The two powerhouse retailers in the U.S. reported results this morning. No matter how you dice it, the results reflect a recessionary environment in the U.S. Wal-Mart’s U.S. comparable store sales went up 1.5%. You have to dig deep into their press release to find out that 1.4% of that increase is due to inflation. Their customer count went up by a whole 0.1% over last year. Does that sound like the results you would get during an improving economy?
Target is spinning their results as strong and the MSM will dutifully report it as so. Their comparable store sales rose by 2.9%. Sounds decent until your dig into the details and find that 2.4% of that increase is simply due to inflationary price increases. Their customer count was up a whopping 0.5% over last year. And that great increase in profits is a sham. They sold their credit card portfolio for a ONE-TIME accounting gain of $156 million. Retailers who are optimistic about the future always sell off their credit card receivables, right? If you back out that one time accounting gain, you see that their actual business saw profits PLUNGE by 14% over last year.
So the facts again prove that we are in a recession. I’m sure you’ll hear the same thing on CNBC today.
Target posts higher quarterly profit, revenue
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Target Corp. (NYSE:TGT) reported net profit of $637 million, or 96 cents a share, for the third quarter ended Oct. 27, up from $555 million, or 82 cents, earned in the same period a year ago. Quarterly revenue reached $16.93 billion, including sales of $16.6 billion, from the prior year’s $16.4 billion. The latest quarter’s profit included a gain of 15 cents a share from Target’s pending sale of its credit-card receivables portfolio. The consensus of analyst estimates, as compiled by FactSet Research, had been for 78 cents a share and $16.6 billion, respectively. On an adjusted basis to reflect period-to-period comparisons for its U.S. operations, Target said earnings for the latest quarter would have been 90 cents a share, up from 86 cents a year earlier. Target also pegged fourth-quarter net profit at $1.45 to $1.55 a share, reflecting a projected drag of 19 cents for costs related to its entry into the Canadian market.
Wal-Mart profit increases by 9%, shares fall
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said Thursday its third-quarter profit rose 9% to $3.64 billion, or $1.08 a share, from $3.34 billion, or 96 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Sales rose 3.4% to $113.2 billion. Wall Street analysts expected the Bentonville, Ark., retailer to earn $1.07 a share on sales of $114 billion, according to a survey by FactSet. Wal-Mart said it expects full-year profit of $4.88 to $4.93 a share, compared to its earlier estimate of $4.83 to $4.93 a share. Analysts are looking for earnings for the year of $4.93 a share. “Current macroeconomic conditions continue to pressure our customers,” the company said. “The holiday season is predicted to be very competitive, but we are well prepared to deliver on the value and low prices our customers expect.” Shares of Wal-Mart fell 2.7% in premarket trades.
Eddie says:
Aha! I’ve been expecting this since you posted on JCP.
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15th November 2012 at 8:12 am
Kill Bill says:
Was this the profit/sales for just the US Walmarts or does it include its stores in other [55] countries under different names, such as Walmex?
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15th November 2012 at 9:01 am
Administrator says:
KB
It’s their worldwide results. I talked about their U.S. results.
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15th November 2012 at 9:02 am
Administrator says:
Eddie
Fourteen years working for a big box retailer can’t be purged from my system.
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15th November 2012 at 9:04 am
Kill Bill says:
About what I figured.
So the recession, or downturn, extends beyond our borders.
Who could possibly be shocked by that. But dont worry Jesus will soon be spooning magic dust to Santas elves and reindeer and toy companies to inundate your beatiful children with a ludicrous amount of advertising propaganda sending parents out on Black Friday with boots, gloves and pepper spray to battle, sometimes to the death, of other kids parents.
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15th November 2012 at 9:08 am
Administrator says:
RECESSION BITCHEZ!!!!!
Initial Claims Soar To 439K, Non-Seasonally Adjusted Surge By Whopping 104,548 In One Week
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 11/15/2012 08:47 -0500
Get ready for the “it’s all Sandy’s fault” barrage, because the post-reelection status quo sure will desperately need it today. The latest initial claims data posted a multi-year high 104,548 surge in weekly NSA claims from 361,800 to 466,348, and even the Seasonally adjusted number soaring from 361K to 439K on expectations of a 375K print. In other words, a complete disaster for any economic data bulls. What is truly amusing is that the same Wall Street “experts” who set expectations were unable to foresee the Sandy effect that every “macrotourist” on Twitter apparently is so very aware of. Also, it is apparently also “Sandy’s fault” (now that the Bush excuse is back in retirement) that the prior week’s claims were revised from 355K to 361K. Basically, just as we said 3 weeks ago, ignore every negative data point: it is Sandy’s fault. However, for the snapback, when there actually is good news to be had, well, “four more years.” Finally, to all the Sandy apologists: is the logic here that: if Hurricane, then Fire everyone? Because that is what is implied. To summarize: a hurricane is good for GDP (lots of broken windows), but any actually negative news (surge in firings) is perfectly expected.
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15th November 2012 at 9:12 am
Welshman says:
We are in for a world of hurt in 2013. The world is just one BIG PEAK of everything. The biggest PEAK is political bullshit.
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15th November 2012 at 9:23 am
Administrator says:
NOTHING LIKE DECLINING REAL WAGES & RISING PRICES TO SPUR A RECOVERY
U.S. consumer prices inch up in October
Costs of food, rent and housing increase; gasoline prices fall
By Jeffry Bartash, MarketWatch
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — U.S. consumers paid somewhat higher prices for food, rent and housing in October, offsetting a decline in the price of gasoline at the pump.
The consumer-price index edged up a seasonally adjusted 0.1% last month, the Labor Department said Thursday. That matched the forecast of economists surveyed by MarketWatch.
Inflation-adjusted hourly wages, meanwhile, fell by 0.2% in October. Wages fell slightly, even as consumer prices rose, to account for the decline.
Real wages have fallen 0.7% over the past 12 months, meaning consumers have less buying power compared with one year ago.
Consumers got some relief in October, however, from the falling price of gasoline. The government’s price index of gas, which spiked 16.6% from July to September, tapered off 0.6% last month.
The more important number to consumers — the actual cost of a gallon of gas — fell by almost 7% in October and retail prices continued to decline in the first two weeks of November. The average national cost is about $3.50 a gallon, down from nearly $4 a few months ago.
Falling costs of gasoline and natural gas led to a 0.2% drop in the government’s broader fuel index. Energy prices are still 4% higher compared with one year ago, however.
Pricier food
Food costs, on the other hand, climbed 0.2% last month. A major drought during the summer boosted the price of many crops, including those used to feed livestock. The cost of a wide variety of foodstuffs, ranging from dairy and vegetables to meat and poultry, increased in October.
Over the past 12 months, food prices have risen an unadjusted 1.7%.
Excluding food and gas, core consumer prices rose 0.2% in October, mostly because of higher rents and rising prices for homes. That was faster than the 0.1% increase expected in the MarketWatch survey.
Core prices have risen an unadjusted 2.0% over the past year, unchanged from the prior month, and within the Federal Reserve’s target for inflation.
The core rate is viewed by the Federal Reserve as a good barometer of long-term inflationary trends because food and energy costs can jump sharply from month to month.
The broader consumer price index has risen an unadjusted 2.2% over the past year, up from 2% in the prior month.
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15th November 2012 at 9:27 am
Administrator says:
ABANDON ALL HOPE, ALL YE THAT ENTER
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15th November 2012 at 9:52 am
sensetti says:
SURPRISE! JOBLESS CLAIMS UP 78,000 WEEK AFTER ELECTION; PA, OH WORST HIT
Both states had been targeted by the presidential campaigns. President Obama highlighted his record of job creation in Ohio in particular, focusing on the automobile industry. The state reported 6,450 new jobless claims in the week after the election–second-highest after Pennsylvania, which recorded 7,766 new claims.
Note to the good citizens of PA and Ohio, just lean forward, I am sure it will all workout just fine. Who needs a job ?
LMFAO
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15th November 2012 at 10:49 am
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:
We are in the initial stages of a deflationary collapse. There is no way to escape from this. When the low-end retailers start dropping off the map, including McD’s, it is a sign that at least 50% of the country has NO MONEY TO SPEND.
This, of course, puts the complete LIE to the idiotic idea that Food Stamps and Welfare stimulate economy activity. I’d like to shove that load of crap right down Botox Nancy’s throat.
We need a complete thread devoted to all the NEGATIVE economic news that will come out after the election. It might require about 15 terrabytes to store it, lol. Also need an emphasis on how BAD the Obama economy really is in the very places that put him back in power.
Oh, and unemployment claims are UP 78,000.
Wow. Who is gonna pay into the system to pay for all the NEW entitlements much less the ONGOING ones?
Bug……..Meet Windshield.
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15th November 2012 at 12:16 pm
GSTzman says:
You too, Admin??? I slaved as a 3rd party service company for Satan’s Spawn Home Depot for 15 years. Love to swap stories over drinks someday.
Fucking WalMart is advertising people use layaway to buy $9 Christmas toys!!!!!
I think this will be our last ‘fun’ Christmas.
Christmas 2013 won’t look the same as in the past.
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15th November 2012 at 2:12 pm
randy says:
Only an idiot would argue that Food Stamps and Welfare would stimulate the economy….
But there is the argument that all money put into these programs flows through the economy…
These programs that give to induividuals are given in the light that the entire amount given will be spent….
Those receiving welfare and food stamps are not saving any of this money, all of this money moves from the government to the indivicual, and right back into the ecoonomy…
So, for that particular reason, entitlement programs do not, and are not designed, to create growth in gdp, because they don’t provide capital to be leveraged into growth…
They provide static spending that supports the economy….
It is supposed to be that corporate, commodity, and cronyism subsidies (welfare and food stamps for the rich) are supposed to allow the repurposing of profits to be leveraged into capital that is supposed to grow the economy because there is something left over….
Something that doesn’t happen to people collecting government entitlements….
Entitlements are designed to provide a basic shelter, and food assistance…after that, there is not supposed to be anything left over…
Wake up you morons….
Its not the poor that are tearing down the economy, as they have nothing to do with the idea of growth in the economy…
Its the rich not paying taxes, hording “cash on the sidelines”, and refusing to pay a living wage – shipping jobs offshore, while collecting government subsidies to do it….
You jarheads never point the finger towards the people responsible….
But thats to be expected of a populace who believe that a guy in a cave halfway around the world was able to bring down three building on 911…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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15th November 2012 at 2:17 pm
JJ3 says:
Yeah Randy there are no “poor people’ taking advantage of the system. They are all just helpless “poor people” who desperately need money from the government and are all trying to get employment if they just could. All the “poor people” want to work so bad don’t they? All the “poor people” haven’t figured out that they can make more money by having more babies than they ever could working for minimum wage have they?
Yes please let’s blame it on the rich people hoarding cash on the sidelines. If all those “rich bastards” would just start spending the cash they have everything would be fine right?
Of course you forget the phrase that “cash is king” and you also forget that the undesirable business environment created by the current administation and all of the uncertainly that comes along with it spurs those rich bastards to want to hold on to their cash for a rainy day, just in case. I don’t know if I own a business I am holding on to my cash too because everything is so uncertain because of the policies of this administration.
But please let’s all vote based on our positions on gay marriage, immigration and abortion because that is what makes the economy move right?
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15th November 2012 at 2:56 pm
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:
@randy: You are a fucking moron. You have swallowed the libtard proglodyte baby batter Kool aid in one big 32 oz gulp.
You clearly have very little idea of how wealth and capital is generated, the risk that business incur in growing and bringing new products/services to market and the role of tax policy in stimulating or, as in the case of Obama, crushing business activity.
“Its the rich not paying taxes” you say. Really, and just how much taxes do you think “the rich” should pay? 50%, 75%, 100% of their income? And what is you idea of “rich”? And you the fuck are you, or the government, to decide what “rich” is and what people do with their money??
The “tax the rich” meme of Obama will generate a whopping $50 billion dollars. That’s it. Which will not even fund ONE FUCKING MONTH of the fed.gov at current spending.
Tell me, if you are even employed, have you ever worked for a person taking EBT cards or on welfare? Do you think the lives of people needing EBT cards, welfare, section 8 housing is something great, fulfilling and ennobling? Please do a photo tour of Detroit and let us know what a wonderland those neighborhoods are.
“Hording cash on the sidelines” you say? Sure as shit, people with money are not going to put it at risk when an avowed wealth distributer Marxist like Obama & his ilk are in charge. Do you have any idea or appreciation for the concept of PRIVATE PROPERTY? Just because parasitic scum like you and your buddies “need or want” something DOES NOT MEAN THAT THOSE MORE FORTUNATE HAVE TO PROVIDE IT TO YOU. Whatcha’ gonna do? Take their assets at the barrel of a gun? If so, that puts you squarely on the side of Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao.
As to CEOs “refusing to pay a living wage-shipping jobs offshore, while collecting govt subsidies to do it” – good on yer for faithfully regurgitating the Obama campaign’s totally false talking points. You are a good drone.
Firstly, go read anything llpoh on this blog write on this topic. Secondly, US companies find it completely impossible to compete with offshore companies due to the crushing burden of US taxes, EPA regulations, IRS penalties, OSHA/HIPPA/whatever. Offshore companies don’t have to contend with any of this. Thirdly, there was no govt subsidy to sent stuff offshore until the Obama stimulus came along, Fisker, etal.
You need to wake up randy, and pull your head out of your ass. You need to actually use your brain for something other than storing reality-challenged bull crap from the Obama campaign talking points. If you read this blog, no one is particularly happy about the strangle hold that Wall Street has on the entire country, yeah.
Get a fucking clue, randy, and stop ending your sentences with ……. It makes you look even stupider than you do, like you can’t even finish a thought or be bothered to as you are soooo special, sooo smart and soooo kewl.
Sheesh.
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15th November 2012 at 2:59 pm
randy says:
And JJ does the pivot….NoW its those taking advantage of the system…Not just the FSA….So I will pivot…
Why do the rich need cash for rainy days…they’re rich…Not only can they go somewhere thats sunny, Methinks that they do so that they can avoid paying taxes in the US, thereby taking advantage of YOU workin folk who have to save for rainy days, and who cannot escape rainy days, because YOU are not rich…
Have rich people forgot Fords idom? Pay your workers enough to buy the products that the company makes, and give them good wages, saftey nets, and security, so they don’t sabotage the product thus hurting the company….And so that they come to work everyday…
If I were poor, and I had children, and i had a choice between welfare with health care and minimum wage and no health care, the choice would be obvious…
And if you were ever in that situation, you would be an idiot to work…This is about living wages in our society, not subsistent wages in China…
Grow up…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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15th November 2012 at 4:05 pm
randy says:
Now kelvin, your idoocracy, and denial of your position in this class system knows no bounds…so…one at a time…
To go back to Reagan – Its about demand not tax policy…If demand were such that the market price for any unit inflated due to scarcity, tax policy would have very little impact on the profitability fo the agency ingaged in economic activity…It would simply be, the cost of doing business….Reward is associated with risk…Favourable tax policy is the government tit, and mitigates the risk, so the reward should also be mitigated in times of systemic stress…
Anyone netting $250 000 per year with a net worth over 2 million…Thats who I would consier rich…How much should they pay? An amount that will not infringe on them being rich, but enough to contribute a fair share to a society that protects their liberty, life, and property…Enough that pays for the opportunity to become rich…Enough to cover systemic risk when the fanancial elite fuck something up….Enough to give everyone universal helath care under a single payer system….50% in bad times should be good…
Just because the gain in taxing the rich doesn’t solve the entire problem (and only an idiot would believe that ), doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done….Chemotherapy Poisons the entire the human body in its attack on cancer, and doesn’t always work…Does that mean it shouldn’t be done…?
No I don’t believe that its noble to have to rely on government entitlements…But nor do I believe its noble or patriotic to have taken those jobs from those workers in and around detroit, after great tax subsidies, and credits for moving production to mexico or china, or korea…Nor do I believe that its noble to avoid taxes, or taking care of your own comunities, or people in those communities…
Hording cash that the government gave to the one percenters in this systemic crisis should be considered treasonous…your bullshit argument that “they earned it” is riduculous when one looks at the larger picture of how the banks, the insurance companies, the investment banks, foreign banks, and everyone else in the FIRE economy received ‘free money’ from central banks and governments, while enjoying the lowest interest rates in…forever….Obama okayed the bailouts that created that cash on the sidleines…WAKE THE FUCK UP!!!
Hot debate. What do you think?
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15th November 2012 at 4:24 pm
a cruel accountant says:
Sorry Randy you are wrong.
The so called poor who have unemployment, free housing free food free healthcare free cell phones ect.ect. live like fucking kings. while the rest of us slave away to pay for their life of luxury.
Their attitude is why work when I can get it for free.
I am fucking of tire of working my ass off to pay for the FSA.
Gary go shove your pencil dick into a pencil sharpener.
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15th November 2012 at 4:47 pm
a cruel accountant says:
See I told you I was fucking tired.
Randy go shove your pencil dick into a pencil sharpener.
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15th November 2012 at 4:48 pm
a cruel accountant says:
Sorry Gary
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15th November 2012 at 4:49 pm
randy says:
Ya…
The poor have unemployment…First off, unemployment is a fraction of what one earned when they were employed…
And just so you don’t have to read between the lines, one needs to have been employed to receive unemployment….
Yes they get free food…But its not loke its not payed for…Government food stamps at least pays the retailer, as opposed to the retailer having to deal with more theft because the poor have no money for food….Food stamps are not cash, unless a retailer CHEATS and pays out a fraction of cash for the entitlement that should go towards food…
Where do the poor live for free? In the gutter…i guess you would rather live for free in the gutter than work and live in a place of your own choice….
Even better yet, government subsidies for shlter are more like it….meaning that some slum lord is collecting government money to provide substandard housing in substandard neighbourhoods, so that the poor don’t live amoung us workers…or amoung the rich…
Free health care? No they utilize emergency room care at hospitals, because they have no helath care….So people end up further along with disease or sickness, or have complications from phisical injuries becaue they have no attendant helath care….
So, because they can’t pay, they end up using the highest cost health care services (again so you don’t have to read between the lines, they use emercency room services) creating long lines in emercency room, and extra cost at hospitals, who pass that cost on to paying customers (those with health insurance) and then the helath insurance company raises your, or your employers helath insurance premiums to cover the cost of the hospital treating the poor….
Very inefficient…Its not that there isnt competition in the health insurance industry, trying to drive down the cost of insurance, there actually is a competition for health care services between people who can pay, and people who cant….
is your solution just turning away people who need health care because they cant pay? How mighty white of you….
you hould put your pencil in the sharpener and complain that your government is participating in welfare for the rich and for corporations and for banks, for they all work less hard thn you do, , pay less tax as a percentage than you do, and get more free shit from the government than anybody…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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15th November 2012 at 5:50 pm
Kill Bill says:
“Only an idiot would argue that Food Stamps and Welfare would stimulate the economy….”
I, for one, have never said they stimulate the economy, what they do is subsidize Walmart. IE some 40% of Walmarts profits comes from gropermint.
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15th November 2012 at 5:51 pm
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:
@randy.
I can’t barely get through your mush brain prose and I’m not sure what you have really written because I am not sure what language it is written in.
But your driving emotion of class envy comes in loud and clear.
You are very skilled in putting together those libtard prog phrases that sound great when shouted out of a bull horn, but, like all drivel spouted from the mouths of the the ignorant, it loses something in the “translation”, heh.
Again, you must obviously have total disdain for people more fortunate than you, so I am guessing you are a either a gov mooch or a Mommy mooch. You clearly have NO RESPECT for private property, whether it is monetary wealth or hard assets as you clearly state that some of that should be “given back”. Okay, let’s start with you.
Remember your history: First they come for the 1%, then they will come for YOU.
Okay, given back. How? At the point of a gun? As the result of a howling mob? By confiscatory taxes?
You still don’t “get it” why companies move offshore. Have you ever operated a business? I have for 17 years. If you have not, you have absolutely ZERO idea about all the regulatory/tax hurdles I have to leap every single fucking day. With my OWN money and that of my partners on the line every single fucking day.
Hell, yeah, I earned it. And you think I “didn’t get here on my own”? Fuck you, dude, I have been continuously employed since the age of 16 yo and paid fucking income taxes every single year. Every year, even in medical school I was in the Army Reserves and had to pay fucking income taxes on that measly amount.
And hell yeah, I am a 1%er. I am very proud to be a triple boarded physician in a booming successful practice and a stable personal financial situation. My parents were public school teachers for fuck’s sake and there was no silver spoon in my mouth. I have probably given more to charity in 1 year than you have earned in your entire miserable life.
If you want to make the argument that a great deal of our country’s problems is because of corruption at the very highest levels of our ELECTED officials and the very highest elites okay. But you are lumping these psycopaths, who make up 0.001% of the top 1% with the rest of us, you are an idiot.
Those 0.001%ers are above any kind of harm because they make the fucking rules. If you have a beef with that, then we agree.
It is the 99.999% of the 1% that actually make the country work. Continue to target and punish us and we will be gone.
You can’t redistribute ZERO.
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15th November 2012 at 5:58 pm
randy says:
Now back to Kelvin…
You’re completely full of shit when you blather on about US companies not being able to compete with offshore comapnies…
IT IS US COMPANIES THAT ARE THE ONES OFFSHORING THE JOBS… moving manufacturing overseas…
It is the worker who can’t compete with offshore wages you freakin moron…It is US companies taking advantage of the “no holds barre” aspect of polution, worker saftey, or IRS penalties…
American companies are doing things in other countries that would be ILLEGAL in america….Where are your and their ethics? Are you bloody blind to the fact that american cmpanies poluting the environment in china, and paying slave labour wages to the chinese, would not fly over here? Are you stupid enough to believe the bullshit that they can’t compete with themselves when there are no rules in china?
Your thinking here reveals that you don’t care about polution in someone elses backyard as long as its not in yours and that it does not interfere with your ability to buy cheap chinese products, while veterans come home to no jobs….
As to the last bit, i am cool…And my style of typing reveals my thoughts to be my own thoughts, not someone elses cut and paste and believe melodrama…
As I’ve said before, Obama is a puppet like the rest of them. Although to me, he, in both of the last elections, compared to the republican put up against him, stands head and shoulders above the republicans in delivering rhetoric that people are willing to accept…
At the end of the day, he protects the same jackasses you all seem to be indirectly trying to protect….rich white guys cheating the world out of trillions, while y’all blather on about someone getting food stamps, helath care, food and shelter…
Corzine continues to be rich, while the average entitlement receiver receives less than two grand a month….
Wake up jackass…
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15th November 2012 at 6:01 pm
randy says:
More Kelvin?
I’m skilled at using logic…Corzine stole 1.4 billion from segregated accounts, a poor black kid gets caught selling crack…Corzine continues to be rich and seemingly untouchable, while the black kid goes to jail for two years and learns how to become a real criminal…
They already came for the houses of those vulnerable…They’ve forclosed on the 99%er houses, How many 1% ers have been forclosed upon?
I’ve owned a number of business…I’m no spring chicken…and I will probably own another business or two in my lifetime….And while regulation, taxes and government paperwork are horrendous, it s competition from places like wall mart, who can sell a two litre bottle of pepsi for less (99 cents) than the mom and pop variety store can buy it (2.19)…
As multi national corporations get tax breaks for their import export activity, and get to go along on junkets with obama to china, the little guy, the guy that really creates jobs in our society gets screwed….I hear all the bullshit diatribe about the financial class supporting small business, the ones who really creat jobs, out of one side of their mouths, as they brethlessly try to sell apple, wal-mart, and biotech…
As George Carlin said…They don’t care about you. They don’t give a fuck about you….and they sure as hell don’t give a fuck about small business…
We do agree that the top .01 percent are criminals…Where we don’t agree is you blaming small time petty bullshit of individual government entitlements are the extent of the problem…
While I will agree that there is some double dipping, and fraud in the FSA, it pales in comparison to people like you who, through their thin skin, threaten to take their ball and go home…What fricking home are you gonna go to?
Canada, Australia? Certawinly not that socialist experiment of Europe, where they get twice as much vacation time as americans, them lazy smelly french bastards (:-))…
Go ahead and move away from the poor slobs your government and bbig business created…Go ahead and come up here to canada…We love you stupid americans, and your american dollars…
Although, we used to love them dollars more….
By the way my life isn;’t misserable, and I hhighly doubt that you’ve given that much to charity, considering your attitude towards those who haven’t been as lucky as you to grow up with two parents, employed in good proffessions…You probably gave to your alma matter who employs pedophiles….Or one of those stupid christian charities where those collecting the money skim most of it off the top….
For a guy with a couple of PHDs you sure get riled up easy, and your language is that of an 18 year old drunk who failed grade 11…
Grow up…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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15th November 2012 at 6:21 pm
AWD says:
randy has a nice monument up in his mom’s backyard (he lives in the basement).
Fucking idiot. Get a job you liberal piece of shit.
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15th November 2012 at 6:22 pm
Kill Bill says:
“Only an idiot would argue that Food Stamps and Welfare would stimulate the economy….”
I, for one, have never said they stimulate the economy, what they do is subsidize its takers, such as with Walmart. IE some 40% of Walmarts profits comes from gropermint.
But I have seen government figures where for every 1$ dollar spent shows $1.70 in economic activity.
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15th November 2012 at 6:24 pm
Kepi says:
No surprises there, even the mild increases in revenues over the last 4 years have all been represented in price increases for an otherwise continually shrinking market.
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15th November 2012 at 6:44 pm
randy says:
AWS, I own two houses, have a job, and don’t live with my mother…
Obviously you’ve ran out of any ideas, or rubbutle of my ideas and have resorted to base humour…
Not the slightest attempt to challenge what I’ve written just a challenge to my inteligence (and living conditions)…
Wal-mart sales plunging, right before christmas is a straw man…If the sales are reported down now, they will surely rise during the Xmas season, and allow the reporting of better than expected sales…And all the suckers that sell stock now, will be raped by those who buy now, knowing how the numbers are manipulated…
The media, and the financial class are trying to drive the market down for two reasons…
One…to steal shares from indivdual traders, and incompetent pension fund managers,
And two, to force the powers that be to come to a compromise that entails the rich keeping tax cuts that were supposed to be temporary, and that are bankrupting the country…
Some of you people here are morons, but some of you get it…
The whole idea of the Kensian actions of the central bank and the american government, Kepi, is to inflate prices because the economy is essentially smaller than it was 4 years ago….
Just look at real estate sales…Look at the price of bread….
The unintended consequence of inflation is a reduction in economic activity….
If I have to choose between a loaf of bread that gives me four meals, or a mcdouble and a junior chicken that give me one meal, I have to make the prudent choice no?
peace, when its the appropriate corrective action…
Hot debate. What do you think?
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15th November 2012 at 7:03 pm
randy says:
“re-buttal”
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15th November 2012 at 7:04 pm
AKAnon says:
Randy-You are really Stucky, pullin’ our chain, right? No one can be that ignorant and still capable of correcting some of his own typos.
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15th November 2012 at 7:16 pm
Kepi says:
I understand the point of Keyensian economics, but even Keyensian economics CAN report loss if done the way it’s supposed to be done. However, the faux positive reports we’ve been seeing for 4 years have been as much and probably moreso the result of people cooking the books, doctoring the numbers and ignoring the obvious than can be hung on Keyensian economics. Rose tinted glasses may obscure the difference between rain and urine, but the smell gives it away.
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15th November 2012 at 7:17 pm
Eddie says:
@ randy
I am not a neo-con. I hate what has happened in this country with the corporate capture of the government, the corporate welfare, where GE pays zero taxes on profits of 5 Billion while I personally pay hundreds of thousands each year on a working professional’s income…not money from investments that gets the preferred rich man’s capital gains rate.
I understand about LBOs. I understand about Wall Street predators and the ban.king elites and jobs being off-shored
I get it. Most of us here do get all that.
The thing is that in the US we’ve built this Ponzi scheme where the top .01 percent get a special deal..the bottom half pay little net tax…and those of us who do produce a lot from our businesses and our jobs get robbed blind…and it’s only getting worse.
What I believe is that we can’t just make promises to more and more people and give away money that really doesn’t even exist, but which we borrow from our kids’ and grandkids’ futures.
You are Canadian. Canada is a social democracy, with some impressive programs that seem to work, at least for the moment. But beware…as your population rises and your ample resources become depleted…and you eventually probably will have MASSIVE migration from the US, for a number of reasons…what is going on here could happen there too.
Our social programs and our military spending are both simply unsustainable..We are broke as a country…and yes, it’s partly because corporations are stealing us blind.
But don’t blame us for being angry for having to carry more of our share of the burden..or wanting spending to be reigned in…or wanting to take our country back from a corrupted system. I didn’t vote for the neo-con Romney, nor did I vote for Obama, who had four years already to do something positive, and absolutely let us down. They are both corporate pawns..more alike than different.
I’m not going to rant against you…you’ve shown yourself to be an ill-mannered ass, and I don’t argue with or even acknowledge trolls. I just get tired of people who show up here trying to impress us with their intellectual prowess and vast knowledge, and yet can’t write a paragraph without calling us all morons, as if we were all even alike or completely in agreement…which if you’d read this blog for long you’d know is far from the case. I can tell you that most of the people who comment here are not stupid, nor ignorant of the facts you are trying to point out…
The admin here has written a ton of well researched material that overwhelmingly points to a systemic collapse here in the US in the near term future. Those of us who come here are mostly concerned people who come here to discuss issues that affect us as citizens. Responsible, tax paying citizens who actually live here, as opposed to some foreign country.
You want to engage yourself here,show a little respect. I can’t keep you from running your mouth, but I sure don’t have to read your angry crap and respond.
.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
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15th November 2012 at 7:21 pm
Kill Bill says:
If the Republican accusations are correct in accusing President Obama of steering America along the “European” course, it is not really socialism. It is neoliberal financial austerity, Greek style. His task over the next two months is to avoid using deficit spending to revive the economy. ~Michael Hudson Economic Adviser for Dennis Kucinich
What Say You About This Raaaaaaandy Baby!
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15th November 2012 at 7:38 pm
Kill Bill says:
Go ahead and come up here to canada -randy
Is that you D Pierre?
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15th November 2012 at 7:42 pm
TPC says:
@randy “Those receiving welfare and food stamps are not saving any of this money, all of this money moves from the government to the indivicual, and right back into the ecoonomy…”
I didn’t read all of the posts, I’m just addressing this statement as I see/hear it pretty often.
The problem with this idea is that there is no such thing as a perfect transferal of money. Much like how a perpetual motion machine is impossible due to friction and heat loss, perfect monetary transferance is not possible due to transaction costs.
At every phase of the money transfer process, another entity is taking their cut. Its not just the poor people who are on welfare, its Uncle Sam and the true “1%ers” (more like 0.001%ers) as well.
This is what you are saying happens:
Government Foodstamps go the individual, who then gives it to a business for food. The individual gets food they might not otherwise have had. The business gets another sale they probably wouldn’t have had. Everybody wins, right?
Unfortunately, this would only work if one of the two following things were true:
1) Perfect monetary transferral is possible. (inflation alone destroys this, because redistributing that wealth takes time…which takes money, and it also takes petty bureaucrats…which also take money)
2) The government creates jobs. This idea is really the crux of the issue. People have come to view the federal government as the penultimate jobs creator, when it is quite obviously the latter. Where the federal government goes, free enterprise falls.
Now, I’m obviously oversimplifying for the sake of brevity, however I think you get my point. Its nice to think that your scenario is how real life operates, and right now it looks like its “working,” mostly through the magic of printing more money. This ability to create money out of thin air makes it LOOK like we are able to afford such ridiculous expenditures, but to anyone with an ounce of foresight its obvious that the butcher’s bill is coming due, and its a lot more than just one pound of flesh that will be demanded before its all said and done.
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15th November 2012 at 8:20 pm
TPC says:
Not the latter. The opposite. Shitty brain.
If I was Admin I wouldn’t make mistakes like that.
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15th November 2012 at 8:21 pm
randy says:
Eddie, i respond in kind…you’re response was well thought out, and i know that there are things we all agree on in here, like the fact that polititians are inherently corrupt…The respect you;’ve shown to me in your response will not go unrewarded as my disourse with you will contain the same consideration you’ve shown me…
That said, I do find a flaw in your argument…
The corporations that pay no tax, are already utilizing another way to avoid paying their fair share (besides refusing to repatriate profits made overseas, as another way to avoid paying tax) – Tthey are buying up financial agencies that have carry forward tax loss credits….Nice eh?
The people at the bottom pay no INCOME tax because they are, for all intents and puposes, living subsistently….
While your government finds it in their hearts not to apply income tax to people at the bottom, sure as bears shit in the woods, the people at the low end do pay taxes…on money they spend….
Smart people such as yourself have to realize that the FSA , as they’ve been called here, are not all disability slackers, or welfare fraud cases, the vast majority are senior citizens, single mothers, veterans, and real disabled people…
Surely you cannot compare those at the bottom paying no income taxes to those who can buy and sell both of us a million times a day…
my potty mouth has been inspired by past potings in this forum, and if you like, you can see the for yourself how my opinion draws jeers, name calling, and other insults…
So in my own defense, I can take it, as much as I can dish it out….
Peace, when its the appropriate corrrective action…
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15th November 2012 at 9:37 pm
randy says:
Now…Kill Bill…
I would somewhat agree with that statement…Deficit spending should be considered to be what it is…Emergency speding, or investing in the future…
Increasing entitlements through deficit spending does not stimulate the economy because those recieving these benefits are, or should be, relatively poor to beging with, and almost immediately recycle those entitlements back into the economy for day to day living…
Government entitlments were not designed nor are enough for those receiving them to save, creat capital, and invest that capital…
BUT…deficit spending, in support of growing the economy, through education or infrastructure building, is something that should be supported, BECAUSE the american economy is in an emergency situation…
As well, deficit spending directed at education and infrastructure SHOULD create jobs in america…
Something I believe Kucinich would support…
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15th November 2012 at 9:45 pm
TPC says:
@randy – The welfare system will support as many people a its designed to.
If your system is designed for 30,000 people, then it will have 30k on it, with a long line trying to get on.
If your system is designed for 300,000,000 people, then it will have 300M on it, with a long line trying to get on it.
I am not against giving the needy a hand up, in actuality I think its better for all if they become useful members of society.
I AM against Uncle Sam robbing responsible states/individuals of their hard-earned cash and giving it to those have made poor life decisions multiple times.
Of course, I’m also against sin taxes and the income tax.
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15th November 2012 at 9:58 pm
randy says:
And finally TPC…
I agree with your synopsis…
One of the problems of increasing entitlements or entitlement eligibility is that the result is the same as the Fed printing money…It creates demand that would not be there otherwise, thereby increasing the price of goods and services to everyone…
But there is a difference in saying that government creats jobs and the government is the penultimate creator of jobs…
The government does create jobs…many civil servant jobs are useful, and in fact needed in a functioning society…
Ultimately, once private industry figures out how to make money from providing a service the government is currently providing, private investment comes in…Low balls the municipality, state, or the federal government, by paying workers half of what they earned when they were employed by the “state”, strip them of helath care insurance, and eliminate pension…
Then a couple of years into the contract, the private agency raises the service charge to what the “state” was spending before privatization (and more), yet those private entities do not share the shearing of the “state” with it workers….they keep that demanded “welfare” to themselves…
Our problem is that TPTB have tilted the system to the “branded” economy…
And to steal from your thoughts – Where branded corporations go, small business fails…
The revolution won’t be televised…
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15th November 2012 at 10:00 pm
randy says:
Honestly TPC…
Are you more against Uncle Sam robbing responsible states/individuals of their hard earned cash and giving it to those who have made poor life decisions over and over…
Or are you more against US robbing responsible states/individuals of their hard earned cash and giving it to those who have made the right decision over and over….
Context?
Some people receiving entitlments are not people who’ve made bad decisions…some are vets with shitty pensions…some are disabled…yes some are single mothers, and lazy bastards, but mothers have kids who can’t be faulted (or aborted, republican rules), and lazy bastards usually sit at home with their hand down there pants and a beer in the other…
But those who’ve made the right decisions…bankers, investment bankers, major international corporations, foreign banks, insuance companies are some of those also receiving your hard earned cash…
As well as a military industrial complex that has run completely out of control….
personally, I’m more made that my bank got bailout money, then the out of work pot head neighbour, who never leaves his house, except to get cigarrettes, food and pot , and never bothers anoyone….
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15th November 2012 at 10:10 pm
TPC says:
But there is a difference in saying that government creats jobs and the government is the penultimate creator of jobs…
The government does create jobs…many civil servant jobs are useful, and in fact needed in a functioning society…
=============================
This is why I added a “brevity” disclaimer. The fine line needed between capitlism and the states regulation of it is a hotly contested subject, with no real definite answer. Colma mentioned this in a previous thread, I’d say an “OPEN TOPIC: How much capitlism is enough capitalism?” post is coming our way soon.
My point was that at THIS juncture, everywhere the government goes, capitalism dies.
“And to steal from your thoughts – Where branded corporations go, small business fails”
Thats not really turnabout, as at this stage the branded corporations purposefully buy out government to sustain them and drive out competition. They haven’t had it this good since the trustbusting days.
Its really fucking easy to beat the competition when the government actively takes 60% of the little guys’ income and hands it over the big boys in the form of massive subsidies and waivers.
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15th November 2012 at 10:12 pm
Kill Bill says:
randy says:
Now…Kill Bill…
{I would somewhat agree with that statement…Deficit spending should be considered to be what it is…Emergency speding, or investing in the future…
Ahhh.
Increasing entitlements through deficit spending does not stimulate the economy because those recieving these benefits are, or should be, relatively poor to beging with, and almost immediately recycle those entitlements back into the economy for day to day living…
Relatively poor to begin with -randy
Describe then, un-poor? Is not the current course we are on create more poor? Like peak oil when does peak poor wreck peak profit?
Government entitlments were not designed nor are enough for those receiving them to save, creat capital, and invest that capital…
Tell Walmart that
BUT…deficit spending, in support of growing the economy, through education or infrastructure building, is something that should be supported, BECAUSE the american economy is in an emergency situation…
Why is America now in that situation?
As well, deficit spending directed at education and infrastructure SHOULD create jobs in america…
Something I believe Kucinich would support…,
Okay, I understand you now. It should.But like tax cuts it doesnt. We are, as a nation, failing from within.
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15th November 2012 at 10:26 pm
Kill Bill says:
personally, I’m more made that my bank got bailout money, then the out of work pot head neighbour, who never leaves his house, except to get cigarrettes, food and pot , and never bothers anoyone… -randy
Only entities that were BHC [bank holding companies] got bailout funds from the fed.
Your rant aabout medical pot is moot.
That what was put into fed reserve accounts never entered the public realm. Changes in energy prices etc did.
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15th November 2012 at 10:31 pm
TPC says:
@Randy-Are you more against Uncle Sam robbing responsible states/individuals of their hard earned cash and giving it to those who have made poor life decisions over and over…
Or are you more against US robbing responsible states/individuals of their hard earned cash and giving it to those who have made the right decision over and over….
”
=============================
I’m against Uncle Same helping either of them. Social help should start at the local level. Cities and communities, with the level of help decided at the EXTREME local level. Not the fucking federal level.
One of the key reasons the euro was destined to fail was because you cannot have a united monetary system where you do not have a united fiscal policy. Right now the economic powerhouse of Germany is being CRIPPLED by the massive debt of the “lazy” countries. Its the same way here. We are redistributing the wealth of the successful to those with their hands out at the risk of exploding our entire economy.
=======================
”
@Randy-Some people receiving entitlments are not people who’ve made bad decisions…some are vets with shitty pensions…some are disabled…yes some are single mothers, and lazy bastards, but mothers have kids who can’t be faulted (or aborted, republican rules), and lazy bastards usually sit at home with their hand down there pants and a beer in the other…”
======================
I have never said I was against helping out those in need, but you cannot create a macro system to fix what is ultimately a micro level problem. Something our bloated government could never comprehend.
=======================
”
@Randy-But those who’ve made the right decisions…bankers, investment bankers, major international corporations, foreign banks, insuance companies are some of those also receiving your hard earned cash…
As well as a military industrial complex that has run completely out of control….
personally, I’m more made that my bank got bailout money, then the out of work pot head neighbour, who never leaves his house, except to get cigarrettes, food and pot , and never bothers anoyone….
”
=====================
I’m equally pissed off about both. I’m done compromising with the lesser of two evils. They are both evil, they should both be stopped.
Want to know how people got along before state welfare? They worked. Or they had family. Or they formed lasting friendships. Or they went to church. Or were involved in their community.
Or they gave up, and died.
Instead today we have a nation of rude, crude, useless individuals who reproduce like blo-flies and are like a fucking swarm of locusts, consuming all in their path.
Work? Less than 50% of US adults paid any taxes last year.
Family? Divorce rates and children born out of wedlock are sky-high compared to pre-welfare levels.
Friendships? Yeah right, true friendship is forge in the flames of hardship, and in this nation you have to look pretty fucking hard to find someone who is undergoing hardship other than stupidity.
Church? Please be aware, this is coming from an agnostic/apatheistic. It has been damn near scientifically PROVEN that families with close spiritual ties have a massively higher success rate than those who do not. The decrease in American spirituality is a great problem.(SEE NOTE)
Community Work? Sorry, but today we pay massively bloated enterprises like The Red Cross or the United Way to ease our guilt, nevermind the fact that less than 30 cents of every dollar you donate actually goes towards helping someone in need.
Death? Hah, apparently “the pursuit of life” no longer is a reflection of opportunity and is instead a direct guarantee. Welfare, medicare and Section 8 all guarantee that.
NOTE: Just because I do not think Christianity is “the truth” doesn’t mean that I do not reflect long and hard on the matters spiritual on a regular basis. My wife and I regularly have long deep conversations about these topics and it brings us closer together as a family unit.
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15th November 2012 at 10:34 pm
ron says:
I went back to Randys first post.If the government creates money from thin air(magic)Then gives it to you and you spend it.Well it does help people out.Im not saying the whole idea is good.
In light of the money spent on the military,foriegn aid and other totally stupid ways.
I find it hard to feel bad about people on disability.Now if the person is a healthy young guy who hasnt worked much in theyre life and isnt really hurt.Its bad and wrong.
The country needs something besides creating war and death as jobs.The green energy thing isnt any good.So many americans arent that educated and sending all the production work overseas was a bad idea in the long run.
The only thing ive thought of is to install NG filling pumps at stations all over the country.And convert all pickup trucks and maybe rv,s to run on NG.It would help with oil consumption.And provide some jobs.I would make all new trucks that run on gasoline be set up to run on NG from the factory.
But in the end i think were over the cliff and we cant stop falling.There was no long term thinking by the people with money.
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15th November 2012 at 10:55 pm
randy says:
America is in that situation because its lost its way…
The democrates want to be everyones freind, and want to take care of everybody, as long as someone else is picking up the bill…i get that……Obama could very easily be called a sugar daddy…But they don’t hide that…
Strangely enough, the vast majority of young people, minorities, and women are attracted to that type of personality, and appreciate the honesty of democrats message of “spreadin’ the wealth around”…
The republicans pretend to be christians, with the sole fundementalist platform of pro life…But the real agenda is to not share, what they have, with anyone else…In other words, conserve (everything) for themselves…They hide that…They also alienate non-white and women with patriarchal judgementalism and racist dogma from more than fifty years ago…
Strangely enough, only the majority of whites respond to patriarchal mysogonysts…The young rebel against dad, women have become independent, and control their own bodies, and most non-whites recognize the racist tendencies of hilbilly bible thumpin’ whites…
Your politics is doomed because while they look different, they’re both the same…
And as the republican demogrphic dies off, the increasing fervent of the media to make it seem like a competitivfe race, will just spawn more negative ads that distract from what congress is really doing….
Wal-mart does not receive those welfae payments first…Those who receive the money first, in this instance, do not have enough income to save, creating the virtuous cycle of a healthy economy…
But looked at, from your perspective, Wal-mart is a double dipping welfare fraud case…It siphons off entitlement money from the small business community, that were the traditional support infrastructure for poor neighbourhoods, and they pay their workers so little, that some of them qualify and receive food stamps, housing and health insurance subsidies…
Relatively poor:
- senior citizen who may have an annuity or savings of less than 20 thousand and a home (of less than 150 thousand)
– disabled through an accident who may have won addtional damages of 100 thousand or less, and a home
- retired veteran with saving of 40 thousand or less, and a home
Un-poor: anyone making more than 40 K, with company paid benifits and a difined benefit pension…
On the current course we are going to make more poor, and the relatively poor more poor…
Peak oil wrecked peak profit back in july 2008 when it reached 147 per barrel…Then it droped to 30…
But it didn’t really…and if we had oil priced at 80 bucks a barrel, like we have today, 10 years ago, all hell would’ve broke loose…
Airlines would be bankrupt, food prices would soar, trucking companies would go under, etc.
But here we have a peak oil price of over 80 bucks a barrel and nary a word on how its destroying the economy…
Tax cuts don’t work when the debt piled up by two wars, and a finance industry meltdown, have distorted what money really is….
Systemic failure happened 5 years ago….Nothin’s gotten better…’cept the news…
Deflation and isolationism, and inevitably war, are the next phases of this paradigm..History 101.
Um…the word for that is greed…
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15th November 2012 at 11:14 pm
sangell says:
“Christian charity” is not the same as government entitlement spending. Jesus was not demanding Caesar impose taxes on rich Romans to feed the poor. It is also a fact that the richest ethnic communities in the United States are not bible thumpin hillbilly Christians. In fact citing Christian religious dogma as justification for welfare spending would be to impose a state religion would it not?
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15th November 2012 at 11:29 pm
randy says:
the only thing I disagree with you ron is that I believe that there was long term thinking by those who really have money…
After teaching western society to only respond to quantity, and price, they turned technology, subsidized resources, and logistics, into labour farms in Mexico, and Africa, but mostly, the far East…
In the transition from a self sufficient and virtuous economy, where profits paid good wages to americans spending in america on american made, to profits going to bonuses and speculation, an insufficient economy turns to deflation as the ecomonic velocity of money moves offshore….
While the road ahead is going to be intolerable to those who depend on entitlements, its those whose jobs depend on the current financial system, accountants, lawyers, nouveau rich, civl servants, and such, who will be in for the biggest shock when the shit hits the fan, and governments clamp down…
Personally, i like better the green idea….Wind power and solar power are free off grid power…Imagine a world where energy is poratable, and a small infrastructure cost, as opposed to a grid where they measure, and tell you what you owe…
The natural gas idea, since america seems to have a whole lot of it, works too…
One wonders why your conservative party is not concern with conserving the environment….If anyone, If conservative lived up to their name, they should be the ones on the green bandwagon, but their ties to oil and war betray them to the public…
JMHO….
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15th November 2012 at 11:35 pm
randy says:
Want to know how people got along before state welfare? They worked. Or they had family. Or they formed lasting friendships. Or they went to church. Or were involved in their community.
Or they gave up, and died.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not really…before state welfare, most women weren’t in the workforce, and there was no state sponsored imigrant worker programs…
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Instead today we have a nation of rude, crude, useless individuals who reproduce like blo-flies and are like a fucking swarm of locusts, consuming all in their path.
I agree…i would also add pushy, greedy, and self righteous…
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Work? Less than 50% of US adults paid any taxes last year.
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I call bulshit, as a matter of fact I submit that every single adult in the United States paid at least some tax last year…
Pure propaganda from the right…
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Family? Divorce rates and children born out of wedlock are sky-high compared to pre-welfare levels.
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Being married is no longer your grandads marriage…And by the way, with all the misery surrounding marriage, why are you jackboots so against instilling the misery of marriage on gay people….They should experience alimony lawyers too…
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Friendships? Yeah right, true friendship is forge in the flames of hardship, and in this nation you have to look pretty fucking hard to find someone who is undergoing hardship other than stupidity.
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thats right, true freindships are forged through shared hardship…bullshit freindships are created in politics, and boardrooms….
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Church? Please be aware, this is coming from an agnostic/apatheistic. It has been damn near scientifically PROVEN that families with close spiritual ties have a massively higher success rate than those who do not. The decrease in American spirituality is a great problem.(SEE NOTE)
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Bullshit…tell that to the poor bible thumpers of the south and midwest…Whats proven is that families that stay together are more apt to be succesful at achieving a happy life…
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Community Work? Sorry, but today we pay massively bloated enterprises like The Red Cross or the United Way to ease our guilt, nevermind the fact that less than 30 cents of every dollar you donate actually goes towards helping someone in need.
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Who has time to do community work when the leeches of society, insurance companies, energy companies, cable, satalite, and cell phone companies, make it necessary that both parents in a family have to work…
When both parent have to work, parenting becomes neglected…the decrease in the amount of time working parents have for their children is THE great problem…
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Death? Hah, apparently “the pursuit of life” no longer is a reflection of opportunity and is instead a direct guarantee. Welfare, medicare and Section 8 all guarantee that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Um, I’m confused….Your against the fact that the pursuit of life is guaranteed by goverment policy, as opposed to just being a reflection of an opportunity only afforded to those who can aford it?
really…
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NOTE: Just because I do not think Christianity is “the truth” doesn’t mean that I do not reflect long and hard on the matters spiritual on a regular basis. My wife and I regularly have long deep conversations about these topics and it brings us closer together as a family unit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I believe that you are lucky to have the time to have those conversations…many people don’t have, or make, the time….
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15th November 2012 at 12:00 am
randy says:
“Christian charity” is not the same as government entitlement spending. Jesus was not demanding Caesar impose taxes on rich Romans to feed the poor. It is also a fact that the richest ethnic communities in the United States are not bible thumpin hillbilly Christians. In fact citing Christian religious dogma as justification for welfare spending would be to impose a state religion would it not?
Nice try San…
Only if the charitable spending was directed to christian denominated charities, and discriminated against non-christian denominate charities would be the technical answer…
But your argument is superflous…The Romans fed, and sheltered the poor because the poor were slaves…
Lastly, thats what surprises me every election cycle….poor bible thumpin hilbillies voting republican….Is it really about abortion?
really…i don’t get it…
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15th November 2012 at 12:07 am
Tator says:
HAHAHAHA…folks like Randy…you really have to feel sorry for them.
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15th November 2012 at 5:39 am
Eddie says:
randy
I do understand that not everyone who receives a government check is a deadbeat or a malingerer.
The problems with entitlements are many, though.
Number one, the math doesn’t work. We simply don’t have enough money…or at an even more basic level, enough finite resources, to perptuate the socialist paradigm that (as you rightfully point out) is so popular with a lot of people.
Another problem is that we have created this huge bureaucracy to admininster all the programs..it just grows and grows and never shrinks…so a large part of what we should spend on people’s needs go for government employee pay..and their retirement.
Now we have mandated a healthcare plan that anyone with half a brain can see is an enormous boondoggle that will (a) bankrupt actual healthcare providers, (b) enrich the corporate insurance industry, and (c) add very substantially to our already unsustainable budget deficits.
Entitlements also have a whole slew of unintended consequences. The greatest of these is the destruction of the family. Our welfare system for kids, designed for supporting children of single parents, has the unintended consequence of making it financially expedient for a rather large segment of people to NOT be a family, at least on paper.
Unfortunately no political or social mandate exists to correct these enormous problems…so the likeliehood is that a great collapse, rather a reasonable restructuring of our system, is eminent.
If and when this occurs the consequences will be planetary..and devastating.
Perhaps we can limp along for a few more years. My guess is…not too many.
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15th November 2012 at 10:33 am