1 the president is a scoamf and we are all doomed let it burn!

2 Doom! We are expecting 2-8 inches of global warming tomarrow.

3

Shoot,

I still half a bottle of wine left and the sun's coming up

 

what to do...what to do...

4 The sexual revolution continues to wreak havoc on the lives of Boomers and their children. The Baby Boom generation has gotten divorced at a prodigious rate, and one of the side-effects of that inability to make marriage work means that Boomers now have to sustain two households going into retirement. And that's on top of having insufficient retirement funds saved to begin with.

Monty, you say that like it's a bad thing.

I prefer to think of it in another, more positive way.

Payback is a bitch!

5 abolishing the tax exemption for contributing to 401(k) savings plans. Note the way the government thinks of this: it's not more of your money that you're keeping for yourself; it's money you're taking away from the government. That's really how they see it -- money you don't pay in tax is revenue they lose. Your money belongs to them; Sick. Pretty soon, not only will the US manage all of your/their assets, but your home and property will belong to the world.

6 Invest in gold, guns, beans, and real estate in Idaho. If you can't afford that, silver, ammo, beans, and a camper.

7 You mean to suggest that there are not people who are born to the responsibility for providing jobs to others doing the work they want, at the salary they want, and in the location they want? My gosh, this will be upsetting to so many liberals and paleocons (birm).

8 Evil kitteh lurker


Being poor almost always comes from making stupid choices in life.  The quickest way to get poor is get pregnant, drop out of High School and have a baby subsidized by welfare.


Same thing for guys except they participate in the baby then leave.

9 - "The sexual revolution continues to wreak havoc on the lives of Boomers and their children. The Baby Boom generation has gotten divorced at a prodigious rate, and one of the side-effects of that inability to make marriage work means that Boomers now have to sustain two households going into retirement. And that's on top of having insufficient retirement funds saved to begin with." A very salient, very cogent and educated comment. It's unfortunate it was relegated to the last graf of this blog post, which of course means that very few people saw it. It's also quite unfortunate, given the demographics of blogs and the rest of the chattering classes, that it's not a hot topic. Indeed, the demographics of the Boomers are poised on various fronts to destroy the country and its entire economy, and the harsh reality is that cultural and social mores do have severe consequences. The Boomers are a huge generation that will have to be supported by a small series of generations that largely are unemployable and which to large extents have by virtue of the liberal media and left-wing education been dumbed down into states of de facto catatonia. The Boomers themselves have not saved nearly enough for their own retirements, in large part due to such items as child support payments, alimony payments, property settlements, etc. Decisions matter. The math doesn't add up. And the prospects truly are bleak.

10 Invest in gold, guns, beans, and real estate in Idaho.

If you can't afford that, silver, ammo, beans, and a camper.

Posted by: blaster at March 04, 2013 08:24 AM (/1U3u)

 

--- Why Idaho?

11

SOUTH BEND – The former head of the St. Joseph County Democratic Party, accused of forging hundreds of signatures on election petitions, was scheduled to appear in court Monday morning.

Butch Morgan is accused in the forging of signatures on petitions to help land Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on the Indiana primary ballots in 2008.

In 2011, our partners at the South Bend Tribune reported that without the suspected fake signatures, it's likely Obama and possibly Clinton would not have had enough signatures to be on the state primary ballot.

Three other former party workers are also accused in the case.

Morgan's court hearing was set for 10 a.m.

12 I'm amazed at how long states like California and Illinois can keep the plates spinning by deceptive accounting, budgetary tricks, and a mostly-inert legistlature. (And like his Democrat colleage Barack Obama, Jerry Brown benefits from a liberal-dominated press that has long since devolved into a Democrat propaganda organ.) They're simply waiting for their king to leave office, and if replaced by a conservative, the tide will turn, and the POTUS, his/her administration and Congress will be at fault for the total collapse.

13 So, I was awake at 3 am, and I started to think about all the local girls I know who were second-generation welfare moms, getting cheap rent and SNAP and Medicaid, and getting money on the side.   It's been 40 years of this now.  They're building more and more "affordable" housing around and it's filling up with these people.  Still we hear there's not enough for them.

Back in the day, they would have married some guy who worked at a mill, and stayed home fucking around all day.    I know some of them too, my age now.   They seem kinda stupid because they never worked, but least they didn't cost the rest of us so much. 

14 Apparently even the moon is effected by the sequester. Smaller last night than the night before. And nighttime is getting shorter too. Is there nothing that Skeeter can't screw up?

15
My checks from Preznit Obama come every month, and if a white devil was in the White House, I would be workin' my ass off for minimum wage instead of educating poor citizens about their right to welfare and stuff.

16 More BB shit.  The high divorce rate did not start with boomers.  It started long before that and from what I have seen has actually started dropping now.

17 True, Vic.   The old folks said WWII really screwed up a lot of families.   Nothing was ever the same after that.

18 So, we're broke, immoral and stupid. That about sum it up?

19 Quit defending boomers, Vic.  You and I may have done what it takes to keep a marriage together but our generation smells like a dog's ass.

20 The Boomers are a huge generation that will have to be supported by a small series of generations that largely are unemployable ... Posted by: Tsar Nicholas II at March 04, 2013 08:26 AM (r2PLg) Yep. This is pretty scary. They simply did not acknowledge, nor comprehend, their previous generations' thrift and sacrifice. It was like the gold rush to them -- nothing could go wrong. And, I bet a large percentage of them just assumed their kids would take care of them, and, as you stated, their kids are barely keeping themselves afloat. Imagine how the kids feel if they are unable to care for their parents, as well. Sad, all around.

21 Does anyone have good links for the "DHS Buys 2700 MRAPS" story? I checked a few blogs. Some commenters say the contract was from US Army, not DHS.

22 I thought I smelled fresh Doom this morning. Then I opened the paper to find Mr Heinze has given 250 Million of our greenbacks to the Mooslum back Government of Egypt. Ever the administration for Caveats on numbers and such, the money was given with a stern warning we will be keeping an Eye on the Mooslim backed Regime ... Eye , Eye, Captain..

23 Singling out any generation for negatives is bull shit.  None of them are any better or worse than the others.


But if I had to say one generation being bad it would be the one coming up now.  They have grown up completely under a system that rewards not working and sitting at home on your ass.

24 VALERIE PLAME!!!! dear Lord

25 If you can't afford that, silver, ammo, beans, and a camper.Posted by: blaster at March 04, 2013 08:24 AM (/1U3u)--- Why Idaho? Posted by: Velvet Ambition at March 04, 2013 08:26 AM (R8hU So you can have your own Private Idaho

26 I think you've misinterpreted Brook's point, which is :"Instead, the answer is to make improving the lives of vulnerable people the primary focus of authentically conservative policies."

The beauty is that you improve the lives of the poor and vulnerable by following those principals we all follow.  

Conservative - or classically liberal - ideology lifts everyone up.   We need to blame the failures of liberalism for the social welfare state and it's myriad of disasters.

That is his point.

27 "Is employment a human right?"






If it is, Barry is violating a lot of people's rights

28 'm amazed at how long states like California and Illinois can keep the plates spinning by deceptive accounting, budgetary tricks, and a mostly-inert legistlature. (And like his Democrat colleage Barack Obama, Jerry Brown benefits from a liberal-dominated press that has long since devolved into a Democrat propaganda organ.)






Illinois actually has IOUs out on some of its bills. But I guess not being able to pay your bills doesn't matter any more as long as important issues like gay marriage and licenses for illegals is taken care of.

29 Original DHS story here
2,000+  Mine Resistant vehicles backfitted for DHS use.
What could go wrong?

http://preview.tinyurl.com/c6jgafp

What used to be tin foil territory is becoming commonplace topics of discussion.

30 Obama DHS Purchases 2,700 Light-Armored Tanks to Go With Their 1.6 Billion Bullet Stockpile This is getting a little creepy. According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm. DHS also purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAP). eh? ht gatewaypundit

31 16 Vic, Uh yeah Vic because a lot of folks were taught not to marry in the first place. It's okay by me my parents 13 marriages between the taught me to endure or quit while you're behind. I figured I'd allow myself one more try after divorce if it happened and quit if the 2d marriage died. Then the problem is probaly me.

32 Good morning all Has anyone seen Heather Radish recently? Or gran with the celebrity deaths? If you do let them know they are missed. "What matters is what we do with the time we have" And with that I'm off to work.

33 If it is, Barry is violating a lot of people's rights Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 04, 2013 08:36 AM (1Jaio)

That's his plan.

34 There is a meter a measure to life. flow time miser of being.

35 From the article... ''The number of divorces among people 50 or older doubled from 1990 to 2010. And in that year, one in four U.S. divorces was in that age group.'' The year Ronald Reagan left the WH was the apex of the US economy. All Clinton had to do was leave things the hell alone. Instead he sold us down the river to China, and its been downhill ever since. Gradually, then suddenly. People are a helluva lot more likely to get divorced when they lose jobs, lose homes, get sued, get foreclosed upon, etc.

36 The demographics of divorce really aren't that complex (see here: http://goo.gl/dUc9 . The movement of large numbers of women into the workforce, combined with the looser sexual and social mores of the 1960's, placed an enormous strain on the institution of marriage. In the black community, in fact, the institution is almost defunct -- it survives to the extent that some African-Americans enter the middle class. It's striking the degree to which divorce (and being unmarried at all) are artifacts of the lower end of the educational and economic scale. The higher up in income and social standing you go, the more likely you are to be married and to make that marriage work over the long term. (Charles Murray writes about this in his book "Coming Apart".) Did the Baby Boom generation *precipitate* this change, or were they simply victims of larger historical forces? I suspect the answer lies somewhere in between.

37

23

 I single out the BOOMERS with me included

The 80's-90's...did you ever see a generation so clearly out of their collective FUCKING MINDS?

 

S&L's anyone?....Ooohh...."housing boom-boom baby"...LOTS O' COKE!!! 

38 Any good movies on? The news seems kinda flat.

39 29 Village Idiot's Apprentice, The good news on that particular front is our roads are starting to suck. The bad news is we don't have a lot of HEAT shells laying around. There's ways around that but it ain't pretty.

40

3116 Vic,

Uh yeah Vic because a lot of folks were taught not to marry in the first place.

 

 

Men are foregoing marriage because 80% of divorces are initiated by women and men pay dearly for the divorce that they don't want in the first place. Please don't take offense, 'ettes. I wrote a book and courtship and marriage and the 80% number is accurate. Divorce became easier for woman because of subsidized daycare.

41 Same thing for guys except they participate in the baby then leave.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 08:26 AM (53z96)

This is also a topic I debate often.  The roots of this are deeper than they appear, but they begin with World War II.

42 Not sue I blame generations per se, but liberals yes!  Never before has any civilization virtually guaranteed its doom by removing enough consequences for sloth and indolence that several generations have never held jobs, thought about holding a job, or felt some degree of shame in being on a government teat filled by the organized theft of funds from the remaining few that work for a living. 


No question in my mind that the path to success for the republicans is to embrace the FSA principles and offer more "stuff".

43 The World War II generation was truly the greatest generation; they pulled the country out of the Great Depression - and while they weren't too busy doing that they saved the world, got us to the moon, built the space shuttle, and created the post WWII golden age of humanity. Sadly, however, they were crappy indulgent parents who spoiled their children - the Boomers.

44 from the sidebar i really don't think we should be trying to unextinct the wooly mammoth.....

45 44 PhxGrl, Speciest.... // Caveman (CPT USN Ret.)

46

Please don't leave out the FEMANAZI screws turned inplace since the 70's.

Remember they did so love burning those bras....carbon fall-out was to be expected.....just who inhaled is the question.....

47 Hey those 2,700 Wraps that the DHS bought are going to spoil if we don't eat them right now! I hope they got turkey dijon.

48 43 an observation crappy indulgent parents? have you met the parents of today? the celebration of mediocrity is off the charts

49 open thread or doom thread open thread or doom thread How does one decide? Doom is later, but open is... invitingly open. Here I stand, wedged between threads, In the empty margins, the painful barbed-wire fence of indecision.

50 True, Vic. The old folks said WWII really screwed up a lot of families. Nothing was ever the same after that.

Posted by: Jeanne of the North at March 04, 2013 08:29 AM (IzynC)

Not just World War II, but it kicked off the familial destruction.

My theory is that because it took so many men out of circulation, the remaining women had to loosen their morals to compete for the remaining eligible men.  It became a buyers market for the men.  As a result, culture shifted, and not in a good way.

At approximately the same time, Penicillin was developed, and it and other subsequent drugs were able to kill what had been up to then, deadly venereal diseases, thus reducing the anxiety even more regarding pre-marital sex. 

The Third hit, was the development of the Birth Control Pill (research funded by the Rockefellers, and their fear of a human population bomb.)

Make men scare,  eliminate/reduce fear of disease,  eliminate/reduce fear of pregnancy,  what would you have expected to happen. 

The Sexual revolution came thereafter, because a lot of forces were steering towards it.

51 The World War II generation was truly the greatest generation; they pulled the country out of the Great Depression - and while they weren't too busy doing that they saved the world, got us to the moon, built the space shuttle, and created the post WWII golden age of humanity. Sadly, however, they were crappy indulgent parents who spoiled their children - the Boomers.

Posted by: An Observation at March 04, 2013 08:49 AM (ylhEn)

They didn't pull us out of the Great Depression. They voted for FDR, 4 fucking times. Then came home from the war and seeded the baby boomers. Not exactly a winning record

52 Sat next to a guy at a Wedding who would not shut the fuck up about organic food and longer life. A) like a give a shit B) he'll probably get hit by a truck crossing the street

53 Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 04, 2013 08:54 AM (GVxQo)

but at least they are all equally mediocre!

54 They didn't pull us out of the Great Depression. They voted for FDR, 4 fucking times. Then came home from the war and seeded the baby boomers. Not exactly a winning record Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 04, 2013 08:55 AM (1Jaio) Say what you want about them, they would NOT have elected obama and his red kind. So that makes them OK in my book

55

Good morning, all!  Or DOOMy morning, if you will.

 

Cali Morons, I beg you -- please   move somewhere that's better for your mental, physical, and above all economic health.  They don't deserve you out there!

 

PS - I'm so disappoitned to see I missed an ENTIRE erg bashing thread. 

56
But if I had to say one generation being bad it would be the one coming up now. They have grown up completely under a system that rewards not working and sitting at home on your ass.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 08:33 AM (53z96)

This is an artificial/unnatural condition which nature is about to rectify.  I would step back in the interim.

57 One other facet of the Baby Boom generation that leads to high levels of divorce: for such a large demographic, they practice religion much less than either their parents or their (now grown) children do. Marriage is a religious sacrament above all, and religious people tend to work through the droughts and tempests of marriage far better than their secular counterparts. Marriage since the 1960's has become, for many if not most Americans, a matter of contract law and is seen as a temporary situation rather than a permanent one.

58 OK, this isn't exactly doom-y, but as I got ready to leave for work I was greeted by a flat tire on my car. So this week is off to a flying start.

59

Sat next to a guy at a Wedding who would not shut the fuck up about organic food and longer life. A) like a give a shit B) he'll probably get hit by a truck crossing the street   on his way to buy     organic rhubarb.

 

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 08:56 AM (9Bj8R)

 

FIFY

60 Say what you want about them, they would NOT have elected obama and his red kind. So that makes them OK in my book

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 08:57 AM (9Bj8R)

Only because they had not yet established the massive FSA. LBJ did that.  It wasn't boomers who set up this massive fail. It was liberals from the WWII generation like LBJ.

61 O/T but worth a mention:

Female kicker tries out at NFL combine, fails miserably:
http://tinyurl.com/c7ewk2g

Be sure to check out the video.  Why does the NFL pull this shit, anyway?  PC madness gone to extreme levels....

62 54 NGU, They elected Red Barry's grandpa 4 times, ad elected hid Dad in '64.... I venerate the ww2 gen, and think they get a bad rap for a lot of things that started arguably after the SA War and Phillipine Insurrection arguably and unrguably WW I. Western Civ blew its bains out at Ypres.

63

But if I had to say one generation being bad it
would be the one coming up now. They have grown up completely under a
system that rewards not working and sitting at home on your ass.


Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 08:33 AM (53z96)

 

I actually have hope for the     upcoming     generation.  No   thanks to the schools they attend or their often-as-not absent parents, but for the simple fact that     it always falls on a later generation to mend the faults of the previous generations.     The children today -- not the teenagers, but the younger children -- are going to grow up in a world that's a lot less indulgent than even their older siblings   knew.   This is a fact;    math can't be denied.  They're going to be forced, in one way or   another, to grow up    DOING something.    It's a pity they'll have their own family to blame for making the world   of   their adulthood such a rat hole.

64

Some people view the glass as half empty........

After Nov. 6th 2012,  I view the personal bunker as half empty,

yet filling fast....

 

65 Did the Baby Boom generation *precipitate* this change, or were they simply victims of larger historical forces? I suspect the answer lies somewhere in between.

Posted by: Monty at March 04, 2013 08:43 AM (G8OwX)

I noted some of the other forces at work in creating the conditions which the boomers faced.

The Effect of government welfare also should not be understated. 

66

" Religious teaching, on the other hand, understands that poverty is equal parts luck, fate, and behavior"

 

*******

 

I must take exception to this sentence.  In essence this states that being poor is 2/3 random (luck and fate) and 1/3 behavior.  I would say that although individual circumstances may vary, the proportion is more likely in the range of 70-85% behavior (including conscious choice) and the remainder luck (or circumstances beyond one's control). 

67 I am sad to admit that I am a "baby boomer".  Please accept my apologies for the lunacy that so many in my age group have perpetrated upon our country...

68 I think it's just good old-fashioned entropy

69 Drudge has a link to the gatewaypundit story on the MRAPs. the gateway site is getting hammered with comments. (heh)

70 Sat next to a guy at a Wedding who would not shut the fuck up about organic food and longer life. A) like a give a shit B) he'll probably get hit by a truck crossing the street on his way to buy organic rhubarb. Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 08:56 AM (9Bj8R) FIFY Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit at March 04, 2013 08:59 AM (4df7R) And I might add he was blowing all the inorganic food at the Wedding in his fat face as fast as his puddgy hands could move!

71 This is also a topic I debate often. The roots of this are deeper than they appear, but they begin with World War II.

Posted by: DiogenesLamp at March 04, 2013 08:48 AM (bb5+k)

It started after WWI. More so in Europe than America. They lost 3 monarchies and got the commies in Russia. But the Roaring 20s was when a lot attitudes started to change then came the Depression and people looked to saviors to get them out of it. People really bought into socialism, communism and fascism. We were saddled with FDR for 12 years. WWII just accelerated what started at the end of WWI. So thank you very much Gavrilo Princip

72 Morning all!  I see that I have fallen out of the top ten.  Oh noes!  The effects of sequestration has now reached my posting abilities!

73 The boomers didn't vote in favor of the massive redistribution of funds known as Social Security, but they are the first generation that has had to pay for it from their first check to the last. Which has reduced their family income in relation to previous generations. I'm positive that there is strong correlation between between declining household income and divorce.

74 The Effect of government welfare also should not be understated.

Posted by: DiogenesLamp at March 04, 2013 09:03 AM (bb5+k)

Yep, you can follow the collapse of black families with the advent of LBJ's great society beginning in the mid 60s.  It is collapsing white society now as well.

75 Sat next to a guy at a Wedding who would not shut the fuck up about organic food and longer life. A) like a give a shit B) he'll probably get hit by a truck crossing the street Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 08:56 AM (9Bj8R) hehe

76 The female kicker was injured and didn't want to miss her chance to try out. She didn't take any practice kicks, and re-injured herself. My son kicked 48 yards. Just thought you should know.

77 Divorce rates stayed pretty constant through the 50s and 60s but then took a huge step increase in the 70s.


That is also probably due to the Great Society.  You could get more free goodies if you did not have a "man" in the house.

78 I must take exception to this sentence. In essence this states that being poor is 2/3 random (luck and fate) and 1/3 behavior. I would say that although individual circumstances may vary, the proportion is more likely in the range of 70-85% behavior (including conscious choice) and the remainder luck (or circumstances beyond one's control).

Posted by: Seamus Muldoon at March 04, 2013 09:03 AM (qqZuQ)

I second that.  MOST of the problem with being poor is that of attitude and habits.

79 Education in this country pisses me off.  Both my kids' grade school and high school will now require every kid have an iPad.

OOOOH!!!  SHINY OBJECTS!!!!

Make 'em do their math on a blackboard and draw their fucking graphs by hand, dammit...

80 Meanwhile it seems locusts are descending upon the land of Egypt.

81

I just read the linked WSJ article and it makes me wonder, why doesn't the GOP simply state Obama's position - that he believes in the theory that continual spending is good for the economy and then destroy that notion that it is naïve and historically proven wrong every time its tried.  Why are we insisting on copying Europe's mistakes?  The GOP acts so stunned that Obama says such stupid and outrageous things, that they don't know how to act.  They need to declown the clown.

82 Yep, you can follow the collapse of black families with the advent of LBJ's great society beginning in the mid 60s. It is collapsing white society now as well.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 09:05 AM (53z96)

 

If LBJ was still alive     I'd be     mimicking     the leftists and demanding he be brought up   on charges of genocide for what his policies have done to the black family in America today,   and by extension ALL families.       He should be forced to wander the world in chains like Jacob Marley,   seeking atonement for the misery he helped create  in life.

83 OK, I am through ranting.  Carry on....

84 You could get more free goodies if you did not have a "man" in the house. Since I still have the screenplay to 'Idiocracy' in a tab... TRASHY GUY You mean we get more welfare money if we have more kids? NEW SLUTTY GIRL Yeah. Foodstamps too. They share a look, then: SEVERAL MORE BABIES POP UP, and the frames multiply.

85 they practice religion much less than either their parents or their at the core is really the practice of family

86

You would think that the logical person would have made a fairly quick mental jump connecting the flaming chaos in the EU with very similar trends that were tracking in the US......alas...the low information voter ruled the day and Darwin gets to check off another box.....

 

yup!

87 Meanwhile it seems locusts are descending upon the land of Egypt. Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 04, 2013 09:10 AM (Eg4wq) And they might stay this time since there are no more Jooos to let go?

88 crappy indulgent parents? have you met the parents of today? the celebration of mediocrity is off the charts

They didn't pull us out of the Great Depression. They voted for FDR, 4 fucking times. Then came home from the war and seeded the baby boomers. Not exactly a winning record

Uh - the WW II generation was too young to have voted for FDR four times. Their presidents were Truman - Eisenhower, Kennedy etc. Those were all dream presidents compared to what we have now.

The collapse of parenting started with the WWII generation and has continued ever since.

89 And the US began its great decline actually in the early 1900s with the advent of "progressivism" otherwise know as socialism.

90 Anybody read the science article on Fox about the rats with telepathy? Brain implants 1/100th width of a hair, 1,000 miles apart by computer. Train to control thoughts, actions. The article sees future use as cloud sourcing to use aggregate of intelligence to solve problems. Uh......

91
It started after WWI. More so in Europe than America. They lost 3 monarchies and got the commies in Russia. But the Roaring 20s was when a lot attitudes started to change then came the Depression and people looked to saviors to get them out of it. People really bought into socialism, communism and fascism. We were saddled with FDR for 12 years. WWII just accelerated what started at the end of WWI. So thank you very much Gavrilo Princip

Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 04, 2013 09:05 AM (1Jaio)

I argue that much of what we are seeing is the result of societal and demographic forces which were unavoidable for any technologically developing people.  The Industrial revolution produced greater prosperity than before.  My observation is that debauchery/insanity always seem to be linked to money/prosperity.

Note that the richest parts of the nation are always the most Liberal/Insane.   Money allows people to be foolish, and let's face it,  discipline is not as much fun as foolishness.  People have a built in desire to be foolish, and when they get enough money to make them feel secure, they let their inner fool out.

According to "Leftism Revisited" the French Revolution was instigated primarily by the wives and children of the wealthy French Aristocracy. (Probably because they were bored, and really had no clue about the social realities of their situation.)

92
On ABC's This Week, re: Gov. Christie and CPAC:

"CPAC, to me, has totally diminished its credibility as an organization. ... And you invite Sarah Palin, who wasn't competent enough to keep a Fox News contract? But she's invited to CPAC meeting?"

Matthew Dowd, the former strategist for President George W. Bush via NPR




Strategist, you guys.

93 And they might stay this time since there are no more Jooos to let go?

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 09:12 AM (9Bj8R)

 

There are no Jooooos, this   is true.   But I wonder if the poor remaining Coptics might fill that      niche at this particular point in time.

94 4 Navy air wings grounded, 8 deployments canned By Sam Fellman - Staff writer Posted : Sunday Mar 3, 2013 9:30:11 EST With no budget deal by deadline, the Navy announced some drastic actions Saturday in the face of sequestration. Four air wings are set to be grounded and eight ship deployments have been cancelled — including one already underway. The moves will help save the service $10 billion, the amount cut this year due to automatic spending cuts triggered by Congress.

95 Posted by: Velvet Ambition at March 04, 2013 08:26 AM (R8hU

Idaho is part of the "American Redoubt"...not to be confused with the "Southern Redoubt" or the "Texas Redoubt".

96 Fuck the poor. I spent a lot of my childhood being poor because my mother acted stupidly (I know, wrong meme). She listened to to all the bullshit about life after divorce during the 70s, then couldn't fend for herself let alone us. I made the Scarlett O'Hara vow when I entered the workforce and haven't skipped a meal since. Poverty is a learned behavior. There's no honor in poverty. I've seen real poverty in the world and it's demeaning and hopeless.

97 There are no Jooooos, this is true. But I wonder if the poor remaining Coptics might fill that niche at this particular point in time. Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit at March 04, 2013 09:15 AM (4df7R) I was thinking the same thing. And they would be well advised to get out also.

98 Monty, the next step after the removable of the tax benefits for 401K's?

Confiscation of the assets and replacement with government bonds.

Ask the Argentines about how that works.

99 Only because they had not yet established the massive FSA. LBJ did that. It wasn't boomers who set up this massive fail. It was liberals from the WWII generation like LBJ. Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 09:00 AM (53z96) Like pre-judging the boomer generation, the same can be said even farther back. It's hard to put ourselves in their places, but didn't we all have more pride in our government and more trust in our government and our country not too far back in memory? Did the folks growing up post WW(whatever) get it? Could they have preconceived or envisioned FDR's policy results decades later? Would it even be foremost on their minds? Now, we DO have history to analyze.

100

Best insight to generational ebb & flow - 'The Fourth Turning' by Strauss and Howe.  Written in the early 90's, it actually predicts most of what you're seeing today.  We're in a Fourth Turning right now.  Spoiler Alert:  It doesn't end well.  Conservative values will make a very strong return - once enough of us die.  Sure.  It's easy to blame the boomers - my parents generation.  As generations go, they're positively fucktarded and we'll all pay the price for it.  (Note:  Generations are NOT 'individuals.'  Not all individuals match the characteristics of their generational/behavioral archetype.)  But they - like all 3rd turnings that set up 4th turnings - are not the first and won't be the last 'irresponsible' generation.  They too, are just a product of these historical cycles - as predictable as the sun, and the authors do a wonderful job tracing those cycles back for over 600 years.  Highly recommended if you really want to understand 'why?' all of this is happening and where it's likely to lead.  Also recommended by the same authors:  'Generations' and for Gen Xer's - 'The 13th Gen'.

 

PS - LBJ was a Silent Generation President. Not 'Greatest' not 'Boomer' - the one in between that everyone forgets.  (Born 1925-1945)

101 Well hell, this was all very doomish! Thanks a boatload!

102 Picture caption: Soon.

103
Yep, you can follow the collapse of black families with the advent of LBJ's great society beginning in the mid 60s. It is collapsing white society now as well.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 09:05 AM (53z96)

This is also a topic I argue often.  I am convinced that LBJ created the "Great Society" programs as a political "fuck you" to the Republicans who supported the 24th amendment. 

LBJ was a Racist Southern Democrat.  He didn't give a shit about black people.  He saw the newly enacted 24th amendment (supported and advanced primarily by Republicans) as an attempt to dis-empower Democrats.   He responded by bribing the newly created voters with government money, and he captured that Demographic which the Republicans were trying to get their hands on.

Kind of a "If you can't beat em, Join em" tactic.  Blacks have been voting Democrat ever since. (Supposedly LBJ said that was his intention.)

That it would eventually wreck the country was something of which I don't think he could conceive. 

104 Seven ships have had their upcoming deployment cancelled for budget reasons: • The hospital ship Comfort will not conduct its “Continuing Promise 2013” humanitarian mission to Central and South America. I had about 5 Sailors from my Unit going on that. AHHH not anymore. You can deep six those Orders.

105 poor female kicker...someone told her she'd have a chance in the pros......

106

91

Are we then the result of the Hippie/Yippie generation?

We may never truely know because LSD was cocktail of the classes back then.

107 The Effect of government welfare also should not be understated. Posted by: DiogenesLamp at March 04, 2013 09:03 AM (bb5+k) Especially with single mothers, as we all know too well. Popping out babies can be lucrative, for both illegal and legal babies being born out of wedlock.

108 I was thinking the same thing. And they would be well advised to get out also.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 09:16 AM (9Bj8R)

 

Hell yes they would.  The only problem is, where would they go?

109 I just read the linked WSJ article and it makes me wonder, why doesn't the GOP simply state Obama's position - that he believes in the theory that continual spending is good for the economy and then destroy that notion that it is naïve and historically proven wrong every time its tried. Why are we insisting on copying Europe's mistakes? The GOP acts so stunned that Obama says such stupid and outrageous things, that they don't know how to act. They need to declown the clown.

Posted by: Liberty Lover at March 04, 2013 09:10 AM (eQ4W/)

This proposition requires that we have access to the Television broadcasting system.  We do not.  The other side controls it completely, and they will not allow anything which effectively counters their arguments, to be broadcast.

110 DOOM Kitteh! He's not even hiding anymore...

111 poor female kicker...someone told her she'd have a chance in the pros...... Posted by: phoenixgirl at March 04, 2013 09:19 AM (GVxQo) Well actually that is not what happened. Someone in college told her she sucks like pro and she misunderstood?

112 105 PhxGrl, I was pretty shocked we never got any of the former GDR "females" playing in the 90s...

113
SEVERAL MORE BABIES POP UP, and the frames multiply.

Posted by: illegally posting anonymously on the internet at March 04, 2013 09:11 AM (feFL6)

"Idiocracy" was a documentary.

114 Hell yes they would. The only problem is, where would they go? Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit at March 04, 2013 09:20 AM (4df7R) Hell Israel I guess. The can hang out in Haifa with the Baihi

115 My son's football team will play a team with a girl on it once or twice a season. They take it easy on the girl the first quarter or so. All of these teams are at the bottom of the brackets. My son has been injured so many times I only want him to play next season if he can just kick. He's an awesome kicker and has recently been diagnosed with ED'S, so no more contact sports.

116 One half the population - by definition - has below average intelligence. That lower half used to have enough common sense to not vote. Political correctness has empowered them to extend their poor choices to the voting booth; thus we has preznut Obumer.

117

Is employment a "human right"? Answer: no. Employment is a side-effect of industry, not the purpose of it. You have the right to labor all you please, either on your own behalf or on someone else's. But you don't have the natural right to be paid for that labor. Your labor is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

 

 

There's some confusion here by the libs. Or perhaps "positive rights creep."  The right to employment (to the extent that any would exist) is largely negative. (Again, to the extent that any exists at all.)

But Libs tend to engage in confusion between these distinctions so that all rights become positive rights.  It's moronic.

It's also strange.  Monty points out the right to labor, and I agree, I'd go farther and point out that you have a right to take this labor to market (with only a few restrictions, it's not an absolute right, but those restrictions are a different discussion for a different day.)  Yet this government seems hell bent on limiting the ability of people to bring their labor to market to see what it's worth (see: Gibson Guitars, oil drilling, myriad other things.)  So there's this strange contradiction between the supposed (and fake) right to "employment" (which is really more of a claim to a right of income frankly) and the interference on the already existing (but now) ignored negative rights of market.

118 The Boomers I know best are my parents. Who divorced each other twice and then married other divorced Boomers. I can accept that they didn't start the trend and that not all of them do this...but, yeah, as a generation they don't look so good to me. Eventually I'm going to have to deal with the old age and death of three parents who will want to live in at least two different houses. Divorces ain't cheap, either, so they don't have much (in Moms case, anything) saved. I'm not a happy camper here.

119 and I'm back in the cave...

about the "family" thing...that is probably the best safeguard against "poverty" and a resumption of the "clan" system will protect good people.

All of this has happened before, and all of it will happen again and again and again

120
80 Meanwhile it seems locusts are descending upon the land of Egypt.

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SmuD) at March 04, 2013 09:10 AM (Eg4wq)

Is it wrong that I laughed when I saw the headline at Drudge?

121 Your labor is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Which is how A) society gets goods and services it needs, and prioritizes them, and B) people gravitate to those productive endeavors. Now consider the effect of union extortion, minimum wage laws, and a huge governmental workforce on that process.

122 Sweet mother of meteors, we're boned.

123 ...he'll probably get hit crossing the street, by a truck delivering organic rhubarb.

124 111 NeverGiveUp,

careful NGU your syntax might wake up Harlekwin15 Soviet Sub Maker

125 If you want to know how to fix our marriage problem, Ed Morrissey and Steve Chowder over at Hot Air have all the answers. Because who knows more about the institution of marriage better then someone who's married to cover for their questionable sexuality and someone who's been married for five minutes.

126 Is it wrong that I laughed when I saw the headline at Drudge? Posted by: BCochran1981 at March 04, 2013 09:24 AM (da5Wo) Probably better than my cheering?

127 But if I had to say one generation being bad it would be the one coming up now. They have grown up completely under a system that rewards not working and sitting at home on your ass.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 08:33 AM (53z96)

 

I'm 32.  I completely agree.  As a whole, my generation hasn't had to struggle.  At all.  Because we've never met any obstacles, we expect life to continue to operate without obstacles.

 

If you didn't choose to serve before or after getting a degree in a marketable field, you've never had hard decisions, you've never had to choose need versus want. 

 

Now we're having to choose, and we're very very pissed off.  Of course, 'pissed off' in this case does NOT mean 'working to change my circumstances.'

A good friend summed it up perfectly for me when I was moaning about how rough my lif was at a certain point.  "You're either miserable enough to change things - in which case, make new decisions - or you aren't.  In that case, stop calling me to complain."

 

If you're unhappy with where life has taken you, MAKE NEW CHOICES.

128 Now consider the effect of union extortion, minimum wage laws, and a huge governmental workforce on that process.

Posted by: zsasz at March 04, 2013 09:24 AM (MMC8r)

 

*clearing throat*   My personal soapbox issue, so if you'll excuse me...

 

*climbs on soapbox*

 

*lifts megaphone*

 

DISBAND AND DISMANTLE ALL UNIONS!

 

Thank you.

 

*hops down*

129 And the US began its great decline actually in the early 1900s with the advent of "progressivism" otherwise know as socialism.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 09:13 AM (53z96)

Dare I say that the Abolitionists were the first progressives?  Once it was demonstrated that they could move Society by pulling the levers of Government, they subsequently used these levers to enact all sorts of other government mandates such as Child labor laws,  Alcohol Prohibition,  Women Suffrage, Minority population control (Margret Sanger) , etc.

This is my recollection of the historical period between 1868 and 1930. 

130 Since our current administration's state dept for the first time omitted religious freedom from our definition of human rights, don't look for any Copts, Jews, Buddhists, etc to get asylum here. They are not "pieceful", anyway.

131 my son's baseball team had a girl on it......she was easily one of the best players through the 12yr old season.....she couldn't keep up once they all turned 13....it's just the facts of life.....

132 121 Zsasz,

or conversely don't and lie back and enjoy the movie with green meadows and butterflies...

http://youtu.be/edQNjJZFdLU

"Positive rights it's people, PEOPLE!"

133 The symbol of the GOP covered in locusts.

134 Egypt would probably blame the lack of scapegoats on an evil Jewish plot...

135 Dump is up

136

Sweet mother of meteors, we're boned.

 

Yep, and just in time for Monday. G'mornin', jackwagons.

 

SNAFU.

137 129 Diogenes Lamp,

There were several flavors of abolitionists...I'd say yes the radicals largely a new England phenomena by the way were weaponized into the Secular Evangelists we see today...

138 125 lowandslow,

Poppin' Fresh thinks Charles Ingalls is a badass capitalist...

and Crowder....

where to begin?

139 Anybody read the science article on Fox about the rats with telepathy?
Brain implants 1/100th width of a hair, 1,000 miles apart by computer. Train to control thoughts, actions.
The article sees future use as cloud sourcing to use aggregate of intelligence to solve problems.
Uh......

Posted by: Justamom of the LiB camp at March 04, 2013 09:13 AM (Sptt

There was a science fiction book (Oath of Fealty) written by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle which details a similar electronic based telepathy system, but for humans.  I suspect that in the future, we will have something similar to a telepathy system.

Direct brain to brain interface through electronic telepathy.

WE ARE THE BORG.

140

Oops - just checked - Carter and GHW Bush were the only Silent Gen presidents.  LBJ was the first to articulate Silent Gen values - 'The Great Society', etc...  Silent's elected him.

141 D@mn! Nic was s'posed to've been Irony Improvers, not importers. Outlaw oppressive Eurocentric paternalistic spell-checkers!

142

Pam Geller dis'd by CPAC.....because

arrows shot from atop the north tower.......using nothing but pig-pistons with elbow grease......and pudding.........and maybe hobo BVD's with the crotch cut out..for extra slingyness and arch....

143 The average IQ does not mean half the population has an IQ below average.

144

General knowledge pop quiz:

 

If someone in India is refering to a hand tool and says it is a "Brass Tomy", what are they talking about?

145 I was thinking the same thing. And they would be well advised to get out also.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 09:16 AM (9Bj8R)

Absolutely, but where can they go, and how?  I feel sorry for them, but I regard their situation as hopeless.  The Islamists will not be content until they are all dead or converted.

146 Monty, the next step after the removable of the tax benefits for 401K's?

Confiscation of the assets and replacement with government bonds.

Ask the Argentines about how that works.

Posted by: Billy Bob, Pseudo Intellectual at March 04, 2013 09:16 AM (wR+pz)

Yeah, I wouldn't count too hard on any of that paper money you might have in an account somewhere.  I'm trying very hard to get to a point where I don't need money at all. 

I know of other people who have accomplished this, and I know it can be done.

147 The average IQ does not mean half the population has an IQ below average.

Posted by: eman at March 04, 2013 09:34 AM (dZnxf)

 

 

IIRC IQ is fitted to a normalized bell curve. (The target for 110, which is average) actually moves to fit that curve.

 

So statistically this actually follows.

But IQ also correlates horribly with just about everything, it's largely a meaningless statistic frankly. (Except maybe at the edge cases, but more so for lower IQ than higher I suspect.)

 

You could be slightly below "normal" but dedicated, hard working, and reasonably good with your hands, and do far better than a "Special snowflake" just above normal (so mirroring you) who doesn't put effort into anything.

148
Hell Israel I guess. The can hang out in Haifa with the Baihi

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 09:22 AM (9Bj8R)

That might actually be a viable solution, but there are both logistical and governmental problems with adopting that solution.  Israel could surely use the extra non-islamic population, but could they assimilate them and would Egypt let them go?

149 147, if the median is close to the mean then half the population has below-average IQ.

150 Yep, you can follow the collapse of black
families with the advent of LBJ's great society beginning in the mid
60s. It is collapsing white society now as well.


Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 09:05 AM (53z96)

Vic is right on here.  The Boomers had nothing to do with FDR and LBJ.   I personally saw the destruction LBJ's programs had on Black families in the South.

The cliff notes version?   It became a better economic decision for them NOT to work and than work.  They got paid for bad behavior, illegitimate children, and they got penalized for good behavior.

Guess what?  Less than 30% of Black children are now born with a father in the home.

151 One half the population - by definition - has below average intelligence. That lower half used to have enough common sense to not vote. Political correctness has empowered them to extend their poor choices to the voting booth; thus we has preznut Obumer.

Posted by: An Observation at March 04, 2013 09:23 AM (ylhEn)

That, and we created two laws that eliminated some of the obstructions to idiots voting.  The 24th amendment made it possible to vote even if you paid no taxes at all. (A serious break from previous practice.) The 26th amendment made it possible for 18 year olds to vote.  People learn a lot of wisdom between 18 and 21, so this was very detrimental to common sense in government.

18 year olds are still full of foolish ideas because they haven't had a chance to live in the real world yet.

152 Yeah, I wouldn't count too hard on any of that paper money you might have in an account somewhere. I'm trying very hard to get to a point where I don't need money at all.

I know of other people who have accomplished this, and I know it can be done.

Posted by: DiogenesLamp at March 04, 2013 09:35 AM (bb5+k)

It's not the money, it's the socialism.  Taking the stocks basically made the government majority owners in lots of companies.

They still could not stop some of the News papers down there, so guess what?  The government took over the news print company and refused to sell the papers, paper to print on.

153 Good post, good discussion. Can't add my 2c worthily from the cell, but I appreciated how the comments wove back through boomers, post-WW2,WW2, WW1, roaring 20s, into the 19th Century. That traced my own thinking as I read down the threads. Well, on with my mundane day...

154 Wow. Just cruisin through the dead threads and came on the gem in post 150. I drove through Marlin, Texas yesterday, or as we call it , The Great Society Memorial Project.
If you have half a brain, as you go through what is left of Marlin, you cannot help but realize of how it got to where it is. What tore it down is the same affliction that will surely tear us all down.

155 Actually, Obama's plan is to help unions by trashing any individual incentive to save. Aren't 401(k)s taxed already when a person retires?

156 Speaking of Doom - Comet C/2013 A1 continues on its path toward Mars. JPL says the farthest it will miss Mars is about the distance from the Earth to the Moon, that the most likely miss is about Geosynchronous satellite relative to the Earth distance away from Mars, and that they can't rule out a direct hit.

This is a huge comet moving very fast - if it hits Mars it will impact with the energy of about 20 Billion Megatons - 20 Billion one megaton hydrogen bombs. Most likely it would penetrate down to the Martian magma creating something like the Siberian Traps lava flows, and releasing a huge amount of CO2 into the Martian atmosphere.

On Earth such an impact would be more than an extinction level event - it would approach a sterilizing level impact.

SMOD date for Mars Oct 19, 2014

http://tinyurl.com/ch4u2qc

157 Hell Israel I guess. The can hang out in Haifa with the Baihi

Posted by: Nevergiveup at March 04, 2013 09:22 AM (9Bj8R)

That might actually be a viable solution, but there are both logistical and governmental problems with adopting that solution. Israel could surely use the extra non-islamic population, but could they assimilate them and would Egypt let them go?

Posted by: DiogenesLamp at March 04, 2013 09:40 AM (bb5+k)

Copts are estimated to be around 10% of Egypt's population, which would mean there are about as many of them as the entire population of Israel.  And Israel has enough problems with providing adequate housing for its growing population, thanks in part to criticism from the "international community" any time someone tries to build homes for Jews in Judea or Samaria.

On the other hand, it would make sense to transfer Syria's Christian population (estimated also to be around 10%, of a much smaller total) to Lebanon and transfer Lebanon's Muslim population to Syria, but of course this would never happen.

158 #139

Originally, it was purely a brain to computer interface. It appeared in a series of short in the same universe as the later 'Oath of Fealty.' Most of them are in the collection 'High Justice' or packaged with the novella 'Exiles to Glory.' Whether this becomes the CoDominium/Mote universe depends on what mood you catch Jerry in. ('Exile and Glory' can be read online at Baen.com.)

When Jerry first used the interface implant in a story, e-mail was still a very new concept and the number of users in the whole world could be measured in the hundreds at most. By the time of 'Oath of Fealty' the idea that computers would be useful for communications between people had become more commonplace. A decade can bring a lot of change.

159 #156

If it is mostly dirty ice it could be beneficial to any future colonists. Purposely guiding comets into Mars has beenproposed as a stage in terraforming.

160 So, if we sacrifice a black cat during the full moon, will we get more than a 2% cut in the rate of growth of government spending??

161 And the US began its great decline actually in the early 1900s with the advent of "progressivism" otherwise know as socialism.

Posted by: Vic at March 04, 2013 09:13 AM (53z96)

 

No, it didn't. 'Progressivism' did not originally equate to 'socialism' although socialists call themselves 'progressives nowadays because of the stigma associated with gulags and death camps. Teddy Roosevelt, for example, considered himself a progressive and I don't think anyone could pin the socialist tag on him. Progressives in the early Twentieth Century believed in social progress along with economic progress, plain and simple. Some of the legislative and regulatory reforms proposed by early progressives were morally and economically sound--the introduction of child labor laws, for example, as well as the implementation of health and safety rules in manufacturing environments. Although it's true the progressive movement was later suborned by the Marxists, the movement itself was a reaction to Gilded Age corruption and exploitation and inspired by optimism about the future and that very American sense of fairness and fair play.

 

If Republicans had any sense, they would at least borrow some of the optimism of those early progressives. More people would join the fight if they thought we could win. These 'Doom' and 'Let It Burn' memes are self-fulfilling loser talk. If enough people believe we are doomed and it will burn no matter what we do, then what's the point? Why try?

162 Also, for the Florida morons, tomorrow is the first day of the legislative session. Rule 44 is in effect. That's a "Gibbs Rule": First things first. Hide the women and children. In this case, you should include your wallet.

163 Posted by: DiogenesLamp at March 04, 2013 09:09 AM (bb5+k)

Ever been poor? I mean having to literally live under a bush?

Then thinking about all the steps that brought you there and not being able to see one thing you would have done differently given the information you had at the time?

You see luck is happenstance the opposite of say and accident. Fate is where you're past decisions or past decisions of others have set up circumstances where you are very likely to fail. The behavioral part is where you examine where you've been and modify your behavior only to have fate and luck fuck you in the ass multiple times to where you are left with nothing.

Experience that sometime and you will change your perception about how much behavior has to do with where we wind up in life.

Oh, granted there's lots of neer do wells who are poor but about the same number of rich.
And luck won't do you any good if you aren't equipped to take advantage of the circumstances.
Fate? Ah, there's the rub. Future decisions taken because of past decisions made. Made in error true but made not out of stupidity or sloth but because of ignorance. Lack of experience and the only way to acquire experience is to live through them.

Be not so easy to condemn the poor as deserving of their fate for that fate may one day befall YOU.

164 161 TroyRiser,

I'd argue it did because they mainstreamed the idea that ratfucking industry and thrift was the mission of the feds...

I am low on time but will be happy to have this chat with you when we both have the time...

not meant as a slap to your face with a gauntlet either...

I enjoy our chats.

165 "The sexual revolution continues to wreak havoc on the lives of Boomers and their children. The Baby Boom generation has gotten divorced at a prodigious rate, and one of the side-effects of that inability to make marriage work means that Boomers now have to sustain two households going into retirement. And that's on top of having insufficient retirement funds saved to begin with." In other words, the generation that refused to grow up now has to deal with the consequences. Somehow, I can't seem to muster up much -- well, *any* -- sympathy for those in that situation if that was their attitude going in.

166 Actually, the old saw about mommas having babys to get rich on welfare is an exaggeration. The amount a woman is entitled to for an additional child, barely pays much of any of the expenses.
SNAP is more responsive but the amounts are very low (they only seem high because you consider it extra money while the poor only have that as their income. (unless they are gaming the system by working on the side but that's difficult to arrange. It's more likely that they supplement their welfare through illegal activities.)

They also have to be at least a minimum of responsible for the raising and care of that child which is not that easy and they do get supervision. Yes we hear about all the bad things that can happen but they don't happen that often, do they? That's because for the most part welfare are supervised and are discovered when they're not doing what they're supposed to for the child.

I'd ask anyone here if they could/would/have ever been on welfare and how "easy" they felt it was.

What HAS happened is that people have become disincentivized to work because of welfare and because any work they are qualified for doesn't pay very well. That issue is not be addressed and until/unless more jobs are available that can provide a family with a basic living and training opportunities afforded for those who lack the skills then that situation will continue. And it will continue because we have overburdened the employers with regulations that keep them from hiring/training underskilled workers AND we've afforded them the opportunity to move their operations to china where there is a lower standard of living and fewer and less onerous regulations on the workplace. And their are no unions per se.

All you complaining about welfare should stop trying to find the best deal and buy only american because part of our welfare burden is the result of those demands on the part of the American buying public.

We allowed the Liberals to dismantle a well working system. Republicans cooperated because they saw it as a positive thing for american employers they neglected to fully understand what the market would do when given a choice between a functioning economy that had higher prices and lower profits and an economy that had fewer workers but really low prices and high profits for some companies.

During all this downturn and increased unemployment, profits have gone UP. That's why Wall Street is doing so good because it reflects how BUSINESS is doing and not how the economy is doing on an individual basis.

It's a complex problem with no simple solution. We got here by making one decision at a time but the aggregate is overall detrimental to everyone except those above a certain level of income and those who do not have their existence tied to one country.

167 More hate and sexism from you RethugliKKKans. Your inability to adapt to the changing tide of human progress will doom you all. Our wise and multiracial President, Barack Obama, who all correctly-thinking persons support completely, is moving us FORWARD! into better times and into closer harmony with the rest of the global village.

168

167

snark with only a slight wiff of Hippie post-gore elan  '

should have plugged your mental Prius into some REAL juice.....Honey.

169 Teddy Roosevelt, for example, considered himself aprogressive and I don't think anyone could pin the socialist tag on him.

Posted by: troyriser at March 04, 2013 10:25 AM (vtiE6)

He believed in big government controlling and regulating industry's practices and profits, why the hell not? The only reason he wasn't an official "Socialist" was because the Socialists of his day were much more radical-bomb throwers and many were more akin to what we would call Communists today. If you stuck TR into Europe today, he'd smile and nod with satisfaction "Now that's what I was talking about!" Not a Socialist? In a pig's eye.

170 169 WeiderDave,

he was a Bismarckian model SuperStatist

171

I'm amazed at how long states like California and Illinois can keep the plates spinning by deceptive accounting, budgetary tricks, and a mostly-inert legistlature.

 

If only the California legislature were inert. Then they wouldn't do so much damage.

172

@22 Then I opened the paper to find Mr Heinze has given 250 Million of our greenbacks to the Mooslum back Government of Egypt.

 

100 million of which we had to borrow. Why don't the ragheads borrow the money themselves? Oh, that's right, they're an even worse credit risk than we are. An impressive achievement right there.

 

For my part, I wouldn't give 'em the contents of my handkerchief. They're Muslim, they're hostile to us, and they don't have any oil, so fuck 'em.

173

Illinois actually has IOUs out on some of its bills.

 

 Hell, California did that years ago. You know everything starts here. They tried to pay vendors and even employees with IOUs. The banks said "no dice."

174

Actually, the old saw about mommas having babys to get rich on welfare is an exaggeration. The amount a woman is entitled to for an additional child, barely pays much of any of the expenses.

 

No, it isn't an exaggeration. You're right about the additional emolument barely covering the additional expenses of a child, but it takes some intelligence to realize that.

 

Anecdote: in grad school I dated a very liberal social worker who used to rail against this problem. She tried to explain to the FSA recruits that having another baby would actually make them worse off. Their response to any and all arguments? "I get mo' money." End of discussion. Used to drive her wild.

175

167

You mean the hate and sexism of accounting and balanced books, and "correctly thinking persons" are Pollyannas. Your inability to balance a check book and your maxed out credit cards is your downfall. FORWARD for you is over a cliff without a parachute.

176 175  -- Mary Cloggenstein is a joke.  Literally.  "She" comes on here with things that Obama fans might say, just to keep us amused. 

177

176

Obama fans make me want to play the sad game.  

178 I honestly think that we are approaching a Kossaks-like moment in this country. Call it Going Galt, or call it making like a Kossak, but honestly, the only way to bring the Leviathon to a halt at this point is to stop feeding it the fruits of our labour. Who wants to be a slave so a government bureaucrat can live in a swanky flat in D.C.? Who wants to pay for the private jet for a congressman who is already a millionaire several times over? Who wants to watch their inheritance be swallowed by a mismanaged, bloated, corrupt government that uses the fruits of your parents or grandparents' labour to give b.s. grants to some well connected carpetbagger crony? How long will we continue to lay down like lambs and let our government take take take from us then act like we should thank them for it? for every penny that is taken away by this irresponsible government -that can't even come up with a budget in 4 or 5 years- is a decrease in the standard of living for my family and children. This has got to stop. The spending has got to stop.

179 ...oh yeah, btw, since the government takes so much damn money out of my pay check every month, i am now one of the poor. certainly would be easier to pay my bills if the government didn't take so much.