[Rhodes22-list] Andrew, Elle & Herb, comments on your posts.

Sun Nov 23 13:18:35 EST 2008

Rummy,

Amen!! It cracks me up when people say O will not keep campaign
promises.....who the hell does? The Big O is now being blamed for DOW
drops.....on the plus side he has lowered the price of gas. Truly amazing
and he is not even in office!!!

I think all can agree things are a mess and the clean up will not be quick
or easy.

Brad wants a do over.....well I tried to tell him we were rushing this thing
but no no no...we had to do it now! When will we learn that knee jerk
reactions and decisions are rarely well thought out?

Go Titans!

Wally

On Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 11:59 AM, <R22RumRunner at aol.com> wrote:

> Brad,
> I'm sorry the your candidate didn't win the election, but I doubt that it
>  is
> fair to accuse the left of finally seeing that Mr. Obama can't do
> everything
> he has promised. The man isn't even in office yet and the "righties" are
> already  pinning our current problems on him. After eight years of an
> administration that  really was a farce, at least give Obama four years to
> try and rectify
> the screw  ups of this current administration.on  Don't even try to call me
> a
> lefty or  a righty because I don't wear lapels that you can pin a label on.
> I'm just an  average "Joe" trying to get this country back on the right
> track.
> The ultra  right wing conservative nut jobs have run this country into the
> ground and now  it needs fixing. Using the term conservative with the
> current
> administration is  an insult to all true conservatives.
> Hopefully the very first act Mr. Obama will sign will make stem cells
> available for research. It might come in time to save a very good friends
> life.  I
> can't even begin to tell you how pissed off HE is at this president.
>
> Rummy.......time for a drink and football.
>
>
> In a message dated 11/23/2008 8:24:23 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>  flybrad at gmail.com writes:
>
> Ed,
>
> Well, the chickens have come home to roost, so to speak. I  don't envy
> President-elect Obama and the problems he's been handed.   Perhaps Stan
> is correct - is it too late to ask for a recount?  It's  been a lot of
> fun watching the far left get their panties in a wad the last  two
> weeks after suddenly realizing that their Chosen One can't  possibly
> deliver on 10% of what he promised. Like most incoming  Presidents,
> he's stuck with a lot of policies handed to him from the  previous
> administration.  He won't pull out of Iraq on his promised  time
> schedule, he won't find an easy solution to Afghanistan, and there  is
> no "magic bullet" for our current economic woes. There are no  quick
> solutions and my guess is that the current financial pain  we're
> suffering from will last a good bit longer.  Throwing money at  the big
> three automakers will only breathe a few months or years of life  into
> a broken business model.  Personally, I'd sure like a do-over on  the
> bank bailout. One can only hope that Obama is as smart as  his
> supporters have promised us he is - he'll need some smarts for  sure.
> So far he's picked some really good people, not all of them by  any
> means, but some.
>
> Attached is an article from the Houston  Chronicle that does a pretty
> good job of outlining our problems.  It  isn't easy being a
> conservative these days, but I for one haven't given up  hope.
> Sometimes people need to be beaten about the head and shoulders  for
> the lessons to take hold, or as we say in flight training,  "the
> beatings will continue until morale improves".
>
> Unlike the far  left for the past eight years, I'm not going to berate
> the President for  his every little miss-step.  I sincerely hope he is
> The One.   That said, I'm preparing just in case he isn't.
>
> On an unrelated note,  did you know that the turkeys we eat for
> Thanksgiving are actually  killed?  I've been laughing my ass off at
> the "looney lefties"  including the New York Times going berserk over
> Sarah Palin giving an  interview while turkeys were being processed in
> the background.  For  someone supposedly headed for the "dustbin of
> history", they sure pay a lot  of attention to her every move.
>
> Brad
>
>
>
> America's math  problem yields no simple solutions
> Much of the blame rests with government  spending
> By PAUL W. HOBBY
> Nov. 21, 2008, 8:11PM
>
>
> So America  can still amaze the world.
>
> Is the election of President-elect Barack  Obama a blessed
> self-correction or radical over-correction for the world's  greatest
> nation? We can't know just yet. But, no matter how you voted, we  have
> to close ranks as a nation at this moment in history, because  the
> tripod of American authority in the world is dangerously  unstable.
>
> The tripod consists of moral authority, economic authority  and
> military authority. For reasons I need not detail, each of these  legs
> is stressed as they haven't been in a very long while. In large  part
> whether we succeed or fail in restoring our balance is about  simple
> arithmetic. A serious math problem lurks in the shadows  that
> heretofore neither party has been willing to address in a serious  way.
>
> Succinctly stated, the math problem is that the federal  government
> spends too much — a lot too much. The current deficit is a  record $455
> billion (before the bailout). The national debt is $10.5  trillion.
>
> The reason for the inattention is that politics doesn't like  math
> problems. Speeches are easier, symbols are safe and  personal
> criticisms are the very best, because those things don't  require
> anything of us, the people. They don't require introspection,  or
> sacrifice or sober prioritization of needs and wants. But maybe,  if
> there is a moment for hard reality to emerge, it is at the end of  a
> political season. Just as it took a Southerner in LBJ to pass  civil
> rights reform, real spending reform may have to come from a  Democrat
> (LBJ had a balanced budget in 1969).
>
> Math problems are  hard, but they undergird the universe. You cannot
> outrun or outtalk or out  organize the math problem any more than you
> can outtalk or outrun physical  gravity. This is a problem that
> threatens the strength of our currency,  inhibits the government's
> ability to respond to the current fiscal crisis,  and diverts precious
> dollars from infrastructure, education and all forms  of long-term
> public investment.
>
> How did we get here? You know the  answer at some level. We are all
> guilty of wanting to consume now and pay  later. Politics is forever
> the struggle between today (current services)  and tomorrow (education
> and physical infrastructure), and today usually  gives tomorrow a solid
> whipping. For the "values voter" the math problem  also has a moral
> dimension, because the practice of shipping the tab for  our lifestyle
> to our children and grandchildren is truly obscene.  Ironically, the
> best news for rich folks is that we can't tax our way out  of a mess of
> this proportion. In a global economy, high marginal tax rates  will
> cause capital and tax base to migrate elsewhere.
>
> Democrats  traditionally ignore the math problem. They just don't turn
> in their  homework and figure that it will all be OK as long as the tax
> code is  useful as a punitive device for administering social justice
> rather than an  equitable means for funding government. For their part,
> the Republicans  cheat on the math problem. They talk about fiscal
> restraint and then spend  on their contributors in a way that makes the
> drunkest of sailors blush.  They say that if we reduce revenue enough
> we can eventually balance the  budget. We have seen this "new" math
> before when we were told that  supply-side economics would magically
> erase the deficit problem. It is true  that tax cuts do act as economic
> stimulus, but the temporary stimulus is  ultimately empty without
> spending restraint.
>
> Beyond government  spending for a moment, the monetary new math said
> that $2.5 trillion in  excess leverage (comparing the traditional
> relationship of bank debt to  GDP) was OK because the risk had been
> securitized through asset-lite  Enronomics, where the markets parse
> derivative and speculative risk  intelligently, and create wealth for
> the most efficient market participants  — in the absence of any
> fundamental value creation in the underlying  economy. It wasn't OK,
> and a lot of people are getting hurt who never  bargained for the risks
> they now face.
>
> Our approach to the public  sector over the last eight years has been
> if you disparage government long  enough it will get better. Clearly
> that hasn't worked. Obama thinks that  government is important and that
> it can help people, but it can only do so  if it is fiscally strong.
> His budget cuts, therefore, would spring from a  different motivation.
> Will that be enough to make them palatable? I don't  know, but I do
> know that the math problem demands that he  try.
>
> Perhaps the ultimate fiscal blunt instrument, a balanced  budget
> amendment (with appropriate exceptions for war or fiscal  emergency),
> may be the bad idea whose time has come. Congress under both  parties
> has been unable to discipline itself without it. Make no mistake,  this
> mathematical exercise will be painful; all spending, not just  domestic
> discretionary spending, (38 percent of the total) must be on  the
> table. The only spending that is truly nondiscretionary is interest  on
> the national debt.
>
> Obama is very smart, and he gives a very good  speech. If he simply
> allows the latter gift to overcome the former gift, we  may temporarily
> restore some moral authority in the world, and at least the  folks who
> hate us will have to come up with a whole new set of reasons to  do so.
>
> But this won't last; the math problem will ultimately impoverish  us,
> and beggars don't retain their moral authority very long. Real  change
> demands that the political conversation begins to track the  fiscal
> reality for the first time in a long time.
>
> When I first met  Obama in June 2007, I found him, as millions of
> others have, to be a  special person. Is he special enough to lead us
> into the math problem with  the kind of aspirational tone that got him
> elected? I think so.
>
> I  hope so.
>
> I pray so.
>
> Hobby is a Houston businessman with  extensive experience in private
> and public finance.
>
>
> On Sun, Nov  23, 2008 at 6:46 AM, Tootle <ekroposki at charter.net>  wrote:
> >
> > Andrew,
> >
> > I am sorry about your loss of  being able to use credit to conduct your
> > business.  Actually, use  of credit has little to do with capitalism but
> > rather economics  Keynesianism and manipulated market theory.
> >
> > Understand the  biggest single cause of the current economic 'Bubble'
> > bursting was the  manipulation of mortgage market by National Democrats,
> > specifically  Sen. Dodd of Connecticut and Barney Frank of Massachusetts.
> > These two  induced Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac to push mortgages without
> > historical  safeguards.
> >
> > Specifically they pushed giving mortgages without  sufficient down
> payments
> > to assist mortgage lenders in recovering from  default and pushed giving
> > mortgages with balloon payments to those who  would not be able to meet
> the
> > ballooning payment.  Read the  information available and you will find
> that
> > the Bush administration  requested better oversight and stricter lending
> > requirement.   Those two National Democrats and their associates hindered
> or
> > stopped  better control.  That is a big part of the current credit
>  crises.
> >
> > This as Stan would say, according to Cindy Spitzer,  was a 'Bubble'.  The
> > bursting of this bubble crippled the  historically reliable mortgage
> market
> > by making all mortgages credit  suspect.  This included all the packages
> of
> > credit made from  those mortgages.
> >
> > This has 'mortally' harmed the credit  industry.  This has harmed not
> only
> > getting credit but those who  historically have used it to smooth contact
> > payments out to pay  routine business expenses. This harm caused by Fanny
> Mae
> > and Freddie  Mac will last 50 years or more.  Thank those in the U. S.
> >  Congress who wanted to use the credit industry to finance social aims.
> >  Thank you for supporting those candidates.
> >
> > So how is above  this any different from Obama's other 'Progressive
> Goals?'
> >  Unfortunately, those who understand economics understand the problems
>  that
> > an Obama administration will have and cause.  Maybe the  stock market
> will
> > stabilize?  However, the harm inflicted on U.  S. credit will linger.
> >
> > I am sorry that this will cause you  great personal harm.  What were
> Warren
> > Buffett's remarks the  other day about future inflation and devaluation
> of
> > the U. S  dollar?  Thank Barney and Chris and fellow travelers, and your
> >  support of those policies and the policies advocates.
> >
> > Elle  said, "Educators haven't 'turned over' discipline; it has been
> ripped
> >  out of their control by laws and regulations and lawsuits."  Yes  thank
> > plaintiff's attorneys for over zealous advocacy of minor issues  and
> nominal
> > harms.  We have at least one of those guys, on this  forum.  Actually, we
> > have several but they lay low least they  hear about their activities.
> >
> > Herb said, "At the same time, if  we as parents were more involved in the
> > educational process of our  children, most of us would be surprised at
> > exactly what we can do.  However, in the relative vacuum of parental
> > involvement, the  bureaucracies have thrived like a fungus, and we've
> ended
> > up where we  are now."
> >
> > The simple truth is not all parents have time to be  involved.  When both
> > parents work, as is needed in today's times  to make ends meet, they do
> not
> > have time to attend PTA and other  activities.
> >
> > Discipline was integral when I attended  school.  It has been hamstrung
> by
> > bureaucracies and sociopaths  and those wanting schools to develop
> socially
> > conscious  students.  Just read about the themes advocated by Obama's
> friend
> >  Bill Ayers.  He disregards schools to build basic math and
>  communication
> > skills for social purposes. Yet, we have so many who  follow the sheep
> > herder…
> >
> > Ed  K
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > View this message  in context:
>
> http://www.nabble.com/Andrew%2C-Elle---Herb%2C-comments-on-your-posts.-tp20645864p20645864.html
> >  Sent from the Rhodes 22 mailing list archive at  Nabble.com.
> >
> >
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