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SuperJerk

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Posts posted by SuperJerk

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Make fun of him or not, that kid is going places. Kids that young who can speak like that are going to accomplish something, one way or another.

    Half of what he said didn't even make sense, though.

     

    A 13 year old kid, regardless of ideology, lacks the background knowledge to understand the issues well enough to form enough opinions to write a whole book defining them. While its impressive that a 13 year old would have the motivation to write a book, and the intellegence to be able to organize the information (though by adult standards his speech was very disorganized), I don't think he's capable of actual value.

     

    He's programmed by listening to Bill Bennett's radio show for 3 hours a day since he was 8 years old. It is sad he isn't using his natural curiosity to explore other things besides reinforcing right-wing ideology.

     

     

  3. Posted · Report reply

    I've got nothing else to say, but hey, look, here's a motherfucker with a Ph. D. and a Nobel Prize in economics talking about the stimulus plan and the Republican opposition to it...

     

    (Krugman's credentials don't make him automatically right, of course, and Olberman's show is definitely NOT a program devoted to looking at all sides of an issue, but we should at least listen to what he has to say.)

     

  15. Posted · Report reply

    I'm not responding to Crimson G until my headache goes away. I'm glad you're here, because debating Marvin isn't much of a challenge, but your posts can be pretty wordy.

     

     

    Also...is this the wrong time to point out that the cost of stimulus plan ($787 billion), compared to the annual GDP of the United States ($14.3 trillion), is pretty tiny? Imagine someone who makes $143,000 a year borrowing almost $8000 to make some home improvements. I don't think anyone would think anything of it.

  16. Posted · Report reply

    I'd put the asshat Krugman's reputation as a professional (and Nobel Prize winning) economist against most of the other asshats that have also been mentioned. And I'm not even remotely interested in discussing Ayn Rand.

     

    Common sense like if you tax the wealthy at 38% instead of 32%, somehow the extra money will be spent on creating jobs for the other 90% of society? You mean that kind of common sense?

     

    Or the kind of common sense that says you have to have at least some policies that look at the demand-side of the economy, because that's where most of individual economic decisions are made?

     

    Hmmmm.

     

    I have no idea what you're talking about in your first point. It's certainly not Keynesian economics.

     

    That first point was a brief critique of the supply-side economic policies championed by Laffer and most of the Republican Party who argue that tax cuts are the answer to every problem, ever.

     

    More taxation is not always the answer as it sometimes brings in less revenue for the state and can encourage people to work less. (see: Communism, for the extreme)

     

    I'm familiar with the Laffer Curve, thanks (Arthur Laffer creditted Keynes with the idea, by the way), and only against the concept in the way conservative politicians and oundits have tried to make it into a revenue producing slope that is universally applicable to every economic situation.

     

    I'm well-versed enough in economic history to know that lowering a tax rate on the top 10% doesn't usually lead to an increase in productivity or job creation. There's a point where increasing the rate does get a lower return, but that point varies depending on the situation. In short, the guy who wants to start a small business isn't less likely to do so just because he'll be taxed at 40% instead of 30%. Some of the greatest economic growth in our history occurred during an era when tax rates were downright punative. But, following World War II, our spending priorities emphasized helping the people who needed it, not the people who were already wealthy.

     

    You always have to look at the demand side of the economy. However, you cannot artificially stimulate that demand by printing money without suffering through inflation.

    The money supply has to be able to expand, though. Too little money in circulation will lead to deflation, which can also be a problem.

     

    The demand side of the economy is what's tanking it right now because people are waiting for prices to come down to where they're affordable or else they cannot purchase them. They've been taught this by the severe punishment the market has given people who bought at the peak of prices in both the real estate and stock markets, but the government is trying to convince them that what they're seeing is not reality and these things are still good investments. Keynesians would proclaim this problem a liquidity trap, but it's really just common sense.

    Homes have value to consumers beyond their appreciating value as investments. People are actually living in these houses, have poored money into them, and don't have the money to start over on a new house.

     

    One thing I do not think you are considering is how much interest adds to the monthly payments on a house. Because it is compounding interest and other added expenses, people can have a pretty significant size drop with a lower interest rate.

     

    People are waiting for the appropriate levels to buy and the only thing you can do to change that is pump more money into the system, which doesn't really solve the situation in real dollars (though it might in nominal dollars.)

     

    If consumers are concerned about losing their jobs because the economy is bad, they pretty much are not going to buy under almost any circumstances. But the economy can't get better unless people start buying products. Recessions are a catch-22 that way.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Here's a clip from new CNBC show "Rich Stock Brokers Hate Obama."

     

    But, Santelli's spot-on in his analysis here. What do you disagree with in the clip, other than the fact that the man manages stocks?

     

    There was nothing in that clip I agree with.

     

    He was yelling about irrelevant things like Cuban history, how he was going to start a revolution with the average guys who work in the commodities business, and rewarding bad behavior: i.e. blaming the victims of the economy rather than the people who have always benefitted from it.

     

    Basically, it was the same conservative noise we've been hearing since the late 70s.

     

    Keynesian economics are discredited by common sense.

     

    Common sense like if you tax the wealthy at 38% instead of 32%, somehow the extra money will be spent on creating jobs for the other 90% of society? You mean that kind of common sense?

     

    Or the kind of common sense that says you have to have at least some policies that look at the demand-side of the economy, because that's where most of individual economic decisions are made?

     

    Hmmmm.

  20. Posted · Report reply

    The Navy wants me bad, but nah.

     

    If they want you for Nuclear Power Training, you made the right choice. I took the ASVAB as a junior, knocked it out of the park, and the Navy nabbed me for that the summer before my senior year. The recruiter was really good at giving me incomplete information about my training options to make it sound like going nuke was my best option to learn electronics, and being a naive 17 year old kid, I believed him. When it came time to do my physical and entry paperwork, the guy at the MEPS told me my only two options were nuclear power or storekeeper. I wanted electronics, so I picked nuclear, honestly believing that they wouldn't let me have a spot in regular Electronics Technician school if that's what I wanted. So, of course, after boot camp they stuck me in Machinist Mate school to learn about the pipes and valves instead of anything having to do with electronics or even electrician's work for that matter. For the next 4 months I was a miserable mess, hating every minute of my life and pissed off at myself for letting myself getting tricked into signing up for 6 years (nukes weren't allowed to sign up for the standard 4 years because the training took so long) of this shit I didn't want to have anything to do with. Since this was 1994 (back when the military was down-sizing), getting granted a discharge wasn't that difficult. I spent the next month scrubbing pots and pans for 12 hours a day in the base galley, happy to finally be free of having to spend 12 hours a day learning 1000 different kinds of hoses and valves, pop quizzes over wrenches, answering essay questions over water pressure, on top of standing watch in the middle of the night and standing for constant uniform and barracks inspections (which wouldn't have been so bad had that actually been the school I was trying to get in to).

  21. Posted · Edited by SuperJerk · Report reply

    02182009.jpg

     

    This cartoon appeared in the New York Post yesterday.

     

    Everyone thinks the monkey represents Obama, but why are the cops shooting it then? And why would the Post print something obviously racist if the monkey is Obama?

     

    I don't get the cartoon at all.

     

    edit: The Post explained it was a reference to a recent wild monkey attack, and that the stimulus bill looked like it was written by monkeys (again, WTF?).

     

    Speaking of monkeys...

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNiIOcCBpjI

     

    As if we need more proof that John Gobson is an asshole, did he really just say the Attorney General had a "bright blue scrotum"...you know...like a monkey...

     

    Wait...what?

     

    edit2: This was also debunked.

     

     

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Apparently owing back-taxes is the new unforgivable sin, according to Republicans, therefore I submit this:

     

    Alaska officials have told Gov. Sarah Palin she must pay back taxes on the thousands of dollars she received in state per diem funds while living at her home in Wasilla.

     

    The Washington Post first reported last September that Palin had billed the state for nearly $17,000 worth of meals and other living expenses while staying in her own home during the first 19 months of her administration, even though the official governor’s residence is in Juneau.

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/...pay-back-taxes/

     

    Somehow I don't think they will either remember or think much of this story in 2 years when she makes her official candidate declaration.

  24. Posted · Report reply

    2 - The quality of the Blu Ray player upscaling is going to be about as good as a mid priced stand alone DVD upscaling player. Mine does a noticeably better job than my older upscaling DVD player. (I chalk it up to my older player not being that great even though I paid almost $200 for it a couple years ago).

     

    Those are the same results I have had.

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