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Fair ~ High: 87°F ~ Low: 57°F Wednesday, May 16, 2012 |
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End of the Week MusingsPosted Friday, June 12, 2009, at 9:21 AM
--Doesn't Sarah Palin have a state to run. Since the election in November she has been largely a no show in Alaska as she has been going from city to city for speaking engagements. Now she is all in a twitter because a comedian made a foul joke about her. He has apologized, she hasn't accepted. She has called him a deviant, yet last year when she was running for Vice-President people in her crowds were shouting "Kill Obama" and she just sat there silent with a grin on her face. This should really be a non-issue with Letterman. He clarified his statement and yet Palin and her husband continue to exploit their own children trying to score cheap political points.
--Carrie Prejean was fired as Miss California for not holding to her contract. In the past month she has had 17 appointments as part of the Miss California, she only went to 1. Her and her lawyer are trying to paint a picture that she was fired because of her statement on gay marriage. It's not. Here's the funny thing, when you purposely don't do your job, you get fired. Hopefully this is the end of Prejean's 15 minutes of fame which went to long to begin with after she completely had no idea what Freedom of Speech was. --Rush Limbaugh made a joke. I'm still waiting for the punchline. --An old scumbag opened fired at the National Holocaust Museum killing the security guard who opened the door for him. The far right media has already been hard at work, get this, painting him as a liberal. It doesn't matter what his political beliefs are, he is a terrorist. --Days after Obama gave a speech in Egypt trying to bridge the gap between America and Muslims a pro-American group in the Middle East pulled a major upset and beat the ruling Hezbollah. Is it coincidence? Possibly. Voters are going to the polls in Iran today, hopefully we will see change there as well. --Consumer confidence is the highest its been since September of last year. Is this a sign of better times ahead? We'll just have to wait and see. --The sun is still rising in the East. Comments Showing most recent comments first [Show in chronological order instead] |
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Mike,
I'd be happy to make the citation for wallismarsh (though I'd be happier if he cited it himself).
Babington, Charles (Associated Press) (October 22, 2008). Spreading the wealth? U.S. already does it. Burlington Free Press
According to that article, after credits/rebates/etc. about 40% of Americans have zero income tax liability.
And to answer Wallsimarsh's question, they DO pay taxes. Income tax is not the sole revenue stream of the federal government. They pay sales tax, payroll tax, property tax, auto tax, etc. (obviously depending on their locality). So they aren't getting a "free" ride, just a cheaper one.
And it might seem unfair that they receive the same military protection for less money. But the military protection is worth a lot less to them than it is to wealthy people. If another country were to invade and take over America, wealthy people would have MUCH more to lose (companies, estates, bank accounts, etc.)
Think of it from a home security perspective. A man with a $20,000 house will spend probably about $100 (lock installation) to protect it. But a man with a $1 Million house will spend MUCH more money to secure it against intruders. If you have more to lose, you pay more to protect it.
I'd like to know where you get that 40% number
The $2200 a month was in the summer of 1986 and 1987. We needed the money for college. We lived in the dorms and ate at the cafe for three years. We got oil company jobs in the summer of 1988 and 1989 and made enough money that we split a 1 bedroom apartment for $200 a month and still ate at the cafe.
I have a question.
The bottom 40% of workers pay no federal income tax. The live in America. Shouldn't they pay something? They drive our interstates, they are protected by the US Military. They get disaster relief.
Seems unfair they get a free ride. I am not talking about the widows and orphens either.
Let's don't get off in the weeds about the min wage either. When I was 19, I was making $2200 a month in 1986 throwing the Arkansas Gazette, pumping gas at Kingwood Exxon and busing tables at Cock of the Walk in Maumelle, Ar.
In 1985, the year I graduated from McCook High and started college at OU, I paid federal and state income tax. And btw, My parents didn't pay a penny of my college. My twin brother also paid income taxes, made the same money as me and paid for his college. So we each did it. Therefore, proving it was no fluke.
When I moved from California in 1995 I wrote in my editorial to the WSJ that California had unsolvable problems. I was fresh off a 1 year commute between Sacramento and Long Beach discussing the energy issues of the time.
California almost went under in 1994-1996. What saved them in my opinion was the cell phone and all of the Y2K upgrades followed by the internet boom. Then the housing boom from 2001-2005.
That is what is going to doom California in my opinion. 8 years of non-repeatable events saved and inflated them. They have issues so severe that if you haven't lived it you don't get it.
I know people that own 2 and 3 homes and can't afford the mortgage's on these houses. They rent those houses out and live in apartments. I know a person in Riverside that has a $250,000 valued house today that has a 1st and 2nd lien over $500,000.
The problem is housing is losing value which is going to lower property taxes. Unemployment is going above 10% which kills state income taxes and people are leaving the state which hurts sales taxes. The problems are only going to get worse.
Who is to blame? If you want to get technical you must blame the party that has been in control over the last 30 years. Pete Wilson tried to fix the problems but the Assembly never would reduce spending. Gray Davis wasn't as bad as people have been led to believe and Arnold isn't that bad either. When California has problems they are magnified because their overhead is so high and they have to support so many non-taxpayers.
BTW the rolling blackouts have been blamed on Enron, etc but the true cause was the lack of snow in the North and and non-existent snow melt which led to record lows of hydro generated power and the month and a half of record heat. It has become a political point but the truth is they ran out of electricity and it will happen again if the record heat returns. I also think that one or both of the San Onfre reactors down.
When I was working in Long Beach we were So Cal Edisons biggest customer. We ran pumps at night because if we ran them during the day the peak rates killed us and they would shut is in because we had an interruptable power contract. Industrial complexes suffer many shut ins during peak season. They are just never reported by the media. Dallas and Houston routinely have rolling brownouts in the summer due to cooling demand in the summer. Again, not reported like the California deal.
Okay so let's just get the record straight. You put the blame on liberals and Governor Brown, I point out that Brown never had a chance because of all the deregulation that the Republicans in washington allowed to happen.
The blame lies strictly with the voters who have turned down time and time again proposals that Sacramento has turned out. If you look closely at the numbers most of the people that actually vote are very moderate, not liberal.
If you truly want someone to blame, blame the people. They made the choice. You are so anti-government (except when it comes to your morals, which you think everyone should follow, then you love the government) that you forget that people actually do vote.
Notice how steffanie fails to address that the Republican Party devours its own if they don't support the party line 100%.
Actually, under Davis, the spending was kept under control. What cost him the governorship were the rolling black-outs, that he had no control over.
Once the energy companies were allowed to de-regulate under Bush, they controlled how much energy went out.
I get the feeling and I'm probably right, though she would NEVER admit it, that Steffanie loved Governor Schwarzenegger until he supported Obama.
But it just once again shows how the Republican Party devours their own if they don't support their own 100%.
Oh and how could I forget that the Dow Jones is in the black for the first time this year.
General Motors stock has risen since they declared bankruptcy.
Let me go ahead and add to the list of those trying to convince themselves and everyone who watches or listens to them that the terrorist at the Holocaust Museum was liberal:
Jonah Goldberg
Glen Beck
I'm sure this list will continue to grow
Oh why thank you orville. I especially love the all caps and the overuse of the exclamation marks.
Sorry I was logged into the wrong account. I guess that happens when storms knock out your power and you have to use a friends computer
Oh why thank you orville. I especially love the all caps and the overuse of the exclamation marks.
Mike, YOUR NOTHING MORE THAN A MORON!!!!!!!!!!!!
SWNebr,
Carrie Prejean said that because some people didn't like what she said that her 1st Amendment Rights were being violated.
It was Rush Limbaugh who asserted that the terrorist at the museum was a liberal. Check out his transcripts from either Wednesday or Thursday.
I have never called Obama a messiah and I wasn't trying to compare him to one with this post. It was merely coincidental. But the timing was so odd.
With 60% of the vote in it appear Ahmadenijad (or however you spell his name) will walk away with the win. Big shock. I was hoping for change but it appears the old party line will stay.
Thanks for pointing that out Arley.
Where would we be without your moral compass pointing us in the right direction?
Billy
Mike, No matter your position in life, I pray that no MC, on National TV calls your daughter a slut. No one should be subjected to that kind of slanderous comment, even a young girl who got pregnant out of wedlock.
You, Sir, should be ashamed you didn't notice that.
Arley
right,
"Labor department is still trying to figure out the formula Obama used to come up with that stat? Can you help?"
I have heard it reported on CNN that about 6% of the stimulus funds have been spent. Obama, depending on the mood he's in, has set a job creation goal of 3-3.5 million. It's a very simple formula based on money spent in direct correlation to jobs created but offers no proof. 6% of funds have been spent so they just declare that 6% of the 3 million jobs have been created with absolutely no proof of those jobs and completely ignoring the million plus jobs that were lost. It's that simple and that unreliable. However, the actual jobs reports show that over 1 million jobs have been lost since the stimulus passed. Those are just the facts.
--Why do you care if Sara Palin is running her state or not? None of your business. What ever happens in Alaska I'm sure does not affect any thing your doing in Nebraska.
--I would not call Dave Letterman's response an apology. He did not seem remorseful at all. He just made a bigger joke out of it is all. But anyways I think it's pretty cool to make jokes about raping 14 year olds. If someone made a similar tasteless comment about Obama's kids they would be tarred and feathered by the state run media. Can you say double standard?
--Carrie Prejean....I'm sure there are two sides of this story. I don't think there are enough facts out to know for sure what exactly happen at this point. We may never know. But heard that one of the appearances she missed or did not take part in was posing partially nude for playboy. But anyway not sure why you care about what happens in a beauty pageant to make a blog post about it. BTW what's your source that says she missed 17 appointments?
--Rush Limbaugh...IS THE BOMB!!!
--The old Scum back that open fire on Jews. Seems like the left is making this guy seem like a right wing wack job. How come you fail to mention these comments from left wing media in your blog? (see below) I guess it does not suit your purpose. I'm sure your little blog earlier in the week about the guy who killed the baby killer had nothing to do with trying to label him as someone on the right? As this is a right wing issue. But completely ignored the killing of the private in AK in your orginal post. Because this is a left wing agenda. Just pointing out the double standard.
LAUTER: Clearly Obama's election has fueled the right-wing extremist movement.
MATTHEWS: This is a political action by a far right extremist
COOPER: The rise of hate groups in the United States of right-wing extremists.
OLBERMANN: Right-wing religious based domestic terrorism.
BROWN: Right-wing extremism.
WALSH: There is a rising climate of right-wing hate, a lot of it directed at Obama.
--I see the headlines already....Obama the messiah brought down Muslim Extremism with 1 speech. Good thing he Um Um Um Um brought the teleprompter.
--Unemployment is the highest it's been in 25 years 9.4%. Yeah I would be proud of that too. Where's that stimulus package we had to rush through congress I thought that was going to create millions of jobs. Oh I forgot it saved a 150,000 jobs. Labor department is still trying to figure out the formula Obama used to come up with that stat? Can you help? The national debt is going to be 4 times George Bush in 2009. Obama promised change he just did not promise what kind of change. But we can count on it.
WSJ reports that unemployment will remain above 9% through 2010. AWESOME!!! I guess we have to make tough sacrifices now for the future?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12446400...
Check out this link. This kinda proves how smart the people are that voted for Obama.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm1KOBMg1...
DXO is up 150%. USO is up 85%. CDE is up 5%. Price of crude has gone from $52 - $72.
It has been a decent week. We will hold on to above stocks until crude get to the $78 range then we will lighten our position. I am considering DTO - a 2X inverse short oil etf but I don't like to take countertrend trades. If you are bullish stay bullish.
I have studied the current administration and their peeps and have a good idea as to how the markets will perform over the next 2 years. This should be one of the best times in the last 35 years to make a lot of money in the markets. I have pegged us to the 1974-75 era. If you students of history will remember that was when we went off the gold standard and began our fiat currency. We are printing money at a greater clip now than then. Therefore, the thesis is gradual inflation ending in hyperbolic. The inflation will have three ascending trend lines I believe. Therefore, we are in the first inning of the reflation trade.
Sectors that will do well? Oil and metals. Banks will do well as long as the yield curve remains steep. Once the fed has to start raising interest rates get out of banks.
The real trick we are going to have this go around is we cannot raise fed funds too high as we can't afford to pay the interest. Paul Volker, of all people, is in vogue again However, with the current majority party embracing him I am concerned that they feel he can crack the code to fighting inflation. However, we cannot repeat the move to 20% on the fed funds that we did in 1980. That could invigorate the debt market but put our debt service to greater than 1 trillion dollars of interest expense and elevate our default risk.
While our mod feels that govts cannot go insolvent I suggest he follow California as they have a real solvency issue.
Anyway, the easiest period to make money in the last 35 years is now. Anyone care to participate??? Just remember, this market will not resemble the last 20 years. The areas that do well will not be the typical market participants that most of us have gotten used to over the last 20 years.
Fed funds are at 0.25% and cannot go below 0. The current government officials in charge have no concept of reality. Therefore, you must study the past to see what will happen. It has happened before and if you are smart enough to do your homework you will do great.
Good luck to all.
What is about successful conservative women that cause liberals and the "Democratic" Party to get so flustered? We'll see what happens to Letterman's ratings in the future. The left will circle the wagons to defend him and that is ok. I would expect nothing less from the right to circle the wagons to defend Palin and Prejean.
It is somewhat hypocritical to criticize Palin for the time she spends in Alaska and not look at how much experience our current President had before being elected. I mean really 2 full years in the US Senate before he started campaigning for the Presidency and prior to that Illinois state politics, which by most accounts is the most corrupt in the country. But nonetheless, he was elected and is my President whether I agree with him or not. I chose to disagree with Obama's policies just as I am sure you were not a big fan of Bush 43, Bush 41 or Reagan. Just for the record I wasn't a very big fan of Bush when he allowed congress to spend what they spent during his administration. That is what the veto is for. Balance of powers through the check and balances built into the Constitution. But looking at it Bush was more concerned with the War on Terrorism after 9/11 then domestic policy and rightfully so. It doesn't matter much what your domestic policy is if you are dead.
I think the Republican Party is making a big mistake tying all of the spending to Obama because it is congress that writes the laws that say how much the government can spend. Congress, specifically the US House of Representatives controls the purse strings, not the President. That isn't what is being taught in this country today. The Democratic Party has been in control from 2006 to now but yet if you listen to the media Bush was responsible for all of the spending during his eight years. Not true, just the first six of his administration as he did have the house and unfortunately they didn't act like the fiscal conservatives they ran on. That is one reason the Democratic Party is in control now, not simply because the entire country supports the Democratic platform, but the fact that true conservative are trying to purge the moderate and liberal members. The Democratic Party has been successful in purging the conservative wing of their party and it is time for the Republicans to do the same and purge the liberals from theirs.
The civil debate on the issues is what both sides need to get back to. I respect your opinions but will not change my core belief. Take for example abortion, you are for it for a variety of reasons and I am against it. My only disagreement with the "Abortion is the Law of the Land" premise it that the Supreme Court was legislating from the bench and it should be a states issues to be decided by the voters. If a majority of this country voted for Pro-Abortion legislation then it would be law, but that hasn't happened. And the debate goes on.
With respect to the elections in Iran, please. The Iranian Mullahs control that country and they may throw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad out but no real change will happen in that country until their people get hungry enough for freedom and overthrow the Mullahs. My guess is that old Mahmoud will still have a seat at the private power table. Isn't it strange that Iran used to be friends with the US before Carter? Look at what his lack of support for the Shah did to that region of the world. Now the Shah wasn't the most pleasant character but he was a lot better than what it is now and I don't recall studying history where he sponsored terrorism against the west. This election is propaganda to distract from their desire to build nuclear weapons. When you look at the past elections in Iran, the previous puppets were elected overwhelmingly, just like kim jong il, Putin, Chavez, and Castro were in other parts of the world. Dictators don't just go away, they just change things up to fool the citizens of the country. Voting is just a front to make the world think they are a democracy. I don't think that Obama's speeches have very much to do with it. Who knows if you are right then that part of the world will grow to love the United States and we can all just get along in would harmony. Or better yet we as a country can surrender our sovereignty and take a trip back to the stone ages. Either way true peace will not come until one side is soundly defeated. For our country's sake I hope we soundly defeat the Islamofascists that are perverting Islam to kill you and me in the name of Allah. Don't think for one minute that if you give them everything they want but don't surrender to Islam you will be allowed to live. It really is that simple.
Why does anyone care what Sarah Palin does or doesn't do? It all seems pretty petty to me.
What do mean by: "she completely had no idea what Freedom of Speech was"? I'm not saying you are wrong, just not sure to what you are referring?
How has the right been painting him as a liberal? Again, I'm not saying you are wrong, I just haven't heard any of that before.
I'm afraid I have to cut at paste from a previous response of mine:
Do you really think Obama's speech is what led to the election of a popular politician who is the son of a popular politician who was assassinated causing a large groundswell of support? I'm not one of those Obama haters but I seriously think you are attributing too much to him. I generally dismiss the rantings of the right wingers who rail against "Obama the Messiah" but it is comments like that which gives them ammo.
I think it is more likely that the Lebanese are feeling more freedom from the control of Syria and the Christians, who are the swing vote, were more overwhelmingly afraid of Hezbollah and more able to reach out to the West as they have done for decades.
I also believe that Mousavi will unseat Ahmadenijad but as for bringing any real change to Iran is unlikely, the clerics won't allow it. Sure the rhetoric will die down and he'll be more open to dialogue with the West but actual change will be longer in coming.