

    I guess it's no secret I love rivers.

    ReplyDelete
  72. On Thursday, company Barfoot & Thompson said it sold 559 homes in the Auckland market in February, up 8.9 per cent on sales in January, and the first time in four years that February sales had been higher than the preceding January.

    The average price of $512,536 was up 3.5 per cent on February 2008, and up 2 per cent on the average price achieved in January.

    Managing director Peter Thompson said buyers and sellers were cautiously re-entering the market, and there was cause to have some optimism the housing market was settling.


    Industry Sees Hope

    ReplyDelete
  73. Canada was smarter about this whole business than we, I did read somewhere recently. Ran a tighter (in re leveraging) regulatory ship.

    Kinda makes me feel bad about buying that t-shirt: "Canada - America's Hat"

    ReplyDelete
  74. 8. blert:


    His words were: Profit and Earnings Ratio… which is universally understood to mean that he’s never bought stock in his life, and can’t even read the quotes.

    IMHO we are in waterfall decline territory. BHO’s cap and kill taxes are a huge reason why GE is tanking.

    At every turn BHO’s tax notions are pure poison. Our oil and gas industry went deep into the Gulf strictly on the premise of no royalties. Extraction taxes are lethal for marginal fields: and the deep Gulf has marginal economics.

    Timmy is completely gutting the viability of any additional deep water rigs.

    Obama is absolutely nuking the markets.

    ReplyDelete
  75. Is that like kinda coming in to Winthrop?

    ReplyDelete
  76. For Mat
    (and linear)

    "From McAuleys’w World: Isn’t it time we demand an open an honest intellectual debate on Global Warming before Trillions of dollars are misspent and 10’s of thousands of workers lose their jobs because Politicians are pursuing alternatives that are not justified on the basis of a dubious connection between Global Warming and so called “man-made” Green House gases. The costs of Cap and Trade “taxes” on the poor, the old and those on fixed incomes will be catastrophic. The “Green Agenda” is being driven by those with a financial interest in the ”Alternative Energy Platforms”. "

    ReplyDelete
  77. I can't find the name of that river, but it's a Nice Drive

    ReplyDelete
  78. Yes, I think it might be Winthrop. I'm still looking around.

    ReplyDelete
  79. Winthrop is located in the northern portion of this valley at MP 193 of SR 20, the scenic North Cascades Highway.

    I think that is it, but can't find the name of the river yet.

    ReplyDelete
  80. I think it might be the Chewack River.

    ReplyDelete
  81. Hang on, no, not the Methow. Methow's further south.

    You might be right with the Chewak.

    ReplyDelete
  82. Daily News Briefing
    German industrial orders in free fall
    05.03.2009

    German industrial orders are down by 42%





    And two guys from MIT forecast a "lost decade" for us. Which is probably not as fun as a "lost weekend."

    My grandmother in rural Ill. supervises the local food pantry. Men come in, absolutely mortified and demoralized. They cry, they feel so wretched about being there there.


    Reminds me of a pitcher for the Braves, back in 96 or so, being interviewed after the WS win. He pitched the last inning and pulled a rabbit out of his hat. He was asked how bad the pressure was. He answered, reflecting on his time in farm league, that it wasn't any pressure at all. Having a wife and three kids and not knowing where the next meal is going to come from - that's pressure.

    ReplyDelete
  83. I've done a lot of camping along the Methow growing up. Downriver from Winthrop.

    ReplyDelete
  84. I think it might flow into the Methow. Dang, I need a road map. And I can't seem to find a good map on the web of that area.

    Just an ad for a dude ranch with big white cattle.

    We drove through an artsy place that must have been Winslow, though.

    You know, where you pay two times more for everything.

    ReplyDelete
  85. It's the Methow? Then where in hell is the Chewack?

    I'm looking for moss on the north sides of the trees at this point.

    ReplyDelete
  86. Maybe the Chewack flows into the Methow above Winthrope?

    Not Winslow in the above post, Winthrope.

    It's Winthrope I mean.

    ReplyDelete
  87. Thu Mar 05, 07:42:00 PM EST

    Good article there, Doug.

    I don't think Sam and I would want to hire Obama as a guide through the North Cascades.

    We can get lost by ourselves.

    ReplyDelete
  88. While we're all waiting for the next shoe to drop, Obama and company are taking advantage of the crisis to blitzkrieg their social agenda. That's what so disheartening; in the midst of the financial meltdown, the left gets to come in and absolutely plunder whatever was left of the treasury. I mean, look at California where the elected leaders have no conception of living within a budget. Now we're seeing the same mentality on the Federal level. Open wide the floodgates of spending and damn the consequences!

    ReplyDelete
  89. Well, ash, Kudlow provided the M1 numbers, I assume them accurate.

    It's not that I believe the conspiracy theory, just that all the pieces seem to fit.

    That these fellows were so dumb as to not know what the effect of their actions would be, I find an unreasonable assumption.

    ReplyDelete
  90. They all flow into the Columbia, I take my stand on that.

    ReplyDelete
  91. Meanwhile...

    Armageddon Rex continues to dream of armed insurrection.

    I imagine the battle planning's going on in Habu's mom's basement.

    "Open wide the floodgates of spending and damn the consequences!"

    This is essential Keynesianism. It is supposed to be massive, swift, and (wait for it) short-lived. And you pay for it on the other end, in ostensibly better times.

    ReplyDelete
  92. Meanwhile, I have heard a lot of people lately saying that much of their "wealth in theory" has vanished. If you still have 60%, count yourself lucky.

    Unfortunately, for many people, whatever is left is tied up in real estate equity which as you know ain't the most liquid of holdings.

    This recession is going to be a hard nut to crack...The much maligned American consumer ain't buying and that's what the world needs. The Banks aren't lending, buyers aren't buying and Obama's rejiggering the American paradigm...

    Round and round she goes and where she stops, no body knows...

    ReplyDelete
  93. I wish I had a name like "Armageddon Rex".

    ReplyDelete
  94. Yep, Chewak probably flows into the Methow.

    Been to Winthrop lots of times. Pretty pricey alright. Tourist trap these days. Has been for awhile now.

    ReplyDelete
  95. Did I read somewhere just recently that Keynes was a queer, or did I just dream that?

    ReplyDelete
  96. We ain't gettin' lost up there, Bob. Them's my old stompin' grounds. Well, kinda. Methow did come to me after awhile.

    ReplyDelete
  97. We do NOT say "queer," mister.

    ReplyDelete
  98. I like places like that though, Winthrop. Probably what Sun Valley, or some of those Colorado cities were, Aspen, before they got ruined, overbuilt, assholes like Robert Redford hanging around.

    ReplyDelete
  99. I didn't say it, just dreamed it, Trish.

    ReplyDelete
  100. And you pay for it on the other end, in ostensibly better times.

    Yeah, well, we already knew that the prescription drugs, social security and medicare would never be paid for...now we add these unprecedented deficits.

    The only way to "pay for it" will be debt cram downs and the remaining balances paid off with inflated dollars.

    ReplyDelete
  101. The financials are in free fall. But we haven't been this oversold since,.. tomorrow? :)

    ReplyDelete
  102. bob, did you hear recently that one of your favorites, Mr. Walt Whitman, was a notorious wide stancer of his era?

    ReplyDelete
  103. "Meanwhile, I have heard a lot of people lately saying that much of their "wealth in theory" has vanished. If you still have 60%, count yourself lucky."

    I'm thinkin' that what I don't know can't hurt me.

    ReplyDelete
  104. I believe I heard on the History Channel that Whitman was notoriously, uh, uh "happy."?

    ReplyDelete
  105. 8. blert:


    His words were: Profit and Earnings Ratio… which is universally understood to mean that he’s never bought stock in his life, and can’t even read the quotes.

    IMHO we are in waterfall decline territory. BHO’s cap and kill taxes are a huge reason why GE is tanking.

    At every turn BHO’s tax notions are pure poison. Our oil and gas industry went deep into the Gulf strictly on the premise of no royalties. Extraction taxes are lethal for marginal fields: and the deep Gulf has marginal economics.

    Timmy is completely gutting the viability of any additional deep water rigs.

    Obama is absolutely nuking the markets.


    The very guy
    Ash voted for.

    ReplyDelete
  106. Yes, and I love Walt, it just slipped out, and I apologize.

    It's the Larry Craig hangover syndrome, out here in Idaho.

    ReplyDelete
  107. The Chinese are "opening the floodgates." Not nearly enough, I have read, to cover their year-on-year burgeoning worker base.

    That'll be an interesting shake-out.

    ReplyDelete
  108. The word you're reaching for, whit, is "pecuya." ; )

    ReplyDelete
  109. XOM, still trading above October low. I'd like to see this one go the way of the dodo.

    ReplyDelete
  110. I think I know the truth about our national poet, Walt Whitman.

    It seems he may have had some homosexual tendencies, as we might call it today.

    But the bulk of the literature, and there's a lot of it, seems to confirm the tendencies were never acted upon, and the truth of it seems to be that Walt never made love to anyone, other than his own fist.

    None of this has anything to do with the beauty of his poetry.

    It seems rather like an overflowing of his love for the rest of humanity, all us struggling folk, aspiring upwards.

    "The gentle finger of the Lord brings up the laggards."

    ReplyDelete
  111. Oh yeah! Thank you Trish, yes, "pacuya" works.

    This History Channel show certainly was unambiguous about Whitman's proclivities. Merciless.

    ReplyDelete
  112. A ray of hope:

    http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=FCX&p=D&yr=0&mn=8&dy=0&id=p20355254302
    ==

    Copper is a leading indicator. And FCX is a proxy. Or maybe it's just the Chinezies hoarding supplies.

    ReplyDelete
  113. - Let's Give FDR a Rest for Awhile -

    The Obama team has been lauded for emulating Franklin Roosevelt's bold response to the Great Depression of the 1930s. And as calls grow for nationalization of Citi and other giant banks, they may be tempted to go where even FDR feared to tread. But financial giantism -- private or public -- isn't the answer. The challenge is how to reconstruct our broken financial system. Let's give Franklin a rest for a while, and ponder Teddy's progressive philosophy: When it comes to finance, small really is beautiful.

    davidignatius@washpost.com

    ReplyDelete
  114. 20. Leo Linbeck III:

    With tanks and bad banks going global
    The Mexican moneyed get mobile

    So Barack tries to flush
    First Iraq and then Rush

    As his fate starts to look like Chernobyl

    ReplyDelete
  115. GE closed at $6.66 today. I think that's an omen:

    http://market-ticker.org/archives/853-More-GE-IMPORTANT.html

    ReplyDelete
  116. To write a letter or to write a poem is a imaginative pursuit, not necessarily acted upon. He did live with a guy for a few weeks or months,(who hasn't?) and rode around on a tram with a driver in Manahatta, as he called it.

    He also wrote about some trysts down south with a woman, which certainly didn't happen.

    This question of Whitman's sexuality has been explored at length, and the real conclusion in the majority of the books is he didn't have any physical sexuality, except perhaps with himself.

    This is not absolutely certain, but becomes clearer the more you know him.

    He was an imaginative man. And if he had a gay tryst, so what.

    The poetry is great.

    If I'm remembering the History Channel Show in its entirety, the only guy that 'got it' was the black guy at the end, who said this imagery of the surf and sea thrusting into the land was not sexual at all, but an image of spirit marrying materiality, which may well be sexual in a way, but it's not Joe marrying John.

    I think that is what Whitman really wrote about.

    If you wanted to, you could make some allegation about Jesus 'resting his head on the breast of the disciple he loved best', but it would miss the point.

    Sexuality is a big deal, written about, but I think in the higher lieterature it is a pointer or an aid to get to something else.

    ReplyDelete
  117. "And as calls grow for nationalization of Citi and other giant banks, they may be tempted to go where even FDR feared to tread."

    Nationalization is what happened to the S & L s. And it was the Reagan admin that came up with the plan. In very short order.

    The bad ones went into gov receivership, and from the *day* they landed in RTC's lap, the turnaround to the private sector was 90 days.

    The current mess rather drwarfs that, but when Greenspan gave a shout out to "nationalization," he wasn't talking permanently.

    ReplyDelete
  118. but an image of spirit marrying materiality

    And it is an old ploy in this kind of stuff to have spirit thrusting from above, Leda gets pecked by the Swan.

    The myths seem to say, it's the above coming down, not the other way around, like in our evolutionary theories based on Darwin.

    The soul is always receptive of the spirit, which comes from above, in the older and I think truer way of looking at things.

    ReplyDelete
  119. Chávez has, also, threatened to seize control of privately- owned Polar, the country’s largest food conglomerate and brewer.

    Three weeks ago Chávez won a referendum that will allow him to run an unlimited number of times for the presidency.

    “If you want to take on the government, you’ll find out that this revolution is for real,” Chávez said. His comments were directed to the family that owns a controlling interest in Polar.


    Agricultural Giant

    ReplyDelete
  120. FT.com - General Electrified

    Published: March 5 2009 15:05 | Last updated: March 5 2009 18:42

    If Jeffrey Immelt felt unlucky to take over General Electric from living legend Jack Welch just four days before the September 11 atrocities, he can only blame himself for allowing financial services to become such a large part of the mega-conglomerate. GE may remain, for now, one of only six triple A-rated US companies, but the markets are trading it like junk as fears over its GE Capital unit mount. GE’s shares are down nearly 60 per cent this year and each soothing word it gives investors seemingly is having the opposite effect.

    At Wednesday’s close, for example, all of GE was worth $6.69 a share even as an analyst from Deutsche Bank estimated that its industrial units alone, responsible for half its earnings recently, were worth around $12 on their own. GE is a leader in areas such as aircraft engines, medical equipment, and power and water infrastructure, businesses that will suffer in a recession but not vanish. The implied value of its financial arm of negative $56bn seems irrational, but perception is often reality in today’s jittery markets.
    .
    .
    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/f8a59aa6-0996-11de-add8-0000779fd2ac.html
    ==

    So, a $60 billion gov bailout for GE? I wonder what Santelli will say about that.

    ReplyDelete
  121. Who knows? Maybe 'O' will consult Chavez on things nationalization. He's got some experience in it.

    ReplyDelete
  122. At least there won't be any shortage of Green Shit and QueerAss Poetry @ the EB!

    ReplyDelete
  123. Check this out, Mat!
    ---
    Gates of Vienna News Feed 3/4/2009
    by Baron Bodissey


    The big story of the day comes from Canada. It concerns a prominent Muslim named Khaled Mouammar, the president of the Canadian Arab Federation, who supports Hamas and Hezbollah and believes they should be removed from the list of terrorist organizations.

    It turns out that Mr. Mouammar also sat for years on the Immigration and Refugee Board, and was responsible for clearing Muslim refugee-claimants for admittance into the country.

    So tell me, Canadians: how secure do you feel now?

    ReplyDelete
  124. GE: Zero Credibility

    http://valueplays.blogspot.com/2009/03/ge-cfo-addresses-rumors.html

    ReplyDelete
  125. Jon Stewart says Sell

    :0:0:)

    Well, I would, if I had anything to sell!

    ReplyDelete
  126. So tell me, Canadians: how secure do you feel now?
    ==

    There's been an attempt on the Pickering nuke reactor. We know it's on their list of to do list. So not so safe.

    ReplyDelete
  127. Well, I would, if I had anything to sell!
    ==

    Bob, please don't tell me you've already signed your kidneys to Trish!

    ReplyDelete
  128. My kidneys? You're kidding. My teeth too, heart, lungs, the whole works, for two bucks!

    And the expiration date is only a year from now.

    ReplyDelete
  129. "Who knows? Maybe 'O' will consult Chavez..."

    Borrow the red shirt! Borrow the red shirt!

    Also, sit behind a folding lunchroom cafeteria table and bore me to death for hours at a time with your kick-ass Bolivar schtick.

    ReplyDelete
  130. for two bucks!
    ==

    And let me guess, she promised you that the money is safe in the Cayman Islands, and will be earning 15% in Madoff interest.

    ReplyDelete
  131. aye, y'all still chatting in this thread so I'll post my screed here to:



    Hoppin' thread below. Let me post my responses to mostly random copied comments:

    bobal wrote:

    "but isn't the problem, if there is one, with mark to market, the idea that what to do when there is no market?"


    ***Yeah, no one buying something sucks! If you are holding something no one wants to buy I sure ain't buying it. How do you value it? Some things, mortgage backed securities for example, actually spin off some cash so there is some basis for valuation. Waiting for a government to step in and prop up the market can actually help freeze it up - sellers won't sell because they might get something better from TARP.***

    Blogger Doug said...

    Is the value of a well-kept house in a neighborhood with 10% foreclosures equal to the value of an abandoned, deteriorating foreclosure in the same neighborhood?

    ***nope - the beauty of free markets - what's that sucker gonna sell for? I'll grant you that no one is buying these days. My buddies in commercial real estate have pointed that out to me. No sales, no way to value things...***

    Blogger trish said...

    Canada was smarter about this whole business than we, I did read somewhere recently. Ran a tighter (in re leveraging) regulatory ship.

    Kinda makes me feel bad about buying that t-shirt: "Canada - America's Hat"

    ***America's hat - that is funny! Funny if you like a real heavy damn hat - Canadians: hewers of wood, miners of mineral stuffs. We sell the land from beneath us and strike a proud pose. Well, there is more to it than that but..."

    Doug cited:

    "A recent World Economic Forum report ranked it the soundest in the world, mostly as the result of its conservative practices. (The United States ranked 40th)."

    ***A quick history of Canadian banks - they wanted to merge, they wanted deregulation, the gov of the day said NO! (the same gov that said no to Iraq). No Canadian bank went bust in the Great Depression. The current five banks have a max ownership of only 10% to one entity, foreign ownership restrictions, and relatively stringent capital requirements. They exceeded the required capital base conservative folk that they are. They've also ran with a relative conservative lending philosophy. There is a government backed mortgage issuer - CMHC***

    Blogger desert rat said...

    Well, ash, Kudlow provided the M1 numbers, I assume them accurate.

    It's not that I believe the conspiracy theory, just that all the pieces seem to fit.

    That these fellows were so dumb as to not know what the effect of their actions would be, I find an unreasonable assumption


    ***I'm fuzzy on the details you reference with specific acts leading to a contraction of the money supply. "Kudlow said" doesn't have much veracity. I remember searching for M1 figures and came across (maybe wiki) references to official stats keepers formally not trying to calculate the number (conspiracy anyone??? - maybe). As I've said before, in general anyway, I think the affairs of man are quite haphazard and reactionary as opposed to controlling and conspiratorial though many try***


    trish said:

    "This is essential Keynesianism. It is supposed to be massive, swift, and (wait for it) short-lived. And you pay for it on the other end, in ostensibly better times."

    ***I've yet to see a gov. really follow Keynes recommendations - spend like hell in down times and save equally in good times. Usually they seem to spend like hell in bad and then, maybe, go neutral in good times. Heck, we all pat ourselves on the back when we go neutral (not quite the surplus one would imagine) i.e. Clinton years in US Chretien in Canada.***

    Bobal quoted:

    "
    Obama is absolutely nuking the markets."


    ***yeah, riiiiight, it's Obama's fault. By the way the DOW is just ONE of many economic indicators, and yes, Bush gets a lump of coal in his stocking for his input. Obama, we'll see what happens over the next years but I'm concerned the current politics is forcing him in to the role of trying to save it all and much must fail. Ya know, creative destruction and all -- we free market conservatives used to preach that shit at one time, before our pockets were directly affected.***

    Blogger trish said...

    " Nationalization is what happened to the S & L s. And it was the Reagan admin that came up with the plan. In very short order.

    The bad ones went into gov receivership, and from the *day* they landed in RTC's lap, the turnaround to the private sector was 90 days."

    ***there certainly was some elegance to the S&L solution - let 'em fail and do a work out. Now we are trying to keep the dead walking****

    ReplyDelete
  132. Also, don't issue visas, you fat, paranoid motherfucker.

    ReplyDelete
  133. Well, she said 9% interest.
    ==

    What!? Just 9%!? Bob, if you're not getting 15%, you're getting gypped!

    ReplyDelete
  134. I feel like I'm having my whole life striped away, Mat.

    ReplyDelete
  135. Bob, If you paid your taxes, there's a job at Treasury for you:


    Zero Hedge: Geithner Pick For Deputy Treasury Secretary Withdraws

    Just when one thought the tragicomedy couldn't get any worse. WSJ just out that Annette Nazareth, who was Geithner's pick for Deputy Secretary Treasury, has withdrawn from consideration. It is not known yet if this was because she did or did not pay her taxes.
    ***Update***

    A second candidate, Caroline Atkinson, has withdrawn her nomination to oversee international affairs.

    As WSJ reports:

    The withdrawals aren't confined to the Treasury. Susan Tierney recently withdrew her name from consideration for the job of deputy secretary of energy for what a person close to her said were family reasons. Jane Garvey recently withdrew from consideration for the deputy secretary post at the Department of Transportation, according to people familiar with the matter.
    People familiar with the matter said Ms. Nazareth and Ms. Atkinson withdrew in part because of the long vetting process, which had dragged on for weeks and included several rounds of intense questioning. Treasury is now said to be considering another person as deputy -- H. Rodgin Cohen, chairman of top law firm Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, who has been an adviser to virtually every firm on Wall Street, two people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Cohen declined to comment.
    .
    .

    http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/03/geithner-pick-for-deputy-treasury.html

    ReplyDelete
  136. Also, don't issue visas, you fat, paranoid motherfucker.

    Love the language, just hope it isn't pointed at me.
    ------
    I have paid my taxes Mat, and I may just apply.

    I can shuffle papers and cheat the folks just as well as the next guy.

    grrrnite, folks

    ReplyDelete
  137. G'nite, Bob.

    (That was Trish multitasking with her Chinezie counterpart. They be known for their fat heads)

    ReplyDelete