Corporate profits hit record high; still no hiring
“The nation’s workers may be struggling, but American companies just had their best quarter ever.
American businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.66 trillion in the third quarter, according to a Commerce Department report released Tuesday. That is the highest figure recorded since the government began keeping track over 60 years ago, at least in nominal or non-inflation-adjusted terms.
Corporate profits have been going gangbusters for a while. Since their cyclical low in the fourth quarter of 2008, profits have grown for seven consecutive quarters, at some of the fastest rates in history.”
I know what you’re thinking: You want to see a chart.
OK, here.
I still know what you’re thinking: If only President Obama and the Democrats weren’t so darned anti-business. If only corporate America was making enough money to pump back into the economy. If only we could free up business and make it possible to earn a profit again.
If only ….
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526 comments Add your comment
Matti
November 23rd, 2010
5:14 pm
I appreciate budman’s honesty. He does not bother pretending he has any principles or any respect for the United States of America. I much prefer this to the pretenders.
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
5:15 pm
Fred, you have misattributed comments about leaders in your 5:09 to me.
budman, in my useless opinion, that congressman from South Carolina displayed himself as an ill-mannered boor.
To his great credit however, he did immediately apologize: “my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”
A rare moment indeed in the modern day GOP.
Speaking of which, I see from that 5:07 that the time for yet more unprovoked personal insults is here…
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
5:18 pm
AmVet,
You are absolutely correct. I apologise.
JONIX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I meant you lol.
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
5:19 pm
AmVet’s dismal view of our country always reminds me of Mark Twain’s famous line: “The report of my demise is greatly exaggerated.” So it goes with AmVet’s prognostications on America.
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
5:19 pm
I even apologiZe….
(I hate it when I misspell. What sad is that the little red squiggly line was under the word and I hit enter anyway……..)
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
5:24 pm
josef nix: On another note, your post on the education blog was very well received by me and many others. I had hoped you would revisit that thread, perhaps scanning the other posts and offering some more insight………
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:24 pm
FRED
That’s okay. Lots of folks mistake me and AmVet for each other! Don’t know why.:-)
TaxPayer
November 23rd, 2010
5:26 pm
Not to worry, all you unemployed compassionate conservatives out there. John Boehner says that although he does not think that he’ll be able to help much with the unemployment, he’s sure that he can convince your fellow Republicans to keep fighting the good fight against taxes and against the taxpayer funding of NPR and planned parenthood and extended unemployment benefits and food stamps and Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security. So y’all just hang in there and rest assured that the important stuff will be handled for you. The good old days of limited government and lower taxes and fewer regulations are just around the corner.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:28 pm
FRED
I did and thank you all very much…to be honest the reason I suppose I went off on “leadership” the way I did here just now was in no small part due to that very concept and what was at work with Ole Missus and her missionary antics…that’s the problem with “leaders” in my opinion. They take to believing their own PR and, when the house of cards falls into the abyss over which it is built, they take off for new fields, leaving their wreckage behind.
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
5:31 pm
Josef,
I can always tell you from AmVet. You are blond and he is bald.
md
November 23rd, 2010
5:33 pm
“As to the finance reform bill, it added nothing to anybody’s bottom line except those on Wall Street”
You may want to do a bit of research, it will impact many corps outside wall st, just a couple of examples:
“If the proposals go through, companies that use derivatives would have less money to invest in their operations. European manufacturing giant Siemens (SI) reckons it will need an extra $1 billion in cash reserves, and engine maker Rolls Royce (RYCEY) figures its tab would total $4 billion. ”
Those darned unintended consequences………..
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:34 pm
Dusty
And he looks like Dustin Hoffman!
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
5:35 pm
jonix,
There is a difference between a leader and someone who is “in charge.” Leaders take responsibilty, they get things done, they lead from the front. They have courage, both moral and physical. People WANT to follow a true leader, people do what someone “in charge” says because they will get fired if they don’t.
Don’t mistake the two. You get a pass this time. Beverly Harvard isn’t a leader…….. nor are most school admins. They are just folks with minimal teaching skills who want to “be in charge.”
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:36 pm
md
Siemens needs a billion in cash reserves? Hmmm…too bad Sarkozy’s Romany are not very well heeled…
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:38 pm
FRED
I don’t trust “leaders.” Especially those for whom politics is the metier. Too many people too blindly follow.
Del
November 23rd, 2010
5:40 pm
The good old days of limited government, lower taxes and fewer regulations are right around the corner.” Outstanding!
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
5:41 pm
Josef,
I thought Siemens was a German company. ???
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
5:41 pm
Fred, no worries. You are still the man.
josef, oh yes you do! My brotherly curmudgeon in arms…
Dusty, at least you are consistently delusional!
md
November 23rd, 2010
5:45 pm
JDW – you need to go back and look at those numbers again and factor the non-employer firms, which are not included in the overall numbers……………….
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:46 pm
DUSTY
It is. Unrepentent. Fleeced millions.
Dave R.
November 23rd, 2010
5:46 pm
Let’s see . . . a small-time opinion columnist has an issue with what a private company does with their money.
1. What’s wrong with this picture, and
2. Who really cares?
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
5:48 pm
Josef, still puzzled. What does Siemans have to do with Sarkozy’s Romany??
capitalism and war
November 23rd, 2010
5:52 pm
Korean War, part dust to dust. Our economy needs another war, sorry, and Korea is the perfect pretense. We had one there in the fifties, so why not now? Expect some viscissitudes of diplomatic failures and assurances of peace and then kaboom. Bye Bye Seoul. This time around the Korean War will make Pork Chop hill look like a picnic. But the economy will grow.
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
5:53 pm
AmVet,
I am NOT delusional. Just hungry.
Let’s see. What’s for dinner? Tilapia and macaroni? A little cole slaw? Angel food cake? Yeah, I might get by with that. What’s an exotic name for macaroni. I’ve got to make this sound good.
I love a great cuisine!!
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:56 pm
DUSTY
Quite a bit…profiting from the eradication of human vermin comes to mind…
Matti
November 23rd, 2010
5:57 pm
a small-time opinion columnist has an issue with what a private company does with their money.
Actually, it’s the Congressional Republicans who are making it an issue. They keep touting their philosophy that the private sector, not the government, must create the much-needed jobs in America. Yet, private companies — though they have the money to hire — refuse to do so. With unemployment at 10%, it’s kind of an issue, but it seems nobody wants to take repsonsibility for fixing it. (Yeah yeah, I know, people should just give their own bootstraps a tug and jobs will magically appear all over communities where there were none.) BTW, the Congressional Republicans conveniently leave defense contractors out of the discussion. You know, those big companies suckling our nation’s multi-billion dollar teat with the Republican Study Commission’s blessing and endorsement.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
5:57 pm
Dusty
just add au fromage!
Tommy Maddox
November 23rd, 2010
5:59 pm
Well, it looks like big biz has figure it out – get equal or more results by making the remaining folks on the payroll work. If the guy next to you gets fired, I’d imagine you’d work harder to prevent your joining him at the exit door.
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
6:00 pm
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
5:53 pm
Let’s see. What’s for dinner?
++++++++++
How mundane. I’m still trying to figure out what to cook for Thanksgiving……….
Dave R.
November 23rd, 2010
6:00 pm
Let’s try to send this topic into a different direction.
You want to create jobs and expand the economy in a short timeframe? How about this idea:
For the next 4 years, except for OSHA, EPA and IRS reporting, suspend the enforcement of every Federal regulation on the books with a sunset clause that puts them back in place unless there is a vote from Congress. Let’s see what private business can do without the burden of Federal rules for a few years and see what happens.
If the economy rebounds fast, we make them permanent. If it doesn’t, we’re really not much worse off than we are right now, are we?
Comments, anyone?
Pogo
November 23rd, 2010
6:01 pm
Corporate profits high, new employment low. Know why that is? Because business is doing exactly what the American people are doing. They are saving their money. They know that the un-certainty that the current administration and congress projects towards small and large business and their seemingly un-ending desire for deficit spending that none of us are assured of anything, even if we conduct ourselves as we are supposed to. Used to be that saving you money was a good thing. I still believe this. But now we are bombarded by a philosophy that if you have money saved then you are the bad guy because you aren’t supporting the economy and meanwhile our national economy suffers. Under Obama and the Democrats and their anti-business economic agenda having more employees is becoming a liability. The more employees companies have, the more liability the companies assume. The Healthcare plan alone is enough to deter companies, both big and small, from hiring additional employees and now many of the states are looking at raising the un-employment taxes for each and every employee that the companies still have in order to pay for those that don’t work. Georgia has borrowed something like 450 million from the feds to pay for un-employment benefits and now they are looking to what few employers we have to pay even more which will only work to push companies to hire less people. Why is that people cannot understand we are caught in a fiscal death spiral that un-ending entitlements from the feds and from the states has created? Sooner or later the piper will be payed and sadly it is beginning to look like sooner. The Democrats and the Republicans have proven themselves to be miserable leaders who are only concerned with their own political futures. So you can all sit here and call each other names and claim to have the moral highground all you want but the truth is that this country is in terrible shape and it is not getting better. Blame who you will but that doesn’t excuse anybody because we will all suffer because of the bad decisions made by our current and former polticians.
Strange thing is, Obama and Bernanke and their QE2 are just putting more and more money in the pockets of the big banks and these same banks took taxpayer bail-out money and now they are feeding off of the middle class. Small and big business are not the enemy but they are being portrayed as just that in order to cover up the real atrocity which our leaders cowtowing to the ones that control the currency and whom are doing the real damage and that is the Fed and the big banks. We are literally living a lie.
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
6:03 pm
Josef,
Oh that!! hmmmm I think you need dinner also. Does wonders for the psyche! And have you had your eyes checked lately? Dustin Hoffman?? Surely you jest..
Off for some tender tidbits of perfect paste’.
Dave R.
November 23rd, 2010
6:03 pm
Actually, Matti, the GOP has nothing to do with this until and unless the current tax rates are extended past this year. There is still a great uncertainty in the private sector until the tax burden of businesses is finalized.
The GOP can’t do anything with their elected majority until January, 2011, Matti. Your boogeyman doesn’t even exist yet.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:04 pm
Dave R
You’re even more the anarchist than I!
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
6:05 pm
Dusty, now I see! Low blood sugar!
You’d be proud of me recently. I’ve pretty much sworn off the demon alkeehol and have been back in the gym with my trainer relentlessly. I’ve dropped 10 pounds in eight weeks and am getting back down close to fighting weight. (Nah, not really, I have another 10 to go.)
But I assure you that come this weekend, no more doing without! Bring on the stuffing! And the mashed potatoes! And the pecan pie!
Man, I love this time of year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-nfLIoqarQ
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:07 pm
DUSTY
Not to worry…Unmentionable’s off to bring me some ice cream! And it was the Curmudgeon who said that and I’ve no cause to doubt it…at least way back when!
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
6:07 pm
Fred,
Don’t worry about Thanksgiving Have TURKEY AU FROMAGE!!! Can’t beat it. Kids love it. OUI!!!
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
6:09 pm
See you folks later to discuss my latest purchase. A beautiful red poinsettia!! Yes! This is a great time of the year..
Matti
November 23rd, 2010
6:10 pm
There is still a great uncertainty in the private sector until the tax burden of businesses is finalized.
Thank you so much for repeating this year’s biggest talking point. I mean, not everyone watches Fox “News” or read their Congressman’s updates telling them why it won’t be better until they can get rid of that … you know… in the WH once and for all, nor visits the Drudge Report, Heritage Foundation website, or other “conservative” blogs, and might not have heard this total load of horse poo (THAT MR. BOOKMAN HAS DEBUNKED) six or seven hundred times already. And those of us who have heard it so many times it’s a song that haunts us in our sleep, thanks once again for sharing. It reminds me that I need to walk my dog and take a few poo-pie bags with us.
why is the trickle down yellow?
November 23rd, 2010
6:14 pm
Adam@4:07 pm
So tell my again why any rational businessman is hiring anyone?
Rational businesses hire when they have growth. Since a lot of businesses have growth, they should be hiring, but they aren’t Because they are NOT rational!
______________________________
A lot of the repub small businessmen on here do not feel a need to hire because business is off.
The reason it is off is the grass doesn’t grow in winter and the illegals were rounded up and sent home ;-D
—————————————
Seriously one of the reasons corporate business is off is that the CEO’s are now financial types. What made the great companies GE, IBM, etc. was that fact the the founders and afterwards until recently were engineer types who actually COULD do the job, not just count the beans.
JDW
November 23rd, 2010
6:14 pm
ml
November 23rd, 2010
4:51 pm
“just look at the sharp turn beginning with reagan”
What sharp turn would that be….
As you can see below unemployment spiked from 6.1% in 1978 to 9.6% under Regan slowly improving over a period of 5 years from the low point…only sharp turn there is up.
1978 6.1
1979 5.8
1980 7.1
1981 7.6
1982 9.7
1983 9.6
1984 7.5
1985 7.2
1986 7.0
1987 6.2
1988 5.5
GDP did a nice job of tanking until 83 and then there were only 2 really great years.
1978 5.3
1979 3.1
1980 -0.2
1981 2.4
1982 -2.1
1983 4.2
1984 6.8
1985 3.7
1986 3.3
1987 3.2
1988 4
Pesky facts…now if you want to talk deficits that is indeed a sharp turn!
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
6:15 pm
AmVet, why did you fire Velma?
And during the Christmas holidays. Have you no liberal empathy ???
Please turn in your looney-lib membership card to C. Tucker, AJC.
Thank you.
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/woman-who-told-obama-751019.html
Adam
November 23rd, 2010
6:16 pm
Everyone who was talking about “leaders”… first of all, Obama is everything first described in this post:
What we, the USA, need is a LEADER. I mean a real leader. Someone who thinks that America is a great country. That we have the best medicine and the best products today. That our military is protecting and freeing more people than anybody else in the world . A leader who will say I will work with congress and WE will move this great country forward. We are innovative, industrious and brave. Our future will be filled with the products that go with freedom, independence and concern for all.
When we have a leader who can get up and say that and mean it, we will move forward.
I must conclude however given that last stab in the dark that you doubt his sincerity. What you’re really saying is he’s not a leader because YOU won’t follow him. You also seem to be saying that he is not a leader because he hasn’t inspired EVERYONE to follow him. First of all, he inspired many more people to follow and vote for him than any other president in recent history, in every demographic. His platform and words are everything said above. By your standards already, he is a leader.
Regardless of all that, I challenge you to find one single solitary politician in ALL of U.S. history that you think EVERYONE in this country today would follow. Remember that today’s country publicizes everything everyone does. You can’t find someone EVERYONE would follow, because there are always a segment of people who disagree, and in today’s world they disagree very vocally and spread lies to get their message across. It happens to every single politician that runs for office, and it’s sick. Get away from all the nonsense talking points and actually look at one the man has done and accomplished. He has not “apologized” for the U.S. AT ALL. look it up, fact check, be serious about this stuff. Stop being stupid ON PURPOSE.
Dave R.
November 23rd, 2010
6:18 pm
Matti, do you work in the private sector?
I do, and I can tell you that the tax situation is very real to companies right now. Reality – you should try it sometime.
Adam
November 23rd, 2010
6:19 pm
What made the great companies GE, IBM, etc. was that fact the the founders and afterwards until recently were engineer types who actually COULD do the job, not just count the beans.
I raise a toast to you for saying this. Thank goodness someone else realizes that important fact.
Dave R.
November 23rd, 2010
6:19 pm
“Dave R
You’re even more the anarchist than I!”
I always knew that, josef.
So, what do you think of my idea?
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:20 pm
Javier
November 23rd, 2010
3:51 pm
Most “small” businesses barely provide for the owners and are lucky to clear $250k in 5 years. The tax cuts need to expire for all taxpayers. Congress knew the deficit would explose, hence the 10-year term.
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
6:21 pm
Snip…
“Velma Hart, the chief financial officer for Am Vets, a veteran services organization based in Maryland, said Monday in an interview with CNBC that she was laid off as part of the nonprofit’s effort to cut expenses.”
Shame !!!
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:21 pm
The GOP can’t do anything, period!
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:24 pm
Dave R.
November 23rd, 2010
6:00 pm
Sunset clause? Yeah, like the one on tax rate reductuions Congess doesn’t have the guts to let die.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
November 23rd, 2010
6:24 pm
It reminds me that I need to walk my dog and take a few poo-pie bags with us.
Well, there goes my appetite. Thanks alot Matti.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:26 pm
ADAM
Okay. DADT, real “fierce advocacy” there. DOMA? Not even on the agenda. Habeas corpus? Still MIA. Death warrents on American citizens. Afghanistan? Still rolling right along. Iraq? Just wait for the fall out from that one…I’m sorry, but I can’t follow this…
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:30 pm
“The GOP can’t do anything, period!”
Gee, and there I was thinking they had brought down Western Civilization!
Dave R..
There are two answers to your question. The one, the more serious, requires some thought beyond the immediate response here. The second…what the hell, the less government the better!
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
6:31 pm
Adam, no European socialist like Obama can ever effectively “lead” a great freedom-loving country like the good ol’ USA.
People may elect a hopey-changey dunce when in difficult times their choice is between a Messiah who promises everything to everyone versus an unprincipled “maverick” who hasn’t a clue.
But we Americans can figure things out after a while.
I see the great one achieved a 39% approval rating in the latest polls. Please explain that.
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:32 pm
…under the current and next makeup of Congress.
Matti
November 23rd, 2010
6:33 pm
Dave R.,
Not that it’s any of your beeswax, but yes, I work in the private sector. My company was once a bunch of smaller companies, who merged. We had more than 50% of the market, and it was great! But that wasn’t enough. Our owners sold us out to a ginormous American company, who then turned around and sold us to one of a foreign holding company’s many multi-national conglomerates. They own us, and we mean nothing to them. We have to deal with foreigners coming in who don’t understand what we do, blathering about concepts while we’re trying to work. Oh yeah, and they’re outsourcing stuff to the Chinese.
Matti
November 23rd, 2010
6:35 pm
…because nobody has faith in Americans anymore.
Hillbilly Deluxe
November 23rd, 2010
6:36 pm
Seriously one of the reasons corporate business is off is that the CEO’s are now financial types. What made the great companies GE, IBM, etc. was that fact the the founders and afterwards until recently were engineer types who actually COULD do the job, not just count the beans.
There’s a lot of truth in that.
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
6:36 pm
F, Sinkwich, I saw that!
But it weren’t me!
LOL!
But seriously, hers is a story worth knowing…
WASHINGTON — The woman who told President Barack Obama that she was “exhausted” from defending him and his economic policies and waiting for the change she expected after voting for him has another reason to be put out: She’s lost her job.
Velma Hart, the chief financial officer for Am Vets, a veteran services organization based in Maryland, said Monday in an interview with CNBC that she was laid off as part of the nonprofit’s effort to cut expenses.
In September, during a town hall-style meeting on the economy televised by CNBC, Hart told Obama: “Quite frankly, I’m exhausted. Exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the man for change I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.”
Hart said that the recession had taken an enormous toll on her family and left her and her husband worried about their finances. “And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer honestly,” she said, “Is this my new reality?”
http://newsone.com/nation/associatedpress2/exhausted-obama-supporter-velma-hart-has-lost-her-job/
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:36 pm
Leading the way?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101123/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_immigration_cuts
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:37 pm
F. Sinkwich
“I see the great one achieved a 39% approval rating in the latest polls. Please explain that.”
I’ll give it a shot. Obama went into office with between a quarter and a third of the potential voters having voted for him. This polling sampling, I assume, was not limited to just those who cast opinions in the official poll. I would conclude that his “approval” rating has increased a bit over 2008.
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:38 pm
..and it will be close to 60% in 2 years.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:40 pm
matti
“…because nobody has faith in Americans anymore.”
And, again, I disagree…I have all the faith in the world in Americans and so do millions if not billions of others…our institutions as they now stand under the “leadership” they now have…not so much…but Americans are a pretty decent lot all things considered…
“
Mary Elizabeth
November 23rd, 2010
6:44 pm
Adam @ 6:16 p.m.
Thank you for stating your thoughts on leadership and President Obama’s leadership skills so
forthrightly. I agree.
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
6:46 pm
Wrong, nix. Quit whistling past the graveyard. Your Messiah sucks and most know it:
“Obama’s job approval rating as calculated by the Zogby Poll has now sunk to 39%, a new low for his 22-month presidency that began with so much hope and excitement and poll numbers up around 70.”
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2010/11/obama-romney-palin.html
why is the trickle down yellow?
November 23rd, 2010
6:48 pm
TaxPayer@5:26 pm
Not to worry, all you unemployed compassionate conservatives out there. John Boehner says that although he does not think that he’ll be able to help much with the unemployment, he’s sure that he can convince your fellow Republicans to keep fighting the good fight against taxes and against the taxpayer funding of NPR and planned parenthood and extended unemployment benefits and food stamps and Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security. So y’all just hang in there and rest assured that the important stuff will be handled for you. The good old days of limited government and lower taxes and fewer regulations are just around the corner.
—————————
WOW goody he’s bringing back bread lines
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
6:49 pm
Name me one US President who hasn’t had poor approval ratings at some point in his administration?
I figured out way back in the 80s that we elect these clowns and then b!tch endlessly when they act like clowns.
Ronnie wasn’t the problem. We were/are…
Adam
November 23rd, 2010
6:49 pm
josef: I wasn’t able to follow your post. I have no idea what you were trying to say. I would like to understand so could you please tell me what you were trying to say?
F. Sinkwich: I see the great one achieved a 39% approval rating in the latest polls. Please explain that.
As I explained above, that didn’t actually happen. It’s at 47% right now. Where is this number coming from? Also I don’t refer to him as Messiah, Great One, or anything like that. No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
6:53 pm
ADAM
I was only stating why I don’t consider him a “leader.” More or less in agreement with what you said. I apologize for the incoherency…
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
6:54 pm
Obama is killing our economy, but the cruelest irony is that he thinks he’s actually helping it!
He has NO experience in the private sector. He refuses to appoint any advisers that do.
He’s a useless community organizer with no clue about the genius of capitalism. In fact, he hates it, and works to undermine it at every turn.
It’s going to be a tough two years until 2012.
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:55 pm
You mean we the people? NAH! The ones committing the waste, fraud and abuse?
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
6:57 pm
The genius of capitalism? It’s a little soon after the latest whiz kids’ diasaster for that kind of trash. Geed and fraud eventually end all good things.
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
7:00 pm
Adam:
“No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States.”
Then how about Marxist, European socialist, unionist, and collectivist? Obama is all of those.
All work for me.
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
7:00 pm
F. Sinkwich
Go back and read what I said. It’s not whistling past the graveyard but essentially arguing that Obama didn’t even go into office with a majority approval rating of the potential voters. Secondly, where do you get the idea he’s my Messiah? I didn’t support him in the candidacy selection, I didn’t vote for him and I hold him in generally low regard in many areas…I don’t hate him, I don’t think he’s the anti Christ, but I don’t think he’s a particularly effective president either…but then I didn’t expect much and I’ve not been disillusioned…
Bruno
November 23rd, 2010
7:02 pm
One for Matti:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaFfJSC6uz8
Mary Elizabeth, this one’s not for you, trust me honey ^^^^^^^ ; > }
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
7:04 pm
Tn:
“The genius of capitalism?”
Then please explain the genius of European socialism, Obama’s secular religion?
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
7:08 pm
Hey, Bro Bruno! How the hell are ya?
Bruno
November 23rd, 2010
7:14 pm
It’s all good for now, josef. Big T’day plans??
For Mary Elizabeth:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYFnCeB0wYE
Mary Elizabeth
November 23rd, 2010
7:14 pm
Bruno @ 7:02
Why l like Dinah Washington, Bruno. Nothing wrong with trombones!
Bruno
November 23rd, 2010
7:15 pm
You been looking out for my girl, josef???
Bruno
November 23rd, 2010
7:17 pm
“Nothing wrong with trombones!”
LOL @ Mary Elizabeth……I miss your intelligent, compassionate input, ME.
Del
November 23rd, 2010
7:20 pm
The misunderstanding is that it’s not about “following” a president or any president. The president is elected by the people to serve the people and is not a point of worship in our Republic. When he or she is competently fulfilling the role as the peoples servant, due respect is extended and is typically rewarded by re-election. Evidently at least by the polls and results from this past mid-term election, the majority repudiated this presidents policies. He has two more years to regain the voters confidence. It’s not the peoples responsibility to “follow” him.
Mary Elizabeth
November 23rd, 2010
7:21 pm
Bruno @ 7:14
How very nice. You made my evening.
Happy Turkey Day. Thank you and take care of you!
josef nix
November 23rd, 2010
7:22 pm
BRUNO
T’giving with the Pesky Savages…and I’ve been trying to be a gentleman! Good to see you back among the malcontents…
Joe the Plutocrat (the artist formerly known as paleo-neo-Carlinist)
November 23rd, 2010
7:22 pm
looks to me like the stimulus packages, and bailouts, perpetual war, and tax cuts work. it’s Americans who don’t work (and not by choice)
Mary Elizabeth
November 23rd, 2010
7:24 pm
Bruno @ 7:17
Come back and visit often, Bruno. Take care.
TaxPayer
November 23rd, 2010
7:26 pm
Since we’re on an “All government regulations are bad” kick, I’ll have to reassess those nuclear power stocks in the new light of them being free to dump their waste in the backyards of an unsuspecting constituency. Of course, I might also need to be examing some new real estate in a safer location, for various unregulated reasons too.
Bruno
November 23rd, 2010
7:27 pm
One more for Brother Am:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgo7jZzW7Jw
I heard a live version of this on “Deep Tracks” on XM radio and it brought a tear to my eye.
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
7:28 pm
B, what a nice surprise. I’m packing to go to Fla. and feeling fine.
I was thinking that, being the scofflaw that I am, I would just turn tonight into my own little pre-travel “Friday night” musical extravaganza. And if anyone wanted to come along, all the better!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1×28jaeyX2s
Mary Elizabeth
November 23rd, 2010
7:28 pm
Josef-
ou may have missed my Saturday evening note to you on two movies involving food, but I
want to suggest to you to pick up “Big Night” (1996) with Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini, if you have not seen it. I think you and Unmentionable will really enjoy it. Funny and warm and a little off-beat in humor.
Your international fest at your school with music and food sounded delightful.
Bruno
November 23rd, 2010
7:28 pm
Love to all…….
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
7:30 pm
F. Sinkwich
November 23rd, 2010
7:04 pm
Good grief! He’s trying to save capitalism as we’ve known it, and the government has played a very large role since the Great Depression.
why is the trickle down yellow?
November 23rd, 2010
7:34 pm
Joe the Plutocrat (the artist formerly known as paleo-neo-Carlinist)@7:22 pm
looks to me like the stimulus packages, and bailouts, perpetual war, and tax cuts work. it’s Americans who don’t work (and not by choice)
——————————————-
Because I am working for half of what I once did, I tried to convince my mortgage holder, county tax people, gas station owner etc. that since I had to take a 50% cut why couldn’t they.
Try that with the corporate profits and you will get the same response. Except they might agree to it and SHIP ALL of the jobs offshore. GREED IS GOOD
Del
November 23rd, 2010
7:34 pm
“and the government has played a very large role since the Great Depression”
It certainly has and like the Great Depression we won’t be turning the economy around until government plays a much smaller role.
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
7:37 pm
Dusty
November 23rd, 2010
6:07 pm
Don’t worry about Thanksgiving Have TURKEY AU FROMAGE!!! Can’t beat it. Kids love it. OUI!!!
+++++++++++++
Dusty,
It is seldom when I use the word hate and actually mean it. I HATE the French. (I had to google au fromage). It’s nip and tuck whether I hate the french or baptist the most. In the end, if my life depended on a decision I would have to go with baptists.
Having said that, I have no problem with french food. It’s the ONLY thing they do right. Well DID right. They are kind of like the followers of Islam in that they won’t modernize. Au Fromage (it galls me to even type those nasty french words) looks good. Unfortunately the turkey isn’t the problem. It’s the accouterments. Actually it’s more than that. I tried to make this light hearted, but the truth is that due to my outlaws Thanksgiving and Christmas are painful holidays and I don’t see any good way to deal with it. ’nuff said there. Sorry to turn somber.
I’ll try au fromage sometime………
AmVet
November 23rd, 2010
7:38 pm
Thanks for the JCY. Way too under appreciated.
For all of us who have heard her singing…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VD6BS5ehu0
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
7:38 pm
Note; I use and MEAN the word hate when I talk about my wife’s family.
Fred
November 23rd, 2010
7:41 pm
why is the trickle down yellow?
November 23rd, 2010
6:14 pm
Seriously one of the reasons corporate business is off is that the CEO’s are now financial types. What made the great companies GE, IBM, etc. was that fact the the founders and afterwards until recently were engineer types who actually COULD do the job, not just count the beans.
++++++++++++++
That is a very poignant point.
Bravo
November 23rd, 2010
7:41 pm
Jay why do I have this feeling that you’d be doing cartwheels if’n that corporate profits graph was reversed, with the peak @ 1950 then trending down to 2010. Who do think would provide jobs and pay taxes to keep governments (pl.) afloat if all the corporations went under.
Come to think of it Jay you work for a corporation. Go tell your CEO that you think that his/her fat cat company is making too much money.
TnGelding
November 23rd, 2010
7:43 pm
Del
November 23rd, 2010
7:34 pm
Yeah? Maybe N. Korea can get a world war started for us. But the stimulus has helped, and there’s more in the pipeline the GOP is going to try to stop. It doesn’t want a recovery before 2013.