Last decade was the worst ever in the stock market

The “dot-com bubble” (or sometimes the “I.T. bubble”[1]) was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1998–2000 (with a climax on March 10, 2000 with the NASDAQ peaking at 5132.52) during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more recent Internet sector and related fields.

The venture capitalists saw record-setting rises in stock valuations of dot-com companies, and therefore moved faster and with less caution than usual, choosing to mitigate the risk by starting many contenders and letting the market decide which would succeed. The low interest rates in 1998–99 helped increase the start-up capital amounts.

bookman is using the high point of the last bubble to set his timeline, and blame it all on Bushie.

Such creative inspirations jay.

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FOTW – Scrooge was eventually redeemed … I have yet to see any glimmer of hope for whiner

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The title says it all…

And to think, now our economic status appears to be determined more by the movement of the market as opposed to anything else.

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Today is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It can only get better from here. Happy Winter Solstice!

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“I give the 1 finger salute to Obama and the rest of the democrats who voted for this.”

yep … we’re #1!!!

(that IS what you meant, peadawg, right???)

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If you chart the stock markets growth pre dot com bubble to post Community Reinvestment Act bubble, those two little peaks on the chart, notice how you can draw a line from the uphill progress of the Reagan miracle and it lands exactly where we are today-

http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical/djia1900.html

But then, reality takes all the fun of blaming Bushie out it, awhhh, poor things.

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The investor class got what they wanted: republicans controlling everything. Did they learn their lesson? I doubt it.

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Hey bookman – for the last several years, my SS statement has stated that I will only receive 75 cents for every dollar that I have been forced to put into SS. Besides that, the government has illegally taken that money and spent it for other things than for what it was intended.

Your case holds absolutely no water, as usual.

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Well, I see Bookman just couldn’t help hisself. He had to take a swipe at us godly Conservatives that wanted to put Social Security money in the stock market. I hope he feels proud of hisself.

But don’t you worry, we’ll find another way to come after this Social Security boondoggle. These old geezers need to be took off of the dole and put to work. There’s plenty of stuff they could do besides setting around waiting for the next guvmint check to come.

Anyhow, I bet if you made a chart it would show beer stocks going up and up. And that’s why I’m going to be one fat cat when I retire. There’s three things you can count on. Death, taxes, and drunks. My 401k is getting bigger every month. And alot of the people on this blog are helping out every weekend.

Good thing I already got health insurance at work. I’d hate to be one of them people that get socked with a big tax for not having it.

Have a good day everybody.

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“Yes, The Bush Administration did have reality issues.”

Don’t even get me started on Obama, Pelosi, et al and their perception of reality.

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I think it’s clear that you can read things however you want to read them, depending on your political affiliation. If you’re a Bush fan, Clinton rode a wave of positives and left Bush with a bad hand. If you’re a Clinton fan, Bush came into the White House and destroyed everything. However, when looking at the Clinton and Bush presidencies and the performance of the stock market under each, in my opinion one thing is clear and that’s Bush got the short end of the stick. He became president 300 days into a bear market that began on March 24, 2000. Then, only nine months into his presidency, the country was hit by 9-11. I think that we would have faced a stumbling market NO MATTER who was president, just like we would have had the 90s internet bubble regardless of who was president.

It’s also worth noting that the Repblicans dominated the House and the Senate during the Clinton Administration and then the Democrats took it back during Bush Administration.

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“It’s also worth noting that the Repblicans dominated the House and the Senate during the Clinton Administration and then the Democrats took it back during Bush Administration”

to clarify –

The Republicans held the the majority during the last 6 years of the Clinton administration

The Dems held the majority during the last 2 of the Bush administration.

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“Pass laws for the insurance companies themselves”

they did that, too

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Somehow I’m thinking today’s market ain’t gonna adhere to the proper etiquette on “double dipping”. The problem lies in the government’s recipe. Anyhoo….

I LOVE AMERICA, and her people!!!!

“It comes down to an economic decision, and I’d be more inclined to save the money and take a risk of getting sick,” says Antonelli, 46, a marketing consultant in Raleigh, N.C., who dropped her policy last year when business slumped.

The promise of health benefits could persuade some of the uninsured to buy coverage, including Dulsi Beaslin.

Beaslin, 39, owns a nail salon in Holladay, Utah, and has gone without insurance for four years. She says she’d likely buy coverage under the mandate, particularly if it’s subsidized.

“These new benefits will take the sting out of the mandate and help me to purchase coverage,” says Beaslin, who hasn’t been able to pay for insurance on her $30,000 annual income.

Others say they’ll defy the mandate.

“I will not purchase the health insurance, and I will not pay the penalty,” says Charles Moore, who does database programming in Houston and leads jeep tours in the Rocky Mountains. Moore, 54, hasn’t had insurance since he left the Air Force in 1984.

“Everyone succumbs to some major illness at some point,” he says, “and if I can’t pay for it, then I don’t want to stick my hand in someone else’s pocket.”

“If you get too many young and healthy people who slip through, all the insurance market reforms start to unravel and the whole health bill unravels,” says John Holahan of the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Research Center.

Yet Congress risks a political backlash if penalties are too steep, particularly among those who earn too much to qualify for subsidies, Holahan says.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-20-mandate-insurance_N.htm

We’re a rebellious lot…

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“they did that, too”

I know. Keep it that way. That’s fine and dandy.

But don’t force me to pay for someone else’s insurance.

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“But don’t force me to pay for someone else’s insurance.”

you’re already paying for other people’s healthcare

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Robert

December 21st, 2009
8:12 am

Robert, so your point is…It’s Bushs’ fault, right?

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I see people are still blaming republicans and Bush for everything. I have a question for Finn and others…How has the deficit done under a Democratic controlled Congress and Obama? Has it shrunk or increased?

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Doggone, USinUK, true. But, what about the millions of people that aren’t putting any money into the pool that I’ll be paying for? That doesn’t seem fair, now does it? They aren’t putting any in the pool.

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“But, what about the millions of people that aren’t putting any money into the pool that I’ll be paying for?”

and which millions are those? As far as I know there’s nothing in this bill that gives ANYONE insurance totally free of charge. Please quote the provision that includes that.

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Clinton’s suggestion to invest a small portion of the Social Security tax in the stock markets was a good one, but Republicans were the party of no then, too.

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If the Republicans had only offered us “No” during their years in power, we would not have been so screwed up at the end of Bush’s rule. The Republicans left us with such a huge credit card bill and pile of other problems that it will take the adults, the Democrats, years to straighten things out. Meanwhile, it is only natural for the Republicans to sit back and enjoy a lot of whine with their processed imitation cheese.

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The rushed, secretive way that a bill this destructive and unpopular is being forced on the country shows that “reform” has devolved into the raw exercise of political power for the single purpose of permanently expanding the American entitlement state.-WallStreetJournal

The parasites are building a gigantic corpse that they can feast on.

What’s in it for you? They tell you that you HAVE to buy private insurance, wow, be proud dullards.

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USinUK,

For liberals who complain that it was Republican deregulation, it was President Clinton who kept Greenspan at the Fed. And, Clinton who signed legislation to repeal Glass-Steagall. And, to prohibit states from regulating Credit Default Swaps as insurance (essentially repealing the prohibition of so-called “bucket shops” enacted after the 1907 Panic.).

Finally, it was Clinton who stood idly buy as Brooksley Born (chairperson of the CFTC) was squashed by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers because she wanted to bring *transparency* to the derivative market. He did this even after the 1998 LTCM crisis, largely a result of opaque derivatives.

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The roots of this crisis go back to the Carter administration. That was when government officials, egged on by left-wing activists, began accusing mortgage lenders of racism and “redlining” because urban blacks were being denied mortgages at a higher rate than suburban whites.

The pressure to make more loans to minorities (read: to borrowers with weak credit histories) became relentless. Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act, empowering regulators to punish banks that failed to “meet the credit needs” of “low-income, minority, and distressed neighborhoods.” Lenders responded by loosening their underwriting standards and making increasingly shoddy loans. The two government-chartered mortgage finance firms, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, encouraged this “subprime” lending by authorizing ever more “flexible” criteria by which high-risk borrowers could be qualified for home loans, and then buying up the questionable mortgages that ensued.

All this was justified as a means of increasing homeownership among minorities and the poor. Affirmative-action policies trumped sound business practices. A manual issued by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston advised mortgage lenders to disregard financial common sense. “Lack of credit history should not be seen as a negative factor,” the Fed’s guidelines instructed. Lenders were directed to accept welfare payments and unemployment benefits as “valid income sources” to qualify for a mortgage. Failure to comply could mean a lawsuit.

As long as housing prices kept rising, the illusion that all this was good public policy could be sustained. But it didn’t take a financial whiz to recognize that a day of reckoning would come. “What does it mean when Boston banks start making many more loans to minorities?” I asked in this space in 1995. “Most likely, that they are knowingly approving risky loans in order to get the feds and the activists off their backs . . . When the coming wave of foreclosures rolls through the inner city, which of today’s self-congratulating bankers, politicians, and regulators plans to take the credit?”

Frank doesn’t. But his fingerprints are all over this fiasco. Time and time again, Frank insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were in good shape. Five years ago, for example, when the Bush administration proposed much tighter regulation of the two companies, Frank was adamant that “these two entities, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not facing any kind of financial crisis.” When the White House warned of “systemic risk for our financial system” unless the mortgage giants were curbed, Frank complained that the administration was more concerned about financial safety than about housing.

Now that the bubble has burst and the “systemic risk” is apparent to all, Frank blithely declares: “The private sector got us into this mess.”

Source = Boston.com

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Robert –

the number one lender of subprime loans wasn’t banks.

nowhere in the CRA does it say that banks are to jettison prudential guidelines (like asking to see someone’s income via pay stubs and previous tax returns)

THOSE were the problems – not the CRA.

but nice try, anyway.

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The last decade was the worst for the US period. We have lost our global supremacy and the American dream to China.

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Both of my parents lost their jobs and continue to be unemployed, however, it really matters not. For years, years and years they have been putting away a little at a time for those rained filled days that finally arrived. Which is much unlike the majority of dumbaces who live paycheck to paycheck, who obtain ARM and interest only loans and who are basically lazy, stupid, take no responsiblity for their own dumb actions.

Some of those who are unemployed are just fine. Its usually the bed-wetting, whining dummycrats who are always caught stupidly unprepared.

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and, to continue – nowhere in the CRA does it say that the ratings agencies should package crap with AAA, leading people to invest in what they thought were “safe” securities, when, in fact, they were the riskiest of all

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Jay, I like how you frame the Social Security argument. Bush knew, as most do, that the Madoff style ponzi scheme is a sham. He never said he wanted to put that money into the stockmarket, he said he wanted to stop the trainwreck and democrats ran off to scare the old people. The fact is, money invested in the stock market the last ten years in a private account is worth much more today than the same money put into SS. If you look at the SS statement, the commisioner, Michael J Astrue, states that in thirty years, SS will only be paying 78 cents on the dollar. Bush wanted people to have a real account with real money but the dems only believe in choice when it comes to getting rid of those pesky pregnancies, no choice when it comes to a large chunk of retirement money. The dems best case scenario for SS is no return and no ownership of assets, what a plan.

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USinUK,

I disagree with you on thinking the CRA was not a problem. It is what started the problem. Do a root-cause analysis and it all points back to the CRA. Of course it wasn’t the only problem, but surely you can’t dismiss this fact.

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oh, and by the way …

GO PROTESTERS!!!!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/6857034/Mourners-shout-anti-regime-slogans-as-clashes-mar-Ayatollah-Montazeris-funeral.html

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BMP – okay, I’ll bite, what do YOU think started it all?

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The revised healthcare overhaul in the Senate would cut the federal deficit by $132 billion over 10 years, non-partisan budget analysts said on Saturday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BI1OG20091219

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Robert and BMDPD, you two need to learn what the CRA actually is instead of just taking the republican talking-point definition at face value.

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So, the problem statement has been made and the gap analysis completed and the fat rabbit is… drumroll please… now for the horn section… and behind curtain number one… CRA!!!!!?????!!!!! Wow. I’d just love to see the details of that analysis.

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Finn McCool. I know what the CRA is. You need to stop taking the Democratic talking-point definition if every comment you post here and open your eyes to reality. Oh, the link you mentioned above about how the CBO analysis says this will save $132 billion over 10 years can also be disputed by real facts.

Yesterday, The Congressional Budget Office said that “the Senate health care bill would not reduce long-term federal deficits as much as previously estimated, acknowledging that it made an “error” in its original analysis.”

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tomorrow the day will be one second longer than it was today

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Finn McClueless, how much does it cost in years 5 through 14, the ten year period that the benefits will be paid out.

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I don’t see it as necessary to fine anyone who doesn’t want to purchase insurance. At the same time, if someone wants to but can’t afford it on their minimum wage pay, I see no reason why they can’t get a little help to be able to afford it.

I also think the insurance companies should be given a chance to fix any perceived problems they have on their own first before government decides to get heavy handed with them. That way, there’s no excuse if they can’t solve their own problems without government intervention.

As for the people who choose not to buy insurance even though they can afford to, I’d give them this website to use when they get sick and need help with the bills. They can just press the button for instant help.

http://www.losinghorns.com/

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FinnMcCool,

I will be the first to admit when I don’t agree with something the party I usually affiliate with has done something stupid. Can you say the same? Is there anything Harry Reid has done recently that you don’t feel comfortable with? What about Pelosi? Obama? I would love to see that some people on here are more open minded than how they come across.

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Taxpayer is what I would call the ultimate hypocrit. He complains about how Bush borrowed from China but sees nothing wrong with Obama doing it.

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Taxpayer, are you a hypocrit?

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“Step one must be completed before you can make progress. You must accept the facts and you must do it openly.”

FACT: The deficit has CONTINUED to grow under Obama. Care to dispute my claim? It’s on Obama now.

Waiting for the responses….”it’s ok for Obama to do it, but not for Bush” in 1…2…3

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Taxpayer,

I am not disputing the fact that Bush spent big during his years. I have never disputed it. What I don’t see, however, is the same outrage at the spending going on now.

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USinUK,

You blame the entire housing crisis on one man? How simple-minded you are.

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Robert, I agree. I am willing to admit that EVERYONE shares the blame on where we are now, but they have to blame Bush for everything. It fuels their fire and keeps them going. Yep, Bush made some mistakes I will admit that, but not one of these people will admit that Pelosi and Reid are idiots. Nor will they admit that Obama is going to make mistakes.

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BMD –

please do yourself a favor and learn the facts about subprime loans.

first of all, at their peak, they constituted less than 20% of all mortgages on the market.

secondly, again, BANKS weren’t the primary lenders of subprime loans.

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Robers –

ohfercryingoutloud – please acquaint yourself with the concept of “facetiousness”

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Doggone, sure that it what it intended to do, but that is not what it did.

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As for the CRA being the cause of the downturn…. hehehehehe

I don’t know much about economics, but the little I do know tells me that it took more than that one thing to cause these problems. That is, unless the CRA created the derivatives that caused the problems.

Regardless to who the finger points to, greed was the underlying cause. If you’re required to provide more financing to minorites that doesn’t mean you have to completely ignore standards. And from what I’m seeing, it isn’t just minorities who are defaulting on mortgages. But as always, blame it on the ghetto mamas and such. They make such easy targets.

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“You think Washington Mutual wasn’t a bank?”

I never said banks weren’t involved.

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USinUK,

Whatever. I’ve seen many of your posts and when backed into a corner you now want to say you were being facetious.

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USinUK, whatever. Tell me this, what is the actual percentage of Americans actually in forclosure? Then tell me how the percentage of the percentage that were sub-prime. You are too blind and skewed to understand.

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Why Obama Must Spend More

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20091007_why_obama_must_spend_more/

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“Jenifer – 9:10 – never underestimate the shortness of investor memory”

Wishin’ and hopin’.

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Now the argument is that the banks were not the primary lenders. Way to divert the issue. AS I recall recently, Bank of America, Wells FArgo, WAMU, SunTrust, Citigroup, Chase, Wachovia, and many other big name banks needed to be bailed out because they were caught up in all of this.

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Southern, I did not nor will I say that the CRA is solely the cause, but it was a contributing factor.

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Finn McCool,

About that SS money. You really think I will see any of it for myself? I am 38 and it is highly unlikely that I will see any of the money I have put into it.

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Finn McCool,

Can I ask you a personal question? How old are you?

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I think it boils down to..

1. Politicians are greedy
2. Banks are greedy
3. People are greedy

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BMDPD

I agree it was a contributing factor. However, there are others here who seem to think it’s the one and only factor.

I think there were many factors that alone would have been harmless or caused minor upheaval. Combined together, they caused financial damage that’s going to take lots of time to correct.

I’ve heard someone mention it before, but I’m curious about one question. Where did all the money go that was lost? Does it just evaporate into thin air, or is there a small group that made a killing while the rest of the world lost?

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Doggone – 9:17 – well summarized!

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Still waiting on a response from Taxpayer…

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Robert – “maybe I do have you confused with someone else” I suggest that’s the case.

“There are many on here that sound just like you.” right back at ya.

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Doggone, the banks had to do that to cover their losses.

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Thanks USinUK!

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Here is the Community Reinvestment Act.

“The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 seeks to address discrimination in loans made to individuals and businesses from low and moderate-income neighborhoods.[7] The Act mandates that all banking institutions that receive FDIC insurance be evaluated by Federal banking agencies to determine if the bank offers credit (in a manner consistent with safe and sound operation as per Section 802(b) and Section 804(1)) in all communities in which they are chartered to do business in.[3] The law does not list specific criteria for evaluating the performance of financial institutions. Rather, it directs that the evaluation process should accommodate the situation and context of each individual institution. Federal regulations dictate agency conduct in evaluating a bank’s compliance in five performance areas, comprising twelve assessment factors. This examination culminates in a rating and a written report that becomes part of the supervisory record for that bank.[8]
The law, however, emphasizes that an institution’s CRA activities should be undertaken in a safe and sound manner, and does not require institutions to make high-risk loans that may bring losses to the institution.[3][4] An institution’s CRA compliance record is taken into account by the banking regulatory agencies when the institution seeks to expand through merger, acquisition or branching. The law does not mandate any other penalties for non-compliance with the CRA.[6][9]“

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I’m still waiting for multiple responses from you, Robert.

For starters, why do you ignore my request for proof of your analysis regarding CRA. Show me your problem statement and analysis that led you to surmise that the CRA was the root cause of said problem. I know a little about that Root Cause Analysis stuff that was developed by folks down at Florida Power and Light so I’ll be glad to hear about your analysis.

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Mrs. Godzilla…typical Democratic thinking. Spend now, tax later.

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BMD –

okay, since you would like to see a total breakdown:

Total loans in foreclosure = 4.47%
prime = 3.2%
subprime = 15.35%

Fixed rate mortgages:
prime = 1.95%
subprime = 8.41%
FHA = 3.17%

ARM mortgages:
prime = 10.09%
subprime = 24.70%

(all data as of end of Q309, from the MBA)

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Over the last 10 years, we have seen many things that shake the norm and scramble the rest.

We had the tech bubble that went south in 2000
We were attacked in 2001
We went to answer the attack in Afghanistan
We followed the trail into Iraq
We succeeded in Iraq
We had a so-called fiscal crises with the large trading houses.
We poured money into them
We elected a new President
He started pouring money into vapidly planned schemes
We hit rock bottom in the Market this year

Bottom line, if you educate yourself, take responsibility and apply some common sense, the market is not a scary place.

I left REIT’s before the crash, I invested in raw materials, I studied companies and their balance sheets.

I made money over the last 10 years, even with a job move. I am not rich, I am low level management, I make a good salary, nothing like a Senator’s. I manage my money and live beneath my means. This has let me survive these minor bumps in the road.

Use your brain, we have not yet declared a moratorium on thinking – even though some think we should (let the government think for us).

Remember, Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach, those that can’t teach, go to DC.

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Finn McCool:
“SSN is called a security net for a reason.”

O.K. Finn, I know exactly where my 401.k. and my IRA contribution money is.
You tell me: Where is the money that I have been contributing to SSN for 46 years?

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Over the last 10 years, we have seen many things that shake the norm and scramble the rest.

We had the tech bubble that went south in 2000
We were attacked in 2001
We went to answer the attack in Afghanistan
We followed the trail into Iraq
We succeeded in Iraq
We had a so-called fiscal crises with the large trading houses.
We poured money into them
We elected a new President
He started pouring money into vapidly planned schemes
We hit rock bottom in the Market this year

Bottom line, if you educate yourself, take responsibility and apply some common sense, the market is not a scary place.

I left REIT’s before the crash, I invested in raw materials, I studied companies and their balance sheets.

I made money over the last 10 years, even with a job move. I am not rich, I am low level management, I make a good salary, nothing like a Senator’s. I manage my money and live beneath my means. This has let me survive these minor bumps in the road. I am an unapologetic capitalist.

Use your brain, we have not yet declared a moratorium on thinking – even though some think we should (let the government think for us).

Remember, Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach, those that can’t teach, go to DC.

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Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
9:17 am
“they were caught up in all of this”

You need to separate the “insurance” side of those institution and the banking side. They got CAUGHT in it, because they invested in the derivatives…but they were not solely the CAUSE of it. The investment melt-down was due to derivatives based on mortgages, including sub-prime mortgages, but the primary lender of those sub-prime mortgages were not banks, but other mortgage lenders.”

A very great deal of what has happened stems from CLINTON’s deregulations of Wall St. Blaming Bush for these things shows how little you know.

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“spend like mad”

Just like Obama is CONTINUING to do, huh? You’re not mad he lied to you during his campaign about lowering the deficit? All I can say is “I told you so.”

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“I invested in raw materials” mmmmmm … commodity yumminess!!!

Hey Paul!!!

oh, man … never have I been so glad that the mister didn’t get a wild hair to go to France for a little shopping!!! those poor people stranded at the Gare du Nord!

how’re things in TX??

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Taxpayer, answer my question first, then I will answer your question. Go!

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Paul,

Drew had a bad game.

Dallas wanted it more to stay in the playoff hunt.

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Finn McCool, it sounds to me that Social Security is a big ponzi scheme…the first to pay in are gyuaranteed to get something back. People late to the game pay and will get nothing.

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@BMDPD

What???????????

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For those who keep repeating the lie that the CRA was the cause of the housing bubble…let’s do something RADICAL: let’s wipe out EVERYONE’S credit history….and give everyone the same credit rating! Let’s put the credit market on equal footing for everyone…..then see what ahppens!!!

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Robert, you are dead on the money, but let me tell you what my mother told me….don’t argue with an idiot it just makes you sound like one. We will have to live with this boondoggle until we can get the intelligence to elect people based on a record of TRUE accomplishment instead of their oratory skills or looks. It will take a real tragedy to wake most of these liberals from their stupor….Joe Kennedy,Nevel Chamerlain, they are blinded by their own azz kissing.

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Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
9:33 am
“Blaming Bush for these things shows how little you know.”

But I haven’t blamed Bush for anything. You need to make a greater effort to keep your different conversations separated.

Would you admit that Clinton screwed up also? What about Barney Frank?

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Peadawg and other conservatives on this blog: The federal government has run budget deficits for most of this country’s history. The health care reform bill is actually projected to help reduce the deficit ( according to the Congressional Budget Office). So called ” conservatives” ( Reagan, both Bushes) have exploded the budget deficit and the national debt. Tell your Tea Party friends that deficit spending did not begin with Obama. And besides, health care reform is more a moral issue than a financial issues. Most conservatives can’t do the math anyway, so what are you complaining about?

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Mrs. Godzilla @ 9:36. It make work in the end when my grandkids are paying off the debt…but spending is spending no matter how to look at it. Adding to the deficit is adding to the deficit no matter how you look at it. Lying to get elected it lying to get elected no matter how you look at.

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“I will NOT sign any legislation that has earmarks” let’s see if Obozo signs this monstrosity of a bill. So Mrs G who has reality problems? “I will not raise taxes on the middle class” so far everything that the dimacrats has proposed does just that, again, Mrs. G who has reality issues?

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Big D,

That’s Taxpayer’s #1 comeback. We should let him have it, since that’s all he’s got.

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I am sure Jay has no retirement money invested in the stock market, since he thinks it’s a bad way to save. Otherwise he’s a hypocrite.

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Taxpayer refusues to answer my question about why it’s ok for Democrats in control now to borrow from China, yet he thinks it wrong for Bush and the Republicans to have done the same thing.

Robert refuses to answer my questions about his root cause analysis of a problem and his result that CRA is to blame or why he refuses to acknowledge that Bush is to blame or why he makes demeaning statements about other bloggers.

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The true answer would have been to go ahead and take it on the chin now so our children and grandchildren don’t have to, but we live in a live for today and buy now pay later society. Liberals, if the Republican ideal of lowering taxes does not work to stimulate the economy, then why won’t the Dems raise taxes during a recession?

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Doggone/GA,

Some of the very same arguments made by Democrats about lack of regulation could point the fingers at Clinton and Frank. Let’s be real here.

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Usual liberal distortion of the facts – relying on the gnat-like memory of the public to keep from being “called” on their lies.
Bush’s proposal was to allow ONLY A PORTION of an individual’s SSA – at the individual’s option – to be invested in stock market AND that the individual’s SSA contributions would be his own to pass to his heirs – not more money for the government to toss down it’s ever-expanding black hole of spending.
And, from personal experience, the market performance has not been all that bad for those who chose reasonable investments. My own account pays – in DIVIDENDS ONLY – MORE than TWICE what my Social inSecurity payments are – despite the past year’s miserable market performance – the dividends (most of them) continue right on coming in.
Of course, this comment is so far down the line that not even Jay “cook the” Book(s)man will even bother to read it.
So, that is why, even though I have no respect for Republicans, I reserve most of my contempt and disdain for “Dummocraps” who don’t even bother to hide their contempt for the ignorance and gullibility of the public they claim to “care for”.

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Pregnancy a punishable offense? I thought that was abortion.

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Peadawg

Perhaps you can use that thought as a campaign slogan in 2012.

Democratic Spending Works.Republican Spending Doesn’t.

Let’s spend like Republicans.

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“Some of the very same arguments made by Democrats about lack of regulation could point the fingers at Clinton and Frank”

I DON’T CARE. It still comes down to greedy investors and poor investments choices. Yet again, banks that did NOT invest in those derivatives are doing fine. Sound investment choices led to sound results…poor investment choices led to the crashing of our economny.

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G. Sine,

Thanks for the posting. I was just about to say most of what you said, but you beat me to it. Good points that will probably not be understood or even read by some unfortunately.

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@Robert

If one takes into account how the Social Security tax collection is structured, it is possible to solve the current crisis with Social Security quickly.

First, one has to realize that Social Security is not “broke” and will never be “broke” as long as we have an economy. Everyone working pays into Social Security.

Secondly, the top taxable amount for Social Security taxes are $90,000. Any earnings more than the current allowed amount is not taxed for Social Security.

Third, the problem is solved and the CBO indicates this would carry the USA well into the 2060’s would be to double the taxable Social Security amount from the current $90,000 to $180,000.
As you know Social Security taxes are roughly 14%, with 7% from the individual and 7% from the employer.

Seems like a reasonable way to solve the current problem.

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Jenifer –

” I thought that was abortion”

http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/feature/2009/12/15/military_abortion_ban/index.html

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USinUK, still didn’t address it did you. I just got back from Ireland and the UK ..you came by it honestly.

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“Samuel Adams in 1776:

“If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.””

Thank God for President Obama.

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Doggone/GA,

Now that facts have been brought to light, you don’t care?

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Big D –

I think I’ll take your mama’s advice: “but let me tell you what my mother told me….don’t argue with an idiot it just makes you sound like one”

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@LA

I did answer that question and my answer now is that same as it was then.
Iranians are not stupid; they would not launch a nuclear attack on Israel or anyone else, for that matter.
They know, without equivocation, any nuclear attacked launched has fingerprints and can be easily traced and verified, would bring an overwhelming military response by most of the nations of the world.

They are just like North Korea, who has nuclear weapons. Now that they have them, what are they going to do with them?

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Hey y’all, totally off topic, but I have a question. The health bill the Senate just passed, does it have to go back to the House now?
I get so confused about Bills …

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Taxpayer, what is your definition of hypocrite, and how have your previous comments about borrowing from China not been hypocritical?

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Jackie, so what you are basically saying is that Ahmadinejad is a sane and rational person?

He’s a fanatical loon.

What are they going to do with them?

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, sell them to Islamic groups?

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Jenifer writes: Thank God for President Obama.

How do you thank your lord and savior for your lord and savior?

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Yes…letting those under the age of 55 put away a measley 4% and only up to $1000 of their own income would have been a “good portion” of the social security funds?” Really?

Shameful column. But I wouldn’t expect any less.

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Personally I’ll take a few more decades like the last one. I did quite well this past decade in the market. You got to know when to hold em and know when to fold em.

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Jackie, what was your ranking in the military?

1: Were or are you a high ranking officer?

2: Were or are you allowed to view classified documents?

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Maybe if people stopped investing in stocks they don’t understand they might not get burned.

When someone says, “I know a hot stock,” ignore them. If you don’t know that company well, don’t invest in it. It really is that simple. Invest in companies with which you know the product or service, and are confident it is growing.

Or invest in something more tangible, like real estate. It’s currently the best thing you can buy. Why? Becuase most people will tell you real estate is a bad idea right now.

Think about it. What’s low? Buy it. Never buy what’s hot. If it’s hot, it is peaking. When everyone is excited about it, run from it. In 2005 most of America was talking about how hot real estate was. 2005? What a joke. No, real estate was hot in 1996 when the market stunk.

The best investment right now is real estate. It never goes out of business.

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Good morning, Day Crew…!

Don’t get a chance to hang out with y’all too much and proabably won’t much today, got people to see and places to go…not my choice in the way to spend my first day off from my day job courtesy of the taxpayers…thank you…

Well, first off, Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus!

So, who’s responsible for the stock market fiasco? I’ll go with the Dutch Calvinists since they’re the ones who opened it up to the general public…tulip bulbs, anyone?

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Normal –

“USinUK, can the Bill be changed in the House or does it have to be voted on as it now stands?”

I believe the bill can still be changed – it isn’t the compromise bill (the house did their version, the senate has done theirs, now it’ll go to a compromise bill) …

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Finn McCool, when did I write anything about Republicans?

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Jennifer: You rally don’t think Obama is “vain and aspiring”? Look hard at his track record.

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really, not rally

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Finn McCool, there’s a lot of angry folks who are trying to get rid of the RINO “moderates” in the GOP.

I say GREAT!!!!!!! They don’t need the Arlen Specters, Olympia Snowes etc……

Take a look at Florida right now. Marco Rubio has tied Charlie Crist and may take him out to become the GOP candidate in November.

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Normal, that makes absolutely no sense.

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“Being a southpaw means you are a right minded person”

“Only left-handers are in their right minds”

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The funny thing about being here is the amount of ignorance on both sides of the issues.

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USinUK

It’s cold here in Texas! Ya’ know what blocks the wind from Canada to here? Barbed wire.

Boy, were you lucky. Some of those poor folks were stranded in the tunnel, no lights or food or water, for 12, 16 hours.

Taxpayer

[[What a theme.]]

It’ll probably work. Most voters are regular attendees of Short Attention Span Theater.

Getalife

Cowboys’ll find a way to blow it. They’re consistent in that regard.

Taxpayer 9:53

[[Military abortion ban! I thought they banned pregnancies.]]

Only in Central Command. One part. Court-martial offense. But equal opportunity – the donors get court-martialed, too.

Doggone/GA 10:00

Good morning! Succinct and on point. Nice!

Hi josef nix!

Telling your “Happy Birthday Baby Jesus, your Cuzzin Josef” experience is one of my favorite stories this season! ‘specially when people are unsure if they should be offended or not!

Well, off to two lonnnng appointments. Play nice, everybody -

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Southpaws–a sinister lot Righthanders…how mundane! Let’s hear it for us ambidextrous!

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You make me think of soldiers with brain injuries. Do you suppose a person with injuries to the left side of the brain would make better recovery progress if they started trying to do things with their left hand? Just wondering.

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@LA

The Iranians are politicians just like we have politicians in this country and throughout the world.
Have you heard such hyperbole from many of our politicians about any subject?
I am sure you have read news reports about the Iranian elections and how they were stolen; how the young people, which constitutes more than 50% of the population of the country, are attuned to Western values and approaches to life and politics.

Don’t know if you have heard, but one of the Ayatollahs that died over the weekend was one of the most influential people in the country and he was a reformist.

I was an enlisted person in the Army with a TOP SECRET/CRYPTO security clearance.

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Taxpayer, ok here is the definition of hypocrite “a person who feigns some desirable or publicly approved attitude, esp. one whose private life, opinions, or statements belie his or her public statements.”

This is whay I think you are a hypocrite:
@8:28 The Republicans left us with such a huge credit card bill and pile of other problems that it will take the adults, the Democrats, years to straighten things out.” But no mention of the current Administration’s credit card spending binge.

@ 8:39 “The Republicans pushed all their spending off on others by approving credit card debt, from the People’s Bank of China and others…” Ummm, how come you didn’t mention the fact that this administration just increased our credit card limit recently.

Shall I continue? I have seen similar comments on different threads.

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PAUL, USinUK…
Maybe y’all’ll be back when I get back, too! Hope your meetings go as painless as possible…

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It’ll probably work. Most voters are regular attendees of Short Attention Span Theater.

Let’s see. What comes after “Fool me twice…”

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“Let’s hear it for us ambidextrous!”

Josef – good morning. Years ago I saw a show on TV about high school athletes and they had a set of girls who were triplets, and they were all javenlin athletes. The eldest triplet was right-handed, the youngest left-handed…and the middle one? Ambidextrous!

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Big D, LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!

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Did you know that it was Bush’s fault that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

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LA, I thought it was funny..Merry Christmas everybody.

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“lord and savior”

No, LA, you don’t have that title.

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@LA

Your little rant is clever, but not reflective on the conversation.
There are many in our political spectrum that we could compare the Iranian President to, say Sen. Imhoff (R-OK), Michelle Bachman (R-MN) , Sen. Lieberman(I-CT) to name a few.

It is apparent that you do not have an idea as to what it takes to put together a nuclear weapon and how the nuclear components and fuel can be easily tracked. So, putting together a nuclear weapon in this country to blow up one of our cities would take a lot of time and effort on the part of many people to make that work.

I would hate to think that you would be part of that effort to undermine your own government?

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Josef, Good Morning! Are you out of school?

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“One of the most intriguing was how many of us eat “European” style! The hand switching “American” style is just too complicated for our brains to process, evidently”

I’m not ambidextrous…yet I eat European style too!

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“Gale, Jenifer believes that Obama cannot and will not ever make a mistake. Do not argue with her. It is pointless.”

My, my, my, such hostility this fine Christmas week morning!

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GALE–I generally write with my right hand, but I write Hebrew, Ladino and Yiddish with my left! Avoids “smudging…” I type around 100 words a minute and my high school typihg teacher attributed that to being ambidextrous…and, yes, it’s hard to tell which hand my signature is from…though I don’t do it myself, one of the things the study showed was that a lot of us do addition, subtraction and multiplication with our right hands, but division with our left…!

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“Did you know that it was Bush’s fault that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

Really? All the horrible details please!

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Greedy banks and mortgage loan companies extended subprime lending into middle and upper class neighborhoods because they were making good money charging points and loan origination fees and didn’t have to assume the risk of the loans defaulting because they sold them to institutions that securitized them. JP Morgan Chase invetned CDS’s in 1997, the same yar Bear Stearns created the first securitiztion of CRA loans guaranteed by Freddie Mac. Firms like AIG and lots of the banks invested in the mortgage bond and swap markets and some held too many secuitized loans and/or swaps because they wanted to increase their rate or return and, probably, didn’t fully understand the risk. Add in specultive home buyers, the ‘flippers’, and a total failure of the Fed and Congress to identify the problem and regulate the markets an it all went boom. If you want it in one word it’s GREED.

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Division with the left?! Now that is just weird.

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Jackie, I was doing an honesty check. You gave me answer that I was looking for.

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“I knew you had class!”

Thanks again! Does it still count if I eat American style, except when I have to use a knife…then I eat European style?

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just like Tiger Woods

Are there really that many bedrooms in the White House.

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A WSJ article just last week indicated most economists think we’re going to have a U shaped recovery, about 25% think it will be V shaped and only 17% think it will be W shaped. It’s almost certain to be W shaped. Almost 50% of the mortgages that got workouts are technically in default again Huge amounts of pending foreclures that the banks and other lenders are going slow with, including a large amount of commercial foreclosures. Add in no one is hiring or will be any time soon, we’re about to incur another $1T in debt for the horrendous health care legislation and it looks pretty bleak.

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LA –

“What soccer(futbol team) do you pull for?”

I don’t (if I have to, I cheer for Sunderland because they are my neighbor’s team … otherwise, that’s pretty much it)

“Big D, LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!!!!!!”

LA and Big D sittin in a tree …

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To Jennifer and USinUK:

That’s what happens when we let the girls p** with the boys …………. war is hell.

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@@

December 21st, 2009
9:55 am

Immature, silly and just stupid.

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Jenifer wrote: No, LA, you don’t have that title.

You are one confused person.

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USinUK,

What’s the deal with John Terry? I heard there are rumors he is taking bribes. What a load of poppyc0ck. I’ll bet Kamchak is livid.

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Robert,

I come and go as only a retired person can. I might go back and look for your so-called proof if I feel like some added entertainment from you. I’m sure it will be amusing. I’ll let you know. Meanwhile, how ’bout giving me that root cause analysis of yours on that problem statement that you wrote up. Better yet, start by giving me your problem statement first. We would not want to mess with the proper order of things.

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Jackie, this conservative wants as little government involved in my life as possible.

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Bush wanted to allow people to control a small percentage of their own money, which is not the same thing as making them invest their retirement in the stock market. Prudent investors would not have, as the risks are too high for anyone near retirement to do so. Any idiot ahould be able to look at any of the millions of guides to investing out there and realize you don’t want to put your money in the stock market if you are close to retiring. But Jay Bookman wants everything to be suitable for the lowest common denominator, so because some idiots would throw away their money, the vast majority instead gets their money seized by the state and doled out back to them at whatever rate the politicians at the time decide is fair. The main point is that in Bookman’s world, the more money politicians have direct control of, the better, because of course politicians can spend our money so much better than we can, because we’re morons, at least in the view of Bookman and the enlightened left.

But hey, any time you can try to blame Bush for something is a good day, right Jay?

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Agreed…W type recovery which will be another factor in the dummycrats destruction and the kenyans defeat. See…there is a silver lining after all.

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@LA

You are mixing weapon types. If you are talking about a nuclear weapon, then all types of expertise and material will have to come together to make all those components mesh.

A suitcase dirty bomb is another issue.

Our conversation has focused on the Iranian nuclear weapon and their President bellicosity, not the sleeper cells that may/may not exists in the USA. One could ask, was Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolph part of sleeper-cells in the USA?

As for tracking the 13 hijackers, this task was accomplished, but our operational system was not equipped to put all the pieces together to determine the threat posed by the individuals, collectively.

If you would go back and read what I posted, I was not comparing anyone to the Iranian President. I was pointing out how politicians on the right say things that are utterly outrageous as you pointed out that YOU found a comparison between the Iranian President and Sen. Durbin.

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Yes, this little spike is a pseudo recovery. All-in-all, we will take a large fall soon enough. You cannot effectively survive if your government is in heavy debt, your businesses are in heavy debt and your consumers are in debt. We are in for hard times in our future. And No, throwing money that we don’t have at the problem will not work.

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Bosch –

“What’s the deal with John Terry? I heard there are rumors he is taking bribes.”

the only news I’ve been paying attention to is weather these last couple of days … what bribes???

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Anyone know if the surcharge tax on the wealthy to help p[ay for health insurance fo the needy is still in the bill? My guess is the Senate got id of that since all of them are ‘the wealthy’.

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Bosch:

I hear you but I still think giving the citizens of one state a “special deal” vs. those of other states is unconstitutional. It has to be or this would wreck our system. For example, if there was a renewal of the draft you couldn’t “exempt” one state to get that senator’s vote !

Maybe some constitutional attorney out there has an opinion.

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Bosch

I don’t know enough of the story yet, but if it did happen I think the mitigating factor is this:

The newspaper alleged that England captain Terry was present when £10,000 was handed over in cash and and wanted £8,000 of it to go to a children’s charity, with the other £2,000 going to the middleman.

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CS,

“It has to be or this would wreck our system”

Um, hate to break the news to ya’ but our system IS broke.

“Maybe some constitutional attorney out there has an opinion.”

Like Obama? Yeah, let’s ask him.

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Josef, it’s just not fair, you get two weeks off and I’m stuck at work with a particular electro-mechanical device from Hades. This thing is kicking my…

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Robert
December 21st, 2009
10:09 am

Based on that “effort”, I’ll stick with my earlier assessment — you do not know what the definition of hypocrite is. By the way, recitation does not prove understanding. It merely demonstrates your ability to cut and paste.

By the way, here is an example of a hypocrite. I hope it helps you.

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Kamchak,

But I don’t think Terry would blow a game over it. That’s a pretty outrageous claim! OUTRAGEOUS!! I say.

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“Gale, Jenifer believes that Obama cannot and will not ever make a mistake. Do not argue with her. It is pointless.” … Don’t forget Jay, Normal, USinUK, Mrs. Godzilla, Cynthia Tucker, Taxpayer, etc. etc”

Is this like another episode of like the gossip girls do atlanta or like what. hehehe You just can’t beat cheap entertainment.

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Jackie, anyone born in our nation can be prosperous. Tell me how so many people became rich without social programs before they existed. I am not sure how much social programs really help our society.

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Hmmm….. what will work ? /?,oh yeah , tax cuts i tell ya , tax cuts and more tax cuts. Wait a minute………. didnt we try that ??

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@@ –

“In the race for the White House, lefties seem to have the upper hand. No matter who wins in November, six of the 12 chief executives since the end of World War II will have been left-handed: Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, the elder Bush, Clinton and either Obama or McCain. That’s a disproportionate number, considering that only one in 10 people in the general population is left-handed. ”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070303202.html

as they used to say on Laugh-In … verrrrrrrrrry interesting …

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But on the left, the sentiments of a liberal base that revolted over concessions to moderates were channeled Sunday by Howard Dean, the former Democratic National Committee chairman, who last week repeatedly called on Democrats to scrap the bill.

“This can’t be the final version of the bill,” Dean said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It simply sets us on a track in this country which is expensive and where we’re going to have lots more political fights.”

I don’t think you will have to worry over “infighting” Howard, not when your party is voted slam out of office.

Back to nattering at each other in the Senate basement.

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i know a hypocrite when I see one, and you are a blatant hypocrite. Your own words are my evidence.

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Trudy, good answer! To all here! It is Bush’s fault. I fell down and broke my arm yesterday. It must be the fault of the Bush administration.

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“one confused person.”

Yes, LA, you are, but with help, there is hope.

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“will take this legislation all the way to the SCOTUS and they rule that giving preference to one state over another to enact legislation is unconstitutional.”

God I hope not, then we’ll never get anything passed. Why don’t we hope that various citizens groups demand that Congress start doing their job!

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Trudy, you claim Bush almost destroyed this country, yet this Administration is like a bunch of drunken misstresses running loose at Phipps Plaza with their boyfriend’s Platinum credit card. Is this also not destroying the country?

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Bosch, a left handed person.

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What is a southpaw?

Someone who is left-handed.

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Bosch, tell her I said that I am sorry !

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“To Jennifer and USinUK:

That’s what happens when we let the girls p** with the boys …………. war is hell.”

What a profound thinker you are, Scout!

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We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.

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Why thank you ma’am.

By the way, I spent a full year in infantry combat. Have you?

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The term southpaw comes from baseball. Most parks, the batter faces east so as not to be staring into the setting sun. The left-hander comes from the south side of the mound, hence southpaw.

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“By the way, I spent a full year in infantry combat. Have you?”

Thank you for your service. No, I haven’t.

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Hillbilly – thanks for the etymology … I always wondered why lefty pitchers were called that … now I know!

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Hillbilly:

What does that say about you? You’re hanging out with too many lefties?

You’re KINKY!!?!!

(IW&SH)

Bosch:

What is a southpaw?

That’s, at least, the second time you’ve asked, and had the question answered.

What are you…..senile or just playin’….?

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I think we should split into two nations (CSA and LSA). This is my theory. All productive people would move to the CSA (Conservative States of America) and live happily. However, all the libs would move to the LSA. They would be happy for a few years until the LSA went bankrupt. The LSA could do nothing about it because they have spent all of their money on social programs.

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Bosch, have a good day!

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One famous Dem once said, “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” Obama has the idea of, ask what your country can do for you, not what you can do for your country. When did that change?

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@@,

Or more true to your form – why don’t you go back and spend four or five hours in the archives pulling up bs things I’ve said that have nothing to do with me asking what a southpaw is? LOL!!!

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“spend $30 million on saving marsh rats in Pelosi’s district when this should have been spent on creating jobs is smart?”

FIRST rule of the conned: NEVER let a good lie die

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“Ringo Starr is a left-hander who plays with the right hand set up.”

And Paul McCartney is left handed, but he strings his guitar for right-handed play and plays it upside down

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man … it is bucketing down with snow outside … I’m heading home …

happy solstice!!! tomorrow the day will be longer!!! hooray!!!

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USinUK, same mistake I made…you sound like Euro-trash, really confused and hard to figure.

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Doggone/GA,

What was incorrect about my marsh rat statement?

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I suspect another reason to get HealthCare in the can now is to let the next couple of holiday weeks soothe the burn.

Then it should be all eyes on Fall 2010, and let the best PR campaign win. And guess which team an improved economy will help?

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“What was incorrect about my marsh rat statement?”

the stimulus bill contained no allocation for any such project. How about: it was a total lie

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KAMCHAK, “bulge the ol’ onion bag.”

Is that like sticking a sock in your pants?

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Normal

No–It’s Tommy Smyth’s (color commentator for ESPN) description of scoring a goal in futbol.

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…but former Vice President Dick Cheney has been named “Conservative of the Year” by the conservative Human Events magazine for his ardent and continuous criticisms of the Obama administration’s national security policies.

He won this award for doing nothing but running his mouth against a sitting president?

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“He won this award for doing nothing but running his mouth against a sitting president?”

No, he won it for running his mouth THE MOST against a sitting president.

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Awhhhhh, you southpaws are just mad ’cause Cheney’s dissent has been rewarded. Yours?

not so much.

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Come to think of it, Cheney’s doesn’t even compare to that of you, southpaws, yet still….

you lose!

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Kamchak, speaking of “awards”, DickHead deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor for gawdssakes!

The next GOP president can just issue a signing statement waiving those pesky military and silly valor language requirements…)

A helluva an American…

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“Ummm, yes it did”

Please quote the bill where the money was allocated for a project to protect the Salt Marsh Mouse (mouse, not rat)

“So Pelosi did not put an earmark in the bill to save the mice. In fact, there’s no money in the bill for mice. For this reason, we rate Pence’s remark False.”

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/feb/13/mike-pence/no-money-stimulus-san-francisco-mice/

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So, Cheney is still getting all the recognition he deserves for doling out lip service. I didn’t get mine.

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Obobo may have won the election but he remains a LOSER and the kennedys await him in hell.

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They are hell bent on killing the United States, their life long passion, with debt.

Be afwaid. Be vewwwwy afwaid. We’re gonna get U.

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Bush may have won the election but he remains a LOSER and the Reagans await him in hell.

fyt

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Yeah, we know it is corruption coburn.

Don’t pray to fix it .

Just fix it .

Kooky wingnuts,

Geez.

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Hey I have a stupid idea, only spend money that you have, how irresponsible is that… Run our country like a business; if they are losing money fire them….

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JackLeg,

“Run our country like a business”

Not like an American business – where the senior management get all the money and the rest of the workers get shafted….wait a minute.

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Actually , we have been running it like a business

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Maybe after Christmas – that one would probably get ugly.

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Maybe after Christmas – that one would probably get ugly.

Might even change Santa’s naughty/nice list.

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Doggone/GA

Source = http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/19/politics-california-style-nancy-pelosi-and-henry-waxman/

“If you keep following the breadcrumbs, the San Francisco South Salt Pond Restoration Project has a division, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project that supports the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse habitation project. The final clue to the connection with Stimulus funding, comes from the Milpitas Post, a non-profit newsletter from March 2009 that gleefully reports their good fortune in receiving a Stimulus grant.

So, thanks to California-style politics, and despite Speaker Pelosi’s obfuscations, millions of dollars of taxpayer money did fund pork projects such as the habitation of the San Francisco Harvest Marsh Mouse.

From the Milpitas post, http://www.southbayrestoration.org/news/articles/MilpitasPost080509.pdf

Posted: 08/05/2009 03:41:31 PM PDT
“Santa Clara Valley Water District announced it will receive a
portion of federal monies under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009, covering Pond A8 of the Alviso
Slough Restoration Project, which is meant to increase the
habitat of endangered or threatened species in the San
Francisco Bay.”

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Robert…none of that is quotes from the actual bill. You said the bill allocated money for that project. Again, please quote the BILL where it says that.

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“I have heard recently”

Not good enough. Please provide links to that info.

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Kamchak,

Oh, Santa knows. He always knows…..

Hey Mrs. G.!

I have that book on my Christmas list!

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Doggone/GA

You may not agree on stimulating the rats in San Francisco, but what about these other examples? Remember, we were told that this bill would provide funding to stimulate the economy, create much needed jobs, reduce unemployment, and this would be“temporary, timely, and targeted”.

Here are some examples of our tax dollars not being spent on projects to reduce unemployment:

$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”

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“And we would be speaking Japanese or Chinese becuase they would have outsourced our military…”

In that case, shouldn’t we already be speaking Xe?

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Bosch

Bosch

Just bought this one…..can’t put it down.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

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Well said Doggone @ 12:59

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“C Street….the “Family”

Rachel Maddow has done some great investigative work on those
knuckleheads.”

That she has. Such hypocrites they are.

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$1 billion for the Census Bureau – Jobs created? What does Recovery.org say? We were promised every dime would be tracked.

A big chunk of the stimulus package is designed not to create wealth but to spread it around. It contains $89 billion in Medicaid extensions and $36 billion in expanded unemployment benefits—and this is in addition to the state-budget bailout (see “Rewarding state irresponsibility” below).

The Medicaid extension is structured as a temporary increase in the federal match, but make no mistake: Like many spending increases in the stimulus package, this one has a good chance of becoming permanent. As for extending unemployment benefits through the downturn, it might be a good idea for other reasons, but it wouldn’t stimulate economic growth: It would provide an incentive for job-seekers to delay reentry into the workforce.

Summary:
$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps

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$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)

You think any of the scientists in the news recently got any of that money yet?

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Doggone/GA

December 21st, 2009
12:59 pm

“but what about these other examples?”

Here’s something for you to ponder: the point of the stimulus bill was to stimulate the moribund economy, and to provide jobs. If the money was spent on projects that provided jobs and purchased goods and/or services then they met the goal of helping to stimulate the economy.

No, we were told and warned by President Obama that failure to act on an economic recovery package could plunge the nation into a long-lasting recession that might prove irreversible, a fresh call to a recalcitrant Congress to move quickly.

In an op-ed piece in The Washington Post, the president argued that each day without his stimulus package, Americans lose more jobs, savings and homes.

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Mrs. Godzilla,

Moving on to something more costly then. What about the $650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations”?

How does that put Americans back to work?

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Doggone/GA,

Had a chance to look at the link you requested? The one about the accounting gimmicks used by the Democrats?

In case you forgot, here it is again.
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/11/gimmicks-in-the-health-care-bill/

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Robert aside from the fact somebody has to make and ship and store and sell the converter boxes….it would be nice if folks could still see news and weather in case of emergency.

You got a problem with educating vulnerable folks?

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Mrs. Godzilla, I have no problem educating any. That is what I am trying to do with you.

As far as money being spent on converter boxes, and how that stimulates the economy….what do you think of this?

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/71353-mark-penn-got-6-million-from-stimulus

Mark Penn’s two firms awarded millions from stimulus for public relations work
By Alexander Bolton – 12/09/09 12:00 AM ET

“A contract worth nearly $6 million in stimulus funds was awarded by the Obama administration to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.

Federal records show that a contract worth $5.97 million, part of the $787 billion stimulus Congress passed this year, helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn”.

So Mrs. Godzilla, we spent nearly $6 million to preserve three jobs? How does that help the unemployed in this country find work?

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Mrs. Godzilla, like I said, I have provided sources when I thought about it. I think the majority of my posts have included sources. Why no comment on the $6million awarded to Hillary’s pollster?

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Robert,

Yes, I do – much more than I do an article from “the Hill.”

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You honestly believe that all of the money is being accurately tracked on that website? You honestly believe that the stories of phantom jobs and phantom congressional districts are a lie? It’s not just “the Hill” that I could use as a source either. This is common knowledge by now.

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Jennifer:

The point is …….. better or best. I suppose the NFL could make a rule that one player on each team on the field had to be a woman or even a man weighing less than 150 lbs. It would be entertaining football still but not the “best”.

In combat, not having the “best” costs lives.

P.S. I keep wondering when Congress is going to apply the Americans Disability Act to the military …………. you know, the armored wheelchair brigade ………. political correctness run amok.

AMVET:

I saw that program also. Wow! I don’t know which is worse ………. that or SEAL training. Those guys had my admiration.

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Big D,

Yeah, I hear ya. The funny thing to me is that once you present actual facts these people seem to disappear.

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“a scheme to privatize Social Security ”
You wish bookman, you wish you could control your own money – oops, sorry, you don’t wish that, you’re a typical demoNcrat blaming anyone but your beloved oBOZO for your problems.
If I pay for others health care, when do I have to buy them a house, get them a job (laugh), give them my car?
Keep them stupid, keep them poor
And they WILL come back for more

And what about drug tests for welfare? Couldn’t even brooch the subject could you?

THANKS FOX NEWS for telling the truth.

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oh lord. here we go again.

republicans and dems are the same. both have taken an oath to screw the american public, that’s why they send you a bill every year.

if i sent someone a bill and they paid it everytime, would i stop sending them a bill? hell no.

stop wasting your time arguing about which party is responsible. they are both respobsible and the joke is on the clowns who waste their time going to vote for them.

The stock market is a ponzi scheme. just one generation robbing the next. Unfortunately the gangsters on wall street are running out of tricks to keep the indices moving up.

While you are thinking of holding your stock for a long time Goldman is laughing all the way to the bank.

Suckers

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Robert, as I posted a few days ago. We live in a time where the volume and complexity of the information overloads most peoples ability to decern it for right or wrong, leaving the final jugment over to feelings instead of logic.

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Leave it to Jay to criticize someone who at least tried to do something about the Social Security problem. If you don’t like the privatization plan Bush proposed, what is your solution? Let me guess – force everyone to keep their money in an unsustainable program which will eventually be means tested, forcing some people to forfeit hundreds of thousands of dollars they have not only earned but paid taxes on. Sound about right?

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Speaking of movies! You can not watch a movie without homosexuality in it. For a population so small they sure are getting a lot of attention from the perverts in Hollywood.

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The only thing I’d like to add to this conversation is that I’m sick and tired of politics. When the hell are we going to get people in Washington to truly represent us? When the hell are we going to stand up? Our system is corrupt and damaged to the point to where we the people are going to have to rise up and show these arrogant, self-centered a-holes who they work for.

I didn’t attend school, pay off my student loans, and work my way to where I am so that some sorryass s.o.b. in Washington can take it.

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Taxpayer, either your 12 years old or you are totally delusional….. Could you be that IGNORANT about everything political….

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Jenifer wrote:

“The investor class got what they wanted: republicans controlling everything. Did they learn their lesson? I doubt it.

What does the Republican Party have to do with investing?

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Libiterian, Bush is the uninformed person’s scapegoat….. These Washington politicians have this country split, fighting each other, while they SUCK this country DRY. It is totally ABSURD how people on this blog fight back and forth, as this country slowly goes down the toilet… Some of the comments on this blog are UNBELIEVABLE! Truly the END IS NEAR!

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[...] The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is carrying the Wall Street Journal story about how the “Last decade was the worst ever in the stock market“. I get almost daily hate mail from people who don’t like my pointing it out – like I [...]

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Americans who vote for the Democrats or Republicans should be ashamed of themselves
between the two parties they have laid America bare ,gutted looted and raped USA.
The only Americans left worth their salt are not voting for either of the two criminal parties.Not that it matters ,with electronic voting machines the people no longer have free and open elections.
It would take a full scale mass uprising to get back what was once the property of the American people.
But with 100,000 of the smartest and richest Americans leaving USA for good each year what is left will be the grunts and inbreeds .Certainly they are not smart enough to see the enemy. America the New Roman Empire has met it’s Waterloo
America could of withstood any army but the nation’s fools have done it in.
ring around the rosies the DUMBO chased the ASS ashes to ashes we all fall down.

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Yes you-whine, The government has issued stocks but only the creators have them. The rest of us can go to hell.

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This comment is sure to get drowned out in the tsunami of partisan rhetoric, but isn’t it obvious that both the Republicans AND the Democrats have conspired to sell-out America? The “enemy” isn’t Communism-socialism or Capitalism, the enemy is the central banking system, on which both Communism and Capitalism depend. Recall that Wall St. and London bankers FINANCED the Russian Revolution AND rebuilt the Soviet Union after WW2. How then has this become a “partisan” right/left, conservative/liberal issue? Save your slings and arrows for the REAL enemy of the people: Perpetual debt-credit slavery imposed by an unaccountable global central banking system. Slaves are neither Republicans nor Democrats. They are just SLAVES, arguing over who’s entitled to the largest portion of the scraps falling from the table.

Partisans of the so-called “left” and so-called “right” are retarding and misdirecting the entire converstation.

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The fact is:

You all voted dumbocrat all these years … and here we are.

You all voted repukocrats all these year … and here we are.

This blame game does not negate the fact that no matter which party is steering the ship … here we are.

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[...] Read entire article GD Star Ratingloading…GD Star Ratingloading… Tags: adjusted basis, anything, article, Atlanta, atlanta journal constitution, average, basis, Bear, bear markets, calendar, Carolina, Charles Jones, collapse, Constitution, damage, decade, December, deflation, dismal performance, economy, egg, election, end, exchange, fall, finance, finance professor, gain, gold, history, impact, Index, Inflation, Investment, Jay Bookman, Journal, lot, mandate, market, market collapse, money, nest, nest egg, New, new york stock, new york stock exchange, North, north carolina state university, performance, Poor, portion, President Bush, professor, Read, retirement, retirement funds, scheme, Security, Social, social security funds, STANDARD, State, Stock, stock index, stock market, stock market history, twin bear, u s stock market, U.S., University, wsj, year, York, york stock exchange [...]

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“misdirecting the entire conversation.” Exactly!!!

The Y2K Scam was run under the Clinton/Gore Crime Team.

The Exotic Mortgage & Investment Scam was run under the Bush/Cheney Crime Team.

Obama is nothing but a slick talking/lying lawyer who is protecting & covering up for the corrupt politicians of both parties as well as the financial wizards.

Just like they bailed out the banksters with our money, now they are going to bail out the insurance companies with forced pay health care.

The Dems have reneged on everyone of their campaign promises: end the war, end NAFTA/CAFTA, prosecute Bush/Cheney Crime Team, Reinvestigate 911, Bring troops home, etc, etc, etc.

During 2010 the public is going to find out that they have Bernie Madoff Statements with inflated figures, when the money is long gone.

Go read the Bill Moyers & William Black Investigative News Articles on PBS and you will see whats been going on in your country for the last 2 or 3 decades at least.

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http://911essentials.com would like to point out that a decade has 10 years in it. Why anyone would call the decade over when there is an entire year to go shows how dumb people have become and probably explains why everything has been so bad.

You use to be able to buy a 1 lot in the S&P’s, go to lunch and come back and sell it for more … ah the good old days when being stupid didn’t matter and you still made money.

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The USA is bankrupt and we’re starting to see the results of the out of control printing of the US dollar since Aug, 1971. Just a matter of time now before we see the collapse. The ultra rich took the money of of the stock market from us middle class working class. The stock market, if we see it go up, will be the result of INFLATION; not because of the “value” of it has gone up.

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If we privatize Social Security and encourage private investment, we should do so in a way that allows people to follow the wise rule that as a person nears retirement, he or she should choose a more conservative investment portfolio.

Of course, there is at least one alternative more radical than privatizing Social Security.

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Amazing, you Americans think owning a gun is a right, but that Healthcare isn’t a right. No wonder you have become such a laughing stock to the rest of the world. Hard to believe you were ever envied for being the beacon of hope.

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Hey Canadian, it costs my neighbor nothing if I own a gun. Nationalized health care, like any other socialist program, is government mediated theft. Your “free health care” was stolen from somebody else.

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