What happened to all of the doom and gloom economic threads?

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

He comforts me with his rod(ham) and staff...

He causes me to lie down in green pastures (and puke)...

I will fear no evil (for evil now represents ME!)

 

[Saint Peter]

One little blowjob. What's the big deal?

 

[unregistered]

 

[Saint Peter]

The Good Humor Man will be doing wheelies in Hell before that ever happens.

Just seeing if you are awake.

 

[unregistered]

 

[GrumpyOldGoat]

What brand?

I was in the commissary last weekend for the "case lot" sale.

Don't know quite when I'll have to buy toliet paper again.

Marie Calender's

That's the good stuff. NAS Oceana is having it's May Truckoad sale. Sometimes I feel guilty about elbowing the sea widows out of my way, but fuck em.

 

[sufisaint]

One in ten mortgage borrowers will lose their homes in the next 2 years...the second wave is coming, throw in more healthcare costs, higher energy bills, huge deficits, an unstable global economy and double digit employment and well see this weak jobless recovery disappear...

http://seekingalpha.com/article/206...-will-lose-home-within-two-years?source=yahoo

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

The daily laugh:

http://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=707902

I'm wondering if we will see that magic 10K today...

Just 69 little points away!

GO OBAMA!

I'm laughing..
+96.58 on the Dow at 12:15..
10,164.59

Wah wah waaaaah...

DOW futures are showing an opening to the downside, but we'll see.

We're seeing that as usual you're misinformed.

Are you calling U_D a liar?

He just posted that the opening bell is going to show a market surging in positive territory...

You see the Drudge headline? 20%...

Hope and Change...

Transformative!

PIIGS'rUS

How far up do you think the market will close today Cap'n? *we really need a point and laugh emoticon*

 

[unregistered]

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

I was not misinformed, that was the fact at the time I posted it. I posted the precise DOW Futures numbers as well in another post.

Dow Futures aren't "fact", they're speculation.

I'm not surprised you don't know the difference between the two.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Listen you dumb ass, I know exactly what they are, all they indicated was that the market was going to open on the downside and it DID.

*nods*

Of course it did... and immediately rallied, recovering all it lost today AND yesterday.

But I'm the dumb ass.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Go back and read what I said. I didn't say anything other that it indicated the market was going to open on the downside.

I was not misinformed, that was the fact at the time I posted it. I posted the precise DOW Futures numbers as well in another post.

I'm well aware of what you said.. That the DOW Futures are "facts".

Apparently you're blissfully unaware of what constitutes fact, something that comes as little surprise.

 

[unregistered]

 

[IrezumiKiss]

I'm well aware of what you said.. That the DOW Futures are "facts".

Apparently you're blissfully unaware of what constitutes fact, something that comes as little surprise.

Keep it up, UD. You've got Methuselah here scrambling after every post you make calling out the fail of his little happy dance at the market's crashing just to save face. Who's he trying to convince that he knows what he's talking about, you or himself?

Good times, good times.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

I'm laughing..
+96.58 on the Dow at 12:15..
10,164.59

Wah wah waaaaah...



We're seeing that as usual you're misinformed.



How far up do you think the market will close today Cap'n? *we really need a point and laugh emoticon*

You think it's funny that the DOW and other indices are in the red for this year?

We saw 10,000 TWICE in one day...

With great economic news like this, who knows, maybe by summer we'll hit 11,000 and then we'll KNOW the recovery is underway...

“Spain admits that the green economy sold to Obama is a ruin.”

The story goes on to note that President Obama has cited Spain as an exemplar of an ecologically sound energy economy no fewer than eight times. As I have repeatedly noted in this space — with the able assistance of Spanish economist Gabriel Calzada – for every green job created by the Iberian nation’s massive investment in renewable energy, that transfer of wealth to uneconomic activities cost the economy 2.2 jobs in opportunity cost, as well as direct job losses thanks to the increased cost of electricity (like sending steel jobs to Kentucky, as I’m told Rand Paul noted in one victory speech or another). And as I noted yesterday, even the president of Spain’s National Commission of Energy, socialist Maite Costa, calls Spain’s energy regime “insostenible.“

So can we assume President Obama will now quit tilting at windmills and leading us down this “green jobs” dead end?

No one on either side of the climate-change debate has any illusions that Kerry-Lieberman (or EPA regulation of CO2 emissions in the U.S., for that matter) will do anything to lower global temperatures. The economic case for the embrace of renewables is now shattered. So what other motive could the president have for pushing ahead with this agenda? Only one: the Power Grab.

Chris Horner
NRO

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Preventing Recovery, one rule at a time...

Everywhere we turn, we stumble over Nancy Pelosi. Or rather, we stumble over the micro-regulations Nancy Pelosi adores. These regulations are vast new bureaucratic steps that exact compliance in the most everyday of transactions.

In my case, I stumbled over The Speaker as I converted a pre-tax retirement account to an IRA -- essentially transferring money from one bank account to another bank account. What could be simpler for a constituent (as I am) of the all-powerful Nancy Pelosi?

Ah, would that it were so. Unlike common bank transactions from, say, savings to checking where an online click or a telephone call to customer service is all it takes, federally-regulated retirement accounts require an application to control. Keep that word in mind. Applications by their nature are subject to review, and may not be granted

It turns out that this particular application to manage my federally-restricted bank account requires a Guaranteed Signature, which is like a notary on steroids -- and more difficult to find. Who required this super signature? Well, banks are required to require it, but finding out exactly why banks are required to require a Guaranteed Signature means wading through thousands of pages of dense federal regulations with an attorney at hand; and in the end, knowing why does not even matter, so why bother?

In my case, a trifling six weeks later, the application was granted and my (sadly-small) retirement account lumbered from one exquisitely federally-controlled bank to another.

Six weeks to transfer money? If those check-cashing businesses serving the poor and "undocumented" communities worked like that, Mexico's economy would collapse tomorrow. On the other hand, for those using more traditional institutions to manage a more conventional life, regulations are the rule -- without exception. Compliant and easily controlled, go-along-to-get-along citizens patiently wait. And wait. And wait.

This is how micro-regulations work in practice. No private company will knowingly defy the law on a customer's behalf, so the distinction between government authority and personal business becomes increasingly meaningless. As massive new regulations blur the division between private business and federal government, choices will become limited to products supplied only by large corporations able to comply.

Or our choices disappear altogether.

Whether for banking or healthcare; or -- if Cap and Trade regulations become law -- selling a home or choosing what to eat, these transactions will be subject to a barrage of applications, either filled out by the citizen directly or shuffled upstream to companies supplying the goods and services we use, everyday. You liked trans-fats? Too bad. New York's Bloomberg regulations are going national.

But we'll get used to it. Engaging in federally restricted activities is like playing a board game: comply, and your application wends through a series of non-negotiable authorizations, albeit at glacial speed. Interrupt the normal process and it could be "back two spaces," so better to keep one's head down. Better, instead (as I did), to sign the Penalty of Perjury statement swearing that I am who I am, and wait for a bureaucrat to agree.

In the case of my retirement funds, Pelosi-style regulations are supposed to regulate the banks. Fair enough. Unscrupulous things can and do happen when individuals fail to exercise good judgment in their erstwhile private affairs. To protect the careless or unwitting, we cede much responsibility to the law. But my experience is that bank regulations did not regulate banks as much as they regulated me.

What if I needed that retirement money to prevent mortgage default? Feed my family? Move to another state? Too bad: those choices would cost, big-time. Speaker Pelosi embodies this. She'll "allow" citizens to "apply" to control things that are technically "theirs," but over which they have increasingly-limited charge.

As it is with federally-limited banking, so it will be with Pelosi-architected healthcare. Not now, but very soon, we'll fall into the habit of "applying" for care we hope will be "granted" by some distant office whose control reaches, inescapably, into every home, regulating our most anxious moments. Supposing to constrain insurance companies, we shall find that Nancy Pelosi's Healthcare Act instead polices our individual freedoms.

There's a lot of stumbling to be had there, especially when confronted with life-and-death decisions. To whom will we apply for a loved-one's desperately-needed kidney, or our own? And who will grant the kidney and the procedure to replace it? Based on what criteria? In practice, there will be no distinction between federal regulations and the insurance companies required to enforce them. Intentionally or not, Nancy Pelosi has asserted jurisdiction over our bodies. In what sense do we remain free individuals now that she has done that?

Kirk W. Kelsen
American Thinker

__________________
The want of confidence in the public councils damps every useful undertaking, the success and profit of which may depend on a continuance of existing arrangements. What prudent merchant will hazard his fortunes in any new branch of commerce when he knows not but that his plans may be rendered unlawful before they can be executed? What farmer or manufacturer will lay himself out for the encouragement given to any particular cultivation or establishment, when he can have no assurance that his preparatory labors and advances will not render him a victim to an inconstant government?
Madison, Federalist 62.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Obama's Ivory Tower Economy

The American left has always cherished a similar myth: the myth of the superiority of European socialism. John Kerry and Barack Obama, and their many supporters, have spent decades attempting to reshape America in the image of France. Now, with the passage of Obamacare and increased federal control of the financial, automotive, and energy sectors of the economy, they are close to succeeding. With the passage of just a few more pieces of legislation -- cap-and-trade and the nationalization of 401(k) accounts among them -- the transformation of America into a European-style welfare state will be all but complete.

The problem with this transformation is that it will soon lead to a French-style standard of living as well. Taking into account higher taxes and inflation, French per capita GDP is $32,679 versus $46,381 for the U.S. (2009 IMF figures). Ranked by purchasing power, France comes in at #21, while the United States is first among major economies. The reasons are not hard to find. It is certain that the French do not work as many hours as do Americans, and it is doubtful whether they work as hard. National workplace regulations make it difficult to fire incompetent or lazy workers. As a result of overregulation, French industry is slow to adapt and innovate. While unionized workers enjoy full benefits, early retirement, and guaranteed annual vacations of five weeks, France as a whole pays the price of significantly lower growth rates than America.

There is, unfortunately, one area in which the U.S. already resembles France all too closely. As in the USA, France has piled up increasing amounts of unfunded liabilities in its retirement schemes. President Sarkozy has proposed reasonable reforms that would ensure adequate funding of government-run pensions. An obvious solution for a country in which workers retire at age 60 is to gradually raise the retirement age to at least 65, a level comparable to that of other developed countries. Union response to this proposal has been to schedule a nationwide walkout on May 27. As in Greece, it appears that French workers would rather wave their little red flags and shut down the economy than negotiate a practical means of funding their own retirements.

Perhaps this is because they "know when to quit." Unfortunately, their knowing when to quit -- that is, at age 60, with full benefits regardless of years of service -- has bankrupted the pension funds that must support workers for an extra five to seven years beyond those in comparable economies. The result is that France's pension funding is now deeply in debt -- a debt level that is projected to reach $127 billion by 2050. Predictably, unions have called for more taxes on the rich and, implicitly, for increasing the national debt. In return, they offer little or nothing in the way of compromise.

By rejecting reforms, French unions are jeopardizing even the low standard of living that they now enjoy. Absent real reform, the French standard of living -- and that of several other Europeans countries -- will continue to fall relative to the U.S., and it will fall even farther relative to the world's developing countries. In the next four years, it seems likely that the Chinese currency will appreciate within the range of 15-20% versus the dollar. If the euro falls another 15% against the dollar, which is not unlikely, the economies represented by the euro will have declined in nominal terms 30% against that of China. The Chinese middle class will be both more numerous and better off than that of Europe.

Jeffrey Folks
American Thinker
__________________
“Everyone wants to live at the expense of the state. They forget that the state wants to live at the expense of everyone.”
Frederic Bastiat

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Speaking of the unexpected increase in unemployment applicants...





How many of the newly graduated Obama voters get to apply for benefits for the jobs they can't find?


*snicker*

 

[firespin]

Speaking of the unexpected increase in unemployment applicants...





How many of the newly graduated Obama voters get to apply for benefits for the jobs they can't find?


*snicker*

The illegal immigrants among them are complaining about profiling when they go to apply in Arizona.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

In other welcome news, it looks like Congress is going to keep extending benefits...




Let's hope China still has loan money...





Change we can beg for.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Almost right. They were not an “anti-government” mob, but a government mob, a mob comprised largely of civil servants. That they are highly uncivil and disinclined to serve should come as no surprise: they’re paid more and they retire earlier, and that’s how they want to keep it. So they’re objecting to austerity measures that would end, for example, the tradition of 14 monthly paycheques per annum. You read that right: the Greek public sector cannot be bound by anything so humdrum as temporal reality. So, when it was mooted that the “workers” might henceforth receive a mere 12 monthly paycheques per annum, they rioted. Their hapless victims—a man and two women—were a trio of clerks trapped in a bank when the mob set it alight and then obstructed emergency crews attempting to rescue them.


Unlovely as they are, the Greek rioters are the logical end point of the advanced social democratic state: not an oppressed underclass, but a pampered overclass, rioting in defence of its privileges and insisting on more subsidy, more benefits, more featherbedding, more government.

Who will pay for it? Hey, not my problem, say the rioters. Maybe those dead bank clerks’ clients, assuming we didn’t burn them to death, too. The problem facing the Western world isn’t very difficult to figure out: we’ve spent tomorrow today, and we can never earn enough tomorrow to pay for what we’ve already burned through. When you’re spending four trillion dollars but only raising two trillion in revenue (the Obama model), you’ve no intention of paying it off, and the rest of the world knows it. In Greece, the arithmetic is starker. To prop up unsustainable welfare states, most of the Western world isn’t “printing money” but instead printing credit cards and pre-approving our unborn grandchildren. That would be a dodgy proposition at the best of times. But in the Mediterranean those grandchildren are never going to be born. As I pointed out in my bestselling hate crime America Alone four years ago, Greece has one of the lowest fertility rates on the planet—1.3 children per couple, which places it in the “lowest-low” demographic category from which no society has recovered and, according to the UN, 178th out of 195 countries. In practical terms, it means 100 grandparents have 42 grandkids. Greek public sector employees are entitled not only to 14 monthly paycheques per annum during their “working” lives, but also 14 monthly retirement cheques per annum till death. Who’s going to be around to pay for that?

...

Greece has run out of Greeks to stick it to. So it’s turned to Germany. But Germany too is in net population decline. The Chinese and other buyers of Western debt know that. If you’re an investor and you don’t, more fool you. Tracking GDP versus median age in the world’s major economies is the easiest way to figure out where this story’s heading.

Traditionally, a bank is a means by which old people with capital lend to young people with ideas. But the advanced democracies with their mountains of sovereign debt are in effect old people who’ve blown through their capital and are all out of ideas looking for young people flush enough to bail them out. And the idea that it might be time for the spendthrift geezers to change their ways butts up against their indestructible moral vanity. Last year, President Sarkozy said that the G20 summit provided “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to give capitalism a conscience.” European capitalism may have a conscience. It’s not clear it has a pulse. And, actually, when you’re burning Greek bank clerks to death in defence of your benefits, your “conscience” isn’t much in evidence, either.

Let us take it as read that Greece is an outlier. As waggish officials in Brussels and Strasbourg will tell you, it only snuck into the EU due to some sort of clerical error. It’s a cesspit of sloth and corruption even by Mediterranean standards. On my last brief visit, Athens was a visibly decrepit dump: a town with a handful of splendid ancient ruins surrounded by a multitude of hideous graffiti-covered contemporary ruins. If you were going to cut one “advanced” social democracy loose and watch it plunge into the abyss pour encourager les autres, it would be hard to devise a better candidate than Greece.

And yet and yet . . . riot-wracked Athens isn’t that much of an outlier. Greece’s 2010 budget deficit is 12.2 per cent of GDP; Ireland’s is 14.7. Greece’s debt is 125 per cent of GDP; Italy’s is 117 per cent. Greece’s 65-plus population will increase from 18 per cent in 2005 to 25 per cent in 2030; Spain’s will increase from 17 per cent to 25 per cent. As lazy, feckless, squalid, corrupt and violent as Greece undoubtedly is, it’s not that untypical. It’s where the rest of Europe’s headed, and Japan and North America shortly thereafter. About half the global economy is living beyond not only its means but its diminished number of children’s means.

...

Greece, wrote Theodore Dalrymple, is “a cradle not only of democracy but of democratic corruption”—of electorates who give their votes to leaders who bribe them with baubles purchased by borrowing against a future that can never pay it off. The future is now here, and the riots will spread.

Mark Steyn
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/20/not-just-their-big-fat-greek-funeral/


No doubt to be followed by the burning of LA...

Whose biggest concern seems to be Arizona's law and the unfettered access of the Barbarians to the teats of our Roman weal.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

What happened AJ? The market took a turn for the better and you suddenly went away, then started waxing poetic about Spain and Mexicans.

All in all a pretty down in the dumps day for you yesterday huh Cap'n Fail?

 

[Lost Cause]

http://l.yimg.com/a/i/ww/news/2010/05/21/europe.jpg