STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday December 6

Source: du

STOCK MARKET WATCH, Monday December 6, 2010

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Euro, Yen, Loonie, Silver and Gold

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Handy Links - Market Data and News:Economic Calendar    Marketwatch Data    Bloomberg Economic News    Yahoo! Finance    Google Finance    Bank Tracker    
Credit Union Tracker    Daily Job Cuts

Handy Links - Economic Blogs:
The Big Picture    Financial Sense    Calculated Risk    Naked Capitalism    Credit Writedowns
Brad DeLong      Bonddad    Atrios    goldmansachs666    The Stand-Up Economist

Handy Links - Government Issues:
LegitGov    Open Government    Earmark Database    USA spending.gov

Handy Links - Videos:
The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class    Charlie Rose talks with Roubini    Charlie Rose talks with Krugman
    William Black: This Economic Disaster    Bill Moyers with Kevin Drum and David Corn

Bush Administration Officials Convicted = 2
Names: David Safavian, James Fondren
Dishonorable Mention: former House majority leader, Tom DeLay

Bush Administration Officials Charged = 1
Name(s): Richard Lopez Razo

Financial Sector Officials Convicted since 1/20/09 = 11

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This thread contains opinions and observations. Individuals may post their experiences, inferences and opinions on this thread. However, it should not be construed as advice. It is unethical (and probably illegal) for financial recommendations to be given here.

Read more: du

First Rec!

Good mornng Ozy. December is too cold and too short.

And thanks. That cartoon struck me the same way: funny but then I shook my head at the bone-headed reality that inspired it.

funny, but it's reality

Beat me to it.

Well, I'll tell you what! For old times sake, Ill hold off till today Noon (PST). You can then scoop me over at CT! I'll be watching for it!

U & F, pnorman

Welcome to SMW!

I guess the GOP is banking on that somehow.

I guess tax cuts for the rich can salvage an economy that's been sunk under 10,000 feet of ice cold seawater.

Discussion of the past, present, and future history of gold as money..MUST READ

http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2009/12/gold-and-central-banks-game-theory.html

But a trade currency backed by a basket of PM's, REM's, Petroleum, and perhaps even generated electricity I can see in the near future.

I believe just about everyone but the world's CB's and Wall St are tired (was going to FED up) of the constant flux and currency manipulation games which make the trading desk more important to a manufacturer or airline, than the assembly line or cabin crews.

Wall St and the Central Banks are the only ones big enough to enforce a new regime. Unless they all go boom, and governments start to mean something again.

Maybe China, and perhaps India? I don't think they are comprehensive enough to do it all on their own, with or without the EU.

Perhaps the EU has the right plan==a continental currency market, with some negotiations between continents based solely on trade goods....and bye=bye Big Finance.

Opec and the BRICS.

China may be setting the stage to allow the T market to tank, or even force the issue with a dump, factoring the appreciation of hard assets and a growing domestic market as the cover.
:shrug:
What is not in doubt, PM's still have willing buyers waiting

Positive manufacturing information from China also pushed crude prices higher.

That is a great cartoon!!

This sounds like an opportunity for many to sharpen their rhetorical skills, yours truly included, and send him something. Be polite, of course.

From this loosely written AP piece:


I would start by pointing out economic policies that have not permeated the whole economic strata.

What say you?

Read Democratic Underground's daily Stock Markeet Watch and weekly Week-End Economists threads for the past three years. Skip the cheerleading and back slapping. Just SMW and WEE.

Have we been wrong?



Tansy Gold, rubber stamp at the ready

It's pretty clear that Obama lives in a windowless room, tended occasionally by his keepers.

Nothing you or I would say would ever reach.

Perhaps he should ask Paul Krugman?

And turn him lose at a CIA covert ops convention.

Ass clown was on 60 Minutes last night. I'm still furious. Clueless bastard.

His audience is the upper most wealthiest 1%. So he really is not talking to us, but reassuring the super wealthy.

Bailouts are for the banksters and more bonuses.

QE is to allow the wealthy to siphon more money from us so they don't get stuck with toxic investments.

It's all a scam.

TG almost never watches teh tv. . . . ..

His whole premise is, "Well yeah, we've got a lot of unemployment, and it's going to take 5 or 6 years to get it down to an "acceptable" level.

Now we know how we have bubbles and collapses. He see's numbers, and doesn't understand that unemployment is a CRISIS! He doesn't understand that we need a program to put people back to work before that. The entire middle class will be impoverished by then unless action is taken. The market ain't gonna do it. And does he think that Congress will keep extending unemployment for another 5 years?

I think he went to Princeton. And I think Ann Coulter did too. Would it be stretch to think that they fucked each others brains out?

Can't lose what you don't got...

and then Michigan Law School (oh, the shame).

How can you ask questions like this when Wikipedia is like 3 clicks away? And how dare you put that image in my head? Ouch! Ouch! Steel wool in my ears hurts!

I'll never be able to watch Flashdance again without thinking the Ben Bernank and eeeiuw Coulter.



:evilgrin:



TG

Am I going to have to wear sunglasses to read SMW now?

:spank:

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/12/jim-bunning-does-not-heart-ben-bernanke/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBigPicture+%28The+Big+Picture%29

Also:

http://themessthatgreenspanmade.blogspot.com/

and

http://timiacono.com/

http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/12/fed-chairman-never-learn.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CalculatedRisk+%28Calculated+Risk%29

In his 2001 testimony, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan testified before the House Committee on the Budget, and while offering his usual cautions and caveats, Greenspan talked of surpluses for the foreseeable future.

Greenspan spoke of "an on-budget surplus of almost $500 billion ... in fiscal year 2010". The National Debt would soon be retired and the Boomer's retirements secure. Greenspan offered a projection of "an implicit on-budget surplus under baseline assumptions well past 2030 despite the budgetary pressures from the aging of the baby-boom generation, especially on the major health programs."

How did that work out?

The key point is that for the Fed to remain independent, the Fed Chairman - as a rule - should avoid all discussions of fiscal policy.

Now comes Fed Chairman Bernanke today on the deficit. From Ryan Grim at Huffington Post:

"Well, Senator, I was about to address entitlements," Bernanke replied . "I think you can't tackle the problem in the medium term without doing something about getting entitlements under control and reducing the costs, particularly of health care."

Bernanke reminded Congress that it has the power to repeal Social Security and Medicare.

"It's only mandatory until Congress says it's not mandatory. And we have no option but to address those costs at some point or else we will have an unsustainable situation," said Bernanke.
...
"Willie Sutton robbed banks because that's where the money is, as he put it," Bernanke said. "The money in this case is in entitlements."

No matter if people agree or disagree with Bernanke, to maintain independence the Fed Chairman should not be commenting on the deficit and entitlements.

:puke:

My first suggestion would be early retirement for the team, from the head on down, and include Justice while you're at it...

Back when the Dems were in control.

Why should I go out of my way to make the 'pubes look better?

If they really want to read them they can probably find them in the round-file. Filed in the category Notes from Under-The-Bus.

:donut: and lurkers: The cartoon was so true and so sad. I can't decide wether to laugh or cry.

Some observations: Obama does not need advice, that is a ruse. We voted for him for a reason....his platform, his plan, and for what he stood for. He has not been true to his word. Yes, I expected him to give up some things in negotiation, but damn, he gave up the candy store before he sat down at the table. The voters were talking to him in Massachuttes, and they were talking to him in the elections in November but he didn't listen. Instead we, the loyal base are labeled retarded out of touch wacko liberals. They make fun of us because they think we aren't paying attention or are too stupid to notice when we are being screwed. A letter and a couple of hundred dollars won't buy him a clue. All I would tell him at this point....Well fuck you and the horse you came to town on. And Bernanke, he is just not a tool of the wealthy, he is just a tool. I think the FED should be reined in and I hope congress has the balls, oh wait, I forget I am talking about congress-the best government you can buy.....:rofl: sorry I had a brain fart.

I have a niece visiting from Detroit. She said it was terrible there. They are the only people living in their apartment building. All the families they know have been slowly moving out. Many have been relocating to Texas and other places that still have something other than a bare bones economy. I am lucky to live in Texas where we still have an economy but even we are having trouble now.

I went through a horrible time of joblessness in the 80's but I was in my 30's and was able to re-educate and retool with a prospect of eventually getting a job. These days, even if you retool, you have no better guarentee you will have a job to pay off your student loans. Unemployment is the worst thing that can happen to you just short of death or disease. I have nothing but compassion for the people going through it.

Thanks for the tip about "Northern Exposure". Both the Kid and I enjoyed the first disk, and I've put the rest in queue with Netflix.

So nice to see something that isn't absurdly fantastical, vampire-ridden, or gratuitously violent and obscene.

And it's a real treat to see real American Indians, as opposed to the "tribes of Israel" which provided the "Indian" actors in the classic films....

and her family, and of course Ed Chigliak.

neither stone, nor brick, nor Madoff....

(Up a little. Good day.)
New hinge and a clean keyboard.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,270,171,314,129.54 + 4,570,794,924,923.61
UP 827,003,518.64 + UP 5,220,653,557.48

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,217.17 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.65, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,832,192 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $44,528.74.
A family of three owes $133,586.22. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 5,571,056,104.47.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,899,739,273.13.

There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 43 reports in 63 days of FY2011 averaging 6.50B$ per report, 4.43B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 780 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
12/02/2010 13,840,966,239,053.15 BHO (UP 3,214,089,190,140.07 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,279,343,208,161.40 ------------* * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,618,416,999,665.26 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
11/10/2010 +001,354,516,168.52 ------------*********
11/12/2010 +001,236,686,699.48 ------------*********
11/15/2010 +065,794,144,300.11 ------------********** Mon
11/16/2010 +000,750,562,513.87 ------------********
11/17/2010 +000,670,859,874.97 ------------********
11/18/2010 -002,271,166,541.35 --
11/19/2010 +002,392,756,046.31 ------------*********
11/22/2010 +000,068,056,529.55 ------------******* Mon
11/23/2010 -000,022,584,331.05 ----
11/24/2010 +000,282,063,227.86 ------------********
11/26/2010 +003,743,380,701.15 ------------*********
11/29/2010 +000,134,381,143.81 ------------******** Mon
11/30/2010 +065,487,463,946.10 ------------**********
12/01/2010 -005,680,380,232.98 --
12/02/2010 +000,827,003,518.64 ------------********

134,767,743,564.99 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4640272&mesg_id=4640329

(Down a little. Good day.)
The Kazoo had an inch of snow. 96 had blizzard squalls.
(Debt under Obama seems to jump up big then drop slowly maybe up a little and down a little for days--repeat.)
= Held by the Public + Intragovernmental(FICA)
= 9,270,119,745,304.06 + 4,563,391,993,688.14
DOWN 51,568,825.48 + DOWN 7,402,931,235.47

Source: Debt to the penny:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

THINKING IN BILLIONS: Think 3 or 4 dollars per billion in a 311-Million person America.
If every American, man, woman and child puts in $3.22 THAT'S 1B$, and $3,217.10 makes 1T$.
A family of three: Mom, Dad, Child: $9.65, ABOUT TEN BUCKS for a 1B$ federal program.
I hope that is clear. However, I'd suggest using $3 per 1B$ to underestimate it.
Use $4 per 1B$ to overestimate the cost when thinking: Is the federal program worth it?
Aid to Dependant Children: 2B$/yr =$8/yr(a movie a year) Family of 3: $24/yr(an hour of bowling)

PERSONALIZED DEBT:
Every 12 seconds we net gain another American, so at the end of the workday of the report, there should be 310,839,392 people in America.
http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html ON 10/04/2010 04:37 -> 310,403,677
Currently, each of these Americans owe $44,503.73.
A family of three owes $133,511.18. (And that is IN ADDITION to their mortgage.)

ANALYSIS:
There were 21 reports in the last 30 days.
The average for the last 21 reports is 5,466,662,337.52.
The average for the last 30 days would be 3,826,663,636.26.

There were 252 reports in 365 days of FY2007 averaging 1.99B$ per report, 1.37B$/day.
There were 253 reports in 366 days of FY2008 averaging 4.02B$ per report, 2.78B$/day.
There were 75 reports in 112 days of GWB's part of FY2009 averaging 8.03B$ per report, 5.38B$/day.
There were 174 reports in 253 days of Obama's part of FY2009 averaging 7.33B$ per report, 5.07B$/day so far.
There were 249 reports in 365 days of FY2009 averaging 7.57B$ per report, 5.16B$/day.
There were 251 reports in 365 days of FY2010 averaging 6.58B$ per report, 4.53B$/day.
There were 44 reports in 64 days of FY2011 averaging 6.18B$ per report, 4.25B$/day.
Above line should be okay

PROJECTION:
There are 779 days remaining in this Obama 1st term.
By that time the debt could be between 14.9 and 17.9T$.
It could be higher. It could be lower.

HISTORICAL:
President's term begins and ends on Jan 20.
(Guess who might want to hide the Reagan Bush years. Jan 20 data is missing before 1993.)
01/20/1993 _4,188,092,107,183.60 WJC Inaugural
01/22/2001 _5,728,195,796,181.57 WJC (UP 1,540,103,688,997.97)
01/20/2009 10,626,877,048,913.08 GWB (UP 4,898,681,252,731.43)
12/03/2010 13,833,511,738,992.20 BHO (UP 3,206,634,690,079.12 so far since Obama took office.)

FISCAL YEAR DEBT CHANGE, Sep 30 prior year to Sep 30 named year:
(One "* " for each 40B$ reached)
FY1994 +0,281,261,026,873.94 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1995 +0,281,232,990,696.07 ------------* * * * * * * WJC
FY1996 +0,250,828,038,426.34 ------------* * * * * * WJC
FY1997 +0,188,335,072,261.61 ------------* * * * WJC
FY1998 +0,113,046,997,500.28 ------------* * WJC
FY1999 +0,130,077,892,735.81 ------------* * * WJC
FY2000 +0,017,907,308,253.43 ------------WJC
FY2001 +0,133,285,202,313.20 ------------* * * C&B
01-WJC +0,053,598,528,417.78 ------------* WJC 31% of FY, 40% of FY-Debt
01-GWB +0,079,686,673,895.42 ------------* GWB 69% of FY, 60% of FY-Debt
FY2002 +0,420,772,553,397.10 ------------* * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2003 +0,554,995,097,146.46 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2004 +0,595,821,633,586.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2005 +0,553,656,965,393.18 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2006 +0,574,264,237,491.73 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2007 +0,500,679,473,047.25 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2008 +1,017,071,524,649.92 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB
FY2009 +1,885,104,106,599.30 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * B&O
09GWB +0,602,152,152,000.60 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * GWB 31% of FY, 32% of FY-Debt
09-BHO +1,282,951,954,598.70 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO 69% of FY, 68% of FY-Debt
FY2010 +1,651,794,027,380.00 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO
FY2011 +0,271,888,708,100.50 ------------* * * * * * BHO
Endof11 +1,550,615,288,385.66 ------------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * BHO

LAST FIFTEEN REPORTS OF ADDITIONS TO PUBLIC DEBT(NOT FICA):
11/12/2010 +001,236,686,699.48 ------------*********
11/15/2010 +065,794,144,300.11 ------------********** Mon
11/16/2010 +000,750,562,513.87 ------------********
11/17/2010 +000,670,859,874.97 ------------********
11/18/2010 -002,271,166,541.35 --
11/19/2010 +002,392,756,046.31 ------------*********
11/22/2010 +000,068,056,529.55 ------------******* Mon
11/23/2010 -000,022,584,331.05 ----
11/24/2010 +000,282,063,227.86 ------------********
11/26/2010 +003,743,380,701.15 ------------*********
11/29/2010 +000,134,381,143.81 ------------******** Mon
11/30/2010 +065,487,463,946.10 ------------**********
12/01/2010 -005,680,380,232.98 --
12/02/2010 +000,827,003,518.64 ------------********
12/03/2010 -000,051,568,825.48 ----

133,361,658,570.99 Total of 15 above reports.

Heavy borrowing seems to start after 09/18/2008 while Bush was in power JUST BEFORE fiscal year end.
Bush admin borrowed $962,245,245,654.01 in those last 124 days in office crossing two fiscal years.
$360,093,093,653.42 in last 12 days of FY2008, and $602,152,152,000.59 in subsequent 112 days before leaving office.

For a prettier and more explanatory view of our nation's debt:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
DUer primer on National debt

(Debt to the penny keeps changing. Stuff is missing. Best to keep our own history.) LAST REPORT:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4644273&mesg_id=4644290

Jobless recoveries do not exist. Period. Certain thresholds must be met before a "recovery" lives up to its name.


Those who are employed can feel pretty good about ourselves in that we are a productive bunch. Very productive. So much so that businesses do not need to hire more people. That was clearly in evidence Friday when stats showed that businesses added a meager 39K jobs.


Other things will also keep unemployment high. GDP, and with it consumer activity, will need to accelerate to the point at which businesses will feel comfortable enough to hire more.

The article referenced here does a good job at summarizing conditions that have stymied growth and a genuine "recovery." But I stick with my original position: There is no such thing as a jobless recovery.

They never actually say where these factories are located in these puff pieces, do they?

From Bloomberg:


How tone deaf can a person get? Woe to the politician that embraces the cuts on social programs. The individual tax rate cuts target the highest income brackets. Corporate taxes would also be reduced under this plan. Cost of living will naturally increase as the gas tax leaps higher. This plan is shamefully, punitively regressive and suicidal to anyone in public office to seeks to implement the items listed here.

Unfortunately, it will only go to pay of the interest payments on the national debt, or maybe for a few more toys for Afganistan or Iran or North Korea, or Iraq, or .....

From Bloomberg:


Mitch McConnell says that he expects unemployment benefits will be extended. Wonders never cease.

This quote is like fingernails on a chalkboard:


You cannot argue with invincible ignorance.

:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm:

And then

:cry:

Need over 125,000 to take up just the new entrants to the work force each month.

30 million, at least, needing jobs or working part-time not by choice, or too disheartened to keep being rejected. To see unemployment down to around 6% we need at least 20 million of them fully employed again.

If we create 250,000 jobs EVERY month for years, something we have never accomplished in the entire history of the United States...

It would take us 13 years and 4 months to employ that many people.

Since it is delusional to think this is possible to do this without a massive government program slightly larger than the size of the grants and loans given to European and domestic banks and investors who made really stupid bets with our investment banks, or some miracle of technology which would require a huge investment in human capital, a better estimate might be 20 years.

The largest segment of job creation is now in the $20,000/yr mostly part-time arena that has become the new norm in our market, which is very likely to lead to decreases in public employees such as teachers, firefighters, and many other categories, cutting of medicare and medicaid, and a further decrease in the amount of income that might be set aside for retirement across the entire economy.

The traitorous bastard Bernank's estimates were made during a speech in which he announced the gifting of more money to his friends at the investment banks. His boss thinks it is just a dandy idea.

Where is the party that supports labor and jobs? Or has everyone just resigned themselves to supporting the oligarchy?

Just watch his face twitching all over the place to see what a lifetime of lying will do to a person. He cited false employment numbers, false education numbers, false bailout numbers, false reasons for recession and false solutions. It was like watching a bad community college teacher trying to explain something, his entire existence is based on a false paradigm he's built up over his deluded lifetime. I expected nothing else from a scripted TV show but it was an added bonus to see his numerous facial ticks.

This was the topic of many cartoons I viewed this morning. Rogers hit the right tone with this one.

The one at the top, or the one on 60 Minutes last night?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/opinion/05rich.html?_r=2

...And so, as the big bipartisan event finally arrived last week, he handed them an unexpected gift, a freeze on federal salaries. Then he made a hostage video hailing the White House meeting as “a sincere effort on the part of everybody involved to actually commit to work together.” Hardly had this staged effusion of happy talk been disseminated than we learned of Mitch McConnell’s letter vowing to hold not just the president but the entire government hostage by blocking all legislation until the Bush-era tax cuts were extended for the top 2 percent of American households.

The captors will win this battle, if they haven’t already by the time you read this, because Obama has seemingly surrendered his once-considerable abilities to act, decide or think. That pay freeze made as little sense intellectually as it did politically. It will save the government a scant $5 billion over two years and will actually cost the recovery at least as much, since much of that $5 billion would have been spent on goods and services by federal workers with an average yearly income of $75,000. By contrast, the extension of the Bush tax cuts to the $250,000-plus income bracket will add $80 billion to the deficit in two years, much of which will just be banked by the wealthier beneficiaries.

Obama didn’t even point out this discrepancy — as he might have, had he chosen to make a stirring call for shared sacrifice rather than just hand the Republicans a fiscal olive branch that they could then use as a stick to beat him. He was too busy tending to his other announcement of the week: dispatching Timothy Geithner to lead “negotiations” with the Republicans on the tax cuts. This presidency has been one long blur of such “negotiations” — starting with the not-on-C-Span horse-trading that allowed corporate players to blunt health care and financial regulatory reform. Next up is a “negotiation” with the United States Chamber of Commerce, which has spent well over $100 million trying to shoot down Obama’s policies over the last two years. It’s enough to arouse nostalgia for the “beer summit” with Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the Cambridge cop, which at least was transparent and did no damage to the public interest.

The cliché criticisms of Obama are (from the left) that he is a naïve centrist, not the audacious liberal that Democrats thought they were getting, and (from the right) that he is a socialist out to impose government on every corner of American life. But the real problem is that he’s so indistinct no one across the entire political spectrum knows who he is. A chief executive who repeatedly presents himself as a conciliator, forever searching for the “good side” of all adversaries and convening summits, in the end comes across as weightless, if not AWOL. A Rorschach test may make for a fine presidential candidate — when everyone projects their hopes on the guy. But it doesn’t work in the Oval Office: These days everyone is projecting their fears on Obama instead....

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/12/04-1

Quiz: What's responsible for the lousy economy most Americans continue to wallow in?

A. Big government, bureaucrats, and the cultural and intellectual elites who back them.

B. Big business, Wall Street, and the powerful and privileged who represent them.

These are the two competing stories Americans are telling one another... B is closer to the truth.

But A is the story Republicans and right-wingers tell. It's a dangerous story because it deflects attention from the real problem and makes it harder for America to focus on the real solution - which is more widely shared prosperity. (I get into how we might do this in my new book, Aftershock.)

A is also the story President Obama is telling, indirectly, through his deficit commission, his freeze on federal pay, his freeze on discretionary spending, and his waivering on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

Most other Washington Democrats are falling into the same trap.

If Obama and the Democrats were serious about story B they'd at least mention it...By telling story A and burying story B, the President legitimizes everything the right has been saying. He doesn't preempt them; he fuels them. He gives them more grounds for voting against raising the debt ceiling in a few weeks. He strengthens their argument against additional spending for extended unemployment benefits. He legitimizes their argument against additional stimulus spending.

Christmas dogs.

Yeah, scratch right there. That's the spot. Oo-ooh!

I'd send my buddies to obliterate this.

That's the FIRST time I ever tried it, and it works! Yea for Demeter!

And I might add that the cartoon is probably the best ever!

:spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray::spray:

It's like those warnings on the side-view mirrors of cars....

Men keep saying that is "six inches" (My Sister is an engineer)

www.aabcd.net

Your donations could help support a billionaire in need. Please won't you give?

:eyes:

and STILL it's insufficient. The PTB will have to pay overtime to baby the index right to the closing.

Pretty soon it will be all manipulation, all the time. And then they might as well just shut it down entirely and make up numbers.

I'm signing off, before I let lose a very long string of expletives, that a lot of you wouldn't want to hear.

I'm so disgusted, I may not be around for a while. Bye

It's bad enough when the president caves in, and extends tax cuts for the wealthy. And this person wanted me to call a Republican (though retiring in a couple weeks), to repeal DADT. Heck no, it doesn't make any difference any more, Obama has lost his base, and more than likely Obama will cave on DADT too.