http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411?page=1


Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?

The looter class is so fetishized by the right this won't even raise an eyebrow unless one of the wives spends the money on an abortion.

The looter class(Unions ?)is so fetishized by the right this won't even raise an eyebrow unless one of the wives spends the money on an abortion.

Greenspan just said on Meet The Press that Congress should let ALL of the Bush tax cuts expire, lol.

Greenspan just said on Meet The Press that Congress should let ALL of the Bush tax cuts expire, lol.

I was watching that and Greenspan made me throw up a little in my mouth with his claim that asset values in general and the stock market in particular are inflated because of 401k's?

Show of hands, who has a 401k and has seen wage increases in the last two years proportional to the rise in the stock market? Right. That's where the money is coming from. Ass.

He said that shit with a straight face without so much of a mention of the hundreds of billions of dollars in quantitative easing coming out of the Fed contributing to asset inflation. I guess they hit you with the neuralizer when you step down as Fed chairman and he forgot the place exists. That quantitative easing money bids up the price not just of stocks, which they love to crow about, but commodities as well. Little things like oil and food which drain the same 401k holding schmucks he says are rescuing the stock market? I wanna hit something.

Why does a smart man like him throwing down that particular deceptive smokescreen? To run interference for the looter class. If you can sell the narrative of what's good for wall street is good for main street the turkeys will keep voting for thanksgiving. It's just the latest twist on the same Randian coddle the top 1% or they'll go Galt and stop trickling down on us bullshit he's been peddling for years.

People still listen to the guy who watched the world try to eat itself and said everything was all cool?

re: 401ks I was debating this guy on twitter about value.

If you have 100k in a 401k and it drops 50% and then it goes up 50%, you've still lost 25% of the value.

He disagreed.

He's poor at simple math.

So there's this Senator Mark Warner... and this Rep Paul Ryan... they're working together to balance stuff with some other bipartisan dudes ... they call themselves the "gang of six"... no party lines... jess getting it done and challenging the rest of the idiots that this is in the American's best interest... what a fuckin' concept.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/korbjaeger/Vyan/jobs.gif

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c323/korbjaeger/Vyan/jobs.gif

That chart is like the doctor walking in with the news they've relieved the pressure on the brain but the patient is in a coma. "Not dead" is good news but replacing good jobs with shitty ones at a pace that'll take years to get unemployment down doesn't put me in any danger of breaking my arm patting the Obama administration on the back over it.

How LBJ fought inflation in egg prices: told surgeon general to issue warning on cholesterol & eggs http://n.pr/mG6Z9u

LeBron?

This guy gets it. (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-next-worse-financial-crisis-2011-07-06) We were wrong and we have learned nothing.

No, We Can’t? Or Won’t? (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/opinion/11krugman.html?src=me&ref=general)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/magazine/sheila-bairs-exit-interview.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

http://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-us-debt-2011-7?op=1

The real debt crisis. (http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/07/29/the-slow-painful-road-to-deleveraging/)

The real debt crisis. (http://blogs.wsj.com/source/2011/07/29/the-slow-painful-road-to-deleveraging/)

This is the real problem of course. We've already spent all this money and now it must be paid for. Questionable lending and economic policies led to record corporate profits for years and now many corporations naturally feel entitled to these profits, even though they may not have "earned" them in the traditional sense.

Lazy ass Gov't workers "feel intitled". Lazy ass Unions "Feel entitled".

Those unions do nothing but fuck the taxpayer and y'all like it. Y'all are bitches.

Tahoe you need to be bitch slapped into oblivion with all this y'all suck shit... stfu

Tahoe already has been bitch slapped into oblivion by the retard stick.

Mitt Romney: I can't support debt ceiling deal (http://www.freep.com/article/20110801/NEWS15/110801030/Mitt-Romney-can-t-support-debt-ceiling-deal)

Mitt Romney: I can't support debt ceiling deal (http://www.freep.com/article/20110801/NEWS15/110801030/Mitt-Romney-can-t-support-debt-ceiling-deal)

Did Mittens ever propose an alternative?

that would be too many difficults

Raise the debt ceiling with no strings attached. Repeal the debt ceiling. Two good alternatives without even breaking a sweat.

Tahoe you need to be bitch slapped into oblivion with all this y'all suck shit... stfu

WTF is y'alls problem with y'all? Y'all spend too much time in Michigan. Y'all need to get out more.

Debt ceiling: 10 lessons beyond that crisis (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/debt-ceiling-10-lessons-beyond-that-crisis/2011/07/25/gIQAWlCmhI_story_1.html)

(or 10 reasons watching our government's limp response to the crisis makes me want to punch myself in the junk)

Bend over Michigan, here it comes again. (http://www.michamber.com/news/house-panel-moves-unemployment-insurance-reform-bill-implements-recommendations-chamber-foundat) Hot on the heels of cutting maximum benefit time from 26 weeks to 20:


Wednesday, June 22 -- Earlier today, the House Commerce Committee passed House Bills 4781-82, legislation to implement the major reform proposals recommended by the Michigan Chamber Foundation’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Reform Study commissioned earlier this year.



Revising the formula for determining weekly benefit amounts. This change would move Michigan from computing weekly benefit amounts by using a high quarter formula to an annual income formula.
Expanding the seasonal employer designation. This change would allow employers with peak periods of employment to hire seasonal workers without the usual higher unemployment costs associated in so far as they are able to provide assurance that the position will be available the next season.



Allow benefits for workers with seasonal swings in income to be cut... and allow more businesses to qualify as seasonal to avoid paying unemployment insurance. Win-win!



Revising suitable work requirements. This change lowers the “suitable work” threshold as an unemployment claim ages so to incentivize the unemployed to become reemployed in a reasonable time. The revised definition of suitable work is more realistic for Michigan’s modern labor market. It requires individuals to accept work outside their prior training and experience and/or usual pay as their unemployment claim ages, thereby prohibiting individuals from refusing jobs because they can “make the same amount on unemployment” or because they want to “hold out” for a higher paying job.

No more of you layabouts collecting unemployment while you search for a job that might pay your bills. Walk away from your mortgage and embrace your new life as a flophouse dwelling wal-mart greeter.



Revising disqualification standards. This change clarifies that unemployment benefits are meant to cover individuals who are unemployed due to “no fault of their own”. Current law allows for benefits when a worker was fired by an employer for “cause”, such as chronic tardiness or absences and failure or inability to perform the work correctly or meet production quotas. These circumstances put employers in a lose-lose position: pay wages to a worker who isn’t performing to expectations or showing up for work vs. pay unemployment benefits to that worker through the employer-financed UI system. The revised language would begin to specify additional circumstances whereby an individual discharged (fired) from a job would be disqualified from receiving benefits.

There are a lot of reasons people can get fired for "cause" and there are often two sides to those stories. Without a safety net while looking for new employment they'll just... um, well... the chamber of commerce members don't seem too concerned with filling in this blank in a way that benefits anything but their immediate bottom line.

lol@s&p

Just sayin... (http://www.angrybearblog.com/2011/08/how-to-maintain-aaa-rating.html)


[the] thirteen (13) countries that have a AAA credit rating from S&P:

Switzerland
Hong Kong
Sweden
Germany
Canada
Denmark
Britain
Netherlands
Finland
Norway
Austria
France
Australia

The thing all thirteen have in common? All provide National Health Care.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60852.html

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60852.html

Maybe the S&P really is just a bunch of hacks (http://economicsofcontempt.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-s-downgrades-and-idiots.html)


Look, I know these S&P guys. Not these particular guys — I don’t know John Chambers or David Beers personally. But I know the rating agencies intimately. Back when I was an in-house lawyer for an investment bank, I had extensive interactions with all three rating agencies. We needed to get a lot of deals rated, and I was almost always involved in that process in the deals I worked on. To say that S&P analysts aren’t the sharpest tools in the drawer is a massive understatement.

Naturally, before meeting with a rating agency, we would plan out our arguments — you want to make sure you’re making your strongest arguments, that everyone is on the same page about the deal’s positive attributes, etc. With S&P, it got to the point where we were constantly saying, “that’s a good point, but is S&P smart enough to understand that argument?” I kid you not, that was a hard-constraint in our game-plan. With Moody’s and Fitch, we at least were able to assume that the analysts on our deals would have a minimum level of financial competence.

Libs...always attacking the messenger.

If S&P's credibility is so great, why did U.S. bonds go up today?

I so love the irony of all that.

S&P has never been wrong about a Sovereign...afaict.

S&P has been slapping downgrades on Japan for about a decade now. To no discernible effect on interest rates or the market's willingness to buy them. Sovereign ratings aren't completely irrelevant but they don't carry much weight. Mainly because full information on major countries is so widely available that market participants feel pretty good about making their own judgements on soundness and default risk and for countries like the US and Japan whose debt is denominated in a currency they control the ability to pay is always 100%.

Where rating agencies provide a great deal of value is in more obscure and opaque investments. Like mortgage backed securities for example. In theory, their expert opinion reflects due diligence for the content and quality of what that investment contains and the risk of default. I may not understand what's in it but if the experts rate it AAA I can be pretty sure it's not a flaming bag of poo. Except of course we found out in 2008 that ratings agencies slapped AAA ratings on investments without having any idea what was in them or what the risks were--then rang the doorbell and the entire global economy got shit on its shoes stamping out flaming bags of poo.

Same ratings agencies, different day.

S&P has been slapping downgrades on Japan for about a decade now. To no discernible effect on interest rates or the market's willingness to buy them. Sovereign ratings aren't completely irrelevant but they don't carry much weight. Mainly because full information on major countries is so widely available that market participants feel pretty good about making their own judgements on soundness and default risk and for countries like the US and Japan whose debt is denominated in a currency they control the ability to pay is always 100%.

Where rating agencies provide a great deal of value is in more obscure and opaque investments. Like mortgage backed securities for example. In theory, their expert opinion reflects due diligence for the content and quality of what that investment contains and the risk of default. I may not understand what's in it but if the experts rate it AAA I can be pretty sure it's not a flaming bag of poo. Except of course we found out in 2008 that ratings agencies slapped AAA ratings on investments without having any idea what was in them or what the risks were--then rang the doorbell and the entire global economy got shit on its shoes stamping out flaming bags of poo.

Same ratings agencies, different day.

So why are liibs panties in a bunch about it?

If Odumba would at least be a fuckin adult for a minute and accept a lil bit of blame for this economy things would be different.

But no, Its the fuckin weather. Its the fuckin earthquakes. of course, its BUSH.

Grow up you fuckin loser pos Odumba.

Ok, I'm done and feel better.

Oh yeah, so why does Boehner have to look like an orange pimp with his Jersey Shore Tan?

Fucking Repubs and those morons who let billionaires tea-bag them are the whole reason Leyland got a contract extension and keeps batting Magglio third.

When are those assholes going to learn.

Hey look, I can be nonsensical and non sequitur too!

You run budget deficits during recessions. You run budget surpluses during expansions. This wasn't rocket science until Bush tried to skip his step.

lol

lol

lol

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/10/bank-of-americas-back-door-tarp/


apparently the federal government is determined to resurrect BofA: the Wall Street Journal reports the feds have just used Fannie Mae, which is controlled by the U.S. government, to infuse BofA with $500 million and ease one of the bank's biggest headaches.

Yesterday afternoon on CNBC, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan mentioned that five of BofA's six businesses were making money. The one black spot was its massive portfolio of problematic mortgages and the liabilities flowing from it. Moynihan also mentioned that BofA had just sold some "mortgage servicing rights" as part of its balance sheet strengthening efforts, but he didn't elaborate.

According to the WSJ, Fannie Mae spent $500 million to buy the servicing rights to a big chunk of the "seven million loans still causing the most problems." Although the $500 million is a paper loss to BofA, in that the rights were "originally worth more," it looks like BofA is still getting a good deal because the portfolio's "value is expected to deteriorate further."

In a sane world, BofA's headache would be cured with an orderly, planned and packaged bankruptcy and dissolution. It's a corpse... bury it. That ain't the world we have though. Instead, we have the Weekend At Bernie's approach to the banking system where we prop up dead ones and hope no one notices.

Where half a billion in direct job creation would be political suicide, events like this don't even register. There's just no political cost and no end to corporate welfare.

lol
The rest of us only wish this was funny. Look, I don't "blame" Bush perse but general economic policy dictates exactly what I said, and what happened is he left the foot on the gas for way too long. You want steady, managed growth. He should have pumped the brake a few times to slow things down. It's the Fed's fault as much as anything for not raising interest rates more, though I'm sure he could have influenced things there. Nobody complains at the time because everybody's making money but it's the responsible thing to do.

Yeah, yeah, but saying "Odumba" is funny!

The rest of us only wish this was funny. Look, I don't "blame" Bush perse but general economic policy dictates exactly what I said, and what happened is he left the foot on the gas for way too long. You want steady, managed growth. He should have pumped the brake a few times to slow things down. It's the Fed's fault as much as anything for not raising interest rates more, though I'm sure he could have influenced things there. Nobody complains at the time because everybody's making money but it's the responsible thing to do.


lol

No less than 23 polls show Americans are willing to pay higher taxes to pay down the deficit (http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/08/23_polls_show_americans_back_t.html).

not the faggots at the top of the income bracket.

MOODY'S ANALYST BREAKS SILENCE: Says Ratings Agency Rotten To Core With Conflicts (http://www.businessinsider.com/moodys-analyst-conflicts-corruption-and-greed-2011-8#ixzz1VZr2osVE)

A former senior analyst at Moody's has gone public with his story of how one of the country's most important rating agencies is corrupted to the core.

The analyst, William J. Harrington, worked for Moody's for 11 years, from 1999 until his resignation last year.

From 2006 to 2010, Harrington was a Senior Vice President in the derivative products group, which was responsible for producing many of the disastrous ratings Moody's issued during the housing bubble.

Harrington describes a culture of conflict that is so pervasive that it often renders Moody's ratings useless at best and harmful at worst.

Obama sez go get those ratings agencies and the sheep do it.

As soon as someone does anything that might hurt their messiah or something, they attack the messenger.

THOSE RATING AGENCIES ARE HORRIBLE!

Obama sez go get those ratings agencies and the sheep do it.

As soon as someone does anything that might hurt their messiah or something, they attack the messenger.

THOSE RATING AGENCIES ARE HORRIBLE!

It's like you take pride in being ignorant.

I was just adding some refreshing honesty to the board.

So...

Just to sort out which aspect of Moody's you're defending, is it their lack of a downgrade for the US (and by implication, you're criticizing S&P for their downgrade)? Or is it Moody's corruption and complicity in strapping bombs to the global financial system in the years leading up to 2008?

Either way I guess I have to agree, your "honesty" in support of those things is refreshing. Good to know where you stand.

The timing of the attacks on ratings agencies is so bitch-like by the lame-stream media.

The timing of the attacks on ratings agencies is so bitch-like by the lame-stream media.

No one cares if they bitch about the ratings agencies in the absence of a crisis.
There's a lame-stream audience to go with the lame-stream media.

No one cares if they bitch about the ratings agencies in the absence of a crisis.
There's a lame-stream audience to go with the lame-stream media.

Nobody cared during the crisis. Not the fake, manufactured debt ceiling crisis but global implosion of the financial system in 2008. The complicity of all the ratings agencies in putting triple A ratings on boxes of crap was well known and there were no consequences for them. We were wrong and we have learned nothing.

Nobody cared during the crisis. Not the fake, manufactured debt ceiling crisis but global implosion of the financial system in 2008. The complicity of all the ratings agencies in putting triple A ratings on boxes of crap was well known and there were no consequences for them. We were wrong and we have learned nothing.

Odumba and the left made up the fake crisis over the debt ceiling.

It was a chance for 'adults in the room' (Tea Party) to say NO MORE BORROWING! and the bitch-like Odumba and the left made it into a crisis. Whiny ma fas.

And we need to look no further than Franklin Raines of whatever that piece of shit's name is. When Bush sent peeps to congress to put some regulations on the mortgage industry, Franklin Rains, Maxine Waters, et al, were there to come about as close as 99 is to 100 to calling them racists.

So Raines makes millions. Now they sue him and the taxpayers pay to sue him and the taxpayers pay him to defend himself. Fuckin ridiculous.

Odumba and the left made up the fake crisis over the debt ceiling.

It was a chance for 'adults in the room' (Tea Party) to say NO MORE BORROWING! and the bitch-like Odumba and the left made it into a crisis. Whiny ma fas.


What you mean to say is it was a chance to say no to spending that was previously approved by congress, inducing a voluntary default. Lunacy.


And we need to look no further than Franklin Raines

Since I know you wouldn't just namedrop some shit you don't even understand yourself, I'm sure you can explain what that's about and why it's related to the debt ceiling. Take me to school, bro.

What you mean to say is it was a chance to say no to spending that was previously approved by congress, inducing a voluntary default. Lunacy.

Fuck no that ain't what I meant to say. WTF?




Since I know you wouldn't just namedrop some shit you don't even understand yourself, I'm sure you can explain what that's about and why it's related to the debt ceiling. Take me to school, bro.

What you meant to say is liberal policies and fuckin stupid, unrealistic and unstainable. And that Odumba is a fuckin tard and Glen likes to be dry cracked.

Fuckin libs didn't even pass a fuckin budget for 900 days or some shit by now. Didn't raise the debt limit when they had control and now being their bitch-like selves, point fingers everywhere they can but at themselves. Ratings agencies...BAD Rush Limbaugh...BAD Tea Party...BAD Bush...still BAD

But can't manage to get themselves out of a wet paper sack.

Fuckin useless mother fuckers up there in DC.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker Find Me a Job (http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/08/matchmaker-matchmaker-find-me-job.html)


Good news. Republicans have just unveiled a bold new plan (see below) to create jobs in the private sector. Don't worry, it isn't another "wasteful" stimulus package that hires people to repair roads and bridges or helps state and local governments hold onto their teachers and firefighters. This one won't cost the government a dime! It's a simple idea, really.

Memo to non-rich conservatives: The "job creators" you worship and bail out will sell you down the river in a heartbeat, by the tens of thousands, to keep their own gravy train rolling.

Bank of America Cuts Exceed Jobs at Most Banks (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-13/bank-of-america-cuts-exceed-jobs-at-most-banks-chart-of-the-day.html)

Yet another reason this shambling pile of evil should've been put down in 2008 like the zombie menace that it is. It's not too big to fail, it's too big and failed.

Are the new $100 bills collectors items already?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/40521684/


A significant production problem with new high-tech $100 bills has caused government printers to shut down production of the new notes and to quarantine more than one billion of the bills in huge vaults in Fort Worth, Texas and Washington, DC, CNBC has learned.

Fuckin' libs.

Detroit housing market is great -- if you're rich

http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/housing/story/2011-09-25/two-housing-markets/50493406/1

They're not "rich" anymore, they're "job creators".

lol

Here's some grapeshot for the class warfare cannon.

Cozy relationships and ‘peer benchmarking’ send CEOs’ pay soaring (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/cozy-relationships-and-peer-benchmarking-send-ceos-pay-soaring/2011/09/22/gIQAgq8NJL_story.html)

How it's determined:


This is how it’s done in corporate America. ... at the vast majority of large U.S. companies, boards aim to pay their executives at levels equal to or above the median for executives at similar companies.

The idea behind setting executive pay this way, known as “peer benchmarking,” is to keep talented bosses from leaving.


On a typical board, the chief executive considers about about 33 percent of the board of directors as “friends” rather than as mere “acquaintances,”according to a survey of chief executives at about 350 S&P 1500 corporations conducted over 15 years by University of Michigan business professor James Westphal.

More tellingly, the chief executive is likely to find even more friends on the compensation committees of corporate boards — almost 50 percent.

What it's led to:


Since the 1970s, median pay for executives at the nation’s largest companies has more than quadrupled, even after adjusting for inflation, according to researchers. Over the same period, pay for a typical non-supervisory worker has dropped more than 10 percent, according to Bureau of Labor statistics.

Being a JOB CREATOR is a lot more difficult than it used to be, so the 4x pay increase is, in fact, completely warranted. Let's not penalize success.

Being an average worker has never been easier. UNIONS provide extra benefits, 1 hour meal breaks, OSHA REGULATIONS, etc. All unnecessary. As such, the 10% wage reduction is more than fair. They should feel lucky that it's not 50% or more, as it should be.

There's a very, very interesting book called Good to Great. It tracks several companies that had been doing all right for years, but all of a sudden start doing incredibly well. It documents some of the common factors between all of those companies. First and foremost each company had similar type of executive running it. The common thread among these executives: all of them were low key, without a big ego, live or die with the company type of guys (a good number of them came up within the company) who all wanted to create something that would last for generations of management.

I compare those leaders to these superstar CEO fuckwads and "peer benchmarking" and I get even more disgusted.

WHAT’S MISSING FROM THIS PICTURE? (http://pragcap.com/whats-missing-from-this-picture)

http://pragcap.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/OWS1.jpg


What you won’t find in this picture is a single bank name. Now, Americans have seen an extraordinary increase in their standard of living due to the innovative advancements made by many of the corporations mentioned in the image below. And this gets to the real heart of the issue. We must be very specific when it comes to pointing out where this angst is derived from.

This anger by the 99% vs. the 1% is not directed at the Steve Jobs’s of the world. It is directed at the executives of the big banks who, over the last 10 years (when we have NOT seen our standards of living increase), were happy to take much from the U.S. economy and give little back. And this financialization of America gets right at the heart of the issue. We are increasingly becoming a nation that rewards unproductive work. And while banks serve a vital purpose in our economy, they are not the growth engine. The message from OWS should not be against corporate America in general. Instead, it should focus on the entities that are becoming counterproductive to what made this nation great in the first place.

The Tea Party peeps were called racists for doing this.

SMH

It's one thing to sit back and play armchair quarterback on deficits, arguing back and forth about what will or won't happen. It's quite another to put real money, real big money, where your mouth is and invest according to your theory of what deficits mean.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-costly-misplaced-worry-about-the-deficit-2011-10

It doesn't have a happy ending.

Decided to vote for the party that can make progress... still waiting on them to show up.... cause this shit obviously ain't gonna work.
Oh yeah we tried trickle down with Bush... it was nothing more than pissing in your pants.

Trickle down was like...30 years ago.

What screwed up this economy was when the Dems didn't let Bush regulate loans for the Housing industry.

This collapse has a lot to do with housing, imo anyway.

Size matters. Ours isn't big enough. (http://www.gurufocus.com/news/147269/the-problem-with-the-deficit-its-not-big-enough)

Mad as hell, by the numbers. (http://www.businessinsider.com/what-wall-street-protesters-are-so-angry-about-2011-10?op=1)

Now there's a chinese import I can get behind... (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204394804577011760523331438.html?m od=ITP_pageone_3)

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/WO-AH618A_CFLEE_G_20111101182405.jpg

Yes and No.... not comfortable with big money imports taking more control... stay the fuck where you came from.... we have enough "foreign interest" right now thank you.

The more you know...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577016160354571908.html?m od=googlenews_wsj

The more you know...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203804204577016160354571908.html?m od=googlenews_wsj

http://shirtoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/the-battle1.jpg

So much win right there.....^^^

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab76/aimhighdj/Whoincreasedthedebt.jpg

From the US treasury Dept... Any Questions?

http://i851.photobucket.com/albums/ab76/aimhighdj/Whoincreasedthedebt.jpg

From the US treasury Dept... Any Questions?

I have a question. Is it important and if so, why?

I agree that playing the "blame game" is silly but I think it's certainly relevant if we're trying to discuss ways to reduce the debt. If the debt is a major issue with voters it's important that they understand the causes of it.

Since this seems to be one of the Reps largest talking points... voting for a party with a worse track record loses credibility.

I suggest that not only is the public debt blame game silly but to participate in it at any level buys into the republican narrative of "we have a public debt crisis and it must be addressed now." Once you get sucked into that framing, the idea that question of whether it constitutes a crisis and/or whether it is an imminent one gets skipped over.

In case there was any doubt about whether the government was captive to finance: (http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/15/prosecutions-for-bank-fraud-fall-sharply/)

All bank related federal prosecutions:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/11/15/business/economy/economix-15trac/economix-15trac-custom1.jpg
All federal prosecutions:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/11/15/business/economy/economix-15trac/economix-15trac-custom2.jpg

Or I guess you can read that as an ever more honest financial sector.

http://www.thereformedbroker.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/mess.jpg

For a mere $850,000 the banking lobby will give you an arms-length heat-and-serve anti-OWS campaign (http://www.scribd.com/doc/73209630/Anti-Occupy-Wall-Street) including:


Comprehensive media analysis of OWS and their leaders
Records search and obtainable open records requests of leaders' histories including civil and criminal information, litigation history, tax liens, bankruptcies, judgements, and other associations
Associated business and record search including Internal Revenue Service and Federal Election Commission filings, sanctions, regulatory actions, and litigation


I guess there really are advantages to having a leaderless movement, it's just a matter of time before they dig up some dirt on Shelby. (http://occupydenver.org/denver-general-assembly/ga-resolutions/)

Great moments in self defense. (http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/11/pepper-spray-brutality-at-uc-davis/248764/)

http://i.imgur.com/J3AE5.jpg

A ray of reality-based description of the monetary system breaks into the mainstream media:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/45402737


One of the key insights of the MMT school is that government’s that control their own currency do not fund their operations with tax dollars. All government spending is really done with newly created dollars. Dollars collected in taxes are not spent, they are destroyed in order to prevent too many dollars from circulating.

This idea is a bit confusing at first so I’ll expand on it a bit.

Well worth reading the whole thing.

A Gallup poll released on Thursday found that, after rising rather steadily for the past two decades, the percentage of Americans who said that the country is divided into “haves” and “have-nots” took the largest drop since the question was asked.

This happened even as the percentage of Americans who grouped themselves under either label stayed relatively constant. Nearly 6 in 10 Americans still see themselves as the haves, while only about a third see themselves as the have-nots. The numbers have been in that range for a decade.

This is the new American delusion. The facts point to a very different reality.

An Associated Press report this week on census data found that “a record number of Americans — nearly 1 in 2 — have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.” The report said that the data “depict a middle class that’s shrinking.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/17/opinion/blow-inconvenient-income-inequality.html?_r=1

For the holidays: Supply side Jesus (http://www.bobonline.net/progxiansd/ssj/index.html)

The next time someone claims that federal debt and deficits are going to raise borrowing costs, ask them to explain how the government can auction $30 billion in debt at zero percent and get enough bids to cover seven times that amount.

http://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/preanre/2011/R_20111228_1.pdf

Drill baby drill?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0103-fuel-exports-20111231,0,366760.story

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/393359_2967768672120_1198770161_33281743_101098140 6_n.jpg

http://www.buzzpics.de/images/apriljobsc.jpg

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/05/08/unemployment-rate-without-government-cuts-7-1/


If there were as many people working in government as there were in December 2008, the unemployment rate in April would have been 7.1%, not 8.1%.

Aside from Alaska, do we even want states 1-9 on Vinny's list?

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-spending-binge-never-happened-2012-05-22?pagenumber=1

http://ei.marketwatch.com/Multimedia/2012/05/21/Photos/ME/MW-AR658_spendi_20120521163312_ME.jpg?uuid=3666ead6-a384-11e1-827e-002128049ad6

Here's an interesting idea about Social Security... not sure how practical it'd be, but it's interesting:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120828143317.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily% 3A+Latest+Science+News%29


ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2012) — What if every U.S. worker got an automatic 10 percent pay raise at age 55? According to a new University of Michigan study, most people would work quite a bit longer before they retired, to enjoy the extra income.

By eliminating social security payroll taxes starting when workers are 55-years-old, the study shows that people's take-home pay would jump by 10.6 percent and they would work 1.5 years longer on average, paying more income taxes and helping to reduce the Federal deficit.

Remember, it's all about the economy:

http://www.businessinsider.com/consumer-comeback-2012-10#ixzz2A05A3ln9

And the DOW tanks!

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2013-03-08/commentary/37542497_1_unemployment-rate-jobless-rate-wrong-numbers

You know the stock market is going to drop 15% this year at one point. This latest run is just too good to be true.

It's an outward sign of inflation as much as anything....

As automation and intelligent work grow, there are going to be less jobs, one would think.

As automation and intelligent work grow, there are going to be less jobs, one would think.

The bar might just get higher, so more work will be needed.

For example, we use more paper now than we did before the age of computers and the Internet.
There's a lot less white-out used, or tolerated.

http://dailycurrant.com/2013/03/06/paul-krugman-declares-personal-bankruptcy/

Yes, I know it's fake.

http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/515926/how-technology-is-destroying-jobs/


Automation and advanced digital technologies are eliminating the need for people in a growing number of jobs. We’ve survived severe technological changes before, but this time it might be different: are we facing a future of dismal job opportunities, stagnant income, and worsening inequality?

6zsXUDQXKuQ

Supporting the "privately owned" Federal reserve should not be an option... My money goes into BITCOIN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Eh08H4GvGg

What a recovery! (green text)


Obama is awesome!


^ Glanzzie

Feeling lucky?

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/getting-lucky-why-the-economy-has-grown-faster-under-democratic-presidents/