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Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
this, in conjunction with Obama's announced $1 trillion dollar public sector spending program, now give a clear road map as to where the US economy is headed ...
(snip)"Yesterday, we urged you to sell the dollar. We hope you followed our advice. The dollar is falling. It's at a 13-year low against the yen. And it fell to $1.36 against the euro yesterday. Against gold, it lost another $16, bringing the price of the yellow metal to $836…an 8-week high.
What a delight! Our Trade of the Decade is now in profit on both ends. 'Sell stocks, buy gold' has been our advice for the last eight years. This year, the 'sell stocks' half has done beautifully…but the 'buy gold' part looked a little tired. But lo and behold, cometh the Christmas season and Santa Claus comes around; gold begins to shine again. It is now UP for the year! Only about 1%…but at least it's in positive territory.
What else is up for the year? We can't think of anything. Once again, gold has come through. Ol' reliable.
And today, the Fed only has 100 basis points left. It will probably cut half of them. But it might go for broke by cutting all hundred. Never before has it cut rates to zero, but heck…never before has it been confronted with a global depression."(snip)
(snip)"This is not normal. But then, neither is the circumstance. Government is muscling into the economy…pushing out private business. Government borrowing will take up almost all of the world's savings next year. Next year will bring more regulation too. Cheap financing is gone…and the elites are turning against free-market capitalism and globalization. In this new world…government spending "crowds the private sector into an awkward and less productive corner," says Gross.
What is the appropriate level for stocks in this world, he wonders. Dow 5,000? He raises the question, but doesn't answer it. So, we will answer it for him.
Yes, Dow 5000…it's coming. And gold $2000. Find out more here.
*** Here at The Daily Reckoning we have a different theory entirely. It's not our invention…but we like to take credit for it anyway. We saw the crisis coming not because we have better eyes, but because we are able to stand on the shoulders of giants: Adam Smith, Adam Ferguson, Jacques Rueff, Friedrich Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Josef Schumpeter and Kurt Richebächer. Not that we've done a thorough study of the field. It's just that there is something so transparently superficial about the Keynesians and the Friedmanites…not to mention the Gonoists.
At the bottom of it, we don't think the economy works like a machine. You can't tinker with it to make it run better, in other words. You can't turn a screw to eliminate mistakes. And you can't trick consumers into thinking they have more money - at least, not without adverse and unexpected consequences.
No, in our mind, an economy is a living thing…organic…natural…subject to moral laws rather than mechanical rules. In our theory, people don't get what they want or what they expect…they get what they've got coming. Sooner or later.
Of course, that's why economists, government planners, and world improvers don't much care for our pensee. The clumsy mechanics have their own jackass theories; they stick with them no matter how many times they prove not to work.
*** A remarkable issue of Newsweek offers advice to the President-Elect:
"How to Fix the World" promises the cover.
What makes the magazine remarkable is that it has managed to put between its covers more claptrap ideas and silly 'blah, blah' humbug than we ever seen assembled in one place.
Of course, you know what's coming when you read the headline. If you're going to "fix" the world, you must believe that there is something wrong with it…and that if the Obama Administration would listen to the editors of Newsweek, it would be improved. We know you can fix a fight…or fix an election…or even fix a flat tire. But whenever people want to fix the whole world, they are looking for trouble. What they really mean is "change" the world - bend it into a new shape, more to their own liking…but hideous to everyone else.
"The world needs smart management," say the editors. No kidding. That's shows the height of bar Newsweek editors set for themselves. But what is "smart management?" And why should tomorrow's managers be smarter than today's?
And how is it possible to manage the world anyway? If the editors would only reflect for a minute they would realize that so far the "management" of the global economy has been disastrous. The last thing the world needs is more of it.
"Foreign policy requires adult supervision…" is another of the newspaper's empty bon mots. Who do they have writing this stuff, we wondered? Tom Friedman maybe.
Then, in a piece entitled "How to save democracy" the authors suggest "technical assistance" and "training programs" setting "clear conditions" before the United States gives away any more money. They think that if foreign governments promise to work on "women's rights" and "transparency," the world will be a better place.
Tom Friedman must have had a hand in this, we conclude. It is all so childishly simpleminded. 'Democracy is a good thing,' the editors must have said to themselves, 'What can we do to get more of it?'
You see, dear reader, it's the same kind of drivel that you find in economics. 'Credit is a good thing; how can we get more?' Or, 'consumer spending makes the economy grow; how can we get consumers to spend more?''(snip)
(snip)""Markets can't rule themselves" says Joseph Stiglitz. We need "better regulation," he says. Now there's a novel idea. The SEC was set up by the Roosevelt administration 70 years ago. They were actually watching over Bernie Madoff's company…and actually did a review of it in 2005 and 2007. Somehow, these ace regulators didn't notice the biggest Ponzi scheme in world history…a scheme approximately 5,000 times bigger than the scheme of the eponymous Ponzi himself.
Better regulation? We know how to get more regulation. But what we don't know is how to get better regulation. We don't even know what it means. There were thousands of regulators on the job in New York City. Not one of them seems to have caught on to any of the great scams that were going on. Even when they were so obvious even we poor scribblers here at The Daily Reckoning warned about them for years. We said sub-prime would be a disaster. We told the world that hedge funds were a rip-off. We whined about high executive salaries and bonuses. We explained how the profits going to the financial industry were an aberration. We laughed at the pretentious nonsense of the investment engineers, the pious complicity of the rating agencies, and the reckless greed of the mortgage lenders. Housing…finance…private equity…hedge funds…the dollar - what did we miss? And a subscription to The Daily Reckoning is free!
Newsweek presses onward in its delusions:
"More government is the solution" says Brazil's President Lula da Silva. The solution to what? We would like to know what problem - that was not caused by government itself - has ever been solved by government. We can't think of any. But so the magazine lurches on…from one bit of claptap to another…from mass delusion to popular fantasy…from farce to dada.
*** Poor George Bush. At a press conference in Iraq, a journalist called him a dog, in Arabic, and then threw his sized-10 shoe at the president. Dubyah ducked.
What's wrong with America's journalists, we wonder. Have they no shoes?"(snip)
from
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
"More government is the solution" says Brazil's President Lula da Silva. The solution to what? We would like to know what problem - that was not caused by government itself - has ever been solved by government. We can't think of any. But so the magazine lurches on…from one bit of claptap to another…from mass delusion to popular fantasy…from farce to dada.
More conservative nonsense. There have been plenty of problems solved by government. Building a national highway system, providing affordable college education, placing a man on the moon, were all accomplished by government.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
eagle2
More conservative nonsense. There have been plenty of problems solved by government. Building a national highway system, providing affordable college education, placing a man on the moon, were all accomplished by government.
Hmmm. The highway system is crumbling from lack of maintenance. You obviously haven' t priced college lately. What we spend on NASA is a pittance today.
Let's really have a look, shall we ?
National Defense is a primary Constitutional function and it seems to be working relatively well. Except for the billions we've wasted in Iraq. It's not as bad as it used to be but we're still letting narrow Congressional interests drive procurement and base siting policy.
Federal Courts and Law Enforcement ? How do you think the "War on Drugs" is working out ? Been to Juarez or Laredo lately ?
Federal Housing policy ? Ever lived in Federally funded public housing ? We're all familiar with the Fannie and Freddie debacle but imagine if they'd been totally cut loose from the Federal Government ? If there were no implicit Federal guarantee and no Congressional meddling with lending practices ?
Education ? How do you explain the decline in educational performance after DECADES of Federal Aid to Education ? Private schools are still outperforming public schools ( on average ) nationwide.
Health Care ? Medicare and Medicaid are both going broke.
Social Security ? An actuarily unsound program from its inception. It never was a "pension " program but simply one of income transfer. DESPITE recent stock market losses, pension funds have outperformed Social Security over just the last 25 years.
The Environment ? Our air and water are much cleaner now than 40 years ago. On balance, a governmental success.
Transportation ? We are the only major industrialized nation without a first class passenger rail system. AMTRAC has been a money losing joke.
The Post Office ? A prime Constitutional function and it's laying off workers and losing billions.
Agriculture ? We are still paying farmers NOT to grow crops. We are subsidizing ethanol, sugar and lots of other things that are bad for us. For decades we subsidized tobacco production, for Pete's sake. Without such Federal support, thousands of farmers would have switched to something else.
Treasury ? Great job supporting the dollar, huh ? The Federal Reserve ? Responsible for one Great Depression and maybe one mild one , five recessions and at least four periods of severe inflation. Maybe five. We'll see four and five years from now whether a 0 % Federal Funds Rate was a good idea.
Energy ? Show me one successful GOVERNMENT sponsored or mandated energy program. Our electrical grid is antiquated and highly vulnerable to sabotage. We haven't built a nuclear power plant or new refinery in over 30 years. Since the Dept. of Energy started we've gone from importing less than 30% of our oil to over 70 %. OPEC just cut production by 2.5 million barrels. Assuming they don't cheat ( as they usually do ) gas will go back to $2.50 a gallon pretty quickly.
Interior ? Consistently inconsistent as it bounces back and forth between being a corporate hand maiden and gives away mining, drilling and lumber leases and the other extreme when it stifles reasonable development. The only reasonable policy indicator is what developer or exploiter is contributing how much to whom ?
Labor ? A mixed bag. Most OSHA regs. and Child Labor Laws have been effective.
Still cannot properly measure employment and unemployment. Unions continue to decline in membership while their leaders get richer.
Commerce ? We import 500,000 cars from Korea and are limited by trade agreement to selling 5,000 over there. What is wrong with that picture ? Kia and Hyundai are hardly "infant " industries that need tariff protection. Have they let us resume selling our beef over there ?
Homeland Security ? Still a lot of abuses. Our borders are STILL not secure.
The SEC ? FEMA ? FAA ? All doing a bang up job right ?
The Economy ? Everywhere you look you can see the hand of government and misguided government policy.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Everywhere you look you can see the hand of government and misguided government policy.
Yeah, just who elected these crooks anyway?
Seriously the elected/appointed officials are more interested in their own personal welfare and their party's, that they have forgotten why they are there. It's time we seriously looked into cleaning house and limiting the terms of the Congress. Yeah, now who can we find to champion that cause? Which of the presidential candidates do you think would have done that better?
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
threlayer
Yeah, just who elected these crooks anyway?
Seriously the elected/appointed officials are more interested in their own personal welfare and their party's, that they have forgotten why they are there. It's time we seriously looked into cleanin ghouse and limiting the terms of the Congress. Yeah, now who can we find to champion that cause? Which of the presidential candidates do you think would have done that better?
Youre right. Byrd is still in the Senate based on decades of procuring pork for W.Va. as are dozens of House members.
I'm all for term limits. 2 terms in the Senate and 6 terms in the House.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
^^ The limits you mentioned are about right in my opinion.
You know, I have a different theory about Byrd, though he certainly has his foibles. For decades WV people just paid their taxes and got almost nothing back from the Fed in their state except Black Lung payments and SS and maybe 'welfare' when coal production became mechanized. This went on thru the eighties, believe it or not, while almost all other states got Fed institutions and various paybacks. And the coal companies shipped out natural resources with no depletion taxes paid to the state, due to strong lobbying efforts there. Then Byrd (and Randolph at the time) realized their state was being ripped off by not receiving much back. I say this because tax money isn't for just govt wages; it is for public works and productive institutions, for the common good. The only way taxes rotate back to the states is thru govt spending in that state. And WV got little. So Byrd is justified in trying to get tax money to do some work in his state, as long as the money does produce something worthwhile. Far as I can tell WV has been doing better since that started, and I know of nothing that has been wasted any more than in any other state.
One more thing, to avoid such undue influence as lobbyists exert daily, the Congress should get more of its own staff to research issues instead of depending on lobbyists so much. About double should help with a fixed minimum staff per congressmember, not one set by the majority leader/speaker for "disciplinary purposes."
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
threlayer
^^ The limits you mentioned are about right in my opinion.
You know, I have a different theory about Byrd, though he certainly has his foibles. For decades WV people just paid their taxes and got almost nothing back from the Fed in their state except Black Lung payments and SS and maybe 'welfare' when coal production became mechanized. This went on thru the eighties, believe it or not, while almost all other states got Fed institutions and various paybacks. And the coal companies shipped out natural resources with no depletion taxes paid to the state, due to strong lobbying efforts there. Then Byrd (and Randolph at the time) realized their state was being ripped off by not receiving much back. I say this because tax money isn't for just govt wages; it is for public works and productive institutions, for the common good. The only way taxes rotate back to the states is thru govt spending in that state. And WV got little. So Byrd is justified in trying to get tax money to do some work in his state, as long as the money does produce something worthwhile. Far as I can tell WV has been doing better since that started, and I know of nothing that has been wasted any more than in any other state.
One more thing, to avoid such undue influence as lobbyists exert daily, the Congress should get more of its own staff to research issues instead of depending on lobbyists so much. About double should help with a fixed minimum staff per congressmember, not one set by the majority leader/speaker for "disciplinary purposes."
Byrd is the longest serving Senator; longer than Teddy K. Jay Rockefeller has been taking up space in that august body for around 30 years. Both have been in the pocket of the coal industry and the UMW for decades. On balance, West Virginia has made very little progress. It is one of the most racist states despite its history of having broken off from Virginia to stay loyal to the Union in 1863. Maybe you can take Byrd out of the Klan but have they taken the Klan out of Byrd ?
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
...Jay Rockefeller has been taking up space in that august body for around 30 years. Both have been in the pocket of the coal industry and the UMW for decades. On balance, West Virginia has made very little progress.
I haven't notice that Jay has done anything significant either, sort of like Randolph (until his last term). WV would have been much worse if it weren't for Byrd.
Quote:
It is one of the most racist states despite its history of having broken off from Virginia to stay loyal to the Union in 1863. Maybe you can take Byrd out of the Klan but have they taken the Klan out of Byrd ?
Well, I don't know where you get that info about racism--for example, outside of the South, Kentucky and Ohio are much closer to being racist. Byrd admitted this KKK thing long, long ago but that old albatross carcass still hangs around his neck in the eyes of people who don't know much about him. What I don't know about him is the compromises he has made to other bills to get assistance for WV.
You'd think that coal is a big saver industry for WV, but the mine owners give back very little. And with restrictions on mountain-top mining and mine safety, they always have an excuse.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
^^^^^ Have you ever been to West " By God !" Virginia ? It is VERY segregated. Not by law, but compared to most other states of the Old South; very much so.
I'm VERY familiar with "Sheets" Byrd and his record as a racist creep goes well beyond and runs much deeper than his days as a LEADER of the Klan. He fought against EVERY major piece of Civil Rights legislation. He was one of Dr. King's most outspoken critics. His staff is still almost 100% white.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
^^^^^ Have you ever been to West " By God !" Virginia ? It is VERY segregated. Not by law, but compared to most other states of the Old South; very much so.
I'm VERY familiar with "Sheets" Byrd and his record as a racist creep goes well beyond and runs much deeper than his days as a LEADER of the Klan. He fought against EVERY major piece of Civil Rights legislation. He was one of Dr. King's most outspoken critics. His staff is still almost 100% white.
I've had some high-tech business down in them thar hills, in West Virginia "Almost Heaven". And have been there for several months at a stretch at times. So I disagree with you for a reason. I found them to be very hospitable, friendly and homespun to blacks and whites alike when they were working or socializing together.
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No doubt that in Byrd's earlier years he was a segretationist, belonged to the KKK for a single year. This does show up on his voting record, but not in recent years.
Quote:
Quotes from Wikipedia
Byrd has since explicitly renounced his earlier views on racial segregation. Byrd said that he regrets filibustering and voting against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and would change it if he had the opportunity. He has stated that joining the KKK was "the greatest mistake I ever made". Byrd has also said that his views changed dramatically after his teenage grandson was killed in a 1982 traffic accident, which put him in a deep emotional valley. "The death of my grandson caused me to stop and think," said Byrd, adding he came to realize that black people love their children as much as he does his.
In the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's (NAACP) Congressional Report Card for the 108th Congress (spanning the 2003–2004 congressional session), Byrd was awarded with an approval rating of 100 percent for favoring the NAACP's position in all 33 bills presented to the United States Senate regarding issues of their concern. Only 16 other Senators of the same session matched this approval rating. In June 2005, Byrd proposed an additional $10 million in federal funding for the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington, D.C., remarking that "With the passage of time, we have come to learn that his Dream was the American Dream, and few ever expressed it more eloquently."
On May 19, 2008, Byrd released a statement endorsing Barack Obama (D-Illinois) for President of the United States. One week after the West Virginia Democratic Primary, in which Hillary Clinton defeated Obama by 41.32 percent, Byrd said, "Barack Obama is a noble-hearted patriot and humble Christian, and he has my full faith and support." In a written statement, Byrd called Obama "a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq." When asked in October 2008 about the possibility that the issue of race would influence West Virginia voters, as Obama is an African-American, Byrd replied: "Those days are gone. Gone!" Obama went on to win the November 2008 presidential election.
As I've posted previously the reason WV voted for Bush (twice) is largely because with Bush there would be no further regulations against mountain-top coal mining. It was not a segretationist/racist thing at all. Until those regulations started WV was a strictly Democratic-leaning state. Because that change bothered me a bit, I've dug into the issue.
So I believe you're wrong on that issue too.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
threlayer
I've had some high-tech business down in them thar hills, in West Virginia "Almost Heaven". And have been there for several months at a stretch at times. So I disagree with you for a reason.
You can have my snake when you can pry it from my dead cold hand! ;D
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Hmmm. The highway system is crumbling from lack of maintenance. You obviously haven' t priced college lately. What we spend on NASA is a pittance today.
The highway system wasn't crumbling 30 years ago and college was affordable for most people back then. That was before we started electing conservatives who follow "supply side" economics.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Federal Courts and Law Enforcement ? How do you think the "War on Drugs" is working out ? Been to Juarez or Laredo lately ?
During the 1990's we experience the biggest drop in crime in history.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Federal Housing policy ? Ever lived in Federally funded public housing ? We're all familiar with the Fannie and Freddie debacle but imagine if they'd been totally cut loose from the Federal Government ? If there were no implicit Federal guarantee and no Congressional meddling with lending practices ?
More conservative nonsense. The financial crisis is a result of irresponsible business practices by private institutions. Even Alan Greenspan has acknowledged this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Health Care ? Medicare and Medicaid are both going broke.
No they're not. Both programs have given millions of people access to medical care that wouldn't have had it before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Social Security ? An actuarily unsound program from its inception. It never was a "pension " program but simply one of income transfer. DESPITE recent stock market losses, pension funds have outperformed Social Security over just the last 25 years.
Social Security has prevented millions of senior citizens from falling into poverty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
The Environment ? Our air and water are much cleaner now than 40 years ago. On balance, a governmental success.
and yet conservative ideologues are constantly fighting against the laws and regulations that have made this possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Transportation ? We are the only major industrialized nation without a first class passenger rail system. AMTRAC has been a money losing joke.
Our government hasn't been willing to spend the kind of money other countries do, to have a first rate rail system.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Energy ? Show me one successful GOVERNMENT sponsored or mandated energy program. Our electrical grid is antiquated and highly vulnerable to sabotage. We haven't built a nuclear power plant or new refinery in over 30 years. Since the Dept. of Energy started we've gone from importing less than 30% of our oil to over 70 %. OPEC just cut production by 2.5 million barrels. Assuming they don't cheat ( as they usually do ) gas will go back to $2.50 a gallon pretty quickly.
The CAFE standards passed in the 1970's that required car-makers to produce much more fuel-efficient vehicles greatly reduced the amount of oil we needed to import and caused a significant drop in the price of gas. Since then, conservatives along with the auto-makers have blocked any attempt to improve these standards until about a year ago. As a result, gas went to $4.00 a gallon this past summer.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
^^^ why does all of this sound like one of last year's Maloff investors, who was ecstatic about receiving 15% returns right up to the point where the fraud became public ?
With every Ponzi Scheme, the early results are always good. Such was the case with HUD policy, Social Security & Medicare, environmental policy, and especially CAFE standards. However, like all Ponzi Schemes, the longer that the programs continue, the less beneficial the programs become to future 'investors' and the more serious the unintended consequences become. Along those lines ...
HUD policy re low income minority home ownership directly contributed to the undermining of credit markets via 'subprime' mortgage creations which never would have happened otherwise.
Social Security and Medicare tax rates have now made it much more difficult for younger Americans to save for their own retirement ... yet demographics clearly shows that there won't be much money available to pay THEM Social Security and Medicare benefits when they reach retirement age. Great deal if you're now 65 years old, but terrible deal if you're now 25 years old.
Environmental laws, and the associated compliance costs, are partially responsible for the loss of millions of former American manufacturing jobs to foreign countries where environmental compliance costs are essentially non-existant.
CAFE standards are partially responsible for the bankrupt state of America's automakers ... because they limited the ability of the Detroit Three to produce highly profitable large vehicles and forced the Detroit Three to attempt to build small high mileage vehicles ( which have been neither highly profitable nor highly desired by American car buyers).
PS Gas went up to $4.00 per gallon, and back down to $2.00 per gallon, for many reasons ... the LEAST of which was the 3% reduction in domestic gasoline consumption due to higher mileage vehicles.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Deogol
You can have my snake when you can pry it from my dead cold hand! ;D
That snake thing is also in KY, TN, western VA, and western NC. I've heard of other religious practices that are just as stupid in several other states, like avoiding physicians and medicines even with severe illnesses and damages.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
^^^ why does all of this sound like one of last year's Maloff investors, who was ecstatic about receiving 15% returns right up to the point where the fraud became public ?
With every Ponzi Scheme, the early results are always good. Such was the case with HUD policy, Social Security & Medicare, environmental policy, and especially CAFE standards. However, like all Ponzi Schemes, the longer that the programs continue, the less beneficial the programs become to future 'investors' and the more serious the unintended consequences become. Along those lines ...
HUD policy re low income minority home ownership directly contributed to the undermining of credit markets via 'subprime' mortgage creations which never would have happened otherwise.
More conservative nonsense. Probably most of the bad loans were given to people who did not fall into the low income category. Most of the institutions making the bad loans were not required to make risky loans to people with low income. As I stated in a previous post, Bank of America, the largest bank in the US, chose not to enter the subprime market because of its risk and did not suffer financially as a result.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
Social Security and Medicare tax rates have now made it much more difficult for younger Americans to save for their own retirement ... yet demographics clearly shows that there won't be much money available to pay THEM Social Security and Medicare benefits when they reach retirement age. Great deal if you're now 65 years old, but terrible deal if you're now 25 years old.
No, they don't. Young people have more opportunities to save for retirement now than they ever did, with 401k plans, IRA's, Roth IRA's. If they choose not to take advantage of these opportunities, it's their own fault.
Social Security is solvent for the long term. In addition, laws can always be changed, such as raising the retirement age as life spans increase, to make sure it stays solvent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
Environmental laws, and the associated compliance costs, are partially responsible for the loss of millions of former American manufacturing jobs to foreign countries where environmental compliance costs are essentially non-existant.
Wrong. The United States passed regulations that greatly reduced pollution during the 1980's and 90's, while the economy grew significantly. Environmental regulations have not had a negative impact on the economy. The only reason conservative ideologues oppose them is because it goes against conservative ideology.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
CAFE standards are partially responsible for the bankrupt state of America's automakers ... because they limited the ability of the Detroit Three to produce highly profitable large vehicles and forced the Detroit Three to attempt to build small high mileage vehicles ( which have been neither highly profitable nor highly desired by American car buyers).
Wrong again. After the CAFE standards were passed and American manufacturers concentrated on building cars that get good gas mileage, they became the most profitable automobile manufacturers on the planet in the 1980's. When they switched to larger vehicles (trucks and SUV's), they started running into serious financial problems when the price of gas went up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Melonie
PS Gas went up to $4.00 per gallon, and back down to $2.00 per gallon, for many reasons ... the LEAST of which was the 3% reduction in domestic gasoline consumption due to higher mileage vehicles.
No, the price of gas went down significantly because Americans greatly reduced their consumption of gasoline, both by buying more fuel-efficient vehicles and driving less. In addition, the significant drop of the price of gas in the 1980's was directly related to the use of more fuel efficient vehicles.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
eagle2
The highway system wasn't crumbling 30 years ago and college was affordable for most people back then. That was before we started electing conservatives who follow "supply side" economics.
During the 1990's we experience the biggest drop in crime in history.
More conservative nonsense. The financial crisis is a result of irresponsible business practices by private institutions. Even Alan Greenspan has acknowledged this.
No they're not. Both programs have given millions of people access to medical care that wouldn't have had it before.
Social Security has prevented millions of senior citizens from falling into poverty.
and yet conservative ideologues are constantly fighting against the laws and regulations that have made this possible.
Our government hasn't been willing to spend the kind of money other countries do, to have a first rate rail system.
The CAFE standards passed in the 1970's that required car-makers to produce much more fuel-efficient vehicles greatly reduced the amount of oil we needed to import and caused a significant drop in the price of gas. Since then, conservatives along with the auto-makers have blocked any attempt to improve these standards until about a year ago. As a result, gas went to $4.00 a gallon this past summer.
I'm sorry but one set of facts for everybody. The Interstate Highway System WAS crumbling under Ford and Carter. It was REAGAN and his nickel a gallon gasoline tax that funded badly needed improvements.
As to crime, I was talking about Government performance, in general. Ironically, many states and cities can no longer afford the "new" cops they hired under Clinton's Safe Streets- Safe Cities crime program.
Both government policies and irresponsible private practices contributed to the current mess.
Please try to update yourself about the impact of all the retiring "baby-boomers"will have on both Social Security and Medicare and the current recession will probably aggravate matters.
Yes, Social Security helped relieve poverty among the elderly but at what cost ? As things stand now, a solvent system will NOT be there for anyone under 40 when it comes time for them to retire.
I agree. We ought to spend more on passenger rail systems.
Gas went to $4 a gallon because of growing worldwide demand; finite supply and most of all because of commodity speculation.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
threlayer
I've had some high-tech business down in them thar hills, in West Virginia "Almost Heaven". And have been there for several months at a stretch at times. So I disagree with you for a reason. I found them to be very hospitable, friendly and homespun to blacks and whites alike when they were working or socializing together.
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No doubt that in Byrd's earlier years he was a segretationist, belonged to the KKK for a single year. This does show up on his voting record, but not in recent years.
As I've posted previously the reason WV voted for Bush (twice) is largely because with Bush there would be no further regulations against mountain-top coal mining. It was not a segretationist/racist thing at all. Until those regulations started WV was a strictly Democratic-leaning state. Because that change bothered me a bit, I've dug into the issue.
So I believe you're wrong on that issue too.
It took him until 1982 to finally realize Blacks were people too ?
Byrd is a politician and the political reality of Blacks being able to vote and the erosion of power formerly held by Southern racist Senators and the concurrent rise of the Liberal wing REQUIRED him to tow the Party line on racial and other matters.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
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Originally Posted by
eagle2
The highway system wasn't crumbling 30 years ago and college was affordable for most people back then. That was before we started electing conservatives who follow "supply side" economics.
During the 1990's we experience the biggest drop in crime in history.
More conservative nonsense. The financial crisis is a result of irresponsible business practices by private institutions. Even Alan Greenspan has acknowledged this.
No they're not. Both programs have given millions of people access to medical care that wouldn't have had it before.
Social Security has prevented millions of senior citizens from falling into poverty.
and yet conservative ideologues are constantly fighting against the laws and regulations that have made this possible.
Our government hasn't been willing to spend the kind of money other countries do, to have a first rate rail system.
The CAFE standards passed in the 1970's that required car-makers to produce much more fuel-efficient vehicles greatly reduced the amount of oil we needed to import and caused a significant drop in the price of gas. Since then, conservatives along with the auto-makers have blocked any attempt to improve these standards until about a year ago. As a result, gas went to $4.00 a gallon this past summer.
Btw, who do you think has been running Colleges and Universities. It hasn't been the "Right". Not for decades. Not since BEFORE W.W. II. Costs have soared well ahead of the inflation rate. How do YOU account for that ? Why have more "conservative" schools been able to control their costs to a greater extent ?
Could it be that all the Federal involvment and intervention in higher education has had an effect ? Has anyone priced the cost of complying with the Higher Education Act; Title I through IX ?
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
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Originally Posted by
threlayer
I've had some high-tech business down in them thar hills, in West Virginia "Almost Heaven". And have been there for several months at a stretch at times. So I disagree with you for a reason. I found them to be very hospitable, friendly and homespun to blacks and whites alike when they were working or socializing together.
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No doubt that in Byrd's earlier years he was a segretationist, belonged to the KKK for a single year. This does show up on his voting record, but not in recent years.
As I've posted previously the reason WV voted for Bush (twice) is largely because with Bush there would be no further regulations against mountain-top coal mining. It was not a segretationist/racist thing at all. Until those regulations started WV was a strictly Democratic-leaning state. Because that change bothered me a bit, I've dug into the issue.
So I believe you're wrong on that issue too.
According to the Washington Post and other sources, Byrd belonged to the Klan for a lot more than a "single year". He joined in 1942 and as late as 1947 was writing to the Grand Wizard saying that West Virginia needed the Klan "as never before ". In 1944 he wrote to Senator Bilbo saying he'd "never go to war with a Negroe at my side". Byrd was an Exalted Cyclops and a Kleagle ( recruiter ) personally recruiting 150 new memebers at $10 a head initiation fee and $3 for the $1 bedsheet.
In his memoirs and elsewhere, Byrd has tried to minimize his Klan involvement.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
It took him until 1982 to finally realize Blacks were people too ?
Byrd is a politician and the political reality of Blacks being able to vote and the erosion of power formerly held by Southern racist Senators and the concurrent rise of the Liberal wing REQUIRED him to tow the Party line on racial and other matters.
...
In his memoirs and elsewhere, Byrd has tried to minimize his Klan involvement.
This is a possiblity, but neither you nor I can look into his personal motivations. For example the census shows a moderately low percentage of African-Ameicans in the state, hardly a big voting factor. But by his actions over the last 30 years he is not acting racially. But in any case your argument abut the whole state being the most racist is just patently wrong.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Btw, who do you think has been running Colleges and Universities. It hasn't been the "Right". Not for decades. Not since BEFORE W.W. II. Costs have soared well ahead of the inflation rate. How do YOU account for that ? Why have more "conservative" schools been able to control their costs to a greater extent ?
Could it be that all the Federal involvment and intervention in higher education has had an effect ? Has anyone priced the cost of complying with the Higher Education Act; Title I through IX ?
Did you forget that as late as the 1970s professorial salaries were only marginally higher than those of elementary school teachers?
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
threlayer
This is a possiblity, but neither you nor I can look into his personal motivations. For example the census shows a moderately low percentage of African-Ameicans in the state, hardly a big voting factor. But by his actions over the last 30 years he is not acting racially. But in any case your argument abut the whole state being the most racist is just patently wrong.
Just a moment please. I NEVER said that the whole state was "racist". I did say that, generally , housing patterns in W.Va. are more segregated than elsewhere in the Deep South which in many places is more intergrated than much of the Northeast and Midwest. Fortunately, Generations X and Y are a LOT more open and tolerant than their "Baby Boomer" parents and are living and acting accordingly.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
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Originally Posted by
threlayer
Did you forget that as late as the 1970s professorial salaries were only marginally higher than those of elementary school teachers?
Huh ? According to whom ? The data I've seen shows that full tenured professors are paid much better than school teachers. More importantly, salaries are just one part of the budget for colleges and universities.
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
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It is one of the most racist states despite its history ...
You mentioned no specific details or limits to your statement. Regardless... There are only 2 cities in the whole state that have populations over 40,000 (see http://www.citypopulation.de/USA-WestVirginia.html ). It only has an est. 3.3% black population, opposed the USA of 12.8%. Where do you get that racist information? You apparently think that if WV keeps on electing Byrd, it must be racist. In reality Byrd delivers what WV wants and needs; he brings some Fed dollars back home.
According the the Southern Poverty Law Center of Montgomery AL, there 888 hate groups in the USA and only 7 are found in WV. check out their hate group map at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp. Between NY and PA there are 59, and there are 277 hate groups between the states of TX thru SC. Of the 518 hate incidents they recorded in 2008, only a single 1 occurred in WV, and in 2007 with a total of 445, the SCLS lists only 2 in WV.
A few caveats for this data:
Quote:
For the Record
Incidents of apparent hate crimes and hate group activities listed in For the Record are drawn primarily from media sources. These incidents include only a fraction of the approximately 191,000 reported and unreported hate crimes that a 2005 government report estimated occur annually. Listings are updated quarterly.
And the SCLC hate groups include include more than the KKK, such as Skinheads, Nazi groups etc.
Quote:
For the Record
Incidents of apparent hate crimes and hate group activities listed in For the Record are drawn primarily from media sources. These incidents include only a fraction of the approximately 191,000 reported and unreported hate crimes that a 2005 government report estimated occur annually.
The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 888 active hate groups in the United States in 2007. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2007 are included.
All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics. This list was compiled using hate group publications and websites, citizen and law enforcement reports, field sources and news reports. Hate group activities can include criminal acts, marches, rallies, speeches, meetings, leafleting or publishing. Websites appearing to be merely the work of a single individual, rather than the publication of a group, are not included in this list. Listing here does not imply a group advocates or engages in violence or other criminal activity.
So until you document something, I think you're talking thru your hat.
for the record I think this KarlRove guy is a shyster when it comes to politics, and I saw this too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1C4gG6rYg8
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Re: Newsweek ... 'FED Goes to DEFCON 1"
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Eric Stoner
Huh ? According to whom ? The data I've seen shows that full tenured professors are paid much better than school teachers. More importantly, salaries are just one part of the budget for colleges and universities.
I'm talking 30-40 years ago. (see my post)