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, October 15, 2010

Reid Vs Angle - The Nevada Debate



How did Harry Reid ever get his job in the first place?


108 comments:

  1. Rural Nevada Paper Endorses Reid as Mining Champ

    Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has picked up the support of a rural newspaper in northern Nevada that says it doesn't like his liberal views but that the state's mining industry can't afford to lose his clout in Congress.

    The Elko Daily Free Press says longtime readers in the GOP stronghold 300 miles east of Reno "will be shocked and dismayed" it is not supporting the tea party-backed conservative Republican Sharron Angle.

    The paper endorsed Republican John McCain against Barack Obama. It says it shares the tea party activists' goal of reining in government. But it says in Friday's editorial headlined "A selfish reason" that the defeat of Reid could permanently damage northeast Nevada's economy.

    It says: "This is mining country, and the mining industry needs Sen. Harry Reid."

    Nevada is the world' sixth-largest gold producer behind China, South Africa, Australia, Russia and Peru


    Like bob, the Elko Daily Free Press puts economic self interest before ideology.

    Another instance of where "Western Style" is superior to that of the "Easterners", according to those taking a wide "Western" stance.

    Interesting that the Western States, that are so heavily Federally controlled, populated by staunch "individualists" are net receivers of Federal largess. While the "Blue" Eastern States, their folks are subsidizing the Westerners, through the Federal government payouts.

    At least those at the Elko Daily Free Press acknowledge political and economic reality.

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  2. Washington Post Staff Writer
    Friday, October 15, 2010

    A federal judge ruled Thursday that a lawsuit brought by 20 states challenging the health-care overhaul law can move forward.

    The decision by Judge Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida to reject the Obama administration's request to throw out the case was expected. During oral arguments over the government's motion to dismiss last month, Vinson had indicated that he was likely to rule at least partly in the states' favor. His ruling is limited to the plaintiffs' standing to mount the case, as opposed to its merits - which will be discussed at a summary judgment hearing scheduled for Dec. 16.

    But Vinson's opinion delineates the issues over which the states - and two private citizens and a business group also party to the suit - will and will not be allowed to make arguments in what could shape up to be one of the most serious of about a dozen pending legal challenges to President Obama's signature legislative achievement.
    ...
    Last week, in a suit brought by private parties, a federal judge in Michigan unequivocally upheld Congress's authority on that point. However, Vinson described the question as far from settled, because the relevant clauses of the Constitution "have never been applied in such a manner before."

    Vinson added that "the power that the individual mandate seeks to harness is simply without prior precedent." Although he also noted that, "of course, to say that something is 'novel' and 'unprecedented' does not necessarily mean that it is 'unconstitutional' and 'improper.' There may be a first time for anything."

    On a related note, Vinson ruled that the fee imposed on people who fail to comply with the individual mandate amounts to a "penalty" rather than a "tax." This would mean that Congress's ability to impose it cannot derive from its constitutional powers of taxation. Vinson, an appointee of President Ronald Reagan, also rebuked government attorneys for arguing that the fee was a tax in the response to the lawsuit after congressional supporters had characterized it as a "penalty" during the debate over the health-care law.

    "Congress should not be permitted to secure and cast politically difficult votes on controversial legislation by deliberately calling something one thing, after which the defenders of that legislation take an 'Alice-in-Wonderland' tack and argue in court that Congress really meant something else entirely," Vinson wrote, "thereby circumventing the safeguard that exists to keep their broad power in check."

    Vinson will also permit the states to present arguments on whether the law's expansion of Medicaid to cover not just the very poor but also people who are low-income impinges on state sovereignty because it could require states to spend billions more on the program.

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  3. Bernanke Ponders `Crapshoot' as Fed Seeks to Support Prices

    Bernanke gives a speech on monetary-policy tools today, three days after minutes of the Fed’s Sept. 21 meeting showed policy makers discussed “providing more detailed information about the rates of inflation” that officials consider consistent with stable prices and maximum employment. The objective would be to boost inflation expectations and stimulate the economy, the minutes said.

    Announcing an inflation goal as a way to accelerate rather than slow price increases has a scant track record outside of Japan’s efforts to beat deflation over the past decade. Fed officials are considering the move alongside a resumption of large-scale asset purchases intended to spur growth and lower unemployment stuck near a 26-year high.

    “It’s pretty much a crapshoot,” former Fed Governor Lyle Gramley, now senior economic adviser at Potomac Research group in Washington, said of using an inflation target to support prices. “We don’t really have any background of history to know how it’s going to work.” Still, “it’s worth trying.”

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  4. Bernanke Sees Case for `Further Action' With Too-Low Inflation

    Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said additional monetary stimulus may be warranted because inflation is too low and unemployment is too high.

    “There would appear -- all else being equal -- to be a case for further action,” Bernanke said today in the text of remarks given at a Boston Fed conference.

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  5. Bernanke and his central bank colleagues are considering ways they can stimulate the economy as the unemployment rate holds near 10 percent and inflation falls short of their goals. After lowering interest rates almost to zero and purchasing $1.7 trillion of securities, policy makers are discussing expanding the Fed’s balance sheet by purchasing Treasuries and strategies for raising inflation expectations, according to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s Sept. 21 meeting.

    “At current rates of inflation, the constraint imposed by the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates is too tight” and the “risk of deflation is higher than desirable,” Bernanke said. “High unemployment is currently forecast to persist for some time.”

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  6. Angle is goimg to win.

    The people in Ely were pissed.

    And everywhere else.

    I'll make a bet with you.

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  7. And in Wells, and Elko, and everywhere.

    Those people don't make Las Vegas, but there are a lot of them, out on the ranches.

    They are pissed.

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  8. Dr Hiss has a problem...

    His handle is Jew Baiting....

    He is Desert Rat but uses a Jew Baiting handle.

    Anyone who reads his posts understands he stands with Islam and the genocide of the Jewish people.

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  9. Bad news for Dr Hiss aka Desert Rat, his friends suffered a blast..

    A top-secret Iranian military installation was struck by a triple blast Tues. Oct. 12 the day before Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Lebanon. DEBKAfile's military and intelligence sources report the site held most of the Shehab-3 medium-range missile launchers Iran had stocked for striking US forces in Iraq and Israel in the event of war - some set to deliver triple warheads (tri-conic nosecones).
    The 18 soldiers officially reported killed in the blasts and 14 injured belonged to the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) main missile arm, the Al-Hadid Brigades.
    The Imam Ali Base where the explosion occurred is situated in lofty Zagros mountain country near the town of Khorramabad in the western Iranian province of Lorestan. This site was selected for an altitude which eases precise targeting and the difficulty of reaching it for air or ground attack. It lies 400 kilometers from Baghdad and primary American bases in central Iraq and 1,250 kilometers from Tel Aviv and central Israel. Both are well within the Shehab-3 missile's 1,800-2,500-kilometer operational range.

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  10. Dr Hiss am a Polish expat, now living and working in Israel. Religion is not his field of expertise, harvesting body parts for the government is.

    Just expanding "Western Culture" and ideology of national supremacy across northern Arabia.

    Making the case that personal rights are subservient to national needs.

    Your body is the property of the State, wherever the ideology of Dr Hiss is large and in charge. Personal and individual rights are secondary, the needs of the State are supreme.

    As to the destruction of offensive weapons in Lebanon, three cheers. There have no need for such weapons in any part of Arabia.

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  11. As our bartender, whit, informed us the Obama Administration is attempting to bring the body part harvesting policies that empower Dr Hiss to the United States.

    Some of the patrons will, undoubtedly embrace this as an advance of Western Civilization, while others will find it offensive and deplorable.

    Only those that would find such governmental policies to be offensive could find the moniker of Dr Hiss to be bait.

    If one supports those policies, then the reference to Dr Hiss is laudable. Not negative.

    I guess that if one was opposed to such policies, here, but supports them abroad, then the referencing of Dr Hiss could be considered an embarrassment.

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  12. desert rat aka dr hiss's pal Harry Reid has a money problem from hezbollah...

    Yesterday, news broke that Muslim activist Tarek Beydoun of Dearbornistan paid for 250,000 robo-calls to Nevada voters against Sharron Angle, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate who will–G-d-willing–beat Harry Reid in November. Beydoun, a recent college grad, in his 20s claims he’s upset with Angle’s comments about Islamic sharia ruling Dearborn. And, in fact, she’s right, as I’ve documented on this site and in my work, more than any other writer or commentator on this earth. But that’s not the scoop here. The scoop is that Beydoun worked for a Hezbollah-funded newspaper and a Hezbollah charity raided by the FBI and that it’s highly unlikely that Beydoun, himself, has the means to personally fund 250,000 robo-calls against Angle.

    So who is paying for it? My sources say that it may be Hezbollah cash, funneled to Mr. Beydoun, who identifies himself as a “Democratic consultant.” He’s actually a Hezbollah activist and very open about that. And until Beydoun–a proud supporter of Hezbollah, whose Shi’ite Muslim South Lebanese family is prominent in the terrorist organization–shows us an accounting of where the money came from, it’s pretty safe to assume that the money came from sources connected with Hezbollah. He now works as a real estate agent in Dearbornistan, where mortgage fraud (committed by his fellow Hezbollah-supporting Shi’ite Muslims) and foreclosures run rampant. Regardless, Beydoun, himself, worked for Al-Mabarat Charitable Organization in Dearbornistan, for which he raised money and served as spokesman to the press at the time FBI agents raided it in 2007 for financing Hezbollah. (Of course, as I predicted then, the raids were mere “show raids” for the FBI and Bush Administration to actually look like they were doing something against Islamic terrorism. But they refused to ever prosecute or even shut down the charity, which continues to send about $1 million a year to Hezbollah for who knows what.)

    Last year, Beydoun used Al-Mabarat to urge his Facebook friends to vote in the November elections. Beydoun (who also spells his last name, “BAydoun”–only Muslims in America, who wish to confuse law enforcement and other government authorities, have multiple spellings of their last name), also asked his fellow Muslim Facebook friends to donate to Al-Mabarrat for his birthday gift.

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  13. Rat aka Dr Hiss had another set back yesterday... Rat supports the GZ mosque and it's Imam.

    A New Jersey judge on Wednesday ordered the imam behind the Ground Zero mosque to deal quickly with health and safety violations at a tenement he owns - or face big fines.

    A lawyer for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said work is underway to correct the violations in the run-down Union City building.

    State Superior Court Judge Thomas Olivieri gave the imam until 4 p.m. today to submit proof that work is being done.

    Union City officials filed charges against Rauf on Monday in order to seize control of the four-story building and fix the serious violations that they accused Rauf of ignoring.

    Inspectors last week found the building had no working fire alarm, leading them to order a 24-hour fire watch by local cops. City officials say Rauf will be charged for the service.

    Inspectors also found roach and bedbug infestations in the building's 16 apartments, no hot water and non-working lights in hallways.

    Rauf has not returned calls for comment.

    Residents at the building across the Hudson said Rauf should fix their apartments before embarking on the mosque project.

    "There are human beings living in this building, not animals," said Jazmin Virginia, a student who lives in the building with her mother.

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  14. Well since the subject is Nevada I'll tell you a little about it. It's somewhat different than you might think. The mountains go on forever, in a way you can't believe, can't even imagine, range after range, endless, looking very dry, but if you actually go up into them, as we did on this trip, more that I have before (new pickup, you know) you get into some low timbered country, and we found a few small lakes. There are a lot of deer around, and some elk. Also the jackrabbits are back, maybe never gone, in the lower levels. Ely is up something like six thousand feet, so we are talking pretty cold, the Nevada Hotel there is wonderful place,,very cozy, warm, lived in.

    Though they don't, I made a mistake before, they don't have a roulette table, though down in the basement they have all the other live gambling.

    Out of Ely it's forever to Wells or Elko and Las Vegas is so far away it's off the map.

    You wouldn't believe, it's forever.

    I've loved it all my life.

    Great country, especially if you are young.

    And the stars are always magnificent.

    But the winters are....cold.

    Except for the real south.

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  15. A New Jersey judge on Wednesday ordered the imam behind the Ground Zero mosque to deal quickly with health and safety violations at a tenement he owns - or face big fines.

    Yeah that guy is a real ass.

    My wife has kinda taken over the running of our apartments and duplexes.

    She takes real pride in it, and they are shipshape.

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  16. "The real south" means down by Vegas.

    Harry Reid is a prick. He's got some kind of interest in the MGM Grand, the Republicans are into the ploy, the democrats too, the whole thing stinks. They make much of their money off the backs of the ladies, and even in Wells there was a whore house, "Donna's Place" which my son and I viewed from way up on a mountain.

    Goddamned isolated piece of crap, and a hell of a way for any women to make a living.

    But that's Nevada for you.

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  17. I think Harry is going to lose, cause when I went through Ely, and the other places, all the signs were "Anybody But Harry".

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  18. But as the companies finally begin mass production — Solyndra just flipped the switch on a $733 million factory here last month — they are finding that the economics of the industry have already been transformed, by the Chinese. Chinese manufacturers, heavily subsidized by their own government and relying on vast economies of scale, have helped send the price of conventional solar panels plunging and grabbed market share far more quickly than anyone anticipated.

    China Solar - They're Killing Us

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  19. You can't ask your manufacturers to compete against a "Government." That's not 'free trade;' that's suicide.

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  20. .
    The administration delays putting out the report on China.

    Likely will not be calling China a 'manipulator' before the elections.

    Many on CNBC say it is in order to save the one bullet the US has in negotiating with the Chinese.

    I say it is because Geithner is a dick and is testicularly challenged.

    .

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  21. China is in an Economic War with the U.S. These pricks are pretending they don't know it.

    We're getting sold down the river faster, and faster. We're almost gone.

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  22. The Treasury has, in the last couple of days, done something that I've Never seen before.

    The Final Report for 2010 was supposed to be out Tuesday. I clicked on, and it had been delayed till Wednesday.

    I clicked on on Wed. and it had been delayed till Thursday.

    I clicked on yesterday, and it had been delayed until 2:00 AM, today.

    I have no idea "whassup," but this is weird.

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  23. When the going gets weird, the weird turn Pro.

    Hunter Thompson



    It's about time to "turn pro."

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  24. .
    .
    Obama = Bush

    Dems = GOP

    It's all about business and Wall Street interests.

    We saw the same thing when China was pushing for WTO membership. Their biggest supporters in the effort, Big Business. Washington just trails along.

    I would say it is the tail wagging the dog but in fact Wall Street and big business are the dog. D.C. is just the ass-end enabler.

    Bank bailout redux. Whatever it takes to keep these guys happy. Who is going to complain, the GOP?

    That would be a pleasant surprise.

    .

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  25. When the Chinese were a bunch of barefoot rice farmers making plastic Christmas trees, that was One thing.

    Modern China, with $2.5 Trillion in the bank, and busily knocking our high-tech companies to the curb, is quite something else again.

    There is, really, NO serious downside to a "Trade War" with China. They don't buy shit from us, anyway.

    That would be like one of my kids getting in a "trade war" with me. My opening move: Your allowance is cut. . . . . . . waiting . . . . .

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  26. Well, that explains it. They were scraping up every last penny to get below $1.3 Trillion. They barely made it -$1.294 T.

    Monthly Treasury Statement

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  27. It isn't though Quirk.

    When I was faced with a tax dispute here having been charged 5300 dollars on a single lot, per year, the local Republican county commissioners came to my rescue, put it back to farmland prices.

    That's one thing my lawyer is doing, making it absolute certain I don't get taxed out of existence.

    It can make a big, big difference.

    I couldn't develope without those tax laws.

    And the people would have nowhere to live.

    There is a big difference between the parties.

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  28. Rat would like to tax me out of existence.

    That's the kinda guy he is.

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  29. That's funny, Ruf.

    My wife likes Hunter too.

    I've always liked this one, and think of
    Quirk every time--

    Raoul Duke: There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

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  30. .
    There is a big difference between the parties.

    No difference between parties Bob only the difference between one guy willing to help and the others.

    Your problems with farm or rentals has very little to do with China and currency manipulation.

    .

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  31. Yes, the Chinese are pegging their currency to the US dollar (as others do as well) but don't you think that the massive interventions by the US Fed (QE and QE2) also amount to currency manipulation? Under Bush the talk was of a strong dollar but the actions (and results) were a weak dollar now they don't even talk strong dollar. They are feverishly attempting to devalue.

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  32. Yes,

    Raoul Duke: There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

    :)

    One of the Greatest written sentences of all time.

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  33. No, Ash, they are feverishly trying to avoid Deflation, and, ultimately, Depression.

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  34. Basically, they are trying to lower the value of bonds, and increase the value of other investments.

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  35. Well maybe, I'm a small guy, but the pubs helped me out there.

    But I remember this story---when grandfather was farming, he went in one time, asking for a right of way.

    They said, done, if you sign up on our Republican sheet.

    He did, and voted Pub every time since.

    He was a practical man.

    Which is what I'm trying to be.

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  36. Of course, our tax policy is doing all it can to keep investment in other countries, and out of the U.S.

    The Fortune 500 Companies have something like $2 Trillion Cash on Hand, but they paid virtually NO Federal Income Tax this year (or any other year in recent history for that matter.)

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  37. I agree the US is trying to avoid depression. Every country seems to be trying to avoid nasty outcomes (the Chinese are trying to prevent massive unemployment and social unrest) and the wildly fluctuating currencies are proving...problematic. The shrill screeching of those urging the Chinese to appreciate seem to ignore the fact that the rapidly decreasing value of the US dollar is forcing everyone else dollar to increase threatening their competitiveness. So now many countries are now intervening in the currency markets and we are looking at a rush to the bottom - a 'currency war'.

    In general one wants stable currency markets. The US dollar is the exchange currency. You can see how China (and others) would want to maintain a consistent value to the US dollar (being the exchange currency and all). Maybe it is time to price commodities in another currency? But I'd imagine that would be nasty for holders of US dollars...

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  38. Rasmussen has O'Donnell within 11. She's cut Coons' lead in half since the debate.

    If Krautlover, and Rove hadn't beaten her down so hard after her victory she would be within striking distance. pricks.

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  39. Remember, Ash, as things now stand a devaluation of the Dollar is a devaluation of the Yuan. So when the Dollar weakens the world gets hit twice - once by a weaker dollar, and secondly by an "even weaker" Yuan.

    The thing is, between free-market economies the floating exchange rates are a self-correcting mechanism.

    A Huge player like China, with a "managed" currency, prevents the necessary adjustments from taking place.

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  40. Being the exchange currency also affects those 'adjustments'. If any other nation printed as the US has done, had trade deficits as the US has, they'd have been toast long ago (well made the necessary adjustments).

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  41. 90% of the value of a currency is set by the country's trade balance. Ours is just plain shitty, and getting worse. I, personally, think the dollar will end up going to $2.00 against the Euro. Maybe, $1.30, or $1.40 against the looney, and Australian Dollar.

    This, I believe, will happen no matter What the Federal Reserve does, or doesn't do.

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  42. The only thing that's keeping our currency from going to absolute zero, right now, is our Military Power. "Safe Haven" means "Safe" haven.

    Our Military Might can keep us out of the absolute shitter for awhile, but it can't keep the dollar from depreciating badly against all others.

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  43. "90% of the value of a currency is set by the country's trade balance"

    I think that was true 20 some odd years ago but now there is so much hot liquid capital rapidly flowing about the world looking for return that 'real' trade has less of an influence. I believe the amount that capital moving about vastly dwarfs the trade related exchanges (30x the amount I've been told).

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  44. The only thing that's keeping our currency from going to absolute zero, right now, is our Military Power. "Safe Haven" means "Safe" haven.

    Our Military Might can keep us out of the absolute shitter for awhile, but it can't keep the dollar from depreciating badly against all others.

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  45. Naw, I don't think that it's the military that's keeping the dollar afloat but rather its ubiquity - it is the exchange currency and that is huge. It's maintained the confidence of many because of that. When the worm turns though things could turn real nasty real fast. We may be reaching an inflection point soon with all the jaw boning about currencies. It seems that it will be dominating the upcoming G20 meeting.

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  46. The problem, Ash, is that money isn't coming back in the form of "investment" (at least, private sector investment.)

    The Sauds, and the Chinese are "locking" that money away in, primarily, treasury bonds.

    It's making it entirely Too easy for the Feds to hire more, and more overpriced employees, and contractors, and conduct mindless overseas adventures.

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  47. Ash, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. Right now, we Are getting away with a lot. Actually, we're getting away with Way Too Much. It is going to bite us in the ass, and it might be sooner rather than later.

    It's good when you are powerful enough to get some leeway. It's really bad when you don't take advantage of that leeway to make some course corrections.

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  48. I think the world will turn on us if we don't stand up to the Chinese.

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  49. yeah. The only historical precedent that I'm aware of that is Great Britain circa early 1900's. Two world wars and look at them now...

    ...not very encouraging.

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  50. my "yeah" was not to the Chinese comment directly above. I think the world's major powers have to come to some sort of currency arrangement soon. Chinese will need to appreciate somewhat but the US will need to bite the bullet to. Unfortunately the path forward is not clear and it much more likely that we will continue down an acrimonious slide.

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  51. And, of course, if the Peak Oilers (me) are right, you can multiply everything else by at least Ten.

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  52. I believe the amount that capital moving about vastly dwarfs the trade related exchanges (30x the amount I've been told).

    "Legitimate" (taxed) capital or Dark Pool capital?

    Last the Black Market economies were discussed, they were estimated as anywhere between 20% and 50% of world GDP.

    But the concept is interesting - too much capital has warped the traditional understanding of how (reasonably) free and (generally) mixed economic markets function.

    Could well be.

    The sense that the roulette wheel is rigged remains strong.

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  53. The Country Club Republicans are doing everything they can to signal to the Dems that they'd love to pass a Value Added Tax.

    They know we'll have to either cut the size of the military, and slow SS/Medicare spending, or raise taxes. Since they don't have the balls or desire to cut spending, the choice is

    1) higher marginal tax rate (on them) or

    2) Value Added Tax (on us.)

    Guess who wins That go-around?

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  54. I think they should increase the marginal tax rate on the wealthy, add a VAT, and decrease or hold the same the marginal tax rate on the rest AND cut spending.

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  55. The Quickest, and Easiest way to take in a couple of hundred Billion dollars/year would be to pass a law, effective immediately, lowering the Corporate tax rate to eight, or nine percent, and make taxes on foreign income due, NOW.

    A, probably, bigger benefit than getting the taxes would be to get the profits back into the U.S. for investment, here.

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  56. Individual US citizens have to pay income on their worldwide earnings. I'm surprised if US corporations don't. Now, if you are a foreign corporation that is a different matter.

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  57. We only collected 15% of GDP in Federal Taxes this year. We've Got to get that back up to nineteen, or twenty percent.

    Letting the Bush Tax Cuts on the High Earners expire, and straightening out the Corporate Tax debacle would do it.

    Then, we have to trim spending by about 3% (from 24% down to 21%.) Bringing the troops home would account for almost 2%.

    Freeze gov. spending for two years, on top of the above, and we would, quite likely, be in surplus in by 2013. Or, at least close enough that it would "feel" like a surplus.

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  58. I don't know what the hell you are all talking about, I don't give a damn for stocks and bonds.

    It has lasted three generations it will last three more.

    All I care about is my daughter don't break her neck.

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  59. Ash, Miss T, writing as Selah, published a link on this a couple of threads back.

    U.S. Corporations have to pay U.S. taxes on their foreign earnings When They Bring Them Home.

    As a result, They Don't Bring Them Home. Why would they? They invest them "over there."

    Now, we've not only lost the taxes, but we've also lost the Domestic Investment. Insanity.

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  60. It doesn't make any difference, the farming goes on.

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  61. Tax law is complex for sure and Corporate tax law even more so but a US citizen doesn't have to bring the money "home" for it to be taxed. I earn here in Canada, spend in Canada and the only money that goes "home" is when I travel there yet I have to file all of my income, wherever it is earned. Now I'm sure corporations own and use foreign incorporated entities to keep from reporting it in the mother corpse based in the US but I'd doubt it is so simple as just leaving the money offshore to avoid the US taxman. Mind you I didn't read that link and I'm making all of this up but...

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  62. Well, I'm not making up my US tax obligations (There is an exemption though but the falling US dollar is making that smaller by the day).

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  63. All I care about is my daughter don't break her neck.

    Fuck if that wouldn't worry me too. Seriously.

    I want to see a payroll tax holiday - one to two years. Doesn't matter. We need a signal of serious intent - one that gets some global scrutiny as well. I'm guessing the markets would react.

    It will be interesting to see who among the newly elected in November steps up to support a VAT, speaking of broken necks.

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  64. Think about it. You're a multinational. You open a subsidiary in Ireland, or Bermuda, or UAE.

    You channel all of the business you can through the off-shore subsidiary. Arrange for the "profits" to be made there.

    Now, you can invest those profits Anywhere in the world Except in the United States, and NEVER pay a dime in U.S. taxes on them.

    You need some cash for an investment Here? You do like Microsoft (remember them? the guys with the $35 Billion in the bank?) and float a bond. It's cheaper than bringing that money home and paying taxes on it.

    It's crazed. The big-time equities investors love it. For me, and thee, it blows.

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  65. heh heh, yeah, I don't see it happening CL.

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  66. I have in my desk some of the old stocks and bonds from my ancestors.

    Worthless now.

    Very nicely printed.

    Doesn't mean a thing.

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  67. of course corporations are going to minimize their tax liabilities. They are very very aggressive about it as well. They also need to show profits so they can maintain a reasonable stock price but yeah, they cram bucks up every dark hole they can - it's only rational. Closing those loopholes is tough - heck financing enough fed. employee's smart enough to audit the corpses is stretch for the Federals. I knew a CFO for a big international pharmaceutical company - my my the stories he told about escaping the taxman - legally (well sort of - that's where you get aggressive).

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  68. It doesn't mean a thing.

    The only thing that counts is a strong body, a good mind, and will.

    Read "Deliverance".

    Though don't take is theologically seriously.

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  69. That is actually one of the features of a VAT - there is no reporting involved (like income tax anyway). It is transparent and everything gets taxed - no squirreling away of profits hiding it from the tax man - you use money you lose some of it.

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  70. The big-time equities investors love it. For me, and thee, it blows.

    Money is "pouring" into global equities. CNBC will occasionally admit that, but right now they seem focused on the bond "bubble" at the expense of domestic equities.

    So it's a double edged sword. Retail investors are moving into the global markets, esp global ETF's. I *think* this is a smart investment move. I am still considering the allocation issue, and the ETF vehicles. The markets have changed, I *think.*

    I have trouble prying my cold dead hands to vote against this country so I am state-side parked.

    For now.

    (Not entirely of course. There is no absolute.)

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  71. What it does say, his book, and Dicky does this really well, is that there is a battle of all against all.

    What he doesn't say, and seems to know nothing of, is that above all this, there is love floating contently up there in the clouds.

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  72. Buy some farm land and sit on your ass.

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  73. It's all b.s., all this money stuff.

    You got to have enough to survive, but beyond that it's meaningless.

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  74. I kind of think of God as

    That big Allstate insurance agent in the sky.

    Texting "Luv u" to, well, probably a wrong number - probably Peggy.

    And mayhem ensues.

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  75. Heh, I never saw it that way before.

    If that's the case, why worry about economics?

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  76. Part of it's wiring. I find the subject of markets and capital flows fascinating and I'm not even embarrassed to admit it. Go figure. Or not ::))

    Part of it's the responsibility of the individual living within a collective society to provide for his financial future.

    And part of it's just to bug the shit out of people like you.

    (just kidding)

    (sort of)

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  77. Tilting at the twin windmills of eternity and infinity strikes me as self indulgent.

    I would prefer to retire with a lap pool outside a desert patio where I could view the sun rise and set every day.

    Wasn't meant to be.

    Some things are not.

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  78. Heh, God as an insurance agent in the sky.

    That makes me think, which my wife tells me I'm still capable of doing once in a while.

    If you've read your Joseph Campbell, you will know that is just another metaphor, which is all we ever have to use in speaking of the inexplicable.

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  79. He has a formula for it, taken from Kant, I think, which I'd have to go look up, about the Unknown X, which I will not do, sitting beside the pool, watching the sun go down.

    Could this possibly make Rufus God?

    After all he was an insurance agent after he got out of farming.

    And he did tell us he'd died once.

    Which all the good old gods did. At least once.

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  80. The Transandental Unity Of ApperceptionFri Oct 15, 09:12:00 PM EDT

    the twin windmills of eternity and infinity

    They are the modes of our perception, you know that.

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  81. Transcendental

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  82. It's easier just to think of Rufus as God.

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  83. I will say this much. I regret I wasn't born during the age of space travel. My interest in 'that beyond which is' would be much higher if alien life were a part of the matrix.

    I will also go a step farther and say that the barbaric violence of the current age is stale. It is time to move on.


    Building a Learning Center at Ground Zero isn't the way to do it.

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  84. They are the modes of our perception, you know that.

    I'm a psychic. Of course I did.

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  85. Could this possibly make Rufus God?

    Do you suppose we should start a church - just to be safe?

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  86. Christ, we are insane.

    A Victory Center.

    At least that Pam Geller is fighting it with all her heart.

    "Give a Damn" is her watchword.

    I really like that woman.

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  87. Do you suppose we should start a church - just to be safe?

    Maybe, but Ruf got pissed at me once, so I'm not sure.

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  88. She's not intimidated by taking a public stand.

    Which comes with ridicule and sometimes physical threat and too often financial ruin and moral compromise.

    It's a tough gig.

    Not for the weak of mind or the faint of heart.

    Don't know anything about the woman other than that.

    I hope she has a circle of friends good and true. That always helps.

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  89. I think she is a really good gal.

    I'm hoping the issue 'goes away' after the next election.

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  90. Maybe, but Ruf got pissed at me once, so I'm not sure.

    Yeah but Ruf has history - he called his mother an "old bitch" at the age of six. I think Rufus is just verbal.

    :)

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  91. Yeah but Ruf has history - he called his mother an "old bitch" at the age of six. I think Rufus is just verbal.

    He did?

    Let's form a church.

    Didn't that singer from the Rolling Stones do the same thing?

    And I always liked him.

    Born out of his mother's butt, or something......

    But it's all right now, cause he's Jumpin' Jack Flash.

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  92. that singer from the Rolling Stones

    Oh, Farmer bob.

    Suffocating in Idaho Spuds.


    You've only got a few years on me. You have to know the name of at least one Stone.

    The Beatles were historic.

    The Stones were the better group.

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  93. I can't stand the Be
    eetles. They drove me NUTS in Seattle




    but Mick Jagger, he's really really GOOD.

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  94. Tarantino posited a Beatles-Elvis dichotomy in Pulp Fiction. I have long though history clearly demonstrated a Beatles-Stones divide.

    The Beatles were Tom Hayden and Port Huron.

    The Rolling Stones were the lead-in act for Bruce.

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  95. And, he was Knighted by the Queen.

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  96. Damn, I get to talking.

    Can't push the right button. Wasn't Jagger Knighted by the Queen?

    By the way, when the muzzies came up, they couldn't believe that a nation was run by a woman.

    Says something about our differences.

    Night,CL.

    I got to go to bed.

    Got a big day tomorrow.

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  97. .If you've read your Joseph Campbell, you will know that is just another metaphor, which is all we ever have to use in speaking of the inexplicable.





    "The folly of mistaking a paradox for a discovery, a metaphor for a proof, a torrent of verbiage for a spring of capital truths, and oneself for an oracle, is inborn in us."

    Paul Valery quote

    .

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  98. Quirk, don't keep me up....I got to go to bed.

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  99. I see Debi Downer has some competition.

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  100. .
    Go to bed Bob.

    I was just taking a quick look in.

    I'm heading out for a while now myself.

    .

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  101. .
    If I was more computer literate, I would use that as a screen name now and then CL.

    Dr. Hiss and Anonymous and Bob are already taken.

    .

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  102. Yeah but Ruf has history - he called his mother an "old bitch" at the age of six.


    But, I only did it once. Worst whipping of my life.


    Bar none.

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  103. Musta violated some old Cherokee taboo, or sumpin.

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  104. 's why I'm such a polite gennellman, now.

    :)

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  105. Quirk, you bastard, you've kept me up way past my bed time.

    The discussion is between the rationally Unknown X, Kant and Campbell, and the Known X, from the heart.

    Obviously I'm with the Known X from the feelings of the heart, or I wouldn't be talking about Whitman so much.

    But human rationality can't take you there.

    Rationality breaks down.

    It's really worthless when you get right down to it.

    Both Kant and Campbell affirmed the same thing.

    Now let me sleep in peace.


    And don't drink and drive.

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  106. Rufus,

    And Ash, for that matter, are you guys saying that with the soon coming unavoidable inflation of the US$ that I should have all my savings in gold or silver?

    I say that having just come from a quarterly meeting with my mom's money manager.

    After we had our formal discussion I reiterated my concerns about inflation...

    He described a meeting he'd had with a medical group, attempting to sell his firm's services to the group of about 20 MDs.

    After his presentation, while they were having drinks, the doctors gathered round and talk came to their individual portfolios.

    He said he was amazed that almost all of them, I think he said only one guy wasn't 100% invested in a gold etf in their personal accounts...

    He said outliers like that can pay off but it's a statistically crazy position to be in.

    (I didn't tell him that I was considering doing the exact same thing with my savings...)



    .

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  107. Gnossos, Good Morning.

    Gnossos, I have a well-deserved reputation of being one of the worst investors in the history of the solar system. As an old buddy of mine used to say: "My head's shaped wrong for that."

    Having said that, I continue to believe there's not a human being alive that can predict the next ten, much less twenty, years. Right now, I want to be diversified. As diversified as possible. Some stocks, some bonds, some real estate, maybe a little gold, and junk silver in a lockbox for shits, and grins. I figure if there comes a time you need it a little will go a long way.

    Buy a flexfuel car, or at least, a flexfuel conversion kit.

    If you're not sleeping well, make adjustments until you are. I believe the next decade will be frustrating, and tiresome; not catastrophic.

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