I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Cat Killer
Been tellin' ya for months. The only question in my mind was which was going to happen first, the kaplooyee of the housing bubble or the Chinese pulling back to tend their own economy. I think I'm hearing the housing bubble about to blow.
Love the cats.
Someone more clever than I should be able to track major Rethug players who profit handsomely? One can only hope.
Chickens coming home to roost?
Is Atrios no longer considering that this election may have been stolen? I'm going to assume that we are the majority party, and, since electronic voting cannot be adequately secured, then we are a democracy in crisis. www.dailykos.com, along with www.democraticunderground,com, is there this vitally important issue is being discussed.
They will spin it somehow that the evil communist chinese are trying to undermine our democracy and insto presto you have a new enemy. The Dominionists need an enemy and religion to keep the sheeple in their proper place. I am linking again to this article that lays it all out. very scary Mike Malloy ranted about the movement and their incredible success on Wednesday. We keep thinking that if we just rationally explain everything, the people will awaken and we will win. I'm not so sure that is going to happen.
And it sounds like once they have control of the courts they will never relinquish power.
The Chinese hinted at pulling back on buying our bonds several weeks ago. Face it, these countries (Japan, China, and India) have lost a fortune due to buying our bonds compared to if they would have held them in Euro's or Yen. They see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is deficit spending by the US for years to come.
Do you loan money to friends that are knocking on the door of bankruptcy?
Elaine,
Your link doesn't work.
Okay, let's try again
< href=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5646.htm/>Very Scary
You can bamboozle an ignorant electorate, you can run over an impotent press corps, you can bully foreign governments, but you can not fool global financial markets. These idiots who do not care what the world thinks of our actions are in for a rude awakening.
I'd love to see the Bush house of cards collapse, except, except I'm living in it.
OT
Glad you're well, A., and back again.
To those whom I promised to get in touch with last Thursday night concerning planning mass nonviolent actions, please check your email.
If I somehow missed you, let me know.
Setting up an email account with sufficient security features was easy enough. Unfortunately, the mail server I chose WAS DOWN for almost two days, starting even before I set up the account, but I didn't know it!The account was showing the mails as having been sent (but they were just sitting in the queue waiting for the engineers to fix the problem). I snarled politely at the customer service folks, threatening to close the account I just opened.
They said this sort of problem happens no more than once or twice a year. We'll see. If the problem continues, I'll get a different account and let everyone know.
The house of cards the faith based crowd has built will shatter in a thin breeze.
I am posting this heere since I always seem to be behind on the threads.
Atrios, your comment "
" If sinning godless heathens are the problem, then let's be clear about who the sinning godless heathens are. "
here was brilliant!
Include the media members on the lists too.
Shit
Very Scary
I,for one,actually encourage the collapse of the dollar.
I have a company that is almost impervious to a collapsing economy.I do not fear this occurance.THo,it will make life more difficult,I and my family will survive it,unfortunatly may people will not.
Elaine dear,
You forgot your A tags.
To hell with it.
It's in the url field
As my sister is fond of saying lately,"buy canned goods."
Elaine,
If I understand your link correctly, then people have to begin to articulate that the government's power is derived not from God (as Scalia says) but from the people (as Locke said).
Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck
If the dollar collapses we're not only fucked, we're trapped here in the rubble.
Kate,your site won't come up for me.Can you repost it?
Thanks
Well, I would put my dollars into Euros if I had any dollars.
The canadian dollar I believe has hit a 12 year high against the US dollar as well, it's up to 83 cents.
Andrew BALLS? [collapses in hysterical laughter]
Sorry. Don't know what came over me.
Scalia would say power derives from the almighty. As to Locke - sorry but it has been years since I have read any philosophy - even tho I did take my degree in political science.
As to the collapse - I don't know if it will make a difference to the followers. One guy was quoted as saying that even tho he opposed the war, and thought it was not being properly waged he voted Bush anyway since it wasn't wise to change horses midstream.
Maybe I am going nuts on this Dominionist thing, but I am also reading "What's the Matter With Kansas" and the two combined is giving me the willies. Being in NYC I have been pretty much able to just ignore the fundies. Bad mistake, apparently.
how do i put my savings in euros? are there online banks that let you do that?
Why win militarily when you can conquer through subversion?
This was a tactic in the old days. Both sides of the WW2 conflict devalued the other's currency by printing millions in counterfeit bills.
Capitalism is wonderful isn't it?
MYOB'
.
This is only the beginning. The mighty Chinese dragon is awakening and the world will feel its breath.
China with its 3.1 BILLION people is becoming an economic powerhouse. Much like the US in the late 1800s it is about to lay claim to its predominant place among the world's nations. The next fifty years belong to China. How the US and others react/relate will be among the biggest foreign policy challenges western nations have faced since the 1930s.
We need intelligent, responsible, thoughtful leaders. Sadly, I think the West (not just the US) is sorely lacking those.
Amazing, people don't realize what this means if other countries are going to sell off their investments in the US. The dollar will plummet and those Bush voters are going to wish they had not been so darn prejudice. Somehow I believe they might be reaping what they sowed so to speak.
Take it easy folks. As soon as Colin
kisses some chink ass, I'm told by the
people who know something about these things, everything is going to be A-OK
again.
This one is for real kids.
If this happens it isn't just... "Damn... I can't go to the Bahama's this Spring... I can only afford Florida..." It is ... "Can I afford gas to go to the grocery store to buy rice and beans"
This could drive the kind of melt-down that puts 25% of America out of work and DESTROYS our financial situation for a generation...
My guess is the Chinese have a price... my guess is the neo-cons already know the price and don't like it.
If you have an Taiwanese based mutual fund... I'd 'short' it if you can*...
*Past performance is no guarantee of future... blah, blah, blah
the mail server I chose WAS DOWN for almost two days,
I have not been able to retrieve mail since Thursday.
smalfish -
Don't click on my link. Just read it. I saw someone else doing something similar here recently, and thought it was a good idea because I assumed the info was written in that field to avoid getting spammed. But that may just be silly.
I guess I'll quit playing around with such things and just put my mail link in the appropriate place. You can just mail me now, if you like.
I am a psychologist, not an economist... so where do you invest with a falling US dollar?
How do you say "fsck you and the horse you rode in on?" in Chinese?
Atrios, glad you're back! Being the tinfoil hat wearer I am, I was afraid the thought police got to you.
As for the sorry state of affairs we're in now, I will be sitting in my easy chair with a glass of wine watching the house of cards collapse and saying "I f*cking told you so." Maybe that sounds selfish, but I've come to the conclusion that America needs to hit rock bottom before the sheeple wake up. Tough love and all that. Germany got its shit together after the Third Reich. I expect we can too.
Can you imagine the shock in the red states when they finally figure out Bu$hCo kicked all the bad news and secret stuff down the road till after the election so he could snooker their dumb asses yet again?
When's the next auction of treasuries? Should be fun, especially with the debt ceiling being raised, an' all.
But I seriously recommend getting a dual-denominational bank account right now, if you have any money. Or shifting to a Euro-heavy bond fund, if you have investments. The Euro is going to become the safe harbour for at least a few years (down the line, EU expansion may change things, but that's buffered right now).
In morality, the Dems are weak.
Their future's decidedly bleak.
They must bash more fags;
They must ban burning flags;
And more wars they must openly seek.
You people are rattling on about very scary scenarios. What are you gonna do about it? What are ya gonna do about anything? I'm feeling a strong sense of oh my god its hopeless on this blog.
If you are mourning the election, do something about the fraud that stole it.
I keep wondering why the fact that the People's Rep of China is buying up the US Treasury isn't framed by Democrats as a national security issue. Excuse my lack of comprehension - I'm European - but my puzzlement's genuine and sincere.
Canada is looking better. Even though their money looks like it's from a monopoly set, it is growing against ours.
If you converted $100 into canadian dollars in May, then converted them back into US dollars today, you would have about $116. 32% annual rate of decline/growth depending on how you wanna look at it.
We are screwed. The chinese and japanese do not have to buy our debt. Europe is going to do a lot better.
I see that the guy in the FT piece works for HSBC (the now-global Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation). He's in a position to know.
Anyway, as I was saying: I just can't get over Bush stole it again.
Check this site out...
This guy provides linkage between IQ and politics, crazy chart at the bottom of the site...
http://chrisevans3d.com/files/iq.htm
Slimmest majority for any re-elected
president, ever.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!
I'm not a crook!
Hmmm. A universally un-popular US Government re-instated, considered dangerous, belligerent and a little ....insane, posturing threateningly at the rest of the world, to whom it owes bankruptcy-sized shit-loads of money.
This is getting interesting!
.
China needs the American economy to stay strong as much as anybody, so I highly doubt they'll be doing anything deliberate to damage it.
Of course, the circumstances may be such that they feel a crash is coming no matter what, and hence is trying to reduce their own exposure before it's too late.
As for Taiwan, my guess is that they'll eventually develop nukes and stay independent - or perhaps they'll eventually be absorbed gently into mainland China a lá Hong Kong. Given the steadily increasing economic links between Taiwan and China I doubt that either would really be interested in a war anytime soon.
Tell you where the job market is right now. I have a friend who is in her last year of the Peace Corp. She recieved a degree in the Chinese Language. Speaks at least 2 dialects and now also speaks Thai. She gave a spech at some UN meeting in Thailand and in two weeks whe was being approached by headhunters from US corporations. One guy went all the way up to the samll town where she does her Peace Corp thing. Being able to "really" speak the language is a huge deal.
Bing Crosby-labguages count? OK. What about crooning?
"China needs the American economy to stay strong as much as anybody, so I highly doubt they'll be doing anything deliberate to damage it."
Yes, I'm sure they'll make the USA their bitch on most favourable terms!
.
Before people go too far off the rail on the IQ thing. As a psych who administers over 200 IQ tests per month, let me tell ya.
If a state had a mean IQ of 113, ahhh, that would be something akin to a gene pool anomaly and the rise of a subspecie of human. So take those numbers with a grain of salt.
OT, sorry,
I live across the street from a church whose members mostly drive SUVS, so I have no illusions as to whether they're "Christian."
Anyhoo, today they held some kind of carnival or something or other ("Carnival of Lost Souls"?) and parked *everywhere* up and down the street, including directly in front of the "No Parking/Tow Away Zone" signs. Smart Murkins, yup.
I went out to get some beer and when I came back I nearly got hit by one of them on the narrow street. So I called 311 and let the local police know about the situation.
Half an hour later, most of the SUVS were being ticketed and the rest were moving in a hurry.
They want a culture war...?
...China with its 3.1 BILLION people...
No.
Sorry for the completely OT tech question -
Does anyone here have a reputable website to direct me towards that will allow me to remove programs off my XP piece of shit? This damn thing won't allow me to remove anything either as an admin or an admin in safe mode. aargh!!!
Hey USA, heh heh heh decline and fall.
The thing that angers me about this is that you could see this coming two years ago. Man, we're screwed.
I, and many other posters here, simply don't deserve this.
if you want to convert to euros...I believe any bank will convert for you, for a fee. I think the euro is now worth 1.29. If I had converted a few months ago I would have done quite well.
Dr. Leo,
What exactly is your problem? You should be able to delete or move programs from off of your hard drive. What can't you move or delete?
Have you tried booting up in Safe Mode (press F
?
They want a culture war...?
jules
I think people should start giving them grief any chance they get. Fundies have to connect in their minds that they're now responsible for Bush. In their minds so far, Bush's Iraqi war has nothing to do with them.
China has every weapons system that
we have, as well as some previously
unknown stuff from our spyplane, you
know, the one they STOLE from us
like the minute Bush took office.
We are their bitches, already. Think
about this; Chinese influence,
according to the president, is the
reason we are engaged in the
ineffective multi-lateral negotiations
with North Korea, as opposed to the
bilateral talks that senator Kerry
supported. In other words, China
already has a veto over our national
security; they tell our president
what to do with Kim Jung!
Dr. Leo
Can you run your Anti_virus software? I have run into several bugs in the past that simply "owned" the machine. We gave up and took it to the metal and started over.
Are euros some kind of French gay marriage thing? The fact that you want to convert shows that you can be saved. I saw a euro movie once.
Well, let's see - here we go: Repressive Christian government, Depression - gosh, why do I feel like I'm living in 1929?
If a state had a mean IQ of 113, ahhh, that would be something akin to a gene pool anomaly and the rise of a subspecie of human. So take those numbers with a grain of salt.
But, Sheik, the data reflect average IQ, not mean IQ. Do you still think the report is full 'o crap?
I have to send a fixed amount of euros back to Ireland every month. I'm scared to look at my cheque register for the past three years, because the dive is very very marked.
Red states. The blues are trying to help you. The door is always open.
ruester
I have always thought that the Navy aircraft should never have been allowed to touch the ground.
Dr. Pedant, EkCenTrik...
Safe mode's not helping me. I can't uninstall one f'n thing no matter what the circumstance.
I think my pc (brother's laptop) has been taken over. Damn.
Thanks for responding and sorry for the OT comp stuff.
What if a bunch of us did convert over to Euros? It might be in our economic sense on the macro level. The thing that sucks is we are going to be hurting on things like oil because of the devaluation of the dollar.
If people start trading things first to the Euro, our collapsing dollar will make everything way more expensive for us here. It will help our exports, but since we live off cheap imports, and low wage jobs, the red states in particular are going to be screwed beyond belief.
First thing went through my mind when I first heard about the Japan/China/T-Bill Trifecta was, Uh-Ohhhhh.
Everbank at everbank.com will provide certificates of deposit denominated in foreign currencies. Investors get both an interest rate and capital gains from the falling dollar. Minimum investments are 10k. 20k qualifies for a CD diversified among several currencies.
Savings accounts denominated in foreign currencies are also available.
I invested my savings this way about 18 months ago. The returns have been very good. And I am pleased with Everbank's service and trustworthiness.
No backup? You ain't got shit. Format and start again, Lamer.
I found a bank that lets you save/invest in foreign currencies: everbank.com
They sell CDs (the New Zealand Dollar CD is doing an impressive 5.35% over the last 3 mos) and have FDIC-insured foreign-denominated accounts. One product is the "Petrol CD," which gets you the Norwegian krone, the British pound, and the Mexican peso.
Found it by googling this helpful article on the subject from Money magazine.
yippee. gonna get my ass out of the dollar. And, hmm, maybe I should buy some real estate in Belize while I can.
Hey anon...thanks!
Can I buy Euros with my privatized social security money?
Dr Leo,
ctrl-alt-del. Look at "processes". Write them down. If there's something running that is preventing file deletion or moving on your computer, it should show up there. Google each process. See what they are. Try to kill the ones that you don't know about. If you can't, you should be able to find a virus killer for it. If you can, then go find the executable file for the process (search for the same name as the process) and delete it.
I've not heard of a virus that prevents moving or deletion of *everything*. Could be your OS is corrupted. Do you have the system disks? Can you reinstall just the OS?
copithorne -- great to hear someone can vouch for everbank. i'm so there.
copithorne 11.07.04 - 7:11 pm
Thanks for the everbank info. Any suggestions for the financially-ignorant how to figure out which currency to change to?
Welcome back, A. Hope you had a good weekend.
My daughter just got back from Amsterdam. Everyone followed the election, and so many people asked her about the results that she's sick of talking about it.
No one's happy there.
Chickens coming home to roost?
Wile E. Odysseus
No,just shitting in their own nests.
Say "buh-bye" to those low Wal-Mart prices, Bush voters.
Dr. Leo
You have my symapthies. My shop does equipment for our co-workers for free when they have this type of problem. The bugs are getting nastier and the clean out effort is getting so tedious that once we have an idea it is heading that way, we tell them to bring us the restore disk. I hate waving the white flag on these things, but it is always something different and just researching and understanding what has hit the unit can take quite a few man-hours.
symapthies = sympathies
Mrs. H & I missed you, A.
If that's not enough encouragement for you, sigh, I don't know what we can do.
Excerpts from Sunday's South China Morning Post on this topic. It's early Monday morning here now. yawn! The article was suggesting to invest in GOLD! (or Singapore dollars... though I'm not quite sure about Singapore. They have an interesting Country Line Dancing Association though... I'd ask the Peking Duck more as he lived in Singapore for some time.)
And if I'm going to do some blogwhoring I might as well point to my new aggregator, The Eschatonians, which is including the first 350 words of blog posts from blogys by attaturk, philatheles, thersites, joshowitz, echidne, geor3ge, and others. Still going through birthing pains, but useable at times.
La Lurka
What privatized social security money?
Damn you are optimistic. 
thanks for the links on foreign currencies, guys.
pie,
Glad to see you! I was worried.
copithorne 11.07.04 - 7:11 pm
Thanks for the everbank info. Any suggestions for the financially-ignorant how to figure out which currency to change to?
Can somebody confirm this rumor I
have always heard that the Chinese
force-abort babies to control
population growth?
Glad to hear that others are aware of our "little problem". I just wrote an essay about the fall of the US, inspired by a wingnut who claimed "queers will be the reason this country fails." I argued that no, in fact, we might be just a bit more concerned with China and India's exploding economies, and the fact that they hold so much of our Treasury bills. But what the hell do I, or anyone not toeing the line, know?
EkCenTrik -
What privatized social security money?
'twas an attempt at irony 
Dr. Pedant, thank you, my friend.
I took the weekend off too, mostly. Got out and smelled the fresh air (while it lasts). Michigan went for Kerry, at least.
We'll figure this out, but being nice to the thugs is out of the question.
My country. For better or for worse.
Let's make it better.
Is Mary Cheney still a lesbian?
The Democrats need reinvention.
Moral values need more attention.
The must put more ragheads
On their fucking deathbeds.
Those that live, must suffer detention.
Lime Rickey, not funny.
Uh, "They ..."
pie,
I have to admit, for one who bad-mouths this place constantly, I was pretty damned proud to be from Minnesota on Tuesday night. Even our suburbs broke even. God bless Minnesota.
The above speculating about Bushco suddenly and opportunistically discovering the menace of "the heathern chinee" strikes me as unlikely. Not unless they unionize or otherwise stop cooperating with moneymaking. That's the only mortal sin in the Church of Georgus.
It might mean that now that Colin Powell has said that Taiwan isn't an independent country they are preparing for taking it over. This could just be a reminder of what they could do to the United States if it pulls a Kuwait on them. They've got it in their power to sink the American economy. They know that is the only value Republicans have. The Bush talk about democracy is just flatus. It will pass.
Or it could mean that they know what Bush is able to do in the way of destroying the U.S. economy unaided. The Chinese despots have a healthy respect for the value of money too.
Wasn't supposed to be. Just defining GOP "moral values."
Foreign powers no longer financing our debt? That just about sucks. But hey, I've got my new flat paneled monitor and I'm happy.
Who cares about China when we have boys kissing right here at home?
If a crises is inevitable, it's better that it happen sooner rather than later. It's the only way this administration will face fiscal reality.
--Rick Taylor
Does the dollar;'s decline mean that Thai prostitutes will be more expensive? We need to know!
-Neil Bush
-Bill Falalfal
Lime Rickey, I know.
Sorry.
Here we go! The US has just commenced "freeing" falluja from the "Anti-Iraqi Forces":
http://www.theage.com.au/news/
Wo...9781285415.html
Note in particular that one of their first objectives was the Falluja Hospital, "because they thought that they would halt medical assistance to the resistance" - thery are refusing to let the doctors and nurses tend the wounded.
This is clearly in contravention of the Geneva Conventions.
Commander-in-Chief Allawi is sure gonna be in trouble when brave, law-abiding humanitarian George W. Bush returns from a well earned siesta in Crawford and sees what he's been up to with them red-state troops (wh are of course expendible, now that they've voted for him)!
EPT - what were you saying about unionising factories? - a bit more blogwhoring, but you might recognise a few names on the list of potential blackballing... Wal-Mart, Dell, Kodak...
Karl Rove was being interviewed on MTP this morning and a big fleck of spit flew out of his mouth. I wanted to puke.
The Chinese have a one child policy,
and they will abort your child even
in the third trimester if you are
not "certified" to bear it. This
is easily the largest abortion machine
in the world. I hold president Bush
responsible for encouraging this
BARBARIC BABY KILLING. For all his
talk about a "culture of life," for
all of his bravado about "leading
the world," he sure is fucking
chickenshit when it comes to the
Chinese and their BABY KILLING
MACHINE, isn't he?
All of America is seeking debt madly and our trade deficit equals our debt only we can't rack up half a trillion or more debt every year forever.
Bush and the Repugs want to raise the debt ceiling to 8 trillion!!!!
The Chinese have been putting down money for "purchasing" Taiwan and very very soon, they will deliver the bill and Bush will betray Taiwan.
www.lifecoalition.com/page12.html
Moral values my ass.
I'm glad this post is up because I have been trying to google the article that several people posted here awhile back. It is the one about the guy who lost 1.5 million in treasuries when no foreign investors showed up. I have had no luck finding it - can anyone help?
I have been trying to find it to warn family about the risk in the next auction. I'm thinking along the same track here aren't I vis-a-vis China?
thanks so much for any info.
Has anyone heard anything else about those surface to air missles that have gone missing? It seems pretty odd that we are just finding out about this now.
Bill Gross, guru at Pimco...
But I wax philosophical and not financial. My/our most certain idea, as expressed in previous Outlooks, is that real interest rates in the United States will have to be kept low, that the old Taylor rule is out. Too much debt in a finance-based economy precludes raising interest rates like we have in the past and while that keeps the patient/economy breathing; it leads to asset bubbles, potential inflation, and a declining currency over time. How should an investor attempt to exploit this condition? Buy the assets that are being bubbled, invest in bonds that are protected against inflation (TIPS, German bonds with less inflation risk) and short the dollar – all very carefully, by the way, as described in the above paragraphs. Some asset and currency prices are nitroglycerine. One false move can ruin more than your day.
Read the entire Pimco site www.pimco.com for investment ideas and thoughts from some of the best minds in the busines.
ruester,
If you're on my side, get off my side.
Thanks,
I had one of Bill Gross's newsletters around for awhile. Said to get out of stocks and into bonds. The stock market was heading for 5000, he said. This was four years ago.
LimeRickey: that last one was DARK! You seem bummed. Talk it out. Look at it. We're here to help.
So, back to banking - buy euros, right?
Clinton warned the entire country about our debt to China and Japan in his convention speech. Nobody picked up on it. Nobody cared.
Karl Rove was being interviewed on MTP this morning and a big fleck of spit flew out of his mouth. I wanted to puke.
Incognito
Damn, I'm surprised it wasn't flames and snakes. The tongue prosthesis that hides the fork probably kept them down but made him salivate more, hence the copious spittle.
But, Sheik, the data reflect average IQ, not mean IQ. Do you still think the report is full 'o crap?
QueenCrab:
"Mean" is the most common meaning of the term "average." The other types of average are "median" and "mode".
"Median" is the "center" number in any series; there will be as many numbers lower than the median as there will be higher. Example: In the series:
3 3 4 13 19 52 552
the number "13" is the median.
In the same series, the "mean" would be 92.29 (approx.), obtained by adding the numbers in the series together and dividing by 7.
In the same series, the "mode" would be the number that appears the most frequently - in this case, the mode is 3.
Most numbers series dealing with tightly grouped measurements (like I.Q., which falls along a relatively limited and "tight" scale) do not have such serious outliers as the number 552. Thus, the mean, median, and mode are not usually so disparate.
So China, with its heavily male population, is flexing its muscles? Here's what a population like that needs: war, to divert all those young men, women from wherever they can get them, and land preferably associated with the aforementioned women.
Fucking great.
Missed you Atrios.
Incognito-That was not spit coming of of Rove's mouth. That is how someone ejaculates when he has his head up his ass.
Has anyone heard anything else about those surface to air missles that have gone missing? It seems pretty odd that we are just finding out about this now.
Monica A
Monica, I read that and it scares the shit out of me. It's probably kept quiet to keep the public from panicking right before the Holiday travel season.
Bush has kept us safer, my ass.
Don't go away again. It ruined my groove. I kept bumping my head on things all weekend.
Kate,
If I'm not already on your list, would you please add me? Thanks!
Welcome back to you as well, Atrios. Thank you for the break. I didn't know how much of a break I needed as well. Now that I'm backto reality I think I'm going to cancel my cable for a while.
Does that amount to putting my nead in the sand or a fresh sense of sanity?
Peace
Lydia - more blogwhoring, but this is the article you want
And you might also want to check this post of mine which cites an earlier FT article on the underlying convergence of bad current accounts and federal deficits.
and this post which cites an article from People's Daily, the newspaper of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, on rumours about China drop-kicking the US dollar.
This is totally off topic so I hope everyone will excuse my need to vent, but here goes: Just got off the phone with my dad. He's a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage (or at least indifferent about it), pro-stem cell research Republican in Cali, and voted for Bush. He doesn't believe Roe v. Wade will ever by overturned and in his words "this country won't change much under Bush"
...I'm more convinced then ever that moderate Republicans are in complete denial about what they've just done...it's just so infuriating and depressing.
Welcome back, Atrios. Hope your well-deserved time off was restful.
If you go by the European press, the collapse of the US economy is coming sooner rather than later. German Chancellor said yesterday that the low level of the dollar did not warrant any action by Germany or the EU to stabilize the value of the dollar versus the euro, i.e. they don't give a shit how low the dollar goes--this was essentially what Le Monde was hinting at in its post-election editorial. Le Monde basically said there are 2 factors that will cement European unity--one being the realization that sitting around hoping for the election of a Euro-friendly, multilateralist candidate (a la Kerry) was wishful thinking, the second the fact that the Bush unilateral neo-imperial policies hurt the dollar and by extension, strengthen the potential for the euro to supplant the dollar.
Sorry if I repeated anything said above, haven't read the thread yet.
With Bush at the helm I feel safer everyday! Not really, but it helps if I say that and drink my rum and coke at the same time.
Incognito
Maybe Rove licked Zell Miller's spitball from the corner of Chimpy's mouth and spat it out.
OT-Yasser Arafat suffers liver failure-Will soon become Yasser Artifact.
and ruester - China's one-child policy did produce some abominable side effects. But... one unintended side effect, the imbalance of men to women in the generation just coming in to adulthood, is causing it to be scrapped/relaxed.
There aren't enough women available, some not so small percentage of men will end up being bachelors by the law of supply and demand.
If you understand the importance of passing on the family name to a next generation in China, you'll understand the lack of wives is a social time bomb.
I am sure atrios could expound on this with great detail, but the last time the US was involved in a stupid war and trying to have guns and butter at the same time the rest of the world said "enough" and the bretton woods system of currency exchange fell apart.
you can fool plenty o' baptists and freepers most of the time, but when it comes to central banks and arbitrage people it gets a bit more difficult to spend cash like a drunken sailor, cut taxes, and do "fuzzy math" to cover it all up.
Also, Saddam stopped taking dollars for oil before the US invasion and would only accept euros, if the middle east oil producers were to choose euros as the currency of choice the US would really be fucked.
China to get oil and natural gas from Iran. Who is next on the US/Israel hit list?
OT: according to UPI, a Georgia man has committed suicide at Ground Zero in protest of Bush's reelection and the Iraq war. My thoughts go out to his family and friends...
Karl Rove was being interviewed on MTP this morning and a big fleck of spit flew out of his mouth. I wanted to puke.
Incognito
Not relatd to the above, but I saw this on MSNBC this PM on a special on Bush.
They showed a meeting with Bush, Karen Huge, Karl Rove and others and it looked like the meeting was about to start.
Karen was sitting right next to Bush.
She glanced at Bush's chest and tie up and down and then looked down at her own breasts.
Keyboard psychologists - When a woman looks at a man's chest and then looks at her breasts, what does that mean?
mm -
yeah, my dad is a social justice ex-traveling evangelist, and he told me the other day that although he doesn't believe that abortion is good or "moral," he does not think the answer is to legislate those views onto others. He said something about the salt of the earth being "pretty smart people" who would recognize fascism immediately and kick it right to the curb.
I argued with him for a while, but he really doesn't think that the country will change much in the next 4 years.
I'm planning on pointing out to him each step of the decline and fall of the U.S. as we reach it.
I think I'm going to be doing a little reshuffling of my family finances. I'll also be getting the family passports in order. I don't like the way this is looking. A little off topic; why was Matthews talking about TV and morals? Why do people think that TV should in anyway inform your morals? It is entertainment. You get your morals from your family, friends, neighbors, etc... Never once have I looked to the Brady Bunch for moral clarity.
You owe us cats, Atrios.
Just sayin'
OT, but sorry Atrios about your Iggles. Go Steelers!!!! 27-3 Sorry dude, can't help myself, you are the only Iggles fan I know.
Yasonyacky - I'm finding a number of people who still are naive about what has happened. They haven't looked under every rock like we have. I agree that it is frustrating.
I hate believing that they are going to get their proof.
Hecate,
I got ahold of a digicam
Sylvia
patriotboy, ah General, sir, your eminence, what do we have to call you now? I understand a promotion is in order for you. Do you think a joint chief's position still out of reach? Let us know, eh? Oh, and you're on my rather dinky list of blogs.
Oh, and don't fret about the dinky thing, that just means 'small'.
Not that you're....I mean, well, of course I wouldn't know, it's you see my list that's dinky not your dinky that's on anybody's list, or anything like that....did I say that out loud?
Could we organize enough to put at least one of the cable news networks out of business? Pick on the weakest one, just to send a message. MSNBC?
Maybe we should trade our saved dollars for euros. Does anyone know where I caould get a list of companies that lean democrat? I want to know what banks are there - I have to dump citibank, they sleep with the saudis (bushies).
My Prediction:
Zell Miller as ambassador to the Court of St James's.
Tony Blair is coming to Washington this wk for consultations.
Dr. Pendant,
The time frame he said this was Sept 6, 2002 and actually he said that the Dow could slide. Stocks did slide after his commentary. S&P 893.92 9/6/02 ultimately bottomed at 775.80 on 10/9/02. DJIA 8427.20 went to 7197.49. The Nazdaq had fallen 74% from it's highs and has yet to recover.
At the time of that writing in 2002, he was up 6.7% (bonds) while the stock market (stocks that are not his expertise) fell 22%.
Please do no disregard Bill Gross's thoughts on investing, currencies and the bond market.
ecoast - time for breastfeeding the chimp. her boobs were aching, the chimp was hungry.
Why is it, do you suppose, that ever since the election it takes twice as much stoli to get me happy? If the dollar is falling does that mean I should stock up on stoli now, or wait? Will bread and circuses remain cheap? I can't watch reality tv. I'm going to buy the DVDs of Wagner that I've always wanted tomorrow. Those won't get cheaper and I can stay home and watch them as long as the grid holds out
Lima,
try this
Spending liberally
Hecate,
did you have to mention the Grid? As if we don't have enough to worry about.
Zell Miller as ambassador to the Court of St James's.
I am not slamming the food, but London does not do much southern barbeque.
We have few allies left.
They're not gonna send ol' Zell.
But I they did, I would really have to wonder what's going on.
lima,
according to responsibleshopper.org some banks are less bad that others. according to them, check out bank one, wachovia or wells fargo.
zell miller for chief justice!
Zell Miller as ambassador to the Court of St James's.
Tony Blair is coming to Washington this wk for consultations.
ecoast
Oh my Gawd! The English would secede, at least the people would. We'd loose our number one colony.
Englishmen, if they give you Zell you've got to take to the streets.
The best place to send Zell would be a country where no one spoke English and the press would edit anything coming out of his mouth. A country which couldn't attack us under any condition.
The worse thing, Hecate, was the no fucking in the streets. That really depressed me.
dirtgirl - thanks a lot! I passed it along for others to see.
Clinton spoke on this topic in his convention speach. It's no surprise the whores didn't pick up in it, they are much too busy sucking administration ass.
kent,
I spend my days worried about the grid. The deregulation geniuses have stressed this grid in ways it was never built to be stressed. No one is going to build upgrades in this economy. If you can swing it, distributed generation may keep you lit a few months longer than the rest of the country. There is no such thing as faith based electrical engineering anywhere in the world except at Bush's FERC
Englishmen, if they give you Zell you've got to take to the streets.
You're thinking ahead, EPT. Excellent.
We want Zig Zag Zell negotiating with out last remaining ally (doubtful)?
Nah.
Lets not forget that we have an invaluable tool to use our dollars wisely.
THis list will allow you to find those people localy that gave how much to who,and also tells you what companies they are affiliated with.
I plan to use this list very wisely.I have business that will adjust economicly towards all those that are democraticly challenged and those that are facist freindly.
kent - thank you! i passed yours around also.
A couple people, (or maybe just one person twice) asked my opinion on which currency to invest in. They asked this based on the fact that I referred people on this message board to Everbank, which sells foreign currencies.
I have reservations about representing myself as an authority. But I'll share my opinion.
I think it is the easiest financial bet in the world that the dollar is going down. That much is easy to see.
Everbank has been recommending its commodity CD -- which is a mix of Canadian, New Zealand, Australian and South African currencies. That's done very well. It offers an interest rate of 4%.
A lot of what Everbank likes about those currencies is that the economies are based on commodities, which are going up due to the growth of the Chinese economy.
I think that deal of buying the New Zealand currency is a great opportunity. The 5% interest rate is terrific. It has a commodity economy that will benefit from Chinese growth. And they have a Central Bank that has a disciplined approach (unlike Alan Greenspan).
Shaw,
Fucking in the streets in 06 when we boot Sen. Allen for Sen. Warner.
I mean seriously, why should I listen to losers?
patriotboy - I know what you mean about being all off-kilter - when Eschaton is your homepage, it really does throw the world off if it isn't alive.
(is it still your homepage? one night months ago we were talking about something and I said it was mine and you said you'd thought no one was as geeky as you were because it was yours,too.)
Hecate,
You are absolutely right about the grid.
You have just made me start trying to throw a seventh ball into the mix of the six i am juggling now. Thanks. Oy.
BTW I threw up a picture of one of my cats for you upthread. One of six, that will help keep us warm when the lights go out.
OT -
Anyone from Louisiana and/or have a good idea of what our chances of winning the 2 house runoffs might be? I'd like us to finish the election strong.
Lima,
my pleasure.
HOLY SHIT!
I sure wish I could be a congressman!
MY congressonal rep gave out a whopping 10 thousand dollars in campaign contributions.
10 thousand dollars
For someone who is supposed to be on the taxpayer payrolls,to me sounds like he makes way too much money!
What good are "good 'ol 'Murkin' Greenbacks" when we got ourselves an apocalypse a-comin'?
Does Jesus take plastic?
Didn't it take like 4 wheel-barrow's full of German marks to buy like a punch in the face or something right before hell popped out of it's handbasket saying "Hey folks! I'm back! Now where are them Jews?"
As a Jew myself, this whole mess portends for me some serious biblical-type shit on the horizon. You throw in bible-humping evangelifundies who all have read the Left Behind series 4 times now, their savior-cum-president re-selected twice now because of his "resolve" and the whole planet now deciding how best it can fuck us without fucking themselves in the process and you have what amounts to a global meltdown.
Oh, forgot we have ourselves a 6th crusade going on now in Falluja where bitchboy drudge says our Marines are annointing themselves with holy oil prior to going to battle with them evil Eyerackis.
It's enough to make oneself almost resigned to the fact that there really isn't much we can do.
Why sell my stocks and liquidate my savings if it's gonna take $1000 to buy a chalupa in a year or two? Why bother filling up the tank at $2.00 a gallon when the last thing people will be thinking about in a few more years is where they can go with their cars?
We are all so fucked. Everyone I work with (about 100+ in an advertising agency) are all saying the same thing. Serious creative types, geniuses, artists, you name it.
We are ALL FUCKED.
OT:
This guy didn't get the "it's nothing like viet nam" memo:
U.S. Forces Storm Into Western Fallujah
Sgt. Maj. Carlton W. Kent, the top enlisted Marine in Iraq, told troops the coming battle of Fallujah would be "no different" than the historic fights at Inchon in Korea, the flag-raising victory at Iwo Jima, or the bloody assault to dislodge North Vietnamese from the ancient citadel of Hue they seized in the 1968 Tet Offensive.
"You're all in the process of making history," Kent told a crowd of some 2,500 Marines. "This is another Hue city in the making. I have no doubt, if we do get the word, that each and every one of you is going to do what you have always done — kick some butt."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news...id=540&
ncid=716
It took 3 weeks to take Hue city and cost 1500 US troops. Hope Kent is wrong.
Governator, you're welcome to Bush's America.
It's all yours.
hadenough-Forget Hue, if he is citing Inchon he is in for major setbacks. We'll be lucky if we can recover the bodies.
It wouldn't stun me if the communists are going to try and stab America.
Honestly, if it were feasible, we should invade China and France.
Honestly, if it were feasible, we should invade China and France
I'm not going to your blog, because you just posted that.
Forced abortion is wrong.
The state shouldn't own your vagina.
China shouldn't force abortions.
I guess I share this view with Bush.
What can I say, I don't buy any of
his other bullshit, I promise!
Zell should go to acountry where euthanasia is legal.
Zell should go to a country where euthanasia is legal.
ruester-china and the bushies? no diff. the state wants to own women's reproductive rights. They just disagree on what to do when they own the rights.
Honestly, if it were feasible, we should invade China and France.
Another brilliant wingnut post.
Umm...lets see,we invade france ,because they are not America?Or because they refused to take part in juniors little reindeer game?
Invade CHina?What moron would even think like that?Are you always this stupid or did junior make you that way?
Given that most banks charge a high service fee to xfer to a foreign currency, the best bet is probably gold bullion. Since gold is a commidity, it is relative immune to currency fluction, however, of course, open to it's own volatility.
You can buy gold bullion directly in most major cities from a bullion distributor. The spread is still pretty high, but its a good idea especially if you think the current problems are going to result in inflationary pressures.
Current Prices:
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1 Oz) $450.00
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1/2 Oz) $231.00
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1/4 Oz) $118.00
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1/10 Oz) $49.00
EARLIER TYPO - China's current population is estimated at between 1.3 to 2 BILLION, not as I wrote 3.1 BILLION. Still a hell of a lot of people.
such an irony....
one of the reasons that cheney's energy group[secret] pursued the invasion of iraq was because hussein was beginning to denominate some of his hydrocarbons in euro's instead of dollars.
of course, that was the reason that the french and the germans refrained from participating in the invasion of iraq. principally because they were cognizant of the cheney group's rationales for invading iraq, since french, german oil companies attended the meetings, and because, looking out for their countries' interests, hydrocarbons denominated in euros benefited their constituencies.
look at what the euro has done versus the dollar since bush began saber rattling over iraq in 2002. the euro climbed from about .90usd to parity with the dollar december 2002. two years later, the euro is close to 1.30usd.
some observers predict that the euro will climb to 1.50usd within the next six months. some see it closer to 1.70usd.
if this occurs, and georgie porgie's henchmen really have no way to prevent it[unless the usa goes on a total war footing and seizes saudi arabia, venezuela, canada, mexico, in addition to iraq], then hydrocarbons will become denominated in euros.
that should put an end to the amerikan pursuit of empire. and it will put the united states of amerika into the deepest recession[dare i say it, depression] since the 1930's.
since bretton woods, hydrocarbons have been denominated in dollars. that has meant that all other currencies wanting to purchase hydrocarbons had to convert their currencies. imagine when this form of financial slavery flip-flops.
this has been an issue for several years. not routinely discussed, to be sure, but i daresay john kerry is aware of this forthcoming eventuality. yet, do any of you recall his discussing this issue during his sham campaign?
the amerikan electorate is a bunch of boobs - in the pursuit of repudiating roe v wade, denying gay unions, killing/maiming iraqi noncombatants and amerikan combatants, defending the homeland from imaginary terrorists - it went braindead and failed to recognize the real threat to their world, the bush-induced trashing of the dollar.
imagine what will be occurring within the next 12+ months as the dollar devaluation accelerates....
the death of most us airlines
the serious wounding of all amerikan transport companies[fedex, ups, bnsf, up, usps].
in lieu of my itemizing the deteriorating ripple in amerikan life, use your own imagination. it will take you to the conclusions that you will not want to be reaching.
putin will euro-denominate russian hydrocarbons. so will the saudis. so will venezuela. and if canada does it, there will be lots of us of amerikan citizens starving in the dark.
it was always a very fragile order, but most of the world views gwbush as a very ignorant, very greedy man. you know, outside the usa, all the world's intell services know that 11/09/01 was an inside job - a gangster op.
and the re
Given that most banks charge a high service fee to xfer to a foreign currency, the best bet is probably gold bullion. Since gold is a commidity, it is relative immune to currency fluction, however, of course, open to it's own volatility.
You can buy gold bullion directly in most major cities from a bullion distributor. The spread is still pretty high, but its a good idea especially if you think the current problems are going to result in inflationary pressures.
Current Prices:
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1 Oz) $450.00
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1/2 Oz) $231.00
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1/4 Oz) $118.00
US Gld Bullion Eagle (1/10 Oz) $49.00
Wouldn't it be awful if they used this as a pretext for switching us back to the gold standard?
It sounds crazy, but it was in the Texas GOP platform.
The state shouldn't own your vagina.
...
I guess I share this view with Bush.
Bwahahahahahahaha!
Welcome back Atrios and everyone!
Atrios,
Could you explain to us why and when national bond markets collapse? Does it happen all of a sudden or is it a slide?
and the rest of the world is going to make us pay for that. and pay dearly.
the only folks who will not be paying dearly are those bush oil insiders who have been planning their portfolios so as to benefit from the demise of the dollar. jim baker, the bush consigliere will be one of those. as will dick'em cheney. and the entirety of the bush family.
most disgustingly, so will the bulk of the democratic party leadership.
i shall close this way, some years ago when i was living in cambridge, it was quite clear that there was a concerted effort to re-aristocratize north amerika. to re-enserf the former colonies.
the reelection of george bush is intended to wipe out the middle class. the future is intended to be squires and indentured servants. the reversal of the revolution.
and there will be little that you can do about it. george bush has obtained his praetorian guard NKVD[headed by porter goss, welcomed by the democrats in congress]. he controls the politburo and the presidium. he controls the amerikan pravda and izvestia..and all their spawn.
there are none in the democratic party who will oppose this movement. after all, they will become ennobled as a bounty of their office. so why would they care?
you can all consider legitimate responses to the gangster president, but it really is a waste of time.
i would like to think myself wrong. and perhaps i am. but i don't think so.
the nastiest conclusion is that george bush is more than a gangster...he is an armageddonist.
if that is an accurate pic, please god, deliver a fatal cardiac arrest to all the republican hierarchy.
if you will do that, i shall go to church every sunday for the rest of my life.
Invade France and China? You and whose army? Bush's army is tied down in Iraq and it will take a month or two to get the draft up and running.
davidmonroeshoup = albert champion?
*lol* What else do China and France share besides Trevor's desire to have Furious George invade?
They both received more foreign direct investment than the US last year. Baghdad Bush is bad for business. bad for America.
grab some popcorn, sit back, relax and enjoy...
ARMAGEDDON!
Brought to you by:
Halliburton
GE
Merck
Ford
Exxon
Shell
BP
Healthsouth
Enron
Boeing
Lockheed
General Dynamics
.
.
.
.
Arrrrrgh! From my link:
On Saturday, more than 30 people were killed in another rebel stronghold, Samarra, which US forces only recently declared they had regained control of.
Bush is such an asshole. This is unfuckingbelievable.
Hey folks, there's no chinese conspiracy to screw America!!.. Dont forget, they ALREADY bought several hundred billion dollars worth of our paper - If it depreciates in value, they lose. The dollar is depreciating because we need $2 billion of foreign financing every single business day because:
1. The government is running huge budget deficits largely because of Bush's tax cuts
2. Americans in general dont save much so the only place to get the money is overseas.
Why is the dollar tanking? Because foreigners are willing to finance even huge amounts so long as there is a plan to bring our imbalances back to earth in the future. Bush has no such intention (if fact, takes every opportunity to say he wants to do the opposite -"make the tax cuts permanent", etc. etc.) so as soon as it became clear he would win, everyone started to unload.
You should too. Buy Euros. Its better to have the Germans in charge of the value of your savings than a Republican dominated US government.
Are you always this stupid or did junior make you that way?
No, I think he's always been stupid.
smalfish -
The link you posted at 8:34 pm isn't working. Can you repost or do a tiny url thingy? Thanks!
Hey, ruester,
Babies don't grow in vaginas!
Typical male commentator ignorant of female annatomy. Wanna guess what kind of lover he makes?
Damn.
nightmare scenario:
Dollar plummets to near worthless (or desirable levels)
consumption crawls to a halt since no one wants our money.
gasoline, nearly unattainable anymore dries up (Strategic reserve lasts about a month and guess which department gets first dibs...DOD)
people cannot commute to work anymore (but who cares, no one is buying)
food riots begin
martial law, once declared, is longer needed as chaos has now ensued.
Jesus returns. Gives America the finger then leaves.
if you will do that, i shall go to church every sunday for the rest of my life.
I might even consider it as well.
anyone who thinks gold is a safe investment should check the history of gold prices - anywhere from 100-800 per oz. over the past few decades. Now THAT is volatility.
We should crush the French and transplant our liberal population over there.
And my conservative Repub family thought the danger was when Clinton sold technology to the Chinese.
Yep,crushing the French sure does advance democracy.
How about we just crush your head and make ...ummm, well, actually, we have enough shit, but thanks anyway.
Don't forget that several years ago the Chinese pegged their currency to the dollar. They can unpeg it any time they want. They can hold America hostage as well.
But of course they need our markets to dump their 2 cent an hour salaries for Gap, Walmart etc. It has been the in past you employ our workers for nothing and we buy your bonds. Who really gives a shit about trade agreements? Besides, American is so swimming in nation debt, not just the annual deficit and it wouldn't take much to push us into financial chaos.
It is a quite interconnected circle after all.
Presnit says what he means and means what he says:
(Bush's remarks upon returning from Camp David April 13)
April 14, 2003
Q. I just want to ask what your message is to the Iraqi people who are wondering about --
THE PRESIDENT: You're free. And freedom is beautiful. And, you know, it'll take time to restore chaos and order -- order out of chaos. But we will.
http://usembassy.state.gov/
islam...wh03041401.html
Jesus returns. Gives America the finger then leaves.
Damn, that's funny. Sounds about right, too.
The French have ruthlessly crushed the Ivorians, as well.. they possess a radical leadership and weapons of mass destruction
One other thing to consider. The multi-trillion dollar deficit created under Bush is no accident or misguided planning. It is deliberate. He is truthfully not concerned about it. He is setting out to bankrupt the federal government, thereby forcing the elimination of many government programs and institutions and acheiving the desired outcome of little, if ANY government.
When you elect people who believe governemnt is intrinsicly bad, you have to expect their desire to get rid of it.
Let's see how the "red states" survive in Bush's world of social Darwanism.
Has anyone heard anything else about those surface to air missles that have gone missing? It seems pretty odd that we are just finding out about this now.
Monica A
Monica, I read that and it scares the shit out of me. It's probably kept quiet to keep the public from panicking right before the Holiday travel season.
Bush has kept us safer, my ass.
Stinky
Thanks, that's great...I live between a major airport and the place that i'd imagine shoulder fired rockets coming from...smack dab in the middle...i think i'll be going up to my roof now and laying out some thick pillows and spraying fire retardant all over the place! BRB...
And again, thanks for the reminder.
I really do look forward to the collapse of the American dollar.It makes so much sense to the common man for it to collapse.It takes out all the huge conglomerates that rule this country.They will have starved themselves out of a market of consumerism.Let it come.We as a species are more resilient than we think.
Also I welcome the comming Global Climate change for many of hte same motivations.
People can withsand many many perils.They withstand them and come back time and again.
Look at the dark ages.People lived thru them and we survived them,we will again.
smalfish, your link doesn't work.
What would be harder to overcome is an America that totters on the brink for 4 more years with all the radical policies attached,that will have to be undone,all the while trying to regain a responsible monetary policy.
Time will tell whats going to happen,I relish the idea of the economy dying under a republican administration.
Let the economic disaster occur sooner rather than later!
I need to go back and read the history of Germany and Europe in the 1920's to 1939.
This election sure smacks to me of 1930's Germany, and our electorate of the idiot fasict Germans who blindly followed Hitler into total and utter defeat.
Now, now, I know that the trolls are getting hardons thinking that I just equated Bush to Hitler, but I didn't. Bush may be stupid and suffer from the same delusions of grandeur but he is no Hitler. Just give him time... History will not be kind to Bush.
So China, with its heavily male population, is flexing its muscles? Here's what a population like that needs: war, to divert all those young men, women from wherever they can get them, and land preferably associated with the aforementioned women.
I told you already, we're at war with Eastasia.
smalfish, your link doesn't work.
It's not supposed to.
yeah, it does sound like albert
George W. Bush will go down in history as the second greatest President of all time, behind Ronald Reagan
How ironic that must now invest in Euro's to save our asses?
How ironic that we must now invest in Euro's to save our asses?
yeah, it does sound like albert
Sure does.
George W. Bush will go down in history as the second greatest President of all time, behind Ronald Reagan
Only if we're counting from the bottom up.
The way to win the values battle is to force the repubs passed what the talked about during the campaign. Make them walk the walk. The won b/c of abortion/gays. Instead of blocking judges, the dems should say to the repubs you are completely in charge of the govt-when is abortion going to be criminalized? Notice that the language is not pro-life, but criminalize abortion. Which women are going to be jailed/executed? Dems don't get it.
Trevor,
Boing!
you didn't mind gop smear tactics. purple heart band-aids were ever so cute."
This was the dems fault. The dems pretty much blew their convention, opting to play nice. Meanwhile, the repubs has these vile band-aids. When have the repubs played nice? The Clintonistas played harball; they went to the bush campaign to tell them if they made a big deal of J Flowers, that they would drop the A-bomb on Bush Sr. Everytime the dems behave like wimps, they get crushed. When Cheney said if you elect Kerry, the terrorist would nuke us, I cannot understand for the the life of me why Kerry did not say, who was on vacation on 911, after recieving a memo saying planes would crash into us.
Click to sign a petition to draft Howard Dean to run for President.
Maybe we should trade our saved dollars for euros. Does anyone know where I caould get a list of companies that lean democrat? I want to know what banks are there - I have to dump citibank, they sleep with the saudis (bushies).
Let the economic disaster occur sooner rather than later!
----
Rove will blame it on the Clenis. Meanwhile, Cheney et all will be on a jet to Zurich with their passbooks in greedy hands.
Live free -
I can run about 50 campaign commericials in my head that would have been devastating to Bush, alas, Kerry and his advisors didn't watch enough of the Daily show.
I'm sorry,I will not vote for Howard Dean for president.Ever.
I also will never vote for John Edwards,nor Kerry again.
THe Dems need to rethink who they try to run out in front of the American public.They need someone who can win the popular vote.Not just some of the EV's.
Dean would have never gotten any of the southern votes.As good a Liberal as he is,he just doesnt have * IT *.
Whatever that is.
Listen up, darlings.
Democrats tend not to want to participate in "character attacks" because they maintain an idealistic hope that a respectful debate of the issues of the day is possible in a civilized society, but they really have no choice: the Republicans have no such inhibitions. Every attack and accusation they make must be used to define them as smiling, disingenuous weasels. In doing so, Democrats must express both derision and wisdom and show an eagerness to explain what the Republicans are up to. They need to take the time to point out and explain in television commercials the misrepresentations, the deceptions, the intent, and the strategy of the Republican attacks.
It will also be important for Democrats to spend more and more time ridiculing the stupidity of Republican policies and---implicitly---those who embrace/defend them. This is necessary in order to socially isolate those who belong to the Republican Party (or to at least counteract the social pressure on Swing Voters that is created when Republicans ridicule Democrats). If the Democrats fail to do this, the Average American will not even listen to what they have to say re: "the issues." If their image of Democrats is sufficiently negative, they won't want to be persuaded because they'd want to protect an identity that had become very important to them.
No mercy.
The dems just need to ignore the media and play natsy hardball. When the media asks "dont you think that American is tired of negativity?" Tell them "ask Presidnet Bush"
It will also be important for Democrats to spend more and more time ridiculing the stupidity of Republican policies and---implicitly---those who embrace/defend them.
I agree, but it's going to make the sh*t hit the fan at a lot of family Thanksgiving dinners this year.
just tuning in...
i don't think that shoup was advocating any military action against france or china.
in fact, i am certain that anyone identifying himself/herself as shoup would be opposed to the invasion of almost any country. unless that country had attacked us.
still, what he/she says about the currency war is mostly accurate.
consider the euro going to 2.00usd. gasoline will go to $5+ per gallon. heating oil will go the same level.
natural gas, electricity prices. to the moon.
such a price escalation will re-order this country.
few understand how it could be that georgie porgie would cultivate this future. how could he welcome such devastation to the usa. because he and his family, and his pioneers, will profit from it. massively.
if you are a wage slave living in new england and the mid-atlantic states, i recommend you move to areas that are more hydrocarbon benign.
living on the left coast, hunker down.
and this regime ain't interested in saving you. unless you care to give up your children to enlisting - to fight the next wars in defense of empire.
oh, and dr pederast, can you tell us how this vision of the future has gotten it inaccurately?
i am off to the cote d'azur. looking for a new residence. the usa is toast.
i recommend that everyone learn chinese starting now.
or french. or german. or arabic.
the bushits, in concert with the kash and kerrys, have torpedoed the usa.
mark it.
think on it over the next 16 years.
what you just witnessed in this last election was predicted in 1996 in the 15% solution.
read the book. i think that the author gets it so accurately.
Let the economic disaster occur sooner rather than later!
----
Rove will blame it on the Clenis. Meanwhile, Cheney et all will be on a jet to Zurich with their passbooks in greedy hands.
Anonymous
Sorry but all this economic doom talk reminds me of the "disgruntled CIA spooks will save us from chimpy" bulls**t.
Do you guys seriously think that *they* are going to do something that will hurt the golden goose???
Enough of the false comforts, ok?
knowing beforehand that china drills in the sudan for oil, i also had a question about how much china depends on the U.S. for oil and wondering much leverage this would give us? when i found this:
///
The reason that the very shaky government of Sudan can perpetrate a genocide despite strong international condemnation is that it is so uncritically supported by China. More to the point, China is actively courting middle east and African oil producing nations, becoming the preferred partner to authoritarians and Islamists who are fearful of the United States. The result is an emerging bloc of nations sharing authoritarian values combined with market capitalism. These nations are becoming the core of a rapidly evolving economic and diplomatic ecosystem whose sphere of influence that quietly but strongly rivals that of the US.
Apologies if this isn't the 1st.
MUSTREAD: this just post on Common Ground (none / 1)
BREAKING---KERRY TO UNCONCEDE IF THERE IS EVIDENCE OF FRAUD
FORWARD TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW EMAIL FROM DC LAWYER CYNTHIA BUTLER
I am angry and getting emails and recrimination from people
wondering why KERRY just caved and is not fighting this before the final count in Ohio, before any of the fraud was challenged, before New Mexico and Iowa even came in.
There is widespread feeling that he did not lose the election and that it was taken from him.
There is enough here to warrant investigation and enough to challenge the results. It's coming from all corners.
I understand that he has until the official count
certification in Ohio to Un Concede which is several days from now.
Anyone who thinks that he should unconcede should give reasons why - whatever they noticed, particularly in Red Republican Governed States using electronic machines- and send them directly to Cameron KERRY, John Kerry's brother at his law firm at the address CKerry@Mintz.com They should inform us if they were not allowed to vote provisionally (for whatever reason- they lost forms, ran out of forms, etc.) I personally witnessed a number of things as I reported in Texas with the DCCC. (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee)
If you know anyone in particular in Ohio who tried to vote and was turned away at the polls please get their information and notify the campaign. They should be notified if they experienced lines longer than four hours -particularly elderly or infirm people (we call that torture when they do it to political prisoners) . They should be notified if people were told as has been reported that due to too many people showing up in African American precincts, particularly in Ohio where there were too few booths (some only had two or three for the entire precinct) and told because of heavy turn out they could vote on Wednesday.
If the numbers of these sorts of incidents creates a percentage margin that exceeds
the margin of victory- Un Concession has to be made to challenge the count.
If people wanted to and tried to vote and were prevented or actively discouraged from doing so, that is a Civil Rights matter and must be dealt with in terms of the ultimate count.
This is the last email that I am writing on this subject in this venue. I am taking it up in other venues.
Please pass along this to your listservs so that we may make Democracy Work in America. We are not a country where he who cheats best wins.
Cynthia L. Butler
BUTLER LAW FIRM, P.C.
1717 K St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20036
We have the POWER to take our country BACK!
"At the center of China's program to shape the next world, China is securing oil sources for the next decade. China is making a strong push into the middle east and Africa, as well as south Asia. Sudan provides China's oil exploration and oil services base in Africa, and the Sudanse oil fields are China's only major international discovery and production success to date."
thanks for the advice, albert. I may be sending some of my money overseas, but I myself will stay here.
The dollar has already fallen about 30% in value in the last 4 years.
All you have to do is look at the housing market. A house worth $280 thousand a few years ago now costs $400 thousand. That's not real estate rising in value, that's the dollar falling. The house is basically worth the same, but the dollar buys less.
That's gotta hurt. Not even a week after the election and there's a big show of a lack of confidence in the US administration's direction. This "stay the course" shit could be interesting if the "course" is down the toilet. Just amazing. I feel like I'm living next door to a fantasyland. Bush and the neocons must be trying to out delusion Kim Il Sung (spelling?).
y, I guess you know Iran just signed a big oil/gas deal with China
y,
you get the picture.
so few do.
there is this group that thinks the usa to be the friend of all the world. i recall bill m o'ronically telling his audience how it has been that the usa has saved so many, how the usa is/has been the guarantor of survival.
hmmm. when i hear him say that i want to jump through the speakers, hoping that i can emerge so as to strangle his ass.
let us consider those people that he says that we saved....
malaysian
timorese
nicaraguans
guatemalans
hondurans
salvadorans
panamanians
venezuelans
paraguayans
chileans
haitians
dominicans
cubans
guyanans
angolans
south africans
indonesians
koreans
japanese
vietnamese
cambodians
laotians
burmese
sri lankans
tibetans
russians
diego garcians
and what is even worse, democrats conclude that bill m o'ronically is accurate.
that is the sadness. demfascists = repfascists.
Under George W. Bush the United States has become overextended, not just militarily but economically. We are trying to do too much, borrow too much, spend too much, and sooner or later we will have to suffer the consequences.
It looks like sooner...further weakening of the dollar, eroding US living standards, and destabilizing the global economy.
This was a key election issue pushed by KE but Karl Rove's negative campaign of lies, deception, and smear prompted many red staters esp. the evangelicals to say morality issues were more important.
The myopia and stupidity of 1/2 of America is overhelming.
typo: The myopia and stupidity of 1/2 of America is overwhelming.
I just finished watching the third episode of that BBC documentary series "The Power of Nightmares". Quite amazing. You wonder why none of the detainees who were supposed to be terrorists have not been convicted? The answer is in this film, and it's pretty sad commentary on both politicians and the media. Makes me even more sure that it's not safe to go to the US now (not because of the terrorists, but because of the fantasy life that law enforcement agencies are living).
you might want to consider forward contracts available through your bank:
A forward contract is an obligation to buy or sell a specific amount of currency at a predetermined rate for a specific future date. The advantage of this hedging method is that it allows you to more accurately project and protect future cash flows.
everbank is probably the best deal. as it preserves principal.
playing options can be costly. especially in currencies. you have to understand that govts will do things to distort a free market[is there such a thing?].
consider, you purchase calls on loonies. calls to expire at a certain time. when they expire, loonies have failed to make the mark. you are out your option cost. consider, however, that 30 days later, loonies get to the exhange price that you had bet on. too bad. you were right, but your contract was too early.
currencies are manipulated by govts. you cannot afford to play currency options. own the currency.
buy euros. buy loonies. buy ozzies. buy yen.
buy everything but dollars. because george bush and the repfascists, along with the demfascists, are taking us down. i can assure you, jane harman and her hubbie are shorting the dollar. as is nancy pelosi and babs boxer. and tom delay. etc etc etc.
I just finished watching the third episode of that BBC documentary series "The Power of Nightmares".
episodes one and two are available online:
http://www.informationclearingho...o/
video1040.htm
Since everyone is on the sell side of the dollar boat a rally is in order.
Long term it looks like the mid 50s for the dollar index.
A dollar rally should halt the stock market rise, since they seem to have an inverse relationship of late.
buy euros. buy loonies. buy ozzies. buy yen.
Perhaps NZD also? My last job was at a major investment bank, and I know enough about FX, to know that I'm out of my league playing with currency contracts. I'll stick with savings, CDs, maybe a European bond fund.
I'm buying Monopoly money.
I don't care if I have no money...as long as men can't marry men, I'll be fine.
Signed,
The Electorate
This is totally off topic so I hope everyone will excuse my need to vent, but here goes: Just got off the phone with my dad. He's a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage (or at least indifferent about it), pro-stem cell research Republican in Cali, and voted for Bush. He doesn't believe Roe v. Wade will ever by overturned and in his words "this country won't change much under Bush"
Hey mm, when did my Dad move to California from NM?
looks like the ultimate rallying cry.
Dollar is going into the tank and the administration & congress plan to what...print more dollars?
Go after the money. The people eventually will. If you get ahead of the curve you automatically become the voice of the people.
Look to the fed. Is it your friend?
keep in mind that holding foreign currency will probably become illegal (it's unpatriotic, and a betrayal of america)
ownership of gold, and other hedges against rampant inflation will likely also be illegal.
the best way to get through a crash is to minimise the amount of total cash-flow. translation, get your ass out of debt, keep it that way, and hold real property and assets that will retain a value.
in other words, own your home (so you don't have to pay rent), and own property that others will need to rent from you...
I'm sorry,I will not vote for Howard Dean for president.Ever.
I also will never vote for John Edwards,nor Kerry again.
...
Dean would have never gotten any of the southern votes.As good a Liberal as he is,he just doesnt have * IT *.
Whatever that is.
smalfish
maybe you are right. maybe you're wrong.
before the iowa caucus, there was a website that tracked the number of small donors contributing to the different candidates. dean was raising a hell of lot of money out of florida, arkansas, and a couple of other southern states i can't remember. he was raising more out of that region than the rest.
southerners appreciate authenticity and conviction, no different than people in other states. that was dean. southerners aren't some queer species whose tastes we cannot fathom. people from disprate states have more in common with each other than we realize. there was even a noted southern dem strategist who called dean a "yankee redneck", who said dean's qualities are familiar to southerners. i think he could have made some inroads had he been allowed to sprint. dean wasn't the one who publicly wrote off the south.
episodes one and two are available online:
I had already downloaded and watched them. Just got around to number three.
Since you folks import more oil from us (Canada) than any other country, it'll be interesting to see what happens if the oil trade moves to Euros. I bet we'll be the last to move because the Chimperor will hold a gun to our heads. Your ambassador, that fuckwit Paul Salucci (sp?) routinely gets his face in the media to threaten or abuse us. I'd like to see that prick posted to Burkino Fasa
and if you think the gay issue killed us in the south, this is what another strategist had to say.
“I think Bubba loves his guns and hates NAFTA a lot more than he dislikes gays.” — David "Mudcat" Saunders, a former rural strategist
fine. let the repugs bitch about gays. we didn't offer them anything to counter it. southerners aren't stupid. they know trade policies have hurt their state. kerry could have countered with reform of nafta. after the primaries, you didn't hear any more anti-nafta rhetoric.
Zell Miller as ambassador to the Court of St James's.
Not gonna happen. The current ambassador is a Texas crony of King George Dubya, and gets on with HMQ, because he owns racehorses.
If Zell landed in London, there would be several thousand people ready to smack his cracker ass back to Georgia every time he took a step outside.
actually bill farish resigned some months ago.
to the best of my knowledge, no one has been appointed to replace that son of a traitor.
I agree, but it's going to make the sh*t hit the fan at a lot of family Thanksgiving dinners this year.
I'm boycotting mine. Not much to give thanks for (and I'm not even an American) especially with bovine Bush voters at the table.
to the best of my knowledge, no one has been appointed to replace that son of a traitor.
fuck. You're right, sir: he stepped down in June. I stand corrected. Jebus.
While the UK ambassadorship goes to a place-man rather than a professional (except that it did, under Clinton) sending Zell to London would... well, I suspect that the American expats in London would want to beat the crap out of him.
The security cordon around Grosvenor Square right now makes the already-pretty-Stalinist US Embassy look even more fucking Stalinist. It's a giant turd on the London landscape.
let us reflect upon william stamps farrish.
virtually the first thing that georgie porgie did was to make this appointment of this son of a traitor to the court of st james.
think on that a bit.
william stamps farrish. his dad. adjudged by the congress to be guilty of violating the trading with the enemies act. about the same time that prescott sheldon bush[paternal grandfather] and herbert walker[maternal grandfather] were adjudged to be similarly guilty of treason under that law.
farrish blew his brains out. a more honorable man than prescott bush or herbie walker.
and what was it that william stamps farrish did? well, bill farrish was the ceo of standard of new jersey, esso, the beacon of the rockefeller trusts.
though little discussed, esso[humble oil - farrish origins] had patents on synthetic rubber. which they sold to igfarben. the synthetic rubber was affectionately identified as BUNA. did you ever wonder why parts of the oswiecim[auschwitz] camp were known as buna?
these were the synthetic rubber facilities. had it not been for these esso licenses granted to igfarben, there would have been no wheels for the wehrmacht. think on that.
throughout the era of the reich, esso shoed the wehrmacht. and collected royalties. delivered to swiss banks. that is what allen dulles really did in bern throughout the war. he administered the royalty accounts. not just for esso, but for ford, general motors, dupont, etc, etc. mostly as an agent for his brother foster, who was a partner in a major dc law firm[sullivan & cromwell] that arranged the licensing agreements before the outbreak of hostilities.
anyway, had it not been for esso et alia, there would have been no wehrmacht. think on that.
also think on why it was that auschwitz went undestroyed when it could have been. gee, do you think it had something to do with the continuation of royalty payments?
ah, who else was involved in these arrangements...an investment banking firm known as brown bros. harriman. hmmmm, who was the managing partner of that firm in that era? a guy by the name of prescott sheldon bush.
and i don't wear any tinfoil hat.
i could tell you more. if you challenge me, i shall.
Well, well, well. Looks like the Bush swagger is about to end, internationally.
He may trash Social Security, shift the cost of government completely to the middle class, put an end to personal injury litigation, and introduce compulsory Sunday School attendance for all us heathens, but the international community just fired a shot across his bow.
No more Mr. Big Shot outside the USA. I wonder what Bush is gonna promise now that his financiers are calling in the markers?
The CNBC folks have been having it both ways for two years now. When the dollar goes up, Wall Street applauds because it is showing US economic strength. When it goes down, it shows that US companies are more competitive in foreign markets.
Breaking 10 year lows, no matter what Kudlow (et al) tell you, is not a positive signal coming on the heels of a Bush victory and a good jobs report.
Methinks the Chinese and others are sending a not-too-subtle post-election message to Bush that they will not have their economic interests messed with (they hold nearly a trillion US dollars via Treasuries etc).
Don't be surprised to see the rest of the world (what the Bush folks like to call "the enemy" and what smarter folks call "our financiers") initiate a little post-election economic warfare. A brief financial panic would sober up the triumphalism in a hurry.
"how do i put my savings in euros? are there online banks that let you do that?"
Lots of ways to do it. One of the best is everbank.com. You can transfer money into other currencies or buy bonds of other countries. You can also buy baskets of currencies/bonds tied to geography or commodities.
I bought a basket of Australia/New Zealand currency about 18 months ago. Not only did I got a 30% pop on the currency exchange, I also got almost 7% interest. And it doesn't involve locking money up for any set period of time.
The Australian overnite rate is 6.75%. That's not a 10 year rate. That's a basic savings account rate. In the US, you only get 1%.
At some point, watch for the Bush folks to instigate capital controls so that they can stem the tide of U.S. money parking overseas.
http://goldmoney.com/en/index.php
The easy way to buy gold and exchange it in and out of currencies, you own gold grams (real gold in an audited vault). The joy is that you can transfer your goldgrams to other people for free electronically with zero costs (you pay an initial fee when buying but after that selling or transfering is free
Tom - Daai Tou Laam
I was too tired to see last night and missed this, thank you. It is certainly interesting. If China banned non-union firms from doing business all of our press whores would rise up and scream for war. It would be unanimous, or effectively so.
I watched Thom Hartmann on Cspan last week, and he was saying that the real threat to us right now is not terrorists but China.
Said Hartmann, if China decides to sell off US debt, (like Soros, and then he said he'd leave Soros out of this) but if they did, they could bring the US to its knees in 24 hours without ever firing a shot.
I don't think China will do anything over-dramatic. For one thing, their prosperity is closely aligned with our continued consumption. And with all our military assets, I don't think anyone wants a USA in financial chaos - we just might go 4th Reich on the world. Or maybe we already have. It's hard to tell.
I'd expect it to be more like what we had with Japan in the late 80s - that is, we'll be there bitch and no matter what happens we'll smile and say "thank you sir... may I have another?" Taiwan has to be extremely nervous right about now - expect them to be the first to go.
Historically, China has not been expansionist in the way that Russia and the West have been. We can only hope that cultural tradition continues.
The dollar, the stock markets, treasuries, real estate--all kablooey before the next election. It's been coming a long time, and I have to say it's not even Chimpy's fault, though he's done nothing to make it better. WE can thank Greenspan....I mean, Mr. Mitchell, NBC News.
And doesn't Andrea look like crap with her facial work? Meow.
Historically, China has not been expansionist in the way that Russia and the West have been. We can only hope that cultural tradition continues
Don't count on it. They have a population that is skewed very heavily with males. They need (1) wars, to keep those young men occupied; (2) women for those young men, from whatever country they can get them; and (3) land for those young men, preferably associated with the women in #2. All of which leads to wars of expansion.
I am still surprised people pay any attention to "Larry Kudlow". Doesn't anybody realize that he is, like Lionel Hutz, Troy McClure, Bill McNeil and Lyle Langly, just another one of the late, great Phil Hartman's wacky characters?
You see, when Phil Hartman died, the deal was that he could come back to the realm of the living to do one character -- his only "stealth" character that nobody realized was merely a characterization: Larry Kudlow, economically illiterate "economist".
It's such a brilliant character the heavenly hosts couldn't let it die along with its creator, so they let Mr. Hartman come back to life just to do that character!
It took Bush 3.75 years to get within sniffing distance of breaking even on the minor recession of 2001. I'm thinking ChiCom bond shock, housing bubble shock, heating fuel shock, and inflation is absolutely going to flummox these guys. They are doctrine guys and their doctrines are crap. Bet the farm, Dems, or get out of Washington. It will never be better than now.
To what extent does China really finance "our budget deficit"? The reason I ask is because, currently, China has about 450 BN USD in treasury bills. While that is 80% or so of the last year's budget deficit, that is a meaningless stat.
Total US currecy bought up dwarfs the 450 BN that China has accumulated over the years. China WILL NOT, for example, buy bonds whose value will total 80% of what the deficit will be next year. Sure, they have a nice chunk of change, but I don't think them being tepid about buying/selling, is all bad or as significant as some other commenters here do.
We cannot expect other countries to take a loss on our loans while we push the dollar down further to decrease their sway. Maybe when it is impossible to spend like fucktards with people backing us up, we will actually stop spending so much (or tax more).
PB
"i think we ought to take some of these people
put 'em on a boat
and send 'em up to bear mountain for a picnic"
start with the media.
there should be consequences for becoming a quisling shill.
they are selling us down the river and over the falls.
our future is turning to dust.
To what extent does China really finance "our budget deficit"? The reason I ask is because, currently, China has about 450 BN USD in treasury bills. While that is 80% or so of the last year's budget deficit, that is a meaningless stat.
Total US currecy bought up dwarfs the 450 BN that China has accumulated over the years. China WILL NOT, for example, buy bonds whose value will total 80% of what the deficit will be next year. Sure, they have a nice chunk of change, but I don't think them being tepid about buying/selling, is all bad or as significant as some other commenters here do.
We cannot expect other countries to take a loss on our loans while we push the dollar down further to decrease their sway. Maybe when it is impossible to spend like fucktards with people backing us up, we will actually stop spending so much (or tax more).
PB
To what extent does China really finance "our budget deficit"? The reason I ask is because, currently, China has about 450 BN USD in treasury bills. While that is 80% or so of the last year's budget deficit, that is a meaningless stat.
Total US currecy bought up dwarfs the 450 BN that China has accumulated over the years. China WILL NOT, for example, buy bonds whose value will total 80% of what the deficit will be next year. Sure, they have a nice chunk of change, but I don't think them being tepid about buying/selling, is all bad or as significant as some other commenters here do.
We cannot expect other countries to take a loss on our loans while we push the dollar down further to decrease their sway. Maybe when it is impossible to spend like fucktards with people backing us up, we will actually stop spending so much (or tax more).
PB
To what extent does China really finance "our budget deficit"? The reason I ask is because, currently, China has about 450 BN USD in treasury bills. While that is 80% or so of the last year's budget deficit, that is a meaningless stat.
Total US currecy bought up dwarfs the 450 BN that China has accumulated over the years. China WILL NOT, for example, buy bonds whose value will total 80% of what the deficit will be next year. Sure, they have a nice chunk of change, but I don't think them being tepid about buying/selling, is all bad or as significant as some other commenters here do.
We cannot expect other countries to take a loss on our loans while we push the dollar down further to decrease their sway. Maybe when it is impossible to spend like fucktards with people backing us up, we will actually stop spending so much (or tax more).
PB
To what extent...just kidding.
I kinda thought that things would take a second or two to go from bad to worse, but I guess I should've been thinking in terms of nanoseconds.
China is like a caged lion about to be released powerful, ferocious and focused.
Their leaders have played this brillantly. They need oil and Australia and Iran have ponied up. Both counties get money and first crack at that soon to be 2 billion person market while China gets the much needed oil and powerful new alliances. Bush's plan to invade Iran is over. China is not going to let Bush mess with Iranian oil now that they have PAID for it. We also don't have the army to deal with Beijing but that won't be necessary. All China has to do is call in the debt and the U.S. collapses.
I agree on what someone posted earlier this maybe a payoff to get Taiwan but I don't see China using force. I think a Hong Kong style relationship is in order. Beijing knows incorporating Taiwan into the plan is key to becoming THE dominant power for the next 50 years.
To what extent does China really finance "our budget deficit"? The reason I ask is because, currently, China has about 450 BN USD in treasury bills. While that is 80% or so of the last year's budget deficit, that is a meaningless stat.
Total US currecy bought up dwarfs the 450 BN that China has accumulated over the years. China WILL NOT, for example, buy bonds whose value will total 80% of what the deficit will be next year. Sure, they have a nice chunk of change, but I don't think them being tepid about buying/selling, is all bad or as significant as some other commenters here do.
We cannot expect other countries to take a loss on our loans while we push the dollar down further to decrease their sway. Maybe when it is impossible to spend like fucktards with people backing us up, we will actually stop spending so much (or tax more).
PB
It would help us out quite a bit if the dollar dropped. For starters, it would give a shot in the arm to US producers of manufactured goods, services, primary resources, etc. In short, just about everything on the production side. On the consumption side, consumers would take a hit. Imported French Cheese would climb. But that just means that domestic cheese producers in California would sell more cheese to consumers and internationally.
The dollar has been high for a long time. Too high. And if it crashes down, I don't see that as being an altogether bad thing. Of course, it could pop our mortgage bubble. Just bought a house recently, and could not believe how the broker was in all seriousness proposing a 7 year intrest only fixed ARM. These are apparently really popular right now. Sheesh. Does no one read economic history?
Characters Remaining:
Commenting by HaloScan
