The Cellar  

Go Back   The Cellar > Main > Current Events
FAQ Community Calendar Today's Posts Search

Current Events Help understand the world by talking about things happening in it

View Poll Results: What will you primarily do with your government check?
Spend it on local services. (Restaraunts, bars, haircuts, hookers, etc.) 1 4.76%
Buying durable goods. (Fridge, oven) 3 14.29%
Buy Chinese electrincs. (TV, iPod, computer equipment, etc.) 1 4.76%
Pay existing bills. (Credit card debt, utilities, extra mortgage payment.) 10 47.62%
Save it. (Put it in a cd and make interest off it, baby.) 4 19.05%
Other (explain) 8 38.10%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 21. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 01-30-2008, 04:38 PM   #46
glatt
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
Well, hooker was in the first choice.
glatt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 04:45 PM   #47
HungLikeJesus
Only looks like a disaster tourist
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: above 7,000 feet
Posts: 7,208
Quote:
Originally Posted by glatt View Post
Well, hooker was in the first choice.
Yes, but only one person is planning to use those services.
__________________
Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn

SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.
HungLikeJesus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 05:23 PM   #48
lumberjim
I can hear my ears
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 25,571
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMercenary View Post
No they are not. The tax payer is, and they will be coming for it in about 12 months with a vengence.
I'd heard that they were trying to make it non taxable this time.

I also heard that if you make 155k or more, you get bupkiss.

the phasing out part is intriguing.
__________________
This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality
Embrace this moment, remember
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan
lumberjim is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 05:38 PM   #49
tw
Read? I only know how to write.
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,933
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheMercenary View Post
The tax payer is, and they will be coming for it in about 12 months with a vengence.
It’s still called drug addiction. Once we had a surplus due to responsible government. George Jr (Cheney) decided we needed economic stimulus. So the economy has been running on economic stimulus packages for seven years now. As a result, we have significant inflation and massive debts everywhere. The average American is now spending 104% of his income annually. More drug addiction. Don't worry. Be happy.

We promote 'core inflation' numbers to those who know by worshipping a political agenda. Those numbers say inflation does not exist. With more stimulus packages, home prices doubled. Accounting fraud (including SIVs and other Enron techniques) became acceptable because it "helps the economy". More 'stimulus' avocated by a political agenda.

Eventually stimulus packages will no longer mask economic reality. Economics must take revenge meaning a larger recession looms. No problem. Hand out more money (no different from a tax cut) because throwing money at problems always solves everything. "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter" - the political agenda. Agenda works on people who know what is told rather than use intelligence. Those outstanding bills come due four and ten years later. So the political agenda pretends those bills do not exist (even 'emergency spending' bills that do not appear on the budget - more economic stimulus).

Who is paying these bills for 2002 economic stimulus packages? Bills just starting to appear in the form of record debt, increasing inflation, the threat of stagflation, and selling America to foreigners.

So what do we do? Another economic stimulus package. Does anyone learn from the history - or did UG rewrite it? Same techniques created 1970s stagflation and a massive reduction in the American standard of living. No problem. Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. So many liberals (who call themselves conservatives) promote more voodoo economics. They are told economic stimulus packages have no downside - just like heroine.

Indicators of 'denied' economic recession included housing prices that doubled. To fix America, housing prices must return to where they belong, OR economics takes revenge elsewhere. Instead we throw more money mostly at those who created this mess. Go figure. But that is liberal economics that wacko liberals promoted in the 1970s and wacko conservatives promote today. Deja vue.

Any responsible economist knows (professional or amateur), only useful tax cut coincides with a spending reductions. A fact iterated by both John McCain and Warren Buffet. Both men have a history of using intellgence rather than a political agenda. Another stimulus package will not cure the problem: too many government stimulus packages that even included a bridge to nowhere. Amazing how many Americans would deny economic heroine addiction.

How did we solve the addiction last time? 20+% interest rates. How many learned that lesson from history - or would rather repeat it?
tw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 05:46 PM   #50
Elspode
When Do I Get Virtual Unreality?
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Raytown, Missouri
Posts: 12,719
Due to unfulfilled student loan indebtedness, we won't be seeing ours. Like our income tax refund.
__________________
"To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog
Elspode is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 05:49 PM   #51
tw
Read? I only know how to write.
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Posts: 11,933
From The Economist of 26 January 2008:
Quote:
There is no doubt that this is a frightening moment. But the narrow economic rationale for the Fed's emergency rate-cut this week was thin. America's weak economy means monetary policy can, and should, be loosened considerably. But the central bankers' next scheduled meeting begins on January 29th. Since lower interest rates take several months to work through the economy, accelerating rate cuts by a few days will not much affect the outcome. Yes, share prices had been falling sharply across the globe, but the slide was orderly and the system had not seized up. The Fed seems to have been spooked, and wanted to stop the markets' fall.

That is a dangerous path for a central bank to tread. Its success will now be identified with short-term movements on Wall Street. Indeed, as the stockmarket shrugged off the latest rate cut, the Fed's authority already looked diminished. As if to prove the point, shares soared only when the insurance regulator appeared. Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman and guardian of America's economy, moved Wall Street less than Eric Dinallo, whom nobody had heard of, saying he would rescue some insurers nobody understood.
Identified is what a responsible government can (should) do. Intead, a mental midget president would throw more money at a problem created by throwing money at the economy?
tw is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 06:06 PM   #52
Happy Monkey
I think this line's mostly filler.
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: DC
Posts: 13,575
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elspode View Post
Due to unfulfilled student loan indebtedness, we won't be seeing ours. Like our income tax refund.
Is it automatically applied to the debt?
__________________
_________________
|...............| We live in the nick of times.
| Len 17, Wid 3 |
|_______________| [pics]
Happy Monkey is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 06:11 PM   #53
Griff
still says videotape
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Posts: 26,813
Quote:
Originally Posted by tw View Post
It’s still called drug addiction.
Good Lord, tw and I are in agreement.
__________________
If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you.
- Louis D. Brandeis
Griff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-30-2008, 11:29 PM   #54
xoxoxoBruce
The future is unwritten
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 71,105
Yeah... but after 5k posts he had to be right, sooner or later.
__________________
The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.
xoxoxoBruce is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-02-2008, 06:01 PM   #55
melidasaur
Traded your soul for pogs.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Champaign, IL
Posts: 646
I don't know what I will do with it until it's in my hands... I'll believe it when I see it.
__________________
I love England, what can I say?
melidasaur is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:18 PM.


Powered by: vBulletin Version 3.8.1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.