So we're about to massively cut all kinds of state, local, and federal, benefits for the poor, the needy, and probably the unemployed, while at the same time removing 3+ trillion out of the economy, which result in god only knows how many public employee layoffs. All at a time when the entire world economy is teetering on the edge.
I can only wonder if we are setting ourselves up for a depression.
What's worse, is that we've maxed out our credit card in the form of any and all forms of debt.
I just wish they'd hack the hell out of the military FIRST. We don't need to be fighting any un-winable war (or three!) around the globe and maintaining how many dozens of military bases around the world?
Let the rest of the world fend for itself from now on. If China wants it, let them take a crack at it.
Thor - your 12:14 comment really is hard to add to, maybe a little flower planted here or shade added there, but it is so close to perfection what else of actual substance can be said?
Also that stupid "Motivation" poster you put up is hilarious, with the exception of robot = "Chinese", "Mexican", "Middle Eastern", "Indian 'Dot' (Sorry ICan), or any other country dealing in slave labor could be plugged into "robot".
Mutt - Thank you! :-) One good thing I think MIGHT come from this is that people are starting to hurt, did you read the article over at BR's about consumers using their credit cards to buy necessities? I think the calls to end both wars and scale back the military will turn into screams very soon. You can already see the cracks in the GOP forming now.
I honestly think that PK nails it today. Batten down the hatches, folks. We may have a Cat 5 approaching. The bottom line is now that the monied elites have been bailed out, it's time to pull the rug out from under everyone else. Fun stuff.
Meanwhile, in the surreal circus that is DC, Boner pulls out. I beginning to think that they just might test not raising the debt ceiling or force Obama to do it unilaterally before they then try to impeach him. These people are literally that NUTS. Why do they hate America so?
BREAKING NEWS6:00 PM ET
House Speaker Boehner Pulls Out of Debt Ceiling Talks
@Thor: I think the market will continue to yawn and believe one way or another the ceiling will just be raised, even if Obama has to do it himself or they find some way to allow it so they can kick the can and set up the political battle talking points for next year. I truly despise these people in Congress, as I'm sure most Americans do.
SANDERS: Brian, believe me, I wish I had the answer to your question. Let me just suggest this. I think there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president, who believe that with regard to Social Security and other things, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president. Who cannot believe how weak he has been for whatever reason in negotiating with Republicans, and there’s deep disappointment. So my suggestion is, I think one of the reasons the president has made the move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama believes he’s doing. [...] So I would say to Ryan, discouragement is not an option. I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.
Jesus, he's still bat-shit crazy, did you see his three "Solid Ideas"? What a fucking joke. Is he seriously still parading around with the t-baggers? I guess he hasn't gotten the memo that the Tea Party is nothing but the political arm of the future American Business Party? Or is he just in on it at the top like the Koch's?
It's such an embarrassment to our culture that we produce people like this!
that he thinks ending the right to unionize in this country is a fair trade for a some meaningless tax cuts shows just how out of touch the far right has become in this country.
re Disappointed by Obama: I, too, had "great" hopes when you elected him back in 2008.
He seemed different (not only physically..), really willing to change the way things were, and he seemed to know his shit while debating against McCain.
I guess a real modern democracy would boil down to electing most powerful corporations' CEOs (banks' leaders for a starter), not seemingly powerless politicians...
But, putting aside the fact that this is utopia, that couldn't be possible given our obsession with "free" markets anyway, duh.
From NC - a Roosevelt Quote that hold true today. In Spades
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.
Rock's in from time to time. sorry I can't be here more. Listen to AndyT's comments very carefully. Try best you can to remain under the radar. Really.
Hoping I can get my feet back on terra firma this week.
The money passage is right here. And why I find it morally repugnant that average hard-working people are now being forced to take it on the chain AGAIN so that the top 0.1% doesn't have to give up anything and in fact can go on taking even more when in fact many of THESE very people were largely responsible for the crisis to begin with. It's utterly appalling. Why can't more people connect these dots? The financial services sector continues to do great damage to our economy and nation. It's extractive, not additive.
I think it’s important to emphasize one of the dangers of wealth concentration: irresponsibility about the wider economic consequences of their actions by those at the top. Wall Street created the investment products that produced gross economic imbalances and the 2008 credit crisis. It wasn’t the hard-working 99.5%. Average people could only destroy themselves financially, not the economic system. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the collapse was primarily due to the failure of complex mortgage derivatives, CDS credit swaps, cheap Fed money, lax regulation, compromised ratings agencies, government involvement in the mortgage market, the end of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, and insufficient bank capital. Only Wall Street could put the economy at risk and it had an excellent reason to do so: profit. It made huge profits in the build-up to the credit crisis and huge profits when it sold itself as “too big to fail” and received massive government and Federal Reserve bailouts. Most of the serious economic damage the U.S. is struggling with today was done by the top 0.1% and they benefited greatly from it.
And far too many who are IN the industry can't bring themselves to see this reality, although I won't name any names here. If they can look themselves in the mirror every day and feel good about what they're doing, then that's up to them.
Mannwich - I have not had time to read the arcticle yet, but will shortly.
However I do believe that more and more people are waking up to the fact that they are being robbed blind.
To me the money passage within your above money passage is this quote "Average people could only destroy themselves financially, not the economic system"
Yet TPTB are pointing their fingers at the average job and saying, we are to blame.
No - When the average joe needs a place to live and they see home prices sky rocket and the banks say it is OK to borrow such large sums of money, the average joe will feel compeled to think it is the right thing to do.
So the average joe got screwed by buying a house at an inflated price, they got screwed again by the CDS and now they are getting screwed by the goverment that is supposed to protect them.
Manny & Mutt, agree with Mutt, I think people are slowing waking up to what's going on, the latest crop of millionaires (aka: the Tea Party) isn't even trying to hide what they're up to.
So we're about to massively cut all kinds of state, local, and federal, benefits for the poor, the needy, and probably the unemployed, while at the same time removing 3+ trillion out of the economy, which result in god only knows how many public employee layoffs. All at a time when the entire world economy is teetering on the edge.
ReplyDeleteI can only wonder if we are setting ourselves up for a depression.
What's worse, is that we've maxed out our credit card in the form of any and all forms of debt.
I just wish they'd hack the hell out of the military FIRST. We don't need to be fighting any un-winable war (or three!) around the globe and maintaining how many dozens of military bases around the world?
Let the rest of the world fend for itself from now on. If China wants it, let them take a crack at it.
blech
Thor - your 12:14 comment really is hard to add to, maybe a little flower planted here or shade added there, but it is so close to perfection what else of actual substance can be said?
ReplyDeleteAlso that stupid "Motivation" poster you put up is hilarious, with the exception of robot = "Chinese", "Mexican", "Middle Eastern", "Indian 'Dot' (Sorry ICan), or any other country dealing in slave labor could be plugged into "robot".
Mangy Mutt
Mutt - Thank you! :-) One good thing I think MIGHT come from this is that people are starting to hurt, did you read the article over at BR's about consumers using their credit cards to buy necessities? I think the calls to end both wars and scale back the military will turn into screams very soon. You can already see the cracks in the GOP forming now.
ReplyDeleteThor - Thank you for your reply, I use to REALLY enjoy BRs sight and that is were I got to know many of you.
ReplyDeleteBut BR is no loger my cup of tea.
Thor, we are in a wold of hurt, it took 30+ years to get here, so it will take 7+ years to unwind....Maybe even 30+
People have been using their CC for many years to pay for their food.
The fact that is just now coming to view is sad.
Mutt.
rofl. Great pic Thor! Well I mean "01110011 11001010 01110100"...
ReplyDeleteMy S&P500 2 cents: I believe the 1350/1360 zone may provide resistance soon. And the end of the fun.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that PK nails it today. Batten down the hatches, folks. We may have a Cat 5 approaching. The bottom line is now that the monied elites have been bailed out, it's time to pull the rug out from under everyone else. Fun stuff.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/opinion/22krugman.html?_r=1&hp
Obama = Nixon? Well done by Bartlett.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2011/07/22/Barack-Obama-The-Democrats-Richard-Nixon.aspx
oooh, good article Manny, reading now.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, in the surreal circus that is DC, Boner pulls out. I beginning to think that they just might test not raising the debt ceiling or force Obama to do it unilaterally before they then try to impeach him. These people are literally that NUTS. Why do they hate America so?
ReplyDeleteBREAKING NEWS6:00 PM ET
House Speaker Boehner Pulls Out of Debt Ceiling Talks
wozers, did I just read this right? Debt talks have now been canceled? Boner walked out?
ReplyDeleteMonday should be a fun market day if there's no resolution to this.
@Thor: I think the market will continue to yawn and believe one way or another the ceiling will just be raised, even if Obama has to do it himself or they find some way to allow it so they can kick the can and set up the political battle talking points for next year. I truly despise these people in Congress, as I'm sure most Americans do.
ReplyDeletefutures already down 70 . . . . unusual for so early in a weekend isn't it?
ReplyDeleteManny - I agree with you, and I'm a hopin' and a wishin' on a star tonight that this is the beginning of the end of the Tea Baggers.
ReplyDeletewait, no the FAA is shutting down at midnight? I'm confused.
ReplyDeleteDon't you all just Love Our Man Bernie?
ReplyDeleteSANDERS: Brian, believe me, I wish I had the answer to your question. Let me just suggest this. I think there are millions of Americans who are deeply disappointed in the president, who believe that with regard to Social Security and other things, he said one thing as a candidate and is doing something very much else as a president. Who cannot believe how weak he has been for whatever reason in negotiating with Republicans, and there’s deep disappointment. So my suggestion is, I think one of the reasons the president has made the move so far to the right is that there is no primary opposition to him and I think it would do this country a good deal of service if people started thinking about candidates out there to begin contrasting a progressive agenda as opposed to what Obama believes he’s doing. [...] So I would say to Ryan, discouragement is not an option. I think it would be a good idea if President Obama faced some primary opposition.
Even Lou Mish thinks the GOP blew it. Imagine that? The GOP is becoming a caricature of itself.
ReplyDeletehttp://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2011/07/boehner-walks-out-on-talks-with-obama.html
Manny - It's been so long since I've heard that name! how is his site doing? Is he still as bitter as ever?
ReplyDeleteNo idea, Thor. First time I had been there in months.
ReplyDeleteJesus, he's still bat-shit crazy, did you see his three "Solid Ideas"? What a fucking joke. Is he seriously still parading around with the t-baggers? I guess he hasn't gotten the memo that the Tea Party is nothing but the political arm of the future American Business Party? Or is he just in on it at the top like the Koch's?
ReplyDeleteIt's such an embarrassment to our culture that we produce people like this!
that he thinks ending the right to unionize in this country is a fair trade for a some meaningless tax cuts shows just how out of touch the far right has become in this country.
ReplyDeleteGet your pitch forks ready, sheesh!
re Disappointed by Obama: I, too, had "great" hopes when you elected him back in 2008.
ReplyDeleteHe seemed different (not only physically..), really willing to change the way things were, and he seemed to know his shit while debating against McCain.
Just like our president Sarkozy.
I guess a real modern democracy would boil down to electing most powerful corporations' CEOs (banks' leaders for a starter), not seemingly powerless politicians...
ReplyDeleteBut, putting aside the fact that this is utopia, that couldn't be possible given our obsession with "free" markets anyway, duh.
Would be nice if this were true. . .
ReplyDeletehttp://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/07/23/277428/buddy-roemer-launches-campaign/
From NC - a Roosevelt Quote that hold true today. In Spades
ReplyDeleteWe had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.
Rock's in from time to time. sorry I can't be here more. Listen to AndyT's comments very carefully. Try best you can to remain under the radar. Really.
ReplyDeleteHoping I can get my feet back on terra firma this week.
Stay save and trade small.
Rock - Thanks for checking in and nice to hear from you.
ReplyDeleteMutt
This is EXCELLENT. Must read of the day.
ReplyDeletehttp://ampedstatus.org/who-rules-america-an-investment-manager-breaks-down-the-economic-top-1-says-0-1-controls-political-and-legislative-process/
The money passage is right here. And why I find it morally repugnant that average hard-working people are now being forced to take it on the chain AGAIN so that the top 0.1% doesn't have to give up anything and in fact can go on taking even more when in fact many of THESE very people were largely responsible for the crisis to begin with. It's utterly appalling. Why can't more people connect these dots? The financial services sector continues to do great damage to our economy and nation. It's extractive, not additive.
ReplyDeleteI think it’s important to emphasize one of the dangers of wealth concentration: irresponsibility about the wider economic consequences of their actions by those at the top. Wall Street created the investment products that produced gross economic imbalances and the 2008 credit crisis. It wasn’t the hard-working 99.5%. Average people could only destroy themselves financially, not the economic system. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the collapse was primarily due to the failure of complex mortgage derivatives, CDS credit swaps, cheap Fed money, lax regulation, compromised ratings agencies, government involvement in the mortgage market, the end of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, and insufficient bank capital. Only Wall Street could put the economy at risk and it had an excellent reason to do so: profit. It made huge profits in the build-up to the credit crisis and huge profits when it sold itself as “too big to fail” and received massive government and Federal Reserve bailouts. Most of the serious economic damage the U.S. is struggling with today was done by the top 0.1% and they benefited greatly from it.
And far too many who are IN the industry can't bring themselves to see this reality, although I won't name any names here. If they can look themselves in the mirror every day and feel good about what they're doing, then that's up to them.
ReplyDeleteMorning folks - Manny - reading now. . .
ReplyDeleteMannwich - I have not had time to read the arcticle yet, but will shortly.
ReplyDeleteHowever I do believe that more and more people are waking up to the fact that they are being robbed blind.
To me the money passage within your above money passage is this quote "Average people could only destroy themselves financially, not the economic system"
Yet TPTB are pointing their fingers at the average job and saying, we are to blame.
No - When the average joe needs a place to live and they see home prices sky rocket and the banks say it is OK to borrow such large sums of money, the average joe will feel compeled to think it is the right thing to do.
So the average joe got screwed by buying a house at an inflated price, they got screwed again by the CDS and now they are getting screwed by the goverment that is supposed to protect them.
I think the average joe is starting to wake up.
Albiet....s...l....o...w...l............y.
Mutt
Exactly, Mutt. Exactly. Time to wake up and accept some unpleasant realities, Global Sheeple. The global banking system is impoverishing the masses.
ReplyDeleteWhile gaming everything and stealing from them....
ReplyDeleteManny & Mutt, agree with Mutt, I think people are slowing waking up to what's going on, the latest crop of millionaires (aka: the Tea Party) isn't even trying to hide what they're up to.
ReplyDeleteWake up people.
I should say stealing from US (not them), since I assume none of us are in that top 0.1%.
ReplyDeleteThis is good too....a manufactured crisis for political reasons by both parties? I think so.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/we-discuss-the-manufactured-us-debt-crisis-at-the-real-news-network.html