1 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

2 Ah Monty, I was sure your number one entry would be this

And speaking of congress and spending we have this

Fed Now Largest Owner of U.S. Gov’t Debt—Surpassing China

At the close of business on Tuesday, the debt of the federal government exceeded $15 trillion for the first time--with the largest single owner of the publicly held portion of that debt being the Federal Reserve.

Over the past year, as the Federal Reserve massively increased its holdings of U.S. Treasury securities and entities in China marginally decreased theirs, the Fed surpassed the Chinese as the top owner of publicly held U.S. government debt.

3 Debt-driven “growth” really isn’t growth at all -- it’s just feeding off the wages of the future.

I think it's time we tackle this idea that "Debt isn't always bad."  Yes, debt is always bad.  Always.  It may be less bad that other alternatives, but it's still bad.  You are making promises about the future- which is always tricky, at best.

The best course, if one can maintain it, is to keep debt-free.  When you (you: being: you, a corporation, or a nation) cannot do so, then you should pay off your debt as quickly as possible.

I wonder how the world would be different if the US hadn't believed that the best way forward was to impoverish future generations for the comfort of previous and current ones.

4 I think I get why progressives love the deficit.The left is fed up with the free market making decisions they don't like. They're fed up with peasants who prefer the convenience of automobiles and the speed of air travel to the socialist rigor of mass transit and high speed rail. They're fed up with people using dirty petroleum instead of expensive, unreliable wind and solar.

So what do they do? They take money out of the private sector and shift it to Government so that the private sector has less ability to make choices they don't like. Then the Government squanders the money on solar, wind, high speed rail, and mass transit systems which progressives love but regular folk largely eschew.

Anyone else think it's not a coincidence that oil went to $100 a barrel within a week of Obama killing the Keystone Pipeline deal. (Yeah, let's keep buying oil from our friends the Saudis instead of those filthy Canucks).

5 Cult 'o tea. More Doom with sugar, tyvm.

6

CaliforniaÂ’s budget woes may force them to shorten the school year by a week.

LOL, isn't that much like DST? A worthless gesture that will give teachers and union people more time off and save nothing?

7 WHY DOESN'T THIS PERSON HAVE A JOB: A MAster in French Linguistics and Lit, a BA in SPanish Linguistics and Lit, an Assoc in Industrial electronic engineering, a 4 yr area study in Environmental Biology, Philosophy and Religion, and Linguistics. ----

8 What ever happened with that margin call Armageddon that ZeroHedge was predicting a week or so back?

9 What ever happened with that margin call Armageddon that ZeroHedge was predicting a week or so back?

The lads over at ZH are good sorts, but...rather excitable.

10 Yes, we are doomed. When the government uses the villeins of Atlas Shrugged as a model for governing, right down to the fostering of illegal regulations, it will not be long before the total collapse.

Too bad we have no "Galt's Gulch" hidden away in the mountains to run to.

11 @ 7 -

Wrong academic disciplines, and the BA / MA thing isn't helping ... with a little more work they could have earned a BS / MS in a more serious discipline.  If they had, they would probably be employed now.

Another problem:

a 4 yr area study in Environmental Biology, Philosophy and Religion, and Linguistics

I have no idea what that means.

12 @Rick: Exactly. She supports the Occupy movement. Shocker, right?

13 aww cute kitteh

14 uh.....the guy in the picture from "from mom's basement i stab at thee!" seem a little too "happy" to be living with mom.......iykwim..........

15 Zero hedge blogger is a paid agent of the FSB. Putin. So what is ZH, exactly? Its creator is Daniel Ivandjiiski, a native of Bulgaria.  Daniel has a very dodgy past, including losing a job and his securities license for insider trading.  None of this is hard to find out: it was covered in a New York Magazine piece that ran soon after ZH first gained notoriety.  Mr. IvandjiiskiÂ’s checkered past perhaps explains his clearcut antipathy for Wall Street.   But there may be more to it than that. In light of my flash analogy of ZH to a  Soviet disinformation operation, what is really interesting is the background of Daniel IvandjiiskiÂ’s father.  Ivandjiiski pere (Kassimir) was a Bulgarian “journalist” and “envoy” during the Cold War.  A member of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Trade, in the COMECON and EU departments.  A journalist.  A “special envoy” (hence presumably with very useful diplomatic cover) in every proxy war in Central Asia and Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. That is an intel operativeÂ’s CV with probability 1.  Probability 1.  Every one of those jobs was a classic cover.  There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever—none—that Mr. Divandjiiski senior was a member of the Bulgarian Committee for State Security (Държавна сигурност or DS for short)—the Bulgarian equivalent of the KGB.  And remember that Bulgarian DS was the USSR KGBÂ’s most reliable allied service during the Cold War.  It carried out wet work in western countries, notably the “umbrella murder” of Georgi Markov in London.  It was linked to the plot to assassinate the Pope; although in the topsy-turvy world of intelligence, it is also alleged that the CIA fabricated the case against the DS.  Regardless of the truth about the links to the attempt on John Paul II, it was a very, very, very nasty operation.  (The African stops in IvandjiiskiÂ’s resume makes it highly likely that his path intersected that of another charmer, Igor Sechin, who was a “translator” in Africa.) Perhaps it is just coincidence that the son of an obvious Warsaw Pact intelligence service agent with the “journalistic” and “diplomatic” background commonly used in influence and disinformation operations starts a website that employs classic influence and disinformation methods, and spouts an editorial line dripping with vitriol and hostility for American (and Western European) financial institutions and governments: a line that follows that of RT quite closely.  Perhaps.  But if it is, it is a fascinating one, no?  (It amazes me that although KassimirÂ’s background has been discussed in the context of Zero Hedge, I cannot find anyone in an English language source making the obvious connection with Bulgarian, and hence Soviet, intelligence.  It is as plain as the nose on oneÂ’s face.) So it is clear that there is a strong correlation between OWS, RT, and ZH.  Of course, correlation does not imply causation.  A and B can be correlated not because A causes B, or vice versa, but because a common cause C influences both.  It is evident that this is at work here.  Occupy, RT, and ZH are all strongly committed to the longstanding leftist anti-capitalist critique.  ThatÂ’s something they clearly have in common.

16 What ever happened with that margin call Armageddon that ZeroHedge was predicting a week or so back?

Same thing that happens with every story those lunatics freak out over - nothing.

17 I quit going to ZH a long time ago. I don't consider them credible.

18 It doesn't look good for Spain either -

Spain's borrowing costs hit 14-year high

A lot of people's castles of sand are going to crumble within the next few months. 

19 Got canned goods?

20 Too bad we have no "Galt's Gulch" hidden away in the mountains to run to. I have been fashioning my lair after Hershel's farm house.

21 From the previous thread:

137 No real Republican voted for Obama.

Posted by: Vic at November 17, 2011 08:44 AM

Problem being, there are RINO voters, and RINO bloggers, as well as RINO politicians.

They're the ones who stayed home, essentially voting for Obama... They shirked their responsibility and their civic duty... My bet is, they're the ones shrieking the loudest about the SCoaMF.. I won't name a blog, but the initials are HA and MM.

They're the ones, all full of self-righteous indignation, when you call 'em on it, too.

They get up on their High Horse and say, "That guy's not conservative enough for my vote, so I'll stay home."

/rant

22 They're the ones who stayed home, essentially voting for Obama...

That was in response to a Romneybot who claimed there were Republicans who did vote for Obama.

I submit that anyone who voted for Obama is NOT a Republican and never was one to begin with.

But all that has NOTHING to do with this doom thread.

23 Posted by: Hayeksheroes at November 17, 2011 09:27 AM (4bjXw) These are some trenchant insights. I think a lot of people assumed that dezinformatsiya operations disappeared with the Soviet Union, when in fact they merely continued unabated under a new regime.

24 Unclear as to the amount, but LizMc is all over the story, and she's a bulldog on a bone.  Or boner?

That is probably more of the "hidden" stuff that has not been released by the WH.

25 Anyone seen thie pics of Obama on Drudge today? heh

26

Vic - you don't care for facts, do you?

In Colorado, Republicans outnumber democrats in registration by about 100K. YET Obama carried Colorado. Republicans voted for Obama. Not in great numbers, mind you, but they did pull the lever for him enough to put him over the top.

 

27 I'm a little late to the party, this morning, Vic, so I'm one thread behind.

28 But there is a good number today.  It's -24...Barry-O's RDTP rating.  Down nine points in two days.

29

They're the ones who stayed home, essentially voting for Obama... They shirked their responsibility and their civic duty... My bet is, they're the ones shrieking the loudest about the SCoaMF.. I won't name a blog, but the initials are HA and MM.

They're the ones, all full of self-righteous indignation, when you call 'em on it, too.

They get up on their High Horse and say, "That guy's not conservative enough for my vote, so I'll stay home."

/rant

Excuse my french, but I despise these fucking cocksuckers. You will find them on every election thread, even here. I hate them more than the stupids who actually should vote for Obama to continue their free cheese. Vote against the communists you stupid fuckers, don't stay home and give them your vote. //rant-rant

30 I like ZH as they are quick to get up new data points like UE. They also look a little deeper into the numbers. The reader commentary is useless and a waste of time though.
 
The whole financial market is a big black box with strange inputs and outputs to me. I get a little 'feel' for the whyfors by a light and skeptical read of their headlines.
 
Actually, I prefer my DOOM, lightly salted with OWS tears.

31 But the worst president ever (according to my college professors)Reagan spent lots of money.  Probably the most money in history of everything if you factor liberal stupity into the equation.

32 Posted by: Lemon Kitten at November 17, 2011 09:46 AM (O7ksG)

Why are you bringing that shit to the doom thread? Haven't you stunk up the news thread enough?  You have already started a flame war there. Go back and put out the flames.

33 dagny preach it!!!!!!! i'll have a hard time voting if certain candidates end up the nominee but i'll vote for them over the scoamf...i won't be happy....but i'll vote for them

34

If I know the Eurocrats like I think I do, "some" means (ultimately) "all". The German voters are well aware of what's being asked of them, and I doubt they are on board with it.

Hmm, try to take away the Germans sovereignty and hit them with massive inflation.  *taps chin*  Hmmm, this sounds vaguely familiar *taps chin*  Steyn is right, Europe is going to resort to form to deal with this.  Though minor point, since when have the EUnichs given a shit what the voters think.

Going to Narnia, etc. 

35

Uh - you brought it up, lover.

 

36

Vic - you don't care for facts, do you?

In Colorado, Republicans outnumber democrats in registration by about 100K. YET Obama carried Colorado. Republicans voted for Obama. Not in great numbers, mind you, but they did pull the lever for him enough to put him over the top.

 Posted by: Lemon Kitten at November 17, 2011 09:46 AM (O7ksG)

I think he means that they were not philosophical republicans or conservatives. No one who actually understood the philosophies behind the two parties could ever pull the lever for someone like Obama. He may have carried states that have a larger republican registration but that would be because of 1. Real repubs stayed home. 2. Many of those registered republican are actually independents or stupid (swayable) 3. Fraud

Real philosophical driven republicans would NEVER vote for Obama

37 "Forbes.com first reported last week that Mr. Corzine passed the Series 7 exam in 1975 and the Series 24 exam in 1982 but had not sat for either one prior to taking the helm of MF Global. Finra says on its website that investment professionals must retake their exams after being out of the business for more than two years, the story notes. Finra spokeswoman Nancy Condon confirmed that Finra gave Mr. Corzine a waiver."

38 Just say YES to sequestration! 
(Read the Kudlow article, you'll see.)

39 28: Not necessarily. I seem to recall from 2008ish that in CO unaffiliated voters outnumber voters registered with either party. Its one reason we get hit with so many political ads.

40 Uh - you brought it up, lover.

Second time in < 1 hour you failed to read who posted the comment.

41 Posted by: sky at November 17, 2011 09:52 AM (oZfic) look it's the troll......new name...new nic ...same old cut and paste.........

42

They get up on their High Horse and say, "That guy's not conservative enough for my vote, so I'll stay home."

/rant

Posted by: franksalterego at November 17, 2011 09:37 AM

During the '08 mess, I commented on a Double-M thread in which she was opining loudly (actually stamping her little foot and denouncing shrilly in outrageous outrage) the eeeeevils of voting for McCain (who was, as events have proven, far better than the stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure). This, mind you, was after the nomination, when his sole opponent was Osama Obama.

Her incisive response was to say "you don't know what the hell you're talking about." Not even a FYNQ or defense of her sitting-it-out-and-waiting-for-the-One-True-Conservative policy.

We may have to wait until the MMs and "Poppin' Freshes" have gone on to other gigs to reclaim the Republican Party from the squishes and "D.C. Royalist" crowd.

43 Uproared!!!!

44 Picture of the counter protest against OWS on Wall Street.

45 OMG!

46 Another full frontal attack on private industry

$15 Trillion in debt, and he's all concerned n' sh!t, you'll smoke a cigarette.

47 Another full frontal attack on private industry $15 Trillion in debt, and he's all concerned n' sh!t, you'll smoke a cigarette. Posted by: franksalterego at November 17, 2011 09:57 AM (9XykO) =================================== There is no way in hell that the Mocha Messiah has put down the Kools.

48 The situation is handling the situation.

49

Dagny - I do agree that certainly any conservative republican who was paying attention in 208, would never vote for Obama. Not all R's pay close attention. We also have to remember that Obama fooled a lot of people who were sick of Bush and who wanted to believe Obama's shtick about how he was going to cut wasteful spending and restore transparency to the government.(etc..) Obama campaigned to the right of Hillary. Obama fooled a lot of people. [for the record I voted for McCain!]

50 One way to look at the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of the new Russia is in terms of a large corporation that fell into bankruptcy and had to be restructured: They had a struggle among the executive leadership (the rise of Yeltsin and Putin), they spun off underperforming units (the breakaway SSRs), they instituted austerity measures (the wage crises of the '90s), they opened new markets (the oil boom), and then they completed the restructuring and began to compete for old markets (the continuity of the disruptive activities of the KGB under the new Russian foreign intelligence service). Thus the Soviet Union didn't really fall so much as it went into restructuring and reemerged under new management. Same goals, different name. (Sorry to put this on a doom thread but it's a hobby horse of mine.)

51 2008

52

If I remember correctly, the poor were never expected to afford ObamaCare. They would get premium assistance (free), and even more money would be "redistributed" and/or borrowed to pay for this.

In the immortal words of Alvin Lee,

"Tax the rich, feed the poor, 'til there are no rich no more".

53

Why is teen employment at such a historic low? Oversimplified, more adults are holding the jobs that teens used to take.

More adult illegal aliens are holding these jobs.

54 LOL, I see Monty added my link to the fed owning all the debt now.

Monty, how much of the public really understands what that means do you think? 

I suspect it is very very few of them and yet ultimately it is going to destroy them. 

55 NYPD is arresting scum near Wall Street

56

Ok, ya'll keep talking about different conservative candidates for the Presidency and I'm going to make this statement now, before the election cycle decides the actual candidate:

*IF* we get through this election taking the White House and Congressional majorities, *AND* the newly elected Conservatives (both Congressional and Presidential) fail to immediately step up and repeal the ObamaCare legislation in it's entirety as it's first order of busines, then the entire election process and delegates will have failed to do their job. There will be no success with PARTIAL repudiation of that P.O.S. legislation. There will be no end to the world wide economic DOOM in progress as long as the weight of that debt is on the table and continues to cast it's shadow on wall street and free market economies world wide.

That being the case someone get this message to ALL of the Conservative candidates: "Which one of you are going to be FIRST to step up and state into the microphone FOR THE RECORD that as POTUS your first order of business will be to repeal the epic turd that is the ObamaCare legislation?"

My question here: has any of the candidates actually MADE that statement, or anything like it,  yet? Because I havn't heard it. And it SHOULD be echoing at EVERY Presidential debate from EVERY Conservative candidates mouth.

57 #7 WHY DOESN'T THIS PERSON HAVE A JOB:

A Master in French Linguistics and Lit, a BA in Spanish Linguistics and Lit, an Assoc in Industrial electronic engineering, a 4 yr area study in Environmental Biology, Philosophy and Religion, and Linguistics.

Tenure and contractual obligations is preventing the professors at the local Universities' Liberal Arts Departments from being laid off despite the obvious onset of their dementia and habits of molesting students?

58 >>>The lads over at ZH are good sorts, but...rather excitable. If by "good sorts" you mean malicious deceivers... then yes, I must agree.

59 #60, meh "is" should be "are" for the grammar police.

60 Aside from the chicanery of essentially buying your own debt instruments as a means of funding, what do you believe this ultimately means?

It means we are monetizing the debt. We are simply borrowing from ourselves and printing money.  Every nation that has done this in the past has collapsed financially.

Every damn one of them. We are not immune from the laws of economics just because we have U.S.A stamped on us.

61 SEIU marching with their drum corpse.

62 I suspected that's where you were going, but just wasn't sure.  Thanks for clarifying.

It's "hidden" inflation, and it's exactly what Japan -- for example -- have been doing for the past two decades. The problem you get is twofold: one, inflation never stays hidden for long, and when it finally emerges from hiding, it can do so in a big way; and 2) there comes a time when you simply can't ingest any more of your own debt, and have to go to the markets.

Japan is screwed when that happens. They're paying a percent or so on their debt, but since they finance most of the debt internally, it's not a killer. But when they have to go to international markets to roll that huge bolus of debt, investors are going to demand a premium -- and when that happens, Japan is boned.

The US has a large benefit in holding the world's reserve currency, and it's allowed us to be as profligate as we are without the dire side-effects. But that situation won't pertain forever, and when the day comes that the USD is no longer the reserve currency (probably not that far off), we are going to wake up with a hell of a hangover.

63 But that situation won't pertain forever, and when the day comes that the USD is no longer the reserve currency (probably not that far off), we are going to wake up with a hell of a hangover. Posted by: Monty at November 17, 2011 10:26 AM (/0a60) And probably a fat chick too. But I digress.

64 A new resolution on Iran drafted by the International Atomic Energy Agency only moderately condemns the Islamic Republic's nuclear defiance, softening the body's recent damning report revealing that Tehran was working toward developing atomic weapons. The new resolution was drafted as a concession to China and Russia, which are balking at international efforts to toughen sanctions against Tehran. Oh yeah obama, this negotiation approach is gonna work wonders

65 "Jay Bouvier makes $45,000 a year after taxes, but is living with his mother, Nancy Bouvier, in Bristol, Conn., to save money"

I'm TOTALLY OK with an unemployed grad suckling of mamma's teet. But when you're pulling down 45K?! Does he actually breastfeed, too?!

When I graduated from college I got a job making $16.5K a year... WAY below market value. But I had a job and I had freedom in my own share of an apartment a long way from mommy and daddy. Great memories, but tough times.

Today's fatasses pat themselves on the back for their witty frugality, saving money by staying at home. Cultural sociopathy compounded by intense narcissism. But hey, good job, Jay! Here's your trophy. Wouldn't want to harm your self-esteem.

66 Oh yeah obama, this negotiation approach is gonna work wonders Posted by: nevergiveup at November 17, 2011 10:31 AM (i6RpT) Hey, the Iraq SOFA negotiations went well, right? Oh wait...

67 Livestream of Steven Chu testifying regarding the solyndra investigation (via twitter)

68 Why the hell did Germany ever agree to be a part of the EU cluster?

69 Today's fatasses pat themselves on the back for their witty frugality, saving money by staying at home. Cultural sociopathy compounded by intense narcissism. But hey, good job, Jay! Here's your trophy. Wouldn't want to harm your self-esteem. Posted by: Get Out, B*tch! at November 17, 2011 10:32 AM (0tRzD) This is the logical endpoint of helicopter parenting. When your little snowflake is never allowed to try and fail, and then try again, they never learn to stand on their own, and so they keep coming back to mommy.

70

Not all R's pay close attention.

I contend that they aren't philosophical republicans at all but just "are". Most people cannot articulate any political philosophy, have no grasp of history, wouldn't know John Locke if he fell in their soup, have no idea what the definition of socialism/communism/marxism is, don't know what those philosophies have resulted in world wide, and aren't cognizant of creeping statism and what that means. I contend that anyone with a clue, an actual clue or a real education where you, you know read real stuff, and who doesn't think of themselves as the ruling elite of the fucking new world order, would never be, vote, or entertain liberalism.

71 "Jay Bouvier makes $45,000 a year after taxes, but is living with his mother, Nancy Bouvier, in Bristol, Conn., to save money"

Doesn't CT have all those "green space" laws that inflate the price of housing? Some of you CT Morons way in here? LauraW, ace?

72

In order to explain the Economic Theory Behind Solyndra...

1. Give half a billion dollars to company run by campaign donors and cronies so they can buy robots that whistle Disney music while making solar panels they sell for half of what they cost to make.

2. ???

3. Profit!

... Chu will bring out his surprise witnesses, the Underpants Gnomes.

73 arrgg

way in here = weigh in here

74

(ABC News) Two dozen wealthy members of the group Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength are targeting members of the deficit "supercommittee" to increase their taxes.

Entrepreneur and producer Charlie Fink, said he and other Patriotic Millionaires testified in a congressional hearing and visited the offices of 13 members of Congress on Wednesday, seven of whom are members of the supercommittee, to express their concern for the country's fiscal health.

Last November, the Patriotic Millionaires launched with 45 signatories who sent a letter to President Obama asking him to allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of last year. The petition was signed by the Grammy Award-nominated DJ, MOBY, as well as Jerry Cohen of Ben-and-Jerry's-Ice-Cream fame.

Other Patriotic Millionaires who participated on Wednesday were Lawrence Benenson, executive vice president of Benenson Capital Co., David desJardins, former Google software engineer, Guy Saperstein, civil rights attorney, and Eric Schoenberg, former managing director of Broadview International.

So a bunch of left wing assholes who are probably big Barry donors are pushing his agenda. What's stopping them (besides their hypocrisy) from sending more money to the government? I'll bet they're a bunch of tax dodgers like Warren Buffett

75

Posted by: dagny at November 17, 2011 10:35 AM (LVDiz)

Agreed.  While a great deal of Dems are Democrats because of family ties/traditions, there's a bit of that as well with Republicans (i.e. "I'm a Republican because my parents were...", so on and so forth), particularly in certain geographic/demographic locales.  Meghan McCain is the most prominent example of this that comes to my mind  at the moment - she'd be a registered Democrat if it wasn't for her parents. 

76 Posted by: Insomniac at November 17, 2011 10:31 AM

Maybe the Swiss Franc?

Those devious bastards have pretty much stayed out of the Euro-mess. And there will always be markets for cuckoo clocks and chocolate.

It amazes the hell out of me that the dollar retains as much value worldwide as it does. The Osama Obama regime (with a little help from the past) has beaten the poor damn thing to a pulp.

77

76 I had a woman tell me yesterday the lengths she went to in order to convince her son not to try to play lacrosse when he was 11. She was too worried he would "get hurt". She understood that she was talking to a mother whose 3 sons all play football (starting at 7), have wrestled (I wouldn't recommend it--filthy sport), and play men's lacrosse (starting at 6). Have they gotten hurt? Wrestling, yes. Football and lacrosse? Not much--turned ankles, hyperextended elbows, and are much better off than if they had spent all that time "gaming".

Not only will they all think they deserve everything all the men will be women.

78 she'd be a registered Democrat if it wasn't for her parents.

She'd be turning tricks down at the local motel if it wasn't for her parents. 

79 HA has a great video up from the Daily Caller -- wanna watch a few hypocritical millionaires squirm as they are hoisted by their short & curlies?
 
I'm going to buy a cilice to get me through DOOMless Fridays-Sundays.

80

81

(ABC News) Two dozen wealthy members of the group Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength are targeting members of the deficit "supercommittee" to increase their taxes.

 

They could always cut an extra check to Uncle Sam if they really wanted to, which is why this whole thing is so extremely dishonest.

81

Not only will they all think they deserve everything all the men will be women.

Works for me!

82 Posted by: Get Out, B*tch! at November 17, 2011 10:32 AM (0tRzD)

If you factor in the cost of keeping a car, and an apartment and paying off student loans which begin to send you threatening letters a mere week after your 6 months initial grace period is up, well you really cannot afford to live.  Where they get that the average is $25 grand is beyond me.  Most people I know owe in excess of $75,000. plus and their parents have contributed sometimes taking out their own loans.  This is after the parents were assured for years by their "financial adviser" that they were saving "more than enough" for junior's or juniorette's college education.  Even a mail carrier I know, who sent his three children to state school, has over one hundred grand in student loans, taken out to help pay their college education.  The children have their own hundred grand, each.  The hidden costs of a college education often surprise people and now that the economy has tanked, the three kids took the highest paying full time job they could get.  They make between twenty and forty grand a year.  And they consider themselves lucky to have their jobs.

83

My answer to doom:

To crush it, see it driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of it's women.

84 To crush it, see it driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of its women vimmen. Posted by: Conan the Honey Badger at November 17, 2011 10:42 AM FIFY.

85 Quick question:

While I don't like the talk of higher taxes, why on earth does anybody give a damn what Larry Kudlow thinks? Has he ever been right? About anything?

86 She'd be turning tricks down at the local motel if it wasn't for her parents.

Perhaps that too, . 

87 Go away curious.

88 "Jay Bouvier makes $45,000 a year after taxes, but is living with his mother, Nancy Bouvier, in Bristol, Conn., to save money"

I hope he's at least paying rent. I have two young adults (20,21) living at home, they both have jobs paying about $18K per year and they are each kicking in $300 per month to help with household expenses.

89

So a bunch of left wing assholes who are probably big Barry donors are pushing his agenda. What's stopping them (besides their hypocrisy) from sending more money to the government? I'll bet they're a bunch of tax dodgers like Warren Buffett

Posted by: TheQuietMan at November 17, 2011 10:37 AM

I'm all for making it official, and taxing the bejeebers out of these phonies, as well as manipulators like George Soros. While we're at it, we can extend the same tax bracket to members of Congress.

I don't want to sound like an OWS jerk, but I would also love to see higher tax rates for certain kinds of non-productive "wealth creation." If what you do, be it take a huge-ass bonus while your company is failing or has gotten federal money, does not produce a positive result, or if you put jobs/companies at risk through your financial dealings, cough up a fat chunk of the proceeds. Think of it as insurance for those who inadvertently get screwed.

90 Posted by: dagny at November 17, 2011 10:39 AM (LVDiz)

And your boys will know how to work on a team. They will understand the efforts required to win and the disappointment of losing. They will know what it means to be loyal to those they with whom they work and how to take instruction and criticism. All of these lessons will serve them well in life.

It's no coincidence that the parents who do not want their children to be "hurt" playing sports will later in life be financially and emotionally supporting man-children so that they aren't hurt by their own decisions in life.

91 I hate meetings. I hate them with the heat of 1,000 suns going nova. They are wasteful, annoying, repetitive, and typically lead to more work piled on top of the work one already has. There is not enough coffee on the planet to make the typical meeting interesting and all meetings should be limited to 30 minutes on pain of death. Guess where I'm going at 11:00?

92 It is a privacy issue and if you don't care today, you will find yourself being sold like hamburger tomorrow. If you don't care about what key logger is running on your phone or other portable device today, then tomorrow when you express an incorrect opinion via that device, someone may come-a-knockin'. I am not fearful of government or commerce monitoring my every utterance, my every move, I am terrified of it. What they can do, they will do. You can feel it in your bones. And, the uglier the economic and political situation becomes, the more likely it becomes that "control" and "monitoring" will be seen as appropriate and reasonable. Be like Han! http://tinyurl.com/brdl6zw

93 OT but...Anatomy of a SMEAR!
At the gym this AM and on local news a picture of Gingrich/picture of Freddie Mac/Pic of Ginrich/picture of Tiffany's...repeated 3 times. Ace is fond of extolling "stupid little facts" that win the day...NOT the case! The mere visual linkage (no words) gets the job done...we are up shit creek!

94 Sky,

Then sweet Mother Mary those children should have gotten a damn job and worked to save toward what they were going to spend on an education.  Never too old to go back to college.  Get some experience with real life and live off $16.5k a year.  Figure out the value of money and then take classes as you can afford them.  They dug the hole and apparently never looked up to see if it was getting too deep to get out of without someone bailing them out. 

My heart bleeds /

95 wanna watch a few hypocritical millionaires squirm as they are hoisted by their short & curlies?
 
I'm going to buy a cilice to get me through DOOMless Fridays-Sundays.

Posted by: GnuBreed at November 17, 2011 10:40 AM (ENKCw)

All the sanctimonious asses are asked to put their money where their mouth is and they all refuse. They love to act all morally superior behind the bullshit of "tax the rich" but I'll bet everyone of them uses every tax shelter they can. Just like the Occupy tards, I'll bet this is another Barry backed stunt

96 don't want to sound like an OWS jerk, but I would also love to see higher tax rates for certain kinds of non-productive "wealth creation." If what you do, be it take a huge-ass bonus while your company is failing or has gotten federal money, does not produce a positive result, or if you put jobs/companies at risk through your financial dealings, cough up a fat chunk of the proceeds. Think of it as insurance for those who inadvertently get screwed.
Posted by: MrScribbler
.........
How about we just tax everything at one rate.  Hedge fund managers are allowed to pretend their income is some special category and get taxed at cap gains rates.. fuck 'em.. income is income.  Whatever your rate is, pay it.  And let's lose all the special deductions while we're at it.

The more I think about it.. this would be a very good course for the GOP to take over the next year.  There is a definite anti-Wall St feeling even in the populace that doesn't agree with the Occupy retards.

Even better.. none of these reforms would ever get passed.. we should have the GOP become the party of "fairness" in taxation.

97 What do you believe has the most potential for becoming the world's reserve currency in place of the USD?

Brains!!

Also, debt is a tool not a problem.  Leftists screwing everything up is the problem.

98 Guess where I'm going at 11:00? Posted by: joncelli
........
I just openly fall asleep in them nowadays..  I joke: wake me up when there's something I would be interested in.

99 What do you believe has the most potential for becoming the world's reserve currency in place of the USD?

There is that yellow shiny metal stuff. I forget what it's called.

100 While I don't like the talk of higher taxes, why on earth does anybody give a damn what Larry Kudlow thinks? Has he ever been right? About anything?

Larry Kudlow has championed the principles of free-market capitalism for a long time and during the Reagan Administration, he was a fairly important official in the OMB. 

However, the main flaw with Kudlow is that he's too optimistic, too eager to see the "grass-shoots" even when there is no evidence that they are present.  This is probably caused, in part, to his past drug abuse and his over-optimism is a compensation mechanism from those dark times in his life.

101

Posted by: SCOAMF at November 17, 2011 10:24 AM (gMONh)

Gotta be a sock. No way he could do that math.

102 Posted by: sky at November 17, 2011 10:41 AM (oZfic)

A car? I see people who cannot afford cars lined up at the bus station at the local junior college every day. Why? Because their education and family are more important than a car. Cars are expensive to own and so they choose to ride the bus.

A car is not a right and not an outright necessity for those who live in the cities or near burbs.

Further, with regards to student debt, some of the best financial advice I ever got was that if a child is not willing to work hard enough to earn at least a partial scholarship as a senior in high school, then they aren't going to work any harder 6 months later as a freshman in college.

So then....junior/community college it is.

103 99 The Scrum. Trust the Scrum, Luke! Here is a Wiki link to more effective meetings. Getting buy-in for the process and "making" it work (having your hand on the whip in other words), is the difficult part. http://tinyurl.com/r5pk6

104 Posted by: sky at November 17, 2011 10:41 AM (oZfic)

I just find it weird that kids even want to live with pater and mimsie after college. I had rather fraught relations with my mom and step-dad, and left the ancestral demesne at 16. I got emancipated at 17 so I could rent a shitty little apartment under my own name, and worked full time while finishing my final year of high school. I worked all through college.

If it had come down to sleeping under a highway overpass or moving back in with my parents, I would have taken the overpass -- with a small murmer of gratitude for the public-works folks who had built such a robust structure.

But this is the key: I didn't rack up tens of thousands of dollars in loan debt. I paid my own way through my (state, land-grant) school: scholarship for the first two years, lots of crappy low-pay jobs and no social life to speak of for the last two years. If I had it to do over again, I would have just gone to community college for the first two years...or just gotten a cert from a trade-school.

105 wanna watch a few hypocritical millionaires squirm as they are hoisted by their short & curlies?

Augh!, I watched 3 of em and had to quit.  Interviewing whiners is obviously not a job I'm qualified for.  I hope somebody sacks up in the hearing and asks them to donate, follow up their No with a STFU and have the Capitol Police throw their ass right into the street.

106 Posted by: Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain at November 17, 2011 10:51 AM (bj+Nc)

Yes, this is true.  Which is why it is suddenly so difficult to get into State Schools and part time programs.  But the people I'm speaking about graduated in the last two years.  Up until the time they entered college they could have expected to start in excess of $50 grand and the engineers and nurses could expect $80 grand.  Instead of the tops $30 grand and $60 grand they are being offered now.  I've seen many people go out on their own for a year and then go back to their parents home because even living with 4 other people in a small box of an apartment, they weren't able to make it on their own.  Most people I know who are living at home contribute in some way.  If not money then they do something for their parents.  One of my friends, an engineer, has rewired his parents house under the supervision of his friend, the guy who wisely went the electrical workers union route, and is a licensed electrician.  But even that guy, without student loans is having trouble making ends meet. 

107

Problem being, there are RINO voters, and RINO bloggers, as well as RINO politicians.

They're the ones who stayed home, essentially voting for Obama... They shirked their responsibility and their civic duty... My bet is, they're the ones shrieking the loudest about the SCoaMF.

Blah, blah, blah . . .

I simply will never vote for Romney. And there's no way you're going to scare or guilt me into doing so.

108 "If I had it to do over again, I would have just gone to community college for the first two years...or just gotten a cert from a trade-school"

If I'd only known!!

109 I once had to attend a pre-pre-meeting to prepare for the pre-meeting. That week, I spent 30% of my time in meetings.
 
Then the boss asked why my project was moving so slowly. Ah, the joys of corporatehood.

110 I don't want to sound like an OWS jerk, Too late. First, these executives are not getting "huge-ass bonuses" in spite of poor performance. They are getting the compensation that the company is contractually obligated to pay, based on the negotiated benefits package that all parties agreed to at hiring. So, now we invalidate contracts based on your feelings? Do you even own stock in any of these companies that hire these amorphous and shadowy "executives" you're complaining about? Vote with your dollars. Sell your stock, if in fact you own any. And if you do, do you attend the annual shareholders' meeting? Sign the proxy that comes every year? Ignore it because you can't be bothered to vote your stock? There's a process to address these problems. Most would rather bitch that the government should "do something" to punish othrrs whose actions probably don't effect you.

111 Posted by: Ed Anger - Certified Kos Kid at November 17, 2011 10:59 AM (7+pP9)

This is a huge problem of the republican party.  They expect people to vote for "anyone but obama" and that might not happen.  Christie is right, they need a good candidate that people can get excited about.  Ann Coulter can shout from the rooftops that you have to vote for any republican and many republicans, if the nominee is wrong for them, just won't vote on that line.

112 The answer is to have more kids

113 Why the hell did Germany ever agree to be a part of the EU cluster?

Because Germany and France each thought the EU would be their proxy to control the rest of Europe.  They didn't expect it would become self-aware and turn on its "masters".

114 123 The answer is to have more kids

Posted by: Jean at November 17, 2011 11:02 AM (WkuV6)

And to sell Taiwan down the river in exchange for loan forgiveness.....

lol

115 o earn at least a partial scholarship as a senior in high school, then they aren't going to work any harder 6 months later as a freshman in college. So then....the marine corps it is FIFY

116 What do you believe has the most potential for becoming the world's reserve currency in place of the USD?

Gold-pressed latinum!

117 I once had to attend a pre-pre-meeting to prepare for the pre-meeting.

/takes notes

118 Posted by: Quark at November 17, 2011 11:04 AM (PLvLS)

Was listening yesterday to a guy on one of the financial channels who was insisting that the Brit's want to bring back the pound sterling as the world's reserve currency.  When the guy wouldn't back down, the host simply changed the subject so the guest never really explained where he got this idea.

119 Looks like Energy Secretary Chu is the designated whipping boy/silhouette target for the Solyndra biz. Attaboy, Steven, take one for your Leader! Not!

120 I wouldn't want my son to become a heathen conservative and shoot guns, play football, or consider the military.

None of those three things guarantee conservatism.  After all, the ultra-lib San Francisco-based Mythbusters gleefully shoot off a variety of guns nearly every week, the NFL is probably the most openly leftist of the major sports leagues, and I personally know several retired military who think Obama's cock is rich and creamy.  (And one who thinks Obama is a dangerous GOP plant and only Ralph Nader can save us).

121 Will the poor be able to afford Obamacare? You know, the simple solution around the "one working family member blocking out the rest of the family from buying insurance" is easily fixed by kicking the man out of the house...it's the same incentive as every other Federal welfare program.

122 Ha! Another entry in the CA is the LOTB -- Criminal charges for fake grass??
 
GLENDALE (CBS) — The city of Glendale is imposing a ban on artificial grass. Notices are going out to homeowners whose front yards are covered in turf.

Geneva Dotson says she was forced to pay crews $3,000 to rip up her brand new front yard after receiving a notice from city hall.<snip>
 
City officials say they plan to press criminal charges against those who do not comply with the ban.
 
Back yards are okay though. Yeah baby.

123 Barack Hussein Obama - Leadership from the rear you can believe in!

Tell us about it.

124 I guess this is why just recently someone said we need to turn around the idea that some debt is a good thing.  Don't spend money you don't have.  If it's not in your hands because you worked to put it there, then don't expect someone to hand it to you.  Risk/Reward = sometimes a hand full of gold and sometimes a hand full of shit.  Them's the breaks. So sorry our economy is in the crapper, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna eat their student loans.

125 That dick Dingell (D) Michigan is making excuses for Chu and Solyndra. Did Dingell have a stroke?

126 Spending money you don't have to (mostly) buy s**t you don't need is ... how retail works

127 They know their accountants can find use all sorts of loopholes to keep their money in their pockets.

It's for show, that's all. They can say they support "paying our fair share" with the initial rate, but like Buffett they'll make sure Congress doesn't touch the loopholes.

Take away the loopholes and they'll be "donating" lots more to the black hole of government spending

128 I personally know several retired military who think Obama's cock is rich and creamy.

Yeah, I got a friend on Facebook like that. He's also a Wiccan priest.

129 140, yet another reason to not facebook

130 Shoving match at the park.

131 I personally know several retired military who think Obama's cock is rich and creamy. Yeah, I got a friend on Facebook like that. He's also a Wiccan priest. Posted by: Gregroy of Yardale at November 17, 2011 11:13 AM (PLvLS) The Military is like the rest of humanity, there are always some people with their heads up their asses. But for the large part the Military is not a big fan of obama

132 Remember what the Democrat definition of a "loophole" is.

Personally I am against another round of "simplification" unless they go all the way. We have done this once before. Within a couple of years the rates were right back up and all the deduction were still gone.

The only fair tax is a flat tax on all income in all amounts regardless of source. But that will never happen.

133

He's also a Wiccan priest.

 

wouldn't that make him a Warlock?

134 @guypbenson: Dingell suggesting "the law" FORCED Chu/DOE/WH to make the Solyndra loan. Says we were in "a depression." #Solyndra

michellemalkin Waxman: "Is there anything you're holding back. Chu: "No." Why, he's doing everything possible to cooperate! #solyndra

135 Spending money you don't have to (mostly) buy s**t you don't need is ... how retail works

Posted by: Matt Damon at November 17, 2011 11:13 AM (e8kgV)

Like Will Rogers' definition of advertising: "A powerful magic that makes people spend money they don't have to buy things they don't want".

136 Spot the irony in Vice President Biden’s schedule today, from the White House’s daily guidance: “At 1:00 PM, the Vice President will attend a meeting of the Government Accountability and Transparency Board in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. At 2:30 PM, the Vice President will meet with representatives of the National Sheriffs' Association in the Roosevelt Room. These meetings are closed press.”

137 Dingell suggesting "the law" FORCED Chu/DOE/WH to make the Solyndra loan.

I'd love to see that statute.

I wonder if "the law" forced the WH to ask Solyndra to hold off on the layoffs until after the election too.

138

He's also a Wiccan priest.

 

wouldn't that make him a Warlock?

Posted by: garrett at November 17, 2011 11:18 AM (2uSVR)

If "Warlock" is a synonym for "dimwit" then yes.

139 Hensarling Pitches Romney Medicare Plan to Supercommittee

"Republicans put a plan on the table that solved the problem. They rejected it and we said, ‘O.K., if you don't like our plan, how about a bipartisan plan?' We would be willing to negotiate around the Rivlin-Domenici Medicare plan. It's not our version, it's a bipartisan version. That's something maybe we could meet on [but] we haven't seen that."

140 What a farce. Each and every dumb bastard dem is giving chu a pass after blowing him

141 Good morning, folks!

A friend posted a link to this on Facebook (link does not go to Facebook) and thought it might be of interest.  It's a candidate matching tool from a place called ProCon. 

I got Bachmann, Cain, and Perry in that order, so I think there's something wrong with some of their scoring, but it was still worth a couple of minutes for jollies.

^{_{*I moved this over from the dead thread.}}

142 Posted by: nevergiveup at November 17, 2011 11:22 AM (i6RpT)

oh you are watching the hearing?  Yeah I've gone through half a bottle of tums so far.

143 82
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at November 17, 2011 10:38 AM (9hSKh)

I hear congratulations are in order for you, young sir! Congratulations!

Now that you are about to be conferred with the esteemed title of Pee-Aitch-Effin'-Dee, make sure they instruct you in the ways of the Secret Handshake, Secret Sign and Countersign, and Ribald Carousing Songs.

Contrary to rumors, there is no Secret Compendium of Raunchiest Pron Weblinks in this benefits' package, because practically all awardees had already compiled far more comprehensive listings on their own during the time they "worked" to earn their degree.

Too many Pee-Aitch-Effin'-Dees lacked the foresight to have this knowledge put to them and wind up living lives of quiet desperation. (Or so I'm told... I availed myself of these privileges.) Don't you be one!

144 If "Warlock" is a synonym for "dimwit" then yes.

He was ROTC in college, but his gf was one of the loudest feminist dingbats you could ever imagine; went on to manage an abortion mill after she graduated. He retired a bird Colonel from the Air Force. I could have gotten him a rather good gig managing projects for any number of defense contractors; but he decided he would rather work at Home Depot.

145 151 ETA- The article says that this offer shows that Hensarling agrees with Romney on Medicare but Hensarling voted to fast-track the Ryan plan. He knows the odds of them accepting are small indeed but he is going to try anyway.

146 Why is teen employment at such a historic low? Oversimplified, more adults are holding the jobs that teens used to take. Nah. Teen employment is at an all-time low because the minimum wage is at an all-time high. Adults aren't just holding the jobs -- a lot of those jobs are just gone because they aren't economically viable that the legally required headcount cost.

147 Kratos, Did you defend?  Congrats! 

Remember: it's not just a piece of paper.  It also makes excellent kindling.

148 PS: Re 154.  I got Bachmann, Cain, and Perry in my top three.  I somehow doubt the Cain score, though. 

149

From mom's basement I stab at thee!

Kids! Do you want to get even with your Baby Boomer parents and put a world of hurt on their lifelong plans for lifelong self-indulgence? If your answer is "yes", then move back in with them!

150 160 Kratos, Did you defend?  Congrats! 
Remember: it's not just a piece of paper.  It also makes excellent kindling.
Posted by: Y-not at November 17, 2011 11:31 AM (5H6zj)

Tear it into small strips first for best results.

151 @philipaklein: Wow, Markey praises #OWS in question to Chu and says GOP is part of "preoccupied movement"

152 look it's the troll......new name...new nic ...same old cut and paste.........

Remind me to give a crap.

153 I got Bachmann, Cain, Perry.

Romney in 4th.

I denounce myself.

154 I'm not crazy about Mittens, but I would prefer Mittens half-assed underparenting to Dear SCOAMF's half-assed overparenting.

155 Supercommittee Dems demand that GOP give up lowering tax rates

Supercommittee Democrats say they are willing to accept the latest deficit-reduction offer from Republicans, but only if the GOP drops its demand to lower and extend the Bush tax rates.

The demand that tax rates stay at their current levels is one of four major Democratic demands that will be tough for Republicans to accept.


Not going to happen.

156

He was ROTC in college, but his gf was one of the loudest feminist dingbats you could ever imagine; went on to manage an abortion mill after she graduated. He retired a bird Colonel from the Air Force. I could have gotten him a rather good gig managing projects for any number of defense contractors; but he decided he would rather work at Home Depot.

A bird Colonel retirement with a little Home Depot income on the side ain't a bad gig. That's a lot more than a lot of people make with very little responsiblity in the job.

157 Because Germany and France each thought the EU would be their proxy to control the rest of Europe.  They didn't expect it would become self-aware and turn on its "masters".

Why, yes. An answer so simple and clear it astonishes me that I didn't think of it myself.

158 A bird Colonel retirement with a little Home Depot income on the side ain't a bad gig. That's a lot more than a lot of people make with very little responsiblity in the job.

Especially depending where  you are--where I live, that package will cover you pretty nicely.  Do something for boozin' money on the side, and you're pretty well set.

159 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

160 Teen unemployment is so high because adult illegal aliens and legal immigrants are taking their jobs.

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