Hints of better days to come in the economy?
Or maybe it’s like Jim Morrison said, we’ve been down so long that it looks like up to me….
WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of newly laid-off workers filing first-time claims for jobless benefits fell to the lowest level since early January, as layoffs eased a bit amid a fledgling economic recovery.
The fourth drop in new claims in five weeks is a sign the labor market is slowly healing. But employers are reluctant to hire new workers and the unemployment rate is expected to keep climbing well into next year.
Separately, the nation’s retailers saw modest signs of life from consumers in September, resulting in the first sales gain since July 2008 and fueling some hope for the holiday shopping season….
As stores announced their results Thursday, J.C. Penney Co., Macy’s Inc., and Target Corp. all reported smaller-than-expected declines in sales at stores open at least a year. Limited Brands Inc., which runs Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, and accessories chain The Buckle Inc. both posted increases for the month.
Still, industry worries remain high heading into the holiday shopping season because shoppers, many of whom were afraid to spend a year ago, are now grappling with rising job losses, reduced hours or unavailable credit.
The stock market rose in afternoon trading. The Dow Jones industrial average added about 93 points, and broader indexes also gained.
In a third report, the Commerce Department said businesses reduced inventories at the wholesale level for a record 12th straight month in August. In an encouraging sign, sales jumped by the largest amount in 14 months.
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263 comments Add your comment
Bud Wiser
October 8th, 2009
4:10 pm
Sell this one to the nearly 10% nationally unemployed, Bookman.
Midori
October 8th, 2009
4:11 pm
If you can prove it, we can split the royalties.
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/25758.html
Wingnuts are sooooooo gullible!!
Jackie
October 8th, 2009
4:21 pm
Good news is an anathema to the so-called conservatives. The recovering economy will give everyone a opportunity to take care of their financial responsibilities. Wonder if the so-called conservatives will refuse to participate?
mike
October 8th, 2009
4:29 pm
“The recovering economy will give everyone a opportunity to take care of their financial responsibilities. Wonder if the so-called conservatives will refuse to participate?”
Hmm. You mean like Charlie Rangel?
mike
October 8th, 2009
4:35 pm
Of course, we all want to see positive trends in the economy.
What is annoying is how differently the numbers are spun based on which party is in power.
Anybody think for second that Jay would be promoting these numbers as progress if a Republicans owned DC?
jconservative
October 8th, 2009
4:41 pm
Textbook.
N.J.
October 8th, 2009
4:51 pm
Anything is better than the Republican plans for the 2000, 2004 and 2008 elections. All three were based on Republican platform to lower wages and reduce employee benefits so that executives could take larger raises and bonuses…
From 2004 elections:
Roll Call reports that the National Republican Party is recruiting Domino’s Pizza CEO David Brandon as their candidate in the economically-hard-hit state of Michigan. The Wall Street Journal reported that after the 2004 election Brandon was the guy who said he is “counting on the president to counter any potential moves to increase the minimum wage” – even though the minimum wage is nearing a 50-year low in terms of purchasing power. Brandon, a longtime Republican donor, has many weapons at his disposal to make sure wages in his state stay low: Since 1998, Domino’s has given the Republican Party more than $100,000 (see here and here for details).
And there is plenty of support among the Republican Party in Michigan to keep wages in their state low. The chairman of the Michigan GOP is Betsy Devos of the billionaire family that controls Amway. In 2004, she actually issued a press release claiming that “most of the economic problems in Michigan are a result of high wages.” It was quite a thing to say to Michigan workers considering the Detroit News had reported one month before that “Michigan ranks dead last among the states and the District of Columbia in personal income growth since 2000.”
http://www.davidsirota.com/2005/07/gop-senate-candidate-demands-lower.html
And of course the Republican Party platform of 2008 to either eliminate all unemployment compensation or to put the full burden of paying for it onto the employee, adding a tax to employees and eliminating the employer payment entirely.
The 2000 campaign of course was based on supporting a Republican candidate who would eliminate many of the benefits that employers had to pay employees. We saw the dismantling of “defined pension plan” in the last eight years to the point where they virtually do not exist. The Bush Administration and the Republican Party changed the laws so large corporations were allowed to break decades old agreements between themselve and their employees and shift pension plans from defined benefits to simply dumping a few dollars into an account for the employees, and then simply shift from employee matching contributions to the employee being responsible for putting money into their accounts for themselves. Of course without giving employees raises. Most people accepted lower wages in exchange for decent benefits, and the Republicans pretty much changed the deal on one side, without changing it on the other.
Raney
October 8th, 2009
4:56 pm
Obama is as corrupt as they come, end O’ story.
Stan
October 8th, 2009
4:57 pm
Well this is great news! Mainly due to the fact that my wife has been out of work for a couple of months and I willl be joining her next month.
And don’t even get me started on the minimum wage…I have made that little money EVER in my life!
Midori
October 8th, 2009
5:00 pm
Jeb Bush: Stop Blaming My Brother for Driving the Country Off a Cliff
http://firedoglake.com/2009/10/08/jeb-bush-stop-blaming... /
who should we blame, Jebby?
Mommy?
danjonglee
October 8th, 2009
5:10 pm
If we are all miserable, then i’m happy…..
Mac
October 8th, 2009
5:14 pm
Murray County, Ga., is in a depression — 13.4 percent unemployment, 70 percent of students on free lunch, charity food distributions keeping thousands without work fed every month. The AJC should come up and do a story on it.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
5:16 pm
Best indicator of how America feels about the economy and the future? The trick-or -treat bag. The better the goodies, the more optimistic we are. The chintzier, the more pessimistic.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
5:21 pm
Can anyone imagine how this column would read if Bush were still president, oh wait, we don’t have to imagine-
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Front Page “Metro Atlanta incomes down 10%” by Michael Kanell.- November 2004
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Worries rise on trade deficit”. by Michael E. Kanell- Novemeber 2004
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Front Page “Dollar’s decline trickle way down” by Michael Kanell.-November 2004
And just think how nice it would be to have those good old days back again.
But now, in the maw of total economic ruin, the libs cling to whatever they can scratch up.
mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
5:24 pm
Mac–don’t hold your breath on the AJC paying too much attention. Murray County is 95% white and “out there”–you know, redneck, hillbilly, hicks worthy of no further attention from the urban sophisticates beyond an occasional “those people” swipe. Out of sight, out of mind…
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
5:25 pm
In the two days since the National Republican Congressional Committee said that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) should be “put in her place” for her comments on Afghanistan, not a single Republican female lawmaker has weighed in on the matter.
The Huffington Post on Wednesday contacted fifteen female lawmakers (fourteen from the House or Representatives) as well as two Republican women’s issues groups to see if they were concerned by the sexist undertone of the statement. Not a single office offered to provide a statement. Several said they would not comment on the matter. Others promised to get back to us and didn’t. So, on Thursday, we tried again, making follow-up calls to those very same offices. Again, there was silence.
Well, I think that clarifies which women have been put in their place. McDonnells, anyone. I hear they serve up real good family value fries.
Jackie
October 8th, 2009
5:27 pm
@mike
Economically, Rep. Rangel(D-NY) is doing well.
He has a problem with his taxes and financial disclosure. What is your point?
AmVet
October 8th, 2009
5:29 pm
Too bad DickHead didn’t run last November in an effort to continue that spectacular George of the Bungle legacy…
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
5:29 pm
I’m telling ya, this is sicker than you will ever know-
On Monday afternoon, CNN featured, live and in studio, an a capella performance by students from the Ron Clark Academy, a private Atlanta middle school. The transcript is here, and Sheppard transcribes the lyrics, which include such memorable lines as these:
My tummy’s turning and I’m feeling kinda worried
Capricious coverage is killing me.
That’s when a doctor said, “You’ll have to go.”
Bipartisan support was tried so we wouldn’t be denied
But Joe Wilson yelled, “You lie!”
So we throw our hands up for health-care reform
Make your choice today.
Private and public care
Will a marketplace treat us fair?-Taranto, WSJ
Mark this on the calender- I’m guessing about 3 months or so before we find out that some students have been instructed to spy on their parents and report what they find to the teachers.
These libs are that whacked out.
Matilda
October 8th, 2009
5:30 pm
Mr. Bookman, will you be doing a column on Saxby and Johnny’s PRO-RAPE vote in the Senate on Tuesday? Why are the REPUBLICANS PRO-RAPE? Is that a family value now?
Jackie
October 8th, 2009
5:31 pm
@mike
Forgot to add, you post provides unequivocal proof the so-called conservatives would complain.
My grandmother had a truism that went: “…if it rained money, you would complain that it was wet.”
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
5:31 pm
Taxpayer…
Those polls so dear to the hearts of so many place Pelosi BELOW Cheney…her place? Back seat of the same boat to oblivion…she’s a Jacobin’s Jacobin and a particularly mean-spirited one…
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
5:33 pm
Jackie–
“My grandmother had a truism that went: “…if it rained money, you would complain that it was wet.””
Your grandmother was a wise observer of the human condition.
DebbieDoRight
October 8th, 2009
5:36 pm
Jeb, “reading” between the lines: “I’ll never get to be Preznit if you keep blaming my brother for the things he did!” Too funny!!
To Whine: The top 5 thing we miss about Dumbya:
5. Brownie’s doing a great job!!
4. Watch this drive!!
3. CIA gave me faulty intelligence!! I made that speech, (to the UN) on THEIR recommendation!
2. I’m going to pick Dick Cheney as my VP — there isn’t a more moral or deserving man to hold the job than him!
And the number One Reason Why We Miss Dubya IS……………..
1. I choked while eating my pretzel, passed out, and hit my head on my desk; knocking myself out.
SIDEBAR: Reason number 1 is the reason(s) behind numbers 5, 4 and 3 — he was still woozy from knocking his fool self out on the desk.
Reason number 2 …………..well, no one can explain that. Perhaps Cheney put voodoo on him or something and that caused him to entertain the idea of making the devil the new VP. Who knows?
AmVet
October 8th, 2009
5:36 pm
Take that bone out of your nose and call me back (to an African American female caller). ~RNC Chairman Limbaugh
Jackie
October 8th, 2009
5:39 pm
@josef nix
Although not highly educated, older folks seem to have an profound insight into everyday trials and tribulations. It is fascinating listening to them.
As for the reporting on the plight of Murray County or any county for that matter, the AJC has done a fairly reasonable job in reporting on the hardship this economic downturn has caused. I wish they would be proactive in reporting on why this problem has visited us and what can be done to relieve some of the pain incurred by ALL.
DebbieDoRight
October 8th, 2009
5:41 pm
josef your comment – “Mac–don’t hold your breath on the AJC paying too much attention. Murray County is 95% white and “out there”–you know, redneck, hillbilly, hicks worthy of no further attention from the urban sophisticates beyond an occasional “those people” swipe. Out of sight, out of mind…” Was really beneath you.
Watch much Glenn Beck on your free time? Or has that funny “southern malady” finally rubbed off on you too?
DoggoneGA
October 8th, 2009
5:42 pm
“. I’m going to pick Dick Cheney as my VP — there isn’t a more moral or deserving man to hold the job than him!”
And he came with a topnotch recommendation: his OWN!
Finn McCool
October 8th, 2009
5:49 pm
How does an idiot like Beck get a viewing audience? The guy is upset that the government might force employees (including health care workers) to get the H1N1 vaccine.
We are talking about a virus that can affect a major portion of the population so this is a question of national security. Before kids can go to school they have to get a whole list of vaccinations, right?
what a nut job.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
5:50 pm
DDR–I AM a Southerner…no, I don’t spend much time around Beck. I have read a good deal of Marx and Engels, though, you know, all that left wing garbage about colonialism and imperialism…and, K’chak, these shoes fit nicely…
And I would refer you and Jackie to the articles done on the murders in Brunswick, in every article on the subject there was the mention of the trailer park…it was absolutely disgusting…almost as if such was to be “expected” from “those people…” or that somehow their place of residence had something to do with the horror visited on “those people…”
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
5:53 pm
Is Obama Becoming a Joke? By David Paul Kuhn
Becoming?
mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!
DebbieDoRight
October 8th, 2009
5:56 pm
This is how we know the economy is slowly coming back…………
The owner of the Atlanta Falcons again said he was nosing around downtown Atlanta as well as other parts of the city for a new place for the team to play. Blank, who has been talking for months about the need of a new stadium to replace the 17-year-old Georgia Dome, said the process could take years — seven, he said — and will be backed with private and public money.
PUBLIC MONEY!!! HA!! WHAT public money?? If no one burns Falcons’ jerseys after hearing that then Blank is a really lucky man!!!
DebbieDoRight
October 8th, 2009
5:59 pm
josef – perhaps they kept mentioning trailer parks because that was the fact of the case. AND because they (the killers) had to move into the trailer park from a rented private home because of Ga’s new sex offender laws. The newspapers also mention “public housing” when robberies, attacks, etc. happen there, and I have yet to hear you complain about that.
DebbieDoRight
October 8th, 2009
6:02 pm
Doggone: And he came with a topnotch recommendation: his OWN
I wish I could do that!! Start a “search” for the best person for a new, exciting, highly paid position, then pick myself!! Only in America…….
AmVet
October 8th, 2009
6:04 pm
Has anybody checked out Wooties” blog” lately?
A veritable neo-con graveyard. Deadly silent.
And illustrative of the fake conservative voice in America now.
Emasculated and ignored…
DoggoneGA
October 8th, 2009
6:05 pm
“I wish I could do that!! Start a “search” for the best person for a new, exciting, highly paid position, then pick myself!!”
Yeah, no kidding. I *knew* Dubya was only going to be a figurehead when he allowed that “recommendation” to go through. And nothing he “did” after that ever changed my mind.
Finn McCool
October 8th, 2009
6:05 pm
Windfall tax on health insurers. Now we’re talking. We give them 50 million new customers so we tax them.
Sounds logical.
@@
October 8th, 2009
6:07 pm
Well jay, that ominous 9.8% is, in actuality, closer to 15-17% but hey….what’s a measly 5 to 7, right?
Hints of better days to come? Depends on where you’re looking.
Analysis: Obama’s woes keep piling up around globe
Any one of those firecrackers goes off and our fragile economy is in the toilet.
Swoosh…
Finn McCool
October 8th, 2009
6:09 pm
for tomorrow’s traveling music i’d like to request a traveling video instead. A video of Tom “the Hammer” Delay cutting the rug.
mwuahahahaha
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
6:14 pm
DDR–oh, please! You know full well why they did it and it was for the same reason the public housing projects are mentioned so gratuitiously…”those people.” And, no Debbie, I am not talking about the sex offenders case, I’m talking about an earlier one and it had nothing to do with a sex offender, it had to do with a family of people slaughtered by a relative…think about it for a minute. WHY did you make the assumption that I was talking about a sex offender case? And what’s this about “HAD to move into a trailer park?” That’s precisely the arrogrant superiority I’m talking about. What makes a trailer park somehow a place one “HAS” to live in?
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
6:20 pm
BTW–
Why are there no drive-bys in Alabama? All the houses are on wheels and all the cars are on blocks.
What do a tornado and an Alabama divorce have in common? Sumbody fittin to loose a trailer.
Sorry, ABM, originally heard it on Mississippi, but hey,,,
Why did Christ come to Israel and not Mississippi? In Mississippi they couldn’t find three wise men or a virgin.
What’s a Mississippi virgin? A 12-year-old girl who can outrun her 13-year-old brother,
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
6:22 pm
Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Housing Administration, which insures mortgages with low down payments, may require a U.S. bailout because it has $54 billion more in losses than it can withstand, a former Fannie Mae executive said.
Gosh, I wonder if the government insuring mortgages with low down payments would lead to easier financing and rampant fraud, oh yeah, I forgot, it did.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
6:26 pm
Whiner @ 6:22
Just put ‘em in trailer parks…
AmVet
October 8th, 2009
6:27 pm
The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies. ~The Manteats in Black
jconservative
October 8th, 2009
6:33 pm
Speaking of the economy……….
From an AJC article:
“Georgia’s revenue collections fell another 16 percent in September, compared to the same month a year ago, as the state’s three main sources of tax income continued to bottom out.
It is the 10th consecutive month of declining revenues.
For the fiscal year, which began July 1, state revenue is off 14.2 percent, compared to the first three months of the previous fiscal year.”
OK Republican Governor & Republican legislature what are you going to do? Raise taxes? Cut expenses? We would all like to know.
I recommend cutting expenses. The quickest, easiest expense to cut is personnel. I recommend that. Do it now!
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
6:47 pm
josef,
I don’t know if you read the article that I linked to regarding Pelosi but my retort was a jab at the GOP female member’s silence when the NRCC said that Pelosi should be put in her place. Perhaps they, the GOP women, that is, agree with McDonnell’s thesis and they should all know their place. Barefoot and pregnant, perhaps.
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
6:48 pm
Just put ‘em in trailer parks…
Would those, by chance, be FEMA trailer parks. They’re special, dontcha know.
Pogo
October 8th, 2009
6:50 pm
Yea, things are looking REAL rosey Jay. Let’s not talk about the impact that government spending and the printing of money is going to have because after all, we are a “me! me! me! now! now! now!” society aren’t we? Nevermind the inflation and hyperinflation must follow which our children are going to have to absorb.
Another thing, the “Green” Economy is an illusion. Let’s say we do get all of this “cheap” power (which will never happen) and we do make a lot of jobs for people making this power. Where in the hell is all that power going to be used since we are now a consumer based economy? We have no heavy industry. Our labor union wages cannot compete with a world that for the most part does not have labor unions. We just consume and we just import. And, we must continue to import or the Chinese cut off the credit line for all our government spending and we are toast.
Jay, you are a liberal Tool. Sorry man, you just can’t help yourself from yourself. I think you are a good person but you just can’t peel those blinders off, can you? Get your head out of the sand and start thinking like a real person, not just another stereo-typical copy of what some liberal college professor thinks you should be. People can succeed by actually telling the truth you know. The truth should not be held hostage by ideaology. Unfortunately, that has become a way of life in American politics.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
6:57 pm
Taxpayer–
FEMA trailers…whoo, L-rd, don’t get me started on THAT one and our good liberals’ concern! Of course, that’s just another bunch of “those people.” Still living in a moonscape while Fierce Advocate and Company hold beer bashes at the White House…not ten cents worth of difference between the bunch in there now and the bunch in there before…only now there’s no photo op…again, out of sight, out of mind,,,
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
6:58 pm
Pogo,
You really need to break out of that Swiss watchmaker’s paradigm. The future is unknown for a reason.
F. Sinkwich
October 8th, 2009
6:59 pm
Jay,
If this economy is recovering at all, it is in spite of the liberal’s policies, not because of them.
I know it’s hard, but think for a minute. If the economy is tanking and unemployment is rising, wouldn’t it make sense to make it easier (more lucrative) for employers to do business, hire people, and borrow the money they need to expand?
Not in bizarro-lib world. Their answer is raise taxes on everyone resulting is less disposable income (cap and tax, let Bush cuts expire), raise the minimum wage (I saw where young-un’s unemployment rate was over 50%), and maybe for good measure require employers to increase costs by mandating healthcare. Oh yeah, and maybe add a few trillion dollars in debt to squeeze the money supply.
The only reason the DOW Jones is trending upward is because the market realizes that the American public is waking up to this nonsense and will put a stop to it. America has always risen to the challenge, and it will do so again.
But you knew that. Thanks for asking.
It’s Bush’s fault. <—- beat you to it!
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:00 pm
Taxpayer– “barefoot and pregnant..”
Don’t foget in a trailer park…
jt
October 8th, 2009
7:03 pm
There will never be better days as long as the looters occupy the White House, and congress abuses it’s authority.
Remember Jay, You should not be so afraid of freedom.
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.
Jim Morrison
When you make your peace with authority, you become authority.
Jim Morrison
AmVet
October 8th, 2009
7:11 pm
American capitalism is arguably mortally wounded.
Perhaps Capitalism 2.0 will rise from the ashes.
And no not it was not decimated by the aiders and abetters in Washington and state houses around the nation.
But by the professional criminals. The gangster capitalists. The fascists who have run these multi-national corporate crime rings with impunity.
The men who strolled off with $3,000,000,000,000.00 of our money. Yours and mine.
And then were “bailed out” by the greatest socialist in American history – George Walker Bush.
But you “free market” morons keep on shucking and grinnig for the swindlers and crooks.
It’s too late for your children and grandchildren.
But perhaps you can help these traitors screw even more future generations as well…
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
7:14 pm
Don’t foget in a trailer park…
I wonder if some folks were offended by that sitcom, “Earl”. Maybe a few of ‘those people’ out in Murray County? I thought it was cute. ‘Course, I also liked that seventys show.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:16 pm
Sinkwich–
Have tried to post you a response, but, it’s not coming through and it’s not held in moderation…I guess it’s the trailer park gremlins…
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
7:16 pm
There will never be better days as long as the looters occupy the White House, and congress abuses it’s authority.
I know what you mean. The least they could do is leave the silver ware.
jt
October 8th, 2009
7:16 pm
And then were “bailed out” by the greatest socialist in American history – George Walker Bush.
Obama isn’t through yet.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:17 pm
Taxpayer–I rather liked Earl and was sad it didn’t take off…
Did you catch any of “Sordid Lives?”
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
7:19 pm
Did you catch any of “Sordid Lives?”
No. I don’t even recognize the name.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:19 pm
Taxpayer–leave the silver…oh, do I have one for you here…several years back thieves broke in the Sherman museum and took, among other things, the silver…when I called up the curators to suggest they might want to look down in Dixie. At first the lady did not appreciate my humor, but when I told her I was calling from Atlanta, she lightened up a bit…
RW-(the original)
October 8th, 2009
7:21 pm
I rather liked Earl and was sad it didn’t take off…
josef,
It ran 96 episodes over 4 seasons. When do you consider a show to have taken off?
F. Sinkwich
October 8th, 2009
7:22 pm
AmVet,
I’m not at all sure what you mean by that $3 trillion number, but I don’t want to ask.
Someone whom I respect immensely once said something to the effect that the only problem with socialism (Capitalism 2.0?) is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.
How much money do you want from me, AmVet?
Doesn’t matter. The only way you get it from me is by government power, unless you benefit from the charities I contribute to.
But I appreciate your interest.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
7:25 pm
So how long does Obozo, mmm, mmmm, mmmm, need to study Afghanistan, a country we’ve occupied for 8 years?
Is it all too much for his wittle mind?
Is he waiting for his bat phone to ring?
For it to end in our defeat, before he has to man up?
I can’t believe I’m saying this but Bruno was right, it’s 3 am, the phone is ringing and we ain’t got no one who can answer.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:29 pm
RW–when it goes into reruns!
Taxpayer–
It was on LOGO last season…it’s us (Southerners) making fun of us…great movie, too, Delta Burke was in the movie and Rue McClanahan (among others) in the sitcom…in the greatest of the Southern literary tradition! Eudora Welty meets Tennessee Williams at the trailer park!
Jackie
October 8th, 2009
7:33 pm
If we could get our corporate criminals under control, the USA could save jobs.
“The FBI estimates, for example, that burglary and robbery–street crimes–costs the nation $3.8 billion a year.
The losses from a handful of major corporate frauds–Tyco, Adelphia, Worldcom, Enron–swamp the losses from all street robberies and burglaries combined.
Health care fraud alone costs Americans $100 billion to $400 billion a year.
The FBI estimates that, 16,000 Americans are murdered every year.
Compare this to the 56,000 Americans who die every year on the job or from occupational diseases such as black lung and asbestosis and the tens of thousands of other Americans who fall victim to the silent violence of pollution, contaminated foods, hazardous consumer products, and hospital malpractice.”
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:35 pm
Taxpayer
Check it out from the fan club
http://sordidlives.org/wordpress/
RW-(the original)
October 8th, 2009
7:36 pm
Well josef, you’re in luck
@@
October 8th, 2009
7:39 pm
Don’t forget Hillary’s “Ready on day 1.” slogan. It’s why I voted for her and not Obama in the primary.
Call it female intuition.
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
7:40 pm
Wait a minuet now. Bonanza ran 14 seasons, Little House on the Prairie had ten seasons, Hee Haw ran from 1969 to 1997. So, Earl was a dud at only four seasons. I’ll bet Beverly Hillbillies did better.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:40 pm
RW–THANK YOU. It DID take off! Believe me, I’ll be tuning in!
RW-(the original)
October 8th, 2009
7:41 pm
Now try seeing if you can list all the shows that didn’t make four seasons
F. Sinkwich
October 8th, 2009
7:42 pm
Jackie,
I believe that the CEO miscreants from the companies in your post have been prosecuted, convicted, and punished.
So the point of the rest of your post is what?
Just askin’.
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
7:43 pm
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:35 pm
Dag nab, josef. Why didn’t ya warn me what I was gettin’ into. Now, I gotta buy me a keg of Pabst so’s I can finish listenin’ to the openin’ song.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:49 pm
Taxpayer–
“Beverly Hillbillies!” Like a lot of Southerners of my generation I went through my pc phase of badmouthing it for “stereotyping.” And now? I see it in a whole, new light. There’s hardly anything I enjoy as much as a dose of laughter from that cast….brilliant!
When Max Baer came to Mississippi to direct “Ode to Billy Joe,” he was not very well received. I was still in the pc phase and he and I had some really interesting late night conversations about his Jethro. He did convince me to go back and review the show. I did and he was right. Too much ethnic sensitivity can sometimes keep us from appreciating art and talent…
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
7:52 pm
Why, everyone knows that the only one to make it four seasons was Frankie.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
7:52 pm
Taxpayer–
Oh, you’ve got to tune in Baby Brother in the episode “The Day Tammy Wynette Died!” Her daughter did a cameo appearance in one of the epidsodes….
Taxpayer
October 8th, 2009
8:01 pm
josef,
Sometimes, it’s real easy to take things the wrong way. I’ll bet Max Baer would be an interesting person to talk to. As for me, I grew up quite envious of the Beverly Hillbillies because I didn’t have a granny living with us to cook such fine vittles and whenver one of my sisters tried to cook, well, they did Ellie Mae proud.
DoggoneGA
October 8th, 2009
8:01 pm
” did and he was right. Too much ethnic sensitivity can sometimes keep us from appreciating art and talent…”
Check out the conditions Buddy Ebsen set down before he would agree to play Jed Clampett. You’ll like it.
Kamchak
October 8th, 2009
8:06 pm
I believe that the CEO miscreants from the companies in your post have been prosecuted, convicted and punished.
Ken Lay–indicted 7July2004
Ken Lay–died 5July2006 while vacationing in Colorado.
How exactly was Kenny Boy Lay “prosecuted, convicted, and punished?”
TnGelding
October 8th, 2009
8:12 pm
Good news, but still a long way to go. Corporate America has to show some confidence in our work force. We also have to do a better job of preparing our youngsters for the daily grind. And wouldn’t it be great if we could return to the nuclear family, and with only one parent working?
TnGelding
October 8th, 2009
8:16 pm
Kamchak
October 8th, 2009
8:06 pm
He was in essence sentenced to death. Stress is a killer. Isn’t Madoff sick, too? As well as one of his auditors?
AmVet
October 8th, 2009
8:17 pm
jt at 7:16.
Excellent point.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
8:18 pm
Doggone–
I have and I admire him ever so much. Irene Ryan set down hers, too. Two of vaudeville’s greatest!
Taxpayer–my own Granny was more Florence King’s! I must admit, many was the time I wish she had been more like Granny Clampett! The Unmentionable says that one of the reasons we had the reaction we did was because whenever Granny Clampett set to cooking, some of it we DID eat and some of it was a joke–we were afraid the Outlanders thought we ate it all!
Still til this day I take out the sterling, fine china and crystal to serve my hawg jowls, black-eyed peas and mustard greens on New Year’s Day, the table set formal in memory of my Granny’s tradition!
F. Sinkwich
October 8th, 2009
8:22 pm
Kamchak,
My bad. He’s dead. How dare he! Not good enough for you I guess. Sorry.
DoggoneGA
October 8th, 2009
8:23 pm
“Two of vaudeville’s greatest!”
Yep, and television too. Wener Klemperer did the same thing before he would play Captain Klink in Hogan’s Heroes. He refused to do the part if they made him anything but a bumbling fool. He was not interested in playing a cold efficient cruel character. I always thought he was brilliant in the part.
DoggoneGA
October 8th, 2009
8:24 pm
Sorry, Werner Klemperer
wet wiccan
October 8th, 2009
8:24 pm
Mac – I live in Washington County, GA and it much the same here.
Poor and White in America
http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2005/02/poor_white_and_.html
Kamchak
October 8th, 2009
8:32 pm
My bad. He’s dead. How dare he! Not good enough for you I guess. Sorry.
Not the point. Allow me to quote the relevant text–”I believe the CEO miscreants from the companies in your post have been prosecuted, convicted, and punished.”
Ken Lay dying before seeing the inside of a courtroom, much less facing a jury verdict and a judicial sentencing lives up to the “not good enough” definition–your definition by the way.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
8:37 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) – Confronted with big job losses and no sign the U.S. economy is ready to stand on its own, Democrats are working on a growing list of relief efforts, leaving for later how to pay for them, or whether even to bother.
Let’s call it the Coup de Grace, mmm, mmmm, mmmm.
RollerGirl
October 8th, 2009
8:40 pm
As the dems plot “Simulus II: Son of stimulus”, here is how the poor are handling the first bit…
Feds: Food stamps swapped for Viagra, booze, porn
DETROIT — Viagra and pornography are not staples on the government’s food stamp list. But authorities said a Detroit store supplied them during a series of illegal deals. Federal prosecutors filed fraud charges this week against three people who worked at Jefferson’s Liquor Palace.
The alleged scheme worked this way: Food stamp recipients would get cash from the store in exchange for swiping larger amounts off their electronic cards. The store would then be reimbursed by the U.S. Agriculture Department.
mmm mmmm mmmmm Comrade chairman Hussein
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
8:41 pm
Upchuck- Do you wish he would have been ripped apart, limb by limb, like some unborn baby?
Would that have satisfied your bloodlust?
RollerGirl
October 8th, 2009
8:43 pm
Rangel As shultze: “taxes owed? I see nothing!”
Pelosi as klink on ethics panel “rangel charges dismissssed!”
Kamchak
October 8th, 2009
8:55 pm
Upchuck- Do you wish he would have been ripped apart limb by limb, like some unborn baby?
Would that have satisfied your bloodlust?
Again not the point. The relevant post was that the CEOs had been prosecuted, convicted, and punished. Ken Lay did not meet that definition.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
9:02 pm
wet wiccan @ 8:24
Thank you and the L-rd bless you for giving me that particular piece for my arsenal! Henceforth I will reference it for anyone taking gratuitous swipes at “my people!” There are those who cannot fathom why I identify so strongly with “those” people when just about everything I am or stand for would put me light years removed. They fail to understand that they are “mine” and I am “theirs.” As I’ve said rather pompously here before, I have a resumaybe I’ll put up against just about anybody’s and one that has opened doors for me in circles most only fantasize about, from the halls of international academia to the A-list of who’s who here at home. I am many things but at the bottom line, I am from a cotton patch in Mississippi and those are “my people.” The greatest honor I have ever received is to have one of “them” say of me, “he ain’t forgot where he come from.” That’s why I feel honor bound to defend them when they cannot defend themselves from lack of access and/or respect. As i write this, I sit in my home office in Mrs, Bucket’s “prestige zip code,” between posts answering a request for my research on the deportations of the Romany with the Jews from Huszt, Carpatho-Ukraine during the Shoah/Pojaramos. In my heart, I am sitting on the front porch of a tarpaper shotgun on a bayou, listening to Lonnie Ray telling about “them Gypsies coming through here…Josef, tell them about what happened to the Gypsies in World War II…”
The post you referenced takes “all that” and puts it in words that sink to the soul of who I am and what I believe in….
Again, my most humble and heartfelt thanks….
jt
October 8th, 2009
9:07 pm
wet wiccan-
I do not know how to take that rant link, but it was good.
“My point being that there are and always have been a helluva lot of us know-nothing laboring sons out here, whether more fortunate Americans acknowledge our struggles or not. But they should. You see, it’s like this: When the heartless American system is done reducing us to slobbering beer soaked zombies in the American labor gulag, your sweet ass is next”.
This is why I have empathy for illegal aliens. They know NOT what they are in for, once their family is part of our “system”.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
9:08 pm
Doggone–
And Robert Clary who was deported by the Nazis and who saw Hogan’s Heroes as a way to keep the memory of those who died alive, his victory.
I Report/ Vast White Wing Conspirator (-: You Whine )-:
October 8th, 2009
9:08 pm
UpChuck- Check it out, he’s dead. Now what? Should we desecrate his corpse? Perhaps we could pray to the Lord that this guy burns extra crispy, oh wait, you do not believe in God. Maybe we could git his fambly?
What did he do to you, exactly?
jt
October 8th, 2009
9:09 pm
Not sympathy. Empathy.
josef nix
October 8th, 2009
9:11 pm
jt
The illegal aliens, the slaves of today…no rights, human or civil…la plus ca change, la plus la meme chose. And HEY FOLKS, jt is about one of the most conservative voices on this blog….the rest of us might do well to pay attention to this….