Wednesday, September 14, 2011

To Whom Do You Go To Get The President Declared Incompetent?

Here he is today, blinded by his narcissism:


"But if you love me you've got to help me pass this bill."

What bill?

He keeps waving it around but the US House still doesn't have it.

Incompetent FBI Under Obama Again Raids an Incorrect Address

This time they got a CBS News employee's house by mistake.

Oops.

Story here.

Which Republican Woman is Desperate, Ambitious and Egotistical?

Sarah Palin, right?

No, that's The Ace of Spades on Michele Bachmann, crying "Bullshit!" on her anti-vaccination critique of Gov. Rick Perry, here:

Michelle Bachmann is desperate. She's an ambitious, egotistical woman who started running for President just two short years after she first ran for Congress. In the past two months her support went from 13% and rising to 4% and falling.

That's funny, Sarah Palin keeps launching salvos in the direction of the declared Republican candidates but keeps playing coy about her own candidacy, imagined she could resign her governorship and remain credible with the Republican rank and file, and plays the kingmaker in races all over the country on the basis of the thinnest of records of public service all the while touting that record as twenty years in public life, mutilating sweet reason all along the way.

Sounds pretty egotistical, ambitious and desperate to me.

The Republican Party still doesn't have its Margaret Thatcher. More like a pair of Molly Hatchets.

Depression of 2008-2009 Devastates Male Incomes to Levels Lower Than in 1978

And compared to the men, women still make 77 cents on the dollar.

Female participation in the workforce today merely keeps the household income picture from looking as bad as it could, but no one seems to reflect on the social costs to the country at large and to the children not raised by a parent in the home. Nor do many appreciate the massive cheapening of the worth of all labor which their participation necessarily caused starting in the 1970s.

What on earth was improved by nearly doubling the workforce and halving the income? The American family? In truth the only thing which was improved was the corporate bottom line, and the investor class which it rewarded.

And often the price was having a smart-mouthed, ungrateful, unemployed 26-year old college graduate still living in the basement trying to figure out how to pay off the college loan between bong hits. Imagine that person ever growing up, flying straight and voting for anything worthwhile except for goodies from Uncle Sam.

If the working women of America really wanted to change something, they'd unite . . . and go home.  

The data were reported here in The Wall Street Journal:

The income of the typical American family—long the envy of much of the world—has dropped for the third year in a row and is now roughly where it was in 1996 when adjusted for inflation.

The income of a household considered to be at the statistical middle fell 2.3% to an inflation-adjusted $49,445 in 2010, which is 7.1% below its 1999 peak, the Census Bureau said. ...

For a huge swath of American families, the gains of the boom of the 2000s have been wiped out.

Earnings of the typical man who works full-time year round fell, and are lower—adjusted for inflation—than in 1978.

Weiner's Seat in NY-9 Goes Republican for First Time Since 1920s

So says The Washington Post here:

Turner, who ran as a staunch conservative embracing the tea party, will be the first House Republican representing this portion of Queens since the 1920s — a striking departure from its Democratic traditions. This is the district that sent the late Geraldine Ferraro, the Democratic Party’s 1984 vice presidential nominee, to Congress, as well as Sen. Charles E. Schumer, one of the party most consistent liberal voices.

Evidently its Orthodox Jewish vote also was unhappy for some reason.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Sarah Palin's Neurons Are So Cross-Connected She Cannot Produce a Complete Sentence

You may verify the following completely incoherent excerpt for yourself, here:

Michelle Bachmann pointed out that Governor Perry's former chief of staff who then went to work for a drug company who made the drug that would be required of the Texan government to mandate that our young daughters would have to be inoculated against a potential disease from this company that his former chief of staff was lobbying for. That is crony capitalism. 

Here's the translation, in English:

Michele Bachmann pointed out that Governor Perry's former chief of staff went to work for a drug company which made the drug that the Texas government under Rick Perry required our young daughters to receive in order to be inoculated against a potential disease [.]  That is crony capitalism.

Ya got that?


Yes, it might indeed be crony capitalism, if only we understood what the hell you are trying to say, except that even if we did it pales in comparison to the way the Federal Reserve, and the Executive and Legislative branches of our government have conspired to bail out the bankers and big business at the expense of trillions to the electorate. Thanks Newt. Thanks Phil Gramm. Thanks Bill Clinton.


If only any of you had the brains to talk about that, or its twin problem ObamaCare. But no, you decide to criticize someone who's on your side just to score a few miserable points.


While I fully understand how a person of such limited intellectual ability can be awarded a college degree in our culture of decrepitude, what I cannot understand is the enthusiasm which a certain part of the electorate has for this woman. Being able to supply (!) and string together correctly a subject, verb and object should be the last thing on our list of presidential qualifications, but alas, it appears to be first.

The electorate which backs Sarah Palin should know better, and that a substantial part of it does not is the real cause for alarm.

Household Net Worth Through March 31, 2011 Still $7.7 Trillion Off Peak

As reported here on June 9th: [N]et worth was at $58.1 trillion in Q1 2011.

Barocky Road: Ice Cream of the Obama-Spread-the-Depression-Around

"Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes. The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient. The nuts and flakes are all very bitter and hard to swallow. The cost is $82.84 per scoop . . . so out of a hundred dollar bill you are at least promised some . . . CHANGE! 

"When purchased it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but after you pay for it, the ice cream is taken away and given to the person in line behind you . . . at no charge. You are left with an empty wallet, staring at an empty cone, and wondering what just happened to you. . . . Are you stimulated?"

Not quite the original Rocky Road, invented in early 1929, given that name subsequently in the ensuing economic depression of the 1930s, the name being an in your face demonstration of the pluck in the American character, as if to say, "Depression? What Depression? We'll eat your Depression and enjoy it, too!"

Today, we can't bring ourselves even to call what we're going through by its proper name.

h/t Chris

M-m-m-my Moroni

Moroni atop The Temple in Salt Lake City
Ooh, my little naive one, naive one
Open up a package of my moroni
Ooh, I think this guy is dumb, this guy is dumb
Top him with a little of my moroni

Never gonna stop, eat it up
Such a golden snack I always eat too much, then throw up
But I'll soon be back for my, my, my, yi, yi, woo
M-m-m-my moroni

Spreadin' it on really thick, in secret scripts
Spread it with a little of this moroni
Wear the glasses if you must, if you must
If you do I'm sure you won't miss my moroni

Never gonna stop, eat it up
Such a golden snack I always eat too much, then throw up
But I'll soon be back for my, my, my, yi, yi, woo
M-m-m-my moroni
M-m-m-my moroni

(belch)

Goin' to the temple now, temple now
I'm the city's biggest moroni buyer
Walkin' down the shopping aisles, shopping aisles
Filling up my basket with Joe the liar

Never gonna stop, eat it up
Such a golden snack I always eat too much, then throw up
But I'll soon be back for my, my, my, yi, yi, woo
M-m-m-m-m-m-m-my, my, my, yi, yi, woo
M-m-m-my moroni
M-m-m-my moroni
M-m-m-my moroni
M-m-m-my moroni


(with apologies to Weird Al)

Just 93 Million Full Timers in Private Sector Now Form the Tax Base for 53 Million Social Security Recipients

Some of the latest grim facts about Social Security, as reported here:

[T]otal revenue from Social Security taxes in 2010—$544.8 billion—was not enough to cover Social Security’s total benefit payments—$577.4 billion. ...

The Social Security board of trustees reported that there were 53.398 million Social Security beneficiaries in 2010. ...

93.641 million full-time private sector workers were the foundation of the tax base that supported both government at large and Social Security in particular.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Year Over Year GDP Declines From 1900 to 1949

1904 $  0.23 billion (1903 level exceeded in 1905): 3 years/a decline of less than one percent

1908 $  3.75 billion (1907 level exceeded in 1911): 5 years/a decline of eleven percent

1914 $  2.62 billion (1913 level exceeded in 1916): 4 years/a decline of less than seven percent

1921 $14.79 billion
1922 $  0.20 billion (1920 level exceeded in 1925): 6 years/a decline of almost seventeen percent

1927 $  1.40 billion (1926 level exceeded in 1928): 3 years/a decline of less than two percent

1930 $12.40 billion
1931 $14.70 billion
1932 $17.80 billion
1933 $  2.30 billion
1938 $  5.80 billion (1929 level exceeded in 1941): 13 years/a decline of over forty-five percent through 1933 with an additional six percent drop in 1938 relative to 1937

1946 $  0.80 billion (1945 level exceeded in 1947): 3 years/a decline of less than one half percent

1949 $  1.90 billion (1948 level exceeded in 1950): 3 years/a decline of less than one percent


Current revisions to GDP for 2008 and 2009 show declines of 0.3 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively, making the severity of the GDP decline most like 1938, though still not yet as severe.


Depression of 2008-2009 Comparable to 1938 in GDP Decline

Obama's Transformational Change of US Nuclear Weapons Posture Means We're Inviting Attack By Terrorists

From the source:

"[T]he United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] and in compliance with their nuclear non-proliferation obligations. ...

"The United States would only consider the use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances to defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.

"[T]he United States affirms that any state eligible for the assurance that uses chemical or biological weapons against the United States or its allies and partners would face the prospect of a devastating conventional military response – and that any individuals responsible for the attack, whether national leaders or military commanders, would be held fully accountable." (italics added)

Biggest Applause Lines From September 7, 2011 Republican Debate

"We should make English the official language of government."

-- Rep. Newt Gingrich

"But in the state of Texas, if you come into our state and you kill one of our children, you kill a police officer, you're involved with another crime and you kill one of our citizens, you will face the ultimate justice in the state of Texas, and that is, you will be executed."

-- Gov. Rick Perry

Full transcript here at The New York Times.

Reminiscent of Michael Savage's themes of borders, language and culture.

EU Crisis: PIIGS' Bankruptcy Could Dwarf Lehman's By Nearly Three Times

Phase One, in which Doris gets her oats, is now over.

Time to save your money. You're going to need it.

Carl Weinberg, the chief economist at High Frequency Economics is very worried about Europe. His central forecast is that the debt crisis will lead Europe into a depression that will mean soaring unemployment, deflation and zero interest rates for the foreseeable future.

After months of inaction, Weinberg believes the time to stop a Greek default has now passed. He believes that once it becomes clear that Greece has defaulted, the market will quickly come to the realization that other euro zone members like Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy will be allowed to fail as well.

With the so-called PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain) sitting on 3 trillion euros in debt, Weinberg is assuming losses could ultimately hit 50 cents in the euro, leading to a 1.5 trillion euro hit to the financial system.

This will in Weinberg’s opinion force banks to stop lending. Governments will then be forced to bail them out, elevating debt-to-GDP ratios for national governments to "horrific levels".

Read the full story here.

Friday, September 9, 2011

The Shiller S and P 500 Price to Earnings Ratio Stands at 19.84

As reported here.

1974 to 1984 was one hell of a buying opportunity by comparison.

Unmanned Drone




















h/t Steyn