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."

Friday, May 07, 2010

More Begging

38 comments:

  1. Ya got a link for that? All I see is "More Begging," and a blank page.

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  2. you don't want to kill my enthusiasm.

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  3. After years of generous pay raises, Pentagon warns of fiscal calamity

    "The Pentagon, not usually known for its frugality, is pleading with Congress to stop spending so much money on the troops.

    "Through nine years of war, service members have seen a healthy rise in pay and benefits, leaving most of them better compensated than their peers in the private sector..."


    Pentagon Wants to Apply Brakes to Pay Increases

    I know zip about Pentagon budgets so I'm kinda shooting from the hip in my opinions here.

    The article points out that they are paying educational benefits for the military spouses. This seems crazy to me. Especially during these times when private industry is actually cutting benefits (including educational benefits) for their employees much less for their employees' spouses. So it seems like there are areas where costs could be cut.

    That being said, the Pentagon might get a a little more sympathy for their argument if they didn't allow 100% or more cost overruns on the weapons systems they say they need the money for.


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  4. I don’t think I’ve ever seen people quit a blog as much as I’ve seen here in the last year. Usually people just walk away take a break for a while and then come back when they feel refreshed and revived. Quit…come back…quit…come back, I’m not sure if my Lasik is giving me double vision or this is just what is suppose to happen.

    Although I’ve never heard Trish express herself in this sort of manner which tells me that her fuck stool will be empty for quite some time and will be hard to fill with someone other than her. Hopefully she’s just pissed off and will return after a relaxing weekend away from the bar.

    are you in the mood for a melody

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  5. The attrition is brutal.

    Says something about being a survivor to hang on.

    Hey, I see your back to Melody again. Haven't seen you around for awhile.

    Did you leave the bar and fail to tell us?


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  6. I never changed my name that's not the way I work. Melody is only used here because it was given to me here. Elsewhere it's MLD, I just never changed it back when I commented. I may have many aliases but I stick to one per blog.

    I never left.

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  7. Hey, T.

    How's the writing coming?


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  8. lest she does not know it I have the utmost respect for trish's intellect!

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  9. Nice looking website T.


    Was I just lucky in checking today or all all of your interpretations of the Bible geared to the inner chick?


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  10. Okay, Greece has a GDP/per capita comparable to France, Germany, Canada, et al. They, actually, are very hard-working. They are up at the top (2nd, or 3rd in the OECD in hours worked.)

    Their debt is too high, but it's not off-the-charts high for their GDP. So, what's the problem?

    Could it be, That They ALL work for the Freakin' Government?

    And, could it be that the poor, and middle class pay all kinds of taxes (including a twenty someodd percent VAT Tax,) while, evidently, the people that have the money, the rich, pay virtually NO taxes.

    The Two things I have not read in the various articles about the IMF "conditions" are 1) Reduce the size of the Government, and 2) Make the Rich pay taxes.

    I'm beginning to think that this Greece "blowup" is the best thing that could have happened. Better that it's a Greece, and not an Italy.

    Greece

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  11. Never mind T.

    I hadn't scrolled down far enough to see how extensive your postings were.

    Non-stop sounds about right.


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  12. For those who think it's possible to prevent Iran from getting the bomb if they really want it.



    Is Brazil Building The Bomb?



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  13. The recent bubble in housing prices worldwide was a kind of pyramid scheme in which the income stream was supplied by ever rising home valuations. These mortgages, regardless of the underlying creditworthiness of the borrowers, were bundled into securities which were then traded internationally between financial institutions as A-paper when in fact they were mostly sub-prime.

    When housing prices began to slip late in 2006, this pyramid scheme was exposed, but the exposure by banks and other lenders was so vast and far-reaching ("Too Big To Fail") that it was thought a complete meltdown would destroy the entire global financial system.

    So governments stepped in to bail the lenders out, thus keeping the Ponzi scheme afloat yet a while longer with sovereign debt largely financed by currency held by nations with a current account surplus, such as China and Germany. In the new phase of the crisis it is nations themselves, such as Greece, or states like California, that claim they are Too Big To Fail.

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  14. Nuclear agency set to focus on Israel

    "Israel's secretive nuclear activities may undergo unprecedented scrutiny next month, with a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency tentatively set to focus on the topic for the first time, according to documents shared Friday with The Associated Press.

    "A copy of the restricted provisional agenda of the IAEA's June 7 board meeting lists "Israeli nuclear capabilities" as the eighth item — the first time that that the agency's decision-making body is being asked to deal with the issue in its 52 years of existence.

    "The agenda can still undergo changes in the month before the start of the meeting and a senior diplomat from a board member nation said the item, included on Arab request, could be struck if the U.S. and other Israeli allies mount strong opposition. He asked for anonymity for discussing a confidential matter..."


    IAEA To Look Into Israel Nuclear Capability


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  15. While the Israeli that post here, they seem happy to have their military take on the Syrians, rather than start a war with Iran.

    It's all good, and getting better.

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  16. 4 Trillion was given away by the CRA between 2000 and 2008!

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  17. So the Den Mother is taking a hike, to bad. She provided an insightful look at the multi-generational professional Federal.

    Didn't like being called a Socialist, though.

    Thought they'd had enough time and grade to dismiss thoughts of their Federal employer becoming just what's been promised.

    The ultimate provider.

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  18. O'Reilly says maybe if the Times Square bomber had not gone to Pakistan thirteen times he could have paid his mortgage.

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  19. I think I like this picture better.

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  20. Maybe without the logo crap on the bottom.

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  21. There is Nothing more closely associated with terrorism than foreclosure.
    Forgiveness is our only weapon in the WOT.
    Stop Foreclosures Now!

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  22. Hey, T:

    You sending contributions to Imelda?

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  23. Just very well could be, Doug. The "money guys" don't seem to think the bailout will do any good. They still don't want those bonds.

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  24. Excluding Census, jobs increase 224000; jobless rate rises to 9.9%

    MarketWatch -

    WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The US added 290000 jobs in April, the biggest increase since March 2006, with broad gains throughout the economy.

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  25. A little sunshine on the jobs front finally. Hopefully, the latest market fiasco won't hurt the confidence that seemed to be building.

    A little perspective however.

    It takes 100-150k jobs per month just to keep up with population growth and 66k of the 290k were census jobs that will shortly disappear.

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  26. Pakistan Launches New Missliles

    "Pakistan successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles Saturday capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the military said, as the Islamic nation's leader urged the world to recognize it as a legitimate nuclear power..."

    Some countries deny nuclear capability and others brag about it.


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  27. We knew this clown was going to wreak his economy. Venezuela annual inflation hits 30 percent

    and that's in the midst of a whirled-wide recession/depression.

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  28. A few years ago, my fear was that Chavez would wreak his economy and immigration to North America could spike/surge as a result.

    In the meantime, we got into a bad accident and our economy is a wreck too. Now, I fear that Obama and Company are going to raise taxes on darn near all the survivors.

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  29. Four more banks were closed down Friday night. That brings the number to 68 for the year. That doesn't sound so bad until you think about how much it is costing us. The four banks last night added another 214 million to the deficit.

    From the AP:
    With the 68 closures so far this year, the pace of bank failures this year is double that of 2009. By May 1 last year, U.S. regulators had shut down 32 banks.

    There were 140 bank failures in the U.S. last year, the highest annual tally since 1992, at the height of the savings and loan crisis. They cost the insurance fund more than $30 billion. Twenty-five banks failed in 2008 and only three succumbed in 2007.

    The number of bank failures likely will peak this year and will be slightly higher than in 2009, FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said recently.

    As losses have mounted on loans made for commercial property and development, the growing bank failures have sapped billions of dollars out of the deposit insurance fund. It fell into the red last year, hitting a $20.9 billion deficit as of Dec. 31.

    The number of banks on the FDIC's confidential "problem" list jumped to 702 in the fourth quarter from 552 three months earlier, even as the industry squeezed out a small profit. Still, nearly one in every three banks reported a net loss for the latest quarter.

    The FDIC expects the cost of resolving failed banks to grow to about $100 billion over the next four years.

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  30. "...wreck his economy."

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  31. You speak of cenus jobs without speaking about fed created stimulus jobs

    the actual number of real jobs created much much lower

    we are not seeing the real clusterfuck of reality

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  32. We're in a depression but unlike the Great Depression, we have a social net in place and the Nanny state kicked in early with the euphemistically named "Stimulus" money.

    When everything went down the tubes, I wondered/doubted if the Feds were big enough to keep the economy afloat. With all the known unknowns and the unknown unkowns, the jury is still out.

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  33. If speaking Spanish is not for you, the tropics still hail ...

    Down in Belize

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