Is the recession over or is this a mirage?

by Rodan ( 200 Comments › )
Filed under Barack Obama, Economy, Media, Progressives at January 29th, 2010 - 7:30 am

The Progressive Propaganda Media is celebrating. They are declaring this the greatest economic comeback ever. The US GDP grew at 5.7% in the 4th Quarter. Now I ask myself, where is this growth? I see people out of work, wages frozen and businesses struggling. However, the government claims the economy is growing. Can someone explain to me how this is possible?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The economy grew at a faster-than-expected 5.7 percent pace in the fourth quarter, the quickest in more than six years, as businesses made less-aggressive cuts to inventories and stepped up spending.

The Commerce Department said on Friday its first estimate put fourth-quarter gross domestic product growth at its fastest pace since the third quarter of 2003. The economy expanded at a 2.2 percent annual rate in the third quarter.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast GDP, which measures total goods and services output within U.S. borders, growing at a 4.6 percent rate in October-December period.

Read the rest.

I really don’t get this. I don’t see any growth when I go out. In fact I see empty stores and people watching what they buy.  The answer for this high number could be this statement.

Business inventories fell only $33.5 billion in fourth quarter after dropping $139.2 billion in the July-September period. The change in inventories alone added 3.39 percentage points to GDP in the last quarter. This was the biggest percentage contribution since the fourth quarter of 1987.

So it’s not real growth then producing this number, it was a slowdown in the reduction of inventories that caused this number to be high. In other words, this is not a sustainable number and the revision will reduce it. It doesn’t matter to the Media, they will trumpet this as a great economic boom and credit Obama. As much as they want to celebrate, fact is wages rose very slightly for the average worker.

Workers’ compensation has been battered by the country’s deep recession as a loss of 7.2 million jobs over the past two years has depressed wage gains. A separate report from the Labor Department earlier this month showed that nonsupervisory workers’ inflation-adjusted weekly earnings fell by 1.6 percent last year, the sharpest drop since 1990.

Read the rest.

This continues a decade long trend of stagnating wages. This is due to America’s outdated economic structure that can’t compete in the global economy. Until we change our tax laws to incentivize business to invest here, wages will continue to decline. America needs to get its house in order. If not, we will become a has been power.

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200 Responses to “Is the recession over or is this a mirage?”
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  1. Speranza
    1 | January 29, 2010 7:34 am

    Anyone who thinks the recession is over – just go and try to find a job.


  2. 2 | January 29, 2010 7:36 am

    @ Speranza:

    The Media is celebrating. I saw one today call it the Obama Boom!


  3. Speranza
    3 | January 29, 2010 7:41 am

    Rodan wrote:

    @ Speranza:
    The Media is celebrating. I saw one today call it the Obama Boom!

    The brown nosing never ceases does it?


  4. Bumr50
    4 | January 29, 2010 7:42 am

    @ Rodan:

    Ah, but when it goes down it’s a ‘Bush Bust.’


  5. 5 | January 29, 2010 7:42 am

    No, there is growth, just as the government suggests.

    Issue is, it isn’t private sector growth by an increasing economy…. it is artificial growth by infusion of government funds.

    However, the part that worries me is that unemployment is about 16% or so, if we include people who are no longer able to get unemployment. Obama announced that he wants a ‘tax break’ for any businesses that create jobs, of about 3 grand or so.

    That way, when all of his OTHER policies cause businesses to not hire people, he can say that he tried, but that those evil capitalist businesses wouldn’t help out the common man….. then announce that the federal government is accepting applications in its new private sector fields.

    Heck, he already announced that if you go to college, you only have to pay your loans for 10 years if you work for the government.

    And, of course, that money will just magically appear and have no consequences with its spending…


  6. calcajun
    6 | January 29, 2010 7:46 am

    The word that’s missing here is JOBS. Where are the JOBS?


  7. 7 | January 29, 2010 7:47 am

    @ calcajun:

    Obama says they are on the way!


  8. calcajun
    8 | January 29, 2010 7:48 am

    @ Rodan:
    To where? They’re not here.


  9. Gypsy
    9 | January 29, 2010 7:49 am

    The unemployment figures for the area I live in are around 16%, and this is just people who are still registered with unemployment and looking for a job. This has been the case for the last 8 months or so.

    Nice to see Obama is going to let Future Federal Bureaucrats default on their student loans after 10 years. Of course, if they’re Democrats they don’t have to pay their taxes, either. And people working in the private sector are supposed to support these parasites?


  10. Bumr50
    10 | January 29, 2010 7:51 am

    @ Gypsy:

    The student loan forgiveness will be an EPIC FAIL. Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.

    It happens with everything that guaranteed federal money is applied to.


  11. 11 | January 29, 2010 7:52 am

    calcajun wrote:

    The word that’s missing here is JOBS. Where are the JOBS?

    They’re in the new Stimulus JOBS bill.


  12. mawskrat
    12 | January 29, 2010 7:56 am

    my wife’s job is pretty recession proof, but after 25 years they did take away thier payed half hour lunch


  13. 13 | January 29, 2010 7:57 am

    @ Bumr50:

    Universities have already jacked up their prices to insane amounts due to the assumption that students will get loans, so it doesn’t matter if they have to pay for 10-20 years to get that college education that is full of waste classes like basketweaving and needless generals.

    There was a time that a brand new car only cost 1-3 grand. But it was expected that you paid cash…. nowdays it is expected that you get a loan or lease.

    The impatience involved in getting a loan rather than saving and paying in full has led to many products’ increase in prices. Part of that “Can I afford that?” vs “Can I afford the payments?”


  14. Gypsy
    14 | January 29, 2010 7:58 am

    Bumr50 wrote:

    @ Gypsy:
    The student loan forgiveness will be an EPIC FAIL. Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.
    It happens with everything that guaranteed federal money is applied to.

    You are so right. People blame providers and insurance companies for the horrendous increase in healthcare costs over the last 40 years; it is almost funny to see how everyone carefully avoids naming the real culprits, Medicare and Medicaid.


  15. snork
    15 | January 29, 2010 7:59 am

    Bumr50 wrote:

    The student loan forgiveness will be an EPIC FAIL. Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.

    Worse than that, it will encourage kids to study LGBT basket weaving instead of biomedical engineering, because if you follow your FAIL of a degree with a FAIL of a career, you don’t have to pay it back.


  16. 16 | January 29, 2010 8:02 am

    Don’t worry, Obama will save us.


  17. vapig
    17 | January 29, 2010 8:03 am

    Bumr50 wrote:

    @ Gypsy:
    The student loan forgiveness will be an EPIC FAIL. Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.
    It happens with everything that guaranteed federal money is applied to.

    Universities are overrated and overpriced as it is. What we need to do is star sending people back to trade schools. We’ve lost our skillied labor – our artisans.


  18. snork
    18 | January 29, 2010 8:04 am

    As far as the economy goes, this is a technical number, and not only is it not sustainable, what’s going to happen is that they’re going to crank the cognitive dissonance up, and go into the elections screaming at the tops of their lungs that things are superfantastic, and the public isn’t going to buy it. It’s going to boomerang in their faces.


  19. Nevergiveup
    19 | January 29, 2010 8:06 am

    Obama to End NASA Constellation Program
    FOXNews.com
    On the eve of the fullest moon of the year, NASA scientists were told they won’t be able to visit any longer. In his new budget, President Obama plans to eliminate the space program’s manned moon missions.

    Bye BY


  20. vapig
    20 | January 29, 2010 8:06 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    @ Bumr50:
    Universities have already jacked up their prices to insane amounts due to the assumption that students will get loans, so it doesn’t matter if they have to pay for 10-20 years to get that college education that is full of waste classes like basketweaving and needless generals.
    There was a time that a brand new car only cost 1-3 grand. But it was expected that you paid cash…. nowdays it is expected that you get a loan or lease.
    The impatience involved in getting a loan rather than saving and paying in full has led to many products’ increase in prices. Part of that “Can I afford that?” vs “Can I afford the payments?”

    Yes! We need to get back to the cash only system and back to people saving for thing rather than the instant gratification society we’ve become!


  21. bar
    21 | January 29, 2010 8:06 am

    For me the recession will not be over until I am doing the same thing and making the same money I made 2 years ago.

    Now the government has a “beautification” project on Sunset Blvd in West Hollyweird (it’s a “stimulus” project). Of course I am working in West Hollyweird and the traffic absolutely is atrocious with Sunset Blvd. Having a lane closed down. It took 1 hour to go 1 mile, so not only is my truck (proudly not a Hybrid) kicking out a much bigger carbon footprint and wasting fuel, I am losing money. There are more of these local “stimulus” projects planned and all on the busiest of roads.

    What a hell of a way to “stimulate” the local economy. Freaking idiots. If they really wanted to beautify West Hollyweird, they just needed to repaint the hookers.


  22. Nevergiveup
    22 | January 29, 2010 8:07 am

    For the first time in my memory the USA will no longer be the leader in space. Kinda sad but predictable


  23. 23 | January 29, 2010 8:09 am

    vapig wrote:

    Bumr50 wrote:
    @ Gypsy:
    The student loan forgiveness will be an EPIC FAIL. Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.
    It happens with everything that guaranteed federal money is applied to.
    Universities are overrated and overpriced as it is. What we need to do is star sending people back to trade schools. We’ve lost our skillied labor – our artisans.

    We need to start hiring people who go to trade schools. When I lost a previous job in a round of layoffs (back in early 2008) I saw jobs for part time computer tech support….. requiring a BA and/or MCSE.

    I see jobs for secretaries requiring a degree in office management or business.

    There was a time that having a college degree really did mean that you knew more and were better for employment than without…… but I don’t see that as the case anymore for many of the fields still requiring it.


  24. mawskrat
    24 | January 29, 2010 8:09 am

    vapig wrote:

    Bumr50 wrote:
    @ Gypsy:
    The student loan forgiveness will be an EPIC FAIL. Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.
    It happens with everything that guaranteed federal money is applied to.
    Universities are overrated and overpriced as it is. What we need to do is star sending people back to trade schools. We’ve lost our skillied labor – our artisans.

    people don’t want to work hard any more. I’m a Plumber/Pipefitter
    and trade school was 5 years. the pay is great but your body will take a beating.lol


  25. coldwarrior
    25 | January 29, 2010 8:10 am

    the 5.x% growth is a single quarter phenomenon.

    businesses restocked the inventory that they drew down over the past 18 months. businesses pay taxes on inventory, so whatever is on hand is another liability. there was no real increase in actual consumer spending, therefore no confidence. and add govt spending to the mix and you get a false percent growth

    the people are rightly focused on jobs and the debt.


  26. Gypsy
    26 | January 29, 2010 8:10 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    Universities have already jacked up their prices to insane amounts due to the assumption that students will get loans,

    Has anyone noticed that a college professor’s salary is often way up in the low to medium six figure range? Back when I went to college, the salaries were in line with middle management to upper middle management in the private sector nationwide; now they are in line with upper management in New York. We all can see who the beneficiaries of the student loan and other inflationary programs are, and it ain’t the students.


  27. Silhouette
    27 | January 29, 2010 8:11 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    Heck, he already announced that if you go to college, you only have to pay your loans for 10 years if you work for the government.

    Effectively punishing people who choose to go into the private sector. You know, that sector that funds the entire economy, including the government.

    What you punish, you get less of. What you reward, you get more of.


  28. 28 | January 29, 2010 8:12 am

    @ vapig:

    For all the people that spit on his system, Dave Ramsey really is right.

    On the radio I heardan ad for a seminar to attend. “Find out why owning a home is not an asset! Find out why saving money can’t make you rich! Come learn about Rich Debt!”

    Here’s how you can ‘get rich quick’ . . .. step 1, create a program that sounds good but does not do anything substantial. step 2, sell it in seminars to dumbasses that will pay money for your entirely theoretical program that glosses over gaping holes of error. step 3, do not offer a refund.


  29. 29 | January 29, 2010 8:13 am

    @ bar:

    you’re not looking at it right. The recession isn’t over until you are making the same money, including a raise for inflation.

    I work for a company that hasn’t given raises in 3 years and isn’t likely to this year either…. that means that each year we are expected to do the same job for about 3% less buying power each year.


  30. calcajun
    30 | January 29, 2010 8:14 am

    @ LanceKates:
    Four kids-the best thing we are doing for them is getting them through college without being in debt when they graduate. They won’t get Ivy League diplomas, but those things don’t have the cache that they used to.


  31. coldwarrior
    31 | January 29, 2010 8:15 am

    @ LanceKates:

    yep, if the system in the seminar workes so well, why does the dude have to go out and pimp it?

    if its that good he should be able to stay home, use his system, and rake in the $$$


  32. 32 | January 29, 2010 8:16 am

    @ Silhouette:

    exactly, but when there are that many public employees to where the private sector is hurting to get people, the feds can just expand their powers to ‘take up the slack’ . . .

    Private sector seeks to grow, achieve and profit. Public Sector seeks to take, spend and provide red tape.


  33. 33 | January 29, 2010 8:19 am

    calcajun wrote:

    @ LanceKates:
    Four kids-the best thing we are doing for them is getting them through college without being in debt when they graduate. They won’t get Ivy League diplomas, but those things don’t have the cache that they used to.

    A growing business is handing out degrees to people. The degrees are valid, but are given by a ’school’ that is not accredited. Turns out, many employers don’t check.

    I’m trying to go back to school, can’t afford it.


  34. Silhouette
    34 | January 29, 2010 8:19 am

    Very few things are 100% bad or 100% good. One silver-lining part of the recession is that some inefficient businesses have learned they can get the same work done with fewer employees. And this was reflected in overall American worker productivity increases.

    Without question, some of this increased productivity is (using the left’s favorite new word) not sustainable. Johnny can cover for the recently fired Tommy’s workload for awhile, but he can’t kill himself 40 hours a week longterm.

    In the end, if the government will just get the heck out of the way, the free market will balance this and maximize output.

    The government get out of the way? Sometimes I just kill myself.


  35. 35 | January 29, 2010 8:20 am

    @ vapig:

    With very few exceptions a college degree doesn’t teach you how to do anything marketable. It isn’t quite all a waste of time, but it is getting close to it. The degree will still open up jobs that would otherwise be unavailable. Whether or not that is enough value for all the time and money put into earning the degree is another question.


  36. 36 | January 29, 2010 8:22 am

    @ Silhouette:

    This is being called the worst recession since the great depression.

    Our worst recession ever was in the early 20’s, not the late 20’s.

    That recession, though, was over in a year or so. The government did the right thing: Nothing.

    in the recession in the late 20’s, the government tried to solve the problem with lots of government programs…… it became the Great Depression.

    That, in and of itself, should be good reason for the government to just butt out.


  37. fultonchain
    37 | January 29, 2010 8:23 am

    This certainly isn’t the boom that some would call it. However, it *is* positive news, incremental though it may be.

    Unemployment remains staggeringly high and the selling off of inventory only means that manufacturers have cut back on production and wholesalers have reduced their purchasing. Not really good news at all.

    Student loan forgiveness isn’t a bad idea. Considering the predatory loan practices (my second year law niece is inundated with pre-approved gold and platinum cards, ironically she will be working in the public sector and not too many ADA’s are carrying around AMEX cards with 50k caps, but a student can) used to lure foolish adolescents into a lifetime of debt it isn’t going to be long before the student loan market looks like the sub-prime mortgage market.

    Forgiveness and the ten percent cap will funnel money directly into the economy bypassing the banks — banks who will eventually receive trillions of dollars in federal money. This is an opportunity to help people directly: the savings will be put back into the economy and some people, rather than defaulting on loans will continue making payments allowing them to preserve their credit and eventually purchase the homes and cars that have long been held out as the reward for completing college.


  38. 38 | January 29, 2010 8:23 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    @ vapig:
    With very few exceptions a college degree doesn’t teach you how to do anything marketable. It isn’t quite all a waste of time, but it is getting close to it. The degree will still open up jobs that would otherwise be unavailable. Whether or not that is enough value for all the time and money put into earning the degree is another question.

    Degrees for doctors, sure.

    Degrees for secretaries, stupid.

    Degrees for lawyers, sure.

    Degrees for salesmen, stupid.


  39. 39 | January 29, 2010 8:25 am

    @ fultonchain:

    What right was granted to the Federal Government, by the Constitution, to pay your college debt?


  40. mawskrat
    40 | January 29, 2010 8:26 am

    @ fultonchain:

    wwhen I worked at the university the credit card folk would set up shop out side the book store. sign up for a card and get a free water bottle.lol


  41. SciFiGuy
    41 | January 29, 2010 8:27 am

    @ LanceKates:
    DIdn’t the Depression start in ‘28 or ‘29, then became the “Great Depression” during the decade of the ’30’s??? Roosevelt actually EXYENDED the depression with his restictive business and banking policies.


  42. 42 | January 29, 2010 8:28 am

    Mirage? It’s a bunked up hologram!


  43. SciFiGuy
    43 | January 29, 2010 8:28 am

    EXYENDED = EXTENDED

    PIMF!!


  44. 44 | January 29, 2010 8:28 am

    mawskrat wrote:

    @ fultonchain:
    wwhen I worked at the university the credit card folk would set up shop out side the book store. sign up for a card and get a free water bottle.lol

    yup, it is also not the job of the federal government to protect a student from their own stupidity.

    If you’ve made it to college age and you don’t know that credit card debt is bad, your parents and basic high school finance classes have failed you.


  45. coldwarrior
    45 | January 29, 2010 8:29 am

    i just remebered something.

    when W took office, there was the tech bubble recession that started under clinton but was blamed, in the media, on W.

    how is it then that W gets the blame for this recession…it started under him, but 0 is in charge now just like W was in 2000


  46. 46 | January 29, 2010 8:29 am

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    @ LanceKates:
    DIdn’t the Depression start in ‘28 or ‘29, then became the “Great Depression” during the decade of the ’30’s??? Roosevelt actually EXYENDED the depression with his restictive business and banking policies.

    What is so striking is that the stock drop in the early 20’s was worse, but it was fixed within a year or two. By the private sector, with no interference by the federal government.

    within 2 decades, you have the results of both a recession fixed by the private sector (in a year or two) and one ‘fixed’ by the public sector (which lasted well over a decade)


  47. GrandJunctionite
    47 | January 29, 2010 8:30 am

    @ bar:

    Don’t worry. Obama will build you a high speed rail line for your commute. It’ll only be a few hundred billion.


  48. 48 | January 29, 2010 8:31 am

    coldwarrior wrote:

    i just remebered something.
    when W took office, there was the tech bubble recession that started under clinton but was blamed, in the media, on W.
    how is it then that W gets the blame for this recession…it started under him, but 0 is in charge now just like W was in 2000

    The tech bubble also didn’t become a multi-industry destruction of our economy because President Bush, unlike President Obama, let the private sector fix the problem.


  49. 49 | January 29, 2010 8:31 am

    GrandJunctionite wrote:

    @ bar:
    Don’t worry. Obama will build you a high speed rail line for your commute. It’ll only be a few hundred billion.

    and it’ll go 10 miles, cost 30 bucks per ride, and still not pull a profit.


  50. Speranza
    50 | January 29, 2010 8:32 am

    If you are out of work, the unemployment rates is 100%. I hate the way O-bots play games with words.


  51. buzzsawmonkey
    51 | January 29, 2010 8:33 am

    Nevergiveup wrote:

    For the first time in my memory the USA will no longer be the leader in space. Kinda sad but predictable

    You kidding? Standard McMansions are up to over 5000 square feet. If that ain’t “leading in space,” I don’t know what is.


  52. 52 | January 29, 2010 8:34 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    Yup let’s let China and India dominate psce.

    Histoy repeating itself. In the early 1400’s China had a massive Exploration Fleet. They sailed all over Asia, the Pacific and Africa. Then the new Emperor scrapped the fleet. Odds are if the program continued, China would of sailed to Europe and even the Americas. By withdrawing, this opened it up for Portugal and Spain.

    Now America buy cancelling its Space Program, is opening the door for China. Irony of history!


  53. Speranza
    53 | January 29, 2010 8:35 am

    coldwarrior wrote:

    i just remebered something.

    when W took office, there was the tech bubble recession that started under clinton but was blamed, in the media, on W.

    How is it then that W gets the blame for this recession…it started under him, but 0 is in charge now just like W was in 2000

    Yes Bush came in right after the dot com bust and lets not forget the stock market tanking for 3 years because of 9/11. He never whined or pointed fingers.


  54. 54 | January 29, 2010 8:35 am

    Denniger Abides:

    http://market-ticker.org/archives/1915-GDP-Theres-Your-Inventory-Bounce.html

    Friday, January 29. 2010
    Posted by Karl Denninger in Macro Economics at 09:04

    GDP: There’s Your Inventory Bounce

    4th Quarter GDP is out with a stunning 5.7% (annualized) rate of increase. Let’s look inside and see if the numbers make sense.

    The increase in real GDP in the fourth quarter primarily reflected positive contributions from private inventory investment, exports, and personal consumption expenditures (PCE).

    The first two are not a big surprise. The latter, however, is dangerous to rely on.

    As I have repeatedly pointed out we have over the last 18 months added about $500 billion (annually) in transfer payments to the federal budget. This counts in the GDP report as PCE, but is not actual output any more than I am richer if I go to the bank and borrow $20,000 on my credit card.

    If one was doing GDP as a “balance sheet” you’d have to subtract the addition in liabilities (debt) from the money spent, but of course GDP isn’t computed that way. This results in a nutty overstatement of GDP when it is used as a measurement of economic health, which of course is how all the so-called “economists” use it.

    Indeed, that $500 billion is an annualized distortion of a whopping 3.57% of the entire economy!

    There are some problems in this report as well. The claim is made that real federal government expenditures and investment was flat (0.1% increase) .vs. an 8% annualized rate of change in the last quarter. I’m not sure I believe that either – but it may in fact be true, in that the aforementioned $500 billion diversion could reasonably be “all there is” in terms of what the government can and does spend. I’m particularly skeptical of this number after seeing the durables report and change in defense spending – those two numbers don’t add correctly, and defense spending has been up strong all year (much to the chagrin of those who thought Obama would be drawing down our military spending and bringing the troops home!) State expenditures are down as expected (the states are broke!) but despite all the bleating about lack of money the change is small. You’d think there would be real cutting going on given the screams of distress – nope!

    Export growth continued as did imports, but the import growth rate slowed dramatically from the third quarter. The latter mostly appears to account for inventory additions, which was 3.39% of the GDP increase – about what I expected. While this is additive to GDP it is not indicative by itself of economic strength. More is required, specifically, we need to see that 3.39% taken up in final demand in coming quarters, otherwise it turns into a millstone around the neck of merchants that will instead destroy profit margins. Nonetheless industry appears to have “taken the bet” on an economic recovery that actually takes hold.

    The amusing part of the report is found in the personal income and outlays section:

    Current-dollar personal income increased $119.2 billion (4.0 percent) in the fourth quarter, compared with an increase of $35.1 billion (1.2 percent) in the third.

    Personal current taxes decreased $11.7 billion in the fourth quarter, in contrast to an increase of $3.5 billion in the third.

    Got it? People aren’t earning the money, the government is handing it out. You don’t pay taxes on government handouts, for the most part. There was a potential “improvement” signal in the third quarter related to tax liabilities increasing, but that has now reversed – hard – which throws a big fat rock at the concept of employment turning in any meaningful way. Instead the “current dollar income” is being borrowed and given away by the government through unemployment extensions and other forms of handout.

    Non-residential structures (commercial R/E) plummeted by 15.4% yet residential is claimed to have increased. Homebuyer tax-credit incentives? Probably.

    Looking at the breakdown there are some warnings: Utility expense appears to be comparatively strong, which looks to be the lion’s share of the Q4 household service change, with the rest being almost all in health care costs. This is not a good trend when an increasing percentage of personal income is comprised of government handouts.

    Non-durable purchases were up significantly at bars and restaurants (normal during the 4th Quarter – look at 06 and 07) while gas and energy purchases were down in Q3 and Q4 – a not-good change considering the trajectory of prices for both (demand is decreasing significantly, as prices have been up a LOT, so if gross sales are slightly down…..)

    The revisions to this report should be interesting. Remember that the last quarterly GDP report was revised downward some forty percent over time. I’ve archived this copy privately on The Market Ticker so as to preserve any “accidents” in this regard.

    Bottom line: The market liked it (although the net change after thinking about it for a while was pretty much a non-event – we’re up a whole two S&P points a half-hour after release) but most of the improvement was due to inventory build and transfer payments from the government (and the government borrowed the money), not actual earned personal income.


  55. SciFiGuy
    55 | January 29, 2010 8:35 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:
    Thats Inner space Buzz not Outer space

    ///


  56. snork
    56 | January 29, 2010 8:35 am

    There’s a purpose behind sending everybody to college, whether they’re college material or not: the ones who aren’t that sharp will gravitate to the grievance studies programs, where standards aren’t very high. Then they’ll spend 10 years racking up loans that they have no intention of repaying while learning how to be righteously indignant about how all these business and engineering and other professional studies students are getting hired, and they aren’t.

    That’s the objective. To build up a professional pissed-off class of people who were never cut out to go to college in the first place, and might have been lot happier (not to mention wealthier) as tradesmen.


  57. 57 | January 29, 2010 8:35 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    Because it’s Bush fault, didn’t you get the memo!

    /

    Progressives!


  58. buzzsawmonkey
    58 | January 29, 2010 8:35 am

    GrandJunctionite wrote:

    Don’t worry. Obama will build you a high speed rail line for your commute. It’ll only be a few hundred billion.

    MagLev? Nay.

    —with apologies to Rod Stewart and “Maggie May”

    Wake up, MagLev, I think I’ve got something to say to you

    I can’t spend as much as your proponents want me to

    I know you promise me speed

    But there’s really not a market need

    Oh, MagLev, I don’t think I’ll try any more

    I know that Congress passed a bill so it could dip into the public till

    You stole my taxes and that’s what really hurts

    I could have high speed just by upgrading the old track gauge

    But to build you up to functioning I’d have to change everything

    At first I really couldn’t wait, to ride a train that levitates

    But MagLev, I don’t think I’ll try any more

    If I ever have the urge to roam, if I want to go away from home

    You’re a luxury I’m afraid I can do without

    All I needed was a train that ran reliably

    But now my mind boggles ’cause your

    Cost boondoggles just wore me out

    You just drained my treasury

    Rode me on a rail to penury

    Oh MagLev, I don’t think I’ll try anymore

    If I ever have the urge to roam, if I want to go away from home

    You’re a luxury I’m gonna have to do without

    If I balance my books maybe I could build a regular train

    Though it means I’d have to start all over from scratch again

    Or let private industry see what it can develop for me

    Oh MagLev, I wish I’d never seen your specs

    You made a first-class fool out of me

    But I’m as blind as a fool can be

    You stole my taxes but I love you anyway

    MagLev, I wish I’d never seen your specs

    I’ll get a working train one of these days


  59. coldwarrior
    59 | January 29, 2010 8:36 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    coldwarrior wrote:
    i just remebered something.
    when W took office, there was the tech bubble recession that started under clinton but was blamed, in the media, on W.
    how is it then that W gets the blame for this recession…it started under him, but 0 is in charge now just like W was in 2000
    The tech bubble also didn’t become a multi-industry destruction of our economy because President Bush, unlike President Obama, let the private sector fix the problem.

    i know that, but W got blamed for the recession when it started under clinton.

    now W gets blamed again for a recession that in fact started under him but now 0 is in charge,

    using 2000 logic and rules, this is 0’s recession, no?


  60. 60 | January 29, 2010 8:36 am

    @ snork:

    Yup, they want everyone in College because they can brainwash people. Instead we should have Trade schools, for non College people so they can make money.


  61. 61 | January 29, 2010 8:37 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    Everything is Bush’s fault!

    Even the Haitian Earthquake.


  62. buzzsawmonkey
    62 | January 29, 2010 8:37 am

    Rodan wrote:

    Instead we should have Trade schools

    I’m sure that the Safe Schools Czar could be persuaded to fund rough trade schools.


  63. Gypsy
    63 | January 29, 2010 8:38 am

    @ LanceKates:
    The problem is, people have to go to college to learn stuff they used to learn in high school. If you graduated from high school before the mid -1970’s you had sufficient skills to make it in most businesses, skills that included math, accounting, English. You could take typing and use of office machinery instead of Home Ec or Shop. Now, many students can barely write a grammatical sentence, or do a cost estimate in their heads. Many cannot spell “cat” correctly without Spellcheck. When I left my last employer, there were college grads working there who had trouble writing a coherent sentence. Nothing like getting a 600 word email and being reduced to saying “what the hell is this supposed to mean?”


  64. buzzsawmonkey
    64 | January 29, 2010 8:39 am

    @ Gypsy:

    You said it.


  65. coldwarrior
    65 | January 29, 2010 8:41 am

    Rodan wrote:

    @ coldwarrior:
    Everything is Bush’s fault!
    Even the Haitian Earthquake.

    right…that memo got burried on my blackberry!


  66. 66 | January 29, 2010 8:41 am

    @ snork:

    I worked with someone who was a socialist lesbian. They wanted to be a “Professional Activist” (I.e, they wanted to make a living at whining) and were persuing some sort of poli-sci degree.

    Their big beef was that the government needs to force insurance companies to cover ’same sex domestic partners’ under health insurance plans (I guess it didn’t mater that hetero domestic partners are largely not covered), and they become a combination of bumbling and silent when one day I shut them up by asking why they didn’t just devote the time and energy into an insurance company that ONLY sold insurance to same sex couples.


  67. 67 | January 29, 2010 8:42 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    The logic isn’t based on when the recession started, but on the letter after the name.

    R vs D.


  68. Silhouette
    68 | January 29, 2010 8:43 am

    Loan “forgiveness” means, if the borrower isn’t paying the debt, someone else is. Forcing someone to pay for another’s debt is forcing them to labor unrewarded for the financial benefit of others.

    I thought that practice was outlawed by a nice little constitutional amendment after a war we had.

    It doesn’t change if it is the lenders (not taxpayers) being forced to eat the cost of the loans. Stealing is stealing. Using the power of the government to force banks to make loans to people who won’t repay them is what got us here in the first place, and they used the same excuse that time too, that the mean ol’ greedy rich banks were cheating us anyway and making soooo much money, that it is justified to take from them.


  69. 69 | January 29, 2010 8:43 am

    Rodan wrote:

    @ snork:
    Yup, they want everyone in College because they can brainwash people. Instead we should have Trade schools, for non College people so they can make money.

    if I am learning to do accounting, I shouldn’t need to learn the leftists’ History of Europe or a secular “All people are somewhat gay” Psych class.


  70. bar
    70 | January 29, 2010 8:44 am

    @ GrandJunctionite:
    Except who is going to carry all the tools?


  71. coldwarrior
    71 | January 29, 2010 8:44 am

    undergrad is there mostly to teach you how to think…by how i mean using reasoning and sound argument and logic.

    unfortunately, that aspect is failing as well because we dont focus on the dead white guys anymore.


  72. buzzsawmonkey
    72 | January 29, 2010 8:45 am

    bar wrote:

    Except who is going to carry all the tools?

    Your taxes are carrying a bunch of tools right now. And will soon carry more!


  73. buzzsawmonkey
    73 | January 29, 2010 8:47 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    I worked with someone who was a socialist lesbian. They wanted to be a “Professional Activist” (I.e, they wanted to make a living at whining) and were persuing some sort of poli-sci degree.

    Their big beef was that the government needs to force insurance companies to cover ’same sex domestic partners’ under health insurance plans (I guess it didn’t mater that hetero domestic partners are largely not covered), and they become a combination of bumbling and silent when one day I shut them up by asking why they didn’t just devote the time and energy into an insurance company that ONLY sold insurance to same sex couples.

    Good point. You’d think there’d be a market share waiting to be tapped.


  74. 74 | January 29, 2010 8:47 am

    @ Gypsy:

    That’s because we’ve let the federal and state governments control the education system… so it is based on helping the lowest denominator feel better rather than educating students.

    Private school and Home school children really don’t have that issue, as one test after another shows. (Which is one of the two reasons why the government will not allow vouchers. The other being that they don’t want the common man’s kids in private school with their children.)


  75. m
    75 | January 29, 2010 8:48 am

    Statement from James O’Keefe


  76. 76 | January 29, 2010 8:48 am

    @ Silhouette:

    100% correct.


  77. mawskrat
    77 | January 29, 2010 8:49 am

    @ Rodan:

    I graduated high school in 1976 in our year book every one wrote what they were going to do. I wrote that I was going to trade school to be a master plumber. I kinda got ribbed about it but for years I got calls from the same people wanting me to do work for them.

    ///hey man can you give me a deal.lol


  78. GrandJunctionite
    78 | January 29, 2010 8:49 am

    @ Rodan:

    My grandfather whom I considered a very wise man when he lived used to tell me to learn a trade. He said, as long as you have a trade that you are good at, you will always have work.
    I think he was referring to the building trades, plumber, electrician, carpenter etc. But those folks are hurting pretty badly right now.


  79. 79 | January 29, 2010 8:50 am

    It turns out all the bullshit about James O’Keefe supposedly tapping “$300 Million” Mary’s phones was, well, bullshit:

    The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.

    As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.

    I’m glad he didn’t do anything stupid. He ought to be able to sue the papers that falsely reported the issue. I think you can safely say that there was malice in the act.


  80. 80 | January 29, 2010 8:50 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:

    That really is the answer to many of these “Social Justice!” issues. Start up a private company that only caters to those folks.

    To fend off the fraud/partner hopping issue, add a requirement that you can stop coverage for someone at any time, but you can only add a ‘domestic partner’ once a year.


  81. m
    81 | January 29, 2010 8:52 am

    @ Iron Fist:

    I beeeeeatcha (75).

    :lol:

    :-P


  82. m
    82 | January 29, 2010 8:53 am


  83. 83 | January 29, 2010 8:53 am

    @ m:

    :mrgreen:

    GMTA


  84. coldwarrior
    84 | January 29, 2010 8:53 am

    m wrote:

    @ Iron Fist:
    I beeeeeatcha (75).

    *music from the good the bad and the ugly plays in the distance, yet again*


  85. buzzsawmonkey
    85 | January 29, 2010 8:55 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    That really is the answer to many of these “Social Justice!” issues.

    Forgive me for repeating it, but “social justice” is by its nature a lie; any time an adjective/modifier is stuck onto something, it is an indication that there is a thumb being placed on the scale to favor a special interest.

    That is true of “social justice,” which is true justice perverted for somebody’s social agenda. And it is monumentally true of “human rights,” which are a fraud intended to substitute spurious “rights” granted by the government to supplant the concept of individual liberty protected by laws limiting the power of government.


  86. m
    86 | January 29, 2010 8:57 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    doodleloooooo wah wah waaaaaaaaah

    ;-)


  87. 87 | January 29, 2010 8:58 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    It turns out all the bullshit about James O’Keefe supposedly tapping “$300 Million” Mary’s phones was, well, bullshit:
    The government has now confirmed what has always been clear: No one tried to wiretap or bug Senator Landrieu’s office. Nor did we try to cut or shut down her phone lines. Reports to this effect over the past 48 hours are inaccurate and false.
    As an investigative journalist, my goal is to expose corruption and lack of concern for citizens by government and other institutions, as I did last year when our investigations revealed the massive corruption and fraud perpetrated by ACORN. For decades, investigative journalists have used a variety of tactics to try to dig out and reveal the truth.
    I’m glad he didn’t do anything stupid. He ought to be able to sue the papers that falsely reported the issue. I think you can safely say that there was malice in the act.

    What scares me is how he was instantly painted as some sort of evil person trying to bug senators…….

    I see a time in which Conservatives will be determined to be breaking the law by opposing Socialism….. and crap like this is how it starts.


  88. Gypsy
    88 | January 29, 2010 8:58 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    @ Gypsy:
    That’s because we’ve let the federal and state governments control the education system… so it is based on helping the lowest denominator feel better rather than educating students.
    Private school and Home school children really don’t have that issue, as one test after another shows. (Which is one of the two reasons why the government will not allow vouchers. The other being that they don’t want the common man’s kids in private school with their children.)

    As an addendum to your first sentence, too many parents (especially, it appears, a certain type of “working mom”) seem to see the schools as a public financed baby-sitting service/day camp rather than a place to prepare their children for a productive life. They become quite indignant if any demands, especially intellectual or behavioral demands, are made on their offspring. And I’m not talking about 6 year olds, here, either; I’m talking about 10, 12, 14 year-olds, kids well past the “precious baby” stage.


  89. 89 | January 29, 2010 9:00 am

    @ m:

    HAHAHAHAHAAAA… you’re friggen awesome.


  90. 90 | January 29, 2010 9:00 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:

    That’s why I put it in quotes and put a ! after it.

    Every time they whine about “Social Justice!” it is nothing more than a blown-up issue that is more readily resolved by the private sector.


  91. GrandJunctionite
    91 | January 29, 2010 9:01 am

    I can tell you from where I sit, the recession is far from over. I run a (very) small business. My best year was 2008 250K gross. I have 1 full time and 2 part time employees. In 2009 my gross dropped to 185K. I was forced to cut the hours of my part timers down, cut my own salary and take on debt to stay alive. Things are still touch and go month to month. I’ve cut every expense I can, but the largest expense a small business has is payroll taxes. My business is based on other people working and other business thriving. My personal recession is far from over until we start creating jobs.


  92. 92 | January 29, 2010 9:02 am

    @ Gypsy:

    And they don’t limit that attitude to school. The ones that are christians put the same ideas into youth ministry. The youth preacher is just free babysitting service.


  93. buzzsawmonkey
    93 | January 29, 2010 9:03 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    Every time they whine about “Social Justice!” it is nothing more than a blown-up issue that is more readily resolved by the private sector.

    True. I added the bit about “human rights” because it is important—vitally important—for as many people as possible to understand that “human rights” are not an extension or realization of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, but a concept diametrically opposed to the Constitution and its safeguards.


  94. Gypsy
    94 | January 29, 2010 9:03 am

    @ Iron Fist:
    Unfortunately, due to his expose of ACORN, O’Keefe now has a target painted on his back, as this “phoney phones” fracas goes to show.


  95. Macker
    95 | January 29, 2010 9:04 am

    @ m:

    m, you’re the first to get this: 1 TRILLION UPDINGS!


  96. 96 | January 29, 2010 9:04 am

    @ Macker:

    it used to be a million…..

    that’s inflation for ya…


  97. Poteen
    97 | January 29, 2010 9:05 am

    @ bar:

    Freaking idiots. If they really wanted to beautify West Hollyweird, they just needed to repaint the hookers

    Latex or oilbase?
    Primed sprayed and backrolled?
    I’ll work up a bid.


  98. snork
    98 | January 29, 2010 9:05 am

    @ m:
    I’m still waiting for an update to the original thread from Chucky. He was right on top of it, making the allegation that they were tapping the phones.


  99. kansas
    99 | January 29, 2010 9:06 am

    The DJIA is not all that happy about the GDP numbers.


  100. buzzsawmonkey
    100 | January 29, 2010 9:06 am

    GrandJunctionite wrote:

    My personal recession is far from over until we start creating jobs.

    3wood, whom some of you might remember from Some Other Blog, has periodic explanations of the vicissitudes of the economy and the Administration’s tinkering over at C2.

    He has made the point that we are still “creating jobs” at below-replacement level, and have been for some time, which means that until enough people go back to work to wipe out the current job deficit, an uptick in the “job creation” numbers does not mean we are not still losing ground.


  101. Macker
    101 | January 29, 2010 9:06 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    @ Macker:

    it used to be a million…..

    that’s inflation for ya…

    You got that right! Someone a few threads back awarded me a Billion, so what the hell.


  102. Calo
    102 | January 29, 2010 9:06 am

    @ GrandJunctionite:
    I hear you. I have 2 stores of “where you care to send the very best” cards and gifts and have watched the average transaction $ amount tank over the last 18 months – and yes, I too have cut back on employees – health care benefits.


  103. m
    103 | January 29, 2010 9:07 am

    @ Macker:

    A trillion?! … ooh my karma thanks you.

    /

    ;-)


  104. kansas
    104 | January 29, 2010 9:07 am

    t?snork wrote:

    @ m:
    I’m still waiting for an update to the original thread from Chucky. He was right on top of it, making the allegation that they were tapping the phones.

    I’m not sure how much more irrelevant that asshole can get.


  105. Macker
    105 | January 29, 2010 9:07 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:

    YES! So many people on the other side of the aisle fail to realize that it is GOD who grants us those inalienable rights.


  106. 106 | January 29, 2010 9:08 am

    snork wrote:

    @ m:
    I’m still waiting for an update to the original thread from Chucky. He was right on top of it, making the allegation that they were tapping the phones.

    Let me know how that goes. Try holding your breath, see if that helps.

    *evil grin*


  107. buzzsawmonkey
    107 | January 29, 2010 9:09 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    Try holding your breath

    That’s a recipe for more blue states.


  108. 108 | January 29, 2010 9:09 am

    @ Macker:

    They realize it, they just don’t want us to.


  109. Gypsy
    109 | January 29, 2010 9:10 am

    @ m:
    HAHAHAHA! (Guffaw. Chortle!)


  110. 110 | January 29, 2010 9:10 am

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    LanceKates wrote:
    Try holding your breath
    That’s a recipe for more blue states.

    If only the blue voters would hold their breath until the recession is over…. then we could elect conservatives and fix the problem.


  111. Macker
    111 | January 29, 2010 9:11 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    LanceKates wrote:
    Try holding your breath
    That’s a recipe for more blue states.

    If only the blue voters would hold their breath until the recession is over…. then we could elect conservatives and fix the problem.

    Then they would turn purple and then…DIE…and that, my friend, can still be a problem.


  112. 112 | January 29, 2010 9:14 am

    @ Macker:

    Disposing of the body is such a pain in the ass…

    :twisted:


  113. 113 | January 29, 2010 9:14 am

    @ Macker:

    nah, we’ll just get the conservatives hitched to other conservatives and produce a plethora of conservative babies to replenish the population.

    (I imagine that, right now, 1.0 is considering this line of posting a call for genocide or, at the very least, a perosnal threat)


  114. JohnH
    114 | January 29, 2010 9:15 am

    It’s a mirage.


  115. 115 | January 29, 2010 9:16 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    @ Macker:
    Disposing of the body is such a pain in the ass…

    There’s always Soylent Green.


  116. Nevergiveup
    116 | January 29, 2010 9:18 am

    I know I spoke of this before but Obama it seems it totally shit canning the entire space program. We are headed toward 2nd world status under this commie bastard


  117. Macker
    117 | January 29, 2010 9:19 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    @ Macker:

    Disposing of the body is such a pain in the ass…

    Y’all forgot:

    NIGHT!
    OF THE VOTING…
    DEAD!


  118. 118 | January 29, 2010 9:19 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    All part of his plan…


  119. buzzsawmonkey
    119 | January 29, 2010 9:19 am

    Nevergiveup wrote:

    I know I spoke of this before but Obama it seems it totally shit canning the entire space program. We are headed toward 2nd world status under this commie bastard

    Well, it’s not as if the residents of the Moon or Mars can be easily convinced to vote Democrat.


  120. Macker
    120 | January 29, 2010 9:19 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    After all, he would love sleeping Under the Light of a Communist Moon.


  121. Poteen
    121 | January 29, 2010 9:19 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    @ Macker:
    Disposing of the body is such a pain in the ass…

    They still haven’t found Jimmy Hoffa.
    Hire the experts./


  122. Macker
    122 | January 29, 2010 9:20 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:

    But what about the Venusians?


  123. buzzsawmonkey
    123 | January 29, 2010 9:20 am

    Macker wrote:

    But what about the Venusians?

    The Democrats are busy stopping the invasion of this country by the Fetusian people.


  124. Poteen
    124 | January 29, 2010 9:22 am

    Nevergiveup wrote:

    I know I spoke of this before but Obama it seems it totally shit canning the entire space program. We are headed toward 2nd world status under this commie bastard

    He needs the money for his ‘Aid to Families with Dependent Children and No Plasma TV’ program.


  125. Macker
    125 | January 29, 2010 9:23 am

    @ Poteen:

    A lot of good that’ll do in Kah-leeh-for-nia!


  126. Nevergiveup
    126 | January 29, 2010 9:24 am

    We’re going to have to beg and pay the Ruskies to take us into space????


  127. 127 | January 29, 2010 9:24 am

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    Macker wrote:
    But what about the Venusians?
    The Democrats are busy stopping the invasion of this country by the Fetusian “people”.

    You forgot your scare quotes. Fetusians aren’t really people, you know.


  128. 128 | January 29, 2010 9:25 am

    @ Poteen:

    Do the makers of Plasma TV’s have a union?


  129. buzzsawmonkey
    129 | January 29, 2010 9:26 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    Fetusians aren’t really people, you know.

    You are expressing an oppressive, prejudicial, hegemonic disregard for the vibrant Fetusian culture.


  130. Nevergiveup
    130 | January 29, 2010 9:26 am

    The Russians, The Chicoms, The Indians are all going into space and we’re gonna be sitting here with our thumbs up our asses


  131. SciFiGuy
    131 | January 29, 2010 9:27 am

    @ LanceKates:
    Sanyo actually make a lot of the Plasma TV in Forrest City, Arkansas.


  132. 132 | January 29, 2010 9:27 am

    @ Iron Fist:

    pretty soon folks like you and I will also be no longer considered people.


  133. Nevergiveup
    133 | January 29, 2010 9:28 am

    Not to mention also:

    Russian Unveils Stealth Fighter Intended to Match U.S. F-22 Raptor

    except we cancelled that program also????


  134. SciFiGuy
    134 | January 29, 2010 9:30 am

    Nevergiveup wrote:

    Not to mention also:
    Russian Unveils Stealth Fighter Intended to Match U.S. F-22 Raptor

    except we cancelled that program also????

    Don’t think that it was canceled, as in go away now. I believe they dropped the total number of planes to be built from 330 to 186.


  135. 135 | January 29, 2010 9:31 am

    OT:

    More Proof That Osama Bin Laden Is A Democrat!

    -Bin Laden Lashes Out at US on Climate Change-


  136. Macker
    136 | January 29, 2010 9:31 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    This is why Президент Оба́ма hates the F-22 with a passion.


  137. 137 | January 29, 2010 9:32 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    We have to stop and let the rest of the world catch up with us. It wasn’t fair for big, nasty, evil America to succeed so far in excess of other nations. So Obama and the Democrats are going to take care of that for us. With a little work we, too, can be a Third World nation just like Hati or sub-saharan Africa.


  138. 138 | January 29, 2010 9:32 am

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    @ LanceKates:
    Sanyo actually make a lot of the Plasma TV in Forrest City, Arkansas.

    but are they UNION?

    That’s the difference between “Working Families” and “Rich Families” after all… working families are unions and need help, rich families are non-union and need to be taxed until they are in a union.


  139. buzzsawmonkey
    139 | January 29, 2010 9:34 am

    Iron Fist wrote:

    We have to stop and let the rest of the world catch up with us. It wasn’t fair for big, nasty, evil America to succeed so far in excess of other nations. So Obama and the Democrats are going to take care of that for us. With a little work we, too, can be a Third World nation just like Hati or sub-saharan Africa.

    You should be ashamed of your H8i speech.

    ///


  140. Nevergiveup
    140 | January 29, 2010 9:34 am

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    Nevergiveup wrote:

    Not to mention also:
    Russian Unveils Stealth Fighter Intended to Match U.S. F-22 Raptor

    except we cancelled that program also????

    Don’t think that it was canceled, as in go away now. I believe they dropped the total number of planes to be built from 330 to 186.

    As in no more money in the budget. As in they will be closing down the line and there will be NO replacement for any lost. As in there is right now a Fighter Gap in Air Force because the F-15s are aging and the “Replacements” now are the F-35 which is way behind schedule. And the F-35 is NOT the fighter the F-22 is. As is we will NOT be prepared for a future threat.


  141. coldwarrior
    141 | January 29, 2010 9:34 am

    andouille-catfish-shrimp gumbo is ready, bowls are in the cupboard and the spoons are in the drawer…gumbo’s on the stove —>


  142. SciFiGuy
    142 | January 29, 2010 9:35 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    SciFiGuy wrote:
    @ LanceKates:
    Sanyo actually make a lot of the Plasma TV in Forrest City, Arkansas.
    but are they UNION?
    That’s the difference between “Working Families” and “Rich Families” after all… working families are unions and need help, rich families are non-union and need to be taxed until they are in a union.

    From the price of Sanyo plasma TVs’, I seriously doubt it. $698.00 for a 50″ plasma. GOing to pick one up this weekend…


  143. 143 | January 29, 2010 9:35 am

    coldwarrior wrote:

    andouille-catfish-shrimp gumbo is ready, bowls are in the cupboard and the spoons are in the drawer…gumbo’s on the stove —>

    hmm.. sounds better than what I have.


  144. Nevergiveup
    144 | January 29, 2010 9:36 am

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    Nevergiveup wrote:

    Not to mention also:
    Russian Unveils Stealth Fighter Intended to Match U.S. F-22 Raptor

    except we cancelled that program also????

    Don’t think that it was canceled, as in go away now. I believe they dropped the total number of planes to be built from 330 to 186.

    Oh and anyway the original # was closer to 750


  145. Poteen
    145 | January 29, 2010 9:37 am

    @ LanceKates:

    Water Buffalo Teamsters?


  146. 146 | January 29, 2010 9:37 am

    @ SciFiGuy:

    If I got a bigger TV, I’d have to buy a new entertainment center, as the one we have fits this tv perfectly.

    The issue I have is sound, though.

    Movies and even regular tv, the background music is insanely loud… to the point that it is sometimes hard to hear the conversations.

    Even when I run through my sound system. I don’t know what the deal is…. I’ msure I’m just behind the times with technology.


  147. 147 | January 29, 2010 9:38 am

    Poteen wrote:

    @ LanceKates:
    Water Buffalo Teamsters?

    Water Buffalos, of course, being the shadiest of Buffalo… and therefore a perfect fit for teamsters.


  148. coldwarrior
    148 | January 29, 2010 9:38 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    coldwarrior wrote:
    andouille-catfish-shrimp gumbo is ready, bowls are in the cupboard and the spoons are in the drawer…gumbo’s on the stove —>
    hmm.. sounds better than what I have.

    its really good…i havent made gumbo in a long time


  149. SciFiGuy
    149 | January 29, 2010 9:38 am

    @ Nevergiveup:
    Agree that the Air force Fighter planes are now sucking the exiting orifice. Bunch of clueless F’in dolts.


  150. Nevergiveup
    150 | January 29, 2010 9:39 am

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    @ Nevergiveup:
    Agree that the Air force Fighter planes are now sucking the exiting orifice. Bunch of clueless F’in dolts.

    So is the Navy. Huge fighter gap looming


  151. coldwarrior
    151 | January 29, 2010 9:39 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    @ SciFiGuy:
    If I got a bigger TV, I’d have to buy a new entertainment center, as the one we have fits this tv perfectly.
    The issue I have is sound, though.
    Movies and even regular tv, the background music is insanely loud… to the point that it is sometimes hard to hear the conversations.
    Even when I run through my sound system. I don’t know what the deal is…. I’ msure I’m just behind the times with technology.

    the levels of your surround sound channels are all out of ‘the wack’


  152. 152 | January 29, 2010 9:40 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    While it snows outside, I’m thinking soup and sandwhich.

    freezing rain/sleet yesterday, snow today.

    I’m glad we have this global warming thing..


  153. Poteen
    153 | January 29, 2010 9:40 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    Poteen wrote:
    @ LanceKates:
    Water Buffalo Teamsters?
    Water Buffalos, of course, being the shadiest of Buffalo… and therefore a perfect fit for teamsters.

    Led by their president– Jimmy Heifer Jr.


  154. Nevergiveup
    154 | January 29, 2010 9:40 am

    If we build the F-22 and a space program doesn’t that create REAL JOBS


  155. Calo
    155 | January 29, 2010 9:41 am

    @ LanceKates:
    Grilled Cheese please


  156. chickadee
    156 | January 29, 2010 9:43 am

    coldwarrior wrote:

    andouille-catfish-shrimp gumbo is ready, bowls are in the cupboard and the spoons are in the drawer…gumbo’s on the stove —>

    mmmm mmmm mmmm
    :)


  157. 157 | January 29, 2010 9:43 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    I don’t have the dolby 5.0.

    I spent hours monkeying with the thing…. it’s been going on for months.

    The problem is, I shouldn’t have to turn on a surround sound system in order to watch Bones or the Mentalist. It doesn’t matter how I set my tv’s speakers, the background noise is far louder than the conversation.

    I’ll turn down, on the sound system, the front and rear L and R speakers, and turn up the center…. and it helps marginally.

    The worse time I ever had with this was the movie Master and Commander.

    Giant explosions and loud music while they whipsered the whole thing.


  158. SciFiGuy
    158 | January 29, 2010 9:44 am

    @ Nevergiveup:
    THe 750 number was floated around the same time that I was working for Lockheed Martin back in the early ’90s. It was eventually dropped down 441 ? 442 when the contract was finally let. That was also dropped to 331 when the total cost of the airplane was settled in at $361 MILLION for each plane. A nice chunk of change…


  159. 159 | January 29, 2010 9:44 am

    Calo wrote:

    @ LanceKates:
    Grilled Cheese please

    ok, but I’m a taxpayer, so I can only afford the ‘process cheese product’ sliced cheese that tastes like plastic.


  160. buzzsawmonkey
    160 | January 29, 2010 9:45 am

    Speaking of water buffaloes, you all may remember that a few years ago a student at Penn State was disciplined under the university’s hate speech code for using the term “water buffalo.”

    Seems that an Israeli student objected to all the noisy oohooing a black sorority was engaging in during its pledge week, and—trying to study—yelled out the window that they should shut up and stop behaving like a bunch of water buffaloes.
    “Water buffalo” was a loose translation of the Hebrew “behema,” which means “large animal,” familiar to us as the English word “behemoth,” which is the Hebrew plural.

    He was hauled up for engaging in racist hate speech for using “water buffalo,” but I believe was eventually exonerated.


  161. 161 | January 29, 2010 9:47 am

    Re: my 135

    It would be interesting to make a list (and then probably a thread) showing where Osama Bin Laden (an avowed enemy of the U.S.) and the Democrats (presumably patriotic) agree.

    off the top of my head:

    Global Warning, American Imperialism, Anti-Israel, Anti-GW Bush, Anti-Christians, Anti-Afganistan War, Anti-Iraq War, Anti-Oil,


  162. coldwarrior
    162 | January 29, 2010 9:50 am

    @ LanceKates:

    how do you have a center channel if u dont have db 5.1?


  163. Calo
    163 | January 29, 2010 9:51 am

    @ LanceKates:
    I guess a swiss grilled cheese is not in the budget?


  164. Eliana
    165 | January 29, 2010 9:53 am

    @ WrathofG-d:

    More Proof That Osama Bin Laden Is A Democrat!

    -Bin Laden Lashes Out at US on Climate Change-

    I just read this, too!!

    It’s interesting how ObL’s intentions seem to mirror Obama’s:

    In the tape, broadcast in part on Al-Jazeera television, bin Laden warned of the dangers of climate change and says that the way to stop it is to bring “the wheels of the American economy” to a halt.


  165. buzzsawmonkey
    166 | January 29, 2010 9:56 am

    Eliana wrote:

    It’s interesting how ObL’s intentions seem to mirror Obama’s

    Actually, a miraculous transformation—like the one that happened to Tim Allen in “The Santa Clause”—has occurred, and Michael Moore is now Osama Bin Laden.


  166. 167 | January 29, 2010 9:56 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    I have a center speaker. it is a 5 speaker set.

    I may have dolby 5.0. To be honest I don’t know. While I know alot about a few things, a moderate amount about many thing and some things are other things…I know almost nothing about sound systems. (Funny given the years I played music)

    I’ve had this sound system for about 4 years now and I thought that 5.0 came out after that.


  167. 168 | January 29, 2010 9:56 am

    @ Eliana:

    That is what struck me as well, the arguments of Osama Bin Laden practically mirror those of the (New) Left.

    Global Warming isn’t the only similarity (as I point out above). In the context of a “New Left” world view, this all actually makes sense (which is why I really should work on that Thread in draft) since both would see the U.S. and the bad, and themselves as saviors of the international “people” from U.S. imperialism and war.

    Amazing!


  168. Poteen
    169 | January 29, 2010 9:56 am

    Calo wrote:

    @ LanceKates:
    I guess a swiss grilled cheese is not in the budget?

    Maybe in a Swiss bankers budget. You get Cheez Whiz.


  169. 170 | January 29, 2010 9:57 am

    @ Calo:

    nope. and lunch plans changed.

    frozen tv dinner. they’re not great, but they were on sale, 10 for 10 bucks.


  170. buzzsawmonkey
    171 | January 29, 2010 9:58 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    frozen tv dinner

    Frozen transvestite dinners?


  171. 172 | January 29, 2010 9:59 am

    @ WrathofG-d:

    Israel says they want the land they bought: OH THOSE EVIL ISRALIES TRYING TO STEAL LAND!

    Pallies say they want to wipe Israel into the sea and take all their land and kill every one of them: “See? They just want a two-state solution.”


  172. Poteen
    173 | January 29, 2010 10:00 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:

    Tacos AND hot dogs for lunch?


  173. 174 | January 29, 2010 10:00 am

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    LanceKates wrote:
    frozen tv dinner
    Frozen transvestite dinners?

    if soylent green is man, then these dinners may very well be trannies.


  174. coldwarrior
    175 | January 29, 2010 10:00 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    @ coldwarrior:
    I have a center speaker. it is a 5 speaker set.
    I may have dolby 5.0. To be honest I don’t know. While I know alot about a few things, a moderate amount about many thing and some things are other things…I know almost nothing about sound systems. (Funny given the years I played music)
    I’ve had this sound system for about 4 years now and I thought that 5.0 came out after that.

    nope…5.1 has been out for yearsandyears.

    your channel levels are off, thats why you cant hear the dialogue (mostly center channels) and the background is overpowering, i did the same thing.

    your rear channels should never be heard unless there is action ‘behind you’ which is rare. back channels are for rill in, most people have em jacked up too high.


  175. Calo
    176 | January 29, 2010 10:02 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:
    Ok – as I must lose 10 pounds – I am not hungry anymore. Thank you.


  176. Nevergiveup
    177 | January 29, 2010 10:02 am

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    @ Nevergiveup:
    THe 750 number was floated around the same time that I was working for Lockheed Martin back in the early ’90s. It was eventually dropped down 441 ? 442 when the contract was finally let. That was also dropped to 331 when the total cost of the airplane was settled in at $361 MILLION for each plane. A nice chunk of change…

    Defense is never cheap. Defeat is more expensive


  177. 178 | January 29, 2010 10:02 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    and I can fiddle with that, the problem is the worst when using just the tv speakers instead of my sound system. I’m just amazed by it. heh.


  178. 179 | January 29, 2010 10:02 am

    @ LanceKates:

    Yep, pretty much….and yet I still near daily get e-mails from my supposedly pro-Israel friends explaining how the Phakestinians just want peace, and the TwoThree-State is the only option.


  179. Poteen
    180 | January 29, 2010 10:03 am

    WrathofG-d wrote:

    OT:
    More Proof That Osama Bin Laden Is A Democrat!
    -Bin Laden Lashes Out at US on Climate Change-

    How would he know? He only knows it’s raining when his cave starts filling up and the rats leave.


  180. buzzsawmonkey
    181 | January 29, 2010 10:04 am

    Calo wrote:

    Ok – as I must lose 10 pounds – I am not hungry anymore. Thank you.

    I live to serve.


  181. coldwarrior
    182 | January 29, 2010 10:07 am

    LanceKates wrote:

    @ coldwarrior:
    and I can fiddle with that, the problem is the worst when using just the tv speakers instead of my sound system. I’m just amazed by it. heh.

    think of it this way:

    voice: center channel

    background noises: front channels

    fill in and noise behind you: back channels

    turn off the tv speakers (or have them very low)

    get the center channel up high and turn down the front channels and turn down the rears a bit more than the front. try it.


  182. Calo
    183 | January 29, 2010 10:07 am

    @ buzzsawmonkey:
    {{buzzsawmonkey}}


  183. 184 | January 29, 2010 10:07 am

    @ Poteen:

    ha!

    Just like the Democrats, although he uses Global Warming as the headline, he is really speaking of American exceptionalism, and suggesting solutions which would attack our economy.


  184. coldwarrior
    185 | January 29, 2010 10:07 am

    bbl…gotta hit the weights.


  185. 186 | January 29, 2010 10:08 am

    One of the things that has been bugging me about the SOTU address…. Obama said we were going to increase exports greatly….

    One way that the USSR funded itself was by taking grain and other grown food away from farmers and sold it…. letting the farmers starve.

    Then the USSR blamed their deaths on bad weather causing a famine…. meanwhile they exported more than enough grain to feed everyone…. while saying that they didn’t have enough to feed anyone.


  186. 187 | January 29, 2010 10:09 am

    @ coldwarrior:

    I’ll fiddle with it more today.

    thanks


  187. snork
    188 | January 29, 2010 10:15 am

    buzzsawmonkey wrote:

    He was hauled up for engaging in racist hate speech for using “water buffalo,” but I believe was eventually exonerated.

    So now he’s part of the ExxonMobil Zionist conspiracy?


  188. Poteen
    189 | January 29, 2010 10:17 am

    @ WrathofG-d:

    The only way he can affect our economy now is if the commodity market suddenly becomes dependent on rat belly futures.

    I honestly think that bin Laden alive or thought to be alive serves a purpose for us. If we can read a license plate from space, we can find an abnormally tall guy in Waziristan. One that a lot of bad guys are looking to for guidance. After 8 yrs. he still around for a reason.


  189. Eliana
    190 | January 29, 2010 10:54 am

    @ Poteen:

    More Proof That Osama Bin Laden Is A Democrat!
    -Bin Laden Lashes Out at US on Climate Change-

    How would he know? He only knows it’s raining when his cave starts filling up and the rats leave.

    Osama is hooked up to the Cave News Network, which is how he keeps up on the proggie talking points so that he can use them in his speeches.


  190. Eliana
    191 | January 29, 2010 10:56 am

    It’s also possible that proggie speech writers are ghost writing the text for Osama’s tapes that he records regularly as “Caveside Chats.”


  191. Eliana
    192 | January 29, 2010 11:02 am

    Testing – 1,2,3.

    Tap tap tap.

    Is this on? :-)


  192. 193 | January 29, 2010 11:31 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    Yes it does that’s why Obama is cutting off funding.


  193. 194 | January 29, 2010 11:32 am

    @ WrathofG-d:

    That’s my post tonight!


  194. 195 | January 29, 2010 11:33 am

    @ Nevergiveup:

    It’s worth the money.


  195. Beer Drinking Victory Monkey
    196 | January 29, 2010 12:58 pm

    SciFiGuy wrote:

    Don’t think that it was canceled, as in go away now. I believe they dropped the total number of planes to be built from 330 to 186.

    Not only do we need more F-22s, we need a tactical stealth bomber, something to replace the F-111 & F-117. Sending in a B-2 isn’t always the best option.


  196. kansas
    197 | January 29, 2010 1:03 pm

    Dow not happy this morning, and not happy this afternoon. Closes down.


  197. 4_Sticks
    198 | January 29, 2010 2:57 pm

    @ Bumr50:

    Universities will simply raise their tuition because the federal bucks are guaranteed.

    It happens with everything that guaranteed federal money is applied to.

    Same with medical/health care and health insurance companies. “Oh, I see you’re covered by insurance. We’re going to schedule you for some more testing.” They get that ‘blank check’ look in their eyes !
    I just got a bill for a one way, 15 mile ambulance ride:

    1k
    1 grand
    One Thousand Dollars

    Amazing. In my best Richard Pryor voice:

    Thank G_d I have health insurance !

    But then again, if I didn’t, or, “we” didn’t, the bill would be nowhere close to this or they’d be out of business in a day.
    This is the heart of the ‘health care’ crisis.

    “And the wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round…”


  198. 4_Sticks
    199 | January 29, 2010 3:19 pm

    @ vapig:

    We have to get back to more ‘goods’ and less ’services’. Or a more stable balance between the two. If we don’t ‘produce’ but only ’serve’ the whole thing comes crashing down. the production during the WWII years brought us the boom of the 50’s. Other than these here internets,(miniaturization/micro chip and associated products) what the hell have we done since the moon shot and building the WTC ? I used to love reading the ‘Popular…” series of magazines back in the 50s/60s.What I though our world would look like by 2010 !! Lookin’ around my house and up and down my street, things look pretty much as they did in 1944. OK, my pick up is a little more stream lined.
    Micky D’s, Motel 6 and Disney vs Alcoa, Pittsburgh Steel…

    BTW, Motel 6 has announced that they can no longer afford to ‘keep the light on”.


  199. 4_Sticks
    200 | January 29, 2010 3:24 pm

    mawskrat wrote:

    my wife’s job is pretty recession proof, but after 25 years they did take away thier payed half hour lunch

    If she’s protected by a union she and her co workers can file a class action ‘past practice’ grievance. How dare they ! :-) LOL !!


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