The good news is the flow into the pipeline has slowed. The bad news - especially in judicial states - is that the pipeline is still very full.

Buy now institutional investors, right?

Comrade Kristina wrote:

The website to check if you are infected is DNS Changer Check-Up - Clean

Had your computer been infected with DNS changer malware you would have seen a red background. Please note, however, that if your ISP is redirecting DNS traffic for its customers you would have reached this site even though you are infected.

Its a TARP!

So is that it then?

My computer reached the correct website, so it's not infected, and I have internet access, so my server's not shut down?

Are any of you without internet access? Gaaw-aawl-ly! (I should do a poll)

Yeah but the FBI was running the alternative servers and they shut them down today. So if you are able to access the net today you don't have it.

But I thought we were done with foreclosures, after all, the banks promised they would be good with the settlement.

What a busy weekend, was on hcn and was called a scoundrel by Duke. I sat there astonished for few minutes and then went and did some housework.

So, just remember, now I need to become a patriot to complete my transformation.

Someday this war's gonna end...

Stay classy Floriduh...

Worst TB outbreak in 20 years kept secret | www.palmbeachpost.com

Had they seen the letter, decision makers would have learned that 3,000 people in the past two years may have had close contact with contagious people at Jacksonville’s homeless shelters, an outpatient mental health clinic and area jails. Yet only 253 people had been found and evaluated for TB infection, meaning Florida’s outbreak was, and is, far from contained.
The public was not to learn anything until early June, even though the same strain was appearing in other parts of the state, including Miami.

It was just the poors so no need to actually do anything. Just sweep it under the rug over there...

Citizen AllenM wrote:

What a busy weekend, was on hcn and was called a scoundrel by Duke.

...Badge of honor?

Yep, you need a set of pom poms and you'll be good Citizen Wink

Comrade Kristina wrote:

It was just the poors so no need to actually do anything. Just sweep it under the rug over there...

TB is for the little people who can't afford antivirus software.

Are any of you without internet access?

... My Head Just Exploded

I guess we can add that to the list of things for the little people, like taxes and jail and now TB.

Citizen AllenM wrote:

What a busy weekend, was on hcn and was called a scoundrel by Duke.

Challenge him to a duel.

I can be your second ... I have a hipflask.

How many adjustable rate mortgages are tied to LIBOR?

Comrade Kristina wrote:

It was just the poors so no need to actually do anything.

The bacilli check your bank account before proceeding to infect. Snark

We need no public health program. Snark

One thing that should concern everyone who thinks about the health debate is the urgency of rapid treatment and even quarantine in cases of highly infectious diseases. This is serious business, and you don't want someone with, for example, pandemic influenza sitting around in an emergency room for hours at a time.

Bruce in Tennessee wrote:

Are any of you without internet access?

Twas a joke.

Comrade Kristina wrote:

Just sweep it under the rug over there...

OH all the non-profits will fill in the gaps won't they? This is 'merica right?

Any word if these are the antibiotic resistant strains? Do the all knowing superiors have a clue that stuff like that swept under the rug can multiply and grow faster than a flea outbreak and might even invade those private schools?

Are any of you without internet access?

My internet is down I am using one of these.

http://locimobile.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/tin-can-phone.jpg

Gotta go run (literally)

...later

Yep, diseases don't care what is in your bank account. Should TB break loose it would not be pretty and yet these people are just left to their own and are out there wandering around...infecting more people.

Maybe if a few of the richie rich kids kick the bucket they'll pay attention.

"Mitt Romney is the only President or Presidential candidate in the past couple of decades to refuse to release his tax returns"

Come On, Mitt Romney, Even The Mormon Church Thinks You Should Release Your Tax Returns... - Business Insider

Looks as if Special Planet Boy has a wee bit of a problem.

Wink

Comrade Kristina wrote:

Should TB break loose it would not be pretty and yet these people are just left to their own and are out there wandering around...infecting more people.

Zombie Zombie Zombie

km4 wrote:

HUSSMAN: THE RECESSION IS HERE - Business Insider...

Of course, it's his only setting.

Quit while you're ahead!

UPDATE 1-Greek deputy minister resigns over bailout stance
| Reuters

Or behind, doomed, catastrophically misguided, hubristic, hey take your pick.

C

via MW:

9:00a

Draghi: Need further sharing of sovereignty
8:57a

Draghi: Price stability 'is ensured'

Comrade Kristina wrote:

they'll pay attention.

It will be too late then, seriously.

Of course it will but this State is chock full of idiots so maybe some cleansing via epidemic would be a good thing. Evil

LPS reports that 4.12% of mortgages were in the foreclosure process, down slightly from 4.14% in April, and up slightly from 4.11% in May 2011.

Possibly due to foreclosures that have been in process for a while, and the banks are finally completing them. I know of several that have dragged along, and are now done deals.

So is that it then?

Purty Much I reckon

If anyone fighting with a dead internet connection (and having a good connection from another machine) needs a known good DNS server address -- 8.8.8.8 should be OK. It's one of Google's DNS servers and happens to be really easy to remember.

Comrade Kristina wrote:

Worst TB outbreak in 20 years kept secret

meanwhile, down south ...

BBC News - Cuban cholera outbreak reaches Havana

Bruce in Tennessee wrote:

Alcoa Profit Seen Plunging 81% in Eighth Year of Surplus - Bloomberg
There's this problem with being the first to report each quarter...

Well, they could announce an upside surprise, like DOWN only 75% Big smile

We had a cholera outbreak here in Florida last year. It was found in some oyster beds near Apalachicola. Dumping sewage in the Gulf seemed like such a good idea at the time, though.

All your internets are belong to me!

Whooping cough is the disease dijour in the Seattle area. It was reported last week that a nurse in a local hospital was infected and exposed thousands.

RockyR wrote:

no Internet, here!

Those "cookies" from porn sites do it every time. I suspect Saudi Arabia to be off-line for at least 3 months.

Wink

Comrade Kristina wrote:

this State

It won't stay there. As you pointed out, diseases do not discriminate.

I would not wish that on my worst enemy, its a horrible death that takes its time.

TB treatment requires very close supervision and it too requires time and most importantly, diligence. Neither of those are present in our current health 'care' delivery system, particularly for the indigent.

Yep, had a breakout of that here in Floriduh this year. This is why universal health care might be a good idea. The poors tend to not go to the doctor for colds and such so they end up infected by worse things and spreading it.

I try for irony. I fail.

Facepalm

BBC News - Spanish borrowing costs rise ahead of euro summit

The yield on six-month German bonds fell to a record low of -0.03%, meaning that investors were paying the German government to lend money to them.

It is the second time that German bond yields have been negative. The auction was oversubscribed, despite the negative yield.

Flight to negative yield quality ? Oh, I Love Trash!

RockyR wrote:

I fail.

no, we are just irony laden today. Wink

via MW and Laughing out loud

9:22a

Draghi: ECB staff always looking for solutions

if one set expectations low enough one always succeeds Smile

Markets are up I take it, NN?

BREAKING:

This just in, a massive pandemic of "Stupidity"has broken out in the US of A, stay tune for further developments and Quarantine information.

Inventory and bank owned properties are way down in the Seattle area. Median sold prices are up significantly, closed sales....not so much. The kool aid is flowing again.

BREAKING: France sells six-month bills at negative yield for first time.....

Funny.

shill wrote:

This just in, a massive pandemic of "Stupidity"has broken out in the US of A, stay tune for further developments and Quarantine information.

Does it include duct tape and plastic sheeting?

Roubini: My 'Perfect Storm' Scenario Is Unfolding Now - Asia Business News - CNBC - CNBC

“Levitational force of policy easing can only temporarily lift asset prices as gravitational forces of weaker fundamentals dominate over time,” he said.

Whooping cough is the home schoolers disease. Seems the anti-vaccination crowd is big into home schooling also. Got Washington state laws changed a few years back to eliminate mandatory vaccinations, since everybody knows the gov't puts mercury in them giving kids autism. Bad government, demanding kids to be vaccinated!

and rope, KP. lots of rope.

KarmaPolice wrote:

BREAKING: France sells six-month bills at negative yield for first time.....

Funny.

Really, when the day has arrived that people are demanding negative yield instruments, while shying away from high yields, the world really has gone upside down and inside out.

and from FRANCE no less, Ray!

RayOnTheFarm wrote:

world really has gone upside down and inside out.

It's OK. There isn't any need to worry. Remember, most people believe in a magical afterlife in Heaven.

Innocent

By 2013, the ability of policy makers to Kick Me is going to run out of steam

Read more: ROUBINI: Next Year Could Be A Global Perfect Storm - Business Insider

km4 wrote:

ROUBINI: Next Year Could Be A Global Perfect Storm - Business Insider

In other words, buy my new book to find out how to profit from this collapse.

Wink

"In the Euro-zone the slow-motion train-wreck could become a faster-motion train wreck"

HUSSMAN: THE RECESSION IS HERE - Business Insider

If it's a typical recession you would expect to start hearing lots of mass layoff announcements and business closings.

"The US looks close to stall-speed and a recession, given the latest economic data"

km4 wrote:

"In the Euro-zone the slow-motion train-wreck could become a faster-motion train wreck"

They need to hire the San Diego fireworks guys and get the whole thing over with already.

"The US looks close to stall-speed and a recession, given the latest economic data"

Ya but Seb said......

Andrew Hall (URL) on Jul 9, 6:12 AM said:
Roubini is one of the few economists telling it like it is with the guts to call out Wall Street - WITHOUT devolving into Krugman's suggestions for Keynesian debt festivals.

Laughing out loud

KarmaPolice wrote:

Funny:

Upper-Class Warfare in the Hamptons | Mother Jones

Reminds of the time we were boat camping in Hotham Sound BC in our 12 ft yachts. There was a 80 foot yacht parked at the Harmony Is. near our camp site. Every morning a float plane with a big assed radial engine would land and pickup some rich assed guy from Vancouver and fly him to work. The landing was not too bad but the takeoff noise would raise the dead. The irate richie riches should count their blessings.

RockyR wrote:

and rope, KP. lots of rope.

Guns are much more efficient. My hope is that all these people who sleep with a gun in their nightstand will commit mass suicide.

Problems solved.

Good point, better to let them catch preventable diseases and die. That way we can keep the population growth thing subdued.

Comrade Kristina wrote:

That way we can keep the population growth thing subdued.

We don't need them anyway. Dont Panic!

km4 wrote:

By 2013, the ability of policy makers to Kick Me is going to run out of steam

So, next year is the year, eh?

Remember when 0% Fed Funds was "the end".

Remember when QE1 was "the end"?

KarmaPolice wrote:

Guns are much more efficient.

Perhaps. When was the last time you were required to have a concealed carry permit for a hank of rope ?

Eric wrote:

Remember when QE1 was "the end"?

When was the last time you seriously shorted the No one 17 and under admitted out of something?

So, next year is the year, eh?

Remember when 0% Fed Funds was "the end".

Remember when QE1 was "the end"?

Nope and not the year after that either...Goldman says so.

Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Say Fed to Hold Rate - Bloomberg

2015

This is what is wrong with the World in one tweet.

CNBC Smart ‏@CNBCSmart
Can a woman gain control of her jewelry addiction before it’s too late? Find out what Suze has to say on tonight’s @SuzeOrmanShow @ 9p ET!

yagij wrote:

When was the last time you seriously shorted the No one 17 and under admitted out of something?

That would be 2009. Hands still have blisters.

Facepalm

How low does that lowest common denominator go?

RayOnTheFarm wrote:

When was the last time you were required to have a concealed carry permit for a hank of rope ?

It takes a deft hand to tie a Hangman's Noose.

Any choad can get a permit and pull a trigger.

Eric wrote:

That would be 2009. Hands still have blisters.

Me too. So in a way, 2009 was "the end" (to how the system was working).

Not just the poors in Seattle, Kristina. We have too many granola types who insist on not inoculating their kids. I dropped by a neighbor's house a while back with my newborn and both his kids are mottled with chicken pox. I just wanted to shake the dad. He's a good guy, but such a dope about this issue.

Find out what Suze has to say

I kinda sorta feel like I already know what Suze Orman has to say.

Whiskey wrote:

I kinda sorta feel like I already know what Suze Orman has to say.

"Buy my books"?

Eric wrote:

"Buy moar of my books"?

Yeah. No. I don't get why anyone buys Sooze's books.

Oh yeah, I get that. And while I'm not terribly trustful of Government I seem to have survived getting inoculations as a child and have not suffered any ill effects that I'm aware of other than a tiny scar on my arm.

Can't wait until the children of palo alto and santa monica that grew up without the shots go to places like bangladesh or uganda on summer dogooder missions to burnish their ivy credentials in a dozen years.

Ah oh....This is going to be a problem.

Romney Mines the Hamptons for Campaign Cash - NY Times

Quotable:

"A luncheon fund-raiser was held at the sprawling home of Ronald O. Perelman, the billionaire financier and Revlon chairman. Widely described as the largest estate in East Hampton, when last advertised in the early 1990s, the house was said to have 40 rooms, 9 fireplaces and a mile of frontage on Georgica Pond."

"They went so far as to hire a local pilot to fly a giant red and black banner over Mr. Koch’s house, which read: “Romney has a Koch problem,” a play on the drug. (Mr. Koch’s name is pronounced the same as the word coke.) A truck, festooned with the logos of big banks like Citigroup and Wells Fargo, circled the neighborhood with a plastic dog on the roof, a jab at Mr. Romney’s much-mocked family vacation in which he traveled with his Irish setter inside a pet carrier on the roof of a car."

Too funny.

Coming up next, a man dealing with his addiction to buying financial self-help books. Can Suze help him out in time?

I replied to the tweet "Seriously? This is an issue? #firstworldproblems tell the b**** to quit spending money and volunteer somewhere". Laughing out loud

Romney holds grand fundraisers in the Hamptons | TPM2012

Ms. Simmons paused to highlight what she said was her husband’s generous spirit: “Tell them who’s on your yacht this weekend! Tell him!”

Over Mr. Conklin’s objections, Ms. Simmons disclosed that a major executive from Miramax, the movie company, was on the 75-foot yacht, because, she said, there were no rooms left at the hotel.

Now back to the yacht race >> Im Lovin It!

Have we already done the overnight Hu Knows deflation meme here?

China’s Stocks Drop Most in Month on Economy, Deflation Concern - Businessweek

in any case, let's review:

  • china deleverages in domestic RE and commodity appetites
  • commodity/commonwealth countries - whose entire economy was based exclusively on Hu Knows appetites for prestige houses and commodities - unwind
  • mix in some euro-austerity and voila

Yeah, I posted a link on that earlier this morning on the overnight thread. It's good to bring it forward for further discussion, though. It's pretty pertinent.

Black lung? Pertussis? Gout?

Gee, what's next? Dropsy?

The New Face of Black Lung | Mother Jones

greenchutes wrote:

mix in some euro-austerity and voila

i can haz depressionz now?

My late grandmother used to throw the occasion Polish curse "ah, cholera!" Cholera killed millions of people in Europe in the 19th century, and it was eradicated using a mind-blowing combination of big government and Western medicine. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about lice-less schools anymore.

greenchutes wrote:

China’s Stocks Drop Most in Month on Economy, Deflation Concern

China heads for a deflationary shock – Telegraph Blogs

China is on the cusp of a deflationary vortex.

That doesn't sound good.

Indeed, should be a Black Swan - but, somehow, our overlords at the Annuit Cœptis have a gift for dumping enough buckets of lard on the rube goldberg machine that the dominoes stay in place.

Somehow we'll end up with under 100mil fulltime payroll private nonfarm jobs and a nyfrb sheet that equals the GDP. Just depends on if it takes a few years or a decade, right?

Eric wrote:

That doesn't sound good.

Touch the stove! You know you want to short Chinese stocks... Evil

Gotta give Willard some credit, not many people have amassed over a million dollars in an IRA. Since the maximum contribution allowed is $6k/yr, he was smart enough to start contributing over 100 years ago.
Or maybe all 72 of his grandmothers each kicked in ten grand each?

Have we already done the overnight Hu Knows deflation meme here?

Next on the Suze Orman show

Is your Hair in a deflationary vortex? and what you can do about it.

ROUBINI: Next Year Could Be A Global Perfect Storm - Business Insider

In other words, buy my new book to find out how to profit from this collapse.

haha

knowing roubini he'll turn bullish before it gets published

... and doomy again ... after it ends up in the landfill

Can't wait until the children of palo alto and santa monica that grew up without the shots...

Don't know how big home schooling is here in NYC, but without backyards, nannies herd all the kids into the playgrounds. And if TB is spreading among the poorer folk, then the nannies, the manicurists and the gardeners would be bringing the risk to their rich clients.

Not to mention everyone who rode in the same subway car.

thanks ben -

L.A. Times A1, “Anxious investors flip their nest eggs: Worries over 401(k) and IRA shortfalls spur day trading within the accounts,” by Walter Hamilton: “Some people are trading the mutual funds in their 401(k) plans more frequently. Others are venturing into options. And some aggressive investors have begun day trading their nest eggs … Most Americans with IRA or 401(k) accounts embrace the ‘set it and forget it’ philosophy. Only about 15% of investors made any change to their 401(k)s last year, according to benefits firm Aon Hewitt. … Day trading was popular during the bull market of the 1990s, when investors moved in and out of stocks dozens of times each day seeking a quick profit. It was considered a risky practice at the time, and the technology crash a few years later wiped out many day traders.” Anxious investors day trading with retirement accounts - latimes.com

On the 'common person' - POLITICO.com

I just think if you're lower income -- one,you're not as educated, two,they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work,they don't understand the impact."

Nope, they don't. Or your pampered ass would be hiding from the nice folks with Pitchforks and Torches

politico.com -

EVEN PERMA-BULLS NOT SO HOPEFUL - HFE’s Ian Shepherdson, one of the most bullish analysts out there, finally got the gloomies from Friday’s report. In addition to the dismal BLS number, Shepherdson noted the NFIB hiring intentions index for June dropped three points, meaning employers are a bit less likely to add workers. The portion of NFIB members reporting hard to fill jobs, according to Shepherdson, also dropped sharply. That tends to mean less upward pressure on wages which means less consumer spending which means ... well, nothing good.

NEW WORRY: FLAGGING CORPORATE PROFITS - WSJ’s Jonathan Cheng on pg. A1: “Investors already fretting about the health of the world's biggest economies now face another worry: disappointing earnings. Companies begin reporting second-quarter earnings this week, starting with Alcoa [today] ... Already, 42 companies ... have warned investors that profits will be lower than initially expected, in large part because of slowing demand from customers around the world, particularly in Europe. Analysts say the darkening outlook is only partly baked into current share prices. Adam Parker, Morgan Stanley's chief stock strategist, predicts Standard & Poor's 500-stock index will finish the year at 1167, about 14% below where it is now.

“‘The pillar of strength is U.S. corporate earnings, and now we're seeing signs that that is cracking,’ he says. It was shaping up to be a closely watched quarter even before the economic outlook toughened. ... J.P. Morgan Chase ... also will post its first results since disclosing huge trading losses. The company has said it expects to be ‘solidly profitable’ for the second quarter, but is expected to provide an update on the losses, which could total roughly $5 billion” New Jolt Looms for Investors: Earnings - WSJ.com

Back in the day, when I had hair and was in the Army I was getting shots on a regular basis. I don't know what I was innoculated for, let alone how long the innoculations were good for.

Nope, they don't. Or your pampered ass would be hiding from the nice folks with

I've said it before. In finance, obtuseness is adaptive. They want people smart enough to keep the machine running but not smart enough to question anything.

Intelligence and the capacity for truly critical thought are almost totally unrelated. That's why we have economics professors.

And, rising from the past, "Indentured Students". a word that finally appears int the MSM. Return with us now to 18th century America.

Indentured Students Rise as Loans Corrode College Ticket - Bloomberg

greenchutes wrote:

That's why we have economics professors.

Because they have one or the other? Or neither?

Cradle to grave debt is the mother's milk of the Vampire Squid from Hell

"Much higher in judicial states."

Has everyone noticed the universal characteristic of these serial crises? The self reported numbers have been uniformly rosier than those datums required. We are being lied to and it isn't getting any better.

Good morning from the year 1962 when time stopped in Richfield UT.

Peter S. Goodman: Latest Jobs Report Underscores Unemployment Crisis

07/09/2012

"The horrendous job market is not a political story. It is a national emergency playing out in slow motion, a catastrophe that has come to dominate life in millions of American homes. The persistent shortage of paychecks has seeped into our aspirations and made them smaller. It has eroded the basic American understanding about the supposed rewards of trying hard, getting educated and looking for work -- a formula too many people have been following only to wind up destitute, discouraged and dispossessed.

Will the president survive the most punishing job market since the Depression? That's backwards. The real question is whether people like Yvonne Smith can survive the job market.

Out of work, out of money and running out of improvised solutions to the problems of not being able to afford rent, Smith and her 14-year-old son have been sleeping on the floor of a storage locker in northern Georgia, where they stashed their belongings after being evicted from their rented townhouse in February.

"Where else were we going to?" she told me by way of explanation when I met her last month at a food bank in Chattanooga. "I try not to think about it, but that's our space, and we sleep there."

Smith, 51, has grown accustomed to working with what's available, following the collapse of more ambitious plans. A decade ago, she moved to Atlanta from New York City, where she had been earning $57,000 a year as a document processor at a law firm, in what amounted to a classic American reach for upward mobility.

In Atlanta, she rented a house for what she had been paying to rent a cramped apartment in the Bronx. She got another legal job, and settled into what felt like a better life. Then came the Great Recession.

In 2008, she was laid off along with her entire department....

Smith's story may be extreme, but it is hardly unique. You can easily meet people confronting such circumstances at food banks, homeless shelters, and in welfare offices. It used to be that those who landed in such straits tended to present a complex assortment of problems, from substance abuse to mental illness. More and more, people have been sliding into such states because of one dominant problem: They can't find work.

Buried in the latest jobs report is a brutal data point that clever analysts have tired of bothering to mention, because it has become a permanent feature of our times: 5.4 million people have been officially out of work for six months or longer."

O this morning announcing he's for a one year extension of W/O tax cuts for households making less than $250K/yr ... expiration for those making more ... at odds with schumer/pelosi who want tax cuts extended for households making less than $1 million/yr.

black dog wrote:

O this morning announcing he's for a one year extension of W/O tax cuts for households

Except it isn't a tax "cut." It is an abeyance to be made up later. Presumably not to long from now by a more responsible administration.

Rob Dawg wrote:

It is an abeyance to be made up later. Presumably not to long from now by a more responsible administration.

Can't the same be said for the Bush tax cuts?

Rob Dawg wrote:

Except it isn't a tax "cut." It is an abeyance to be made up later. Presumably not to long from now by a more responsible administration.

As long as I die before the difference is made up, it is a tax cut for me, yo!

Rob Dawg wrote:

Except it isn't a tax "cut." It is an abeyance to be made up later. Presumably not to long from now by a more responsible administration.

Too bad you aren't actually joking.. that's a funny one, Dawg...

President Barack Obama is launching a push to extend tax cuts for the middle class, starting with an address from the White House on Monday, reports CBS.

A senior administration official says Obama will call for a one-year extension of tax cuts for people making less than $250,000 a year.

Translation: Obama is raising taxes for those who make more than $250,000 before the election, since he believes starting a class war will give him an edge in the election.

Obama to push extension of middle-class tax cuts - CBS News

Intervention FAIL:
SPANISH GOVERNMENT GENERIC BONDS - 10 YR NOTE Chart - GSPG10YR - Bloomberg 
Over 7% after the expected hammer. Now things get serious. Greek serious except with an economy many times larger.

Presumably not to long from now by a more responsible administration.

Chelsea?

Jenna?

Eric wrote:

That doesn't sound good.

It's good for the Chinese people with money in the bank.: Less negative interest rates might mean that the Great Re balancing is beginning.

As voodoo priests that embody that gap.

Ah, to be a fly on the wall when Silence is Golden Brown explains to the kids that MOAR DET is the only way out and a few of them actually make the connection between their own student debt load, prospects of (hopefully) working as free labor as a doctoral student for another decade or so, this ideology and his current 500K+ income.

Blue Team Fat Cat Annuit Cœptis Fat Cat Red Team

Blackhalo wrote:

Rob Dawg wrote:

It is an abeyance to be made up later. Presumably not to long from now by a more responsible administration.

Can't the same be said for the Bush tax cuts?

Yes and no. Yes absolutely as this current Bush administration is doing like the last in waiting for a fiscally responsible replacement to take office. No in that the Bush cuts were not to a trust fund but the general fund.

More interestingly, it illustrates an inevitable phenomenon when service and speculation become more than 2/3 of one's economy .

You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! Sushi You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! Sushi You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! Sushi You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! Sushi You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! Sushi You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! Damn you all to hell! Sushi

All in all, just another BRIC in the wall.

Rob Dawg wrote:

It is an abeyance to be made up later.

Speaking of which..... when are they going to jack the FICA tax above 6% to "make up" for the 2% cut?

OP-ED COLUMNIST; Mitt’s Gray Areas - NY Times

July 8, 2012 - The Krugmeister

"Has there ever before been a major presidential candidate who had a multimillion-dollar Swiss bank account, plus tens of millions invested in the Cayman Islands, famed as a tax haven?

And then there’s his Individual Retirement Account. I.R.A.’s are supposed to be a tax-advantaged vehicle for middle-class savers, with annual contributions limited to a few thousand dollars a year. Yet somehow Mr. Romney ended up with an account worth between $20 million and $101 million.

....the contrast between George Romney and his son Mitt — a contrast both in their business careers and in their willingness to come clean about their financial affairs — dramatically illustrates how America has changed.

Right now there’s a lot of buzz about an investigative report in the magazine Vanity Fair highlighting the “gray areas” in the younger Romney’s finances.

What did George Romney do for a living? The answer was straightforward: he ran an auto company, American Motors. And he ran it very well indeed: at a time when the Big Three were still fixated on big cars and ignoring the rising tide of imports, Romney shifted to a highly successful focus on compacts that restored the company’s fortunes, not to mention that it saved the jobs of many American workers.

Elections are, after all, in part about the perceived character of the candidates — and what a man does with his money is surely a major clue to his character."

I'm thinking the Jeb/Rubio ticket would be teh awesome!

Where's Corzine?

tutoring Jenna and Chelsea ...

energyecon wrote:

Too bad you aren't actually joking.. that's a funny one, Dawg...

Sometimes you see the InviSnark™, sometimes it sees you first. Wink

Rickkk wrote:

"Has there ever before been a major presidential candidate who had a multimillion-dollar Swiss bank account, plus tens of millions invested in the Cayman Islands, famed as a tax haven?

Um, yeah.... I'm guessing JFK didn't exactly have transparent finances.

shill wrote:

class war

More name calling and demonizing...as expected.

Eric wrote:

jack the FICA tax above 6% to "make up" for the 2% cut?

Or just make income above 200K subject the the tax...

Rickkk wrote:

Romney shifted to a highly successful focus on compacts that restored the company’s fortunes, not to mention that it saved the jobs of many American workers.

In Silence is Golden Brown land, student debt isn't a generational issue, tuition for his brilliance is a fair deal, infinite public debt and ZIRP are recipes for prosperity, and the AMC Gremlin is the summit of american automotive brilliance and the keystone of AMC's lasting success.

Rickkk wrote:

"Has there ever before been a major presidential candidate who had a multimillion-dollar Swiss bank account, ...

Kennedy, Johnson, Clinton...

Oh, and the IRA several thousand... that's the limit of tax deductible contribution not the limit.

class war

Mini version of the divide and conquer exploited by Red Team and Blue Team .... see cultist like KP.

ac wrote:

If it's a typical recession you would expect to start hearing lots of mass layoff announcements and business closings.

The reason I think the 4-week average of initial claims is an important leading indicator. The thing is, though, that so many leading indicators can weaken for multiple quarters (or even years) before the recession finally arrives.

Sebastian

Mini version of the divide and conquer exploited by Red Team and Blue Team .... see cultist like KP.

All else fails...go with the Racial card.

So who is this more responsible person that you are alluding to Dawg? And you seriously don't think someone winning the WH will fix anything? You were kidding, right?

Rob Dawg wrote:

Kennedy, Johnson, Clinton...

Link please...

We need a change. O is not working. Wink

When did we hear that one from you before? Oh yeah, Jan, 21, 2009...

Eric wrote:

"Um, yeah.... I'm guessing JFK didn't exactly have transparent finances."

Agreed.

Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

"In 1919, he joined the prominent stock brokerage firm of Hayden, Stone & Co. where he became an expert in dealing in the unregulated stock market of the day, engaging in tactics that were later labeled insider trading and market manipulation. "

After Franklin Roosevelt called Joe to Washington, D.C. to clean up the securities industry, somebody asked FDR why he had tapped such a crook. "Takes one to catch one," replied Roosevelt.[25]

According to Harvey Klemmer, who served as one of Kennedy's embassy aides, Kennedy habitually referred to Jews as "kikes or sheenies". Kennedy allegedly told Klemmer that "[some] individual Jews are all right, Harvey, but as a race they stink. They spoil everything they touch."[30]

Kennedy's close ties with Republican (GOP) Senator Joseph McCarthy strengthened his family's position among Irish Catholics, but weakened it among liberals who strongly opposed McCarthy."

energyecon wrote:

When did we hear that one from you before? Oh yeah, Jan, 21, 2009...

True then, true now.

Romney: no change you can't believe in

ac wrote:

If it's a typical recession you would expect to start hearing lots of mass layoff announcements and business closings.

That headcount was never added, just overtime hours and temporary workers. That is where you will see any reduction first.

Eric wrote:

energyecon wrote:

When did we hear that one from you before? Oh yeah, Jan, 21, 2009...

True then, true now.

Except the banks are wealthier, and the debt $5t greater.

This must be good news. I got 20 hidden comments on this thread already.

No New Greece Debt Deal Near

have a good day....

Joe was evil, but he was also the greatest business mind of his generation. He played four or five industries like a fiddle, most of us are lucky to play one.

Not advocacy mind you, but description - regardless of date and circumstance, same same same same same same same...

(FD: did not vote for anybody for Pres in 2008)

Former Idealist wrote:

No New Greece Debt Deal Near
have a good day....

Funny how noone talks about Greece anymore.

Europe must act fast to avoid the risk of a bank run -
Term Sheet

By Sheila Bair, contributor

FORTUNE -- Europe is starting to look more and more like the U.S. as it headed for the cliff in the fall of 2008.

"cliff" terminology alert

She-bair is a definitely a contributor.

Does the FDIC Order Anchovies?

energyecon wrote:

did not vote for anybody for Pres in 2008

That is why anybody lost.

Yancey Ward wrote:

Funny how noone talks about Greece anymore.

On to the main event, Greece was always just the tripwire for Spain and Italy, no?

Yancey Ward wrote:

That is why anybody lost.

New Keyboard Swore an oath not to vote for anyone who voted for the bailout...

Technically, I guess that makes the 2004 olympics the tripwire of the tripwire.

energyecon wrote:

On to the main event, Greece was always just the tripwire for Spain and Italy, no?

I am thinking France.

On to the main event, Greece was always just the tripwire for Spain and Italy, no?

And who are Spain and Italy a tripwire for?

:domino theory:

i thought Greece was supposed to bring about financial armageddon. now, I wait for Spain. all this fear mongering/Dooooooooooooooom!!! watching sure is exhausting.

Tired

The leg bone's connected to the ankle bone...

greenchutes wrote:

Technically, I guess that makes the olympics the tripwire of the tripwire.

Does anyone care about the Summer Olympics at all? I mean, I like skiing, and hockey, and even enjoy the strategy of curling.

But track and field? Swimming?

Yaaaaawwwn

I'll bet Greek citizens feel the armageddon.

olympics? they make cameras, right?

Europe must act fast to avoid the risk of a bank run -
Term Sheet

July 9, 2012: 5:00 AM ET

By Sheila Bair

FORTUNE -- "Europe is starting to look more and more like the U.S. as it headed for the cliff in the fall of 2008. The continent's banking system is fragile and overleveraged. Making a scary situation even scarier is the lack of a central, credible authority to protect European bank depositors against losses should their banks fail. While Europe has not experienced any bank runs -- yet -- banks in Greece, Spain, and, to a lesser extent, Italy have experienced bank "jogs," in which depositors have withdrawn significant amounts of cash."

j0nx4, 13 minutes ago

"Once again: go away Sheila. You had your chance to do something 4 years ago when you were running things and instead you decided not to rock the boat and to allow criminal behavior and fraud to go unpunished. We don't need nor do we want you armchair quarterbacking the game now. GO AWAY!"

Does anyone care about the Summer Olympics at all?

No, but then I never did. I only like the winter sports - skiing and luge.

RockyR wrote:

olympics? they make cameras, right?

Well, and fraud.

Yeah, I like watching the swimming and diving and some of the track stuff. I also like watching gymnastics.

greenchutes wrote:

China’s Stocks Drop Most in Month on Economy, Deflation Concern - Businessweek

They must have run out our trillion dollar stimulus.

There's a lesson there - if you're going to let pols drown your country in debt, make sure you do it with your own major sovereign currency.

Eric wrote:

I like skiing, and hockey, and even enjoy the strategy of curling.
But track and field? Swimming?

The Summer Olympics need ice swimming events, and the track athletes need to be running from something, like a bear or a moose.

"olympics? they make cameras, right?"

Olympus makes cameras, Olympics make commercials.

Former executives, bankers arrested over Olympus fraud
| Reuters

Yancey Ward wrote:

like a bear or a moose.

how about angie merkel on a moped?

Eric wrote:

But track and field? Swimming?

Blame Romney for monetizing it.

Seriously, the downfall can be summed in two words; "Dream Team." IOW professionalization.

are US gymanists now required to do their performances to songs performed by American Idol winners?

The Olympics have been nothing but an advertising blitz for decades.

There's a lesson there - if you're going to let pols drown your country in debt, make sure you do it with your own major sovereign currency.

So you're saying that euro inclusion was a great tactic for sovereign control?

:sovereign control rights:

RockyR wrote:

are US gymanists now required to do their performances to songs performed by American Idol winners?

Even better: songs performed by the American Idol audition losers. ("She bangs, she bangs...")

Does anyone care about the Summer Olympics at all?

not until they allow joey chestnut to compete

might as well start blaming Romney for the economy now, too.

the track athletes need to be running from something, like a bear or a moose.

Laughing out loud

Maybe Spain ought to throw a few bulls into the mix.

http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/uploads/images/normal-images/Spain_Bull_Run.jpg

Yancey,

I put this up yesterday, but it did not produce any comments perhaps because the thread turned into something of a donnybrook.

Sandals in Cyberspace (8 Jul 2012)

This is up today In Yves Smith’s links: Leaving the euro: A practical guide Roger Bootle. Late to this, which won the Wolfson Prize

It is very comprehensive on the various options involving Greece and some of the other eurozone members. £250,000

This article gives a brief view of this year’s prize: Euro exit plan wins Wolfson prize | Business | guardian.co.uk

The prize is a £250,000 award. The Guardian piece is a good, brief summary or this year’s prize.

More locally, I have wanted to put these links up for some time: Personal Weather Station *SV2BBO* Thessaloniki, GREECE

It is a site that provides information about Thessaloniki’s weather. It also has a live camera feed of the current weather at Kamara, the area of an arch downtown that was built to commemorate the victories of Galerius over the Persians in 297 CE.

This one is the forecast for the next six days: weather for: THESSALONIKI : (meteo.gr) weather forecasts

Both of these links go to the English versions.

"might as well start blaming Romney for the economy now, too."

I don't think anyone can hog all the glory.

might as well start blaming Romney for the economy now, too.

He's rich too, so it'll make good game.

we could replace archery targets with politicians. i'd watch it, then!

Got Popcorn?

Romney gave me gout!

Eat more cherries....not kidding.

Cherries May Cut Risk of Gout Flare-ups

Comrade Kristina wrote:

The Olympics have been nothing but an advertising blitz for decades.

Don't downplay the propaganda angle from teh Cold War daze - Lake Placid '80 - Needs More Cowbell!

Miracle on Ice - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

sorry, Whiskey, I think it was dick morris who did that.

Yeah, that was about vomit inducing in it's transparency.

RockyR wrote:

we could replace archery targets with politicians. i'd watch it, then!

Or just tie them down on the javelin field.

Rob Dawg wrote:

Blame Romney for monetizing it.

what about uberr... uebre.... that guy?

energyecon wrote:

Don't downplay the propaganda angle from teh Cold War daze - Lake Placid '80

It still boggles my mind that they couldn't get that game on TV live.

Or just tie them down on the javelin field.

or a 'Hard Target' obstacle course

Only a SOCIALIST would use cherries, or worse still drinking water, to control gout. You should get a prescription drug and help GDP.

"Does anyone care about the Summer Olympics at all?"

Only if politicians were archery targets.

It still boggles my mind that they couldn't get that game on TV live.

Renee Pouissant(?) remembered by many in DC area

Yancey Ward wrote:

Funny how noone talks about Greece anymore.

Nor Lehman's sub-prime holdings...

I actually think it had nothing to do with german fantasies of continental domination 4.0.

And I love the open borders, though that has nothing to do with the EMU directly. It would have worked if they kept it in old merovingia. Including places like southern italy, greece, portugal, great britain and ireland etc in a vision of "europe" is ridiculous.

If you share a border with germany AND your nation had enough intellectual turnover such that it has an even spread of nominal catholics and protestants and an actual current plurality of atheists, you're in europe. Spain was run by franco into the seventies.

Only a SOCIALIST would use cherries, or worse still drinking water, to control gout. You should get a prescription drug and help GDP.

Ya my bad, how dare me not pump my body full of unnecessary drugs...to the camp with me.

By the way a pound of Cherries here is $3.49lb...so I am helping lol

Oh, that was the real deal - it got played many ways, to be sure - but them winning was the longest of long shots, in fact they had to win again after beating the Soviets:

The United States did not immediately win the gold medal upon defeating the USSR. In 1980 the medal round was a round-robin, not a single elimination format as it is today. Under Olympic rules at the time, the group game with Sweden was counted along with the medal round games versus the Soviet Union and Finland so it was mathematically possible for the United States to finish anywhere from first to fourth.[35]

Needing to win to secure the gold medal, Team USA came back from a 2–1 third period deficit to defeat Finland 4–2.[14] According to Mike Eruzione, coming into the dressing room in the second intermission, Brooks turned to his players, looked at them and said, "If you lose this game, you'll take it to your graves." He then paused, took a few steps, turned again, said, "Your fucking graves," and walked out.[36]

Part of Bootle's plan-

Bootle said Greece would not need to have new notes and coins ready for the launch of the new currency, as euros could remain in use for small transactions for up to six months. This would also help keep the process secret for as long as possible, which he said was necessary to prevent a run on the banks.

New Keyboard
Secret - yeah, that'll work...

Whiskey wrote:

Romney gave me gout!

You're lucky, He gave me Olympic Fever.

For some reason, we gringos don't like to memorialize the soviet victory over our hoopsters a decade or so earlier.

energyecon wrote:

Brooks turned to his players, looked at them and said, "If you lose this game, you'll take it to your graves." He then paused, took a few steps, turned again, said, "Your fucking graves," and walked out.

Now that is motivation!

I've got a Romney fever, and the prescription is more Opening Bell.

Libor Scandal: Manipulation Spanned Decades, According To Reports

07/09/2012 10:38 am

Though the Libor scandal is just breaking now, some financial insiders claim that Wall Street's been fiddling with the key interest rate for decades.

"Fifteen years ago, the word was that LIBOR was being rigged," a financial industry veteran involved in the Libor process told the Economist. "It was one of those well kept secrets, but the regulator was asleep, the Bank of England didn't care, and...[the banks involved were] ....Experts say it is unlikely that Barclays acted alone. Other banks under investigation for allegedly fixing the Libor rate include JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, and UBS. Roughly 18 banks help set the Libor rate every day.

Indeed, the Federal Reserve was worried about possible Libor manipulation 14 years ago, according to Business Insider."

The LIBOR scandal: The rotten heart of finance | The Economist

"THE most memorable incidents in earth-changing events are sometimes the most banal. In the rapidly spreading scandal of LIBOR (the London inter-bank offered rate) it is the very everydayness with which bank traders set about manipulating the most important figure in finance. They joked, or offered small favours. “Coffees will be coming your way,” promised one trader in exchange for a fiddled number. “Dude. I owe you big time!… I’m opening a bottle of Bollinger,” wrote another. One trader posted diary notes to himself so that he wouldn’t forget to fiddle the numbers the next week. “Ask for High 6M Fix,” he entered in his calendar, as he might have put “Buy milk”.

What may still seem to many to be a parochial affair involving Barclays, a 300-year-old British bank, rigging an obscure number, is beginning to assume global significance. The number that the traders were toying with determines the prices that people and corporations around the world pay for loans or receive for their savings. It is used as a benchmark to set payments on about $800 trillion-worth of financial instruments, ranging from complex interest-rate derivatives to simple mortgages. The number determines the global flow of billions of dollars each year. Yet it turns out to have been flawed."

greenchutes wrote:

For some reason, we gringos don't like to memorialize the soviet victory over our hoopsters a decade or so earlier.

They would still be playing that game right now if the Soviets hadn't tossed in that shot 40 years ago.

The LIBOR scandal: The rotten heart of finance | The Economist

All fiat currencies turn into giant crime waves.

The whole point of transitioning to a fiat currency is to rob people.

Fiat is the manifestation of the intent to steal.

Golly - you mean central bank aiding and abetting of brazen manipulation started to really get out of control at almost the exact time as LTCM? Im shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!

The whole point of transitioning to a fiat currency is to rob people.

The concept seem's good enough. Just have to get rid of that pesky "human nature" deal...

Eric wrote:

Does anyone care about the Summer Olympics at all? I mean, I like skiing, and hockey, and even enjoy the strategy of curling.
But track and field? Swimming?

I love the swimming and the short distance track and field events. But I was swimmer and a sprinter in HS and a sprinter in college.

What the Summer Olympics really needs is a singing and dance competition.

After World War I it was LON
UN after World war II

What will be the extent of security council dilution after the current crisis?

Don't we have synchronized swimming for the dance portion? Well, that and gymnastics kinda. What can we get for singing?

LIBOR is not flawed, it's fraud.

the entire system built on lying and malfeasance. imagine that. now, how do we rid ourselves of it?

Pitchforks and Torches

it's the only way. very sad.

Cobradriver wrote:

Does anyone care about the Summer Olympics at all?
Olympic Shooting - Schedule, Results, Medals | London 2012

I'm only interested what they do with the 700K condoms issued out in Olympic Park last time.

"Golly - you mean central bank aiding and abetting of brazen manipulation started to really get out of control at almost the exact time as LTCM?"

You have a good memory. The song remains the same.

Comrade Kristina wrote:

Don't we have synchronized swimming for the dance portion?

Yeah. We could liven things up a bit with some sharks, I think.

I am all for Pitch forks and Brimstone...

Ok so who is taking up the front? Crickets

Yancey Ward wrote:

Yeah. We could liven things up a bit with some sharks, I think.

YouTube - Austin Powers - Sharks with lasers 

I love the swimming and the short distance track and field events.

i'd watch if flava flav doing commentary

i didn't say I am FOR it, I'm just stating what I feel is inevitable.

Zombie sez:

BUY. MOAR. EUROZZZ....

"I'm only interested what they do with the 700K condoms issued out in Olympic Park last time."

Vancouver Now - Emergency shipment of condoms headed to Olympic athletes - Post Sports 

Health officials in Vancouver have already provided 100,000 free condoms to the roughly 7,000 ahtletes and officials at the Games. That's about 14 condoms per person. But as of Wednesday, those supplies started running dangerously low."

ironryanis wrote:
Posted 2010/02/28

"Why doesn't the olympic committee make this part of the compitetion. It could be "sex on ice" the gold goes to the team with the most stamina. NBC could make a killing on advertising durring that event. The Europeans could probably win something."

i didn't say I am FOR it, I'm just stating what I feel is inevitable.

Hardly Rock

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7149/6710436075_56b53357a5_z.jpg

They are way to busy.

black dog wrote:

i'd watch if flava flav doing commentary

Yeah boy

some jail time would be good for the price fixers, but government seems willing to prosecute their own.

Italy's Version Of Austerity: 3 Months Of Vacation | ZeroHedge

"Today we hear of the progress in Italy as la Republica explains the incredible provocation of the under-secretary of the economy Gianfranco Polillo that: "We are in a country where you work an average of nine months each year, and I think that now we must think that these nine months of work are too short, if we gave up one week of vacation, we would have an immediate impact on GDP of around 1%"

Laughing out loud

Meh. Almost every adult in the developed world has had a place in the ZIRP scam.

Meh. Almost every adult in the developed world has had a place in the ZIRP scam.

Leave my ZIRP be... Big smile

American Capital Agency Corp., AGNC Stock Quote - (NASDAQ) AGNC, American Capital Agency Corp. Stock Price

greenchutes wrote:

an actual current plurality of atheists,

Where did the two million people at the Catholic Youth Festival in Madrid come from - space ships?

Speaking of Zirp-

France's government has sold short-term bonds at negative interest rates for the first time, a sign of investor confidence despite concerns about French debts and the wider eurozone.

The Associated Press: France sells bonds at negative interest rate

Where did the two million people at the Catholic Youth Festival in Madrid come from - space ships?

Unemployment offices?

Mexican Drug Cartel Laundered Money Through BofA, FBI Alleges

07/09/2012 11:03 am

"A federal probe into Los Zetas, a Mexican drug cartel, claims that the group has been laundering money through accounts at BofA, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal.

An FBI affidavit filed in Texas last month says that the Mexican drug cartel has been reportedly funneling cash through a Texas-based racehorse business with BofA accounts. The U.S. government has described Los Zetas in the past as "the most technologically advanced, sophisticated and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico."

In the past, Mexican drug syndicates have allegedly used BofA accounts to buy planes to transport cocaine, according to Bloomberg. Between 2004 and 2007, the bank was also the alleged destination for almost $10 million in illicit funds from an influential political family in Equatorial Guinea.

BofA has admitted such errors in the past."

Nice to see tax dollars supporting a worthy cause.

YouTube - Push it to the Limit

BofA has admitted such errors in the past.

Yeah, it was all just an honest mistake...yeah.

Tony Montana would be proud.

whale surfaces within paddle reach of kayaker ... sandbridge, va

Sandbridge Whale

RayOnTheFarm quoted:

Spanish, Italian Bonds Drop Before Finance Ministers Meet - Bloomberg

Jul 9, 2012 9:59 AM ET

"German two- year note yields dropped below zero for a second day as the government sold six-month bills at a record-low yield of minus 0.0344 percent, while France auctioned similar-maturity debt at at a negative yield for the first time."

Roubini: My 'Perfect Storm' Is Unfolding Now - Yahoo! Finance

  • In May, Roubini predicted four elements - stalling growth in the U.S., debt troubles in Europe, a slowdown in emerging markets, particularly China, and military conflict in Iran - would come together in to create a storm for the global economy in 2013.

Yancey Ward wrote:

Don't we have synchronized swimming for the dance portion?

Yeah. We could liven things up a bit with some sharks, I think.

Piranha 3DD (2012) - IMDb

BofA has admitted such errors in the past."

B of A needs to spend 30 days in jail

black dog wrote:

B of A needs to spend 30 days in jail

I'll take the over.

Yes, but even though corporations are people (mittens told me that) they can't be held accountable by putting them in jail. You just fine them a little bit and let them go back to doing what they do best...stealing and lying.

Pretty sure laundering the $$$ of gun-running drug dealers is part of doing God's work. Someone has to reach out to those sinners you know......

Pretty sure laundering the $$$ of gun-running drug dealers is part of doing God's work. Someone has to reach out to those sinners you know......

Mr Holder would you like to say a few words...

black dog wrote:

i'd watch if flava flav doing commentary

Him in the same booth with Costas would be gold, Jerry!

A positive thought for the morning from Nouriel:

Keynes used to say that in the long run we're all dead. We may be dead in the short run.

Yeah, he was extra gloomy in that interview. I was just surprised he actually vocalized that nothing will change until they get taught a lesson and put in jail or some "hang in the streets". Dang Pitchforks and Torches Laughing out loud

Comrade Kristina wrote:

You just fine them a little bit and let them go back to doing what they do best...stealing and lying.

O agrees by supporting the same practice.

when are they going to jack the FICA tax above 6% to "make up" for the 2% cut?

The 2% FICA cut is being made up with printing.

"A temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax rate reduced payroll tax revenues by $103 billion in 2011 and by a projected $112 billion in 2012. The legislation establishing the payroll tax reduction also provided for transfers of revenues from the general fund to the trust funds in order to "replicate to the extent possible" payments that would have occurred if the payroll tax reduction had not been enacted. Those general fund reimbursements comprise about 15 percent of the program's non-interest income in 2011 and 2012."

. . .

"After 2020, Treasury will redeem trust fund assets in amounts that exceed interest earnings until exhaustion of trust fund reserves in 2033, three years earlier than projected last year. "

. . .

"Under current projections, the annual cost of Social Security benefits expressed as a share of workers’ taxable earnings will grow rapidly from 11.3 percent in 2007, the last pre-recession year, to roughly 17.4 percent in 2035"

So the trust fund is good until 2033, and around then we're going to need to raise FICA 5%.

If I were running things I'd raise FICA 0.5% every year for 10 years. An extra $5/week for the $50,000/yr worker.

It's really stupid how we can't make gradual changes gradually. We're too politically immature to actually stick to anything.

Of course he does. He works for the 1% just like the rest of them. Why would he be different?

/It's really stupid how we can't make gradual changes gradually. We're too politically immature to actually stick to anything. /
Feature, not bug

greenchutes wrote:

every adult in the developed world has had a place in the ZIRP scam.

Falling off the back end of UE is the place for some?

Wage earners pay almost 15% now to SS and Medicare. Wink

The 2% FICA cut is being made up with* borrowing*

Sorry for the long quotes

Sandals at Delphi (9 Jul 2012)

I have not been back to Delphi in quite a few years, but I let my daydreaming sandals take me there today, since it resonates in my mind with much that is in the news today. It is spectacularly beautiful. It was also the site of the Pythian Games, one of several competitions like the Olympics. The Pythian Games had laurels for music as well as athletics. In addition, it was the site where many Greek city-states kept their treasuries: Delphi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

‘From the entrance of the site, continuing up the slope almost to the temple itself, are a large number of votive statues, and numerous treasuries. These were built by the various Greek city states — those overseas as well as those on the mainland — to commemorate victories and to thank the oracle for her advice, which was thought to have contributed to those victories. They are called "treasuries" because they held the offerings made to Apollo; these were frequently a "tithe" or tenth of the spoils of a battle. The most impressive is the now-restored Athenian Treasury, built to commemorate the Athenians' victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC.
‘In addition, Pausanias relates that at the time of the Persian invasion in 480 BC the Athenians were advised by the oracle to put their faith in their "wooden walls" — taking this advice to mean their navy, they won the famous battle atSalamis. Several of the treasuries can be identified, among them the Siphnian Treasury, dedicated by the city ofSiphnos whose citizens gave a tithe of the yield from their gold mines until the mines came to an abrupt end when the sea flooded the workings.
‘Other identifiable treasuries are those of the Sikyonians, the Boetians and the Thebans. One of the largest of the treasuries was that of Argos. Built in the late Doric period, the Argives took great pride in establishing their place amongst the other city states. Completed in the year 380, the treasury draws inspiration mostly from the Temple of Hera located in the Argolis, the acropolis of the city. However, recent analysis of the Archaic elements of the treasury suggest that its founding preceded this.
As a result of these treasuries, through the protection of the Amphictyonic League, Delphi came to function as the de-facto Central Bank of Ancient Greece. It was the abuse of these treasuries by Philip of Macedon and the later sacking of the Treasuries, first by the Celts, and later by Sulla, the Roman Dictator, that led to the eclipse of Greek civilization and the eventual growth of Rome’ [my bold].

I think much of this history is not lost on Greeks as they ponder the 'bailout.'

Any new Dooooooooooooooom!!! today? Or just the regular Nothingburger Dooooooooooooooom!!!?

Only a SOCIALIST would use cherries, or worse still drinking water, to control gout. You should get a prescription drug

Problem is that the prescription drug of choice -- Colchicine -- is no longer available at reasonable prices in the US. See Colchicine price increase: how drug companies are taking advantage of the FDA's Unapproved Drugs Initiative. - Slate Magazine It may be available from overseas sources at sane prices. Of course, importing it -- even for personal use -- isn't especially legal I believe.

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