1 There's DOOM in them thar hills!

That'll larn 'em good!

2 Yes, but who can forget Turbo Tax Tim's famous saying of unexpected tax revenues postponing the doom until August.

3 Why does the job market feels so dismal? How about this that I posted earlier?

More from Weasel Zipper “Stimulus stole my job”!

LOL, I have been saying for a long time that the failed porkulous program had no impact on the economy because it only boosted welfare rolls and government jobs that would not have been lost anyway.

4 To whom it may concern,
You have until 12/21/2012 to pay off the national credit card. There will be no extensions. Thank you.
yours truly,
Ah Puch

5 i prefer my doom about 1/2 an hour later.......

6 Timmeh!!!

7 "...since he is himself in his mid-60's."

Interesting -- I had you pegged for at least 80-85.

8 "chambermaid"

Servile class distinction.

I saw Gateway Pundit's silly effort to supposedly give the "housekeeper" more class as a "chambermaid" by placing this 32-year-old woman within the feudal order's lower class as a servant who has no say regarding sexual or any abuse conducted by their elitist "betters".

The only question I had about her is whether she's a legal resident or another illegal alien employed with a union job that American citizens supposedly don't want.

But the story itself is ridiculous. The guy who buys any and every bitch, whore or "lady" he wants comes out of his bath butt naked and chases the hotel housekeeper down the $3K/night hotel hallway, dragging her back by her hair while she's kicking and screaming. But no witnesses mentioned in this Sarkozy campaign story.

9

We added jobs because hires exceeded separations, not because hiring increased.

Ding, ding, effing ding.

This statistical artifact is not "job creation" regardless of how many times the MFM tries to claim the recession is over.

10 The Union-Democrat party alliance.  Also known as -- THE MOB.

11 doom is quite palatable with a tad of marmalade and a good morning coffee 

12 Posted by: by any other name at May 16, 2011 08:55 AM (H+LJc)

Chambermaids empty and clean chamberpots. There is nothing upscale about the position.

As for it being a Sarkozy story? Do you really think that Sarkozy has any pull with the NYPD?

13 9, The recession is over when it is over at my house. Not one minute before.

14 So layoffs are now called "separations"? 

15

Install Ryan's plan and stop ObamaCare. That's a start. All the rest is just bullshit.

16 Robert Samuelson
Lee Stranahan
Ron Replogle

The few lefties I can stand to read anymore.  Pre 2003 I used to watch Daily Show, CNN, and MSNBC.  I had some concerns about Iraq, but their eagerness to undermine the Military and Bush repulsed me and I haven't been back.  Around that time lefty news went bias to Fraud and the commentators and bloggers go from angry to rabid.

17

But no witnesses mentioned in this Sarkozy campaign story.

Yes, becasue attempted rapes have to have witnesses and every goddamend thing has to be a conspiracy of some sort.

 

18 Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at May 16, 2011 08:57 AM (B+qrE)

You are being generous. It isn't a statistical artifact; it is bald-faced manipulation of government collected data for political ends.

Government math: (-2) + 2 + (-1) + 1 + (-1) = 3

It's easy; just cancel the negative numbers!

19 It is amazing to me how far the Democrat party has sunk. They tried to base their response for this downturn on FDR in the 30s. They wanted massive government spending x 10 compared to Roosevelt. But instead of actually doing programs like Roosevelt that used government money to create "new" jobs they did the opposite.

They used government money to prop up existing government jobs, create new union government jobs in schools in "minority" areas, and give subsidies to "green" money losing crap that ultimately went to China.

Now they want to talk about a "double dip" from the debt ceiling. What a pile of unmitigated gall. To have a double dip you have to have a recovery. Anyone who actually believes we have had a recovery is teh stupid.  And the debt ceiling has zero to do with a double dip anyway.

20 There is not a poor woman on the planet that does not want to suck a rich mans pecker. This rape talk is nonesense.

21 The news that we are now spending beyond what is authorized by law is having predictable impact--ie, none. The feral govt no longer even pretends to be bound by law. And the nation yawns. Boned until we do something about it. Ideas?

22
My client did not sexually assault the chambermaid.  She became infuriated after he refused to compensate her $100 for oral sex, and I will defend Dominique Strauss-Kahn against these scurrilous charges.

23 Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at May 16, 2011 09:00 AM (B+qrE)

Of course! I think it was the Freemasons, in conjunction with the operatives from the French Culinary Academy.

24 Posted by: Vic at May 16, 2011 09:02 AM (M9Ie6)

It's an interesting theory -- completely detached from logic and rational analysis -- but still interesting.

The federal government can no longer add to its debts by borrowing more money from foreign bond purchasers, therefore the American economy will be damaged...by the lack of more debt.

Sure. Makes perfect sense.

25 Can you imagine some old wrinkled french guy shoving his dick in your face, The horror. If he did this they should go all Muslim on his ass.

26 Yeah that's who I want to get conservative economic opinion from:

Robert Samuelson joined The Washington Post on the business desk in 1969. After four years he left the paper to free-lance, and his articles were published by the Sunday Times of London, the Los Angeles Times, The New Republic and other publications. He became an economic reporter in 1976 for National Journal, where he began a weekly column. The Post started running the column in 1977. In 1984, Samuelson left National Journal and became a columnist for Newsweek.

Google him and you get the feeling that Mr. Samuelson leans left but occasionally writes articles that get the rights attention and applause but he's just chumming the water.

Next up: Paul Krugman says it's time to Kill Old People rein in the MORALLY WRONG spendthrift Seniors spending their poor, hard working children's money on doo-dads and gew-gaws like blood pressure medication and MRI's and all sorts of costly new-fangled unproven technologies that will just keep them alive for only few more years. (why bother, huh? Die now and get out of the way for your children and other people's children, granny!)

Eventually someone'll take the hint and start selling off their portfolio so those promoting doom and gloom can take their profits from selling short. Yeah, stock brokers and bankers win again.

27 The federal government can no longer add to its debts by borrowing more money from foreign bond purchasers, therefore the American economy will be damaged...by the lack of more debt.

WTF are you talking about? I was speaking against Tim's call for debt celing increase because to not do it would cause a double dip, his words, not mine.

28 "Strauss-Kahn was a leading contender for the presidency of France, so this news is proving to be a bit embarrassing for the French."

Finally we found out what can actually embarrass the French.

29 So what this IMF guy did was it worse then what Al Gore did to that masseuse?

30 This is actually good news for Sarko. Now he can focus all his attention to the French war effort in Labia. (Just a thought, any chance our woody frog photographed himself in flagant delecto with the chambermaid with his cell phone?). Sounds like we are playing CLUE.

31 Ever since you started using the organic doom as apposed to the artificial doom, I've lost weight, my hair has grown back, my penis is longer and I have longer, more enjoyable sex.  Thank you, Doom thread!

32 Posted by: Vic at May 16, 2011 09:11 AM (M9Ie6)

Uh...yes. I was making fun of the stupid idea that decreasing our borrowing will hurt the economy.

Haven't had your coffee this morning?

33

Strauss-Kahn would have been the socialist candidate in france, and he's running the IMF. sheesh

When asked for comment he said, "bitch didn't leave me a chocolate during turn downs."

34 Sorry, I thought you were hitting my response.

35
 Omitting the snark, is there any real chance that retirement funds COULD be tapped, or is that just a distraction to disguise something more nefarious?

36 Omitting the snark, is there any real chance that retirement funds COULD be tapped, or is that just a distraction to disguise something more nefarious?

When we reach the point that Ireland and Greece are in they will be looking for ANY out. But, my feeling is that they will continue to simply print money which is just creating more debt and monetizing it.

That way they can rob from everyone equally because a loaf of bread will cost $100 and that $100 of debt they have can be paid off with a tiny gram of gold.

37 is there any real chance that retirement funds COULD be tapped If by "retirement funds" you mean things like Roth IRAs, 401(k)'s, and so forth, then: maybe. They might try. The outcry would be enormous, but the debt is also enormous and something has got to give. There isn't enough money in the entire economy to fix the Big Three entitlement programs, though -- the best we can do is to delay the reckoning for some years. I personally think we're going to see a horrendous combination of higher taxes (maybe a VAT) combined with benefit cuts (through means-testing and age-eligibility hikes). This all means that the Great Downturn will continue for many more years yet, until the debt-bolus has been passed.

38 Posted by: Vic at May 16, 2011 09:21 AM (M9Ie6)

Nope, I was agreeing with you, but added some snark because you were being kind.

39 "...the Great Downturn will continue for many more years yet, until the debt-bolus has been passed."

Posted by: Monty at May 16, 2011 09:27 AM (/0a60)

I think that you are deluding yourself if you think that the debt can be retired, or even shrunk to a manageable % of the economy. As soon as the balance sheet shows any improvement the pols will spend again. We need radical restructuring of the political process to survive intact.

40

So we're looking forward to life as post 1945 England, except we didn't just fight a massive war.

Great, decline there has been great.

41

Luckily for me I'm planning on being dead for most of the DOOM.

 

42 We need to spend and borrow more, to show our creditors that we will pay back our debt.

43 Our current entitlement programs are basically a financial war on the young.
Sooner or later, they're going to fight back.

How so, by voting for Leftists like Jugears because they're the cool and hip party that cares about the poor and saving the planet and all, and gives them free abortions?

Right

It's mainly the young in Greece and Britain who are rioting, and they're not rioting to cut entitlement programs

44 40 "...the Great Downturn will continue for many more years yet, until the debt-bolus has been passed."

Posted by: Monty at May 16, 2011 09:27 AM (/0a60)

I think that you are deluding yourself if you think that the debt can be retired, or even shrunk to a manageable % of the economy. As soon as the balance sheet shows any improvement the pols will spend again. We need radical restructuring of the political process to survive intact.

Well we could return to the Constitution and let the States run pensions and insurance but since all problems come to DC to share the pain, I don't think we will see a return to Jeffersonian principles. Think we lost those for configuring ourselves to successfully destroy our enemies (i.e., Germany, Japan and USSR). Funny how we organizationally became what we sought to destroy.  

45
 Given what you just said, Monty, I gotta think grabbing retirement funds would be the tipping point, where the frustration,etc finally boiled over. Don't see how it could be spun as anything but outright robbery.  It likely WOULD see a march on DC.

46 Don't see how it could be spun as anything but outright robbery. Much depends on "events", as Chesterson might say. I don't think the Feds would simply grab the money -- they'd surely perform some magic-trick to hide the theft. (A "swap" of funds for Treasury bonds is one avenue; some tax-penaltiy/tax-credit carrot-and-stick scheme is another.) Roths are already coming under fire for "depriving" the government of a lot of tax revenue (as if the money belongs to the government by default and not to the person who earns it). One truth about the level of debt we face is this: it's going to force us to do things we never thought we'd have to do. Being poor means many things, but at base it means lacking options. Being poor is being unable to influence events, being unable to control the flow of life as it passes. Things happen to you instead of you being able to proactively change the outcome. This is true of whole societies no less than of individual people. (Just look at my Update 2 on Greece -- this is what happens when you lose the ability to influence events.)

47
Now THAT'S a proper doom kitteh.

48 Hands off my Social Security check asshats!! We've got a cruise to the Carribean coming up and ya better not f*ck with it. Any more nonsense about messing with my Mercedes payments and we'll have Congress raise the rates again there boy-o.

49 25 Can you imagine some old wrinkled french guy shoving his dick in your face, ... - oldsailor   Who was that addressed to... Barney Frank? Seems like a normal afternoon for him.

50  Given what you just said, Monty, I gotta think grabbing retirement funds would be the tipping point, where the frustration,etc finally boiled over. Don't see how it could be spun as anything but outright robbery.  It likely WOULD see a march on DC.

Posted by: irongrampa at May 16, 2011 09:40 AM (ud5dN)

Sadly our side is just too law-abiding to ever rebel over issues of property theft.  The only ones who would really be harmed are the productive people - and they're always the last to fight the state.  They usually just lay down.  Short of the government coming in and taking their house or kids, I suspect that those losing the 401k's and pensions and such will just end up bitterly accepting it.

I think the only way to prevent the state from taking all it can is to convince it that the effort is more trouble than it's worth.  Like the illegals, for example.  They have nothing.  There is nothing but cost involved in policing them up.  So the government ignores the problem.  But you and I have stuff to take, and we have enough wealth that we can be threatened.  If we on the Right want to have any hope of keeping our rights long-term, we will have to start forming street armies.  Local, non-government militias of like-minded folk who stand ready to beat down the opposition - ala 1930's Europe.  If you're organized and armed, the government will think twice.  Otherwise, you're meat.

51
 I don't see the problems as being lack of revenue, but out of control spending. Look at the sheer size of the economy--to imperil a country that produces in the trillions, by spending to this extent, is hard to comprehend. Never paid too much attention to the economy, being busy living, raising family and prepping for retirement, and to now see what faces us was a helluva jolt.

  I'll do what I can to help fix it, but I WON'T allow that which we've attained legally, morally and ethically to be appropriated like that.

 

52 "The United States is expected to reach the legal limit on its debt later on Monday and will start dipping into federal retirement funds to give the country more room to borrow, a Treasury official said."

So, is this the reason why their salaries were tripled and quadrupled?

53 Hey you slugs you have to finance by college degree while I use mom's money for a cell phone and my internet game zone.

And no taxing me on my job at all.

54 I think that you are deluding yourself if you think that the debt can be retired, or even shrunk to a manageable % of the economy. As soon as the balance sheet shows any improvement the pols will spend again. We need radical restructuring of the political process to survive intact.

That's the thing that bugs me about any solution you hear, no matter how good.  The fiscal shennanigans are a direct result of the political landscape, which is itself a product of what our society has become, which has its roots...?

By the time you get to anything resembling a foundation for the whole sad scenario, you find yourself wondering how we do anything other than chuck the whole thing and start fresh.  And I'm not entirely clear how that could be done.  And thus, the inevitability of boneage...

55 ut the story itself is ridiculous. The guy who buys any and every bitch, whore or "lady" he wants comes out of his bath butt naked and chases the hotel housekeeper down the $3K/night hotel hallway, dragging her back by her hair while she's kicking and screaming. But no witnesses mentioned in this Sarkozy campaign story.

Exactly! Cause we all know that rich famous guys who could get all the tail they want never rape anyone.

56 O/T:  Lunch with his daughter you say?

57

By the time you get to anything resembling a foundation for the whole sad scenario, you find yourself wondering how we do anything other than chuck the whole thing and start fresh.  And I'm not entirely clear how that could be done.

Well, the Khmer Rouge had some interesting ideas about "Year Zero". Oops, I better not give our socialist friends any ideas (as if half of them aren't already wishing it).

58

38 is there any real chance that retirement funds COULD be tapped

If by "retirement funds" you mean things like Roth IRAs, 401(k)'s, and so forth, then: maybe. They might try.

Posted by: Monty at May 16, 2011 09:27 AM (/0a60)

Honestly, that answer chilled me. But truthfully, we have been seeing stories in the news popping up occasionally about countries strapped for cash talking about nationalizing pensions. But hearing someone say the US government might go after Roth's, 401 Ks just struck that paranoid nerve with me because obviously the US government is the most powerful state on the planet. As someone else pointed out, the productive have other things to do than revolt.

In terms of the debt ceiling, if it's not raised, in what order are payments to people affected?

Bondholders always get paid, even if late. Do government agencies get hit first and have to shut down? Do Social Security checks not go out? Or is this a roller coaster ride where we'll just have to be surprised.

59 or chrome wheels for the hoopty

Nice.  We still have a coathanger for an antenna though.

60 Posted by: DarkLord©, wondering where this raging migraine comes from at May 16, 2011 10:03 AM (GBXon)

Yes, it is a very murky and messy business with many tentacles. Progressivism, the mass schooling movement, the Woodrow Wilson Admin which resulted in a couple of bad amendments, Congress fixing its size sometime around WWII, a lot of Supreme Court rulings, the monopoly of liberals in culture, Democrat eleectoral shenanigans, and there are probably a whole bunch more that I have left out.

In short, our system was subverted, and our enemies have been working on subverting it since the beginning, but their efforts really took off with the Progressive movement.

61

It's not just a war on the young, it's a war on the thrifty and the hardworking.

Samuelson is specifically targeting THOSE people.  Means-testing is a tax by another name.

"So, you put 100% of your money in?  You paid your tax?  In fact, you paid MORE tax than the other guys, since you worked harder and earned more?

Cool... now, since you are hard working and thrifty, you get less since you 'need' less."

Why not come out and say the famous "from everyone/to everyone..."

It's just "being fair" right?

"Fair" has become another term for "screw you."

62 is there any real chance that retirement funds COULD be tapped

If by "retirement funds" you mean things like Roth IRAs, 401(k)'s, and so forth, then: maybe. They might try. The outcry would be enormous, but the debt is also enormous and something has got to give. There isn't enough money in the entire economy to fix the Big Three entitlement programs, though -- the best we can do is to delay the reckoning for some years.

I personally think we're going to see a horrendous combination of higher taxes (maybe a VAT) combined with benefit cuts (through means-testing and age-eligibility hikes). This all means that the Great Downturn will continue for many more years yet, until the debt-bolus has been passed.

Posted by: Monty at May 16, 2011 09:27 AM (/0a60)

The thing is, either full-on seizure of the retirement funds or a tax on them has been a popular option among members of the LOTB.  Fausta caught Ireland putting a fresh 0.6% tax on private pensions after Britain did the same in 2008, while Argentina did the full seizure of pensions.  Hell, it's been pushed by the Rats since at least 1993, when S(l)ick Willie wanted to seize 15% of every pension, 401(k) and IRA in a "one-time" tax.

63 17

But no witnesses mentioned in this Sarkozy campaign story.

Yes, becasue attempted rapes have to have witnesses and every goddamend thing has to be a conspiracy of some sort.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at May 16, 2011 09:00 AM (B+qrE)

Yes, and there must be at least TWO other female witnesses...

64

Bondholders always get paid, even if late. .

Posted by: Stateless Canadian Infidel at May 16, 2011 10:28 AM (Cm/jf)

 

REALLY?????

65 63 is there any real chance that retirement funds COULD be tapped ? At least they're starting with Gubbmint Pensions .

66

Bondholders always get paid, even if late. .

Posted by: Stateless Canadian Infidel at May 16, 2011 10:28 AM (Cm/jf)

REALLY?????

Posted by: GM Bondholder at May 16, 2011 11:05 AM (NtXW4)

Hey, at least you got stock in Government Motors.  We got well and truly boned by UAW Motors.

67 Hey, that looks like our kitteh! He-man Woman Hater Kitteh!

68 No the young aren't going to fight back. They get brainwashed by teachers who are older to vote for the party that spends more on the elderly. But at least they feel good about loosing money and fewer job prospects. It also implies that the young are going to show financial responsibility and paying 50k+ for a degree so you can work at Starbucks isn't showing any sense what so ever.

69 Porkulus lookback via Ohio State - 443K state/local government jobs saved/created, while 1.03M private-sector jobs (at a minimum) were destroyed/forestalled (and a portion of the service sector that includes federal government employment had 92K jobs saved/created).

70 Frog-mouth gets frog-marched.

71 I was visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday afternoon with my mid-20s Preznint Splutnik-loving daughter when we encountered this exhibit: Our Newest Exhibition: Hot Pink Flamingos This compelling exhibit tells the story of climate change through the eyes of tropical wading birds, green sea turtles, colorful coral reef creatures, hypnotic jellies, playful Magellanic penguins and other ocean animals. You'll also hear stories of hope involving people and communities that are fighting climate change and making a difference. She knew enough to walk me through it extremely quickly by saying, "Let's step outside to watch the sea otters" before my ranting and desire to smash things blew out of control.

72

Our Newest Exhibition: Hot Pink Flamingos

Should read: Hot, Pink Flamingos. Or Getting Hot, Pink Flamingos. Or Hotter, Pink Alamingos, or...

73 62 It's not just a war on the young, it's a war on the thrifty and the hardworking. Posted by: RobM1981 at May 16, 2011 10:59 AM (dFemX) Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner, folks!

74 I thought it was a bunga bunga party!

75

Over the weekend, Strauss-Kahn was yanked from an Air France plane after the maid at the $3,000-per-night luxury Sofitel hotel identified him from a lineup.

His tally-whacker had a mole on it!

76 It's not just a war on the young, it's a war on the thrifty and the hardworking.
Posted by: RobM1981 at May 16, 2011 10:59 AM (dFemX)

Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
We have a winner, folks!

Posted by: ya2daup at May 16, 2011 12:04 PM (HrAUl)

It is like robbing banks--you go where the money is.

I do wish they would just admit that it is "to each/from each" writ large and make it clear they have always intended to screw us over.

77

Posted by: GM Bondholder at May 16, 2011 11:05 AM (NtXW4)

Sorry. You're right. Damn are you right.

78 Making 250K in a year is rich as far as I'm concerned.

79  Actually nowadays seniors are more likely to be insolvent, because so many of them bought new or second homes, or borrowed against the  house they were supposed to have free and clear by retirement.