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

[4est_4est_Gump]

I hope merc's feelings are not hurt that he is only #2 on my ignore list.


A personality like that naturally wants to be #1...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Obama has ruined more relationships than internet porn. I believe that it is time that all the Obama-worshipers who abandoned their families, friends, and all reason to support Barack Obama should start their mea culpas.

I find it astounding that liberals so readily gave up lifelong relationships over a total stranger. The followers of Obama exhibited cult-like adulation that makes the followers of Jim Jones look kindergartenish in comparison.

In 2008, I lost a friend of 28 years over Obama. We had known for years that we differed politically; I am a Republican, he a Democrat. It never mattered. That is, until Obama came on the scene.

My former friend was utterly beguiled by Obama. He claimed that it was about Bush; however, it boiled down to racism. He wanted a black president at any cost.

The day it all ended was on my friend's birthday.

I flew to my friend's 50th birthday party at my own expense. I was the only "old" friend who went through the trouble. My friend is a hothead and an egomaniac, but he was my hothead egomaniacal friend. His third wife and two young daughters had finally managed to settle him down.

Other attendees were people to whom or for whom he sold houses, and there were a couple of stragglers who I think were there for the free food. The crowd was 100 percent black.

We went to our designated tables and waited on food to be served. One of the guests and I chatted for a bit about work, and, when comfortable, he asked me what I thought about Obama.

I answered honestly, and all heads turned. The room that had been comfortably warm suddenly went ice-cold. Though my friend was in another area of the restaurant, word got to him quickly that there was a traitor in the midst.

I didn't think politics was appropriate for my friend's party, and I changed the subject. However, the damage had been done. My friend's attitude was different -- so much so that I didn't even stay for the cake-cutting. I politely excused myself, went back to my hotel, and flew out on the next flight.

I checked my messages upon landing, and I was greeted with a phone call from my friend, where he asked why I ruined his party by talking politics. I'm certain that he meant "the wrong politics."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/the_relationship_legacy_of_the_obama_cult.html#ixzz2A7KX1IOO

 

[mercury14]

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/the_relationship_legacy_of_the_obama_cult.html#ixzz2A7KX1IOO

Now Obama is breaking up friends and ruining marriages? Wife left you for another man? Blame Obama!

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Nobody knows how the election will come out, pollsters least of all. But we know one thing. Liberals are in retreat. I have a liberal friend, a member of the Greatest Generation, who says simply that we are coming to the end of an age.

Well, yes. You could even dip down into cycle theorists like Mircea Eliade and say that it's the Eternal Return, baby. A century ago, when liberals came in, the poor were suffering, and now, after a century of liberal governance, we are back where we started, with the poor and minorities hardest hit by the Great Recession.

But those of us hoping to live for a couple of decades or more can't afford to be quite as unworried as my liberal friend. We will actually have to live through the end of the age, and on into the next one.

Are liberals thinking that, wow, we could be Greece in a few years, meaning that women and minorities would be hardest hit? And that liberals, the most evolved, most educated ruling class since the dawn of time, could be thrown out of power?

Short answer: they are not thinking at all. They are distracting their base with silly laugh lines about binders and the 47 percent and dogs on the roof while the average female voter is worrying about what life will be like for her children and grandchildren. You could say that the soccer moms and the security moms now turning into deficit moms.

Worst of all, the liberals seem to think that they can secure the future by telling their base that the benefits can keep coming if only the rich will pay a little more. Maybe they are right; maybe they can distract their base long enough to get through the election. Or maybe not.

You can understand why liberals have been so angry for the last decade.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/10/liberal_says_its_the_end_of_an_era.html#ixzz2A7MIfeDE

I bitched about Bush for six years, and through all that time the Republicans on this board never trashed me the way the Democrats do now that "their guy" is "in charge."

They were angry when Bush was President, but they seem even more angry now that Obama is President.

Maybe it's just disappointment.

Maybe, it's who they really are and have been all along.
A_J, the Wiser

 

[mercury14]

AJ shrouds himself in comforting Thinker blogs as he watches Obama crush his man in the debate.

RW blog spam + ignoring Merc for the 4th time this month = nice warm cocoon to escape reality.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The Fed's Mandates and the Coming Scenario
Bruce Johnson, The American Thinker

"The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Open Market Committee shall maintain long run growth of the monetary and credit aggregates commensurate with the economy's long run potential to increase production, so as to promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices and moderate long-term interest rates."

Often referred to as the "Dual Mandate" of the Federal Reserve, remarkably I count three mandates in that mission statement.

Maximum Employment
Stable Prices
Moderate Long-Term Interest Rates

Regarding stable prices, Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke has said on multiple occasions that he seeks 2% (or more) core inflation. In 2011, the Consumer Price Index rose over 3%. At a 3% annual, and compounded, prices in the United State will double every 24 years. This seems like a failure of attempting to achieve price stability. Even at 2%, the alleged target, prices double every 36 years. The question is, why this is not considered a failure by the Federal Reserve, rather than an unquestioned though dubious goal?

Regarding moderate long-term interest rates, we must realize that the term "moderate" is a relative term referring to historical measures. Record-low long-term rates are by no measure "moderate." Again, why is this not seen as a failure of the Fed to follow its mandate?

Monetary policy has demonstrated, over four years, that the cost of money cannot revive a manufacturing base that has left the country. Sadly, the Fed will push on the string for three more years if Bernanke has his way. The sharp collapse of the velocity of money as shown by this chart from the St. Louis Federal Reserve demonstrates that the Federal Reserve is meeting unintended consequences of its applied theories. Sometimes theories and mandates must be revisited.

Perhaps a fair return on money, more in line with the forgotten "moderate interest rate" mandate, is what is needed to encourage the missing lending, investing, and spending that drive velocity.

All of this is of greater concern when it is realized that there is a cocktail of inflationary ingredients awaiting the tumbler. Loose money policy is ingredient number one. Like with a gas pump nozzle remaining in an overflowing gas tank, Bernanke's attempt to move the needle on employment will set the spark for the unintended surge of inflation beyond his 2% target. In fact, per the 2011 numbers, it already has.

Secondly and most predictable will be the grocery store shock that will begin to manifest itself early in 2013. Due to conditions out of the control of the federal government (there are a few remaining), the drought of 2012 has decimated our grain stocks. Together with the poor vegetable and tree fruit harvests, we will also be met with the meat herds and chickens on feed being liquidated due to high feed costs. Initially and currently, meat prices will drop on the liquidation supply. But then the rationing of higher prices will begin. Cereal prices will also rise. High grocery prices are likely to be the headline of 2013. These high costs will conflict with the Federal Reserves; efforts to actually "control inflate" the economy. A conundrum for the theory-bound experts at the Fed.

Finally, political pressures may begin to be directed at China and its massive trade imbalances with the U.S. Candidate Romney promises such. If indeed these pressures are brought to bear, higher prices for goods imported from China are certain. That list is too long to enumerate.

The Fed's loose money policy continues to weigh on the dollar and resultantly boost oil and other internationally traded commodities. The converging economic impacts of the food price outlook in the United States and the threatened political pressures to bring our largest supplier of cheap finished products (China) into a seemingly more competitive posture require an attention that so far has been lacking. It will indeed be quite a "cocktail." The Fed may rely on the tact of removing food and energy prices from their calculations, but it will be of small consequence to those attempting to survive in the economy.

It is time to take a long look at the mandates of the Federal Reserve. This author has written several articles on the Federal Reserve questioning its directives and direction. George Will in a recent article also approaches the subject. Romney wishes to replace Bernanke, and Ron Paul wishes to certainly audit the Fed and perhaps do away with the agency altogether. Shared ingredients of these positions lie in the notion that the Fed must be checked and balanced. It cannot become an autonomous fourth arm of our government. It is currently operating as just that.

One thing seems certain and will be recorded in economic history. Monetary policy has little impact on employment when there is no clear vision of the tax and regulatory environment going forward. And with all the forces noted -- both the political and economic that are waiting to converge on this economy -- the Federal Reserve theories and initiatives could be more damaging than imagined. The Federal Reserve's attempts to fulfill the "maximum employment" mandate while pursuing the theory that loose money is the solution could be catastrophic during a food and finished-goods inflation.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Bye merc.



Enjoy. You earned it...

Now that's hilarious.

You drop his name while asserting that he's employed by the government. Then ignore him when he asks you where you think he works.

I suppose it's easier to do that than admit that you're just making Jen-like "you're a government worker leech on the economy" pot-shots. Throw enough shit around and some is bound to stick eh Cap'n. So much for being above personal attacks.

You may now continue with your daily American Thinker op-ed spewnami.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Now that's hilarious.

You drop his name while asserting that he's employed by the government. Then ignore him when he asks you where you think he works.

I suppose it's easier to do that than admit that you're just making Jen-like "you're a government worker leech on the economy" pot-shots. Throw enough shit around and some is bound to stick eh Cap'n. So much for being above personal attacks.

You may now continue with your daily American Thinker op-ed spewnami.

Check the time-line before launching your "scathing" attack dumbass.

I made the post before merc started stalking me demanding I talk about the debate that I had just sit down to watch.

You libtards are all alike. You do not need facts. You instantly "know" the truth...

... and we slink like alley cats,
Tearing down what we attack,
To prove that we are 'won...'
INXS

 

[Busybody]

Earnings reports coming out are bad

Sales falling


Future expectations are bleak

 

[mercury14]

Check the time-line before launching your "scathing" attack dumbass.

I made the post before merc started stalking me demanding I talk about the debate that I had just sit down to watch.

You libtards are all alike. You do not need facts. You instantly "know" the truth...

... and we slink like alley cats,
Tearing down what we attack,
To prove that we are 'won...'
INXS

I asked what you thought about it, not knowing that you didn't watch it. Clearly that was over the line, right?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Future's shaping up well...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Earnings reports coming out are bad

Sales falling


Future expectations are bleak

This is the face of "winning!"

A week ago they were yelling, "it is the economy stupid."

Now it is foreign policy...

They 1 u no.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Check the time-line before launching your "scathing" attack dumbass.

I made the post before merc started stalking me demanding I talk about the debate that I had just sit down to watch.

You libtards are all alike. You do not need facts. You instantly "know" the truth...

... and we slink like alley cats,
Tearing down what we attack,
To prove that we are 'won...'
INXS

The timeline?

You started the day in this thread ascribing positions and got called on it, then went straight for ignore. I honestly don't have the time nor the inclination to keep track of your perceived slights from Merc or anyone else across multiple threads.

I know that you tend to be fond of your own personal definitions of words. But if you're dropping their name in multiple threads, as it appears you did here after being confronted in another thread, it's not really "stalking" you if they respond to your assertions about them.

Now that I've pointed out your morning tactics you've 'lowered' yourself.. I'm not sure lowered is the correct word, since you've never had issue with name-calling or personal attacks, as long as it was you or someone you agreed with doing it eh Cap'n Hypocrite.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You are full of shit U_D.

Go look at my thread about clean air and you will see why merc went to ignore.

It had nothing to do with this thread you fucking moron.

Futures are down triple-digits.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The Way of the Sophist

I had a lot of Obamas in class. They sat in the front of the room, posed long eloquent questions, mellifluously interrupted the lectures with clever refinements and qualifications, often self-referenced all that they had read and done — and then pow!: you grade their first test and there is simply nothing there: a D or F. It was quite stunning: how could a student be so confident in his rhetoric and so dismal in his performance?

Surely I thought this test must be some terrible mistake (did his mother just die? Had she came down with mononucleosis? Is this a fluke, a once-in-a-lifetime bad day?). And then he takes the midterm and then the final and then turns in the paper — each effort proves more pathetic than the last. Yet in class the next day, there he is again, raising his hand, pouring out clever phraseology and eloquent exempla, as if he has not just flunked his test and is getting an F.

Each time you encounter such a Starbuck the Rainmaker or The Music Man, the experience still is discomforting, given the vast abyss between the eloquent grandstanding rhetoric and actual achievement — and the deliberate way in which you, the instructor, were to be conned. And if such students are athletic, dapper, charismatic, and sharply dressed (and for some reason they so often are), the disconnect becomes ever more arresting. Sometimes the debacle even worsens when they come to office hours after the first bad grade, “shocked” that the professor might underappreciate their rhetorical gymnastics. Similar is the gulf between Obama’s teleprompted verbiage and his actual performance of governing since 2009.

http://pjmedia.com/victordavishanson/do-we-believe-anymore/?singlepage=true

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Hanson continues:

When Plenty of Stuff Means Not Enough

Besides the media, the sheer affluence offered by high technology, mass production, and generous entitlements makes the old notion of poverty almost obsolete. And that fact makes us not believe almost anything that the present administration says. Why do flash mobs target sneaker or electronics stores rather than Costco’s food bins? How can it be that almost everyone we see using an EBD card has both a cell phone and a nice enough car? I don’t begrudge them, but I don’t believe that this is 1933 and we need a new FDR to keep us alive one more day. Obesity not malnutrition is the scourge of the poor. When I visit local health clinics, the plague among the patients is diabetes brought on by obesity and a diet of sweets and starches, not vitamin deficiencies or insufficient calories. There is little scurvy or rickets in my hometown, but an epidemic of high blood pressure. Federal rhetoric does not resemble reality: I drive with the radio on and hear Obama blasting the fat cats who have shorted the poor; I pull into the local parking lot, and watch the full bus head up to the foothill gaming casino; I then enter the food market and see most with EBD cards, and note that lotto tickets sell like hotcakes. Again, I accept the welfare state, but not the lies about it. Perhaps that is why I quit believing.

Utopia within Our Grasp

There is a third contributor to our increasing disbelief. Socialism is scary because it envisions heaven on earth if we are just willing to employ the necessary means to obtain it. To question those means is to question why someone should not have as much as someone else. In theory, the advocates of socialism should not be Hollywood stars, Washington grandees, trust-fund beneficiaries, and high-paid professors and lawyers, inasmuch as their largess must, in such zero-sum thinking, have come from someone else. In fact, promoting socialism has become a therapeutic exercise for the better off: it offers psychosocial comfort for those who have a lot, with the assurance that they have so much that their own redistributive plans would not make that much difference to themselves. The resulting disconnect is that capitalists par excellence promote redistribution, and feel no word or act is out of bounds to achieve that noble goal — and the rest of us believe almost nothing they say.

If Barack Obama loses the election — despite incumbency, despite the media, despite the October surprises to come, despite his mellifluous teleprompted rhetoric — it is because a growing number simply do not believe anymore what they hear. It is all bottled piety without truth.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

You are full of shit U_D.

Go look at my thread about clean air and you will see why merc went to ignore.

It had nothing to do with this thread you fucking moron.

Futures are down triple-digits.

As I said, I don't have the time nor the inclination to chase down every perceived slight against you across multiple threads.

You started the bullshit in this thread, dragged your very personal beef with Merc from thread to thread, but I'm the "fucking moron" that's full of shit.

Yet again you fail to live up to the behavioral standards you expect of others.
Keep it classy Cap'n Hypocrite.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Yeah, you are the epitome of the graces...

You shot and are now trying to aim.

 

[mercury14]

You are full of shit U_D.

Go look at my thread about clean air and you will see why merc went to ignore.

It had nothing to do with this thread you fucking moron.

Yeah, here's what I posted that led you to immediately ignore me.

How 'bout that debate?

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

You better seek treatment for that shot foot...

 

[RobDownSouth]

As I said, I don't have the time nor the inclination to chase down every perceived slight against you across multiple threads.

You started the bullshit in this thread, dragged your very personal beef with Merc from thread to thread, but I'm the "fucking moron" that's full of shit.

Yet again you fail to live up to the behavioral standards you expect of others.
Keep it classy Cap'n Hypocrite.

Situational Red Man likes speakin' with forked tongue: Rules for thee not for he!

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

The United States isn't a totalitarian society, but media bias has the same sort of effect: By privileging some views and suppressing others, the media give Americans, and itself, a distorted idea of reality. Then, when things crack, it's a big surprise.

That may be what's happening here. Obama was presented as unbeatable, and a lot of people believed it -- until, suddenly, he looked kind of beatable after all. Once that happened, everything was different.

If this really is happening to Obama, there's a spot of irony to it, because that's exactly what happened when he ran against Hillary Clinton in the primaries. Hillary spent years building up a facade of inevitability, and the press and pundits went along. Lots of other potential challengers didn't even bother to enter the race and it looked like she had things sewn up, but then Obama started beating her, and, to everyone's surprise, she didn't look inevitable any more.

Will Romney do the same thing to Obama? We'll see, but I think that's the way to bet.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/22/media-bias-obama-romney-liberal/1647825/

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Good morning Deputy Fife...



Sheriff Andy already had to go see the doctor...

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

Getting lower...

 

[RobDownSouth]

Good morning Deputy Fife...



Sheriff Andy already had to go see the doctor...

And good morning to you, Chief Pissypants.

How 'bout that debate last night, wasn't that something?