HULK SMASHED
Hah!
Eat me!
By gum, it's been a while.
Don't buy gum, buy Peeps!
Think of the increased tax revenue from the penalties! I see another tax cut coming, especially tilted toward the top, but with a "vast majority" of the benefits going to the "middle class." It's our money, after all.
Starve the Beast!
Fuck Bush
I knew there was an upside to economic disasters! Now, why was it that FDR created the Social Security system in the first place? Oh, yeah - an economic disaster.
An interest rate spike...talk about knocking the whole goddamn house of cards down.
Those'll be high times for real-estate speculators too...what with bank foreclosures, and people selling their homes to pay off debts.
Mr. Atrios, I hereby nominate you for the Nobel Peace Prize for Economics. Not sure where to send the letter. I guess I'll send it to the Hague. And before you ask, yes, I am a psychiatrist.
My 401k administrator thought I was nuts when I insited on shifting a large portion of my account into foreign funds last year.
But not anymore....
okay, so tell me this, is now the right time to buy my first house, or do we wait until after the crash?
What's the relationship between p/e ratios and future growth predictions?
What fucking 401(k) account? How many people have already drained theirs due to unemployment, under-employment, etc? I know I have... twice!
The carpenters in my family tell me that things are tightening up in the housing market. Soon only the really gullible with some money will be building.
And they are saying that Alan Greenspan has played his trick for the last time.
Hope everyone is planting those seeds left over from last year.
And speaking of 401(k)s, I have a friend who used to administer the plan where he works. In the old days, he used to get a couple of people every week coming in and wanting to make a "hardship" withdrawal so they could do something like buy a boat. He would lecture them constantly on the whole "nest egg" principal and things would generally devolve into a shouting match. When they relaxed the rules for withdrawals, he just started approving the requests by rote.
Hope everyone is planting those seeds left over from last year.
EPT
====
ept you should also hope that they are not the modified seeds. If so you will not harvest anything. Goes for hybreds also.
The carpenters in my family tell me that things are tightening up in the housing market. Soon only the really gullible with some money will be building.
A couple of years my wife called around asking about gutter guards. No one would even come and give an estimate for such a small job. One company would only do gutter guards if we had the whole roof reshingled!
We are now having one gutter replaced and gutter guards installed tomorrow.
One part of the business I'm in involves bankruptcies and they're way up the last couple of years. They're about 3 times what they were back in 2000.
rape the poor, reward the rich. always was the plan of this maladministration.
When the Hubbert Oil Peak really starts to bite the last things we will worry about is keeping large houses and large mortgages.
Communes: I lived and started several when I was a crazy hippie chick. Upside: you get lots of neat drugs and sex.
Group living...for YOU!
i owe 192.000 on my house down here in florida on the sw coast i am planning on paying it off in the next four years by making double payments and cashing in my retirement monies. the houses around me have exploded in "value" an average florida home is being built across the street (2200 sq ft) is going for 517,000... crazy!
ot, but some more of that sweet texas justice
March 27, 2005
Texas Official Admits Missteps That Helped Railroads in Suits
By WALT BOGDANICH
everal months ago, the Texas official overseeing rail crossings commented in court proceedings that many in the rail industry "would consider me their friend." That may not be surprising given what the official, Darin Kosmak, has done to help railroads fight lawsuits brought by accident victims.
At the behest of the rail industry, Mr. Kosmak on about 100 occasions over the last 11 years signed sworn statements about warning signs at railroad crossings, according to court testimony. The affidavits were mostly drafted by the rail industry, which then used them in case after case as a critical defense against claims that unsafe crossings had caused deaths and serious injury, court records show.
But now, the truth of those affidavits is being called into question. According to his court testimony, Mr. Kosmak recently admitted that his sworn statements misrepresented - unintentionally, he says - what he knew about those crossings. He repeated that admission in an interview last week. His statements are beginning to reverberate in court.
Doubts about Mr. Kosmak's affidavits were cited by a federal judge in late December when he refused to dismiss claims against Union Pacific in the deaths of Juan Enriquez and his wife, Aurelia, at a rail crossing in Camp County, Tex. A year ago, the same judge - before learning of Mr. Kosmak's admissions - cited his affidavit as the main reason for dismissing claims from another fatal crash involving Union Pacific.
Carl V. Crow, a lawyer in Houston who represents the Enriquez family, said Mr. Kosmak's admission could have repercussions for similar lawsuits in Texas, where more than 5,000 people have been killed or injured at grade crossings in the last 20 years. Mr. Kosmak acknowledged problems with the affidavits under questioning by Mr. Crow in several legal proceedings.
The affidavits, Mr. Crow said, were "devastating" to accident victims. "People get killed at their crossings, and they had this guy for 11 years who looked like a guy wearing a white hat out of Austin, just doing his civic duty," Mr. Crow said.
Nancy J. Stone, a lawyer in Amarillo, Tex., said important claims in a lawsuit she filed arising from the death of a father and two children at a Texas grade crossing were dismissed on the eve of trial in late 2002 because of Mr. Kosmak's testimony. "It's an unbelievable injustice," Ms. Stone said, adding that the ruling left her no choice but to settle the case.
The railroads sought Mr. Kosmak's affidavits to help prove that federal money was spent by the state on railroad warning signs, called crossbucks. Courts have held that if federal money was used, accident victims are pre-empted from making claims under state law that inadequate warning signs made the crossing unsafe. In such federal "pre-emption" cases, Mr. Crow said, the victims have limited grounds to pursue lawsuits against railroads, which is why Mr. Kosmak's statements were important.
I'm a poor post-doc with no $. I'm screwed.
When the market crashes, we can start the Supkis Hippie Compound. Everyone can crash here and go off during the day and panhandle or hunt deer or dig up roots and collect berries.
We can party at night and like one commune I was in, the rule was, no sleeping in the same bed two nights in a row.
Whhoooeee. Those were the days, my friends!
50 guys wearing huge hats just paraded down my street singing 'In my Easter bonnet'.
Some things in life are still good
Too late luigi (hey that kind of has a poetic quality to it) I nominiated him yesterday in a letter to the head of the econ department of my Midwest land grant alma mater.
Nearly a done deal. If I were Atrois, I'd already be spending the money and getting fitted for a tux.
Who knows what the fuck is going to happen. Remember the seventies and eighties with foreigners buying up all the American real estate. The Japanes bought Rockefeller Plaza at a ridiculously inflated cost. They sold it and lost a bundle.
I do know that we have put a fair amount in Euro denominated funds.
They have communities now people are beginning to join in advance of Peak Oil. You can research them online.
Question for anyone.
My daughter bought a house last summer and I think it was floating interest. I advised her to refinance in Jan.. she said she had to wait till June. What should I tell her now??
dave:
Just wondering if you saw my post
on the new Band box on the earlier
thread.
We now resume our regularly
scheduled apocalypse.
What fucking 401(k) account? How many people have already drained theirs due to unemployment, under-employment, etc? I know I have... twice!
dave
I'm right there with you. My last employer didn't offer one. I still have a few months to go before I qualify for one at my new firm. We have a little bit of savings, but together we owe over 200K in student loans. We are always two or three paychecks away from disaster.
Has anyone noticed the google ad for "W Ketchup?" Is it completely random, or is someone punking this site?
When I was a hippie chick and wanted to travel, I would go around the joint and ask, in between joints, if anyone else had spare change and would like to go visit Barstow or something.
Rats. No takers.
But always had rides for the Tucson-San Francisco run. Many takers.
50 guys wearing huge hats just paraded down my street singing 'In my Easter bonnet'.
LOL! Thanks for that great mental picture.
And they are saying that Alan Greenspan has played his trick for the last time.
Well, the One-ARMed Bandit is not allowed to serve another term anyway, is he?
Living with no money can be fun, if you approach it in the right spirit.
True story: lived in a TENT COMPLEX for TEN YEARS with no electricity and running water was when it rained too much.
Just tell where to go and I'm there Elaine!
When the market crashes, we can start the Supkis Hippie Compound. Everyone
can crash here and go off during the day and panhandle or hunt deer or dig up
roots and collect berries.
Elaine -- you live where?
Hell's bells. If the U.S. tanks, it's going to take a lot of countries with it.
What I want to know is do I need chickens and a couple of cows now?
Elaine
I went to San Francisco with flowers in my hair the summer of 1968. Too many drugs floating around for my taste. Despite having a wonderful, artistic upbringing, we were always dirt poor. Came back to NY and worked as a waitress during the day to go to school at night. I halfway resented many of the protesters who could drop out of school on principle knowing very well that mommy and daddy would bail them out and pick up the costs the following year.
At the top of each Blogger blog is a button labeled "next blog". Once in a while I just keep pushing it and take a trip around the blog world. Anyways, I would like to reccomend this blog for your perusal.
You might like it.
i'll go live with Elaine. she smart, and she sounds like she's a hoot.
"They have communities now people are beginning to join in advance of Peak Oil."
I think it's too late to do anything in advance of peak oil.
1968, San Francisco was a zoo, we all moved over the bay to Berkeley. I kept my truck/home in the junkyard off of San Pedro Blvd where the bikers hunted for parts. They were good mechanics and a 18 year old could con them into fixing the 55 Chevvy.
Quiltsquito:
I don't know if you know
this, but one of
the goddess regulars here
actually went to
Altamont.
It's one of the reasons I love
this place.
Unfortunately, I now live on my mountain in UPSTATE NY. Not as cold as Vermont which is a stone's throw to the north...heh. Vermont: cold. Rennsalaer county: one degree warmer.
I thought my wife was crazy when she decided to get a few chickens for the yard. But they're great! No trouble, very pretty, and I haven't eaten a store-bought egg in four years. Gotta fence the garden real good though. The dog leaves them be. Wish we could get a goat, too.
Moosehall is all ready for the crash!
i love upstate ny! are you near malone? that's really far up
Write a book Elaine -- I want to read more.
Ach, Altamont!
I was working with the Free Clinic and was driving the ambulance. We got TRAPPED by the crowds! Couldn't get out. One person died there, I knew him, he was a regular at the clinic at night, my shift.
He was very annoying.
A baby was delivered by us there, too. I also passed out. 
OT: a salon blogger has a link to other people trying to establish better media presentation.
The paper chase is a way to help bypass government purchased pre-packaged news, as well as the mainstream media's lack of substantive reporting.
I have Anaconda chickens. They lay green eggs (no ham) and they are much friendlier and nicer tempered than the Rhode Island Red Voter hens.
You gotta admit it's kinda fascinating watching the U.S. being deliberately turned into a third world nation. its got a kind of "Twilight Zone" feel to it.
Thing about goats is, you gotta have just females. If you have a male, the milk tastes bad.
Jeez, Elaine. I'm in awe.
Stencil is right -- you need to
write a book.
I have Anaconda chickens. They lay green eggs (no ham) and they are much friendlier and nicer tempered than the Rhode Island Red Voter hens.
Elaine Supkis
I learn something new every day....
Lainer
Another OT: Wes Clark's refugee crisis presentation on CSpan 2 right now.
Hitchcock's "The Birds" on TCM now.
Apart from being a great movie,
it's astonishing how gorgeous the
young Suzanne Pleshette is.
mer,
don't over-rate America's position especially considering the curency diversification programs in place.
I read an interesting article on what is more frightening to the Chimpy Junta about iran; is it the nuclear reactors in an oil rich nation, or is it Iran using the Euro for the oil and vast commercial and agricultural trade business?
Further, I think the Chinese are just waiting for us to fall into D-E-E-P recession/depression in order to get free of the constraints put on them by dollar support, the chinese have our designs, our technology, our heavy investment, and a burgeoning economy of their own. If we collapse, they take it all, and what's more, they'll take the "Four tigers" and Japan with them as a unified East Asian trading block. As for the US in this, well, we can go pound salt as the Chinese will se it. You "Former" big guy in neighborhood!" they'll say.
Support the full reindustrialization of the US and let the cry be "NEVER AGAIN will we let the plutocrats strip this nation of self sufficiency, no matter what it costs!"
Billy goats: they smell. They like to climb cars. They will butt the ox team and you and anything they spot. They eat anything, too. Will chew up your steering wheel if you leave the window open by accident.
They like to go into houses. Screens on windows doesn't deter them.
Again, I hope people read this piece I came across titled "The Maestro: Living History" at this site:
http://cunningrealist.blogspot.com/
Says it all about why we ARE where we are.
"They have communities now people are beginning to join in advance of Peak Oil."
If anyone's interested, here's the interview with Dr. David Goodstein, the physicist who wrote “Out of Gas: The End of the Age of Oil”.
Another OT: Wes Clark's refugee crisis presentation on CSpan 2 right now.
I'm watching this tour de force now. Clark is simply amazing.
Please, God, let him be my president.
-
Boilerman10, the Chinese won the world wide game of Go long ago. They are now waiting to lay the last stones.
Our only 'salvation' is to start WWIII with a sneak attack on China.
Llamas!
And on that note, gotta go.
See you guys later.
You gotta admit it's kinda fascinating watching the U.S. being deliberately turned into a third world nation. its got a kind of "Twilight Zone" feel to it.
About 12-13 years ago when Taiwan started making decent bike parts, and in light of the gutting of our manufacturing center allready continuing apace, and the discovery that india and Pakistan were becoming the low end manufacturers of note, I stated that eventually manufacturing jobs would not return untill we had become a third world country.
It did not however, occur to me at the time, that it would be deliberate.
Silly kent, cynical, but not cynical enough.
Hitchcock's "The Birds" on TCM now.
Apart from being a great movie,
it's astonishing how gorgeous the
young Suzanne Pleshette is.
and for the girls, don't forget how absolutely hunky rod taylor is...
Llamas: sweet animals. They have no horns. They defend the flock from coyotes. They have long necks.
Downside: you can't ride them and they don't produce much milk. You can harness a goat to a cart. It really works, only they are like donkeys, you have to convince them to go where you want to go.
I'm partial to horses, myself....
When the conversation gets this wonky, my eyes glaze over.
(well, turnabout is fair play. When I guest blogged, people complained it was too intellectual and not political enough. And at two in a row, I figure I'm entitled.)
(okay, that's out of my system. I'll stop whining about economics and numbers now. I'm more an idea man, myself. Big picture stuff. Can't be bothered with small details.
Me 'n' W, ya know....)
Hitchcock's "The Birds" on TCM
Thanks steve,
I had run screaming from the history channel to horrible movie on the sci-fi channel. (I sometimes forget to check out some of the other channels)
TJ -great link tks.
I live in a city and have the luxury of working from home.
12 gal gas/month
But the utility bills suck.
I vote we position that 300 mile wide collector near Crawford Tx
I spend my weekends on Martha's Vineyard. An exclusive community open only to the rich.
Luckily the Bush family, with its strong ties to China and backed by Saudi cash, will be in better shape then ever.
Elaine:
I think the North Korea mess is exactly the trap the Chinese have set for us.
The neo-cons have never met a war they didn't like.
Further, I think the domestic economy is dangerously fragile, and that actual unemployment in many secondary urban areas is like Flint, Michigan, over 40% and maybe over 50% in some communities. Under-employment in parts of Upstate New York, especially in the "Black Belt" stretching from Albany to Buffalo is easily over 45% of the especially well trained industrial work force of the region. The same holds true in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Even down south the menace of under-employment and the inevitable poverty while working is a very real threat, parts of South Carolina have been very hard hit.
When it goes Elaine, it will really go, so stock up on food, I recommend 6 months worth of and enough propane to heat you for months on end.
As for goats, I gave up on them, and am content to let the garden grow. the pests were forever breaking into the garden compund, they are worse than rabbits.
Will the rate hikes have to be that bad, though? Remember, the hikes start and a historic low. Getting to 4% or so by the end of the year won't be that terrible. Indeed, you'd still have a pretty liberal monetary policy at that level. I'm not implying that would be painless and, yes, that's cold comfort to somebody whose mortgage payment goes up but if rates just go back to some historic level, is that so bad?
I'll have to see about those Anaconda chickens. We just lost old Wheezy (she was never right, and never laid an egg, but we kept her around) and we're due for a replacement or two.
I don't think we will get a goat.
There's quite a few Llhamas and the like at some of the suburban farms around here- we don't have enough room.
aiiieeeaaa! Llamas! [/John Cleese; or am I too late for that, too?]
and for the girls, don't forget how absolutely hunky rod taylor is..
========================
ferget about it. I hear Brad Pitt is available again. Hubba hubba.
Peeps,
That ain't milk you're getting from a male goat. Just how did you milk it?
The Birds is the perfect springtime movie.
Wesley is one wise white guy.
Won't higher interest rates make people's savings more valuable. The retired will have a better return. The only people who will get screwed are those with adjustable rate mortgages and debts. The interest rate on our first house was 17%, I kid you not.
What fucking 401(k) account? How many people have already drained theirs due to unemployment, under-employment, etc? I know I have... twice!
dave
OMG, me too!!
Thing about goats is, you gotta have just females. If you have a male, the milk tastes bad.
Peeps
Hey, that's pretty damn funny.
Smash and grab economics at its finest.
Krugman called it (I think this was in reference to the Bush Medicare Bill) a "mafia-style bustout"
Extraction of home equity - a form of dissavings - has skyrocketed since year 2000, to some $300 billion. Egged on by Bush's "go out and shop" dictum and a large measure of stupidity, Americans have already wasted a large part of their previous savings which they had invested in houses. The Northern Trust website has a graph of this.
These people should have budgeted the rate hike. There are simple algorithms that can do this.
What fucking 401(k) account? How many people have already drained theirs due to unemployment, under-employment, etc? I know I have... twice! - dave
dave,
I think your 401(k) and my 401(k) might be related. Mine's done the same thing.
Goats are a real handful, a bit like having a seventy pound house cat.
Good fences are essential, electric, not out of the question. If they have horns they will use them. Bucks are amazingly stupid once they reach maturity and they smell.
I like buff sex-link hens but am afraid of avian influenza so am not getting new ones this year.
Billy goats: they smell. They like to climb cars... Will chew up your steering wheel if you leave the window open by accident. - Elaine Supkis
Friend of mine's first car was a vw bus that had spent several months neglected at a farm with goats in Gualala. First job: shovel out 40 pounds of goat shit. Took a ton of bleach and throwing out the seats to get rid of the smell.
Captain Hack Greenspan reporting for duty...assume the position America!
I've seen speculation that this is why Shrub's pushing so hard for privatization: to make up for the inevitable cashing-in of 401k's when people start retiring en masse.
I've seen speculation that this is why Shrub's pushing so hard for privatization: to make up for the inevitable cashing-in of 401k's when people start retiring en masse.
There was an interesting article in Harper's this month where the thesis was that the reason for privatization is to continue to pump up the stock market with middle class dollars. It argued that the stock market rise since world war II has been fueled first by pension contributions, then by 401(K)'s and now that is petering out. Without a new source of cash, the stock market will crash, hence the need to tap into the social security trust fund. It also points out that corporate pension funds are collapsing right and left and companies are underfunding them while profits continue to rise.
Krugman called it (I think this was in reference to the Bush Medicare Bill) a "mafia-style bustout" - Mooser
It sure seems like the country is being run just like the Sopranos. Greedy, petty morons with huge egos and a grandiose sense of entitlement. Toss in even more minor issues being treated like major crises, these strutting fools can’t handle even the smallest things without dishonesty, all the while ignoring all the damage they do to those outside their “thing”.
I’m beginning to wonder if the GOP could be considered a corrupt institution under RICO?
Include voter intimidation, vote stealing, crony capitalism, failure to defend the country (9-11) theft (Halliburton, kbr st al)outing covert agents, yeah that sounds like an open & shut case.
Goats
Don't know if any one has posted this or not, but you have to breed a doe goat every year to get milk. Doe's have two to three kids year. It does not take long to be covered in goats. We raised them for milk and show for 10 years. It took every minute for most of year to care for them. Loved every minute. But you must know what you doing, and have some way of getting rid of the excess ones. Otherwise you will go broke in a hurry. And putting down a sick or injured animal is heartbreaking. But being there when a kid is borned is about the greatest thing in the world to see. Oh, and before you know it you have more milk than anyone could ever use. So think about starting in with goats carefully. They are the greatest animals in the world to us. We are out of them now. Got to old to keep up the work, miss them everyday.
Blue in OK
Opps
Should have been when a kid is born. Half asleep, afternoon nap time.
Blue in OK
blue in OK, Back when we used to keep goats we had all kinds of people who were "certain" that they wanted to try it only to have them return their goat. We stopped breding them after a while since the only humane alternative would have been killing them. What happens to some animals is worse than death. We have seen some of it.
Stick to soy milk.
EPTropy
You are so right, all types of animals, not just goats. But having a few chickens or rabbits and a garden might be good idea over the next few years. If you have the room for them that is. Things are not getting better in this economy. We have to get this bunch of fruitcakes we have running this country out before there will be even a chance of improvement. I hope we can use what has just happened with this poor woman and the repug plot to use her suffering to get these idiots out of office.Maybe then her suffering won't have been in vain. We all have to keep working every day to try to change what is taking place here.
Blue in OK
Don't you just love it when Atrios talks dirty?
On a positive note, however, this could cause the stock market to crash so much that price earnings ratios would fall to levels low enough that the future growth predictions by privatizers would be plausible!
Some positive note.
Saw this book again in the bookstore - not sure what to make of it - The 2% Solution. Seems interesting, at least. Anybody read it want to give us the dirt?
I'll try to find a review...
I guess today we're ignoring the fact higher taxes are the best way to create a recession.
can I reakky have hit the quadfecta...?
that would be "really"
some of u are bad peeps on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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