Ericynot wrote: No president has any control over the stock market, so you're just being paranoid. Moreover, you apparently don't pay much attention to that market because it's been climbing very steadily for the last 3 years. I think it's done about all it's going to do for a while and is more likely to fall before the election, especially if we get any bad news out of Europe or China, two other things over which the president has essentially no control. . -Saint Obama Performs another Miracle by Making Unemployment Recede
Dear Comrade Y,
Actually the stock market has really just retraced where it was in 2008, four years ago. To pick out three years and say “All is well” is rather short-sighted. Furthermore, while 2010 returns were around 13 percent after adjusting for inflation, 2011 was negative after adjusting for inflation.
As you rightly point out, the market this year could give back its gains of about 9 percent between now and the end of the year.
There is more than one way to measure return in the stock market, too. One statistically valid measure is by looking at dividends and dividend futures.
Dividend futures are abysmal right now.
See more John Ransom at:
Catch the "Real" Obama, the Night's Big Whiner
From our friends at Political Calculations:
What the dividend data for September 2012 indicates is that whatever negative situation is affecting the decision of U.S. public companies to act to reduce their dividend payments to investors, it is affecting more of them. The number of companies taking that action in September 2012 is well over the line that would suggest an oncoming recession.
It’s rather naïve for you- and intellectually dishonest- to suggest that on the one hand Obama can’t control what happens in the stock market, yet argue that Obama’s policies are good for the economy, while Romney’s would be bad.
You can’t have it both ways.
That said, I understand comrades always argue both sides of any issue: In this case, it’s that rich guys were doing well under Bush even though the stock market did poorly and Bush was responsible for both, while the stock market’s doing great under Obama and rich guys are finally going to cough up their fair share. The good stuff, whatever that may be, we owe all that to Obama and the bad stuff is still the Republicans’ fault.
Original2 wrote: The most interesting part of this huge, gigantic surge in part time jobs is that it largely occurred in the 20-to-24 year old demographic, which in every other September since we began collecting data, actually SHED jobs (because these 20-24 yo's go back to college in September in vast numbers). But this year, in spite of the fact jobs are incredibly scarce for the college-age, and that if you stop going to school you have to start paying on those college loans, and that if you continue in school at LEAST you can continue getting student money, HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of 20-24 year olds are finding wonderful part time employment. For. The. First. September. Ever.
Good work. -Saint Obama Performs another Miracle by Making Unemployment Recede
Dear Original,
No, no, no. Good work to you
Maria skrev: Obama fuskar som vanligt. Fd GE direktör James Welch som är en av de duktigaste affärsmän i världen har klart och tydligt avslöjat Obamas Chicago metoder dvs maffia metoder hur man skapar jobb som inte existerar. -Saint Obama Utför ett mirakel av Göra Arbetslöshet avta
Hej Maria,
Jag är från Chicago. Och det smärtar mig, som en tidigare Chicagoan att stanken av stadens korruption skulle sprida hela vägen till Sverige. Det finns troligtvis fler svenskar i Chicago än i de flesta städer utanför Stockholm.
Samtidigt är jag tacksam över att det socialistiska experimentet i Sverige kunde komma till ett slut. Vi kan nu föralltid använda den svenska ekonomi historian när vi jämnför socialism med en fri ekonomi.
Från vår bidragsgivare Daniel J Mitchell med Cato Institute:
Sverige har en mycket stor och dyr välfärdsstat, men det är faktiskt bli lite av en förebild för ekonomiska reformer. Jag har redan kommenterat landets imponerande skolval system och noterade att svenskarna delvis har privatiserat sina socialförsäkringssystem.
Tack, Maria, för allt du gör i frihetens sak.
Joy wrote: Thats bs! Anyone who would vote for Mitt Romney must have alzheimers or some form of memory loss...he's ran (and lost) in the last 4 presidential elections! If I were Mitt, I might have begun to think something might be wrong with my ideas or some other inconsequential reason for this perpetual losing streak....Ann Romney said Mitt does'nt lose.- Catch the "Real" Obama, the Night's Big Whiner
Dear Comrade Joy,
We all have memory loss? Because those of us voting for Romney know the facts?
Romney has run for president twice- not four times as you state.
I would not, however, ascribe your problems remembering Romney’s presidential campaign history to “alzheimers or some form of memory loss” or, even other organic causes.
Instead it’s just a typical example of how liberals can’t do basic math.
Scientists still aren’t sure if liberals were “born” this way or if it’s “learned” behavior.
The example of Elizabeth Warren, says that it’s not confined to math either.
Scientists have yet to produce any genetic material that would tie her to Native American ancestry, so they think, her “Nativeness” is a just learned behavior, like your math problems.
Some theorized that reading materials like the Huffington Post may rewire the brain. In the case of Warren, the rewiring could stem from answering over and over again the EEOC section:
Race (Check all that apply)
White – (Not Hispanic or Latino) A person having origins in any of the original
peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa
[1] Black or African American – (Not Hispanic or Latino) A person having origins in any of the
black racial groups of Africa
[1] Asian – (Not Hispanic or Latino) A person having origins in any of the original peoples of
the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China,
India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand and Vietnam.
[1] American Indian or Alaska Native – (Not Hispanic or Latino) A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South American (including Central American), and who maintain a tribal affiliation or community attachment
[1] Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander – (Not Hispanic or Latino) A person having
origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands
Doctor Roy wrote: Uh oh. Unemployment now below 8 per cent. Gas prices coming down. Doctor Roy is officially calling the race for Obama. Turn out the lights. The party's over. Well I get my orders directly from the head honcho hisself Soros. I may have to go on strike though since if I'm going to be kicking it around with you knuckleheads every day I'm going to need a big raise. - Catch the "Real" Obama, the Night's Big Whiner
Dear Comrade Doctor,
Yes, I’m sure the 600,000 people between the ages of 20-24 who suddenly got part time jobs last month are working the phones for Obama’s reelection bid.
Hey- Maybe you can ask Soros to donate to your strike fund too?
Jeffery286 wrote: The unions served a grand and noble purpose... in their day. They got better, safer working conditions, largely rid the nation of child labor and got workers better, more fair pay. - Kicked Out of County, Darth Union Strikes Back
Dear Comrade Jeff,
I’m tired of hearing that as an excuse for bad union behavior.
The truth is that many segments of society, including, labor, would have done better without unions.
Unions in fact were one of the worst abusers of African Americans in our country. Even today, Jim Crow laws passed with union support, like the Davis-Bacon Act, hurt minority communities.
“The Act was passed with the specific intent of preventing non-unionized black and immigrant laborers from competing with unionized white workers for scarce jobs during the Depression,” writes the Institute for Justice. “This invidious law continues to have devastating discriminatory effects, as minorities tend to be vastly underrepresented in highly unionized skilled trades, and over-represented in the pool of unskilled workers who would benefit, if the prevailing wage laws were abolished.”
When you add in union criminality and the government corruption they have engendered, they are a net negative.
Do you think that in our Republic, with democratically elected representatives, that workers could only secure rights through unions?
How have other groups, like women, made such strides without the government granting the National Organization for Women the monopoly power of representing women in all things womanly?
Unions are a relic from a time when organizing large bodies of people was cost prohibitive. That was only a fifty year period.
Ericynot wrote: Tax policy, unless extreme, does not drive investment except at the margins. Potential reward and risk drive investing. Right now I have money on the sidelines, not because I'm worried about paying too much in taxes if I make a good return, but because the economy is fragile and it's not at all clear what investments make sense. Therefore, I tend to stick these days with short term things that have limited upside, but also less downside risk. Once the election is past and -- hopefully -- the Eurozone stabilizes, maybe investors will be less nervous about committing money, but for now most markets (real estate, stocks, bonds, etc.) look pretty shaky to me. – Thomas Sowell’s Capital Gains Taxes
Dear Comrade Y,
That’s just foolish. What a crock of crap. Taxes always play a part in investment decisions, hence the behavioral changes when dealing with long-term and short-term capital gains.
When I heard Warren Buffet say that tax policy made no difference in investment decisions, I concluded that he should have died ten years ago. He could have been a legend. Instead he’ll spend the remainder of his life as a caricature of the white, guilty, liberal, rich guy.
Yatchsman388 wrote: That Maryland governor said it best, Romney's plan is "'eat cake, lose weight". -If You Want a Real Democrat, Vote for Republican Boustany
Dear Admiral Boat Snob,
Yes, you have been promoted.
I won’t agree that that adequately characterizes Romney’s plans. But what if it did?
Who wouldn’t want to eat cake and lose weight?
What’s Obama’s alternative?
“Eat no cake, gain weight!” or “All the calories, none of the taste!” or “I eat cake, you gain weight!”
Doctor Roy wrote: That's fine, Dan. You have conceded my main point that both sides have elected representatives that don't deserve to be there. That's all I'm looking for. -If You Want a Real Democrat, Vote for Republican Boustany
Dear Comrade Doctor,
And you have conceded my main point that the representatives on both sides of the asile who don’t deserve to be there, don’t deserve to be there because they act like Democrats.
DickK wrote: Dear Ransom, What does that tangle of words say? "France’s “No Limit” Tax Perfect for Zero" Would you kindly explain how you devised such code.- France’s “No Limit” Tax Perfect for Zero
Dear Comrade K,
I avoided the cheap shot.
France= Socialist country in Eurozone with largest government burden.
No Limit= no…limit…
Tax= Tax
“No Limit” Tax= unlimited taxation.
Perfect= Perfect, this is is implied, as in “Is Perfect.”
For Zero= both for the zero growth rate of the French economy and Barack Obama, who is commonly referred to as Zero. It’s kind of a play on words.
So…”France’s new policy of unlimited taxation is both great for the zero growth GDP France is experiencing and for Barack Obama, also known as Zero.”
But I have to turn that into a headline.
Nawlins72 wrote: Ransom learned his history from a conservative comic book, filled with mythology and nostalgia of things that never were. The "Greatest Generation" gave us ALL of the major social programs that are crushing the US today, and they cheered for it with glee, while voting for FDR FOUR TIMES!! But you go on praising them, John, while claiming their children are the "Entitlement Generation". Don't want to tarnish the script. - Freedom or Ruin
Dear Comrade Nawlins,
Well, the Greatest Generation may have made many mistakes. But their biggest mistake was not having the benefit of hindsight.
As William Manchester explained in his memoir of the war Goodbye Darkness, “Had we been told that practitioners of oral sodomy wanted to live together openly, with the approval of society, and insisted on being called ‘gay,’ we would have guffawed. That just wasn’t one of the rights we were fighting for.”
But they did fight, and they did make it through a tough depression without much of the whining we have going on today.
Even Roosevelt had grave reservations about the wisdom of Social Security. He originally opposed it.
And if you don’t know that you would do a lot better reading comics than you would revising history on the basis on whatever books you read.
KJQ wrote: Good article, John. The problem with this 'battle' is that we conservatives are outnumbered roughly 2-to-1, and the other side has the only "force multiplier" in the battle - the mainstream media, on their side. - Freedom or Ruin
Dear KJQ,
The force multiplier has been there since TV began to dominate in the 1960s.
The internet has effectively canceled that force multiplier advantage for the other side.
The difference today isn’t the force multiplier, but our awareness that it exists. And the ability to fight back against establishment press.
The greatest moment in the late history of the 20th Century was the divestiture of AT&T. Everything from cell phones, to the internet, to social media, to the Tea Party grew out of that one event.
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